Reading and analyzing the source material while adapting it into another art form is extremely necessary. It helps to keep the authenticity of the story and makes sure that it is followed to the core. However, this is not what Luffy’s Voice Actor, Mayumi Tanaka, thinks. Tanaka has been voicing Luffy since the beginning of One Piece anime, and she has given her best in every episode.
Her voice reflects Luffy’s emotions in the perfect way, and even after so many years, she still maintains the same pace and approach while enacting Luffy. The secret to her outstanding performance is that she has never read the One Piece manga and will most likely continue to do so in the future.
Although this may sound a little bizarre, but Tanaka has some very valid reasons behind her approach, and they have been working in her favor for the past 25 years. She explained her reasons once, and in a weird way, they made sense, especially for a character like Luffy.
Mayumi Tanaka’s Approach While Voicing Luffy
In an interview with a Japanese TV program, 7 Rules, Tanaka made the startling revelation about her approach of not reading the manga. Her comment was later shared by Soranews24, and it got quite a lot of attention from One Piece fans. However, fans had no hatred towards Tanaka because her actions had a very decent logic behind them.
Tanaka pointed out:
I don’t read the manga [source material]. It might actually be better if I did, but my style is to do my performances while still holding onto that fresh feeling of surprise and going “Whoa, so this is what happens!” that comes from reading about it in the script for the first time and seeing the artwork [for the anime] for the first time too.
Whenever Tanaka is recording for Luffy, she likes to keep his actions a surprise. This helps her portray Luffy’s emotions with fresh reactions, which often include the feeling of shock and thrill.
Tanaka understands that reading the manga would also be helpful for her in portraying Luffy by understanding his actions, but it would essentially take the spark and excitement out of her voice that embodies Luffy’s role in One Piece.
Mayumi Tanaka is a Lot Like Luffy
Mayumi Tanaka is one of the most legendary voice actors in the anime industry. Her career started in 1978, and since then she has played some of the best roles in the community. She is known for playing Krillin in Dragon Ball, Koenma in Yu Yu Hakusho, Kanna Kirishima in Sakura Wars, Ryota in Dr. Slump, etc.
She knows and understands that characters like Luffy are unpredictable and goofy. And reading the manga and learning about his actions would take away that element of surprise and make him look predictable. It would undo the comedic element of his character, which a lot of times is reflected through his voice portrayed by Tanaka.
Also, her mindset is a lot like Luffy’s. Luffy has had multiple opportunities where he could have found out the contents of the treasure, but he likes the fun and surprise of the adventure. Tanaka follows the same approach, and she does not want to spoil the fun of Luffy’s goofiness by finding out about them beforehand.
Tanaka’s performance as Luffy has been top-notch since day one. Fans have also expressed their desire to see her voice Luffy once again in the upcoming remake of One Piece by WIT Studio. But there has been no confirmation about whether the remake would cast the same voice actors or not.
One Piece is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
