Whether you are an otaku or a casual anime fan, a great anime series is only as strong as the voices behind its characters. Shows like Naruto, One Piece, and My Hero Academia owe much of their success to their talented voice actors. With the release of the compilation film Attack on Titan: The Last Attack, this was the perfect opportunity to honour the voices that Attack on Titan fans have been hearing for the past decade.
Bryce Papenbrook and Trina Nishimura are the English dub voices who bring this greatness to some of the biggest characters in anime history. Papenbrook and Nishimura voice Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman, respectively, two of Attack on Titan’s main protagonists. This film brings together the last two episodes (The Final Chapters) of the critically acclaimed anime series into one monumental theatrical experience on the big screen, just as Director Yuichiro Hayashi always imagined.
CGMagazine was able to virtually sit down with Papenbrook and Nishimura to take a look back on the spectacular experience of them joining the wild ride that is Attack on Titan. We talked about the commitment to their characters, the great collaboration with director Mike McFarland at Funimation, and how the show has affected Papenbrook and Nishimura personally and professionally. Ultimately, we all cannot wait to experience this grand finale on the big screen between Monday, February 10-13th!
Looking back to the beginning of this incredible Attack on Titan journey, the series has an outstanding ensemble cast. Of course, it centres on the iconic trio of Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. What drew you both to these characters, and did either of you audition for any other roles?
Bryce Papenbrook: I was a fan of the show. I started watching far before I knew I’d get the opportunity to audition, and I knew I wanted to read for Eren, Armin and Levi. I thought I might have the most opportunity to get cast as [Armin] because I’ve done a lot of exploring in the higher range of my voice. And I wanted to play Levi because he’s awesome, and I thought there’s no way I’ll be cast as Eren.
Attack on Titan was actually my first audition for what was Funimation, now Crunchyroll. I was so grateful that Mike McFarland, the director, opened the opportunity up to many different people in different markets around the country.I was really fortunate even to be able to read for the show.
Really understanding that first season and really understanding the characters, I knew I was going to bring the right thing to the auditions. I could barely talk afterward, and I was so fortunate that resonated back through, and connected with Mike to the point where he cast me as Eren. And looking at his casting choices, it was absolutely the right choice to bring this group together.
Trina Nishimura: Back then, we would audition in person, if you can believe it. I went into the studio I had been working at Funimation for many years as a contractor. I had the good fortune of working with Mike on a few other projects. The buzz around the studio was, ‘Oh, it’s Attack on Titan! And I had seen part of the first episode, and I was like, ‘no more, I’m going to give it a minute. I don’t want to get spoiled, and I don’t know what’s going to happen.’
I went in to audition. And when you went to audition back then, you would have a physical folder [with sides]. The first page [of the sides] is a description of the world, a picture of the world and a synopsis of the series. Each following page features a character’s picture, a brief description, and audition lines. That’s sides.
[On the sides], under Armen, the Japanese seiyu (voice actor) was female. At the time, Mike was auditioning women for the role as well. And I also read for Armin because I was like, ‘Oh, a scaredy cat, Armin. Okay, I could be a scaredy cat’. As I was flipping through the sides, I came across Sasha, and it said, Sasha loves potatoes. And I was like, I love potatoes. I’ll read for Sasha, and then I read all of the other female characters and went over the sides.
When I went into the audition for Mike, I was like, ‘Okay, I want to read for Armin, and I want to read for Sasha’. And so I read for those two and I was like, ‘Who do you want me to read for?’ And he said, ‘I’d also like for you to read for Mikasa. And I said, ‘Okay, I’ll read for Mikasa.’ I read for Mikasa, and I was incredibly fortunate to have been cast as her, for the story, the cast, and the past decade of my life has forever changed me.
I didn’t know Bryce before Attack on Titan. As he mentioned, this was the first audition he ever did for this studio, and he got cast as Eren. We didn’t actually know each other during the recording of all of season one, and we were actually halfway around the world before we became friends at an event for those two weeks.
I’m really fortunate that having been cast as Mikasa, I was able to make these friendships and I got to know Bryce. We got to grow up together, not only as the characters, but as people. We were in our 20s when we were cast in the show, some of us in our later 20s, but we were in our 20s. Bryce didn’t have any kids; we’ve been through a whole lot of life together, and it’s been tremendously special.
Speaking of growth, I’ve also grown up hearing both of your voices in various anime series, including Attack on Titan. This feels like the perfect segue—you’ve both known these characters for so long. What were your thoughts on their development over the years and throughout the seasons of the show?
Bryce Papenbrook: It’s pretty rare to work on a series that allows you to go to the places you could go to on Attack on Titan. I was able to bring a level of intensity to Eren that’s just not common for voice actors in season one. When Eren bites his hand, I bit my hand so hard I left bruises. In season two, Eren’s more unhinged than ever before, so I literally unhinged my jaw in the booth because I wanted the pain to come through. I wanted to feel what Eren was feeling throughout the entire series, and Mike wanted a very gritty, disgusting, real sound for the series as well.
