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Lupin III's Long-Time Daisuke Jigen Voice Actor Kiyoshi Kobayashi Passes Away at 89

Talent management agency Haikyō announced on Monday that voice actor Kiyoshi Kobayashi passed away on July 30 due to pneumonia. He was 89. Kobayashi's family held a private funeral. Haikyō added that it will announce more details on a public service at a later date.

Kobayashi announced in September last year that he was retiring from his long-time and iconic role as Daisuke Jigen in the Lupin III franchise after 52 years (Akio Ohtsuka replaced him in the role for the Lupin the 3rd Part 6 anime). Kobayashi had voiced the character since 1969, and was the only remaining original first-generation cast member in the Lupin III franchise just prior to his retirement from the role.

Kobayashi has also voiced the titular Bem in the Yōkai Ningen Bem series, and the calculating statesman Adrian Rubinsky in the 1988 The Legend of the Galactic Heroes OVA series. Some of his other roles include Crystal Bowie in Space Adventure Cobra, Aguille Delaz and the Narrator in Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Avdol in the 1993 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure OVA, and Watari in Death Note.

Sources: Haikyo, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web via Hachima Kikō