A prominent Japanese voice actor has been removed from Hypergryph's 'Arknights' and Infold Games' 'Love and Deepspace' following the resurfacing of his past visit to the Yasukuni Shrine.

Takuya Sato entered the voice acting industry in 2007 and has appeared in numerous works. He has played lead and supporting roles in various anime, such as Toshiki Kai in 'Cardfight!! Vanguard', Yasushi Kamasaki in 'Haikyu!!', and Gobrou in 'Re:Monster'. He has also voiced many characters in various games, including Midnight and 12F in 'Arknights', Temulch in 'Naraka: Bladepoint', and Machias Regnitz in 'The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel' series.

Recently, Takuya Sato's contracts with two Chinese games, 'Arknights' and 'Love and Deepspace', were terminated. As he voiced popular characters such as Midnight and 12F in the former, and Xavier (Japanese name: Ray) in the latter, the news has drawn significant attention from the fandoms of both games. Both developers stated that they would announce new voice actors for the respective characters as soon as they are selected.

While the specific reason for the contract termination was not announced, users speculate that it is due to his past visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, which recently resurfaced and became a topic of discussion. Takuya Sato visited the Yasukuni Shrine in July 2009 and posted his thoughts on his personal blog. The blog post has since been deleted.

Given the recent deterioration in public sentiment between China and Japan due to political disputes, it is interpreted that Chinese developers are responding more sensitively to elements associated with war crimes, such as the Yasukuni Shrine. It is known that 'Love and Deepspace' players had reported the same issue to the developers in early 2024, though it did not lead to a voice actor replacement at that time.