Anime streaming giant Crunchyroll is currently airing its biggest line-up of shows to date, which features many fan favourites including Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man.
The series follows Denji, 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.
The Mirror was invited to sit down with some of Chainsaw Man’s stars to discuss how they brought these iconic characters to life.
Ryan Colt Levy, who plays Chainsaw Man’s protagonist, isn’t a stranger to the world of anime having voiced characters in other massive shows such as My Hero Academia.
Ryan explained to the Mirror why he loves playing Denji and how he brought the character to life.
He said: “I think for me it was how honest and real Denji is with his emotions outwardly and how different he is from any other main character that we've seen in recent media even outside of anime.
“I think he's so refreshing and engaging and truthful and fun you know, there's just something about his energy that is infectious and crazy and it made me just want to play in that space.”
He continued: “You know, I think what we love what we all love about it, and when I think what makes it such a fun challenge as an actor, is that there is so much beneath the surface of even these crazy, violent bombastic scenes, there's a lot of detailed layered emotions and conversations happening at the same time.
“It's about finding ways to be as genuine as possible to these scenarios in order to make the humour or the tragedy or the horror, or whatever it is, feel more visceral.
“And I think if you play to the substance, that's where all of the other stuff really shines.”
Suzie Yeung, who you may recognise from the Final Fantasy VII remake, plays the mysterious Makima, one of the highest-ranked hunters. She reveals what makes Makima a great character to play.
She said: “I just love how powerful Makima seems, as you don't see too much of her now. But you just know that there's a lot more to her. And there are a lot of cards she's holding that she's not showing.
“Being able to play such a strong character, but it's not overstated either, I think it's a very interesting balance.
“She's very subdued about it and she doesn't need to show that she's strong and that she needs to be respected. She just simply commands it just by being and I think that's really cool.”
Reagan Murdock who plays the hunter Aki Hayakawa, explains why he is so different from Denji
He said : “I related so much to Aki feeling like he needed to construct these kinds of walls around himself and he's somebody who is just so deeply passionate.
"He's so afraid of loss that he kind of puts these barriers up and I related a lot to that and I hope that people who have that similar experience are able to feel seen because of characters like Aki”
He continues: “It's just the privilege to be in something where I have so much to work with and so much to chew on and so many layers to peel back for a character. That's an actor's dream, to be able to show a person from all of their different angles.
“And that's I think, part of why we get into acting, we want people to feel seen and understood and if I get to play a character as multi-dimensional as Aki, you know.”
Sarah Wiedenheft plays Denji’s incredibly fun roommate Power who provides much of the show's comedy.
She said: “I really like how ridiculous she can be, not always but most of the time and there are times when she has moments of seriousness.
“Ever since she became friends with the cat she's slowly becoming such an amazing character, she's still ridiculous as time goes by. “
She explains what it was like working on a horror anime: “I thought I was going to be a little bit uncertain with it because I don't normally do very well with gory and bloody and horror-type things.
“But I have a little bit of morbid curiosity, and if somebody expresses interest in watching a horror film, I'll be like, okay, yeah, I can do it. I am strong, and I will not have nightmares after this.
“But with Chainsaw Man, so far, it hasn't been that bad actually, sometimes I'm like, ooh, that's kind of nasty. But it's so good that I overlook it and I look past it and it doesn't bother me."
Chainsaw Man is currently streaming on Crunchyroll
