Johnny Yong Bosch - Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer)

Johnny Yong Bosch (born January 6, 1976) is an American actor, voice actor, singer-musician, and martial artist. He comes from Kansas City, Missouri. He is a very versatile actor and he has performed numerous voice acting roles in both animations and movies. Some of his most famous roles include Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach, Itsuki Koizumi from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Izaya Orihara from Durarara!!, Renton Thurston from Eureka Seven, and Lelouch from the Code Geass series. Although he is known for being a voice actor, Bosch also has some experience with music and used to be in a band named Eyeshine.

Recently, he has taken the role of Giyu Tomioka in the Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer) anime series, who is a Demon Slayer and the Water Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps.

Career

Johnny Yong Bosch’s anime career spans over several decades and is still going strong to this very day. His career started when he voiced the adult version of Jim Hawkins in 1987 movie anime adaptation of Treasure Island that was produced by studio Madhouse. After that, Johnny started working in anime and started voice acting in almost every year that followed. Johnny has a very versatile personality and has played different characters over the years. In the year 1994, Johnny got a major role in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as Adam Park and the Black Power Ranger, a veteran ranger and a main character that has seen many different actors throughout the entire Power Rangers series. Johnny Yong Bosch is credited as playing Adam Park and the Black Power Ranger in 68 episodes that aired over the span of three years from 1994 to 1996.

Other major titles that Johnny has voiced over the years include protagonists of classic series like Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach, Vash the Stampede from Trigun, and Lelouch from the Code Geass series. These series, and several more, went on to do extremely well, leading to Bosch becoming one of the most well-known voices in English anime dubs. Recently, Johnny has starred in the new Netflix English redub of Neon Genesis Evangelion and its compilation movie, Death & Rebirth as Toji Suzuhara and in [Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba as Giyu Tomioka.

Johnny Yong Bosch also started his voice acting career in the video game world in 2002 and, shortly after, he began starring in a number of other games as well. Some of the most popular game characters that feature Bosch’s voice Iron Fist from Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Kung Jin from Mortal Kombat 11, and Tohru Adachi from Persona 4. More recent video game roles include Broly from Dragon Ball FighterZ (replacing Vic Mignogna), Nero from Devil May Cry 5 (where Bosch is also credited for doing motion capture as well), and Zero (a character from the Mega Man series) from Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.

As an incredibly popular voice actor, Johnny Yong Bosch is also invited as a guest to many different anime conventions across the country. Every year, Bosch is noted as attending around a dozen conventions, though this number varies slightly from year to year. One convention that Bosch likes to visit in particular is a convention in Tennessee called Yama-Con, which he has attended every year since 2012.

Awards and Achievements

Bosch has won the People’s Choice Award for “Voice Actor of the Year” at the 1st Annual BTVA Anime Dub Awards in 2013. In the same awards ceremony two years later, he was also awarded the People’s Choice Award for “Best Male Lead Vocal Performance in an Anime TV Series/OVA” for his performance as Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach. Johnny won the People’s Choice Award for a third time in 2018 for “Best Male Supporting Vocal Performance in an Anime Television Series/OVA as Julius Kingsley from Code Geass: Akito the Exiled during the 6th Annual BTVA Anime Dub Awards.

Musical Career

Up until 2017, Bosch was also in a band named Eyeshine, where he wrote songs, played guitar, and sang vocals. Bosch himself says that Eyeshine is an “Edge Rock” band -- a style of rock that blends grunge, punk, pop, and alternative rock. Bosch’s personal musical inspirations range from The Beatles, to the Foo Fighters, to Nirvana, to even movie soundtracks. The band released an album titled “Sonosis” and performed live shows as well. Their final performance, however, happened in December 2017 at an anime convention called Yama-Con.

Johnny Yong Bosch also seems to be heavily involved in another band named Where Giants Fall, which has currently released two singles on various platforms, like their YouTube page. A Twitter account for the band has also been active since April 2017, implying that there was a point where Bosch was a part of both Eyeshine and When Giants Fall at the same time. Their most recent release is a single entitled “Undone”. Like with Eyeshine, Bosch sings vocals and plays guitar for this band. However, Bosch is also credited for playing other instruments like drums and bass as well.

Personal Life

He is currently married to Amy Bosch and they have a daughter named Novi and a son named Jetson.

Links

Johnn Yong Bosch Twitter
Music Video for “Undone” by When Giants Fall