Judgment PC mod restores actor following drug arrest

A mod for the PC version of Judgment has restored the likeness of an actor who was removed from the game’s original release due to drug charges.

As spotted by PCGamesN, a user on Nexus Mods has released a mod for the game which reinstates Pierre Taki as the voice actor and likeness of Kyohei Hamura.

Taki was originally featured in the first release of the game on PS4 in Japan, but when the actor was arrested and charged with drug-related offences, Sega halted sales of the game and replaced him with Miou Tanaka.

Drug use in Japan carries significant legal repercussions. Taki was sentenced to eighteen months in prison, suspended for three years, following his admission of cocaine use.

Both Judgment and Lost Judgment were released on PC last week. 

Announced during TGS, the PC release of the games came as a surprise to fans as it was previously claimed that PC releases for the games had been blocked by lead actor Takuya Kimura’s talent agency.

Japanese showbiz news site Nikkan Taishu claimed last year that sources told it Kimura’s talent agency Johnny & Associates had been blocking PC versions of games in the Judgment series because they don’t want Kimura to appear in PC games.

The report claimed that Sega had been trying to bring Judgment and Lost Judgment to Steam, but because the agency was blocking this from happening it could draw a line under the series after Lost Judgment.