Voice Actor Unsho Ishizuka Known for Iconic Roles in Persona 4, Pokemon Has Died

Ishizuka voiced characters like Dojima in P4 and Jet Black in Cowboy Bebop.

News by Matt Kim, News Editor

17 August 2018

Veteran voice actor Unsho Ishizuka has died. The announcement was made by his talent agency through Twitter. Ishizuka was 67.

Ishizuka is probably best known for being the voice of Professor Oak as well as the narrator of Pokemon in the Japanese dub of the Pokemon anime. However, Ishizuka has a long career in the voice over industry, voicing iconic characters like Jet Black in Cowboy Beblop as well as Ryotaro Dojima from Persona 4.

The news from Ishizuka's talent agency was translated by Twitter user @bk2128, but support has come from other studios who have worked with Ishizuka including Bandai Namco.

Today we keep recently departed Ishizuka Unshou in our thoughts. He brought life to many characters with his voice, including Mr. Satan from Dragon Ball, Heihachi from Tekken, and Zabuza Momochi from Naruto. Rest in peace, Ishizuka-san. pic.twitter.com/O4FNgU0Rkb
— Bandai Namco US (@BandaiNamcoUS) August 17, 2018

He also took over the role of Dragon Ball's Mr. Satan (Hercule in North America) after voice actor Daisuke Gori died in 2010. In other video game roles, Ishizuka voiced characters like Heihachi starting in Tekken Tag Tournament 2, and Steven Armstrong in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

His most recent voice roles included "Papa" Dino Golzine in Banana Fish, as well as the narrator in Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online.

Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. See our terms & conditions.

Matt Kim

News Editor

Matt Kim is a former freelance writer who's covered video games and digital media. He likes video games as spectacle and is easily distracted by bright lights or clever bits of dialogue. He also once wrote about personal finance, but that's neither here nor there.