Kaiju No. 8 is dominant in the Spring 2024 anime season, so Screen Rant interviewed the English dub voice actors for Kafka Hibino, Reno Ichikawa, and Kikoru Shinomiya to get their thoughts on the experience so far.

With its digital debut on Shonen Jump+ on July 3, 2020, Kaiju No. 8 quickly resonated with shonen fans seeking action, comedy, and a mix of Godzilla and Ultraman. With its anime adaptation, it has quickly become one of the most talked-about new shows of the season, releasing new episodes every Saturday. The main characters are a charming mix of younger and older soldiers recruited to defend their home from monsters, with 32-year-old protagonist Kafka Hibino joined by the much younger 18-year-old Reno Ichikawa and 16-year-old Kikoru Shinomiya.

With new episodes releasing the English dub day and date alongside the subbed version, Screen Rant spoke with the voice actors for Kafka, Kikoru, and Reno!

Nazeeh Tarsha on Kafka’s Age and Figuring Out One’s Purpose in Life

Screen Rant: Kaiju No. 8 fixates on age as related to the ability to fight in a society that prioritizes raising able-bodied soldiers against constant threats. As a result, the main character, Kafka is seen as an outlier even before accidentally ingesting a kaiju. Nazeeh, our question for you is, how do you get into the mindset of playing a character of the ripe old age of thirty-two?

Nazeeh Tarsha: Well, I think I’ve been prepping my entire life for this, because I am the ripe old age of thirty-one with almost the exact same body type of Kafka. So you know this has been years in the making. This is fate, if you will.

I think the age element is super funny, because you know, obviously, thirty-one, like, one foot in the grave, oh my. But when in actuality, it’s like, We’ve got the same youthful exuberance of, you know, a twenty-year-old. It’s all similar. Where it does differ, though, to other shows and characters, bringing the life experience into, because he is portrayed as older. And you get it right out the gate from the first episode with sort of this complacency in life, this sort of “well, this is it? I’ve given up on my aspirations and dreams,” and to having sort of like renewal of finding himself.

Bringing my own life experiences into that where you know, it’s like, oh, yeah, I can absolutely relate to that, you know, trying to find oneself figuring out what I’m doing in life. It’s much easier to bring yourself to the table when it becomes that, “Does life imitate art? Does art imitate life?” Sort of scenario.

Abigail Blythe on Relating to Kikoru Shinomiya

Abigail, your role as Kikoru Shinomiya is extremely exciting. She’s the top-performing new recruit, and the only instant candidate for captain. Such an elite and proud character is a tough role to commit to. Do you have any particular inspirations from which you draw while playing this character?

Abigail Blythe: I definitely see myself in her. I relate her a lot to myself. We’re similar in a lot of regards. Both perfectionist type. A personalities. Both very emotionally guarded, likes to put up a front will do their best and won’t expect anything else from themselves. Puts a lot of expectations on themselves as well as from parental figures, too. You know, feeling with issues with a father figure in the household.

I think a lot of girls go through that. I think she’s very relatable, not just to me, but to most teenage girls, I mean, society put so much pressure on on younger girls to succeed, and a lot of pressure on themselves, too. Because we just have such high expectations for ourselves.

So drawing from within has been very easy for her. I haven’t found a lot of challenges as to understanding her character, which has been really nice. Because then it’s just really the technical challenges vocally, physically, things like that that I get to focus on. But emotionally wise, I mean me and her: We sit on the same level. So it’s been really great and cathartic.

So it’s like a lot of it comes from within, and it’s a very commonly shared experience among young women.

Abigail Blythe: I’d say so.

Seeing her journey, even just in the first few episodes shows that there’s one big perception of her. But then that perception is met with her own internal expectations as her internal monologue plays out.

Abigail Blythe: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. She has. She has layers like an onion, like an ogre!

Adam McArthur on Reno Ichikawa’s “Straight Man” Character

Adam, you portray a heroic young Reno, who, despite occasionally being Kafka’s comedic foil is highly entertaining and exhilarating. How would you describe the experience of playing an uplifting character with such a strong sense of responsibility, especially towards Kafka Kikuru and the team?

Adam McArthur: Yeah, I’m so lucky. I’m really lucky that I get to play a character that I’m proud of. It’s fun too, there’s nothing that I’m worried about someone seeing or thinking about this guy like he is just a good boy. He’s got aspirations of his own. But then he meets Kafka, and I think even though he’s younger than him, he kind of takes him under his wing in a way, and is a little bit parental towards him, and feels a responsibility to make sure that he’s okay. And I think his intentions are just really pure.

I know that he wants to be great himself, and he wants to be good. But that’s not really what motivates him. It’s almost like not even a thought. It’s just something that he’s doing on the side while he’s making sure that you know he can help Kafka if he needs help, and all that stuff. So yeah, he’s such a great character. It’s not often, either, that I get to play the straight man where all the chaos is sort of happening around him. And he’s just looking around like what in the world is going on. So it’s been a lot of fun.

The straight man is just such an interesting character because they don’t necessarily have to be an off-the-wall comedic character at the same time to be funny and entertaining to watch. That’s neat to see.

