Ennosuke Ichikawa IV has been playing the role of Luffy for the One Piece Kabuki play since 2015. However, during a performance last Monday, he suffered an accident which led him to step down from the role. He also plays Boa Hancock in the Kabuki play, and he also stepped down from that role as well.

The accident happened during the curtain call of the Midday performance last Monday, 9th October. According to a report, Ichikawa fell onto a stage mechanism and then got part of his costume stuck to machinery. This then led to him breaking his left arm, and this of course led him to step down from his roles.

However, the show must go on, with Ukon Onoe taking over Ichikawa’s roles as Luffy and Boa. Onoe previously played Sadi-chan and Marco, with Shingo Bandou now playing Sadi-chan. As for Marco, his new actor is now Hayato Nakamura.

The original One Piece Kabuki play started its run from October until November 2015. It was so successful that all 100,000 tickets for the Tokyo run sold out in a matter of days. It then ran shows in Osaka and Fukuoka last year, and they also held theatrical screenings last October.

As for this new Kabuki run, it will happen from 5th October until 26th November, at the Shinbashi Enbujou theater in Ginza, Tokyo.