The Actor Who Plays Zoro In "One Piece" Has The Most Unlikely Friendship With EXO's Chanyeol

Mackenyu Arata is gaining attention far and wide!

The Japanese actor has been under the spotlight for several years now, but he is recently gaining international attention for his role as Roronoa Zoro in the live action version of One Piece.

Before this, he was already known for playing lead roles in Chihayafuru, Peach Girl, Tokyo Ghoul S, and more.

K-Pop fans, meanwhile, may recognize him for something else—his relationship with EXO‘s Chanyeol.

The two have a very close friendship which they sometimes share with the public. Fans first got a hint of this when they followed each other on Instagram around four years ago.

Soon, they began posting pictures together as well.

The two are so close, in fact, that Chanyeol even acknowledged Mackenyu in front of thousands of fans! The K-Pop idol singled him out in a crowd of thousands, with the actor giving a happy wave to the EXO-Ls in the venue.

Did you know that Mackenyu, also known as Zoro, one of the popular character of "One Piece," attended EXO's concert back in 2018? Chanyeol acknowledged his presence, and Zoro was seen waving his hands to the public and the two dated after. https://t.co/rp1YBI9z1t pic.twitter.com/gwEJSLF27t

— MerrySabrine-L #EXO_EXIST (@Hiyas301) September 6, 2023

Chanyeol also greets his friend whenever he sees him watching his live broadcast.

Chanyeol greeting Mackenyu “ohayo~” when during his IG livepic.twitter.com/eSoAtVn7zw

— cams (@kyoongbabe) September 7, 2023

Chanyeol isn’t one-sidedly hyping up Mackenyu Arata in public. The latter once mentioned Chanyeol and D.O. in an interview, saying that they met up with other friends to celebrate Christmas together.

Mackenyu even mentioned Chanyeol and D.O. in his interview. They had a big gathering in the Karaoke on xmas day with Taka from OneOKRock, Shota Shimizu and others. He also called Chanyeol "hyung" cutieee https://t.co/X6vqQXw24r pic.twitter.com/Y4vZnOl9c3

— Kyung ✴ (@arahyumee10) September 7, 2023

Mackenyu apparently refers to Chanyeol as his “best friend from Seoul,” even using the Korean honorific “hyung” which younger boys call guys older than them.

190131 Mackenyu FC BLOG [TRANS]
Mackenyu mentioned Chanyeol to his recent blog~ with a picture of him and Chanyeol as well! (it's true I saw it myself)

"Cafe & Lunch with Hyung!
My favorite kind brother!
I'm happy to be surrounded with such hyungs!"#CHANYEOL #EXO⁠ ⁠ #찬열 pic.twitter.com/XLyzQ32zT9

— 로이베이비 ☺︎ (@loeybaby1127) February 2, 2019

Besides Chanyeol and D.O., the Japanese actor is also friends with the rest of the EXO members.