"My man defended them against the death threats": Genshin Impact fans defend Kinich's new VA after criticism from some EN voice actors

The Genshin Impact community is known for its share of controversies that besiege it ever so often — starting from the 2021 Genshin Impact review bombing on the App Store/Play Store to the recent 2024 "Natlan boycott." The latest issue that has sparked heated discussions amongst the playerbase is the recast of Kinich's English voice actor.

Many English voice actors based in the US are currently on strike (and have been so for over six months), demanding protection against unchecked use of AI in the voice acting industry. With many English voice actors for Genshin Impact also on strike, several characters in the English dub for the game have been unvoiced for quite a few patches.

With the release of Genshin Impact 5.5, HoYoverse announced that Kinich's English voice actor, John Patneaude, had been recast. He is now voiced by Jacob Takanashi, whose voice work for Kinich can be heard in the main event quest for version 5.5 (wherein Kinich is one of the featured characters).

Following the release of the new version, Takanashi took to X to announce that he was grateful for having been cast as Kinich.

Thereafter, many other English voice actors came forward, severely criticizing Takanashi for having stolen the role of Kinich from an actor who was on strike. With multiple back-and-forths between various voice actors (such as the VAs of Paimon, Keqing, and Candace), the entire fiasco soon became the talk of the community.

I feel so bad for Kinich's new VA :(( byu/Excellent-Pay6235 inGenshin_Impact

A post related to this made its way to r/GenshinImpact, where the playerbase discussed this issue, sympathizing with Takanashi. A few voice actors who were vocal in their criticism of Takanashi apparently received death threats from anonymous users, to which he requested everyone not to send death threats to anyone on his behalf.

Reacting to this, u/JMGamer193 commented:

"My man defended them against the death threats and kys messages they're getting and still got attacked as a response."

Comment byu/Excellent-Pay6235 from discussion inGenshin_Impact

u/InazumaShinesEternal chimed in to say that they thought Takanashi had done a great job as the new voice of Kinich, and that they hoped he could ignore the current situation and keep his chin up.

Comment byu/Excellent-Pay6235 from discussion inGenshin_Impact

Meanwhile, u/Ijuander24 mentioned that Ororon's voice actor had done a good job by being nice to Kinich's new VA. This was in reference to the post made on X by Ororon's English voice actor, wherein he welcomed Takanashi to the Genshin Impact team.

Overall, the majority of the playerbase appears to be supporting Jacob Takanashi and has been defending him against the criticism from other English voice actors (and a small minority of the community who agree with them and feel that Takanashi is in the wrong).

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Why was Kinich's English VA replaced in Genshin Impact?

Kinich is one of the main Natlan characters (Image via HoYoverse)

Kinich's original English voice actor was John Patneaude, who voiced the character for one patch (version 5.0). Following that, he joined the SAG-AFTRA strike and withheld voice work for Genshin Impact, leading to Kinich being unvoiced for the entirety of the Natlan Archon quest.

Very recently, HoYoverse replaced him and appointed Jacob Takanashi as the character's new English voice actor. This recast was not received very well by some other English voice actors, including those for Paimon (Corina Boettger), Keqing (Kayli Mills), Caribert (Corey Holland), Hu Tao (Brianna Knickerbocker), and Candace (Shara Kirby).

They all vehemently protested against the recast and criticized Takanashi for taking the role away from someone who was on strike. Shara Kirby even went so far as to tell Takanashi:

"Have fun with Genshin! You'll never work on anything else lmfao."

As of now, Takanashi will continue to be the voice of Kinich for all subsequent Genshin Impact updates, with past voiceovers for the character done by Patneaude also to be replaced with Takanashi's voice with the following updates.

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