Tōru Furuya (born July 31, 1953) is one of the older voice actor that, along with Akira Kamiya, triggered the second voice actor boom. He is most famous for his role as the first Gundam hero Amuro Ray, and is almost as well known for voicing Pegasus Seiya in the classic Saint Seiya series, as well as Hyuuma Hoshi in Star of the Giants. He still continues working even now, maintaining his bishie voice... which can still be heard in Ribbons "Bad Amuro" Almark of Gundam 00. He uses the pseudonym 'Noboru Sougetsu' when doing Ribbons' voice, just so the fans could differentiate him from Amuro... but really, who would be fooled?
His first role was actually as a child actor in Ultraman! Even at over 60 years old, he still has the voice of a Bishōnen. Whoa.
He is married to and has a daughter with former voice actress, Satomi Majima whom Furuya worked with on Gundam and Stop!! Hibari-kun! and was once married to Mami Koyama, but they divorced but still remain friends.
He also was a close friend of the late Hirotaka Suzuoki.
Here he is in GPS form
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Toru Furuya's roles aren't just for show, you know!
- Akared, the "Super Red Ranger" in the Boukenger vs. Super Sentai 30th anniversary special and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
- Amuro Ray in Mobile Suit Gundam and all Gundam and Super Robot Wars games.
- Arty (Burgh) in Pokémon: The Series
- Corey in Pokémon: The First Movie
- Mewtwo in Detective Pikachu
- Benny Colón (Freddy Rodriguez) in the Japanese dub of Bull.
- Casshern in Casshern Sins
- Cyborg 0013 aka Tsutomu in the Cyborg 009's 1979 TV series.
- Also voiced Joe Shimamura/009's off-brand counterpart, Ken Shiki in Hyoga Senshi Guyslugger, which itself is a Captain Ersatz of Cyborg 009
- Eren/"Monday Elizabeth" in Gintama, who is an Expy to Amuro.
- Mr. Fader Zone in Arcadia of My Youth - Endless Orbit SSX (predating Ribbons for decades where he's playing as a villain.) Reprises it in Super Robot Wars T
- Freyr in Fire Emblem Heroes
- Godfrey in Xenoblade Chronicles 2
- Hiroshi Shiba in Kotetsu Jeeg
- Hyuuma Hoshi in Kyojin no Hoshi (Star of the Giants) (while Gundam catapulted him to superstardom with Saint Seiya further escalating that, Hyuuma was his Star-Making Role as this was the biggest role of his career prior to those, and he was only 15 when he began voicing Hyuuma)
- Jacques in Natsu e no Tobira
- Kousaku Sakamoto in Stop!! Hibari-kun! (Working on this show was what lead to his marriage to Satomi Majima who voiced the titular Hibari.)
- Kyousuke Kasuga in Kimagure Orange Road TV series, OAV and Shin KOR movie (Noticeable in that he was the second seiyuu for the character; Yuu Mizushima played Kyosuke in the pilot, and later Furuya would be replaced by Ryō Horikawa in the 90's CD dramas)
- Also worth noting is that Kyosuke is his favorite character in an interview.
- Also worth noting is that Kyosuke
- Mario in The Great Mission to Save Princess Peach! and early commercialsnote
- The Narrator of Baki the Grappler from the 2018 Netflix ONA and onwards.
- Dr. Newton Geizler in the Japanese dub of Pacific Rim
- Nobushige Oyamada in Sengoku Basara 2 anime
- Pegasus Seiya in Saint Seiya (Classic series, replaced by Masakazu Morita later)
- He reprised his role as Seiya in Saint Seiya Omega
- Reiya Amuro in Birdie Wing
- Ribbons Almark in Gundam 00 (under the pseudonym of Noboru Sogetsu)
- Also MAJOR playing against type, as his role as Ribbons is the first time in his long career he's voiced a Big Bad. And it was awesome.
- Also, E. A. Ray from Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer. aka the guy whose DNA was used to create Ribbons
- Sabo (as an adult) in One Piece
- Scooter in the Japanese dub of Muppet Babies (1984)
- Shinichi "Namura-sensei/Nachan" Namura in Marmalade Boy
- Shuren in Bleach
- Tooru Amuro (or better said, Rei Furuya) in Case Closed
- Toppy/Tauppy in Sands of Destruction
- Tuxedo Kamen/Mamoru Chiba in Sailor Moon
- Yabooki in Hana no Ko Lunlun, one of the first times he went Playing Against Type since Yabooki is a Smug Snake member of a Goldfish Poop Gang following the main heroine and her friends around.
- Yamcha in Dragon Ball series
- Zen Kirishima in Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi (Under the pseudonym Noboru Sogetsu again, but this is his first BL role)
Have you ever felt the true power of the tropes?
Wait a sec... you just described me! Not even my father described me!