I was very fortunate in that Mike let me go to those places and that I had the type of people in the cast and people like Mike around me that let me go there and feel comfortable taking myself to those dark places. It was really incredible to go on that 10-year journey with Eren and play him in very distinctly different ways. [I start as] itty bitty Eren; I’m angsty teenage Eren; a much larger Eren; and then what you see in season four. It’s the coolest thing as an actor to be able to play that character over that amount of time in all of those different ways, and go on this journey with them. A life changer.
Trina Nishimura: Isayama-sensei (Hajime Isayama) created this story that is so beautiful and so well-written and dynamic in so many different ways. But specifically in the characters, he doesn’t write characters in a way that it’s like this guy is a good guy and this guy’s a bad guy. He writes characters as people, and he writes situations that thematically mirror the real world. [He writes around] the historical relevance of the themes, and how they are repeating and have repeated throughout human history.
Getting to play characters that are human and that have motivations and that are allowed to change and shift and change their mind and change their allegiances and change their stance on things, is what real people do. So his creation of these characters and the dynamics they’re in are so beautiful. And getting to play a character like that. There’s so few times that you have that opportunity.
When you record, [you record] by yourself in a booth, and Bryce and I weren’t spoiled on the show—we didn’t read ahead or we didn’t watch ahead. But there would be times where Bryce would call me after he recorded, or I would call Bryce after I recorded, not knowing that the other hadn’t yet [finished recording].
And there was a time when season four started, Bryce recorded before me, and he called me. He was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’ll never guess what happened’. I was like, ‘what, something more amazing?’ And he said, ‘Oh my gosh, you’ll never guess what happened’. And so I recorded, and then I called him. I was like, ‘you get to shift into that?’
You get to play all of those in one show; that’s an actor’s dream and that’s ridiculous. It’s been so cool to watch not only to record and play Mikasa, but to watch my cast mates do these amazing things and put out these amazing performances. It’s cool knowing full well that the writers, the director, Mike McFarland, the audio engineers, the mixers and everyone behind it, has put their blood, sweat, and tears into the show. Getting to watch the characters evolve and everyone’s performances has been so cool.
You said that so perfectly! Also, a big shoutout to creator Isayama-san and ADR director Mike McFarland! I agree with you both on the complexity of these characters and how challenging it must have been to record their voices. I’m curious—was there a particular scene you really wanted to nail for audiences where you thought, Let’s do one more take?
Bryce Papenbrook: We wanted to nail every moment. I think sometimes in production, there’s a lot of pressure to move fast to get through the finish line. But I think knowing the significance of the show, knowing that it was going to be, hopefully, viewed by many people over the years, we really got to take our time with each piece.
And I feel Mike drives the sessions forward in a really good way, with a great pace, making sure to dig in really deep and then pull you out so you’re not in that space too long. He was really strategic in the sessions to take breaks and step away. [Also, he was] strategic around very intense and loud screams, so I could really bring my A-game to every single moment of the show.
Trina Nishimura: 100%. Mike created that safe space and [was awesome] steering the ship. There were many times where we would do a take a couple of times and he’d say, ‘how do you feel about it?’ And I’d be like, ‘I just want to do one more thing.’ Or since we weren’t spoiled and we didn’t know the whole picture, I got to ask questions like, ‘well, I feel like she’s in this place, I feel like this is where she’s thinking and what she’s going through.’
Having that space to talk to him and collaborate and then do a take that I felt was a little bit different, or a little bit more vulnerable or a little bit tougher, was really cool. As Bryce said, you don’t always have that time, and you also don’t always have that sort of relationship that is so collaborative. It was really special. And this show would 100% not be what it is without Mike McFarland, the director of this English dub.
I’m glad you both talked about taking the time for these recordings because there’s always audiences commenting on what was taking so long. I know when the final season was broken up into multiple parts, it felt like forever to see the next part, but it was so cinematic when they were released. I’m glad we get to go back to the theater to enjoy it in this format.
Bryce Papenbrook: Me too. I have a reason to go see it in theatres, actually. My wife has been watching Attack on Titan over the years. She doesn’t typically watch anime, but she absolutely loves this series. We got all the way to these final two chapters of the show, and she said, ‘This is too intense; I’m done.’ And I said, ‘You’ve been watching this for a decade, you don’t want it to end?’ And she’s like, ‘That’s the end for me.’
So, I suggested, ‘Okay, hold on. What if this goes to theaters? Will you agree to watch it?’ Then she said, ‘Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever,’ and here we are. So I had two tickets for February 10th, and I get to watch her experience the ending of the series for the very first time. She hasn’t been spoiled and hasn’t looked anything up. I can’t wait for her to see it.
