Japanese actor and voice actor Dai Tsuchida has died at the age of 54. His talent agency, 81 Produce, announced on October 20 that Tsuchida passed away on October 11 due to heart failure.
Tsuchida became a familiar face to tokusatsu fans through his role as Saizou, also known as Ninja Blue, in the 1994 Super Sentai series “Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.” He later reprised the role decades later in “Ninja Sentai Kakuranger: Part 3 – Chunen Funtou Hen,” a TTFC original production that reunited the show’s cast thirty years after the original broadcast.
As a voice actor, Tsuchida built a long career across anime and dubbed foreign films. He appeared in numerous anime titles, including “Uma Musume Pretty Derby,” and more recently voiced the character HANE2 (Hanejiro) in “Ultraman Decker.” Internationally, he was best known to many Japanese audiences as the voice of Lightning McQueen, the protagonist of Disney and Pixar’s “Cars” franchise, in the Japanese dub.
In its statement, 81 Produce said that Tsuchida’s funeral had already been held privately, attended only by family members, in accordance with the wishes of his relatives. The agency thanked the public for its support of Tsuchida during his career and asked for understanding regarding the private nature of the services.
Who is Dai Tsuchida?
Dai Tsuchida (土田大) was a Japanese actor and voice actor affiliated with the talent agency 81 Produce. He first gained wide recognition in 1994 as Saizou/Ninja Blue in “Ninja Sentai Kakuranger,” the 18th entry in Toei’s long-running Super Sentai franchise. Beyond live-action tokusatsu work, he carved out an extensive voice acting career, lending his voice to characters across anime series and dubbed Hollywood films, with his portrayal of Lightning McQueen in the Japanese-language versions of the “Cars” movies standing as one of his most widely recognized roles.
Author’s Comment
You know a voice actor has truly done his job when you never think about the fact that a cartoon race car and a guy in a blue ninja mask shared the same vocal cords. That’s the quiet tragedy of this job in Japan — millions of us grew up with this man’s voice without ever learning his face or his name until the day it’s printed next to the word ‘obituary.’ Lightning McQueen sounding a little different in reruns now is going to be a strange, small grief for a lot of Japanese kids turned adults. And I’ll say this for 81 Produce: keeping the funeral family-only and just telling us plainly what happened, no theatrics, is exactly the kind of dignity this industry doesn’t show often enough. Rest well, Saizou.
