Kōzō Shioya, best known as the voice of Majin Boo in the Dragon Ball franchise, has passed away at age 71 as reported by his agency, Aoni Production:

With regards to Kozo Shioya (71), a voice talent affiliated with our agency:

Mr. Shioya has passed away on January 20th, 2026 due to a cerebral hemorrhage. We hereby convey this sad news, having nothing but the utmost gratitude for the kindness Mr. Shioya bestowed upon us during his lifetime. As per the wishes of his bereaved family, his funeral ceremonies were conducted in the presence of only his closest relatives. As such, we ask you for your understanding for the late report.

Shioya debuted in the Dragon Ball franchise as a cowboy in episode 28 of the original Dragon Ball series in 1986, followed by several more one-off, background roles. In addition to playing Bardock’s teammate Totapo in the first Dragon Ball Z television special, one of Shioya’s larger roles came as Gurd, the time-pausing member of the Ginyu-Special Squad. Shioya’s biggest Dragon Ball role came as Majin Boo in 1994, which he continued with throughout all subsequent sequels and video games.

In an interview printed within the 2004 anime guidebook Dragon Ball: Tenka’ichi Densetsu, Shioya noted that he was told “we’d like you to do this role next,” which wound up being Majin Boo, so “instead of an audition, it was more like I was given the role as an extension of my regular work.”

Shioya commented over the years that he enjoyed performing alongside Daisuke Gōri, the original voice actor for Mr. Satan. Following Gōri’s passing a few years earlier, Shioya mentioned in a 2014 interview that he was curious who would play Mr. Satan for the final arc of Dragon Ball Kai, and that he was happy to learn that Unshō Ishizuka landed the role. Ishizuka himself later passed in 2018.

Toshio Furukawa (Piccolo’s voice actor) shared a post on Twitter:

Majin Boo… has… Back in my younger days, he was this striking big brother that would always walk alongside me to the Anime Studio. After recording lines for Dragon Ball, we would always go for a drink together, so to hear that Kōzō Shioya-san, the one everyone called our “big brother,” has passed away… he was even Yoku-chan‘s actual big brother… this is just too soon, big brother…

My deepest condolences.

Ryō Horikawa (Vegeta’s voice actor) shared a post on Twitter:

I just cannot suppress my bewilderment at the news of Mr. Kōzō Shioya’s passing. He was someone that I knew ever since I began work as a voice actor. He frequently went drinking with everyone after recording sessions. I have nothing but fun memories of him.

I pray with all my heart that he may rest in peace. 🙏

Shigeru Chiba (Pilaf’s voice actor) shared a post on Twitter:

Kōzō Shioya-san…

We have worked together on so many projects. I cannot forget your gentle smile. Thank you for all your hard work.

I pray with all my heart that he may rest in peace.

Eiko Yamada (Mai’s voice actress) shared a post on Twitter:

Kōzō Shioya-san…
Big brother…
My agency informed me that big brother has passed away.
I’m just utterly shocked.
Everyone loved big Brother Kozo, he was always smiling and told everyone to call him “big brother”…
It’s just too soon!
I can’t even bring myself to pray that he may rest in peace…
I just want to see his smile again…
🙏

Scriptwriter Takao Koyama also shared a post on Twitter:

Majin Boo is no more.

Voice actor Kozo Shioya-san has passed away at age 71.

There are many people that can comment on his activities as a voice actor, but I will reminisce on his life from a different point of view.

Back when we were working closely while he performed his role as Majin Boo, a request came from Ken’ichi Ogata-san and the folks at the Suguroku theatre troupe to write a script for a stage play.

When I heard that Shioya-san would be guest-starring, I immediately thought of a Dragon Ball parody called “Majin no Booemon” with a yakuza boss in the main role.

In the end, it ended up becoming a wandering gambler play in the style of Hana no Kyodai-gasa, a play that had Noppo [Takami] give it his all to perform, and he was a huge admirer of Shin Hasegawa-sensei, the highest authority when it comes to wandering gambler plays.

The now deceased Shioya-san, as expected, played “Majin no Booemon,” a role created with him in mind, amazingly hilariously. He was even better at freely switching his acting style between seriousness and lightness than I expected, the audience was really having a laugh, and my career as a scriptwriter even got a big boost because of it.

Sadly, my memories have dulled over time, and I can’t quite remember when that play was on stage, but I did remember the opening scene just now. Ken’ichi Ogata-san and Wasabi Mizuta-san appear in the main road, as a horse and a horse driver. Having discovered her talent, Ogata-san was looking after Mizuta-san.

That’s right, I just remembered. Right after that, Mizuta-san took over the role of Doraemon from Nobuyo Oyama-san. And since she took on the role in April of 2005, that means the play was on stage around 2004… that was 21 years ago, so Shioya-san was around 50 at that time.

I pray with all my heart that he may rest in peace.

Shioya-san, thank you for everything.