The past week has been difficult for the Bleach fandom. While fans await news on the anime’s next cour, the conversation regarding Ichigo Kurosaki shifted in light of a sudden recasting. Not long ago, reports confirmed the English dub of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War wasn’t going to have actress Anairis Quiñones voice Yoruichi; Instead, the dub’s original actress Wendee Lee was invited to reprise the role. The revelation quickly turned into a sticky debate online, and now the studio who oversees the Bleach dub is speaking out.
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Recently, a representative for Studiopolis addressed the situation in a new statement. The message, which was posted by Anime News Network, stresses the situation was the product of a simple error.
“We would like to address the unfortunate circumstances that led to the casting error around the character “Yoruichi Shihoin” in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War episode #22. It was always Studiopolis’ intent to keep as many of the established cast members as possible from the original Bleach anime,” the statement reads.
“There was a misunderstanding that “Yoruichi Shihoin” was part of the list of the original cast members who were unavailable to participate in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. In error, our casting coordinator offered Anairis Quiñones the role. By the time this error came to our attention, it was too late to correct before episode 22 was released. We would like to take this opportunity to apologize once again, and express how much we appreciate their talents, and enjoy working with Anairis and Wendee who will both continue to add their voice work to Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War with Wendee as “Yoruichi Shihoin” and Anairis as “Hiyori Sarugaki.”
This address comes days after the Bleach ordeal surfaced online. It began after Quiñones informed fans they would not be voicing Yoruichi in the anime’s English dub. The ordeal escalated after a number of fans and fellow anime professionals replied to Quiñones’ post with sympathies. A number of now-deleted tweets by Lee were sent in response to those posts, and fans were stunned by the harassment. Not long after, Lee posted an apology to Quiñones on social media for the situation. And as for Quiñones, we responded in kind with a message to Lee before announcing a brief hiatus from social media.
“I haven’t responded to Wendee privately as I have no energy or interest in participating in this situation more than I already have. I am not ready to talk. Please respect that,” she shared.
At this point, it seems Lee is moving forward with her role as Yoruichi. For those who watch the English dub, you can find it streaming in part on Hulu or Disney+ depending on your location.
What do you think about this entire dub ordeal? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram.
