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The story
A thread on 5ch’s Nanjyo (Everything Live) board blew up over the recast of Ryotsu Kankichi, the lead of the new anime adaptation of “Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo” (Kochikame). Since Rasal Ishii’s portrayal has defined the character for decades, posters flooded in with complaints that the new voice felt off, like “it sounds too cool — it needs more vulgarity.” The discussion soon widened into comparisons with other franchises that have swapped out a lead character’s voice actor, such as Doraemon, Sazae-san, Lupin III, and Crayon Shin-chan, pitting an optimistic camp arguing it’s “just a matter of getting used to it” against critics who countered that “the more you love the original, the harder it is to accept.”
What people said
Can't even post a YouTube link right, and your brain's gone bald too?
The voice is too cool — it needs some vulgarity.
It might feel weird at first, but you'll get used to it eventually 🥺
Same thing happened with Doraemon's voice, remember? 🥺
There's more than enough material to draw from — guess they just can't do the really niche jokes anymore?
Because the guy's a cop who gets into brawls and goes on shooting sprees.
That one's a national institution that's going to stick around forever.
This one's just going to fade away soon and end up remembered as a failure.
He pulled off Kenshiro just fine.
That guy's freakishly versatile.
I don't really see the need to make it sound like Rasal Ishii anyway.
Nobody asked what YOU think is necessary lol
Re: #44
You're way too attached to Kochikame lol
I don't think most people care that much, honestly lol
The Chief especially looks rough.
The Chief's not that bad, actually.
Nakagawa's the one I thought looked the worst.
Anyone still complaining about it is just nitpicking.
That's because Lupin kept casting big-name actors.
Both camps are basically the majority — what do you mean by 'just how it goes'?
Seriously, though.
People losing their minds over 'the voice, the voice' about a mere cartoon is so cringe.
He's not even popular enough to have haters — it's just that the voice doesn't fit, plain and simple.
Even setting that aside, he's a sitting politician now.
There's no way that's happening.
Wait, what happened to him?
Since everyone else sounds the same and only Ryotsu changed, it makes it feel even more off.
Probably just couldn't find a voice in the same direction for Ryotsu alone.
Honestly, Subaru Kimura would've been better for this.
Recoome was great though — the hilarious-yet-unsettling way he says 'Vegeta-chaaan~' and all that.
You just shouldn't change the voice of a main character in a beloved national anime.
It's not about whether the new actor is good or fits — the character and the voice are already fused together in your head.
Can't speak for Kochikame, but for kids' anime, bringing in new viewers matters most — the old-timers who keep whining that 'something feels off' aren't even the target audience to begin with.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Recasting a character long voiced by the same actor isn’t unique to Kochikame — it’s happened repeatedly throughout Japanese anime history, from Doraemon (Nobuyo Oyama to Wasabi Mizuta) to Sazae-san and Lupin III. Rasal Ishii’s portrayal defined Ryotsu for decades, but he’s been active in recent years as a local assembly member, and as one poster in the thread pointed out, “he’s a sitting politician now, so there’s no way that’s happening” — meaning there are practical reasons he can no longer easily keep up voice-acting work. Opinions in the thread split between an optimistic camp arguing it’s “just a matter of getting used to it, and it’ll settle down within a few episodes,” and a skeptical camp countering that “the character and the voice are already fused together in your head, so it’s not a question of skill or fit” — a reaction that has recurred with recasts in other long-running anime as well. It’s also worth noting that the thread’s posts never actually confirm who the new voice actor is — the closest thing to an answer is a comment noting that “everyone predicted it’d be Subaru Kimura, but it wasn’t.”
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Everything Live/Livegalileo) thread “New Kochikame’s Ryotsu voice is a hopeless mismatch — guaranteed flop👮“.
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