Who Voices Natsu Dragneel in Fairy Tail? Tetsuya Kakihara & Todd Haberkorn -

Natsu Dragneel, the fiery Dragon Slayer and main protagonist of Fairy Tail, is voiced in Japanese by Tetsuya Kakihara. In the English dub, Natsu is voiced by Todd Haberkorn. Kakihara has portrayed Natsu across the original anime series, films, OVAs, games, and Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, making him one of the franchise’s defining voices.

Japanese Voice Actor: Tetsuya Kakihara

Date of Birth

December 24, 1982

About Tetsuya

Tetsuya Kakihara is a German-born Japanese voice actor and singer known for energetic protagonists and emotionally intense performances. His portrayal of Natsu Dragneel became one of the signature roles of his career thanks to Natsu’s explosive personality, loyalty, humor, and battle intensity.

Beyond Fairy Tail, Kakihara is widely recognized for voicing Simon in Gurren Lagann, Lloyd Bannings in The Legend of Heroes games, and Scaramouche/Wanderer in Genshin Impact. His vocal style often combines fiery enthusiasm with emotional vulnerability, which made him a natural fit for Natsu’s character arc.

Hometown

Düsseldorf, Germany (formerly West Germany)

Career Highlights

Natsu Dragneel — Fairy Tail
Simon — Gurren Lagann
Lloyd Bannings — The Legend of Heroes series
Prompto Argentum — Final Fantasy XV
Scaramouche/Wanderer — Genshin Impact
Amaimon — Blue Exorcist
K1-B0 — Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony
Shing Meteoryte — Tales of Hearts
Mikuni Alicein — Servamp

Full Current Filmography

The following list reflects documented credits from the cited public sources and major officially released productions.

Anime

Fairy Tail — Natsu Dragneel
Fairy Tail Zero — Natsu Dragneel
Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest — Natsu Dragneel
Gurren Lagann — Simon
Blue Exorcist — Amaimon
Servamp — Mikuni Alicein
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest — Kouki Amanogawa
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun — Jazz M. Andro
Aharen-san wa Hakarenai — Ishikawa
Wistoria: Wand and Sword — Julius Reinberg
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 — Nolan Oshet
Toward the Terra — Kim
Smile PreCure! — Brian
Rinne of the Boundary — Masato
Shōnen Onmyōji — Onmyōji Trainee
Nurarihyon no Mago — Jirō Shima

Anime Films

Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess — Natsu Dragneel
Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry — Natsu Dragneel
The Garden of Sinners: Paradox Spiral — Tomoe Enjō
King of Prism by Pretty Rhythm — Kōji Mihama
My Hero Academia: You’re Next — En

Video Games

Fairy Tail — Natsu Dragneel
Fairy Tail 2 — Natsu Dragneel
Final Fantasy XV — Prompto Argentum
Genshin Impact — Scaramouche/Wanderer
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Zero — Lloyd Bannings
The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure — Lloyd Bannings
Code: Realize — Victor Frankenstein
Danganronpa V3 — K1-B0
Tales of Hearts — Shing Meteoryte
Granblue Fantasy — Elmott
Langrisser Mobile — Matthew
Phantasy Star Online 2 — Huey
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle — Jin Kisaragi / Hakumen
Xenoblade Chronicles X — Avatar voice
Dragon’s Dogma Online — Pawn voices

Critical Reception

Tetsuya Kakihara’s performance as Natsu is frequently praised by anime fans for capturing the character’s reckless confidence, comedic timing, and emotional intensity during major battles. His energetic delivery became closely associated with Natsu’s identity throughout the long-running franchise.

Critics and viewers have also highlighted how Kakihara balances Natsu’s loud, chaotic personality with sincere emotional moments involving Fairy Tail’s guild members and Igneel. His return for Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest was widely celebrated among longtime fans.

