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Atlus Recasts Tōru Furuya in Metaphor: ReFantazio Game

Voice actor admitted to 4-year affair with acknowledged abuse last month

www.animenewsnetwork.com

Atlus announced on Tuesday that it has removed voice actor Tōru Furuya from the cast of its upcoming Metaphor: ReFantazio fantasy role-playing game "due to various circumstances," and will announce the replacement cast member sometime in July. Atlus had not previously announced which character or role Furuya would be playing in the game.

On his X (formerly Twitter) account on May 22, voice actor Tōru Furuya acknowledged a recent report by the Weekly Bunshun magazine regarding an affair he had with a fan. Weekly Bunshun interviewed him for the article.

Furuya admitted that he had been in a relationship with a female fan for four and a half years until last September. He said that he had become attracted to a fan of his that was supporting him earnestly, and that he had contacted her to begin the affair. He also admitted that during their relationship, he had raised his hand to strike her once when they had an argument. Furuya also admitted that he had caused the woman to have an abortion.

Following the admission, Animate canceled its Detective Conan event scheduled for July 27, which would have him as a speaker. He also left a stage reading production scheduled for August 10 to 11.

Furuya's voice-acting career extends more than 50 years, and he has performed in more than 100 titles. He is known for voicing characters such as Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon, Amuro Ray in Mobile Suit Gundam, Yamcha in Dragon Ball, and Tōru Amuro/Rei Furuya in Detective Conan. His anime roles also include Sabo in One Piece, Pegasus Seiya in Saint Seiya, Kyosuke Kasuga in Kimagure Orange Road, and Ribbons Almark in Mobile Suit Gundam 00.

 

[Codes 208]

The moment I read tagt he voiced yamcha I was immediately like “so he’s a method actor, got it”

 

[DeepEnigma]

You know what you need to do.

 

[Imtjnotu]

 

[Magic Carpet]

Voiced Kyosuke in Orange Road?
He's over 70 years old.

 

[adamsapple]

Voiced Kyosuke in Orange Road?
He's over 70 years old.

And still having affairs like he's Ric Flair.

 

[DeepEnigma]

And still having affairs like he's Ric Flair.

 

[Klayzer]

Damm. Dude not only clapped her, he was also about to pimp slap her as well. Not going to touch this....

 

[GHound]

"He had an affair."
That's shitty but also a private matter.
"He had an affair with a fan."
You would be hard pressed to find someone who wasn't a Dragon Ball fan in Japan.
Now if the person in question was a fan of Ex-Arm's horrible adaptation I'd say he'd went out of his way.

He also admitted that during their relationship, he had raised his hand to strike her once when they had an argument. Furuya also admitted that he had caused the woman to have an abortion.

Actually fuck that guy.

 

[Northeastmonk]

reminds me of the Judgement actor who was ripped apart over his drug conviction, but way more f*cked in the head.

 

[Klayzer]

"He had an affair."
That's shitty but also a private matter.
"He had an affair with a fan."
You would be hard pressed to find someone who wasn't a Dragon Ball fan in Japan.
Now if the person in question was a fan of Ex-Arm's horrible adaptation I'd say he'd went out of his way.

Actually fuck that guy.

Wow, homeboy is straight trash.

 

[lh032]

Voiced Kyosuke in Orange Road?
He's over 70 years old.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Bro still dropping seeds.

 

[Klayzer]

I

Bro still dropping seeds.

Is that him? Lol

 

[consoul]

I just played Persona 3: Reload and was romantically involved with every woman in the game simultaneously with no consequences.

I don't think Atlus have a problem with affairs, I think they have a problem with this guy being abusive.

 

[DeepEnigma]

I

Is that him? Lol

No, lol

He's in the link with the boyband hair.

 

[Klayzer]

No, lol

He's in the link with the boyband hair.

My bad. It's the dude with the blonde perm.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

"He had an affair."
That's shitty but also a private matter.
"He had an affair with a fan."
You would be hard pressed to find someone who wasn't a Dragon Ball fan in Japan.
Now if the person in question was a fan of Ex-Arm's horrible adaptation I'd say he'd went out of his way.

Actually fuck that guy.

Exactly my thought process as well.

How it started:

How it ended:

 

[Shubh_C63]

I'm sorry. But being a piece of shit in real life is grounds for being fired at your place of work ?

Or rules and laws applies to "celebrities" differently.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I had to google the guy after reading this thread and the article.

The guy is 70 years old but every pic of him I saw he looks 45???

None the less, hilarious thread!

 

[DryvBy]

And still having affairs like he's Ric Flair.

 

[Arsic]

"He had an affair."
That's shitty but also a private matter.
"He had an affair with a fan."
You would be hard pressed to find someone who wasn't a Dragon Ball fan in Japan.
Now if the person in question was a fan of Ex-Arm's horrible adaptation I'd say he'd went out of his way.

Actually fuck that guy.

Lord o mighty man.

Good on Atlus. I’m not into cancel culture but this guy admitted to all this, and is in fact a total piece of shit.

 

[Shakka43]

An affair for 4.5 years is a committed relationship. The violence and forced abortion are the real news here.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Toru to fan chick: Woooooooo!

