Prometheus
Well-Known Member
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- Mar 8, 2008
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I received an e-mail today from a long-time friend who is a fellow Mega Man fan, letting me know about this...
Takeshi Aono, best known to Mega Man fans as the Japanese voice of Dr. Albert W. Wily (a role he has filled for the last sixteen years, since the Japanese release of Rockman 8 - Metal Heroes in 1996; In Japanese media it is generally traditional for one voice-actor to stay with a fictional character across all media that they appear in, or to dub the works of a particular foreign actor for life), passed away on April 9th after an aortic aneurysm, at the age of 76.
He was also well-known for the roles of the grandpa on Chibi Maruko-chan, Shirou Sanada in Space Battleship Yamato, Kami-Sama and King Piccolo in Dragon Ball Z, and Colonel Roy Campbell in the Japanese releases of the Metal Gear Solid games.
Speaking as a fan of the role that I best knew his voice from, I'll miss his work - he was able to capture and depict Dr. Wily's unique combination of mild craziness and regular, identifiable humanity perfectly, and since the Wily family is the faction in the original series that houses my favourite characters, including Dr. Wily himself, I can say that the Mega Man series, and the Wily family itself, won't ever be quite the same again. His last performance as Dr. Wily was on the CD Rockman 10 Image Soundtrack, both in an introductory track that served as a radio-drama version of the game's intro sequence, and in a hidden bonus track right at the very end of the CD, which featured Dr. Wily proudly describing the eight new robots that he had created for the game. It was an excellent last performance, and he left the character with no plotholes or unresolved story elements.
Farewell, Takeshi Aono - you will be missed.
Takeshi Aono, best known to Mega Man fans as the Japanese voice of Dr. Albert W. Wily (a role he has filled for the last sixteen years, since the Japanese release of Rockman 8 - Metal Heroes in 1996; In Japanese media it is generally traditional for one voice-actor to stay with a fictional character across all media that they appear in, or to dub the works of a particular foreign actor for life), passed away on April 9th after an aortic aneurysm, at the age of 76.
He was also well-known for the roles of the grandpa on Chibi Maruko-chan, Shirou Sanada in Space Battleship Yamato, Kami-Sama and King Piccolo in Dragon Ball Z, and Colonel Roy Campbell in the Japanese releases of the Metal Gear Solid games.
Speaking as a fan of the role that I best knew his voice from, I'll miss his work - he was able to capture and depict Dr. Wily's unique combination of mild craziness and regular, identifiable humanity perfectly, and since the Wily family is the faction in the original series that houses my favourite characters, including Dr. Wily himself, I can say that the Mega Man series, and the Wily family itself, won't ever be quite the same again. His last performance as Dr. Wily was on the CD Rockman 10 Image Soundtrack, both in an introductory track that served as a radio-drama version of the game's intro sequence, and in a hidden bonus track right at the very end of the CD, which featured Dr. Wily proudly describing the eight new robots that he had created for the game. It was an excellent last performance, and he left the character with no plotholes or unresolved story elements.
Farewell, Takeshi Aono - you will be missed.
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