When Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba first aired in 2019, I was hooked from the very first fight because of the outstanding visuals being so clear and clean. I had never seen anything that looked as enchanting as this series before. The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga has sold over 220 million copies worldwide. This places the series as the fourth best-selling manga of all time and is a massive achievement for the relatively short 23-volume series, with nearly 10 million copies sold per volume. It is no wonder Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle has already sold out theatres all across in pre-sales.
Now, CGMagazine was graced with the English voice actors (VAs) to share their stories working on the series—along with their excitement for the new film: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle. We had the chance to speak with the voices of Tanjiro Kamado (Zach Aguilar), Nezuko Kamado (Abby Trott), Agatsuma Zenitsu (Aleks Le), Hashibira Inosuke (Bryce Papenbrook), Tomioka Giyū (Johnny Yong Bosch), and Kaigaku (Alejandro Saab). Huge thanks to Route 504 and Crunchyroll for allowing us to talk with many of its cast members, as we discuss an anime series five years in the making.
Looking back at the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba series, what were some of your favourite voice booth moments over the years, or character moments?
Bryce Papenbrook: I feel with Inosuke, I’ve had so much fun throughout the years. For me, he’s kind of a celebration of the fun that I have as a voice actor, and I hope that comes through in the performance. I think I was having the most fun during the Entertainment District—Inosuke as the detective. Inosuke [was] moving through those tiny holes, showing off what his body can do—just being very Inosuke. It was so much fun to be part of that entire season and all those moments, just a great time.
Abby Trott: Nezuko is one of those characters who doesn’t speak as often as some of the other characters in the series, but she is one of the most emotionally intense characters I’ve ever recorded. Two moments stand out the most in that regard: one of them being the fight with Daki, and then that scene which ends with Nezuko being cradled by Tanjiro, crying, and going to sleep.
It goes from an 11, fighting Daki—the rage, growling, ferocity, and then just unwinding into chibi Nezuko to sleep. That was a roller coaster. Another one of those moments for me was the scene where Nezuko steps out into the sun, where we have her kicking Tanjiro in a selfless act, devastating him emotionally, and then essentially burning in the sun. And it’s so hard to watch. It was also so hard to record. But it ends in a happy moment when she steps out into the sun and says, “Good morning.” It’s so intense in many ways.
I remember being in the booth recording both of those scenes and being stuck in it for a minute. You put yourself through that mentally, and it’s hard to break out of it sometimes. I remember our director, Steve [Staley], not quite realizing that I was stuck in this moment of intensity. He said, “Alright, great, moving on,” and I was just like, “Wait, wait a second! Hang on! Let me get myself together over here.” But yeah, it’s a very emotionally intense role.
Aleks Le: There are so many good and funny lines that I can think of, so many great freak-outs. I was super grateful because he was my first big anime role, and to have a character that’s so extreme. I think he’s the most extreme version of that type of character I’ve ever seen, not only in anime but in any media. I talk about this a lot, but the first time I went into the booth, I looked at the script. It was in all caps, and I was like, “Amazing.”
Alejandro Saab: I think Aleks covered pretty much everything, just meeting so many fans and how Demon Slayer has taken the world by storm. I think some of the best lines, or some of the best stuff I’ve recorded, are in [Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle], which you’ll have to watch to hear it all.
Johnny Yong Bosch: There’s not a lot of moments for me [in the show], but all the moments I had have been enjoyable. I think back when I got the audition, and I remember seeing the character design and thinking, “Oh, this is really neat looking.” Then, seeing into Giyu’s deep blue eyes, I was like, “Whoa. What is going on here?” I knew at that moment I really wanted to be a part of this. There’s something in the design that spoke to me. To be able to exist as Giyu in the franchise has been really awesome.
Zach Aguilar: There’s so many great moments, so many good fight scenes. The scenes I really live for are the battle scenes. My vocal cords hate the battle scenes, but I love the battle scenes. I love feeling that intensity and that emotion and letting it rip. I love letting my frustration of the character come through the screen in every single battle I’ve ever done, [even] the battle scene at the end of [Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train] when he yelled at Akaza. And now, I find it funny. Here we are in a full circle moment.
Giyu is the one who helps Tanjiro set off on this journey to become a demon slayer. And now here it is, with the movie they’re teaming up to fight against Akaza, which is cool to see. And the same goes for all of the intense scenes in this movie as well. I might have some new favourite moments in this movie.
Speaking on the Entertainment District arc and with the game Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Hinokami Chronicles 2 that dropped earlier in August, is recording those voice lines a nice trip down memory lane for the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime series? How does recording for the games differ from the anime?
Abby Trott: Yeah, it’s basically recapping the story as it was animated. It was fun and interesting to revisit those moments—especially those very intense moments. I was excited, but also dreading it at the same time because I’m like, “Oh, this is one of my favourite parts.” But also, I have to go through that again. I love the way the game looks. I think the graphics are rad, and it looks so similar to the anime.
Bryce Papenbrook: Yeah, I have the Nintendo Switch code to download it, and I can’t wait to beat up my kids! We’re all gonna be screaming at each other. It’s gonna be so nice.
Abby Trott: Just imagine a house full of baby Inosuke’s!
Bryce Papenbrook: That is my house. My wife loves us so much. It’s a great time.
Alejandro Saab: Yeah, it was really good. It starts right after [Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train], and it was one of the coolest things. Ufotable animates the anime, so it’s cool seeing CyberConnect2 recreate what the anime has done. It’s insane to me how well they how good they are at recreating all those scenes.
