was a Japanese actor, voice actor, and talent manager from Kimobetsu, Hokkaidō. He was represented by Kenyu Horiuchi's Kenyu Office until the time of his death.
Until 1977, he performed under his birth name .
He is most known for the roles of Takeshi "Gian" Gōda (Doraemon), Warusa (Time Bokan), and Tonzura (Yatterman).
Biography
Early life Tatekabe was born in Kimobetsu, Hokkaidō on July 25, 1934.スキルス胃がんの手術後も声優業を精力的に続ける声優界のベテラン、 たてかべ和也さん 「人ありてこそ、我あり」の姿勢が、がんを追い払う強運をもたらした | がんサポート (in Japanese), Cancer Support, February 22, 2017. His ancestors were pyrethrum farmers. His late father used to work for the Iburi Longitudinal Railway, but when he became too weak to continue working, the family moved to Shimokitazawa, Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, in 1942, when Tatekabe was in second grade. If they hadn't done so, he might have stuck in Hokkaidō.『演声人語: ベテラン声優が語る役者人生』(in Japanese). Sony Magazines. June 2000, pages 101-112. . He once said, "I might have worked for an agricultural cooperative, gotten married, had grandchildren, watched Doraemon by the stove, and listened to the voice of Gian, who was probably played by someone else, and wondered, 'Who is that nasty voice? Tatekabe was born an only child, and as a young boy, he was similar to the character of Nobita, as he spoke with a slight Hokkaido accent and was a frequent victim of bullying throughout his childhood years.
During the war, while Tatekabe was in fourth grade elementary school, he was evacuated to Asama Onsen in the northeast of Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, but was then evacuated again to Senba in Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture. He would wet his bed every night around that time, a habit that continued for six months close to the end of the war. Once he returned to his parents' home from the evacuation site, he was able to finally stop wetting his bed.
Every day when he returned home from Daizawa National School, now known as Daizawa Elementary School, in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, he was absorbed in playing baseball, a passion that continued after entering Tokyo Agricultural Education College Junior High School.
Career During high school, Tatekabe was asked to take part in the drama club's production of Alt Heidelberg as Dr. Jüttner, to which he was met with praise from audiences, leading him to believe that he had the talent to become an actor and that theater was interesting. However, he did not end up joining the drama club because he disliked being tied down to anything. Afterwards, he started to see plays all over Tokyo nearly every week. He was impressed by every play he saw and thought, "This is the only way I can live my life," and his desire of becoming an actor in the business grew stronger. However, Tatekabe was not particularly interested in acting. After graduating from high school, Tatekabe entered the Department of Theater Arts at the Nihon University College of Art.https://kenyu-office.com/tatekabekazuya/, Retrieved April 28, 2020. One of his university classmates and friends was Kiyoshi Kobayashi.【アメリア】みんなで作るインタビュー6・小林清志さん紹介編, Viewed on February 22, 2017.
After Tatekabe graduated from high school, he wanted to join a professional theater company as soon as possible and become a trainee. However, when he saw his parents' faces, he could not bring himself to tell them. As an only child, he had previously thought that he would become a businessman someday and take care of his parents. He also did not like studying very much, and had the impression that he would be able to just have fun in the theater department, so he went to the university. Even after entering university, he did not study, but participated in many theater productions, including "The Bottom". Around this time, Tatekabe began to become interested in producing, and for a while focused on studying as a production staff member.
After Tatekabe graduated from the university, he went around applying to various broadcasting companies with hopes of becoming a television producer, but ended up failing at all of the job interviews he had to do in order to proceed. While working as a stagehand at Nippon Television, he teamed up with university classmate Yasuo Tanaka to form the theater company Engeki-za and performed "Poison and Old Lady" in Sapporo, Hokkaido. Kobayashi asked Tatekabe to join his Izumiza theater company, which Tatekabe agreed to it. The Izumiza theater company performed plays about the People's Republic of China, but most of the plays were ideological and were considered uninteresting. When Tatekabe was asked if he wanted to do it, he accepted before going on-stage.
