It was officially announced that the character Yuna, who appeared in Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale, will now be voiced by Risae Matsuda, in succession of Sayaka Kanda. This change will also apply to the voice acting content expected to be released this year in the game Sword Art Online Last Recollection. However, the songs originally sung by Sayaka Kanda under the character Yuna will be retained, as stated by the official announcement.
On December 18, 2021, voice actress Sayaka Kanda was found lying on the outdoor space of the 14th floor of a hotel in Sapporo, Hokkaido. She was taken to the hospital but was unfortunately announced to have passed away late at night, at the age of 35.
Regarding the voice actress for Yuna, the character in question, the original author Reki Kawahara and the SAO committee held careful discussions. In order to allow Yuna to move forward together with the Sword Art Online series, they decided to retain the songs sung by Sayaka Kanda and replace the voice actress for Yuna with Risae Matsuda in future new stories.
