One Piece’s anime celebrated its 25th anniversary in October 2024. The show has come a long way since then as it enters its Final Saga. After celebrating its 25th anniversary with One Piece Fan Letter, the anime went on hiatus for six months. The anime will improve its animation and pacing after its return in April 2025. It will continue the Egghead Island Arc as Luffy and his crew will face more dangerous enemies. With Vegapunk’s life on the line, the Straw Hats must do everything in their power to evade the Marines. As one of the longest-running shows of all time, One Piece has had several replacements among the cast and crew. The animation staff keeps changing, upgrading the quality of the show. However, when it comes to voice actors, the staff won’t change them unless it’s the studio’s last resort.
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Franky’s voice actor, Kazuki Yao, announced his retirement in 2024 after dealing with several health issues. He bid farewell to fans in Jump Festa 2025, where he made his last appearance as Franky’s voice actor as he took the stage and put down red underwear on the floor, emphasizing he stepped down from Franky’s role. After Yao left, Subaru Kimura, Franky’s new voice actor, got on stage and picked up the item to depict the role took over after Yao. The event took place in December, and less than a month after, speculation has begun to rise about Shanks’ voice actor, Shuichi Ikeda, retiring. This news comes after a scanned pamphlet surfaced on Reddit about someone else portraying Ikeda’s most famous Gundam role. The pamphlet lists Yuuki Shin, portraying Char Aznable, his iconic role in the Gundam franchise, for Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX.
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One Piece’s Aging Cast Including Shanks’ Voice Actor Fuels Retirement Speculations
The pamphlet largely has nothing to suggest outright that Shuichi Ikeda is retiring from One Piece or the voice acting field in general. Ikeda’s talent agency, Tokyo Actor’s Consumer’s Cooperative Society, known commonly as Haikyo, has shared nothing of the sort and, in fact, even recently confirmed his narration work for Comedy Omnibus GP 2025. But this hasn’t stopped the fandom from speculating based on the apparent recasting of his most iconic anime role as Char Aznable.
A One Piece fan account on X, @pewpiece, shares, “Shanks’ voice actor, Shuichi Ikeda, has retired from his iconic role as Char from Gundam. This is sad news, and it raises concerns he might also retire from voicing Shanks in One Piece, as he is now 75 years old.” While this is only a speculation, it probably won’t be long before Ikeda announces his retirement. One Piece’s cast has been getting on for years and almost all of them are over 60 years old.
The series might replace more voice actors during the Final Saga. Since most of them have been a part of the One Piece team for more than two decades, fans naturally feel a connection to them and link them with their favorite characters. @Ssimpl_y shares, “Please don’t but if u do thank you for ur service u gave my goat so much aura.”
@sanwyama adds, “I get it I will miss him so much if he leaves Shanks as well… Also poor guy he will leave when he can finally do stuff like Shanks.”
@TheSoulofD writes, “Yeaa that’s a strong possibility. Most of the cast is getting up there in age so I guess it’s time to prepare for moments like these.”
Although Shanks doesn’t have a major role in the story, he’s still one of the most beloved characters. He’s shrouded by mystery and appears more often than usual in the Final Saga of One Piece. The manga is currently in its Elbaf Arc and is setting up exciting plot twists surrounding Shanks. As the Final Saga continues, Shanks will appear more frequently to address the mysteries surrounding him.
