Jōji Yanami

(born on August 30, 1931 — died on December 3, 2021) was a Chinese-born Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator who was affiliated with Aoni Production. Some of his major voice roles included the Dragon Ball anime series, which he narrated and where he also voiced characters such as Dr. Brief, King Kai and Babidi. Other major roles included Dr. Isaac Gilmore in Cyborg 009, Gennai in Digimon, Ittan Momen in GeGeGe no Kitarō, Dr. Yumi in Mazinger Z, and numerous characters in the Time Bokan series.
He voiced the Devil Familiar and N Demon Familiar in the original Japanese PlayStation version of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (and its enhanced port on The Dracula X Chronicles). The N Demon Familiar is a parody of the anime character Boyacky Butsukusa from the classic 1970s anime series Yatterman, and in fact, Mr. Yanami was the actual voice actor of this character.
On September 25, 2015, Toei Animation announced that Yanami would be taking a medical leave from Dragon Ball Super for an indefinite amount of time. His roles as the narrator and King Kai were passed to Naoki Tatsuta.
==Career==
Born in Fushun, Manchuria, in the then Republic of China (now China), Shigemitsu Shirato –better known by his acting name "Jōji Yanami"– moved to Fukuoka Prefecture when he was 13 years old. After graduating from Fukuoka Prefectural Shuyukan High School, he joined the Kyushu RKB Mainichi Broadcasting Theater Company with the aim of becoming a voice actor. However, he moved to Tokyo, Japan, thinking that his opportunities as a voice actor would be greater there. In Japan, he became affiliated with Aoni Production after working at the Haikyo.
In 2005, he was in charge of voicing the mascot character "Morizo" at the Expo 2005 Aichi, Japan.
In November 2007, he played the role of the main character in Eleking, which aired on Kids Station.
On March 20, 2009, he won the 5th Achievement Award at the Tokyo Anime Awards, along with Fujio Akatsuka and Fujio Fujiko A.
On September 25, 2015, Toei Animation, the company for which he was working at the time, announced that Yanami would be taking an indefinite leave due to him requiring medical treatment. Later, in 2019, Keiko Toda revealed on her blog that Yanami was back in good health. Even though his return to voice acting has not been announced yet, he continued to narrate To Masahiro Nakai's Smiles on Friday on the VTR about Ai Iijima. When the veteran Aoni Production voice actor was featured on the same program broadcast on May 7, 2021, even though he didn't assist, a telop with his image was displayed in his place.
==Death==
Mr. Yanami died at 22:59 on December 3, 2021, at the age of 90. An obituary was posted on Aoni Production's official website on the 14th of the same month.
==Gallery==
SOTN Demon Familiar.gif|link=Devil Familiar|Devil Familiar from Symphony of the Night.
SOTN N Demon Familiar.gif|link=Devil Familiar|N Demon Familiar from Symphony of the Night.
Jōji Yanami - 02.jpg|Mr. Yanami voiced Boyacky in Yatterman, who was the inspiration for the N Demon Familiar.
==Videos==
Castlevania Symphony of the Night (J) Secret Sound Test -English Translation-
==Trivia==
*He was also the narrator in Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius, which guest stars Dracula-kun and Kid Dracula as playable characters.
*He also voiced Dr. Mardock in the TwinBee PARADISE radio drama, the anime, games and other related media.
*In Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, if the player uses cheat codes to enter the debug area, a soundtrack will play, in which the soundtrack is recorded dialogue from Jōji Yanami himself. The recording can be heard here.
==External links==
*Official profile page at Aoni Production (Japanese)
*Anime News Network
*Behind the Voice Actors
*IMDb
*Jōji Yanami at Dragon Ball Wiki
*Jōji Yanami at TwinBee Wiki
Category:Deceased Staff
Category:Voice Actors