ONE PIECE has officially cast Subaru Kimura as Franky’s new voice actor, and he will take over from the legendary Kazuki Yao when the anime returns from hiatus next year. The announcement was made at the show’s panel at Jump Festa ’25, which was attended by all of the main voice actors, including Yao himself. Present were:
- Mayumi Tanaka as Monkey D. Luffy
- Kazuya Nakai as Roronoa Zoro
- Akemi Okamura as Nami
- Kappei Yamaguchi as Usopp
- Hiroaki Hirata as Sanji
- Ikue Otani as Tony Tony Chopper
- Yuriko Yamaguchi as Nico Robin
- Kazuki Yao as Franky
- Cho as Brook
- Katsuhisa Hoki as Jinbe
They featured some of the highlights of Franky with the Straw Hats, including him joining the crew. Kazuki Yao voiced the character for the scenes. You can see some of his roles in our birthday graphic from this year.
Also check out our full Jump Festa 2025 Announcements coverage
Yao was Franky’s voice actor since the character’s debut in ONE PIECE Episode 233, which aired in Japan on May 22, 2005. He also voiced Bon Clay and Jango in the anime. Wataru Takagi had also voiced Franky in Episode 1121 due to Kazuki Yao’s declining health. Yao thanked everyone at the end of the panel before the cast started singing the emotional “Family” theme song.
In his announcement, he said that it felt like a gap had formed between him and the Franky he envisions as ideal. He added that parting ways with someone he’d walked alongside for nearly a quarter of a century felt like an out-of-body experience, before encouraging that a su~uuuper successor was found.
The ONE PIECE anime is currently on hiatus to ‘recharge,’ with the edited version of the Fish-Man Island Saga set to take its place until the return on March 30, 2025. There is also the upcoming anime remake by WIT Studio, as well as the 2nd season of the live-action series, which recently got a new message from the creator Eiichiro Oda.
Source: Official X, Jump Festa ’25
© Eiichiro Oda / Shueisha, Toei Animation
The comments are temporarily unavailable for maintenance.