After TV broadcasting began, Tatekabe officially began his career as a voice actor. His first voice acting roles were dubbing foreign films." Special Feature: Gian Speaks! An Interview with Kazuya Tatekabe" in "Freestyle 27" (「特集 ジャイアン・スピークス! たてかべ和也インタビュー」『フリースタイル27』) (in Japanese). Freestyle. October 6, 2014. pages 49–69. . He had no memory of the first dub he partook in, other than being told that it would be "profitable". Tatekabe's television drama debut was in Dial 110. Tatekabe was a member of the theater company Mitou,"Animation Encyclopedia" (『アニメーション大百科』), Tokyo Sanseisha, 1981, 206 pages. Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society『声優の世界－アニメーションから外国映画まで』(in Japanese), Asahi Sonorama, Fantastic Collection Special Edition, October 30, 1979, 90 pages. and Ezaki Productions『出演者名簿（1978年版）』(in Japanese), Copyright Materials Association, 1977, 286 pages. throughout his career.
He originally performed using under his real name Kazuya Tatekabe (立壁 和也), but after appearing in Time Bokan, he changed his name to Kazuya Tatekabe (たてかべ和也) so that children could easily understand it.
There was a slight misunderstanding between Tatekabe and his manager at the agency, and he initially thought it was a mismatch, but soon realized that there were other people around him who had similar doubts. Having decided to do it himself, in 1979, Tatekabe officially founded Office Chuo, serving as both its president and as a voice actor. He tried to sell everyone by acting as a manager, but in the end, he was the only popular one, so he had no desire to be actor and manager at the same time. He had no choice but to do it because of Time Bokan and Doraemon, though in reality he wanted to sell everyone. During his time at Office Chuo, he met Kenyu Horiuchi. The people who had been with him despite the opposition of the agency members said, "Let's keep going like this," because they had been working hard for five years. However, as pressure came on the agency, they realized that things would be hard if they went on as is, so they decided to merge in 1984 and absorbed into Production Baobab."ぷろだくしょんバオバブ 会社概要 (in Japanese_, pro-baobab.jp, Accessed February 22, 2017. After Horiuchi ended up leaving Baobab to establish Kenyu Office, Tatekabe also decided to leave with him in order to work for the same agency, serving as director.
Awards In 2005, Tatekabe, along his Doraemon co-stars Nobuyo Ōyama, Noriko Ohara, Michiko Nomura, and Kaneta Kimotsuki, received the Rikiya Tayama Award at the 14th Japan Movie Critics Awards.過去の受賞作品, Japan Film Critics Awards, Retrieved February 22, 2017. In November 2006, they received the Special Award at the 11th Animation Kobe第11回アニメーション神戸賞受賞者･受賞作品決定, Animation Kobe, Animation Kobe Executive Committee Secretariat. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015, Retrieved April 29, 2025. and in March 2007, they received the 3rd Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tokyo International Anime Fair.東京国際アニメフェアで功労賞発表 (3/24), Anime! Anime!, March 24, 2007.
Final years and death In 2009, Tatekabe was diagnosed with gastric cancer and had to have his entire stomach removed.さらばジャイアン 声優・たてかべ和也さん80歳で死去, Sports Hochi, June 21, 2015. During his medical treatment, he was determined to complete his role as Tonzura in the Yatterman series, as before the cancer diagnosis, he never got a serious illness, therefore having never been hospitalized.
Tatekabe died from acute respiratory failure in Tokyo on June 18, 2015, at 80 years old.初代ジャイアン役、たてかべ和也さん死去, Nikkan Sports, June 19, 2015. He was single all his life, and was said to have been attended by his relatives and staff at his agency during his final moments. After undergoing gastrectomy in 2009, he did not suffer from a recurrence of cancer, but his health declined until his final years, and he died of senility, with his final voice acting role being Max Tennyson in the Japanese version of Ben 10.
