Hiroshi Tsuchida, voice of Grisha Yeager in Attack on Titan, dies aged 54

Japanese actor and voice actor Hiroshi Tsuchida has died at the age of 54, his agency 81 Produce announced on Tuesday. The agency said on its official website that Tsuchida passed away from heart failure on 11 October, and that his funeral was held privately with family members in accordance with the wishes of his relatives, expressing gratitude to those who supported him during his lifetime. The agency has not disclosed any further details about the circumstances of his death.

Born on 8 February 1972 in Tokyo, Tsuchida worked across live-action acting and voice performance for more than three decades. Tokusatsu fans first knew him on screen as Saizou, also known as Ninja Blue, in the 1994 series Ninja Sentai Kakuranger; he later returned to the genre to voice HANE2 in Ultraman Decker.

His anime credits included Grisha Jaeger, father of protagonist Eren Yeager, in the global hit Attack on Titan, Raidō Namiashi in Naruto and Capote in One Piece. In video games he voiced martial artist Feng Wei in Bandai Namco’s Tekken series and the recurring host-club manager Kazuki in Sega’s Yakuza series, from the original 2005 release through Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties.

Tsuchida was also the official Japanese dub voice of Lightning McQueen in Pixar’s Cars films and dubbed Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s roles in Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. Tributes from fans and colleagues, including Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, praised his three-decade career.

Sources: ORICON NEWS, Resonate