Longtime One Piece voice actor replaced due to health concerns

Kazuki Yao is a seasoned voice actor who lends his voice to several characters in the One Piece anime, like Jango, Bon Clay and Franky. Unfortunately, it seems that he wasn’t able to record lines for the latest episode due to health concerns.

One of the many official One Piece accounts on Twitter/X recently confirmed this recasting since Jango will appear in Episode 1121 of the show, where Wataru Takagi will voice him instead. He’s also a talented voice actor with a similar raspy voice, and he’s well known for voicing Bellamy in One Piece, Obito Uchiha in Naruto and Okuyasu Nijimura in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. This wouldn’t be the first time Takagi takes over the role of Jango, as he previously voiced the character in the 2001 animated short Jango’s Dance Carnival.

So far, the One Piece account stated that Takagi would only replace Yao in Episode 1121, and there is still no confirmation of whether this replacement will be permanent. It also didn’t say anything regarding Yao’s role as Franky, who is actually one of the main characters of the anime, so a recast of his voice would be a pretty big deal for this show. However, by following the story of the manga, we know that Franky will reappear in the anime within a few more episodes, so Toei Animation will most likely announce if they will also recast him in the near future.

Franky has been sounding weird in the One Piece anime for a while

It’s quite evident that his performance as Franky has been taking quite a toll on Yao’s voice for quite a long time, and One Piece fans noticed his gradual change in tone. Franky’s voice began sounding more strained when the anime adaptation of the Wano Country Arc began airing in 2019, but it became even more noticeable at the beginning of the Egghead Arc. Yao’s health issues should not be a surprise since he is 65 years old and has been active within the industry for almost 40 years.

Fans are hoping he can rest his voice and wish him a full recovery. After all, he’s an important figure within the franchise since he has used his signature raspy voice to portray two extremely popular characters, Bon Clay and Franky, for quite a long time. During Jump Festa 2008, Eiichiro Oda revealed that he loved Yao’s performance as Jango and Bon Clay so much that he wanted to give him a starring role in the anime, so he created Franky with his voice in mind. This means that Yao is such a legendary voice actor that his talents even influenced the content of the original One Piece manga.