Fan chick: what do you mean Woooooo???

Toru: Woooooo better go get an abortion!

 

[EDMIX]

Wow, pre-order cancelled.

"I only buy games from publishers that 100% all of their staff is just, holy, sainthood and all support the same views that I do" - Some dumbass probably. /s

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

That went from kinda rockin' to giga cunt within three sentences. Impressive.

 

[newtypepilot]

essentially he'll be forced to retire. And any future projects that involves characters he has voiced will either reuse old recordings or be recast entirely.

I don't imagine Bandai being thrilled at all.

 

[consoul]

I'm sorry. But being a piece of shit in real life is grounds for being fired at your place of work ?

Or rules and laws applies to "celebrities" differently.

In Japan, yes.
Celebrities acting dishonorably get dumped by their employers. It's common practice.

 

[March Climber]

I'm sorry. But being a piece of shit in real life is grounds for being fired at your place of work ?

From the country that invented Hentai... Do they really care or was it to avoid western criticism.

Japan and South Korea were doing this long before the western countries even had the mere thought of using twitter to pressure companies into firing people.

 

[Hudo]

I was with the guy until I read that he hit her and forced her to have an abortion. Dude can go die in a ditch.

 

[FewRope]

reminds me of the Judgement actor who was ripped apart over his drug conviction, but way more f*cked in the head.

Japan and drugs is legit crazy, then a convicted pedophile can make a comeback but someone with a little cocaine can't

 

[NanaMiku]

Japan and drugs is legit crazy, then a convicted pedophile can make a comeback but someone with a little cocaine can't

drugs is basically a no no in almost all Asian countries.

 

[FewRope]

drugs is basically a no no in almost all Asian countries.

Makes no sense tbh

 

[LazyParrot]

Voiced Kyosuke in Orange Road?
He's over 70 years old.

He was already in his mid 30s when he voiced him, which is wild. Kasuga is 15 in the anime, and his voice honestly doesn't sound any older than that.

Female VAs voice significantly younger characters all the time, but it's kind of rare for men to be able to pull it off as well as he did.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

“He was banging Atlus fans two at a time “

 

[deriks]

For getting some with a fan I'm totally ok, but for being the reason of an abortion?! Yeah, he's shitty

 

[STARSBarry]

Furuya's voice-acting career extends more than 50 years, and he has performed in more than 100 titles. He is known for voicing characters such as Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon

 

[LazyParrot]

In Japan, yes.
Celebrities acting dishonorably get dumped by their employers. It's common practice.

Only if it becomes public knowledge. If his agency had caught wind of this but he'd somehow managed to keep it under wraps otherwise there would have been zero consequences.

Hell, if the agency itself had enough money and influence they could have just forced the media not to report on it. That's what Johnny & Associates did when it came out that their founder was a pedo who molested boys signed to his agency. Johnny's is so big in Japan that a ton of media outlets depend on them for information and material for articles, so they just threatened to withhold that if they covered the story.

 

[Reaseru]

 

[Yoboman]

How is that a reason to fire someone though?

 

[Team Andromeda]

The man is scum, well done Atlus.

 

[spons]

Sounds like this absolute asshole got grade-A canceled, his life in shambles.

 

[Closer]

How is that a reason to fire someone though?

Tōru Furuya just shot himself in the foot.

I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by being an asshole. If you screw someone over in Japan, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

What this means is the japanese public, after hearing about this, is not going to want to purchase Metaphor: ReFantazio for either system, nor will they purchase any games with Tōru Furuya's voice in it. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but Tōru Furuya has alienated an entire market with this move.

Tōru Furuya, publicly apologize and retire or you can kiss your career goodbye.

 

[Setsuna Mudou]

Tōru Furuya just shot himself in the foot.

I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by being an asshole. If you screw someone over in Japan, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

What this means is the japanese public, after hearing about this, is not going to want to purchase Metaphor: ReFantazio for either system, nor will they purchase any games with Tōru Furuya's voice in it. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but Tōru Furuya has alienated an entire market with this move.

Tōru Furuya, publicly apologize and retire or you can kiss your career goodbye.

Came looking for this post, wasn't disappointed.

 

[Valonquar]

Voice actors in general sure do get to fucking some underage fangirls.

 

[wipeout364]

Voice actors in general sure do get to fucking some underage fangirls.

This is what I can’t figure out ? Was she underage? it doesn’t seem to say that in the post. It just says Fan; which could seriously be any age, I am a fan of a lot of stuff and I am definitely not underage.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

I'm sorry. But being a piece of shit in real life is grounds for being fired at your place of work ?

Yes. Because nobody wants to work with a PoS.

 

[The Sum of Zero]

 

[Mr Moose]

I

Is that him? Lol

I think that's Shigeo Tokuda. He voiced Krillin *cough*

This is what I can’t figure out ? Was she underage? it doesn’t seem to say that in the post. It just says Fan; which could seriously be any age, I am a fan of a lot of stuff and I am definitely not underage.

She's 33.

 

[DarkBatman]

Yes. Because nobody wants to work with a PoS.

And many people don't want to buy or consume entertainment which includes said PoS.