Nobuyo Oyama, actor and voice of anime character Doraemon, dies at 90

The voice behind popular animated character Doraemon, Nobuyo Oyama, has died at the age of 90. As per some reports, she took her last breadth on September 27 but the news of her death surfaced on social media on Friday, October 11.

Nobuyo Oyama, the voice of the iconic anime character Doraemon, has died at 90. She reportedly died on September 29 but the news of her demise surfaced on social media on Friday, October 11. The cause of her death is still unknown, however, several media reports suggest that she died due to natural causes. Apart from Doraemon, she has voiced several other popular characters, including Monokuma from the Danganronpa video game series.

Who is Nobuyo?

Born on October 16, 1933, Nobuyo was an actress, voice artist, singer,  screenwriter, essayist and TV personality. She voiced the titular character of the Doraemon animated series for 26 years, starting from 1979. She also voiced Monokuma, the lead antagonist from the Danganronpa video-game series, from 2010 to 2016 for the first three video games.

In 2015, her husband Keisuke Sagawa revealed that Nobuyo was living with dementia, following which she couldn't reprise the role of Monokuma in future projects. She lived in a retirement home since 2016. While her dementia progressed, it was said that she was in good health despite her condition.

Apart from the show, Nobuyo has also voiced the Doraemon character in video games. Some of her other popular works include Norakuro, Andersen Stories, Hazedon, Invincible Super Man Zambot 3 and Wooser's Hand-to-Mouth Life: Awakening Arc, among others.

Netizens reaction

Soon after the news of Nobuyo's' death broke on social media, netizens were quick enough to react to it. One user wrote, ''I’m at a loss for words at the moment Nobuyo Oyama who voiced Doraemon from 1979-2005 has passed away at age 90, this physically hurts me as her voice as Doraemon was always my favorite take on the character and hearing this shocks me. Thank you for everything Nobuyo Oyama.''

''Ms. Nobuyo Oyama, we will never forget your voice as Doraemon, the beloved character from Japan’s national anime. It may be a while, but please let me hear that voice again someday. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart,'' wrote another.