Tributes
A memorial caption for Tatekabe was shown at the beginning of the Doraemon anime episode broadcast on June 19, 2015.たてかべさんを「ドラえもん」で追悼 番組冒頭にテロップ, goo News (June 19, 2015) Archived from the original on June 19, 2015. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
Upon the announcement of Tatekabe's death, close family, fans, TV Asahiたてかべ和也さん逝去について, Archived on June 23, 2015 at the Wayback Machine, TV Asahi, June 19, 2015. and former partner Horiuchi mourned his death, as well as his Doraemon successor Subaru Kimura,現ジャイアン木村昴「俺さまに任せてください」, Nikkan Sports, June 20, 2015. current Doraemon voice actress Wasabi Mizuta,水田わさび、たてかべさんに感謝, Asahi Shimbun Digital, June 21, 2015. Akira Kamiya,神谷明、たてかべ和也さん悼む...「兄弟のように接していただいた」, Sponichi Annex, June 19, 2015. Shigeru Chiba, and Kazuhiko Inoue on social media,"さようなら、ジャイアン たてかべ和也さん死去に大物声優から悲しみの声続々", J-CAST News, June 19, 2015. with the Fujiko F. Fujio Museum also sharing a memorial message in condolence.たてかべさんのご冥福を心からお祈りいたします。, Fujiko F. Fujio Museum Official Blog, June 19, 2015.
Tatekabe's wake was held at the Aoyama Funeral Hall on June 23, and was attended by around 900 people, including Subaru Kimura, Wasabi Mizuta, Noriko Ohara, Michiko Nomura, Kaneta Kimotsuki, Keiko Yokozawa, Masako Nozawa, Mika Kanai, Koichi Yamadera, and Keiko Toda."ジャイアン"通夜に仲間が続々参列, Daily Sports, June 23, 2015 Many voice actors and related parties sent flowers during the event.
At the wake, Horiuchi, as the funeral committee chairman, gave a speech for Tatekabe, and Kimotsuki gave a eulogy. Kimotsuki, a very close friend of Tatekabe, prayed for the Hanshin Tigers' victory for Tatekabe, as he was a Hanshin Tigers fan, saying, "Hanshin is in the running to win. I hope they win", and ended by crying out in Doraemon character Suneo's voice, "Gian, why did you go before me, even though you're Gian?".
Tatekabe's funeral was held on June 24 at the same location as the wake, being attended by around 600 people. Following the wake, Kimotsuki read a eulogy, expressing his gratitude by saying, "The 26 years of Doraemon have been really fun. It's all thanks to you, Kabe-san," and concluded by shouting "Gian!" as Suneo. Horiuchi, who served as the funeral committee chairman, also spoke out, stating on his official website, "I will never forget your teachings and will see you off without shedding a tear until the very end." At first, he tried to hold back his tears, but at the end, he cried out "Kabe-san, Kabe-san" to Tatekabe's portrait, his voice shaking, and tearfully expressed his gratitude, "He was the best teacher in Japan."スネ夫が「ジャイアーン！」たてかべ和也さん葬儀 (in Japanese), Nikkan Sports, June 24, 2015.
Inside his coffin, Tatekabe was wearing a Gian T-shirt with a microphone resembling Gian's recital mic, with many stuffed plushies of the character by his side.ジャイアン声優・木村昴 先代・たてかべ和也さんの「最初で最後のアドバイス」語る 別れで意味を実感 (in Japanese), Sponichi Annex, October 27, 2024. At the funeral procession, 80 balloons in the shape of white birds were released at the office's request and Tatekabe's body was cremated at Kirigaya Funeral Hall in Shinagawa Ward.
The funeral was organized by Kenyu Office, whom Tatekabe was affiliated up until his death.たてかべ和也さん通夜は「楽しく送ってあげたい」と献杯に...日本代表する声優らが供花 (in Japanese), News Lounge, June 23, 2015.
Kenyu Office has kept Tatekabe's profile up after his death, treating him as a "permanently affiliated" employee of the company.たてかべ和也：Tatekabe Kazuya 株式会社ケンユウオフィス (in Japanese).
Personality