In a brief post today on the official website for the forthcoming Dragon Ball Daima television series, Ryōta Suzuki has been announced as the new voice actor for the character Yamcha, taking over the role from franchise veteran Tōru Furuya.
ヤムチャ役 担当声優交代のお知らせ
「ドラゴンボール」シリーズにおいて、永らくヤムチャ役を務められた古谷徹さんですが、 担当声優の交代を行うこととなりました。
2024年10月11日に放送となります「ドラゴンボールDAIMA」第１話より、後任として鈴木崚汰さんにご担当していただくことになりましたので、ご報告いたします。
Notice of Change for Yamcha’s Voice Actor
Tōru Furuya, who has played the role of Yamcha in the Dragon Ball series for a long time, will be replaced by another voice actor.
We hereby announce that Ryōta Suzuki will take over the role beginning with the first episode of Dragon Ball Daima, which begins its broadcast on October 11, 2024.
Following a series of revelations — specifically an extramarital affair that included verbal, emotional, and physical abuse — Furuya stepped down from and was removed from various voice acting roles, including several long-time roles and others still yet to be released. Notably, Miyu Irino took over Furuya’s role as Sabo in the One Piece series.
Little has been previewed with some of the legacy characters in Dragon Ball Daima, though trailers showcase many of them seemingly being turned back into children, Yamcha included.
Furuya’s time with Yamcha dates back to the original Dragon Ball television series, debuting in the fifth episode back in March 1986. Furuya played the character consistently over time to the modern era, up through and including the Dragon Ball Super television series and ancillary material like the Super Dragon Ball Heroes Promotional Anime.
Dragon Ball Daima was first revealed at New York Comic Con in October 2023 by way of a trailer and comment from original franchise creator Akira Toriyama. The “Daima” in the series’ title is a made-up term, though the individual kanji that make up its spelling would be 大魔; in Toriyama’s own words, …”in English would be something like ‘Evil.'” The forthcoming series debuts 11 October 2024 on Fuji TV in Japan (with multiple worldwide streaming options), and will feature an original story by series creator Akira Toriyama, character designs by Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, script/composition by Yūko Kakihara, and series co-direction by Yoshitaka Yashima and Aya Komaki.
The upcoming video game Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO — releasing the same weekend as the Dragon Ball Daima debut — is set to include Yamcha as a playable character. Promotional trailers for the game (released before the Furuya news broke) appear to still feature Furuya in the role, and no further announcements have been specifically made regarding this performance since then.
