Nobuyo Ōyama

, known professionally as , was a Japanese actress, voice actress, screenwriter, singer, essayist, and television personality affiliated with Actors Seven. Her husband was the television personality Keisuke Sagawa. She is best known for voicing the title character in the ''Doraemon'' television anime series that ran from 1979 to 2005.

She also voiced Monokuma, the main villain from the ''Danganronpa'' video game series from 2010 to 2016 for the first three video games, two ''Danganronpa'' stageshows, and '' Danganronpa: The Animation''.

Biography

Early life

Ōyama was born as the thirteenth in a four-generation family of thirteen people on October 16th, 1933. Her great-grandparents were born in the Edo period of Japan and her mother was the daughter of a sake brewer in Furukawa City, Miyagi Prefecture (now Ōsaki, Miyagi City).

She graduated from Rinkawa Elementary School, Hiroo Elementary School, Hiroo Junior High School and Mita High School, Tokyo.

Since an early age, she had a distinctive voice, and when she answered the phone at her kindergarten entrance ceremony, all of the students' parents all stood up and stared. However Ōyama herself was oblivious to reactions and failed to notice. She was such a talkative person that her mother would often tell her, "If you're quiet enough, I'll give you a snack."

As she entered elementary school, she was initially an active girl who would run around the schoolyard raising her voice, but people around her would often tell her that she had a "boy's voice," and her teachers gave her strange looks when she checked in for her attendance, so she began to think her voice was strange.

Once she entered junior high school, a classmate pointed out how her voice was, and that's when she started to become aware of her unique voice. She started to feel disgusted by her voice, and became a quieter person.

She became a victim of bullying from her school classmates because of her voice, with a game of "everyone will laugh when Ōyama makes a sound" becoming popular in class. She grew withdrawn, but her mother advised her, "Just because your voice is strange, if you keep hiding your weaknesses, you will only become weaker. You should join a club that allows you to use your voice."

Ōyama became satisfied with her voice over time, and was able to overcome her complex. However, she never expected to become a voice actress. Her surrounding peers and homeroom teacher were initially opposed to her school activities, though after a month, they stopped saying their objections, and Ōyama was soon invited to join the school's drama club. Her stage debut was the role of the wicked stepmother in the school's play of Cinderella.

In high school, Ōyama joined the drama and swimming clubs, but soon dropped out when her mother ended up being hospitalized, and then died of uterine cancer at the age of 42 while she was in her second high school year. Now by herself, Ōyama decided to pursue a career in acting.

Career

Following high school, Ōyama entered the Haiyuza Training School as a member of the seventh batch, but her father, who was against these plans, told her, "If you want to be an actor, get out!", so she ran away from home and started living alone. She quickly realized that she would be unable to survive solely on the money that was sent to her from her supportive older brother, so she tried various part-time jobs in order to earn money for a living on the side. Her classmates at the training school included Kumi Mizuno, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, Hisashi Igawa, Manabu Yamamoto, Shigeyoshi Fujioka, and Kunie Tanaka.

She made her debut in the NHK drama ''Kono Hitomi'' in 1956. She began her acting career while in the training school, and after graduating in 1957, she joined the theater company Shinjinkai.

When Ōyama started working, she was widely praised as "a funny kid" and "a comedian with a background in modern theater," and appeared in many dramas and comedy shows. She began working as a voice actor after a friend noticed her unique husky voice and told her, "Your voice is suited to boy roles." Her official voice acting debut was in the Japanese language dub of Lassie, which aired in September 1957.

In 1960, Ōyama voiced the character Boo in the Japanese puppet show ''Boo-Hoo-Woo'', which led to an increase in voice work.

In 1965, Ōyama made her debut as a lead voice actor in the television anime Hustle Punch, where she voiced the character Hustle. After that, she then starred in several anime productions such as Harris no Kaze and Invincible Super Man Zambot 3.

She was affiliated with Tokyo Pro, Gekidan Deku, Takamatsu Riyuko Office, and Aoni Production.

In late 1978, she landed the role of Doraemon, voicing the character for 26 years in the anime series from 1979 until 2005. It became her most popular role and signature work.

She also became active in a wide range of fields other than voice acting, such as working as a TV personality and publishing her own books as a cooking expert.

In 1980, sales of Doraemon-related records performed by Ōyama, including the EP ''Doraemon Ondo'', exceeded over one million copies, which earned her an awarded Gold Disc from Nippon Columbia.

In July 2001, she was diagnosed with rectal cancer and was hospitalized for a long time, causing her to have to take time off from all of her work except for ''Doraemon''. She continued recording ''Doraemon'' anime episodes after taking her physical condition into consideration. However, the hospitalization led to her making the decision to step down from the role of Doraemon. At first, she continued on at the persuasion of the anime's staff, but after long-term discussions, officially left the ''Doraemon'' franchise along with the other cast members in March 2005, after 26 years.

