 Prolific voice actor Keiji Fujiwara, best known as Hunter x Hunter's Leorio Paladiknight and Fullmetal Alchemist's Maes Hughes, died on Sunday due to cancer. He was 55 years old.According to a post on his talent management company Air Agency's official website, Fujiwara had been fighting cancer for some time. The wake ceremony and funeral were held by his relatives only. Born in Tokyo in 1964, Fujiwara spent most of his childhood in the Iwate Prefecture. He graduated from Senshu Daigaku Kitakami High School and went back to Tokyo to attend Bungakuza Theater Research Institute. He performed in many theatre troupes, notably Kiyama Office, during the 1980s. Fujiwara debuted as a voice actor with RPG Densetsu Hepoi at talent agency Ken Production in the early 90s and first appeared as a regular in Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms). He landed his breakthrough role, Shinnosuke's father Hiroshi Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan, in 1992. Fujiwara left Ken Production in 2006 and founded Air Agency. He also began lecturing at Japan Newart College in 2008. In August 2016, he took a break from his work to receive medical treatment for an unspecified illness, but resumed voice acting the following June while taking his health into consideration. During his hiatus, Toshiyuki Morikawa took over his role as Hiroshi Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan. Source: Oricon News |
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| NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Rest in peace, he was one of my favorites. |
| :3 |
| The smoothest voice in the industry. Rest in peace. |
| MEA·MENTVLA·INGENS·EST |
| RIP T_T It's really a shock... |
| This is upsetting. I had no idea he even had cancer. Incredibly prolific and talented VA. Ladd Russo in Baccano will always be my favorite role of his. What a performance. Rest in peace, FujiKei. |
| Oh man, what a tragedy. Hughes is like one of the most emblematic characters ever. Thank you and may you rest in peace. |
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| Loved him as Haku. Damn cancer. |
| Deeply saddening news. Nobody should die at such a young age. RIP. |
| One of the most recognizable voice in the industry. Hearing that he has passed away is truly saddening. Rest in peace ;_; |
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| Holy moly... I will really miss him.. Heartseed, Jin Toujou, Leorio, Byakuya Ishigami, Kimura... Amazing talent, and voice Rest In Peace Keiji-san. |
| He may have died but his voice will live forever Rest in peace |
| "This is my father's crime against me, which I myself committed against none" Al-ma'arri |
| For anyone currently playing the FF7 Remake with Japanese voice acting, he does Reno's voice (and also Ardyn from FFXV). Stellar performance for the character, and it's really sad to hear him pass away. Rest in peace, sir. |
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| literally before going to bed I was reading satoshi kons final words and now I have to wake up to this |
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| Deeply saddening news. Rest in Peace, sir. It has been a true pleasure to listen to his acting for the last 5 years or so. |
_MushiRock11_Apr 16, 2020 6:02 AM
#Anime4Life be my Life Motto! #PrayForKyoAni  |
| ............How am I supposed to finish re-watching HxH NOW?! This is so sad, I couldn't believe when I read these news this morning but deep down I remembered his break from some time ago and it all clicked together rest in peace best of the best |
| This is heartbreaking. I technically grew up hearing his voice in many, many animes. Rest in peace. |
| RIP Granblue Fantasy player here so I hear his voice every now and then as Eugen SOIYA! |
| This is not your planet to rule. The Fallen shall rise again. |
| One of my all-time favorite people in the industry. Rest in peace. I am going to remember him the most for the voice of Holland Novak. I hope all of his lines for Hi-Evolution 3 were filmed already so we can properly honor him one last time :( |
| RIP I love his Leorio and his other characters especially in video games Today is a terrible day to rain |
"Signature removed"   |
It's happening again. What s terrible day for a rain. |
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| RIP. First time VA that the I know passed away. |
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| May he rest in peace 🙏 |
| RIP You will be dearly miss !! T-T |
| I woke up reading this new and I was in shock. He was one of my favorite Japanese voice actors, with a very charismatic and recognizable voice and an incredible talent. Hard to believe that he was voicing Byakuya Ishigami in Doctor Stone a few months ago. I was worried for him when he announced his hiatus back in late 2016, but I got better when he returned later in 2017/2018, but I had no idea he was suffering from cancer. He was young too, two years older than my father. Curiously, I re-watched Prison School in February and I loved his performance as the Principal of the school (among many others such as Leorio, Esidisi, Hughes, Ladd Russo...), which makes his death the more devastating. I still cannot believe that I will not hear his voice ever again in any new anime. This is very sad. May he Rest in Peace, and condolences to his family. What a terrible day to rain indeed ;_; |
IllyricusApr 16, 2020 5:06 AM
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| This is devastating. Not gonna lie, I have a rather bad ear for voices and don't always recognize even voice actors I've heard in many, many roles before. But this guy, I would recognize every single time without fail due to his unique voice and outstanding delivery of lines. I first heard him in Honey and Clover nearly 15 years ago, and it was instant love. In fact, one of his lines there left such an impression on me that it's still one of the first things I think about when I think of the anime, an all-time favorite. You were (and will always remain) one of my favorite voice actors. Thank you so much for having chosen to go into voice acting and sharing your voice with the world. May you find peace in your rest. |
| He had one of the most recognizable voices. This news really stings. :< |
| We're the same. Nuisances with nowhere to go. |
| This is not the kind of news you would want to wake up to. He was one of my favorite seiyus so hearing him pass feels tragic. May he rest in peace. |
This is really sad... One of the most memorable voice actors. RIP But how come so many seiyus die because of cancer? Is it because of stress or an unhealthy lifestyle? |
| Aaaah.. i knew i've seen his name before when seeing this news.. so it was Leorio and Hughes VA... Thank you for your hard work. Rest in Peace... ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡ |
 I'm starting to get embarrassed by my own forum signature line.. XD |
| Seriously loved him as leorio, rip |
pls play jet set radio future for the microsoft xbox. thanks |
| He was one of the best, he had such a unique and instantly recognizable voice especially when playing a more villainous role. Such a major loss. |
Immahnoob said: Jizzy, I know you have no idea how to argue for shit, tokiyashiro said: Jizzy as you would call yourself because youre a dick The most butthurt award goes to you And clearly you havent watched that many shows thats why you cant determine if a show is unique or not Or maybe you're just a child who likes common stuffs where hero saves the day and guys gets all the girls. Sad taste you have there kid you came up to me in the first place making you look more like a kid who got slapped without me even knowing it and start crying about it to me |
| Jesus christ this was truly a shock. He had a unique, unforgettable voice and voiced so many memorable characters. He was so young too. RIP |
| Nooooooooo :( RIP. I will miss him. |
| Well, damn... This is truly sad news. |
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| 2020。。。。。。。。。。 |
| Oh, dear. and he was still going strong in the voice acting industry despise his condition. All of the characters that I know of that he voiced was likeable to some degree. R,I,P. Keiji Fujiwara, You were amazing |
| How I love a game |
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