At long last, One Piece might finally be giving Dragon a new and improved voice actor. With One Piece having been around for almost 30 years, many of the voice actors will have to be replaced for one reason or another; Franky’s original voice actor, Kazuki Yao, recently retired due to age, and dozens of others have been replaced after tragically ing due to sickness or old age, as well.
Of all the One Piece voice actors failing due to age, however, there’s no clearer example than Monkey D. Dragon’s voice actor, Hidekatsu Shibata. Shibata is now approaching 90, and many fans have complained about how unfitting his elderly voice is for Dragon. That might be changing, however, as recent One Piece episodes suggest that Monkey D. Dragon will be voiced by Kazuhiko Inoue, best known for voicing Naruto; it’s not as cut and dried as people might think, but even so, it would be a perfect change for the One Piece anime, going forward.
Why One Piece’s New Voice Actor For Dragon Isn’t Set In Stone
It's Too Early To Say That Dragon Is Getting A New Voice Actor
As easy as it would be to definitively declare Dragon’s new voice actor to be Kazuhiko Inoue, doing so would be far too premature. The One Piece anime is currently engaged in Kuma’s flashback arc, meaning Dragon is far younger than he is in canon, so Kazuhiko Inoue might only be voicing Dragon in flashbacks to his younger days in One Piece. By a similar token, Kuma, normally voiced by Hideyuki Hori, is voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto in his youth, so the anime likely just felt that younger-sounding voices were more appropriate for the context of the story.
Another point to consider is how previous episodes handled Dragon’s voice. Not only did Kazuhiko Inoue already voice Dragon in one of Vegapunk’s flashbacks, making it clear that this isn’t anything new, but Hidekatsu Shibata still voices Dragon in the present, making it unlikely that this is a full-fledged recast. Everything recent episodes of One Piece have done suggests that Kazuhiko Inoue is only voicing Dragon in his youth, and overall, that’s pretty hard to deny.
Why Dragon’s New Voice Actor Is Perfect For One Piece, Even If It Isn’t Permanent
Kazuhiko Inoue Is The Best Choice For Dragon, By Far
Even if Kazuhiko Inoue isn’t Dragon’s new permanent voice actor, that doesn’t change how fitting he is for the role. Whether it’s heroic characters like Kakashi and Yoriichi Tsugikuni or villainous ones like Kars and Jerid Messa, Inoue always knows how to give an air of authority to his characters with his deep voice and imposing delivery. That sort of archetype is the exact sort of character Dragon is meant to be, and as such, Kazuhiko Inoue’s style of voice acting makes him the perfect voice for Dragon in One Piece, an idea his recent showings perfectly .
One Piece Officially Announces Franky's New Voice Actor, and the Choice is Nothing Short of Perfect
A new voice actor for One Piece's Franky has just been announced at Jump Festa 2025's One Piece , and they're absolutely perfect.
At the time of writing, there’s nothing to suggest that Hidekatsu Shibata is retiring from One Piece or voice acting, in general, and he’s still regularly voicing characters in anime and video games, as well. That being said, anyone watching the anime can tell that he’s far too old for someone like Dragon, so One Piece’s anime would be far better off by recasting Kazuhiko Inoue as Dragon’s permanent voice actor. That’s unlikely to happen unless Shibata himself decides to retire, but whatever happens, it will hopefully be the best for One Piece for years to come.
One Piece
- Release Date
- October 20, 1999
- Network
- Fuji TV
- Directors
- Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
Cast
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice)-
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
- Writers
- Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
- Franchise(s)
- One Piece
- Main Genre
- Anime
- Creator(s)
- Eiichiro Oda
- Producers
- Yoshihiro Suzuki
- Seasons
- 21
- Creator
- Eiichiro Oda
- Streaming Service(s)
- Hulu, Pluto TV
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