Getting Into Character with Ragna Crimson's Chiaki Kobayashi

ANN's coverage of Anime Expo 2023 sponsored by Yen Press!

At Anime Expo 2023, Anime News Network was able to sit down and talk with voice actor Chiaki Kobayashi about his role as the titular Ragna in upcoming anime Ragna Crimson.

They're keeping you busy at Anime Expo this year! Have you been able to have fun in Los Angeles in your spare time?

Chiaki Kobayashi: Yeah! I went over to Hollywood yesterday and ate at this famous hot dog place, Pink's. I took a walk down Hollywood Boulevard, checked out some of the shops at a shopping mall, and had an American steak in the evening. It was delicious, and it was… really big! I was at a table with Kengo Kawanishi from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, so we shared off the same plate.

ANN: In Ragna Crimson, you, of course, play one of the title characters, Ragna. He's a very cool character, very stoic. That seems like a difficult challenge because there needs to be a lot of nuance when you act. Did you find it hard to play a character like Ragna?

KOBAYASHI: Ragna's personality evolves as the story develops, so expressing the little changes was the most difficult challenge for me. For example, in the first episode, he's more shy and introverted, but as the episodes go on, he becomes a lot more spirited, more confident. Even with the dragons that he has to face—at the beginning, he's not too sure of himself, and he's struggling to defeat the dragons. But later on, when he gains his future strength, battling dragons become more of a task. Portraying that sort of change throughout the course of the series was definitely a challenge.

Ragna goes through a lot of growth and change throughout the series. Did you already know what the trajectory of the character was before you started, or did you find yourself growing with the character as he encountered different situations?

KOBAYASHI: During the audition phase, I read the manga, so coming into the recording, I would have a general plan of how I would portray the changes that Ragna undergoes in the series. After the recording started, though, I spoke a lot with the director and the sound director. We all became a team to try and work out what my performance would be and how it would cover Ragna's transformation. Things like, how would Ragna scream, how much would he scream, that sort of thing. I had personal input as far as the creative performance went, but ultimately, it was a team effort to craft that voice.

Speaking of which, there is a lot of screaming and yelling and grunting in that show! Was that physically demanding? Did you have any rituals to try and rest your voice between takes?

KOBAYASHI: In Japan, voice recording sessions will either happen at 10AM or 4PM. For Ragna Crimson, all of our sessions started at 10. You have a scream a lot, first thing in the morning. Me and Murase-san, who plays Crimson, we perform better in the afternoon, but we had to do it at 10. So we prepared as much as we could. One of the ways we cared for ourselves was just getting a lot of sleep. Especially if we knew we were going to have to do a lot of screaming that session. Just sleep a lot. Different actors have different methods, too. Sometimes we'd use cough drops and cough sprays to soothe our throats before going into sessions. We also do a lot of stretching the night before. But the most important part is the sleep. I tried to get at least eight hours of sleep or more before a screaming session.

Tell me more about the stretching. Do you think that having that physicality and that limberness helped you in your work?

KOBAYASHI: In our job, it's true that we only use our voices, but the performance really does involve our entire body. Flexibility is important because we use a lot of our bodies, our muscles, our throats. If it's not loosened up, it does affect our performance. So by being flexible and loosening up, and making sure that we can use our whole body—it really helps to be able to project and perform with a clear voice. It's actually a pretty important part of our jobs.

Ragna's relationship with Crimson is very complicated. Did you and Ayumu Murase record together at all? How did that impact the way that you guys played off each other?

KOBAYASHI: In Japan, typically, when there are a lot of interactions between two characters, the voice actors will almost always be in the same room together, recording and performing. Murase and I really bounced off each other very well. Even things like ad-libbing off each other and that sort of interaction is very nice. We really played off each other very well with our lines. Plus, it's always fun, and I think that really enhances our performance.

One of the unique things about playing characters from a manga is that both the creator and also the fans have preconceptions of the character already. How do you respond to that pressure?

KOBAYASHI: I pay attention to the fans a lot. First and foremost in my mind when I'm performing, I want to make sure that when the fans watch the anime, they really enjoy my performance. But there's also a reason why I was chosen for the role. I don't want to give an average performance or even a general performance that anyone can do. I want to bring my own unique taste and originality to the performance. I try to put as much of that into my performance as I can. Obviously, there are times when those ideas may diverge a little bit too far from the original intent, but that's when the director comes in and says, “This is going a little too out of character,” or something like that. But I try to keep challenging myself to bring my own unique taste to the performance.

You mentioned earlier that you had read the original manga before you started. Do you always try to read what you can before you start recording, or do you like to go in with more of a blank slate and try to incorporate cues from the character as he encounters events?

KOBAYASHI: You know, it depends on who I'm working with in terms of directors and sound directors. For the most part, I feel like 80% of the time, the performance is sort of our own interpretation as a voice actor. Some directors have a very rigid idea of what they're going for, and they've already planned things out in a very particular way. So in those cases, we try to adjust to what their image is and try to hit that spot for what they're looking for. But if the director isn't super particular, and they don't have a very rigid idea of what they're going for, most of our interpretation of the character does come through.

You won Best New Actor at the 15th Seiyu Awards. Has that changed how you approach your roles, and has that added any pressure?

KOBAYASHI: I don't think it's really changed how I approach my roles. I just feel like… this is the only time I get to do what I do. I just go at it with everything I have. And there are just so many other voice actors that are much busier or higher profile than I am. So for me to feel any kind of pressure, I'm not even there yet. Not at a point where I would feel that kind of pressure to change the way I approach roles. There are so many people and so many other senpai in the industry who are super busy, and I feel like I haven't even reached that point. This is just the beginning, and I'm just getting started.

It's interesting to hear you say that because I think there are a lot of aspiring actors who look up to you already. Do you have any advice for those aspiring actors?

KOBAYASHI: I would tell them to try not to mimic an existing voice actor because we're never going to be like someone else. Before I was a seiyu, you know, I love movies and films, and I was studying to be an on-screen actor. I think that's something that gave me an edge amongst other voice actors in the anime industry. It really distinguished me because it gave me that unique edge that no one really had. So I would say that instead of trying to be like someone because that person's uniqueness is their own, you have to go and find your own space and take inspiration from different fields and genres. If you can find your own strength and edge to stand out, I think that's the way to succeed. Having said that, I'm just talking from a Japanese perspective. Maybe it's different if you're an American fan or actor. But I think finding your own unique edge is very important.