Pokemon Journeys Quietly Recasts Raihan Voice Actor
Pokemon Journeys: The Series has quietly recast the voice behind Raihan with the newest episode of the series! The series is continuing its run in Japan as Ash and Goh make their way through the past regions of the franchise, and the two of them have come face to face with some very notable faces from the past and present such as some heavy hitting Gym Leaders from the Galar region. This included the Hammerlocke Gym Leader Raihan, who had been previously voiced in the anime by Tatsuhisa Suzuki. But Suzuki is currently in the midst of a hiatus from the entertainment industry.
Suzuki previously announced that he's currently in the midst of a break from the entertainment industry (meaning his voice acting work and work as part of the band OLDCODEX) due to mental and physical health concerns, and fans had been wondering what that meant for his character re-appearing in the Pokemon anime. As noted by the end credits for the newest episode of the series airing in Japan (as reported by Crunchyroll), Suzuki has been quietly replaced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Kirito in Sword Art Online, Inosuke Hashibira in Demon Slayer, Soma Yukihira in Food Wars) in the anime.
Suzuki had reportedly gone on his current hiatus following allegations that he had cheated on his wife, performing artist LiSA, and noted that he was taking a break from this work due to "physical and mental fatigue" and was planning to return once his conditions have improved. LiSA had undergone a short hiatus for a while as well, but has returned to work as of this writing. This had Pokemon fans wondering about Suzuki's role in the anime, but it's still technically up in the air.
The recasting wasn't officially announced by the Pokemon Journeys team itself and instead was revealed through the end credits, so it's currently unclear as to whether or not Matsuoka will be the voice of Raihan going forward or was just here in the interim during Suzuki's break. If an official announcement about the recasting does get made, however, we'll update you with any news on that front. But what do you think?
How do you feel about Raihan getting a new voice in Japan? How are you liking Pokemon Journeys as a series so far? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!