Makio Inoue is most famous for voicing Lupin III’s Goemon Ishikawa XIII. Today, it was announced that the long-time voice actor had passed away at the age of 81.
Inoue got his start with minor characters in Astro Boy and other roles at Tezuka Productions in the early 1960s. In the 1970s, he had breakout roles as the aforementioned Goemon Ishikawa XIII in 1977 and the following year as Captain Harlock in Space Pirate Captain Harlock. Koichi Yamadera, who voices Spike in Cowboy Bebop, took over as Harlock in 1998. Inoue continued voicing Ishikawa until 2011 when Daisuke Namikawa succeeded him in the role.
Inoue’s last performance as the iconic samurai was in the 2010 anime TV special Lupin III: The Last Job. According to Oricon, Inoue died on November 29 after his chronic angina worsened. May he rest in peace.