Masakazu Arai steps down from Shibuya Scramble Stories project
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Masakazu Arai steps down from Shibuya Scramble Stories project

by Kite Stenbuck on 15 June, 2026

Masakazu Arai announced that he has stepped down from his involvement as an actor in Shibuya Scramble Stories. The game's director Jiro Ishii has also separately confirmed the former's departure.

For the record, Masakazu Arai was originally slated to be one of the two star actors—along with Fumio Kitagami—when Jiro Ishii launched a crowdfunding project for a new live-action adventure game that follows the footsteps of 428: Shibuya Scramble in late May last year.

However, when a new major trailer that appeared last April gave the project name Shibuya Scramble Stories with an updated list of 5 playable protagonists, only Fumio Kitagami was included in this list, while Masakazu Arai was not and instead only listed in the rest of the cast list.

You can find the original Japanese statements from both people's tweets, along with our English translations of both statements, right below.

Masakazu Arai's statement

I would like to once again apologize to all fans who have been looking forward to this game, as well as everyone who has provided support, for having to make an announcement like this.

I would like to offer my deepest apologies for having not enough explanations about the content conveyed yesterday on June 14, which caused a few misunderstandings and chaos. I would now like to explain once again.

Last year in March, I received an offer to become a star together with Mr. Kitagami, and the crowdfunding started as "a project to create a work starring both". "Starring" is a word that would show you performing the most important role at the center of the story's development, and you would be shown at the forefront on posters and end-roll credits.

This year in March, I learned about the fact that other people ended up assuming the star roles, but it does not mean I was removed from the playable cast. Although I have to withhold details about the process for now, I asked the general director and the production side on whether they could expand the storyline based on the two stars, as I had first grasped when the crowdfunding just started. But ultimately that could not be fulfilled, so I sent a withdrawal, and they approved it on June 10.

Amidst successive discussions with the general director and the production side, we became no longer able to head towards the same direction together, and this also causes a massive bother to everyone who have supported us. I once again offer my deepest apologies for those.

Jiro Ishii's statement

I am hereby informing about seeing off the appearance of Mr. Masakazu Arai.

We have, until the end, continued negotiations and adjustments on the conditions and productions so that Mr. Arai could appear as one of the stars (playable characters) in this game.

However, he ultimately could not reach an agreement on our presented conditions and production policies, so we end up seeing off his appearance as a result.

I would like to express my deepest apologies, starting with Mr. Arai and also to all fans who have supported us, that we ended up with a result like this.

I am planning to explain about the circumstances behind this matter and our perceptions in more detail in the coming days. I would appreciate it if you could wait for the time being.