Interview with “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle” Voice Actors, Zach Aguilar & Johnny Yong Bosch

Full transcript of Interview with “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle” Voice Actors, Zach Aguilar & Johnny Yong Bosch.

0:21KT: Zach and Johnny, thank you so much for your time and welcome to the For Your Reference podcast.

0:26Johnny: Thanks for having us. Yeah, thanks for having us.

0:29KT: Um, I am very excited. My partner and I, Oti, love anime and we especially love Demon Slayer. Um, I don't know how many show and tells you're getting as a part of this junket, but we've got the art. Demon Slayer. Um, and if I can just indulge myself for a second, I've got the both of you so deliciously over here. We'll have to have like a video clip and that sort of thing as the Koku

0:55Zach: once said, tasty.

0:59KT: We're, we're in the right place. Friends and lovers, we're gonna have a delicious splooshy time. Absolutely. Um, but before we even get started, I guess I just wanna lay all the love and praise to the both of you on the success of Demon Slayer as a series. And we know Infinity Castle has been released in, you know, some places and we're very excited in Australia and I'm sure in the US as well. But I just wanna say congratulations. We're gonna have some time, but I just wanna start off by saying congratulations to the both of you.

1:28Zach: Uh, thanks. Thank you.

1:32KT: Demon Slayer is a very warm hug. So that's all I'm giving today. Just some, some love and affection, subtitles, dubs in all of that deliciousness. Um, but I guess the, start off, Zach. Every great anime has a great protagonist, and Tanjiro is absolutely that. He's lovable, he's sweet. If I may say, you seem very lovable and sweet as well. Um, also very strong. There you go. We, we've done it. Um, strong but also very strong. He rises up the ranks, um, through power, through friendship and all of that fun stuff, um, and really is the heart. Of Demon Slayer, um, how is it being able to, I guess, bring that sort of center and that warmth and emotional journey to Demon Slayer Act?

2:23Zach: I mean, it's amazing. You know, I think Tanjiro is just a great role model of a character. I meet so many fans of the show, whether they're, you know, kids or adults or, you know, even, even people who are elderly, which is so wild. I think it's just a testament to how awesome the show is and how there's kinda something for everybody in, in the series getting to kind of bring that. Compassion and empathy that Tanjiro has, uh, throughout the series has just been amazing. Uh, he's a very selfless character and approaching all of these different scenes, I always try to keep that in the back of my mind regardless of what is happening, even if this is the final battle, there's a lot of anger. Uh. Just to remember who he is. Uh, he's just a really strong, really strong person, not forgetting his core beliefs. And I always try to carry that with me, even if I know he's about to defeat a demon. I'm like, okay, well he's probably gonna, you know, pray for the demon afterwards and just that, that compassion's gonna come out of him. So I, I always try to keep that in mind.

3:35KT: Mm-hmm. And I think it's one of those things like. Are we with the demons? Are we with it? Like we're all going through it at the end of the day. And I think having Tanjiro as like a main character is like, oh, I, I get it. Like we all going through it, like to be honest, as like a humanity there as well. And Johnny, Giyu is that guy. Like, I don't know if we'd say he is assumed it, but I feel like there is a lot that Giyu gives. Maybe not, um, through dialogue, but he is very expressive and there's definitely a connection. We've tal 'cause we see that very early in the series before we even get to Infinity Castle. So, um, in regards to Giyu's character, how do you find yourself, I guess, being able to express the emotional journey? Because Giyu does care. Is it through dialogue? Is it through your expression? How do you find your way? Weaving, um, I guess directly with Tanjiro's character.

4:31Johnny: It's, it's definitely subtle. Um, he doesn't say always what he means, and it might more, might be implied. Um, you know, the, I, he, he definitely sees maybe himself in Tanjiro, you know, he didn't, you know, he didn't have, you know, a second chance. I, I think, you know, and so he's kind of given them a second chance. Um, and, uh. He gets to see, you know, uh, Tanjiro really grow and become this amazing demon slayer and, uh, gets to fight alongside him in this film. So, yeah, I think, uh. I don't know. I guess, uh, it's, I just kind of lean into it. You know who he is being

5:21KT: like, no one likes you. And it's like, I like you.

5:24Johnny: Right, right. Mr. Giyu, that hurt me a little bit when she said that.

5:30KT: It's that it's that typical, like, I won't say I love you dad type character.

5:34Johnny: What was that?

5:36KT: Like, I wouldn't say I love you dad type character, but like find ways to show that you care in different ways, right?

