Risae Matsuda will take over for Sayaka Kanda as Yuna in Sword Art Online properties. This is because Kanda died in 2021. Kanda originally voiced Yuna in Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale. On her Twitter account, Matsuda said that she will continue to move forward as Yuna along with the songs that Kanda sang.
On the official site for Sword Art Online: Beater’s Cafe, Bandai Namco stated that Sayaka Kanda did an amazing role portraying Yuna, as well as singing songs as the character. It wanted Yuna to continue being a part of the franchise as it continues on. As well, it acknowledged that no one can ever fully replace Kanda as Yuna. While Matsuda will voice her as a character in new stories, she will not cover any of Kanda’s previous songs.
Risae Matsuda is a voice actress who debuted in 2013. Some of her more prominent roles include Chika Sawada in Kageki Shojo and Lucifer in Lapis Re:Lights. She’d also voiced some background characters in Sword Art Online in 2014. As for Sayaka Kanda, she was a Japanese actress and singer. Aside from voicing Yuna in Sword Art Online, she was a live-action actress who portrayed roles like Junko Enoshima on stage. She passed away on December 18, 2021 after apparently falling from a hotel window.
Sword Art Online: Last Recollection will come out on the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC on October 5, 2023.