Wow, what a story! That’s awesome you will both be doing that. I was telling someone who hasn’t caught up with the final chapters a similar thing; I was telling them this might be the best way to finish the series.
Byrce Papenbrook: Yeah, it is the coolest opportunity to experience the end of Attack on Titan in what I think is the best format to feel all of the audio too. Oh my god, Titans on the big screen, and to do it also with an audience. Something really unique and special about consuming anime with others, especially in a theater setting. You feel the reactions that other people have in the room, and you kind of feed off them. So I can’t wait for February 10th. It’s going to be incredible.
Trina Nishimura: In Dallas, myself, Mike McFarland, some of the producers, a lot of the cast, we’re all getting together, and we’ve all already bought tickets to see Attack on Titan: THE LAST ATTACK. We’re so stoked. I think between all of us, there are only a couple seats left, so I don’t know who snatched those up, but they’re going to be really surprised when the entire cast walks in, minus Bryce.
But I’m very excited about February 10th because when you’re watching at home you’re getting up and down. [Maybe you’re] changing the laundry or your phone pings, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I gotta pause it.’ Getting to sit in a theater and see it all together and feel it, you get to cry or laugh or be scared with others. It is so special for the final episode.
Bryce and Robert McCollum, who plays Reiner and I, were all at an event the day it aired. We were fortunate enough to figure out a way [to watch it together]. We had all these grandiose plans, but at the end of it, we ended up on a patio or on a balcony that maybe had two tables—huddled around one little table with Rob’s phone playing the movie with a cup against a speaker. The three of us are sobbing and watching it on Rob’s phone. So I can only imagine how we’re going to feel watching it on the big screen. I think it’s going to be really amazing.
Yeah, watching it on my laptop and headphones was great. But to see it in a big-picture format, it is a must. My last question revolves around how much time you both spent with these characters. You’ve immortalized these characters in anime history now. What do you hope for those viewing this in the near future, a year from now, or 20 years from now? And what can people take away from Attack on Titan?
Bryce Papenbrook: I think what’s so special about this story is that it’s such an incredible story, let alone, for people whether they watch anime or not. It’s hard to ignore a story like this. So I hope that Attack on Titan continues to be that gateway to anime because there are so many incredible, unique, amazing stories that are coming through in this medium, and it’s amazing to be a part of so many people discovering it.
I hope that it’s approachable, knowing that it has a start and a finish—that the commitment isn’t over 1000 episodes. It makes it a little easier to start with something like that and then get into those deeper, longer stories down the line. I think that’s part of the reason why Attack on Titan has been the entry anime. For a lot of people, it’s great to start with a series like this, and I’m confident that it’ll continue to hold up.
I know, for me as a viewer, I’ve been on the edge of my seat the entire time. I never guessed the twists and the turns. And even as I return back to the show, on the second, third, fourth viewing of the series, I keep discovering new details and new things that I didn’t find out until right then. This keeps it exciting to rewatch the series. My hope is for viewers and people new to anime to enjoy the series for years to come.
Trina Nishimura: One of the things that I am incredibly lucky to have gotten out of Attack on Titan is the friendships. I know that sounds cheesy, but 100% the friendships that I have built because of the show and being part of the show. I didn’t know Bryce before Attack on Titan started, and I didn’t even meet him until season one was done recording. He and I have grown up with this show.
I’ve been an actor professionally since I was 13, and this is the longest I’ve ever been with one single character. Getting to experience this over the past decade, plus with somebody that I really trust and love, has been amazing. And not just Bryce, but Mike and the rest of the cast and the producers and the engineers. It has been a special thing to us, to have created this show.
Then, to be able to travel the world with my travel buddy, Bryce, has been astounding—the people that we’ve met, and the influence and the impact the show has had upon them. Eren and Mikasa say the words to ‘keep moving forward, to battle their own titans, whatever those titans may be,’ have been really special. And I hope that in the years to come, that when people watch Attack on Titan or rewatch it, that it continues to inspire them to battle their own titans.
I hope that it continues to bring people together in a way that can help their lives change for the better because it definitely changed mine for the better. I’m a three-time auntie now! Thanks Bryce, thanks Samantha! It’s a special show and it’s brought me a lot of inspiration and a lot of peace through the people that I’ve met—not only Bryce and the team, but the fans too. It’s a really beautiful story, because Isayama-sensei created beautiful characters and addressed really tough, thematically challenging truths about humanity. I hope that in the years to come, people still find solace in that.
That is very sweet. Fans will experience this epic conclusion with Attack on Titan: The Last Attack as the grand finale, hearing you both as Eren and Mikasa for the final time. This is the way it was meant to be experienced. Thank you so much again, Bryce and Trina!
Be sure to check out Attack on Titan: THE LAST ATTACK, out in select theatres across North America from February 11th-13! You can also follow Bryce Papenbrook and Trina Nishimura on social media to find out their latest works and updates: @brycepapenbrook on Instagram/X and @trinanish on Instagram.
