A Controversial One Piece Voice Actor Exits the Anime Series Permanently

Toru Furuya, a veteran anime voice actor behind “Flame Emperor” Sabo from One Piece and many more anime roles, is stepping down from multiple series following his controversial affair with a fan. The actor himself and Toei Animation have both released official statements on the matter.

Japanese news website Oricon announced that Furuya and his talent agency, Aoni Production, have issued a statement announcing the actor’s departure from One Piece as Sabo, as well as Rei Furuya from Detective Conan (Case Closed). Furuya resigning from his current iconic roles comes after Atlus removed the disgraced voice actor from its upcoming role-playing game, Metaphor: ReFantazio, in early June. In late May, the 70-year-old admitted to having a four-and-a-half-year extramarital affair with a female fan in her 30s. Furuya also previously admitted and apologized for once physically assaulting the unnamed woman during their affair and getting her to have an abortion.

Before deleting his social media X (formerly Twitter) account, Furuya publicly announced his departure from both One Piece and Detective Conan. The One Piece fan account @/pewpiece archived Furuya’s message, which read as follows: “Due to my selfish actions, I, Toru Furuya, have caused trouble and concern for many people. This incident has significantly damaged the works and character images of Detective Conan and One Piece. To compensate for the damage done to these works and characters, and to support the fans of these works, I have thought deeply and painfully decided to withdraw from voicing the characters Furuya Rei and Sabo. Once again, I sincerely apologize to everyone for the significant trouble caused. I deeply regret this incident and feel truly sorry.”

Toei Animation Will Replace One Piece’s Sabo With a New Voice Actor

Meanwhile, Toei Animation, the anime production company behind the One Piece anime series, also released a statement regarding the news of Furyua stepping down as Sabo, which reads: “Toru Furuya’s agency has requested that he no longer voice the character Sabo. We have accepted this request and decided to replace the voice actor. We will proceed with selecting a new voice actor. We ask for your continued support of the One Piece anime in the future.”

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Voice Actor Toru Furuya Was Known for His Roles in One Piece, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon & More

Before news of his extramarital affair broke, Furyua was a well-respected voice actor of over 60 years with more than 100 anime roles to his name. In addition to Sabo and Rei, Furyua also played popular anime characters like Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru Chiba in the original Sailor Moon, Yamcha in Dragon Ball and Amuro Ray in Mobile Suit Gundam. His last credited anime role was as the narrator for the Spring 2024 original anime series Highspeed Etoile. There are well-reasoned expectations that Furyua will retire from the Japanese voice-acting industry entirely following his controversy.

One Piece (1999)

Follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his pirate crew in order to find the greatest treasure ever left by the legendary Pirate, Gold Roger. The famous mystery treasure named “One Piece”.

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Creator(s)

Eiichiro Oda

Cast

Mayumi Tanaka , Akemi Okamura , Laurent Vernin , Tony Beck , Kazuya Nakai

Seasons

1

Studio

Toei Animation

Creator

Eiichirô Oda

Production Company

Toei Animation

Number of Episodes

1K+

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Source: Oricon