One Piece officially announces Franky’s new voice actor during Jump Festa 2025

Kazuki Yao, the legendary voice actor of Franky in One Piece, recently announced that he’s stepping down from the role due to health concerns. And now, he and his co-stars finally revealed who will take on the of the iconic cyborg shipwright during Jump Festa 2025.

The One Piece panel of Jump Festa 2025 was quite touching, as Shueisha and Toei Animation held a wholesome graduation ceremony for Kazuki Yao and all the other talented actors of the Straw Hat Pirates were present. This was a truly special occasion, since he voiced Franky and many other characters in the show for over 24 years, and it’s quite unfortunate that he couldn’t make it to the end of the show.

Image via @Eiichiro_Staff/Twitter

The man who will replace Yao as the new voice of Franky is none other than Subaru Kimura, a German-Japanese actor, voice actor and rapper who is famous for voicing Aoi Todo in Jujutsu Kaisen, Pesci in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo, Takeshi Goda in Doraemon and more. Yao himself helped choose Kimura as his replacement, and he even introduced him on stage during the event, taught him how to do Franky’s iconic “SUPER!” pose, and “passed on the torch” by giving him a replica of the character’s iconic red speedo.

This was a truly emotional farewell, both for the longtime fans who have enjoyed Yao’s performance as Franky since 2005 and for the rest of the main cast who have been working alongside him for so many years. In his final message, Yao thanked everybody for the support (fans, his co-stars, his wife and Eiichiro Oda himself) and mentioned how Mayumi Tanaka, Luffy’s voice actress, couldn’t stop crying on-stage. His role as Franky was truly legendary, and fans around the world will certainly miss him.

When is Kimura going to start voicing Franky in the One Piece anime?

Image via @OnePieceAnime/Twitter

Filling in the shoes of the legendary Kazuki Yao is not going to be easy for Subaru Kimura, but we still haven’t had an opportunity to hear his performance as Franky. However, considering that Yao himself helped choose him, that he’s a seasoned voice actor and that he already seems to be getting along with the other Straw Hat Pirates’ voice actors, he will most likely do a great job at it, even though he will inevitably sound quite different from his predecessor. Nevertheless, we will have to wait a few more months before we can hear him as Franky.

The current story arc of the One Piece anime, the Egghead Arc, is on hiatus while Toei Animation is airing a remastered version of the Fish-Man Island on TV (which is also available on streaming). However, the Jump Festa 2025 panel confirmed that the Egghead Arc will return on April 6, 2025. So, not only is this amazing story going to return in less than 4 months, but we will also get to hear Kimura’s performance as Franky around that time.

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