On the Passing of Matsuno Taiki
As most of you probably have heard by now, beloved voice actor Matsuno Taiki passed away on June 26 of this year at age 56. In the Precure community, he was known for a few notable roles, so I wanted to go over them briefly in tribute, as well as other parts of his careern.
The first time he appeared in Precure was in a recurring role as Wisdom, the guardian of the Prism Stones in Futari wa Precure and its sequel Max Heart. Wisdom is a fine character, but not one I look back on with any particular reverence, due to his background role in the plot. Matsuno's voice does make him more memorable, though.
His second appearance in Precure was in Fresh Precure, as the mascot Tarte. Tarte is of course the main fairy of the series and honestly one of my favorites in the entire franchise, due in no small part to Matsuno's lively performance. He's funny and friendly and he has a lot of heart. As Tarte, he got to recur in multiple Precure projects long after the series was over, with his last appearance being in 2018's HUGtto! Precure special crossover episodes. Godspeed, you wonderful Kansai ferret.
Outside of those two notable roles, he also had a small part in a few episodes of Fresh as Aso, one of Love's classmates. If you remember the first episode where Love is crying because her friend got rejected by a boy, he's the boy. (don't worry it works out) He only had 3 or 4 lines but it sets the tone for Love's entire character.
Outside of Precure, Matsuno was beloved as the voices of
Agumon from Digimon Savers (Data Squad in the US):
Kindaichi Hajime in Kindaichi Case Files or The File of Young Kindaichi
Shurikenger in Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger
And the Japanese dub voice of Spongebob Squarepants.
Obviously this isn't everything, you can review all of his roles on MAL, Anime News Network, and Wikipedia.
So as you can see, he left behind quite a legacy, and he will be missed by many, many fans.
Rest in peace, Matsuno Taiki-san, and thank you for all you did.
