Toru Furuya, the veteran anime voice actor behind One Piece's “Fire Emperor” Sabo and many other anime roles, is stepping back from multiple series after a controversial affair with a fan. The actor himself and Toei Animation have both issued official statements on this matter.
Japanese news website Oricon announced that Furuya and his talent agency, Aoni Production, have released an announcement regarding the actor's departure from One Piece as Sabo, as well as Rei Furuya in Detective famous Conan (Case Closed). Furuya's resignation 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 May, the 70-year-old man admitted to having an extramarital affair lasting 4 and a half years with a female fan in her 30s. Furuya had previously admitted and apologized for assaulting the unnamed woman. during their affair and caused her to have an abortion.
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Before deleting his social network account X (formerly Twitter), Furuya publicly announced his departure from both One Piece and Detective Conan. One Piece fan account @/pewpie archived Furuya's message with the following content: “Due to my selfish actions, I, Toru Furuya, have caused trouble and worry to many people. This incident has significantly damaged the Detective's works and character image.” To compensate for the damage caused to these works and characters as well as to support the fans of these works, I have made the deep and painful decision to withdraw from voice acting. for the characters Furuya Rei and Sabo. to everyone for the considerable trouble caused. I deeply regret this incident and am truly sorry.”
Toei Animation will replace Sabo in One Piece with a new voice actor
Meanwhile, Toei Animation, the anime production company behind the One Piece anime, also released a statement regarding the news of Furyua's resignation from Sabo, which read: “Toru Furuya's company has asked him to He no longer voices 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 hope you continue to support the One Piece anime in the future.”
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Voice actor Toru Furuya is known for his roles in One Piece, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon and more
Before news of his affair broke out, Furyua was a respected voice actor for over 60 years with over 100 anime roles to his name. In addition to Sabo and Rei, Furyua also played popular anime characters such as Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru Chiba in the original Sailor Moon, Yamcha in Dragon Ball, and Amuro Ray in Mobile Suit Gunma. His last credited anime role was as the narrator for the original spring 2024 anime series Highspeed Etoile. There were legitimate expectations that Furyua would retire from the Japanese dubbing industry altogether following his controversies.
One Piece (1999)
Follow the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his pirate crew to find the greatest treasure ever left behind by the legendary Pirate, Gold Roger. The famous mysterious treasure is called “One Piece”.
Release date October 20, 1999
Creator(s). Eiichiro Oda
Cast Mayumi Tanaka, Akemi Okamura, Laurent Vernin, Tony Beck, Kazuya Nakai
Seasons first
Studio Toei Animation
Creator Eiichiro Oda
Production company Toei Animation
Episodes 1K+
Extend
Source: Oricon