Mumbai Comic Con 2025

Mumbai Comic Con Hosts Live One Piece Voice Acting Performance by Kappei Yamaguchi and Hiroaki Hirata

Voice actors and members of the Straw Hat Pirates Kappei Yamaguchi (voice of Usopp) and Hiroaki Hirata (voice of Sanji) took to the stage at Mumbai Comic Con on Saturday onlooking a sea of literal straw hats. Starting off with a lively discussion about their characters and the actors' personal feelings about Eiichiro Oda's story and writing, the panel went on to reveal an even bigger surprise. The actors took fans inside their creative process, with a live-dubbing session where they performed scenes from One Piece.

The panel kicked off by addressing the hiatus that the anime had been on after part one of the Egghead arc. Despite the anime being on break, the voice actors were still hard at work in the studio. Yamaguchi and Hirata stated there are huge developments in the upcoming story that they are excited for fans to experience.

The actors also talked about their love for India. Yamaguchi stated he can't wait to visit again, while Hirata spoke of how his experience in the country exceeded all expectations. He went on to say that the food here is nothing like the Indian restaurants back in Japan and the fans are about three times more enthusiastic than he expected them to be.

When asked if Hirata can indeed match Sanji's cooking skills and whether Yamaguchi can match Usopp's sniping skill, both artists agreed that it is Hirata who is the better cook of the two. They admitted, however, that none of their skills could compare to Sanji's prowess in the kitchen.

When speaking of the changes they went through as artists over the years they spent working on this massive franchise, Hirata drew on the experience of a time-skip in the anime where Sanji went from 19 years old to 21 years old. His voice had changed a little, but not much else.

The artists also spoke about their individual takes on their characters, Yamaguchi stated while Usopp is a funny and brave character, he doesn't want the character to hurt people's feelings or limit himself in his dialogue when trying to avoid doing so. Hirata took the opportunity to remind fans that despite Sanji's handsomeness, he is a very respectful character who is especially respectful to women. He stated that Sanji always asks women "what he can do for them and not what they can do for him," going on to suggest that his fans always do the same.

In the second half of the stage presentation, each of the actors performed a touching scene from of their repertoires, with Hirata prefacing his performance by stating he picked the scene that he thinks of when he thinks of Sanji as a character. The scene was where Sanji says goodbye to Zeff and the cooks at the Baratie before joining the Straw Hat Pirates on their journey. Their performances concluded with the two taking the stage to do a scene together, where Usopp and Sanji have an comedic exchange resulting in an emotional conclusion.

Crunchyroll began streaming the second part of the One Piece anime's Egghead arc in India on April 5.

Part 2 of the Egghead arc premiered with its first episode (1,123rd overall episode) on Fuji TV on April 5 at 9:00 p.m. JST, and aired alongside a recap episode of Part 1 of the Egghead arc. The second episode (1,124th overall episode) aired on April 6 with its new timeslot at 11:15 p.m. JST.

The Egghead arc in the anime debuted in January 2024. Crunchyroll added episodes 892-1077 of the anime in India in September 2023 and began streaming episode 1078 onwards from October 2023.

The ongoing anime adaptation of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga premiered in 1999.

Source: Mumbai Comic Con