Tem Ray and Valkenhayn’s Voice Actor Motomu Kiyokawa Has Died

Japanese voice actor Motomu Kiyokawa died at 87 years old on August 17, 2022, at 11:10 AM JST due to pneumonia. His agency Haikyo broke the news on August 22, 2022. The agency’s board chairman Kouji Asada added that his funeral service was conducted only with close relatives to honor the request from the surviving family.

Motomu Kiyokawa began his voice-acting career in the 1964 anime adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s Big X. Since then, he had voiced mostly elderly men in many titles.

Some of Kiyokawa’s most famous roles include Amuro’s father Tem Ray in Mobile Suit Gundam, NERV’s deputy commander Kozo Fuyutsuki in Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Rachel Alucard’s butler Valkenhayn R. Hellsing in the BlazBlue fighting game series. Additionally, he voiced Rain Mikamura’s father in Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Kiyokawa’s voice also appeared in the Japanese voiceovers for several Square Enix games, such as Louisoix Leveilleur in Final Fantasy XIV and Domino, the mayor of Midgar, in Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Motomu Kiyokawa also had important roles in several anime titles that were included in the Super Robot Wars game series. He was Jose, one of the Eldora Soul pilots from Gun X Sword that had voice appearances in Super Robot Wars T and Super Robot Wars 30. He also voiced Gargoyle, the villain of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water that appeared in Super Robot Wars X. Despite not being voiced in the games, Kiyokawa also provided the voice for the Izu Base commander Laker Randolph in the anime adaptations of Super Robot Wars: Original Generations.