Our Sources

Behind The Voice Actors – Natsu Dragneel (https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/characters/Fairy-Tail/Natsu-Dragneel/)

Wikipedia – Tetsuya Kakihara (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsuya_Kakihara)

IMDb – Tetsuya Kakihara (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2132616/)

Japanese Voice-Over Wikia – Tetsuya Kakihara (https://japanese-voiceover.fandom.com/wiki/Tetsuya_Kakihara)

Wikipedia – Natsu Dragneel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natsu_Dragneel)

Wikipedia – Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_Tail%3A_Dragon_Cry)

Social Media

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tetsuya_kakihara/

Official Profile: https://kiramune.jp/artist/kakihara/

English Voice Actor: Todd Haberkorn

Date of Birth

August 16, 1982 (en.wikipedia.org)

About Todd

Todd Haberkorn is the English voice actor behind Natsu Dragneel in the Funimation/Crunchyroll English dub of Fairy Tail. His energetic, explosive performance helped define Natsu for English-speaking anime audiences and became one of the most recognizable shonen dub performances of the 2010s.

Haberkorn is known for bringing intense enthusiasm, comedic timing, and emotional range to action-oriented anime protagonists. Outside of Fairy Tail, he has voiced major characters in Soul Eater, Ouran High School Host Club, Hetalia, Black Butler, Dragon Ball, and numerous video games and animated productions.

His portrayal of Natsu has remained consistent across the original anime, OVAs, films, specials, games, and sequel productions including Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest. (behindthevoiceactors.com)

Hometown

Arlington, Texas, USA (imdb.com)

Career Highlights

Natsu Dragneel — Fairy Tail
Death the Kid — Soul Eater
Italy Veneziano — Hetalia: Axis Powers
Allen Walker — D.Gray-man
Hikaru Hitachiin — Ouran High School Host Club
Ling Yao — Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Keroro — Sgt. Frog
Tsukune Aono — Rosario + Vampire
Yamato Akitsuki — Suzuka
Draco Malfoy — Harry Potter video game adaptations
Razor — Genshin Impact
The Drifter — Destiny 2 (en.wikipedia.org)

Full Current Filmography

The following list reflects documented major credits from publicly available sources and officially released productions.

Anime

Fairy Tail — Natsu Dragneel
Fairy Tail Zero — Natsu Dragneel
Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest — Natsu Dragneel
Soul Eater — Death the Kid
Ouran High School Host Club — Hikaru Hitachiin
D.Gray-man — Allen Walker
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood — Ling Yao
Black Butler — Death Scythe
Hetalia: Axis Powers — Italy Veneziano
Rosario + Vampire — Tsukune Aono
Sgt. Frog — Keroro
Dragon Ball Super — Dr. Lychee
Tokyo Ghoul — Ayato Kirishima
Assassination Classroom — Tadaomi Karasuma
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. — Kusuke Saiki
Bungo Stray Dogs — Mark Twain
Noragami — Kazuma
Attack on Titan — Additional voices
One Piece — Various characters
My Hero Academia — Additional voices (behindthevoiceactors.com)

Anime Films

Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess — Natsu Dragneel
Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry — Natsu Dragneel
Summer Wars — Kazuma Ikezawa
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos — Ling Yao
Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic — Death Scythe (imdb.com)

Video Games

Fairy Tail — Natsu Dragneel
Fairy Tail 2 — Natsu Dragneel
Genshin Impact — Razor
Destiny 2 — The Drifter
Dragon Ball Xenoverse — Shallot
Final Fantasy XIII — Cid Raines
Fire Emblem Heroes — Siegbert
SMITE — Sun Wukong
Ace Attorney Investigations 2 — Sebastian Debeste
Borderlands 3 — Additional voices
Street Fighter V — Additional voices
Marvel Avengers Academy — Loki (behindthevoiceactors.com)

Critical Reception

Todd Haberkorn’s performance as Natsu Dragneel has long been considered one of the standout English dub performances in modern shonen anime. Fans frequently praise his ability to balance Natsu’s loud, comedic personality with emotionally charged scenes during major guild conflicts and character-driven story arcs.

Anime reviewers have also credited Haberkorn’s chemistry with the wider English Fairy Tail cast as a major reason the dub gained a strong international following. His version of Natsu became especially popular at anime conventions and dub panels throughout the 2010s.