Gorō Naya

Gorō Naya (納谷悟朗) was a Japanese actor, voice actor, narrator and theatre director from Hakodate, Hokkaidō. He was part of Theatre Echo all his career, and was the older brother of actor and voice actor Rokurō Naya.

Biography
At age 15 Naya joined the Kamikaze believing "My life is to die for His Majesty the Emperor." Afterwards he thought he lost "things that take youth", and later in life supported the Japanese Communist Party. In 1951 he joined Theatre Echo, developing a love of the stage. “Even if the content is the same, the atmosphere, including the play, will differ depending on the reaction of the audience. It’s only for one day.” When he joined, new actors were selected for dubbing foreign-language films for TV. “There weren’t many actors who could dub the voices, so I was really busy.” The transition was easy for him, as “I felt the same as if I had been given a role on stage. The only difference was that there was no audience in front of me.”

In 1969 Naya began his association with Lupin the Third with the Pilot Film, voicing Goemon Ishikawa. In 1971 he began voicing Koichi Zenigata, gaining a passion for his character. "I like the single-minded devotion to chasing after Lupin. This innocence (?) makes me very envious of someone like me, who has a lot of troubles in life." He was best friends with Yasuo Yamada, voice of Arsène Lupin III until his death in 1995. Naya suggested to him "Let's keep chasing Lupin and Zenigata even if we both get old and wrinkled."

Also in 1971 he became the voice of the Great Leader in Kamen Rider. He would reprise the role many times over his career, saying “There are more jobs that are said to be, and I am doing it because I am grateful.” In 1974 he became the voice of Juzo Okita in Space Battleship Yamato. He was initially angry about being involved. "Why do I have to play such an old man?". Later he regretted the voice he chose for the character, believing "If you're an active captain, you're in your 50s, so I should have done it younger."

Naya was a fan of the Hanshin Tigers and once commentated on a game as “Hanshin Crazy Goro Naya”. Yasuo Yamada died in 1995. At his funeral Naya said "Hey, Lupin, who should I chase from now on? If you're dead, who will I chase now?" He criticised the modern voice acting industry, claiming “There are too many voice actors who think that they should just give their voices. They don't think they have a customer in front of them." In 2010 he stepped down from voicing Zenigata, the reason being “Zenigata never gets old, but I get older year by year, so it's a little bit difficult to match.” He died on 5 March 2013, at age 83, due to chronic respiratory failure.