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On Thursday night, at roughly 7:30, traffic camera footage from Tokyo’s downtown Shuto Expressway revealed a car stopped against the center divider with its hazard lights blinking. When the Metropolitan Traffic Police arrived on the scene, they found no skid marks behind the parked car, leading them to believe that it had slowed gradually before coasting gently to where it had stopped.
In the driver’s seat, with her seat belt still fastened, they found the body of anime voice actress Hiromi Tsuru, best known for her roles as "Dragon Ball’s" Bulma and "Anpanman’s" Dokin-chan. The 57-year-old Tsuru was rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced dead by medical staff upon arrival.
Tsuru had no visible external injuries, nor were there any signs of a traffic collision at the section of the southbound expressway near the Nihonbashi neighborhood, where her car was stopped.
On Friday, Aoni Production, the talent agency Tsuru was affiliated with, released a statement based on information from the hospital giving aortic dissection as the cause of death.
Tsuru rose to fame in the 1980s voicing such iconic anime characters as "Ranma 1/2’s" Ukyo and "Kimagure Orange Road’s" mysteriously alluring high school beauty Madoka. Her vocal talents continued to be in demand through the 1990s, when she performed the lead roles in both "Ghost Sweeper Mikami" and "Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne," as well as recurring character Merly in sci-fi "Western Trigun." Like many voice actresses, she also branched out into video game work as the anime and game industries began to increasingly overlap at the turn of the millennium, with roles in "Metal Gear Solid" and titles as recent as "Bravely Second" and "Yakuza 0."
As mentioned above, Tsuru was the voice of "Dragon Ball’s" Bulma and "Anpanman’s" Dokin-chan. Though she began those roles in 1986 and 1988 respectively, both franchise’s anime TV versions are still ongoing, meaning that Tsuru’s body of work continues right up until her sudden and unexpected passing.
Sources: Jin, Sankei News, Huffington Post Japan, Anime News Network, Hachima Kiko, Oricon News
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© SoraNews24
4 Comments
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dcog9065
Bulma and Dokin-Chan, very iconic. RIP..
joyridingonthetitanic
Western Trigun and Metal Gear Solid were staples of my life growing up in the 90s. She will be missed! RIP!
lostrune2
Ukyo and Madoka were classics
gogogo
A friend of mine died the same way. He died real quick and seemed in perfect health the day before.