Keiji Fujiwara, the voice actor for Reno in Final Fantasy VII Remake has passed away

Keiji Fujiwara, the voice actor for Prolific Pokémon has passed away at the young age of 55 from cancer. The news of his death first came out from the website of Air Agency, where his obituary was shared. He died on April 12, 2020.

Initially inspired to become a stage actor, Fujiwara entered the field of voice acting through his troupe mate Mika Kanai in pursuit of a more financially secure career. Fujiwara received his first official role as Zhang Fei of Mitsuteru Yokoyama’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms in 1991. A year later, he landed his Star-Making Role as the bumbling and hardworking Japanese dad, Hiroshi Nohara of Crayon Shin-chan fame. To anyone born in Japan — alongside the East Asian region — this role was iconic to the point where most of the public literally ditched his real name and renamed him “Hiroshi” Fujiwara instead.

Keiji Fujiwara was a prolific voice actor. He played Detective Looker or “Detective Handsome” in Pokémon. First appearing in Pokémon Platinum, Detective Looker is an international investigator who goes by the code name referring to his handsome appearance. He can be found in most Pokémon series investigating the evil deeds of villains and antagonists. In addition, he took up the mantle of Mewtwo for Super Smash Bros. For Wii U.

In September 2016, Fujiwara went on an indefinite hiatus due to undisclosed personal health problems. Thus, he had to be substituted or replaced by other actors for a few of his long-running and/or reprised roles. In June 2017, his agency announced that he would slowly return to work.

Sadly, he passed away from cancer on April 12, 2020, at the age of 55. His final works would be the dub version of Dr. John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) of Dolittle released in Japan on March 20, 2020, and as Reno of Final Fantasy VII Remake (Part One) released two days before his death.

In Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Reno is a rare boss that pits Cloud without a party against a single enemy. Cocky as he is, Reno can be a real pain if you’re not sure how to beat him. But if you remember some of Cloud’s tools introduced early on in the game, this guy shouldn’t cause you much trouble.