Aleks Le: I think it speaks to the quality that Ufotable has done with their animation for all these years. Scenes were so iconic, and their number one priority was to preserve the look and style of the scene down to like all the bit parts and particle effects. I feel that the show has really withstood the test of time as a marvel of animation, and I don’t really have anything else to speak on going down memory lane because whenever I’m in [the voice booth], I’m a little locked in, and I get tunnel vision when I’m doing the work. I’m doing the work. So I can’t really remember what I did for the game.
But my only funny story is that I remember when [Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train] was coming out, I got sent a copy of the game [from CyberConnect2]. They were like, “You can stream it.” And so I was streaming the game, and they said, “Just don’t talk about Mugen Train or any spoilers.” Then, the moment I boot up the stream, the Mugen Train DLC started flashing on the screen without me knowing, and I was panicking. They set me up!
Johnny Yong Bosch: It’s a different experience in the game. You have to ask a lot of questions because you don’t always have a picture [or video in front of you]. Like, where are we in the story? It’s harder to follow. When you’re playing a game, you have to do all versions of you, winning and losing, getting beaten up and hit. So you don’t really have a great perspective; you get a general idea.
But seeing the movie [while recording voice lines], in the animation, you get the full picture. It’s like, “Oh, this is what’s happening.” In a series, they’ll give us three different versions of this strike, and you get to see what it looks like. You can go, “Oh, let me do this, let me scream this way this way,” because it’s going to match the emotion better in the scene. So I feel like you can lock in a bit better when you see the animation.
Zach Aguilar: I completely agree with all of that. It’s a different experience because, like Johnny was saying, you see what’s happening on screen for the anime. But when you’re recording the game, you’re working off of black-and-white scripts.
They’ll tell you, “Hey, this scream you do is like 10 seconds long.” And I’m like, “Oh, okay.” They’ll play the reference for me, and then I said, “Okay, so now I have to scream for 10 seconds.” It got to a point where I would be off, where [I only screamed for] seven seconds or [another take was too long at] 11 and a half seconds. They said, “You actually went too long.” And I said, “You know what,” and I pulled out my phone and I put a timer on it. I’d put the stopwatch on my phone, so I would stop it directly on time to have that timing down.
Sometimes when you’re in the booth for so long and you’re doing your best to make everything all emotional, you’re focused on the words and the scene. Then, you have to add timing on top of all of that. But yeah, it’s a different experience—a fun one to be in a game. As a gamer, it’s so cool and kind of weird and surreal, hearing yourself come out of a video game when playing back through it.
Lastly, what do you hope audiences take away from this theatrical experience, an IMAX experience no less, for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle?
Zach Aguilar: This is it, right? This is the final battle of Demon Slayer, and you gotta go see it in the theatres. Obviously, it’s incredible. Ufotable kills it every time with the animation, and the music is amazing. I think it all applies to this movie. They’ve done a great job adapting the source material from the manga. They bring it every single time with the adaptation of the anime. And I hope people just expect epic battles in this movie. Expect heartfelt, emotional scenes that Demon Slayer always has. Expect some goosebumps because I got goosebumps recording the film.
There are scenes in the show I have watched on streaming, and then I watched it in theatres. [It’s different.] For one of the last premieres we did for the Swordsmith Village arc, I remember feeling a lot of emotion and feeling really sad at some of those scenes [watching on streaming]. But then I watched it in the theatre, and I was bawling. You feel that energy of everyone else around you, the surround sound, and you’re so immersed in the experience. This movie brings all of that. I hope people look forward to it. I’m certain they’ll love it. And I can’t wait to see what the fans’ reaction is to it.
Johnny Yong Bosch: I really hope that they enjoy it, they laugh at the right times, cry at the right times, and cheer and get excited for more. [Maybe they’ll] turn around and go play the game!
Abby Trott: I recently went to see an anime in IMAX, and I felt like I was in the world. I can’t even imagine what Infinity Castle is going to be like, especially after having seen the first 13 minutes at San Diego Comic-Con. I can’t wait to see it in IMAX because I feel like you’re going to feel like you’re in the Infinity Castle. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s going to look incredible.
One of my favourite things about this show being in theatres is that you can really appreciate the animation. For example, I’ve seen [Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train] on the big screen, and I’ve seen it on my laptop on Crunchyroll. You can see the animation so well when it’s up there on the big screen, and appreciate details that you might not have noticed in your first watch or when watching it on the smaller screen. I hope people really appreciate how beautiful and immersive the experience is.
Aleks Le: I think [audiences will] take away that this is a story that needed to be told in the form of a film that needs to be experienced in IMAX. We’re now going to the demon stronghold, which is the Infinity Castle, and it’s very much to its name: infinite. It is massive. There were sequences from the trailer and from the Hashira Training arc that showcase the scale of this thing.
It’s endless, gorgeous, and it’s so moody and atmospheric. I feel that watching this on the big screen with a room full of people is definitely the way to experience it. Hearing the audio through the IMAX is going to be awesome. And also, if you’re going to experience it in 4DX, you’re going to get flung around during the action.
Alejandro Saab: Basically, there’s going to be someone there, just throwing you across the room. [laughs]. Honestly, for me, it’s just having the energy of the audience. I can only imagine, based on what we recorded, hoping folks will react in a way that they’ll just be filled with excitement. As long as it doesn’t get insane where they throw popcorn and start going too crazy about it.
Aleks Le: They won’t throw popcorn because they’re respectful movie audiences. But they’ll want to. They’ll want to. Yeah, I’m very excited to see it all come together, music, animation, having the energy of the fans while we’re watching the movie.
Bryce Papenbrook: This movie is going to be an experience, and I can’t wait, as a fan of the show, to experience it on the big screen. The IMAX viewing is going to be so much fun. Yeah, it’s gonna be awesome. Everyone should snag their tickets as early as they can, make sure that they don’t miss out. It’s gonna be fun!
