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Prolific Voice Actor Akio Ohtsuka Becomes Capybara in Shower Promotional Video
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Japanese building materials and housing equipment company Lixil hired voice actor Akio Ohtsuka (Black Jack's Black Jack, Ghost in the Shell's Batou, Bleach's Shunsui Kyōraku) to help sell bathroom shower equipment. Ohtsuka plays a capybara in an "animal feeling" video that Lixil posted in June.
In the video, a hot capybara loses all his motivation in the heat. The water-loving creature is getting dried out in the sun and wants to do nothing but lie around. However, a stream of water suddenly pours down on his head and offers relief. The rodent is finally able to relax in the bliss of the cool shower.
Ohtsuka is known for a deep and serious tone in most of his voice roles, but he adopts an uncharacteristically amiable and light-hearted voice in the video. Some online commenters said that they have never heard Ohtsuka sound so cute before.
The capybara in the video lives at Nagasaki Bio Park in Nagasaki. One of the park's main attractions is its capybaras. Various zoos throughout Japan feature capybara hot springs during cold months, and the animal is also the star of a popular character goods line.
Ohtsuka is not the only voice actor to lend his voice to a real animal in videos recently. Jun Fukuyama and Takahiro Sakurai have both starred as chipmunks in videos to promote Tokyo-area apartments.
[Via Nijimen]
