When Studio Bones entered production on the climactic arc of the anime adaptation, the creative team faced a casting riddle that had spent years brewing inside manga forums: who could embody the hardened, revolutionary voice of Kudo? As revealed in behind-the-scenes accounts documented by a Japan Wire by Kyodo News report, industry veteran Daisuke Ono stepped behind the studio microphone to anchor the Second User of One For All, lending gravitas to an operative who lived and died fighting an insurmountable tyrant.

Kudo was never meant to sound like a standard shonen hero. He was a guerrilla rebel fighting during the bloody dawn of quirks, an era when All For One ruled Japan without opposition. Bringing that grim determination to life required an actor capable of balancing sharp military pragmatism with sudden, explosive power during the final war.

📌 Key Takeaways:

• Vocal Casting: Industry heavyweight Daisuke Ono voices Kudo, framing the Second User as a pragmatic insurgent rather than a conventional hero.
• Production Precision: Studio Bones engineered the booth sessions to highlight the raw strain of the Gearshift quirk during Izuku Midoriya’s battles.
• Theory Resolution: The performance and canonical animation explicitly extinguish the long-standing fan theory claiming Kudo was a time-traveling Katsuki Bakugo.

The Weight of Voicing the Second User of One For All

Kudo occupies a singular position in the mythos created by Kohei Horikoshi. Before the stockpiling quirk became an instrument of peace, it was an improvised baton passed between desperate survivors. Kudo took in Yoichi Shigaraki not out of grand idealism, but because he saw an opening to strike back against All For One.

Daisuke Ono, widely recognized for his authoritative performances as Jotaro Kujo in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Erwin Smith in Attack on Titan, brought an immediate tactical weight to the MHA voice cast. Rather than imitating the youthful optimism of Daiki Yamashita (Izuku Midoriya) or the righteous thunder of Kenta Miyake (All Might), Ono pitched Kudo with dry, battle-weary resolve. His lines carry the fatigue of a soldier who expected execution around every corner.

In the recording booth, this required subtle modulation. Kudo exists inside the vestige world as a living memory, observing decades of heroism through Midoriya’s eyes. When he speaks, he is evaluating whether this modern teenager can handle the lethality of his original power.

Inside the Booth: Pushing the Limits of the Gearshift Quirk

The technical demands on Ono intensified dramatically once Midoriya unlocked Gearshift. Unlike quirks that produce elemental blasts or physical mutations, Gearshift manipulates the laws of inertia, warping speed from Low gear directly into Overdrive. Studio Bones demanded an audio signature that matched that violent acceleration.

Studio production notes reveal that voice sessions for these sequences required split-second synchronization. Midoriya's body breaks down under the strain of Gearshift, and Kudo's voice functions as the onboard computer warning him of impending organ failure. Ono had to deliver rapid-fire tactical commands while projecting over roaring sound effects and Yuki Hayashi's orchestral score.

During the key battle sequences, Ono pushed his vocal cords to match the sheer violence of Midoriya’s strikes against All For One. The performance alternates between cold combat calculations and roaring battle cries, grounding the surreal visual distortion of Gearshift in visceral, human adrenaline.

Production Timeline: From Mysterious Silhouette to Final Season Climax

The journey to realize Kudo on screen spanned multiple seasons, marked by deliberate visual withholding and mounting fan speculation across weekly manga drops and animated teasers.

Dismantling the Bakugo Ancestor Theory on Screen

For several years, the My Hero Academia fandom clung tightly to the "Bak-U-Go" theory, a widespread hypothesis suggesting that Katsuki Bakugo traveled back in time to become the Second User. The spiky hair, gauntlet-like gear, and hostile silhouette fueled thousands of speculative forum threads.

When chapter 406 explicitly named him Kudo, it poured cold water on the literal time-travel concept, but the physical resemblance remained striking. That resemblance made the casting decision crucial. If the production had cast Nobuhiko Okamoto (Bakugo’s voice actor) or had Ono mimic Okamoto's raspy snarl, it would have reignited confusing narrative cross-talk.

Instead, Ono played against Okamoto's explosive vocal style. Where Bakugo shrieks with untamed pride, Ono delivers Kudo's lines with measured, baritone precision. The visual parallel serves as Horikoshi’s thematic mirror, showing that Bakugo’s spirit embodies the revolutionary drive that first terrified All For One, while Ono's vocal work confirms Kudo as an entirely distinct historical entity.

The Vestige Confrontation: Vocalizing a Century-Old Grudge

The emotional peak of Ono's performance arrives during the direct psychic confrontation with All For One inside the vestige realm. All For One despises Kudo more than almost any subsequent successor because Kudo was an ordinary, quirk-weak human who shattered the dictator's monopoly by extending a hand to Yoichi.

Akio Otsuka, the veteran voice behind All For One, delivers lines with towering theatrical malice. Going toe-to-toe with Otsuka requires commanding vocal projection. In these scenes, Ono strips away modern hero platitudes. He plays Kudo not as someone looking to save the villain's soul, but as an assassin completing an assignment started decades ago.

The contrast between Ono's stoicism and Otsuka's escalating fury turns their exchanges into one of the sharpest audio highlights of the Studio Bones anime adaptation. It grounds the high-flying spectacle in genuine historical hatred.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: Who is the Japanese voice actor for Kudo in My Hero Academia?
A1: Kudo, the Second User of One For All, is voiced by renowned Japanese voice actor Daisuke Ono, celebrated for his iconic roles across major anime franchises including JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Attack on Titan.

Q2: Why did fans think Kudo was Katsuki Bakugo?
A2: Early manga panels obscured Kudo's face while showing spiked hair, arm-mounted projectile gauntlets, and an aggressive posture that closely mirrored Bakugo. Chapter 406 officially ended the time-travel theory by establishing his identity as Kudo, an insurgent from the dawn of quirks.

Q3: What quirk did Kudo pass down to Izuku Midoriya?
A3: Kudo originally possessed the Gearshift quirk. In his era, it could only alter the velocity of small handheld projectiles. Over generations of stockpiling inside One For All, it evolved into an ability capable of accelerating Midoriya’s entire physical form to speeds that bend traditional inertia.

The Lasting Resonance of Ono's Performance in Shonen History

Adapting long-running manga mysteries carries substantial artistic risk. Silhouettes allow readers to project their own expectations onto a character for years, creating an imaginary performance that real voice tracks rarely live up to.

Daisuke Ono avoided that pitfall by refusing to play Kudo as a legend. He approached the booth with the mindset of a guerrilla fighter operating out of ruined bunkers, focused entirely on practical survival. By anchoring the Second User in grim, low-register reality, Ono gave the final season of My Hero Academia the emotional counterweight it needed to bring its multi-generational war to a close.