Last weekend, SacAnime hosted a Kaiju No. 8 panel with some of the main voice acting cast. Among the panel were:
- Nazeeh Tarsha (Kafka Hibino / Kaiju No. 8)
- Katelyn Barr (Mina Ashiro)
- Abigail Blythe (Kikoru Shinomiya)
- Landon McDonald (Soshiro Hoshina)
- Aaron Dismuke (Gen Narumi)
Fans ran the panel by asking their burning Kaiju No. 8 questions, as well as general questions about voice acting.
Q&A
The cast pondered which scenes took the most do-overs in the booth.
“I do everything in one take because I’m perfect, it’s true,” Barr joked. “The scene with Mina and Kafka in the back of the van, we put a lot of extra love into that one because with Mina, it’s hard to sometimes pick the moments where her facade cracks a little bit. Definitely, if there is one moment for her facade to crack, it’s that scene in the back of the van.”
Channeling their inner Defense Force, the cast thought about what weapons they would use if they were transported into the show. Tarsha immediately thought nunchucks would be the best weapon. Dismuke had a rather unique Kaiju weapon idea.
“I like the idea of being able to helicopter myself,” Tarsha said, laughing.
“I want the small Kaiju to wake up and think that I’m their father and they serve me,” Dismuke said.
“The way your mind works scares me sometimes,” Blythe responded.
Voice Acting Journey
The cast discussed their similar yet different journeys to becoming voice actors. Tarsha and McDonald were inspired by acting classes in college, while Dismuke landed his first role through his cousin and fellow voice actor Justin Cook (Yusuke Urameshi, Yu Yu Hakusho). Blythe and Barr were inspired by music and musical theatre.
“I studied music in college, I’m classically trained in opera… I thought [voice acting] would be a great blend of my vocal technique and acting,” Blythe said.
“I came from a music background, my family are musical people and I got my career in theatre,” Barr added. “I was a children’s theatre actor.”
The cast wrapped up the panel by discussing who they would love to voice in either a past or future anime. All of the actors were giggling over a horse girl game/anime.
“I want to be in the horse game SO BAD,” Barr said. “I want to be in Umamusume.”
“I used to go to these conventions and all the voice actors would be playing Pokémon Go like it’s 2020. But now the horse girl racing game has just taken over,” McDonald said.
About Kaiju No. 8
Kaiju No. 8 follows the story of a world where kaiju, or strange creatures/monsters, regularly wreak havoc in Japan. The country has created the Japan Anti-Kaiju Defense Force to eliminate the beasts. Kafka Hibino works on the Kaiju cleanup crew and once vowed to be part of the Defense Force with childhood friend Mina Ashiro, captain of the Third Division. One day, after a kaiju attack on Hibino and coworker Reno Ichikawa, a small kaiju enters Hibino’s body, granting him kaiju powers! How will Hibino navigate being a Kaiju now?
Kaiju No. 8 seasons one and two can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
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