Japan voice actor, 70, uses anime fame to seduce fan, 33, forces her to abort baby during affair
- Toru Furuya dubs Manga characters in Dragon Ball, sleeps with fan, issues grovelling social media apology after scandal exposed
A famous voice-over actor in Japan has scandalised his country after he admitted having an affair with a fan 37 years younger than himself and forcing her to have an abortion.
Toru Furuya, 70, has dubbed for a slew of animated characters, including the popular Amuro Tooru in the Japanese detective Manga series, Sabot, a leading role in anime productions such as One Piece, and Yamcha, one of the main characters in Dragon Ball.
In mid-May, the Japanese weekly magazine Shūkan Bunshun exposed Furuya’s extramarital affair with a fan, which he had been conducting for four and a half years.
The unidentified woman, 33, was fascinated with the Amuro Tooru character played by Furuya, and sent many letters and gifts to the actor. She also contacted him on social media, where she posted photos of herself.
Furuya responded to her in 2019 and they started dating. When the woman became pregnant in 2021, the actor urged her to abort and assaulted her, the report said.
“I would like to sincerely apologise for the weekly magazine coverage,” Furuya, who admitted wrongdoing on X social networking platform on May 22.