Hiroshi Masuoka

Biography

Early life

Masuoka was born on August 7, 1936 in Minami-Saitama, Saitama Prefecture (now known as Iwatsuki Ward, Saitama City). His family ran a farm, with his father taking great pride in his work as a farmer. In his later years, Masuoka revealed that much of he and his family's food was self-sufficient.

In middle school, his homeroom teacher was a painter, to the point of having his works displayed at the Japan Fine Arts Exhibition. He became so inspired by his teacher that he decided to become a painter himself.

After graduating from junior high school, thinking he couldn't make a living just by drawing, he decided to enroll in Saitama Prefectural Omiya Technical High School, but dropped out due to various circumstances. He then enrolled in the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tokyo University of the Arts in order to study painting, but dropped out again after only two years because he wanted to paint freely. Eventually, he graduated from the Department of Culture and Arts at Bunka Gakuin.

During his time in college, while working a part-time job as a sandwich man for a Chinese restaurant located in Asagaya, Tokyo, he entered the world of theater per the invitation of a coworker of his. At the time, he had no interest in acting, thinking, "What is left behind after rejoicing in a fleeting, festival-like commotion? Besides, since theater is a group activity, it's not something where you can freely express your own individuality. Why would anyone do something like this?" But because he liked art, he ended up taking part in stage design.

Career

While in charge of the set design for a production, one of the cast members ran off with the funds, so Masuoka was asked to take his place, much to his embarrassment. He switched his career dream to acting after feeling deeply ashamed and regretful for having forgotten his lines, driven by a desire to "do it all over again."

In 1957, he established the Hyogenza theater troupe together with Makio Inoue and his other peers. He said that he was greatly influenced by the playwright Shūji Terayama, whom he had met, and that it was at Terayama's invitation that he started his acting career in earnest.

In 1959, relying on a friend, Masuoka moved to Nagoya, applied for the Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting Drama Troupe audition, and he ended up passing, becoming a member of the troupe.

In 1961, while he was frequenting the Tokyo branch of Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting, a local kissaten master introduced him to a manager, leading to Masuoka joining the Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society.

In 1967, he played the hunchback and took the lead role in "The Hunchback of Aomori" the inaugural performance of the theater company Tenjō Sajiki led by Terayama, though due to various circumstances, he was not a member of the company, making it an external appearance.

As a voice actor, he had been active ever since the early days of television. Regarding on when exactly did he start his career as a voice actor, he said in a later interview, "People often ask me that, but when they do, it makes me scratch my head. I honestly have little to no idea when it was." His debut as a voice actor was portraying the role of Kuma in Wolf Boy Ken.

In addition to his work as a voice actor, he led the theater company 'Tokyo Renaissance' to train young actors starting in 1986 and served as an instructor in the voice acting department at the Tokyo Animator College, giving lectures all across Japan.

Final years and retirement

In 2018, Masuoka received the Merit Award at the 12th Seiyu Awards.

In August 2019, he retired from the roles of Masuo Fuguta in Sazae-san and Uncle Jam in Let's Go! Anpanman. He proposed to step down from both roles in both programs himself due to his old age. He would later remark that while leaving was "very painful," the catalyst came when he realized his physical strength was declining due to his age, prompting him to wonder, "Will I still be able to convey various things like courage and energy to the viewers in the future?" Thinking of the future, he decided it was time to pass the baton to a fitting successor, leading to graduation. The staff of both series agreed to the decision after discussions, with Hideyuki Tanaka taking over the role of Masuo Fuguta starting August 25 that year and Kōichi Yamadera taking over the role of Uncle Jam.

Around a month before and after the announcements above, Masuoka temporarily stepped down from narrating Ariyoshi-kun no Shojiki Sanpo due to declining health, but returned in September.

Death

Masuoka died from rectal cancer on March 21, 2020, at 83 years old. After his funeral and farewell service were held privately with only close relatives, the announcement of his death was made to the public media on March 26 that year.

Following his death, a mourning message and tribute telop was shown in the March 29 broadcast of Sazae-san of that year. Hideyuki Tanaka, Masuoka's successor on Sazae-san as the voice of Masuo, shared a memorial statement, "I have worked together with Masuoka-san on many programs since long ago. His gentle smile, his fun conversations, and his calm personality. I will remember all of it forever. Please rest in peace." Additionally, on the April 4 broadcast of Ariyoshi-kun no Shojiki Sanpo the same year, an on-screen memorial message at the beginning and a memorial video clip after the end of the broadcast for Masuoka were shown.

Personality

Features and characteristics

His voice range was baritone, bass-baritone.

It was often said that his voice quality never changed. Regarding it, he said, "I'm sure that a voice is something that comes from the heart, so as long as your heart doesn't change, you can keep sounding the same forever... I like to think that voices don't grow old."

His special skill was rakugo. He was a disciple of Yanagiya Sansuke the 2nd, and his stage name was "Masamasaya Chansuke" (益々家ちゃん助).

