Billy Kametz’s cancer affects Naofumi’s voice in The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 English dub

Billy Kametz voice acts Naofumi Iwatani from The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2.
Billy Kametz’s voice acting skills brought Naofumi Iwatani to life. Pic credit: Glovision/Kinema Citrus

Billy Kametz, the LA-based voice actor, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Fans of The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 2 anime will be familiar with Billy’s work, as he’s the English dub voice behind Naofumi Iwatani.

Via a recent YouTube video on his channel, Billy appeared and gave a brief update on his current health condition. He had the following to say about how matters are progressing in his life thus far:

“I’m doing okay. As soon as we found out, we got an amazing team of doctors and specialists really helping me out, so I’m on a good dose of pain meds to help out with that.

I’ve started chemotherapy. I got my next appointment tomorrow, actually. So we’re still going ahead with that.

I’ve been getting some radiation done on parts of my spine. But yeah, it sucks. It’s just a freak of nature thing that happened that I just got to deal with now.”

But Billy seems upbeat and states the following about his treatment and possible recovery:

“Chemo is going well; I haven’t been too sick. But now I’m doing well otherwise. My appetite is up; been eating a lot, and I’m able to walk a bunch. I was able to walk like three miles a day.

And I’m staying really positive, and that’s the biggest reason I want to make this video is to let you know that I have so much support and so much positivity surrounding me.

And so many people giving me strength that I know I’m going to fight this and come out on the other side totally fine.”

A Multitalented Individual

Billy Kametz’s voice acting career in anime is impressive. He voiced Josuke Higashikata in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable, Mikhail in Sirius the Jaeger, and Seiya Ichijō in Sword Gai, among many others.

And he has also lent his voice acting skills to radio, online, and TV advertisements. Furthermore, he has worked with many notable brands such as Comcast, iHop, and Nintendo.

What now for Billy Kametz?

The talented 35-year-old voice actor will be taking time off to continue treatment. Due to his condition, he had to pull out of voice acting roles but wants fans to support the shows and the voice actors that will replace him. 

Readers of Anime Geek that want to support Billy Kametz can make donations at the following GoFundMe page. And for those that want to keep up to date with the latest developments in Billy’s life, consider following him on Instagram

Billy Kametz has brought plenty of joy to anime fans worldwide. We sincerely hope that his absence from the anime world will only be temporary and that he will recover soon. 

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