Biography: Toshio Furukawa

Toshio Furukawa is a Japanese voice actor and narrator. He was born on July 16th, 1946 in Ōhira, Shimotsuga District, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. He is famous for the roles he played in his career: Kage (KeroroGunso), Kai Shiden (Mobile Suit Gundam), Shin (Fist of the Polaris), Asuma Shinohara (Mobile Police Patlabor), Piccolo (Dragon Ball), Ataru Moroboshi (Urusei Yatsura), and Portgas D. Ace (One Piece).

His first voice-over role was of a soldier in Brave Raideen. Toshio has played a variety of roles, from comedy roles likeUruseiYatura’sAtau and GosenzosamaBanbanzai’sInumaru to serious and laid-back roles such as Shin in “Fist of the North Star” and Piccolo in the Dragon Ball series. In addition, Toshio has a childlike voice-over ability, has played the role of the prince of Xijing Mito robot, and future robot DaltaniusTaiteXiandou and other bloody noble heroes. He performed in a farce band with Toru Furuya, Kazuyuki Soga, Yuji Mitani, and Akio Nojima.

In 2007, Slapstick reunited to pay tribute to former band members HirotakaSuzuoki and Kazuyuki Sogabe (guitar). Furukawa has a pet dog named Asuma, a Shih Tzu named after Patlabor’sAsuma Shinohara. His previous pet was Ataru, named after Urusei Yatsura’s Ataru Moroboshi. Ataru died in 2008 at the age of 15 and was also a Shih Tzu. His animations include: 1975: ‘Brave Raideen’; 1976: ‘Magne Robo Gakeen’; 1977: ‘Wakusei Robo Danguard Ace’; 1979: ‘Future Robo Daltanius’, ‘King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table’, ‘Mobile Suit Gundam’; 1980: ‘Trider GT’; 1981: ‘Dr. Slump and Arale-chan’, ‘UruseiYatsura’, ‘Saikyo Robo Daioja’; 1982: ‘Armored Fleet Dairugger XV’, ‘Combat’, ‘MechaXabungle’; 1983: ‘Lightspeed ElectroGodAlbegas’; 1984: ‘Galactic Patrol’, ‘Hokuto no Ken’, ‘The Kabocha Wine’; 1985: ‘Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam’; 1986: ‘AnmitsuHime’, ‘Dragon Ball’, ‘Maison Ikkoku’; 1989: ‘Dragon Ball Z’, ‘Patlabor’; 1993: ‘Aoki Densetsu Shoot’; 1995.

‘Sailor Moon Super S’; 1996: ‘Dragon Ball GT’; 1997: ‘Cutie Honey Flash’, ‘Kindaichi Case Files’; 1998: ‘Detective Conan’; 1999: ‘The Big O’, ‘One Piece’; 2000: ‘Shinzo’; 2002: ‘Kinnikuman Nisei Series’; 2004: ‘Agatha Christie’s Great Detectives Poirot and Marple’, ‘Beet the Vandel Buster’, ‘KeroroGunso’, ‘Samurai Champloo’; 2005: ‘Eureka Seven’, ‘The Law of Ueki’, ‘Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle’; 2006: ‘xxxHolic’; 2007: ‘Tetsuko no Tabi’; 2008: ‘Soul Eater’, ‘Bleach Kageroza’; 2009: ‘Dragon Ball Kai’; 2011: ‘Hunter × Hunter’; 2012:’Saint Seiya Omega’, ‘Shirokuma ’afé’, ‘Tsuritama’; 2014: ‘Mushishi: The Next Chapter’, ‘Space Dandy’; 2015: ‘World Trigger’, ‘Dragon Ball Super’, ‘Ushio and Tora’; 2016: ‘Mr. Osomatsu’; 2018: ‘GeGeGe no Kitarō’, ‘Pop Team Epic’ ‘Attack on Titan Season 3’, ‘Karakuri Circus’; 2020: ‘Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga’; and 2022: ‘Uzumaki’ are some of his other works.