The legendary voice actor is remembered for his roles in Slam Dunk, Ghost Fighter, and Naruto Shippuden.
Talent agency Arts Vision announced on its website this Monday (8 December, 2025) the passing of veteran voice actor Tomomichi Nishimura, due to an undisclosed illness. He was 79 years old. A private funeral and service has already been held by his family. Previously, the agency had announced his hiatus due to poor health.
Remembered for iconic roles
Nishimura was born in Chiba Prefecture, Japan on 2 June, 1946. He had a long and expansive career in voice-acting and narration, which spanned from 1975 to 2025.
He is remembered for lending his voice to iconic characters like Mitsuyoshi Anzai (Slam Dunk) Narrator/Jorge Saotome/Blue Ogre (Ghost fighter), Yuuichi Tachibana (Initial D), and Tsuchikage Ohnoki (Naruto), to name a few.
His final role was in the Summer 2025 anime Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra, where he voiced the character of Moltar.
Nishimura also voiced in a number of popular video games, and was most known for his role as Akuma in Street Fighter–a role he had performed from 1995 to 2004. His last video game credit was Meh Gaj from the 2020 Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Remastered Edition.
Besides anime and video games, Nishimura acted in a number of Tokusatsu live action films for Kamen Rider, Ultraman, and Engine Sentai, as well as a number of dubbing roles for Hollywood films.
The industry mourns the loss of this legendary voice actor.