One Piece, one of the longest-running manga series by Eiichiro Oda, turns 25 this year. As more and more chapters are published in Weekly Shonen Jump, the pool of readers has gotten more shallow, and newcomers are understandably hesitant to wade in. If you’re an anime fan who hasn’t yet discovered how fantastic One Piece is, this is merely an excuse, but the voice actress who voices Luffy has good reasons for avoiding the manga.
It’s not uncommon for voice actors to be die-hard fans of the shows they cast, but some want to keep their fandom confined to the anime industry. Mayumi Tanaka, who voices Monkey D. Luffy, admitted in a recent interview with the Japanese publication 7 Rules that she had never read the One Piece manga despite the importance of her role. The interviewer probed into the motivations for her beliefs-based performances in the anime. The actress said she avoided reading the series to make her portrayal of Luffy more realistic.
Tanaka started, “I don’t read manga.” “It may be better if I did, but my approach is to do my performances while still hanging onto that new sense of surprise and thinking ‘Whoa, so this is what happens!’ that comes from reading about it in the screenplay for the first time and seeing the artwork for the first time.”
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For How Much Longer Will Mayumi Tanaka Continue to Voice Luffy?
When asked whether she would leave the voice acting industry with the conclusion of One Piece, she said yes. Since the beginning of the series, Mayumi Tanaka has provided the voice of Monkey D. Luffy, and she has said that she intends for her role as Luffy to be her last acting performance. She does not know when would One Piece will end. Despite her old age, she is still hopeful of fulfilling her job as Luffy’s voice and leaving behind a legacy.
“I’ve portrayed numerous young boy roles in my time, and I’d want to end my career as a voice actor with Luffy. Even if I can’t continue to voice young boys after this, I feel like I’ve done all I ever wanted to do with that kind of part “She said.
Tanaka is a great fan of One Piece and wants to keep voicing Luffy until the conclusion of the series, even though she does not read the manga. As Luffy’s voice actor, Mayumi Tanaka has been doing an excellent job. She can read manga or not, and nobody will hold it against her. What matters is satisfying the audience’s expectations for the show.
What do you think of Luffy’s voice actress, Mayumi Tanaka, above statements? Let us know what you think in the comment sections down below.
