Japanese voice actor of FF7's Cloud leaves agency after extra-marital affairs surface

Takahiro Sakurai, the long-time Japanese voice actor for Final Fantasy VII protagonist Cloud Strife, has found his future in the iconic role in uncertainty after being embroiled in a months-long controversy surrounding two extramarital affairs since October last year.

Sakurai's affairs came to light after Japanese tabloid Shunkan Bunshun published an expose regarding his 10-year long extra-marital affair as well as a recently discovered 15-year long affair with a different woman.

As an apparent result of his affairs becoming exposed, Sakurai announced his departure from his talent agency INTENTION, on 31 March.

In a statement released by the agency, Sakurai's departure came in mutual agreement, with INTENTION adding that “Sakurai offered to leave, and as a result of repeated consideration, we respected the decision and came towards the same conclusion”.

Sakurai only confirmed his marriage during a brief interview with Shunkan Bunshun just a month before his affair was unearthed, although refused to divulge the identity of his wife.

The Japanese Tabloid however, confirmed that his wife was also a former voice actress, while Miss B alleged that she was a classmate of his in Voice-Acting school.

Sakurai’s agency also confirmed this through their own statement in their website. They had been married for nearly 20 years.

How the alleged affairs came to light

The first reported affair occurred between the voice actor and his script writer for his now cancelled travelling radio show “P.S I’m Fine. Takahiro.” (P.S.元気です。孝宏.).

Insiders interviewed by Shunkan Bunshun indulged that the writer, called Miss A or Ako-san in the article, was unaware of his marriage, and even hinted at the prospect of marrying Sakurai.

The recently discovered 15-year affair on the other hand, occurred between Sakurai and “Ms B” or B-san, during the years of 2006-2021.

After the expose regarding Miss A, it was alleged by Miss B that Sakurai and his lawyer offered to pay her 1 million yen for the “suffering” he had caused.

She did not accept and demanded 10 million yen instead, which Sakurai refused to pay as per Intention’s statement in their website.

Fans all over the world expressed their disbelief regarding this scandal, and the backlash was undoubtedly imminent for Sakurai.

Future projects which headlined Sakurai, like the movie of hit 2007 anime 'Mononoke', which Sakurai starred in as the lead role, was postponed with an announcement to replace Sakurai. He was also dropped from the upcoming original anime 'Ayaka'.

Sakurai's most notable role has been that of protagonist Cloud Strife from the iconic Final Fantasy VII series. He first voiced the character in 2002's Kingdom Hearts before reprising the role in 2007's Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and the 2020 Final Fantasy VII Remake.

It is not yet confirmed if Sakurai will also be dropped from Final Fantasy VII Remake's upcoming sequel, titled 'Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth', which is set to be released in Winter this year.

Sakurai's other notable video game roles include the Flamechaser Su in Honkai Impact 3rd, Jin in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Merlin in Fate/Grand Order, Jonathan Morris in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, among others.

He has also voiced anime characters Kururugi Suzaku from Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Sasori from Naruto: Shippuden, Giyu Tomioka from Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer), Griffith from the Berserk 2016 remake, Reigen from Mob Psycho 100, and Suguru Geto from Jujutsu Kaisen, among others.

Yan Ku is a full-time dog parent, part-time (gacha) gamer, and part-time writer.

For more gaming news updates, visit https://yhoo.it/YahooGamingSEA. Also follow us on Twitter, as well as our Gaming channel on YouTube, and check out Yahoo Esports Southeast Asia’s Facebook page!