Few anime have had as much hype as Chainsaw Man, so to celebrate the continuing release of the series' English dub, we sat down with the Egnlish voice actors for Denji and Aki.
The recent release of Chainsaw Man's anime adaptation has caused an explosion in popularity for the relatively new franchise. With its over-the-top action, hilarious characters, and surprisingly moving story, the series has won over countless fans in a relatively short amount of time. The series follows a young man named Denji who lives in a world overrun by devils representing humanity's worst fears. Along with his coworkers in Public Safety, Denji fights devils as the titular Chainsaw Man, a hero who is just ridiculous and gory as his name implies. New episodes of the series release every Tuesday on Crunchyroll.
With Chainsaw Man's English dub picking up steam and earning critical acclaim, we spoke with Denji and Aki's voice actors Ryan Colt-Levy and Reagan Murphy about their roles.
Ryan Colt-Levy & Reagan Murphy on Chainsaw Man
Screen Rant: What was the process like for finding your voices as these characters?
Reagan Murdock: So, when we first got the audition materials, I knew Chainsaw Man was a thing, but I had never interacted with it before. So, the first thing I did was look up some manga, because I've got to figure out who this guy is? What's this guy's deal? You think about some of the external things, he's a smoker, he's very closed off. And I just kind of had to play around with it a little bit. I didn't really find it at first, but over time, you just kind of play with “Well, what what would it be like if it was a little bit higher or a little bit lower? But it's more about finding the internal emotion. What's this guy's story? Where's he starting out? Where's he going? And what about his word choice is going to affect the way that he expresses himself? You can find a lot of your character in the words they use. So I'm just a big proponent of that.
Ryan Colt Levy: For me, I was already a huge fan of the manga. So I’ve loved this story for a while. And this was actually one of those roles where, years before, it was like, “If one day I could audition…” We all talk about it, like as actors that “want” is not a word we have in our vocabulary, because it's just not how it works. So like, this was really the first time I ever allowed myself to be like, “I want to audition for this. Can the universe somehow let me read for this?” And I didn't necessarily think I even would get the opportunity.
When the auditions came through, I remember I was actually at a convention and they came through on like that Friday, so I had the weekend to just emotionally process before recording it, you know, and I couldn't record it while I was away. I could let the mind explosion of it all die down. And when it came down to it, I looked at the audition pages and I immediately knew what page they were from in the manga. And it was funny because then these lines were kind of written in like a paragraph, but I knew internally I was like, “Oh no, the beats play out like this and like this, and this is how the energy of this scene is."
I just felt like there were going to be a lot of great actors reading for Denji in general and I just wanted to give my most genuine portrayal of him for where I felt he was in that scene. And it was the scene where he's talking to the Pochita sitting on the log on the tree. And I just felt like I understood his brokenness, his hopelessness, his tinge of optimism within that, his desires for something greater but the expectancy of none of it and all of those things and also this love for a dog, you know? Something as simple as a boy and his dog. And I think all of that I just wanted to put into it. I genuinely also felt like, if all I get are these few moments as Denji, like at least I got to live in this space for a minute, and it was something that I'm really grateful to just be able to play him. It's crazy, it's mind-blowing to me still.
Chainsaw Man is such a beloved property, so was there any added pressure knowing that fans will have certain expectations?
Ryan Colt Levy: It’s weird. I wouldn't say pressure as much as responsibility. I felt like, being a fan myself and being a fan of so many things, I know that I'm not going to make everyone happy no matter what. So my immediate thought is, I can't do this to service anyone other than the character and the story, I have to be true to Denji. And I have to be true to the story and knowing where it goes and all these things. We’re going to play all of those little nuances. And I'm going to do everything I can to give this boy as much love and truth and insanity. And, hopefully, more than not, you know, those who watch it will connect with it and understand that like, their character, if it's their favorite character, this story, if they connect to it that like, they can feel that it's coming from someone who is equally as invested emotionally, and it's not just like, “Well, I'm just an actor for the job.”