Adam McArthur: Yeah, he’s similar to other characters, but very unique in it. And I am really loving, getting an opportunity to to be the English voice of Ichikawa.

Nazeeh Tarsha, Abigail Blythe, and Adam McArthur Talk About Kaiju No. 8

Topics Range Across Age, Societal Expectations, Group Activities, Action, and Comedy

What are the most exciting prospects of working together as a unit on this series? You know. And what do you think the viewers should be looking forward to the most?

Abigail Blythe: Well, I’ll say in the booth when I get a chance to, if I’m one of the last to record getting to hear their performances and bounce off of them while I’m playing. Kikoru is such a treat. So when it happens, I’m so happy that I’m able to listen, and bounce off of them. As far as the characters go. I think that the audiences have a lot to look forward to as they grow closer and around each other, and see how their their team develops. And I think all of them Kikoru and Kafka, Kika and Reno. All their relationships with each other develop really nicely and very differently. So I’m excited to see how the dynamics go from here in the animation as well.

Nazeeh Tarsha: For me, I think the most exciting prospect of working with this cast is that I’ll finally be able to get close enough to Adam to get his autograph for free.

Adam McArthur: Stop that!

Nazeeh Tarsha: He’s such a hard man to get into touch with. No, getting to work with a bunch of just absolutely talented professionals of all sorts of not skill levels, but sort of like, experience levels. There is fresh new talent that is having a spotlight shine on them, and they’re getting the opportunity to be brought into the fray. And then, you have folks like Adam, who’s been in the game for a bit now? And kind of just seeing everybody feed off of each other and seeing these exciting and exhilarating performances being brought forth.

Nazeeh Tarsha: For audiences I would say the thing to look forward to is honestly just strapping in and enjoying the ride. Because there really is something for everyone. Whether it’s characters, personalities, tropes, monsters, comedy, like it legitimately has something for everybody. It’s one of those things where I think if you just sit down and watch the first episode, you’ll be hooked and wanting to binge the rest of it.

Adam McArthur: Somebody has said to us, it sounds like you guys are having fun. And I think that’s what I’m most excited about is we all care about this show so much already, and I think it’s evident in what you’re hearing in the episodes. And everyone knows this about me. I love a good group activity! And so we’re literally all just in this. Together. We’re having a great time. I think we all are super grateful to be in the position we’re in and getting to work on such an awesome project. I’m excited for audiences to hear that, to hear how much we care about it, how much fun we’re having, and yeah, that we all like us as well as the fans get to go on this ride together on this amazing show. So yeah, it’s exciting.

It’s also one of those rare instances where even other popular anime typically leave English viewers kind of waiting a couple of weeks after the initial sub release. It’s really exciting that Kaiju No. 8 gets that day and date English dub release, especially for fans for accessibility purposes. That’s an appealing factor.

Nazeeh Tarsha: Oh, yeah.

Adam McArthur: And when they both come out at the same time, too, everyone, no matter what side of you know or what language you’re listening to it in. Everyone gets to talk about it at the same time, see it at the same time. So I think it really like builds the hype for the show even more than you know. If you’re kind of like separating everybody, it brings everyone together. It’s cool.

Abigail Blythe: I agree.

Adam McArthur: It’s a group activity!

Abigail Blythe: Your favorite!

Do you have any particular favorite moments, or even favorite lines so far in the characters like that you play throughout the series?

Nazeeh Tarsha: Favorite moments for me. It really just any interaction with both Reno and Kikoru. If I had to like, really boil down to a couple, I would say the parking lot scene is iconic at this point with Kikoru and also the hospital scene where I where Kafka 1st turns into a Kai chew, and then you just have the entire, just zainy chasing and the runaway scene that’s going on. But yeah, I would I would say those 2, if I had to pick.

Adam McArthur: Yeah. That. That hospital scene, that hospital scene. I think, when I was recording that I literally kept going. What? What? It just keeps getting crazier and crazier. It was so fun. It was so fun.

Abigail Blythe: I that that part and episode #4. She’s having this like emotional breakdown, and she screams like, I need to be perfect. And then she just gets smacked up against the wall. It was so funny I saw, for, like myself, in the booth and for audiences, I was like I was so feeling it, and then she just gets like obliterated. It’s so funny. That’s one of my favorite moments is because it’s just unintentionally hilarious.

It breaks the tension at the moment.

Abigail Blythe: It does, I think so too. Yeah.

Adam McArthur: At the end of episode 7, when Ichikawa and Iharu had just kind of like, the things were not going well in their fight against Kaji number 9, and I forget the exact line. But I’m pretty sure Kaji number 9 says something like, “Are you ready to die” or “You’re gonna die,” or something like that. And then Kaiju, number 8, just pop. He’s just in there, and he’s like, “No one’s dying today, asshole.” That was such a hype moment.

Adam McArthur: That was one of those ones, Nazeeh, where I was like. I can’t wait for people to be asking all the time. “Can you say the line from Episode 7?” You’re gonna be saying that all the time.

Each of these Kaiju No. 8 cast members are on X (formerly Twitter) via the following handles: @NazeehTarsha (Nazeeh Tarsha), @askforabigail (Abigail Blythe), and @ninjamac (Adam McArthur) where they can be followed for their latest updates.