Rurouni Kenshin casts Sakata Gintoki's voice actor

On Friday, August 11, 2023, the staff for the new Rurouni Kenshin television anime series confirmed that the character Jin-e Udo will be voiced by Tomokazu Sugita. Viewers first caught a glimpse of the character at the end of the fifth episode last week. He later debuted in the series’ sixth episode, which was released on Friday, August 11.

While Sugita is new to the 2023 television anime adaptation of author and illustrator Nobuhiro Watsuki’s Rurouni Kenshin manga series, fans likely know him from several other works. The most notable one would be protagonist Gintoki Sakata from the television anime adaptation of author and illustrator Hideaki Sorachi’s Gintama manga series.

Although Sugita has several other voice acting credits to his name in the anime industry, his role as Gintoki is likely the most famous and well-recognized. Fans are incredibly excited to see the work he does for his role in 2023’s Rurouni Kenshin, with the sixth episode just hitting streaming services worldwide at the time of this article’s writing.

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Rurouni Kenshin anime adds major star to its cast in the form of Tomokazu Sugita

As mentioned above, Rurouni Kenshin’s latest cast member is known for much more than their role as Gintoki Sakata. Sugita’s other roles include Tadaomi Karasuma in Assassination Classroom, Gyoumei Himejima in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Joseph Joestar in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Charlotte Katakuri in One Piece.

Sugita joins co-stars Soma Saito, Rie Takahashi, Taku Yashiro, and Makoto Koichi, who voice Kenshin Himura, Kaoru Kamiya, Sanosuke Sagara, and Yahiko Myojin, respectively. Additionally, listed cast members for the series include Yuma Uchida as Shinomori Aoshi, Saori Onishi as Takani Megumi, and Satoshi Hino as Hajime Saito.

Hideyo Yamamoto is directing the re-adaptation of Watsuki’s original manga series at LIDEN FILMS studios. Terumi Nishii is designing the characters, and Hideyuki Kurata is in charge of the series scripts. Yu Takami is composing the music, while artists Ayase and R-Shitei perform the opening theme song Hiten as AyaseXR-Shitei. Singer-songwriter Reol performs the ending theme song, Kissaki, which translates as "Sword Tip."

Watsuki first launched his manga series in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1994, where it was serialized until its conclusion in September 1999. The series currently has 72 million copies in circulation worldwide and has been compiled into 28 compilation volumes. The series centers around Kenshin Himura, a former Meiji Restoration era assassin who now looks to live a life beyond violence.

Rurouni Kenshin was first adapted into a 95-episode television anime in 1996 but it was rife with filler due to the manga still being published at that time. The 2023 anime series serves as a full readaptation with no filler material whatsoever.

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