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Voice Actor Takahiro Sakurai Ends Contract With Talent Agency
posted on by Egan Loo
The talent agency Intention and voice actor Takahiro Sakurai jointly announced on Friday that they are ending their contract as of that day. Intention explained that during in-depth discussions with Sakurai over his professional future, he requested to leave the agency. Sakurai had been with Intention since July 2014.
Sakurai himself apologized again for the trouble caused by his "inappropriate behavior" to his fans and the people with whom he works. He described his request to leave Intention as a way of taking sole responsibility for the matter. He vowed to take some self-reflection and move forward, if possible, to restore the trust he lost.
The Weekly Bunshun tabloid newspaper reported on October 26 that Sakurai had been engaged in an extramarital affair for at least 10 years with a writer for his P.S. Genki Desu. Takahiro travel radio show. Intention published a statement the following day that acknowledged the article's report and apologized to the unnamed woman, Sakurai's fans, and all involved.
After the report, Sakurai did not attend the Jump Festa '23 in December as originally planned.
The staff of the GoRA and King Records' original anime project Ayaka: A Story of Bonds and Wounds announced earlier this year that they are replacing Sakurai with Kōsuke Toriumi as the voice of Haruaki Karuma, one of the anime's main characters.
Twin Engine announced in February that the Mononoke anime film has been delayed and that Sakurai will no longer reprise the role of the Medicine Seller protagonist as originally planned. The film was previously slated to premiere this year.
Sources: Intention, Comic Natalie