After Doraemon

After leaving the ''Doraemon'' franchise, Ōyama focused on giving lectures and making appearences on television and radio. She also continued her work as a voice actor, providing narration for shows such as ''Gansou! Debuya''.

In May 2006, she published an autobiographical essay titled, ''I Was Doraemon. 26 Years of Tears and Laughter'' which focused on detailing her 26 years as the voice actress of Doraemon in the 1979 anime series and was published by Shogakukan.

In November 2006, she was awarded a special prize at the 11th Kobe Animation Awards for her achievements on ''Doraemon'' alongside her ''Doraemon'' co-stars Noriko Ohara (who voiced Nobita), Michiko Nomura (who voiced Shizuka), Kaneta Kimotsuki (who voiced Suneo), & Kazuya Tatekabe (who voiced Gian). The following year in March 2007, they received the 3rd Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2007.

In April 2007, Ōyama became principal of the Acoustic Arts College (which was located in Nishi-Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo). In addition to organizing the curriculum, she also taught many day and night classes for the voice actor and announcer courses, providing direct instructions to students.

On April 24th, 2008, while she was preparing for class in the principal's office at the Acoustic Arts College, Ōyama suffered a cerebral infarction and was rushed to the hospital, but with proper medication, she was discharged on August 17th that same year. Through home recuperation and rehabilitation, she ended up recovering to where she was able to carry out daily activities without worry.

In 2010, Ōyama portrayed the antagonist in the PSP video game ''Danganronpa: Academy of Hope and High School Student of Despair''. She continued to voice Monokuma in the ''Danganronpa'' franchise, and in 2013, the series was made into an adult television anime adaptation called '' Danganronpa: The Animation'', which was both her first TV anime appearance since the ''Doraemon'' anime series and her first appearance in a late-night television anime.

In April 2011, Ōyama decided to step down from her position as principal of the Acoustic Arts College and became its honorary president. Though she stepped back from most practical duties, she continued to give special lectures once every few months until 2013. Around this time, she started cutting back on work, citing poor health caused by a busy and intense work schedule.

Illness and death

On May 13, 2015, her husband Keisuke Sagawa revealed on a radio show that she was living with dementia, putting any planned future work on indefinite hold. This notably prevented her from reprising the role of Monokuma for future ''Danganronpa'' projects, and in April 2016, it was announced that Tarako had assumed the role. Tarako voiced Monokuma until her death in March 2024.

In April 2016, Ōyama was moved to live in an undisclosed retirement home, due to Sagawa starting to face health problems while he was taking care of her at their home. When Keisuke Sagawa died on July 11, 2017, her long-time manager Akiko Kobayashi continued to visit and look after her, per Sagawa's wishes before he died. While her dementia had progressed, it was last said in October 2017 that she was in good health despite her condition, and enjoyed interacting with the other residents and partook in activities such as choir.

Ōyama died on September 29, 2024, at the age of 90, in a hospital in Tokyo. Her death was announced by her management company on October 11. It was revealed in articles covering her death that over the past year, she started suffering from health problems and had difficulty speaking due to senility.

She kept visiting the hospital repeatedly over the course of the past year and kept getting discharged until her final hospitalization on September 19.

Following her death, a private funeral was held by her relatives before the news was publicized. At her funeral, it was said that there was a photograph of her late husband Sagawa, a chestnut yokan from Toraya, and a stuffed toy of Doraemon by her side inside the coffin she was in.

At the end of episode 832 of the '' Doraemon (2005)'' series, which was broadcast on TV Asahi on October 12, 2024, a message of condolence and gratitude for Nobuyo Ōyama with scenes from the '' Doraemon (1979)'' series playing in a montage were broadcast in her memory.

The voice actress for Doraemon since 2005 in the current series, Wasabi Mizuta, expressed her remembrance over Ōyama on her official blog on October 12 in honor of her.

On October 13, the ''Sazae-san'' anime had a memorial caption for Ōyama at the start of the first episode broadcast that day.

In January 2025, she and ''Doraemon'' co-star Noriko Ohara were posthumously awarded the "Chairman's Prize" in the 48th Japan Academy Film Prize for "outstanding contributions and outstanding results in the film industry over many years".

Filmography

Television animation

Theatrical animation

Video games

Other dubbing

References

External links

Official agency profile

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Oyama, Nobuyo
1933 births
2024 deaths
Deaths from dementia in Japan
Doraemon
Japanese women chefs
Japanese video game actresses
People from Shibuya
Voice actresses from Tokyo
Chefs from Tokyo