Posted in: Anime, Crunchyroll, TV | Tagged: anime, chainsaw man, Crunchyroll, Denji, English voice cast, Makima, Pochita, power, Reagan Murdoch, Ryan Colt Levy, Sarah Weidenheft, Suzy Yeung
Chainsaw Man Interviews: Levy, Murdock Discuss Hit Anime Series & More
Chainsaw Man is the most original and best new anime series this season. Denji is a teenage boy living with a Chainsaw Devil named Pochita. Due to the debt his father left behind, he has been living a rock-bottom life while repaying his debt by harvesting devil corpses with Pochita. One day, Denji is betrayed and killed. As his consciousness fades, he makes a contract with Pochita and gets revived as "Chainsaw Man"- a man with a devil's heart. Denji is then recruited by the mysterious Makina to the government agency that deals with hunting devils, which have become a real menace to society. Cue gory monster battles tined with body horror and dark comedy.
Chainsaw Man: Talking to Ryan Colt Levy (Denji) and Reagan Murdock (Aki)
Crunchyroll invited us to interview the core English language voice cast of Chainsaw Man. In Part One, we talk to the actors voicing Denji and Aki. Denji is voiced by Ryan Colt Levy with a soulful melancholy in the pilot episode before the rest of the series begins to explore Denji's odd primitive state, barely socialized after living in abject poverty as a social outcast with no friends who discovers civilization and its comforts, including the most basic luxuries like baths, three square meals and even – gasp! – girls. Reagan Murdock plays Aki, the devil hunter, on a personal quest for revenge, to hunt down and kill the Gun Devil that killed his brother and has to put up with leading a doofus like Denji.
In the video, we discussed how Chainsaw Man is really an allegory for How to Human. Denji is learning about how to be a person in society for the first time in his life and how to talk to girls; his infantile innocence reduces sex at first to touching a boob. Ryan and Reagan talk about the underlying emotions that drive Denji and Aki and finding the comedy alongside the pathos. We talk about how episode two features the funniest fight scene involving multiple kicks to the crotch ever written as Denji and Aki face off in an id vs. ego fight, how Ryan plays Denji as a naif with no filter and says what he thinks, and how Reagan plays Aki's staunch badass façade cracking as Denji and Power keep undermining his heroic, stoical image of himself. We get deep into the substance of the show and the boob jokes. It's fun stuff.
You can follow Ryan and Reagan on their social handles:
Ryan Colt Levy
https://twitter.com/
https://www.instagram.com/
Reagan Murdock
https://twitter.com/
https://instagram.com/
In Part two, we'll be talking to Suzy Yeung (Makima) and Sarah Weidenheft (Power) about the unusual female lead characters of Chainsaw Man.
Episodes 1-4 of the English Dub of Chainsaw Man is currently available and exclusive to Crunchyroll, with premieres every Tuesday at 12:30 pm PT.