Takeshi Aono

Takeshi Aono (青野 武 , Aono Takeshi , June 19, 1936 – April 9, 2012) was a Japanese voice actor and narrator from Asahikawa, Hokkaidō. He was attached to Aoni Production at the time of his death. He graduated from Hokkaidō Asahikawa Higashi High School.

Aono was most known for the roles of Shiro Sanada (Space Battleship Yamato), Rihaku (Fist of the North Star), Nurarihyon (GeGeGe no Kitaro), Piccolo Daimao and Kami-sama (Dragon Ball), Kumahachi Kumada (Kiteretsu Daihyakka), Dakuan (Ninja Scroll), Gen Fu (Dead or Alive), Dezsaras (Transformers: Victory), Jinpachi Mishima (Demon form) (Tekken 5/Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection) and Tomozō Sakura (Chibi Maruko-chan). In the live action field, Aono was the official dubbing artist of Joe Pesci and Christopher Lloyd. Aono was also known to appear in the first ten One Piece movies. He is also known to gamers as the voice of the diabolical Dr. Wily in the PlayStation-era Mega Man games, and Colonel Roy Campbell of the Metal Gear games. Aono is mostly remembered for his harsh voice for many Japanese anime series.

In May 2010, Aono checked into a hospital for an aortic dissection and suffered a stroke shortly thereafter, thus ending his career as a voice actor. His ongoing roles were replaced by other voice actors.

At about 4:38 pm on April 9, 2012, Aono suffered a bout of post-operative multiple cerebral infarctions and was found dead. Voice actress Eiko Hisamura announced Aono's death via her Twitter feed, and video game designer Hideo Kojima stated via his Twitter that he will retire the Roy Campbell character from the Metal Gear series out of respect for Aono. Aono was 75 years old at the time of his death.

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