In January of this year, the anime community was shaken up by the scandal news of voice actor Toru Furuya (One Piece, Sailor Moon, Detective Conan), who was involved in an alleged love affair. As of today, new report from Japan shows that the actor has left those roles after working on these anime series for years, Comicbook.com reports.
The news comes from his talent agency, Aoni Production Co. According to Comicbook.com, the company confirms that the actor is leaving his two most famous roles: Rei Furuya in Detective Conan and Sabo in One Piece. The reason is that he was asked to retire amid the alleged love affair scandal he was involved in. The agency said the actor left without complaining, accepting full responsibility for his actions. There are no updates regarding those roles’ replacements yet.
At One Piece headquarters, the anime’s staff posted a statement addressing Furuya’s exit from the animated series. “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,” the staff explained via Comicbook.com. The anime staff of Detective Conan has not yet shared any statement regarding the actor’s decision.
Furuya released a statement of his own via Comicbook.com, which can be read below:
“I had an affair with a female fan for four and a half years until last September. I was attracted to her because of her straightforward support for me, and I foolishly contacted her myself to start the relationship. During our relationship, we argued once and I unintentionally raised my hand. It was the worst thing I could have done as an adult and as a human being,” he wrote, via Comicbook.com.
“I also made the unforgivable mistake of causing her to have an abortion. I am truly, truly sorry for the deep hurt that I caused the other woman, both physically and mentally. I cannot apologize enough for betraying the trust of all my fans who have supported me over the years, disappointing them, hurting them, and tarnishing my character. I have also betrayed the trust of all those involved and have caused them a great deal of trouble,” he concluded via Comicbook.com.
One Piece is available to stream on Crunchyroll and Hulu, while Detective Conan is available to stream on Tubi, Xumi Play, Sling TV, The Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video.