News ► SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

[Oracle Spockanort]

Pierre Taki, known for his role as Olaf in Disney's Frozen, was arrested in Japan on Tuesday for suspicion of cocaine use. In response to the drug scandal surrounding Taki, Square Enix has decided to replace Olaf's voice in the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts III. News on the update that will patch out and replace Taki's voice, as well as how future prints of the game will be handled, will be released at a later date.

Disney will also be replacing Olaf's Japanese voice in all Frozen-related media released in Japan.  

Masanori Taki, who goes by the stage name Pierre Taki, is also known for being one half of the techno-pop duo Denki Groove, his current supporting role in the NHK drama “Idaten”, and for his recent role in Sega's Judgement by the Yakuza development team.

Sales of Sega's Judgement have been halted in Japan following the news of Taki's arrest. NHK has announced that they will be pulling all episodes of "Idaten" that Taki appeared in, and Sony Music will be removing all CDs of Denki Groove from sale.

The 51-year old actor and performer admitted to using cocaine and also tested positive for the drug following his arrest in Tokyo. Investigations on how he obtained the substance are currently in progress.

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[Oracle Spockanort]

Re: SE plans to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in KH3 amid drug scandal

LOOK HERE GUYS. I don't want to hear any sly jokes about drug use. None. Not a single joke about Olaf and coke. I see all of you and I know exactly how this can go.

 

[okhi12]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

Changing Olaf's voice in an already released game is a bit of an overreaction. I mean, I would understand if Disney changes his japanese va for Frozen 2 and every future Frozen-related media, but the drug scandal wasn't there when KH3 was being recorded... They have nothing to be ashamed of.

 

[Xickin]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

Changing Olaf's voice in an already released game is a bit of an overreaction. I mean, I would understand if Disney changes his japanese va for Frozen 2 and every future Frozen-related media, but the drug scandal wasn't there when KH3 was being recorded... They have nothing to be ashamed of.

Yeah, it really does seem like an overreaction on their part. Then again, different standards in different parts of the world, and we're talking about a very popular company here, so they're probably going to save as much face as they can.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

Changing Olaf's voice in an already released game is a bit of an overreaction. I mean, I would understand if Disney changes his japanese va for Frozen 2 and every future Frozen-related media, but the drug scandal wasn't there when KH3 was being recorded... They have nothing to be ashamed of.

To us in the west, perhaps. In Japan, they have very strong views on drug use and even being associated with somebody doing drugs can ruin one's reputation. It's weird to us but we are just outsiders looking in. I don't really think what somebody puts in their own body should affect the sales of any products, but it does so these companies are trying to reduce risk by cutting out the problem altogether.

I don't agree with the criminalization of drug users tbh. That is honestly where I take issue, but I think the over-reaction and the shunning is fair when usually the sale of drugs in Japan are linked to some really awful and disgusting "business" dealings.

 

[Sign]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

Yeah, it really does seem like an overreaction on their part. Then again, different standards in different parts of the world, and we're talking about a very popular company here, so they're probably going to save as much face as they can.

The article provides several other examples of companies pulling Taki's work. It's not just SE doing this.

 

[Recon]

Re: SE plans to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in KH3 amid drug scandal

LOOK HERE GUYS. I don't want to hear any sly jokes about drug use. None. Not a single joke about Olaf and coke. I see all of you and I know exactly how this can go.

Oh, c'mon. Why you gotta ruin all the fun? hahaha

At least ten jokes popped up in my head xD

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Re: SE plans to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in KH3 amid drug scandal

Oh, c'mon. Why you gotta ruin all the fun? hahaha

At least ten jokes popped up in my head xD

Because some of us have had people close to us die from drug abuse or go to prison for it and don’t find people making tasteless jokes funny?

 

[alexis.anagram]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

To us in the west, perhaps. In Japan, they have very strong views on drug use and even being associated with somebody doing drugs can ruin one's reputation. It's weird to us but we are just outsiders looking in. I don't really think what somebody puts in their own body should affect the sales of any products, but it does so these companies are trying to reduce risk by cutting out the problem altogether.

I don't agree with the criminalization of drug users tbh. That is honestly where I take issue, but I think the over-reaction and the shunning is fair when usually the sale of drugs in Japan are linked to some really awful and disgusting "business" dealings.

To add to this, the attitude towards drug use in Japan has cultural grounding in a series of meth epidemics that impacted the country in the aftermath of World War II and led to many of the strict laws which are currently in place-- sociologically, public perception of drug abuse having that innate connotation with the extreme state of the post-war society surely contributes to the stigma. Though it's worth noting that much of the fervor surrounding the topic is media driven, and there are ongoing efforts towards reform advocating a recovery oriented approach as many other countries around the world have adopted.

