Kimura voices the title character in Howl's Moving Castle, a role that requires vanity, cowardice and eventual courage delivered without any of the projection a stage career would encourage. The casting was a commercial decision that turned out to be an artistic one: he plays the character's fragility rather than his glamour.
He came to fame as a member of an enormously successful Japanese pop group and became one of the most recognisable public figures in the country, working extensively in television drama alongside music. Voice performance is a very small part of his output, which is why this role stands out so sharply on his filmography.
Recurring subjects: charm concealing insecurity, characters whose confidence is a performance, and understated delivery in roles that invite excess. He plays low and conversationally, and his screen and voice work both rely on restraint rather than on the projection a stadium music career would suggest.
His pop group was among the most commercially successful in Japanese history, and his television dramas drew enormous audiences for two decades. His animation voice role introduced him to international audiences who had no knowledge of any of that.
For viewers who want to hear a national celebrity playing entirely against that status. Suited to families approaching the animated feature, and to those curious about Japanese television drama of the period, which he dominated for two decades.
