Jonathan Tanigaki

Jonathan Tanigaki and the Voice Behind Eiji Okumura

When Netflix announced its exclusive English dub of Banana Fish – MAPPA’s acclaimed 2018 adaptation of Akimi Yoshida’s shojo manga – one casting choice drew immediate attention. Jonathan Tanigaki, a Japanese-Taiwanese American actor out of Los Angeles, was tapped to voice Eiji Okumura, the gentle, soft-spoken Japanese photographer’s assistant whose bond with gang leader Ash Lynx forms the emotional core of the entire series. The dub, set for release on August 12, 2026, marks Tanigaki’s highest-profile anime role to date and brings a character previously available only in Japanese with subtitles to a new generation of English-speaking audiences.

Eiji Okumura is not a simple part. He functions as a moral anchor inside a brutal, grimy New York City crime narrative – someone defined by warmth and quiet courage rather than toughness. Casting an actor with genuine Japanese-American heritage in the role carries cultural weight, and Tanigaki’s background as the son of a Japanese father and Taiwanese mother positions him to bring an authenticity to Eiji’s fish-out-of-water experience that would be harder to manufacture otherwise.

From New Jersey Theater to Los Angeles Voice Work

Tanigaki’s path into performance began in New Jersey, where his sister enrolled him in a high school musical his freshman year. The stage caught him immediately. By senior year, he had earned a Rising Star nomination at the Paper Mill Playhouse for his work in Spamalot – a signal that his instincts ran well beyond casual interest. He went on to train at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, building a foundation in acting, singing, and dancing before relocating to Los Angeles.

Voice-over entered the picture alongside his on-screen work. His Voice123 profile lists credits with Netflix, Disney, and Activision, with confirmed roles including Call of Duty and a localization pass on Money Heist. He also voiced Shikamaru Nara in Re:Anime’s fan production Naruto: Climbing Silver, a credit that put him on the radar of anime-adjacent casting circles well before the Banana Fish announcement.

Screen Credits and the Broader Career Picture

On camera, Tanigaki has carved out a steady presence in prestige television. He appears in NCIS: Hawaii and S.W.A.T., and holds a role in Hulu’s Paradise. His short film work has accumulated meaningful recognition – lead performances in three Oscar-qualifying shorts (Nisei, Infinity!, and The Lights Above) and a best supporting actor win for Enemy No More across the Vegas Movie Awards, Indie Film Fest, and Indiex Fest. A reported Marvel game project, listed as undisclosed, suggests the voice-over pipeline continues to expand in parallel.

The breadth of his resume – stage, screen, voice-over, and award-circuit short films – reflects the range that AMDA-trained performers tend to build. For Banana Fish fans, the Eiji casting lands as the moment when that accumulated work gets its biggest audience yet.