AYAKA Anime Replaces Voice Actor Takahiro Sakurai

GoRA (K) and King Records are teaming up to produce original TV anime AYAKA, and the latest update on the series concerns one of its voice actors. Takahiro Sakurai was originally supposed to voice Haruaki Kurama, but will be replaced by another actor to be named in the future. The replacement is cited as being due to “various circumstances.” 

Sakurai had been in the news quite a bit last year due to the reveal of an extramarital affair that had apparently been going on for the past decade. There has been some fallout since news came out, and this certainly appears to be the latest. 

Tabloid newspaper Weekly Bunshun broke the story on October 26 of last year with a report claiming that Sakurai has been engaged in an extramarital affair with a writer for his travel radio show P.S. Genki Desu. Takahiro. Talent management agency Intention released a statement shortly after to acknowledge the report and apologize to fans, the unnamed woman who was also engaged in the affair and anyone else who may be involved. 

Among the many roles for which Sakurai is known are Suguru Geto in JUJUTSU KAISEN, Reigen in Mob Psycho 100, Griffith in Berserk, Giyu Tomioka in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Sasori in Naruto Shippuden and many more. 

Crunchyroll will stream the AYAKA TV anime—which is directed by Nobuyoshi Nagayama (Happy Sugar Life) at Studio Blanc—when it airs this year. Here’s the official synopsis:

The story follows Yukito Yanagi, an orphan who one day encounters an eccentric disciple of his father’s. The strange man takes him to his birthplace on Ayakajima, made up of seven islands where mysterious beings called “Mitama” and dragons are rumored to reside. There, Yukito meets his father’s two other disciples, who protect the harmony of Ayakajima… which soon threatens to collapse.

Via Crunchyroll News