Kitamura Koichi passes away

[Dogasu]

PokeAni reports that Kitamura Koichi, the VA who portrayed the old man Ryuu in Pocket Monsters Episode 018 ("Holiday at Aopulco"), passed away on October 2nd due to pneumonia.

A list of Kitamura's extensive resume can be found on his Wikipedia page.

He was 75 years old.

 

[Maxim Posthumus]

Pneumonia? Did he smoke (like Suzuoki, who in order died of lung cancer)?

 

[Dogasu]

What does smoking cigarettes have to do with pneumonia?

Mr. Kitamura was 75 years old when he died, so his death was most likely caused by the fact that his immune system wasn't as fully functional as a younger person's.

 

[Maxim Posthumus]

What does smoking cigarettes have to do with pneumonia?

So, lung diseases aren't caused by smoking?

Cool! *buys 100 packets of cigarettes and fills the entire town with smoke* Very cool!

 

[Dogasu]

Pneumonia is caused by viruses and bacteria. Smoking cigarettes can certainly aggravate it, but it isn't the cause.

 

[vee2x_paradox]

Pneumonia is not a disease, just an illness. It's when your lungs get filled up with nasty fluids and bacteria.

And this makes me wonder on the show's continuous length. Is it really gonna last for years and years with each passing VA gonna be released over and over? (For example, the longest soap-opera in history, Shining Light, has different actors to portray characters as replacement every generation when one moves on or dies.) And if there is going to be an actual end to the anime, are the seiyuus willing to continue up that far or manage?

 

[Cybersai]

Well, that doesn't really matter here that much, unlike when Giovanni's VA died.

Here a Japanese man who played some random filler character in an obscure episode died, its nothing to be concerned about.

 

[Platina Berlitz]

And the episode was never seen in America

 

[QuietDragon]

Rica Matsumoto-san and the others seem to be having fun. If they didn't like it, I'm sure they could try and quit.

 

[vee2x_paradox]

But you know, the show been running for 10 years already, think of 10 more years where these young women important to the show will be much older with probably more different voices. They, of course, will most likely still enjoy the show 'till the end of time, but something eventually will happen or some issue will come up that will force them to stop.

 

[Dogasu]

Matsumoto Rica (Satoshi) is 38.
Ueda Yuuji (Takeshi) is 39.
Megumi Toyoguchi (Hikari) is 29.
Ikue Ohtani (Pikachu) is 42.
Megumi Hayashibara (Musashi) is 40.
Shinichirou Miki (Kojirou) is 39.
Inuko Inuyama (Nyasu) is 49.
Unshou Ishizuka (Orchid-Hakase, Narrator, Koiking Salesman) is 56.

So I don't think we have to worry too much about anyone from the main cast passing away from natural causes anytime soon.

As for the voice changing thing...Masako Nozawa (Son Goku, Son Gohan, and Son Goten in the Dragon Ball series) is 70 years old and still provides the voices of these characters in all the new video games. As long as the Pocket Monsters voice actors continue working hard, they'll have no problem doing the series for as long as they're alive.

 

[Cybersai]

So I guess the only way to get Takeshi's VA to stop working on Pokemon is the writers either finally choose to get rid of him or the actor winds up in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Darn.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

And the episode was never seen in America

Why does everyone keep saying that? The scene with James and his inflatables was removed, but the rest of the episode--including all the scenes with the old man in question--was aired just fine.