The official website of the Danganronpa The Stage 2016 ~Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei~ ( Danganronpa The Stage: The Academy of Hope and the High School Student of Despair) stage play revealed on Monday that voice actress TARAKO will voice Monokuma in the stage play, replacing Nobuyo Oyama in the role. The official website for the Danganronpa 3 -The End of Kibōgamine Gakuen- ( Danganronpa 3 -The End of Hope's Peak Academy- ) television anime series also revealed that TARAKO will play Monokuma in the new series as well. The anime's official website and Twitter account will also begin announcing new voice cast members starting on Tuesday.

Spike Chunsoft began streaming an announcement video on Sunday that features TARAKO voicing the character.

Oyama voiced Monokuma in the games, as well as the subsequent television anime adaptation and the two stage plays. Oyama's husband, Keisuke Sagawa, reported in May that she is suffering from dementia, and her work voicing Monokuma in the Super Danganronpa 2 ~Sayonara Zetsubō Gakuen~ ( Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Academy) stage play in December was Oyama's first work since that announcement.

TARAKO (pictured at right) and Oyama both provided messages regarding the change. TARAKO 's recorded message stated:

Hello, everyone. This is TARAKO , who will play Monokuma, the mascot of the Danganronpa series. The mysterious character has a loveable white side, but also a little scary black side. He speaks innocently, but with a menace to his lines, so I'm thinking it will be fun to perform his lines. I want to let out the Black TARAKO inside me for the role. This year, we'll see each other in the games, anime, and the stage play, so I'm looking forward to it.

Oyama's printed message stated:

Hello, everyone. This is Nobuyo Oyama .

Thank you for always supporting Danganronpa . I play Monokuma in the franchise, but TARAKO -san will now play the character in my place.

I leave it in your hands, TARAKO -san. Monokuma is very cute and a good boy, so take care of him.

I look forward to more Danganronpa in the future.

Aside from Monokuma, Oyama previously voiced the iconic Doraemon in the character's first two television series, and numerous films.

The Danganronpa The Stage 2016 ~Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei~ stage play will run in Tokyo from June 16 to 26, in Nagoya on July 1 and 2, in Osaka from July 7 to 10, and in Kanagawa from July 14-16. Tatetsu Tashio is directing the play and writing the scripts, while the game series' original composer Masafumi Takada is composing the music for the play.

The upcoming anime series will be split into two parts: "Mirai Hen" (Future Chapter) and "Zetsubō Hen" (Despair Chapter). "Mirai Hen" will air in July, while "Zetsubō Hen" will air sometime after. "Mirai Hen" will focus on the characters from the first game installment, while the "Zetsubō Hen" will tell the story of the characters of the Super Danganronpa 2 game. The anime will illustrate what happened to the characters before the events of the game.

Source: Anime! Anime!; Kōsuke Obana