5:43Johnny: Oh, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. He's, he's probably more of a, yeah, he would, he wouldn't say it straight out or maybe he shows it in his actions rather than, uh, his words.

5:56KT: Mm-hmm. And through the series, very early, um, in the arcs, we have Tanjiro as well as Giyu. Having that sort of, I, I would say it really is the turning point of the series where we see the humanity with Nezuko's character, um, as well. How did it feel coming into this mega Tanam Mount Trilogy film series that we're going to get into, but I guess for the both of you, each, what was it like knowing the relationship? Between the two characters. It's so delicious. I don't wanna spoil anything in regards to this first film, but there are moments that the two of your characters have, and I guess how was it keeping in mind the emotional journey that you guys have had so far into, I guess, the big sort of moments in Infinity Castle?

6:42Zach: I think it's been really cool to see how Tanjiro and Giyu have both. Sort of bonded, uh, throughout the series, like slowly, I guess you pretty slowly, very slowly, uh, just, just throughout the series as they've gotten a chance to get together too. And even in the Hashira Training arc, you can see that Tanjiro gets to learn more about Giyu. We as the audience like also get to learn more about his backstory and kind of where he's coming from. 'cause I think, I think before then, Giyu to the audience was. I mean, at least to me personally, he was kind of like an enigma. Like, I don't know what's going on with this guy. I'm not entirely sure. You know, Tanjiro is just forever the optimist, uh, always giving everyone the benefit of the doubt. So Giyu, of course, is no exception. Uh, every scene that they have, ev he's like, he's a, he's a Hashira, but he also did, uh, allow Nezuko to, to live in the first episode. So I think Tanjiro always remembers that and carries that with him as well. Um. But it, it's been, it, it's been really cool. And, and getting to record these scenes for this movie. Um, yeah, I mean, I just, I, every word, every emotion, like I really did my best to bring my all to it and, uh, and I'm so proud of what we got to create and, and make, I'm just so hyped for everyone to, to see it and to see it in theaters.

8:08KT: Mm-hmm. Oh yes, there's a, there's a media IMAX screening and Oti and I have also booked another screening, so we're gonna see it twice in Nice. So we're very,

8:18Zach: there you go. I be like,

8:20KT: you know that meme of like, which movie are you here to see? That'll be, that'll be us going into IMAX, but I guess Johnny recording for, uh, Infinity Castle. Um, how was it, I guess, keeping in mind that emotional thread and I'm so sad, I'm gonna have to rewatch forever so it never ends. But how was it recording the scenes for Infinity Castle?

8:39Johnny: It was, I mean, it was great. You know, you have, Giyu's got this, uh, there's, so there are a lot of layers to him, but, um, you, they start to unravel. The more you go into his story or you through the story of Demon Slayer, you discover more in a lot of times through Tanjiro, Tanjiro's eyes. Um, but. You know, there, for example, he doesn't feel like he deserves his place among the Hashira, you know, but I think deep down he does want to earn his place. And so there's a bit of him wanting to get to that point. And I think, you know, this, this fight here in the film to fight alongside Tanjiro, he gets to kind of do that, you know, and he's, uh, mm-hmm. I don't wanna spoil it, but there's like some, there's really great moments. He has to get to a certain point, I think, in his own understanding to accomplish, you know, his worthiness, I guess.

9:39KT: I don't know how you guys handle, I'm all

9:41Johnny: comedic moments too with them. You know, they're peppered in there, here and there, but anytime they show up it's like, that is, I was like, wait, that's supposed to be funny, right? Because that's funny. Um, so yeah, there's a lot of great moments in here, like, is like serious and comedic.

9:56KT: Yeah, sorry. I was just about to say, I don't even know how you guys like do this 'cause I'm getting emotional. Just thinking about having watched the screener and like talking to you guys and thinking about watching it in IMAX. There'll be some big IMAX tears watching it, um, in the cinema. This is our second anime related interview for the podcast. The first one was with Aleks for Solo Leveling. Shout us to Zenitsu. Um, in the building, but I, I had a question which I kind of want to continue with anime related interviews. Um, so you're building a team shout outs to Bleach, Johnny. Love, love, love Kurosaki. Uh, so both of you're a protagonist in your own right. But if you're building a team, let's make it fun. So non protagonist. Uh, who would you have on your team? We could be talking about Michael Jackson Muzan. We could be talking about Frieza, we could be talking about Aizen. We could be talking about any of the over 9,000 bosses. I, I'll tell you what Aleks said. So he said inside a Solo Leveling cha, um, he said Vegeta, Piccolo, which I think is cheating 'cause he picked two from same anime. Um, and he also said Sasuke as well. So you can pick one, three, whatever you like. But if you're building a team to go after the big, bad. Who are we choosing? Non protagonists if possible?