I check every week when the episodes come out, I look online, and I read all the comments, good and bad and in between, because to me, it's all informative. I think everyone's opinion is valid, and it's something to learn from and grow from. And it's exciting to be able to also see a lot of people experiencing the story for the first time. So it's like, it's a really cool mix now. Because before it felt like everyone was kind of on this wave together with the manga. And now it's like, there's all these new people coming in. And it's this shared experience and that's really exciting.
Reagan Murdock: I definitely felt the pressure at first. I have never been part of anything remotely this big. And my initial reaction to getting the role was like, “Oh my god, I'm in Chainsaw Man. But, over time, I kind of realized that it's about the character, and it's not about people looking to me or anything. I can think of it as not putting the most inner parts of myself on display for the entire world to see. I just started thinking of it as loving this character of Aki. He's one of my favorite characters in anything in a very long time. And I can just think of it as introducing this friend of mine to the world, and I get to show the world how cool he is, and all the different things that I like about him. And just being able to come at it from that angle was much more fulfilling, and I think it gives a much more meaningful performance.
Ryan, you've talked about getting your dad into anime and Chainsaw Man specifically. Were you at all worried about him watching something so wild?
Ryan Colt Levy: There's even more than that. My whole family like my mom, my sister and my dad all individually have started watching anime ever since I started working in anime and games and stuff. As a family we love movies. We used to watch movies together as a family, me and my dad, our favorite pastime was going to the theater. And we loved going to see Tarantino movies and I mean we were growing up on all kinds of stuff. So, we all have that same sense of humor and all of those things. So I knew that if anything, my dad would like it the most, you know? Because I think he just gets it. I think my biggest bummer about all this is that he's back in New York watching it and I don't get to watch it with him because I can hear in my mind him cackling at some of these scenes because I know how he laughs at certain things.
The funnier story to this was when we brought the first episode to Comic-Con because my mom is also just one of my biggest cheerleaders, and she loves this stuff. She loves everyone's performances, but she's not a big gore person. She's not into violence and all that stuff. So I was really worried about her watching this because she was so excited that I'm starring in this big show, and I'm like, “I don't know if you're gonna be able to stomach this, mom.” And she came to Comic-Con and watched the first episode, and you know, all of that madness in the first episode and she was like, “I love it.” And now she's week to week just sending me something. She sent me a text yesterday, and she was like, “That was a really bloody one but it was really great.”
I would be remiss if I didn't ask you guys about the scene where Denji kicks Aki in the balls. Can you talk about recording that scene? Was there a lot of trial and error in finding exactly the right grunt of pain?
Reagan Murdock: No, there actually wasn't. Pretty much all of the like, noises were done with just the first take,
Ryan Colt Levy: Oh my God, and it was so good!
Reagan Murdock: Mike just got us in for a second round just to get a like, you know, some in between the screams. Let's make sure we fill it in with a couple of like, little noises in between there. And, you know, a lot of the coughing was Mike's idea. So I've loved the collaborative process for it. And it was just so much fun. Like I was just, I was looking forward to doing that scene since I first read it in the manga.
Ryan Colt Levy: I love how much time they give it. They like they really let it be a moment. It's not just like this thing that happened. It's like, you really get a sense of not just their dynamic immediately, but their personalities individually are so defined. And it's such a funny scene to use in that way and yet there's so much happening like, even amongst all of the beautiful insanity of it, with the soundtrack underneath. It's such a brilliant moment. And it was so much fun to record. I remember when we were doing it, we're like, “We really get to do this. This is such a gift.”
About Chainsaw Man
Following a betrayal, a young man left for the dead is reborn as a powerful devil-human hybrid after merging with his pet devil and is soon enlisted into an organization dedicated to hunting devils.
Check out other Chainsaw Man interviews here:
- Suzie Yeung & Sarah Wiedenheft
- Composer Kensuke Ushio
Be sure to check out new episodes of Chainsaw Man when they release every Wednesday on Crunchyroll!