That said, SE could have really gone for it and cut Arendelle from the game entirely and I would have no complaints.

 

[Feriku]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

Changing Olaf's voice in an already released game is a bit of an overreaction. I mean, I would understand if Disney changes his japanese va for Frozen 2 and every future Frozen-related media, but the drug scandal wasn't there when KH3 was being recorded... They have nothing to be ashamed of.

Sega halted all shipments and digital sales of Judgment, presumably until they can replace him. Now that's what feels like an overreaction.

 

[Face My Fears]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

If they can patch a character's entire dialogue, can they patch the error during "Let It Go"?

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

If they can patch a character's entire dialogue, can they patch the error during "Let It Go"?

Yeah, of course. They probably already planned on fixing that in the western version anyways.

 

[The_Echo]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

Oof.

I hope this doesn't impact Judgement's localization

 

[Thorf]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

I've lived in Japan for almost twenty years, working as a high school teacher. Drug use is taken very seriously here simply because currently it's not as huge a problem as it is elsewhere, and people want it to stay that way. Every year my school has an anti-drug abuse assembly at which the police come and talk to the kids about how people are drawn in, what bad effects it has, and why it's illegal. We often have a chemist then talk about drug abuse and why it's so dangerous.

The severe reaction to stars doing drugs is very easy to understand if you consider the effect those people have on the lives of regular people. They use the word "idol" for a reason, after all. What better way to show the consequences than to actually prosecute famous people just like regular people? If anything, I'd say that our double standard for this in the West is what's strange.

Incidentally, the consequences of drunk driving are equally severe: if you are caught driving under the influence of alcohol, not only will you be arrested and lose your license, you will also lose your job, and probably be socially ostracised on top of all of that. This is true of all people, not just stars. And it can happen even to people who are caught the morning after who still have too much alcohol in their bloodstream. Did I mention that the legal limit is essentially zero?

Both of these things exist as strong deterrents to the negative behaviour. This is likely the big difference between our cultures: Western cultures tend towards fair punishment for the individual, then rehabilitation, while Eastern cultures tend towards punishment to make an example as a deterrent to others, with rehabilitation further in the background — though it is still present.

The actions of Disney, Square Enix and other companies to replace the VA is about distancing themselves from the situation, but also about salvaging their properties and allowing them to continue. If you don't understand the severity of the reaction, just imagine a crime that's taken more seriously in the West. I don't want to get into examples, but if someone is viewed as toxic, it becomes a matter of damage control and then saving your properties and allowing them to move forward by replacing the toxic personality.

In conclusion: even if the specific laws are different between countries, I don't think it's that hard to understand the reaction if you keep an open mind.

I just remembered a great example of a difference between the UK and the US, actually. Even between these two Western countries there are huge differences in law and how it's applied.
https://dannysullivan.com/jaywalking-the-brits-dont-get-it-265

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

Oof.

I hope this doesn't impact Judgement's localization

Sega has said they are discussing what to do about it. I'm almost certain it will be delayed in the west until they can get a new actor in the role. Releasing the game with Pierre Taki in it in English will look bad on Sega JP just by association, so a delay is pretty inevitable by this point.

 

[Thorf]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

If they can patch a character's entire dialogue, can they patch the error during "Let It Go"?

Wait, what? There was an error during Let It Go?

 

[Sign]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

Wait, what? There was an error during Let It Go?

In the English version of the scene, one of the frames had a watermark on it from the Arnold renderer. This renderer is licensed in real-time from a server, so the machine that was rendering that frame just got disconnected from it at that moment. It's a pretty common issue and actually not the first time it's happened in KH (I believe there was another instance in the 0.2 opening).

This is the frame in question:

 

[Cyborg009]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

In the English version of the scene, one of the frames had a watermark on it from the Arnold renderer. This renderer is licensed in real-time from a server, so the machine that was rendering that frame just got disconnected from it at that moment. It's a pretty common issue and actually not the first time it's happened in KH (I believe there was another instance in the 0.2 opening).

This is the frame in question:

so that's the error thingy everyone was talking about.

 

[Recon]

Re: SE plans to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in KH3 amid drug scandal

Because some of us have had people close to us die from drug abuse or go to prison for it and don’t find people making tasteless jokes funny?

That came from left field. I'm not a mind reader. Sorry I guess.

 

[2 quid is good]

Re: SE to replace Olaf's JPN voice actor in Kingdom Hearts 3 amid drug scandal

I just remembered a great example of a difference between the UK and the US, actually. Even between these two Western countries there are huge differences in law and how it's applied.
https://dannysullivan.com/jaywalking-the-brits-dont-get-it-265

Jaywalking is real? I thought it was a myth