Sabo’s Voice Actor From One Piece Steps Down From His Role After The Assaulting News Broke Out

Voice Actor Toru Furuya had announced on June 22, 2024, that he would resign from playing the roles of Sabo (One Piece) and Tōru Amuro (Detective Conan) after his talent agency, Aoni Production, asked him to do so.

Both the agency and Toru Furuya commented on the matter, apologizing for any inconvenience caused to the affected parties.

The agency commented as follows:

We have had a series of discussions with Toru Furuya regarding a series of scandals involving our actor Toru Furuya.
As a conclusion, we would like to inform you that we have asked him to resign from his roles in “Detective Conan: Toru Amuro” and “One Piece: Sabo”, which have directly and significantly damaged the image of the works and characters, and that he has accepted the request.

We would like to apologise again to everyone involved in the productions and to the many fans who support the productions.

Aoni Production Co., Ltd.

Similarly, Toru Furuya commented as follows:

I, Toru Furuya, have caused inconvenience and concern to many people due to my selfish actions.
I have decided to make my future appearances in Detective Conan and One Piece, which have greatly damaged the image of the series and its characters, as the only way I can make amends to the people involved in the series, the many fans who have supported me, the series and its characters, After careful consideration, I have decided to resign from the roles of Toru Amuro and Sabo.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise once again to everyone who has caused me a great deal of inconvenience and sincerely apologise for the trouble I have caused.

For those who are wondering what the man had done, Toru Furuya was found guilty of having an affair with a female fan for 4.5 years but also assaulting, getting the woman pregnant, and forcing her to get an abortion.

He voluntarily confessed during an interview with Bunshun Online in May 2024.

After the admission, Animate decided to cancel its Detective Conan event that was planned on July 27, where he was supposed to be a speaker. In addition, he relinquished his involvement in a stage reading play set to take place on August 10th and 11th.

Toru Furuya had played many popular anime characters like Sabo from One Piece, Yamcha from Dragon Ball, Amuro from Mobile-Suit Gundam, Seiya from Saint Seiya, Tuxedo Mask and Rei from Detective Conan.

About One Piece:

One Piece manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha’s shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump since July 1997, with its individual chapters compiled into 108 tankōbon volumes as of March 2024.

The manga spawned a media franchise, having been adapted into a festival film by Production I.G, and an anime series by Toei Animation, which began broadcasting in 1999. Additionally, Toei has developed fourteen animated feature films, one original video animation, and thirteen television specials.

The latest entry in the franchise, One Piece Film Red, premiered in Japan in August 2022. It is the 8th highest-earning film of all time in Japan and also topped Japan’s box office for the year 2022 in terms of both yen earned and tickets sold.

One Piece Anime Synopsis:

The tale of One Piece takes place on a parallel Earth when the ‘Golden Age of Pirates’ is in full swing.

The seas are ruled by ruthless pirates, and only the strongest can claim the legendary ‘One Piece’ fortune left behind by the greatest pirate of them, Gol D. Roger.

Source: Oricon