Daisuke Ban

Daisuke Ban (伴 大介, Ban Daisuke^?), born Kiyonori Saito (斎藤 清憲, Saitō Kiyonori^?), is a Japanese actor. He was born on May 5, 1947 in Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo. He is best known for his role as Jiro in Android Kikaider.

Ban attended Saitama-Ken High School. While in college, Ban performed in a theater group that performed the works of French playwrights. He held a small job at a teahouse during college. Though he considered becoming a salaryman, ultimately he turned to acting. His first role was Oumuto Ni Watori, in 1971. He did not, however, audition for his breakout role in Kikaider. His photo was one of many sent in to NET while they were casting the programme - Ban was one of several finalists, and the producer's wife reportedly looked at his photo and said, "He's the one!". He was then cast in the title role. According to Ban in an interview in Otaku USA magazine, his casting was fairly typical, with him meeting Toei executives.

Ban appeared in all 43 episodes of the original Kikaider, and also appeared in several episodes of the sequel series Kikaider 01. According to Ban, Kikaider was very much like a typical television drama, and not significantly different despite the subject matter and formula of the show. He felt that the strength of the series lay in the story and characters, even though the action scenes are those most typically highlighted. He has described Kikaider's story as "perfect", and expressed his desire for the series to be remade (he did not mention the anime adaptation released in 2000). He also commented in the Otaku USA interview that he only met Kikaider's creator, Shotaro Ishinomori, once.

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