Kenji Matsuda

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Kenji Matsuda (松田賢二, Matsuda Kenji^?, born September 23, 1971 in Osaka) is a Japanese actor. Matsuda began acting in high school when a girl he had a crush on convinced him to join the theatre club. He later joined the sho-gekijo thratrical troupe Haiyu-Za. Nowadays known for roles such as Kagero in the low budget films Shinobi: The Law of Shinobi, 2002, and its sequel Shinobi: Runaway, 2005 (not related to the 2005 film Shinobi: Heart Under Blade). Probably best known in Japan as Zaoumaru Zaitsuhara/Kamen Rider Zanki in the Tokusatsu television series Kamen Rider Hibiki, 2005-2006 and as the Buddhist monk Kamen Rider Touki in the movie special.

He is most internationally known, however, for his role as the Butterfly knife wielding gangster in Ryuhei Kitamura's pop culture hit film, Versus. Matsuda currently portrays Jiro/Garulu, the Werewolf contract monster of the protagonist (a storyline in the 2008 Arc) and one of the users of the prototype system of Kamen Rider IXA (in the 1986 storyline) in Kamen Rider Kiva. He has also lent his voice to the Wii video game Dragon Quest Swords as the hero's father, Baud.