Keiji Fujiwara, the seiyuu most notably known to the game community as the Japanese voice of Axel / Lea inKingdom Hearts,has passed away from cancer. He was 55 years old.Air Agency, the seiyuu agency Keiji Fujiwara was affiliated to,announcedon April 16 that Fujiwara passed away on July 31, 2025. Keiji Fujiwara was one of themost prolific and talented seiyuu,Japanese voice actresses and actors. He had nearly 40 years of career. His most popular roles included Maes Hughes inFull Metal Alchemist, Shingo Shoji inInitial D, Ali Al-Saachez inGundam OO, Sven Vollfied inBlack Cat, Ladd Russo inBaccano, Leorio Paradinight inHunter x Hunter2011, Eugen inGranblue Fantasy, or Holland Novak inEureka Seven.When it comes to western media dubbed in Japanese, Fujiwara was also the Japanese voice of Robert Downey Jr., dubbing him in Marvel movies as Tony Stark.
In Japan specifically, Keiji Fujiwara was incredibly popular as the voice of Hiroshi Nohara, the father in anime seriesCrayon Shin-chan. Back in 2014, Fujiwara appeared in a series of hilariousCrayon Shin-chancommercials as well.
Fujiwara was also the voice of Ardyn Izunia inFinal Fantasy XV, and the voice of Reno inFinal Fantasy VIIrelated material such asAdvent ChildrenandCrisis Core.He recently voiced Reno again inFinal Fantasy VII Remake. Keiji Fujiwara had an incredible and distinctive voice that every anime fan and Japanese games fan know or at least heard once in their lives. He will be dearly missed. We offer our deepest condolences to his family.
Many other seiyuu and Japanese companies have started sharing homages to Keiji Fujiwara on social media as well.
Arc System Works offered their condolences. Fujiwara voiced Kagura Mutsuki in theBlazBlueseries.
Toshio Furukawa(Piccolo inDragon Ball) shared his shock and sadness. The two of them were longtime colleagues and appeared in many anime series together.
Ryohgo Narita (Baccano, Durararaauthor): “I couldn’t thank enough Fujiwara Keiji for his work as the voice of Ladd Russo inBaccanoand Kuzuhara Kinnosuke inDurarara. He was always so friendly with everyone during the dubbing. There’s a part of myself that still can’t believe he’s not with us anymore. I pray he will rest in peace.”
Mika Kanaiexplained they used to be in the same theatrical troupe in the past and how he played a big role in her choice to become a seiyuu.
Yasunori Matsumoto.
Shigeru Chiba.
Official Japanese Twitter account of theAvengersseries.
Homage from illustrator Kei-co.
Riot Games Japan. Fujiwara voiced Master Yi in the Japanese version ofLeague of Legends.
Aquaplus. Fujiwara voiced Haku, one of the protagonists in Aquaplus’Utawarerumonoseries.
Naoya Shimokawa, President of Aquaplus: “This is too sad. I was on the phone with him just a while ago”
Falcom. Fujiwara voiced Neil Burns in theThe Legend of Heroes Trails in the SkyDrama CD.
Yui Ishikawa.
Fumi Hirano.
Yoko Shimomura (Composer of theKingdom Heartsseries).
Kemuri Karakura (Mangaka ofDonten ni Warau). Fujiwara voiced Taiko Kumo in the anime adaptation. Kemuri Karakura thanked him for his amazing performance.
Megumi Ogata. She worked with Fujiwara many times, and the performance which left her with the biggest impression was when they were voicing together the drama CD ofRadical Hospital, a gag manga by Ayu Hirano.
Arisa Komiya. She played Yoko Usami (Yellow Buster) in the Tokusatsu seriesTokumei Sentai Go-Bustersin 2012.In her tweet, she said Fujiwara taught her a lot about voice acting thorough the show. Fujiwara was voicing the robot Cheeda Nick inGo Busters. A few years after that in 2016, Arisa Komiya became big as an idol seiyuu with her role as Dia Kurosawa in theLove Livefranchise.
Homage from illustrator Agahari. She drew one of her favorite characters voiced by Fujiwara: Volcott O. Huey from Broccoli’s iconic anime and game seriesGalaxy Angel.
Wataru Hatano. He always admired Fujiwara and often received warm advice from him.
Haruki Ishiya. He said it’s thanks to Fujiwara he’s who he is now.
Ayana Taketatsu.She said Fujiwara often helped her out at work and events.
Yuki Kaji.He mentioned Keiji Fujiwara was a father figure to him, someone he always admired, and how he will keep living on inside us through the characters he voiced. Fujiwara voiced Hannes inAttack on Titan.
Miyu Tomita. They worked together onThe Magnificent Kotobukiin 2019.
Homage from illustrator Kamin, whose favorite Fujiwara voiced character is the Chief inArmored Core V.
Yuki GotÅ.She said she grew up hearing his voice. They worked together in the 2008 animeHyakko.
Kaori Nazuka. Thanks to Granblue_en for the translation.
Yuichi Nakamura: “Just a little while ago, I got into the wrong studio and we chatted a little, who could’ve known it’ll be the final time I speak with him…”
FLOW, who did one of the opening songs ofEureka Seven.
Rie Tanakasaid the last time she met him was for aGranblue Fantasyrecording.
