The second 18-episode-long part of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 kicked off last week with Episode 6 which started out hilariously, with the main trio’s teenage shenanigans, and ended with an explosive cliffhanger. Today, Thursday, Sept. 7, Episode 7 comes out to reveal the outcome of the fight viewers were left off on. In the meantime, fans, especially manga readers, are losing their minds over the confirmation that this new arc will include narration – something the Hidden Inventory Arc was without – and who will be lending their voice as narrator. Knowing of creator Gege Akutami’s love for the Hunter x Hunter series, the insertion of a narrator is not as surprising but welcome nevertheless, particularly so as we reportedly have a veteran Japanese voice actress taking on the challenge.
Who is narrating the Shibuya Incident Arc?
According to @JJKContent on Twitter, Yoshiko Sakakibara is voicing the narrator of the much-anticipated Shibuya Arc. Born in Chiba, in May 1956, the 67-year-old actress has over 120 voice acting roles across different media under her belt. Of these, only two are narration roles, with this latest third certainly being her biggest and most mainstream narration role yet.
Some of Sakakibara’s roles that you may know her from include Kushana from the lesser-known but much-adored studio Ghibli film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Jōshū Kasei from the dystopian Psycho-Pass series, Captain Shinobu Nagumo from the Patlabor series, Alucard’s master Sir Integral Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing from Hellsing, and the pink-haired antagonist Haman Karn from the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise – the last three as alluded to in the aforementioned Twitter post.
Yoshiko Sakakibara is listed as the narrator for Jujutsu Kaisen season 2!
— JJKContent (@JJKContent) September 7, 2023
She has played many iconic roles in the past. Here are some examples below #JujutsuKaisen pic.twitter.com/5uyZI1pjyv
It is easy to see online that most fans, especially manga readers, are excited about the inclusion of a narrator. “If she sounds anything like Integra, then it’s gonna be godly.” Wrote u/PhotonPlasma03. Others feel understandably unsure about the addition, as narration can make or break a scene or sequence and the Jujutsu Kaisen anime has avoided featuring a narrator up until now. But at least, we can rest assured that with Sakakibara the role is in an expert’s capable hands.