One Piece suffered a huge shakedown that could come for The Simpsons next

“One Piece” is one of the longest-running anime series of all time, a truly legendary show worthy of its reputation. Based on the manga of the same name by Eiichiro Oda, “One Piece” is still going strong after 25 years, becoming a cultural institution. And after all that time, the show is better than ever. The latest story arc, “Egghead Island Arc,” even made it to our list of best anime of the year. There’s never been a better time to be a “One Piece” fan, between the anime, the live-action show and Netflix’s upcoming animated remake. With much source material still to be released, it could be several years before we see the end of “One Piece.”

And yet, the anime just suffered a major crisis, which has fans devastated. After almost 20 years, one of the Straw Hats disembarks the ship and says goodbye to the show. Kazuki Yao, who joined the cast in 2000 and voiced characters such as Jango and Mr. 2 Bon Clay before voicing Franky, is officially retired, citing health issues. Their roles are being replaced, with voice actor Subaru Kimura (All in “Jujutsu Kaisen”) taking on the role of the Straw Hat Pirates’ ship carpenter, Franky, starting in 2025.

Unfortunately, the Straw Hat Pirates’ voice cast isn’t getting any younger. The youngest member of the cast is Akemi Okamura, who voices Nami and is 55 years old. Luffy’s voice actress, Mayumi Tanaka, is 69 years old, and as good as her voice is, the anime shows no signs of being close to the end of the story. Yao’s retirement and need for a replacement is but a sign of things to come. And on the other side of the Pacific, American fans should take a look at what’s happening with “One Piece” for a possible preview of the future of another cultural institution: “The Simpsons.”

Franky wouldn’t exist without Yao. Oda himself created the character with Yao’s voice in mind, and it was the voice acting combined with the distinctive design that made the character so special and memorable. He’s like a big brother to the younger Straw Hats and an avenue for Oda to explore his love of giant robots. In fact, Franky has increasingly become more of a machine than a man, building a giant robot for himself called the Iron Pirate “General Franky”, much to the delight of the other Straw Hats, particularly Chopper, Luffy and Usopp. I mean, Yao’s performance was incredibly important to the character, but now that the time has come, the character is simply being recast.

It won’t be long until “The Simpsons” faces a similar conundrum. Similarly, the iconic cartoon is still going strong after 35 years, and the past few seasons have been the best in decades. We’re getting episodes that experiment with the show’s formula and challenge the characters in new and exciting ways. Like the Straw Hat Pirates, the cast of “The Simpsons” isn’t getting any younger. The youngest members of the main cast, Hank Azaria and Yeardley Smith, are 60 years old, while Harry Shearer is 81. Sure, Shearer just gave his best performance as Ned Flanders, but much longer will he be able to continue voicing Mr. Burns, or Smithers or Skinner? How about Homer Simpson himself, Dan Castellaneta? The man is 67, while Julie Kavner, who voices Marge, is 74 (and her portrayal of Marge has certainly suffered in recent years).

Recently, Pamela Hayden made waves when she announced her retirement after 35 years voicing Milhouse Van Houten, as well as Rod, Jimbo Jones and many others. It looks like Disney and Fox will at least recast their characters instead of using AI (thankfully) to try to keep their voices in future episodes, but what will happen when Castallaneta can no longer voice Homer? What if Nancy Cartwright has to stop voicing Bart? Will they hire sound people like “Rick and Morty” did for its two main characters? Or will they go the way of Darth Vader, who Disney is officially voicing using AI?

It remains to be seen (well, heard) how Kimura fares as the new voice of Franky, but hopefully, he proves that it’s much better to go down the recast route rather than trying to artificially replicate an iconic voice. Voice acting is still acting, it cannot be replicated with a machine or an algorithm. Let’s hope “The Simpsons” remembers it when the time comes.