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Villains Crash the My Hero Academia Stage at AnimeJapan 2018

posted on by Kim Morrissy

The voice actors of the My Hero Academia heroes appeared on stage at AnimeJapan 2018 to talk about the upcoming third season and movie, but they were soon joined by the actors who play the villains, who eagerly used the opportunity to turn the discussion into what role the villains will play.

The show began with people in giant Deku, All Might, Bakugo, and Uraraka costumes appearing on stage to greet the audience. After they walked off, the voice actors of Deku (Daiki Yamashita), Bakugo (Nobuhiko Okamoto), Uraraka (Ayane Sakura), and Iida (Kaito Ishikawa) appeared on stage. Although Deku is nominally the main character of the anime, Ishikawa took charge of the stage show as the class representative.

Just as these voice actors were talking about how excited they were about the next season, the soundtrack playing in the background suddenly became ominous. As the heroes asked, “What's going on?” the villains suddenly stormed the stage. At first, the heroes acted shocked and dismayed, but then Ishikawa said, “Hi there,” making it clear that it was all tongue in cheek.

The villain actors then introduced themselves: Kōki Uchiyama (Tomura Shigaraki), Misato Fukuen (Himiko Toga), and Hiro Shimono (Dabi).

From left to right: Kaito Ishikawa, Ayane Sakura, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Daiki Yamashita, Kōki Uchiyama, Misato Fukuen, and Hiro Shimono.

The villains then talked about their feelings toward the characters they play. Uchiyama said that when he first saw Shigaraki's character design, he was amazed by the hand on his head in particular. Because the hand made the character's expressions difficult to read, Uchiyama had some trouble with acting.

For his part, Shimono struggled with his character because there was very little information about him, even after reading the manga. He was also told during the recording sessions to sound gruff and menacing, which was difficult because as an actor he's known for projecting his voice. “I felt like my powers had been sealed,” he remarked.

Fukuen said that she was told to speak in an erratic way. She also mentioned that this was her first time in a villainous role, which may be why she had trouble grasping the orders. All the voice actors stressed that they had fun playing their characters regardless of the difficulties, however.

The voice actors also said that the presence of the villains will bring out new sides of the hero characters. Yamashita said that Deku has shown the most growth from the start, and that season 3 will continue to up the stakes. Finally, the voice actors shared new information about the movie and concluded the show by reiterating how much they were looking forward to season 3.


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