11:12Johnny: Non protagonists. Oof. Okay. I'm thinking,

11:17Zach: uh, one of them for me would be Itachi from Naruto. Uh. One of my favorite characters, uh, let me see. Oh, that sucks. He took Vegeta already because I was gonna, I was gonna take Vegeta. No, I love Dragon Ball. did kind of stumble that across you guys. I'm trying to, I'm trying to think of like all of the bad. What are the bad villains in, in like anime? I mean, I guess I don't if can I, I can throw Muzan in there. Is it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go for it. Okay. Well, Muzan's gotta be in there. Muzan, you know, kind of, kind of throwing people for a loop here. He's reed a lot of hat, dude. Like, geez, I'm, we're kind of going through it right now in theaters. Uh, let's see, what, who else? And this is just, this is an anime, an all, all anime.

12:15KT: Oh, you know what? Let's, let's break all the dimensions. Let's To Be Hero X and do different layers of animation. Like it can be outside live action animation, wherever you like. Wherever you're going, Zach. I'm going.

12:25Zach: Cool. Okay. Let's throw Thanos in there. Um, oh, you got the big dogs. You got, I don't know if we're, I don't know if we're gonna lose, uh, let's see, who else. Johnny, you wanna, Itachi

12:39KT: Muzan, Thanos. That is a similar, you wanna

12:41Zach: add, you wanna add someone to this team?

12:44Johnny: I'm dying out here. I, um, I, my head was going like in a, I don't even know what they're doing, so I was like, uh, what about the cat? That cat in Trigun, you know, just that cat that always shows up in every episode in the original Trigun. You can throw in all cats. You can do an all cat team. You can, I was about to

13:07KT: say, can we have like and Pokemon as well? Like we'll just get all the

13:10Johnny: cats. Yeah. You can get, uh, you can even throw in Artemis and Luna from Sailor Moon, like you can get That's just a team of cats.

13:20KT: I don't know if I can take your job, but you can take mine. 'cause that was a much better question than mine, Johnny. Um, I wanna thank the both of you for your time and wrap up with our final question. We finish off our reviews with a recommendation. So what would you pair with, I guess we'll say Demon Slayer's Infinity Castle in particular. As a double feature. So it can be another film, it can be another series, whatever you like, but a nice pairing to watch together.

13:50Zach: Ooh. To watch together. Yeah. That's, yeah. That's pretty tricky. Right?

13:55KT: So it can be like a nice compliment or even something opposite, like type energies.

14:00Zach: Mm. I know. 'cause, 'cause yeah, the reason why it's tricky to think about is because, uh, I mean, I don't know Demon Slayer in this film. Just from my own perspective is, so I just think it's so unique. I mean, in a lot of ways there, like I, there's so many good like anime films.

14:22Johnny: Um, what would be a good opposite? Because I don't, I think you'd want to go something that's still good, but different, you know?

14:30Zach: Yeah. Like what is the opposite of, what would be the opposite of this movie? Like, you know, angel lovers. Is there an angel lovers? Maybe, uh, maybe like Barbie, the musical, the movie or something. That might be a good one to watch. Like after this, you know, you kind of experience a lot going on. Yeah. You go watch, uh, like the Hello Kitty series, uh, to just kinda like ease the.

14:55KT: Just to, just to ease it up. But you know what, like we've never done this before. Johnny did a better question than me. And also I will accept Infinity Castle twice because we are gonna go watch it twice in IMAX and I think it's just as delicious. Maybe without as many tears in my eyes the second time, I'll be able to like absorb it all. But Zach and Johnny, I wanna thank you so much for your time.

15:17Johnny: Thank you.

15:18Zach: Yeah, thank you for

15:18Johnny: having us. You could watch through the entire series before going into the movie.

15:24KT: Oh, we, yeah, we've, we've done that. I've gone through Hashira Training. I don't know if I'll be useful, but you can put me on your squad. I'll try my best.

15:32Zach: And then after you watch the movie, you play the new Hinokami Chronicles 2 game.

15:37KT: Yeah,

15:38Zach: that's right. Yeah,

15:39KT: we, we've done all the promotion. Thank you so much guys.