His personal hobby was making miso (described below). In addition, he continued a self-sufficient lifestyle by making pottery, pickles, and growing vegetables.

He had many siblings, with him being the second son with an older brother and younger sister.

Making miso

One of Masuoka's hobbies was making miso.

In addition to serving as the representative of the incorporated association Miso Hitomonchaku from its establishment in 1979 until going defunct in 2017, he also authored books related to miso.

He naturally knew how to make it very well because he used to help his farmer father as a child. He started to doing it himself in the 1970s when he thought about improving his diet after his child suffered from childhood asthma.

Many people, including fellow voice actors, would gather at Miso Hitomonchaku where they would jointly purchase soybeans and koji and hold a miso tasting event every winter.

Masuoka's preference with miso was to use barley koji as opposed to rice koji. On the other hand, there were also times when he would use a mixture of rice koji and barley koji.

Because the quality of miso depends on that year's weather and storage conditions, he would make the 'margin' for success quite wide and just enjoy the failures too, similar to the mindset as a voice actor.

Episodes

When building a character, it is said that he first thought of an unsuitable (or over-the-top) performance, and then narrowed down his acting approach from there. This is because, based on a past failure when he played a black character early in his career and tried to crush their voice while acting based on the stereotype of a "black person," a director told them, "I want you to play the role based on the character's situation," leading him to re-realize that a voice actor's job is not about "creating a voice" but rather "creating a person."

He was active in fostering the next generation and served as an instructor at multiple vocational schools and training institutes. According to his former student Yūichi Matsumoto, Masuoka's strict guidance was well-known among students. Masuoka acknowledged this, saying, "There are times when I wonder if I might be going too far," then adding, "I've decided to speak the truth, even if it means people might dislike me. After all, a mentor is only a mentor if they provide guidance." "If you just give safe, inoffensive advice, you'll never become a voice actor—not even in 100 years. I hope that before they graduate, my students will find at least one opportunity to discover something that fits them perfectly—'a charm unique to them, or a role that only they can play.'"

In the anime Sazae-san, succeeding Shinsuke Chikaishi, Masuoka served as the second voice actor for Masuo Fuguta for about 41 years, from the broadcast on June 11, 1978, to the broadcast on August 18, 2019.

Although Chikaishi was his senior, they became friends through shared hobbies like making miso. Also, when Masuoka was starting out, Chikaishi told him, "Masuoka-san, you can easily understand what an actor is if you compare it to a single company. What to make, whether what you made is needed in today's world, whether everyone knows about it through promotion, checking what sells—the presidents and employees who do all of these things are all inside you. Try thinking of yourself as a single company. If you do that, naturally everyone will cooperate happily with each other to make good things, and there is no way it won't sell." He would say that those words had a major impact on his acting career.

Based on his experience of playing Masuo, he came to intentionally stop being conscious of his predecessor's performance when taking over roles for other works like Dragon Ball Z.

Filmography

Tokusatsu

Ultraman Leo – Ultraman King (Ep. 50)

Android Kikaider – Orange Ant (Ep. 3), Gold Wolf (Ep. 11), Golden Bat (Ep. 15), Black Chameleon (Ep. 18), Green Mammoth (Eps 25 – 26), Red Squid (Ep. 30), Black Echidna (Ep. 34), Red Mine Toad (Eps 41 – 42)

Android Kikaider Movie – Multi Colored Sand Lizard

Kikaider 01 – Shadow Mummy (Ep. 16), Poisonous Mendicant (Ep. 17), Shadow Thorned Starfish No.02 (No.01 voiced by Setsuo Wakui) (Ep. 23)

Inazuman – Wind Banbara (Ep. 5), Devil Banbara (Ep. 12)

Himitsu Sentai Gorenger – Shining Masked, Ironclaw Masked, Hatchet Masked, Phone Masked, Shellfish Masked, Clock Masked, Can opener Masked, Piano Masked,

Battle Fever J – Left Hand Monster

Dengeki Sentai Changeman – Navigator Gator

Jikuu Senshi Spielban – Dreampacker

Gosei Sentai Dairanger – Haniwa Ventriloquist (Ep. 16)

B-Fighter Kabuto – Rock Shell Chamberlain Dord

Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger – Narrator, Gao God

Kamen Rider Hibiki Hyper Battle DVD – Madder Hawk

Dubbing

Blue Steel (1993 Fuji TV edition) – Frank Turner (Philip Bosco)

Child's Play 3 – Colonel Francis Cochrane (Dakin Matthews)

Die Hard 2 (1994 TV Asahi edition) – Sgt. Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson)

Harlem Nights – Sgt. Phil Cantone (Danny Aiello)

Muppet Treasure Island – Blind Pew

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation – Eddie Johnson (Randy Quaid)

The NeverEnding Story III (1996 TV Asahi edition) – Mrs. Rockbiter

The Rescuers Down Under – Doctor Mouse