Shadow's Japanese voice actor in Sonic 3 is just as perfect as Keanu Reeves – he's the voice of Sephiroth in multiple Final Fantasy games

Shadow's Japanese voice actor in Sonic 3 has been unveiled – and he's a Keanu Reeves-style perfect fit for the black-and-red hedgehog.

As revealed on the Sonic movie franchise's official Japanese Twitter account, Toshiyuki Morikawa is providing the voice for Shadow's Japanese dub in Sonic 3, which is called Sonic x Shadow: TOKYO MISSION in the country.

You may not know his name, but you may know his dulcet tones – he's played everything from Sephiroth in Final Fantasy to Dante in Devil May Cry, as well as dozens more roles across games, anime, and movies. Curiously, he's also the official Japanese dub artist for Tom Cruise, among a handful of other A-list Hollywood stars.

From the One Winged Angel to the Ultimate Life Form is quite a CV, then, but it speaks to finding the right voice to match Shadow.

Over in the west, director Jeff Fowler has already praised the "research" put in by Reeves for his work as Shadow.

"He really wanted to create a very fan faithful version of the character. He did research. In our first meeting, he very clearly had gone and done his homework, which was awesome," Fowler said during an appearance on Sonic Revolution's Shadow Revolution online stream.

Fowler continued, "I can't say enough wonderful things about Keanu and what he brought to the character and the experience of making this movie. I think people are going to really, really love his version of Shadow."

Sonic 3's English language cast includes a returning Ben Schwartz as Sonic, Idris Elba as Knuckles, Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Tails, Jim Carrey in the dual role of Ivo Robotnik and his grandfather Gerald, and James Marsden as Tom.

Despite the stacked cast, that hasn't stopped people trying to guess which mystery characters from the Sonic universe will make their bow in the threequel, which hits cinemas on December 20. Early theory work includes the possibility of Metal Sonic filling in this suspicious empty space in a new Sonic 3 image and the chance of Amy Rose turning up in the post-credits – because of a clue hiding in a pink sweater, of all things.

For more, check out our ranking of the best Sonic games and the best anime you should be watching in 2024.