The official Dragon Ball Kai website has been updated with voice actor information for Freeza’s main henchmen Kewi, Zarbon, and Dodoria. Unfortunately, none of the original voice actors will be returning to reprise their roles. Here is a quick look at the new voice actors:
Kewi
Eiji Takemoto |
Zarbon
Hiroaki Miura |
Dodoria
Takashi Nagasako |
All three have been involved in many of today’s popular anime series, such as Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece, just to name a few. From the sounds of it, the three may fit the roles very well. Although, I am still sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to find out who will be voicing Appule. Come on Yūji Machi!
It is a bit interesting to see these replacements, however, considering the situations with some of the prior actors:
- KEWI: With Kōji Totani passing away in 2006, Eiji Takemoto will be stepping in to take over the role. Known to many of us as Rock Howard in SNK video games, he also stepped up to take over the role as Namu in Sparking! METEOR back in 2007 with the passing of Kaneto Shiozawa in 2000.
- DODORIA: Here is where things get interesting. Yukitoshi Hori (who also played Sauza in DBZ Movie 5) is alive and well, but will be replaced by Takashi Nagasako for Kai.
- ZARBON: In a similar case, Shō Hayami (who also played #19, Sansho in DBZ Movie 1, and Medamatcha in DBZ Movie 4) will be replaced by Hiroaki Miura.
So we have a replacement for a replacement, a replacement with no real reason, and another replacement with no real reason (albeit in this last cast for someone who has become a very high-profile voice actor).