Hirotaka Suzuoki (March 6, 1950 – August 6, 2006, aged 56) was a considerably great Japanese voice actor from the earlier ages of anime, making himself well known as the voice behind "He who slaps wimps and turns them into MEN OF DESTINY", Bright Noa. Was a good friend of Tōru Furuya (whose character, coincidentally, got slapped into a MAN OF DESTINY). Well known for his calm voice, he garnered quite a fandom...
...Until he faced something that he could not slap into a THING OF DESTINY: lung cancer. He passed away from it in 2006. His last performance was once again as Bright Noa in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam III: Love is the Pulse of the Stars, which many fans saw as a fitting send-off.
Roles done by Hirotaka Suzuoki:
- Banjou Haran in Daitarn 3 and the Super Robot Wars franchise
- Benny the Cab in the Japanese dub of Who Framed Roger Rabbit
- Bright Noa in Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam, Gundam ZZ, Char's Counterattack and the Super Robot Wars franchise (Succeeded by Ken Narita in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn).
- Dragon Shiryuu in Saint Seiya (classic, succeeded by Takahiro Sakurai and Ken Narita in Omega)
- Chief Freeman in Tekkaman Blade
- Hidetoshi in Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin.
- Inaba in the Urusei Yatsura OVA series
- Indra in Legend of Heavenly Sphere Shurato
- Ivan Konev, ace pilot in Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
- Junichi Otaki in Millennium Actress
- Koujirou Hyuuga in Captain Tsubasa (classic, succeeded by Nobuyuki Hiyama in J, by both Rica Matsumoto note and Takehito Koyasu in Road to 2002, by Ken Narita (again) in Tatakae Dream Fight and by Takuya Sato in the 2018 anime, though he did however reprise his role in the PS2 game)
- Naoto Ijyuin in God Mars (succeeded by Go Shinomiya in Super Robot Wars Z2)
- Noriaki Kakyoin in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure OVA (succeeded by Daisuke Hirakawa in the TV series)
- Olson D. Verne in Super Dimension Century Orguss (classic, replaced by Kenyū Horiuchi for Super Robot Wars Z)
- Lefance in Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys
- Perios in Sei Juushi Bismarck
- Saitou Hajime in Rurouni Kenshin (again, succeeded by Ken Narita in the recent OVAs)
- Sakaki (Giovanni) in Pokémon (succeeded by Kenta Miyake)
- Shingo Hojo in GoShogun and Super Robot Wars series
- Starscream in The Transformers and The Transformers: The Movie.
- Tatewaki Kunou in Ranma ½ (understudied by the late Kouji Tsujitani in episodes 83-86 and in the 2008 Rumic World special, justified in the latter's case since Suzuoki died 2 years beforehand.)
- Tatsumasa Oda in Slam Dunk
- Tenshinhan in Dragon Ball (understudied by Kōichi Yamadera in episodes 82 and 84 of Z, Mitsuaki Madono took over for a bit after in the video games made after Suzuoki's death note , before ultimately being succeeded by Hikaru Midorikawa from Dragon Ball Z Kai onwards)
- Also voiced Shū Sai'aku/Mr. Shu, The Other World Tournament Announcer note , Captain Chicken, Caroni note in Dragon Ball Z and filled in for Mezu note in episode 95 of Z and also voiced Doll Taki and Wu Xing Long note in GT.
- Yellow Belmont in Genesis Climber MOSPEADA
- Yugande in Denji Sentai Megaranger