Mike McFarland Dies: ‘One Piece’, ‘Dragon Ball Z’ Voice Actor Was 56

Mike McFarland, known as the English voices of Master Roshi and Najirobe in Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, and Buggy the Clown in One Piece, among many other anime works died Wednesday, Sept. 10 following a battle with brain cancer. He was 56.

Also a script writer, director and line producer, McFarland was one of the original and most influential figures in Texas-based anime production, first with Funimation and then Crunchyroll after their merger.

“Mike brought so much to all of us who knew him, and to all of the anime fans that knew his work. He was an incredible talent, a good friend to so many of us, and will be sorely, sorely missed,” Crunchyroll said in a statement to Deadline.

McFarland was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in 2025, according to Anime News Network.

McFarland also voiced Jean Kirstein in Attack on Titan, Jean Havoc in Fullmetal Alchemist and Teppei Sugo in Psycho-Pass, but his most notable role was Buggy the Clown in One Piece, voicing the character from 2007 until his death.

Additional voice acting credits include Makoto Hyuga in the Evangelion film series, Sky Master in Heaven’s Lost Property, Goemon Ishikawa in Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine and other Lupin III films, as well as George in Case Closed. His more recent work includes Hiroshi Odokawa in Odd Taxi, Big Bad Wolf in Date A Live IV and E.G. Mine in Trigun Stampede.