One Piece has taken a major turn in the anime with the official debut of Joyboy, and it’s with an actor who is returning to the anime franchise after 27 long years. One Piece is nearing the end of the Egghead Arc with each of its latest episodes, and that means it has some big plans before Luffy and the Straw Hats make their way out of the chaos across Dr. Vegapunk’s future island laboratory. The latest episodes have been making some big reveals about the past, and that also includes some new information about the legendary Joyboy himself as well.
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One Piece: Egghead Arc has used Vegapunk’s research about the world to finally clue fans more into what had been happening during the Void Century, and raised all sorts of questions about the mysterious Joyboy of legend. The newest episode then takes it a step further as fans get to hear Joyboy’s voice for the very first time, and it’s an actor who once played Luffy 27 years ago (and before the One Piece anime even officially began). Check it out below as highlighted by @pewpiece on X.
One Piece Recruits Luffy for Joyboy’s Voice
One Piece Episode 1151 saw Luffy activating his Gear 5 form once more, and his heartbeat resonated with the giant robot that had been walking through the island before. It was previously activated after hearing a heartbeat that reminded it of Joyboy, and thanks to Luffy was able to rouse the machine once more to help save Luffy from one of the Five Elders. It’s here that we get a brief listen into the machine’s past, and we get to officially hear Joyboy’s voice for the very first time in the anime’s history. And it’s very familiar.
One Piece has recruited actor Urara Takano for the voice of Joyboy, and she is a special person within the franchise on a whole. Takano was the very first voice for Monkey D. Luffy as the character appeared with the special OVA release, One Piece – Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack!, shared during Shueisha’s Jump Festa event in 1998 before the franchise had actually gotten the approval for a full anime adaptation only a year later (and the cast and studio was solidified within Toei Animation moving forward). So this really is a deep cut kind of casting.
What Does This Mean for Luffy?
Joyboy being voiced by the first Monkey D. Luffy actor does paint a whole new picture of the character. There had already been plenty of comparisons between Luffy and Joyboy, and the series has gone even further to emphasize that Luffy is pretty much the second coming of the legendary pirate. First looks at the character also revealed that he wore a Straw Hat much like Luffy, and now the anime confirmed that he sounded a lot like Luffy as well with this casting.
It raises a lot of questions about what this means for Luffy going forward, but it’s really starting to seem like he’s a chosen one figure of the modern era of pirates. Not someone who necessarily continues in Gol D. Roger’s footsteps, but someone who goes much further back and follows in the footsteps of a pirate that was active during the mysterious Void Century.
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Image courtesy of Monolith Productions, Nightdive Studios, Warner Bros. Games, and Atari
