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Toru Furuya (born July 31, 1953) is a Japanese actor, voice actor, and narrator. As a child, he was a member of Gekidan Himawari, a children's acting troupe. He is currently employed by the talent management firm Aoni Production. He is best known for his starring role in the film Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach! as Mario in 1986. He would continue to voice the character until 1998, three years after Charles Martinet was selected the role of Mario. After Martinet was selected for the role of Mario, Furuya would later appear in various Nintendo media.
Outside Nintendo, Furuya is most known for the anime roles of Amuro Ray (Gundam), Hyūma Hoshi (Star of the Giants), Pegasus Seiya (Saint Seiya), Sabo (One Piece until 2024), Yamcha (Dragon Ball), Kyōsuke Kasuga (Kimagure Orange Road), and Tuxedo Mask (Sailor Moon).
Biography[]
When Furuya was 33 years old, when he was approached by Masami Hata to star as the voice of Mario in the 1986 anime film. He was then followed by Yu Mizushima as Luigi, Akiko Wada as Bowser, and famous Japanese pop singer Mami Yamase as Princess Peach. Three years later, Furuya was asked to reprise his role as Mario for the upcoming Amada Anime Series: Super Mario Bros. alongside two educational Mario related videos. In a recent interview, he also explained that there would not be any re-releases of any Japanese Mario anime films.
Much later down the line, Furuya was then contacted by Nintendo themselves instead of animation companies. This time it was to work on the upcoming BS Super Mario Satellaview games. He also later then reunited with a few of the other voice actors who have worked alongside Furuya with other animated Mario projects. Furuya remained the voice of the character all the way up until 1998, a full three years after Charles Martinet was selected as the voice of Mario in other parts of the world. Furuya is still currently working as a voice actor and narrator in a number of anime and games such as Mobile Suit Gundam, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, and One Piece and he later appeared in subsequent Nintendo media such as the Pokémon anime, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Detective Pikachu, and Fire Emblem Heroes. In 2019, Furuya won Best Supporting Actor at the 13th Seiyuu Awards.
Controversy[]
On May 22, 2024, he posted a public apology to Twitter in which he said that he had an extramarital affair with a woman fan for around four and a half years, until September 2023. He admitted being violent with her as well as forcing her into having an abortion.[1] Because of this, his SHOWROOM program was abruptly cancelled and was dropped from Metaphor ReFantazio with all of his non-Nintendo related characters getting recast. On June 22, 2024, Furuya announced that he would step down from his roles in Detective Conan, One Piece and Dragon Ball. On June 28, 2024, Bandai Namco Entertainment began considering to employ a new voice actor for Amuro Ray for later works in Gundam in the wake of Furuya's affair being made public.
Personal life[]
He married voice actress Mami Koyama in 1976; they later divorced in 1983. Koyama voiced Raqura in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Hel in Fire Emblem Heroes. He remarried Satomi Najima in 1985.
Credited roles in Nintendo[]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach! | Mario |
| 1989 | Amada Anime Series: Super Mario Bros. | Mario |
| 1989 | Super Mario Traffic Safety | Mario |
| 1989 | Super Mario's Fire Brigade | Mario |
| 1991 | Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi's Adventure Land | Mario |
| 1991-present | Super Robot Wars | Amuro Ray, Hiroshi Shiba, Ribbons Almark, Mr. Zone |
| 1997 | Excitebike: Bun Bun Mario Battle Stadium | Mario |
| 1998 | Pokémon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back | Corey |
| 1999-2024 | One Piece series | Sabo |
| 2010 | Pokémon the Series: Black and White | Burgh |
| 2016-2019 | Pokémon the Series: Sun and Moon | Oluolu |
| 2017 | Fire Emblem Heroes | Freyr |
| 2017 | Xenoblade Chronicles 2 | Godfrey |
| 2018 | Detective Pikachu | Mewtwo |
| 2020 | Jump Force Deluxe Edition | Sabo |
| 2023 | Detective Pikachu Returns | Mewtwo |
Gallery[]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ Anime Mario Voice Actor Toru Furuya Admits to 4-Year Affair With Fan (Anime News Network; May 23, 2024)
External links[]
- Toru Furuya at the Internet Movie Database
- Toru Furuya at Super Mario Wiki, the Super Mario wiki.
- Tōru Furuya at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia