Japanese Voice Actor Keiji Fujiwara Passes Away at 55 Due to Cancer

While news of the Coronavirus pandemic is still sweeping the news especially in Japan, the Japanese anime and video game industry has lost another great person after a battle with cancer. It was announced by AirAgency on Thursday that voice actor Keiji Fujiwara has passed away on Sunday, April 12. Fujiwara was 55 years old. His family held a private wake and funeral.

Fujiwara is a powerhouse in the industry and has voiced many characters anime, movies, and video games, the notable ones are Hiroshi Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan, Holland in Eureka 7, Maes Hughes in Fullmetal Alchemist, Leorio in the 2011 Hunter × Hunter anime, Axel in Kingdom Hearts, Ardyn in Final Fantasy XV, Reno in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Final Fantasy VII Remake, and ACDC in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

His other roles include Ladd Russo in Baccano!, Shuichi Aizawa in Death Note, Ali al-Saachez in Gundam 00, Shirō Fujimoto in Blue Exorcist, Eugen in Granblue Fantasy, and the Japanese dub voice for Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark in The Avengers film.

Fujiwara was born on October 5, 1964 in Tokyo. During his career on voice acting, he announced in August 2016 that he will go on hiatus for treatment over an illness that he did not announce publicly. He then returned to work in 2017.

In 2006, he founded the Air Agency talent management agency. He was the company’s representative director until he passed away.

May you rest in peace Mr. Fujiwara. Thank you for giving voices to great characters that are surely will never be forgotten by many anime, video game, and movie fans around the world.  You will be forever missed.

Synopses of Some the Series and Franchises Fujiwara Have Worked

About Crayon Shin-Chan

Just because an anime features a young protagonist does not necessarily mean that it is an appropriate series to show your children. Young Shinnosuke, or Shin-chan for short, is a very creative young boy that lives with his eccentric parents, Misae and Hiroshi, as well as his Prima Donna younger sister, Himawari, and has loads of unique friends to boot.

Everyday life for little Shin-chan is full of funny (and shocking) moments, most of which stem from his unnatural and sometimes profane use of language, as well as his constant acts of inappropriate behavior. Shin-chan’s famous “elephant” gag is one of the most defining moments in Crayon Shin-chan, simply because it is the epitome of crude comedy, one of the core themes of the series.

Crayon Shin-chan is a hilarious show about the day in the life of a young, curious boy, that captures the awkwardness of growing up as well as the beauty of being true to one’s self, no matter what others say.

About Eureka 7

In the backwater town of Bellforest lives a 14-year-old boy named Renton Thurston. He desires to leave his home behind and join the mercenary group known as Gekkostate, hoping to find some adventure to brighten up his mundane life. However, stuck between his grandfather’s insistence to become a mechanic like him and the pressure of his deceased father’s legacy, the only excitement Renton finds is in his pastime of riding the Trapar wave particles that are dispersed throughout the air, an activity akin to surfing.

Everything changes when an unknown object crashes through Renton’s garage, discovered to be a Light Finding Operation—a robot capable of riding the Trapar waves—specifically known as the Nirvash typeZERO. Its pilot is a young girl named Eureka, a member of the Gekkostate, who requests a tune-up for the Nirvash. Their meeting sparks the beginning of Renton’s involvement with the Gekkostate as he takes off alongside Eureka as the co-pilot of the Nirvash.

About Fullmetal Alchemist

Edward Elric, a young, brilliant alchemist, has lost much in his twelve-year life: when he and his brother Alphonse try to resurrect their dead mother through the forbidden act of human transmutation, Edward loses his brother as well as two of his limbs. With his supreme alchemy skills, Edward binds Alphonse’s soul to a large suit of armor.

A year later, Edward, now promoted to the fullmetal alchemist of the state, embarks on a journey with his younger brother to obtain the Philosopher’s Stone. The fabled mythical object is rumored to be capable of amplifying an alchemist’s abilities by leaps and bounds, thus allowing them to override the fundamental law of alchemy: to gain something, an alchemist must sacrifice something of equal value. Edward hopes to draw into the military’s resources to find the fabled stone and restore his and Alphonse’s bodies to normal. However, the Elric brothers soon discover that there is more to the legendary stone than meets the eye, as they are led to the epicenter of a far darker battle than they could have ever imagined.

Source: ANN (with synopsis from MAL)