Genshin Impact Kinich VA controversy: All voice actors involved

The latest Genshin Impact controversy revolving around Kinich's new English VA has been going on for a while now. Apart from the general community and the playerbase, many of the game's English voice actors have also been heavily involved in this issue.

Ever since Jacob Takanashi's announcement regarding how he was grateful for being able to voice Kinich starting from Genshin Impact 5.5, plenty of other voice actors have joined in to add their two cents to the topic.

Read on to find out more about all the English voice actors involved in this ongoing controversy surrounding Kinich's VA recast in Genshin Impact.

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All English voice actors involved in the Kinich VA recast controversy in Genshin Impact

John Patneaude (original Kinich)

John Patneaude's post on X, from his account that he has now privated (Image via X/@JohnPatneaude)

The first VA to post about this situation was Kinich's original English voice actor, John Patneaude. Following Takanashi's announcement post, Patneaude took to X to say that he had not wanted a recast, and had hoped that he could return to his role as Kinich. Many Genshin Impact EN voice actors replied to his post, mostly sympathizing with his situation.

Patneaude has now changed his X account status to private, meaning that only his followers can see his posts and reposts.

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Corina Boettger (Paimon)

Corina's reply to Takanashi's post (Image via X/@thebirdzulu)

Among the VAs who have been extremely vocal about this whole situation is Paimon's EN VA, Corina Boettger. Corina replied directly to Takanashi's announcement post, telling him that "this wasn't a passing of the torch." They also went on to tell Takanashi:

"You are no castmate of mine."

Needless to say, Corina has been severely critical of Takanashi taking up the role of Kinich, and has made several posts on their X account talking about the same. Recently, a video from their TikTok account made its way to the community, wherein Corina called Genshin Impact players "idiots." This entire issue has now led to a wave of animosity towards them, with a majority of the playerbase calling for Corina to be replaced.

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Kayli Mills (Keqing)

Kayli's response to Takanashi (Image via X/KayliMills)

Another VA who has spoken out multiple times about this controversy is Keqing's English VA, Kayli Mills. She first replied directly to Takanashi's announcement post on X, telling him that if he needed the money, he should have taken the role uncredited instead of announcing it on X.

Kayli's last post on X before she deleted her account (Image via X/@KayliMills)

Over the next few days, she went on to make several posts regarding this issue. One of her latest posts talked about how she didn't think that it was necessary for Takanashi to have taken up this role since "for all we know, his wife's the bread winner."

Kayli has now deleted her X account, which means that her posts related to this issue are not viewable anymore.

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Brianna Knickerbocker (Hu Tao)

Brianna Knickerbocker, who is Hu Tao's English voice actor, quoted Patneaude's post. She thanked him for "standing strong and holding the line with us," referring to Patneaude continuing to strike despite having lost the role of Kinich. She followed up this post with a rather direct jab towards Takanashi, implying that since he had taken away the role of an actor on strike, he was not 'one of them.'

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Shara Kirby (Candace)

Candace's EN VA Shara Kirby took to Bluesky to criticize Takanashi for taking on the role of Kinich, calling him "classless." She further went on to say that she was mad because HoYoverse had "decided to outsource rather than listen to concerns," referring to Takanashi residing in Japan, and not USA.

Shara Kirby's post on Bluesky mentioning Genshin Impact (Image via Bluesky/@sharanicolelynn.bsky.social)

In another post later on, she mentioned that she didn't want anyone to talk to her about Genshin Impact ever again. It remains to be seen if this implies that she will quit voicing Candace in any future updates.

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June Yoon (Kujou Takayuki/Yip Tak)

June Yoon's post on X shading Takanashi (Image via X/@JuneYoon_)

June Yoon, who has voiced NPCs such as Kujou Takayuki (head of Inazuma's Kujou clan) and Yip Tak (playable character Gaming's father), also made a couple posts indirectly criticizing Takanashi. The "Japanese or Japanese-American" is a direct jab towards Takanashi, who is Japanese-American.

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Valeria Rodriguez (Sucrose)

Valeria's response to Takanashi on X (Image via X/@ElvisBadger)

Sucrose's EN VA Valeria Rodriguez commented on Takanashi's announcement post with three thumbs-down emojis, expressing her disapproval at the recast. Since then, she has reposted some of Kayli's posts regarding this issue, and has also supported Corina's choice to keep voicing Paimon, calling it "a nuanced situation."

Valeria's post on X asking people to be mean to scabs (Image via X/@ElvisBadger)

Furthermore, she made another post where she insinuated that people should be mean to 'scabs' (aka people taking roles away from actors on strike).

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Kiba Walker (Kudari)

Kiba Walker's reaction to Takanashi's post (Image via X/@justkibawalker)

Kiba Walker, who voiced a Sumeru NPC Kudari in Genshin Impact, replied to Takanashi's announcement saying that he didn't know what to say to him.

While that could be implied as a neutral statement, Kiba later went on to say that "taking a role from someone who is striking" is a no-no, thus indirectly criticizing Takanashi for taking over the role of Kinich from Patneaude.

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Corey Holland (Caribert)

Corey Holland's reaction to Takanashi's statement (Image via X/@CoreyHolland)

Caribert's EN VA Corey Holland directly replied to Takanashi's post saying that he thought it was disrespectful of him to have taken Kinich's role away from Patneaude, and that he was proud of John for continuing the strike.

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