Talk to the English voice actors of the episode “Nagi”

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with the stars of Blue Lock The Movie – Episode Nagi, Bryson Baugus and Kamen Casey, about the anime film. The duo talked about their characters Seishiro Nagi and Reo Mikage and what it was like exploring their backstories in the film. Crunchyroll will release the film Blue Lock in theaters on June 28th.

“‘This is a nuisance.’ That was high school second-grader Nagi Seishiro’s favorite phrase as he lived his boring life. Until Mikage Reo, a classmate who dreamed of winning the World Cup, discovered Nagi’s hidden talent and inspired him to play soccer and share his outstanding talent,” says the synopsis of the film Blue Lock. “One day, he receives an invitation to the mysterious BLUE LOCK project. There, he will meet the best strikers in the entire country. Nagi’s dream of becoming the best alongside Reo will take this prodigy into a world he has never known.”

Tyler Treese: Bryson, I love the characterization of Nagi in the beginning. He says things like, “I don’t want to do anything for the rest of my life,” “Working hard sucks,” “Life is the ultimate stress.” He’s pretty much my soulmate. We get to see a lot of the character’s beginnings because half the movie is a prequel. So what do you like most about the character’s beginnings?

Bryson Baugus: What I like about him, and one of the challenges with Nagi, is his detachment. I just float through life. I don’t want to push myself too hard, I just want to play my games and do what I want. What I like about it is that it comes across as kind of laid back. He’s not impressed by the world. He’s just like, “Yeah, I just do my thing and I love video games. I love my cactus.”

One of the challenges is just this cultural difference. In Japan, I feel like that kind of laissez-faire attitude sounds a lot like, “Oh, he’s cool, laid-back, and mysterious. I wonder who this guy is. He’s so cool.” In America, a lot of those traits are more negatively associated with laziness and nagging. So we try to find the balance between being aloof and whining like, “Nah, I don’t want to try so hard. Why is everyone trying so hard?” I think we’ve done our best to find that balance.

One of the things that Jonathan Rigg, the director of the film, wanted to convey, and one of the things that stuck with me, was this image of Nagi wandering the halls of the school like a ghost, curious about the people around him rather than something like, “Man, these people are weird. Why do they work so hard?” But more like, “Hmm, I’m curious what, what is it that makes people work so hard,” something like that.

Kamen, Reo has had such a rich upbringing and he has almost everything he could want. So he’s really searching for purpose and we see him finding that in both soccer and his interest in Nagi – that he really wants to push him. What did you like about his character development over the course of this film and in the early storylines of the anime?

Came Casey: Yeah, I love it when the show just fleshes it out more because there was so much there. I love that the writer thought that too. So it was kind of cool to see his upbringing, what drives him, the need to prove his parents wrong, where he can be so unlikable. Like, “Oh, you’re the rich kid. You have everything. Why do I want to listen to this guy?”

But then you see he has this drive to say, “I don’t want my parents’ dream. I want my own dream,” and then he comes across a guy who is so talented that he could do anything you want in the world, and you’re sitting there playing a game on your phone. No, let’s play soccer. Play soccer with me. It was so cool to see all of that worked out in the movie. It was so much fun.

Bryson, that’s a really cool little stretch for you. We had Haikyu, now we have the Blue Lock movies kind of back to back. Yeah. Um, that was such a wild career point. Did you have time to soak it all in? Because it’s incredible to have those two releases.

Casting: I understand how rare this is, and that’s why the last few months have just been incredibly fulfilling. I was able to work on the movies back to back, and the characters have such opposite energies. Hinata is a character who says, “I’m excited. I love volleyball! I want to play volleyball with all my friends.” To Nagi, who is kind of the complete opposite. He says, “Oh, yeah, cool. I think my friend likes it. I’ll play with him.” At least that’s how he starts, before he finds his own reasons to enjoy the game.

It’s just been overwhelmingly fulfilling for me to see how much work I’ve put into my acting career for more than half of my life. I wanted to be an actor when I was 14 and now I’m turning 30 in August or something. To have two movies in theaters, in full, and not only that, in such close succession. I could talk about it forever, but I’m incredibly grateful for it because I know this opportunity doesn’t come around very often. It’s a once in a lifetime thing. So yeah, I’m excited.

Kamen, I love this friendship between Nagi and Reo because he’s so supportive and says, “If I can’t be number one, I want to get you there.” That’s very selfless. What do you like about that relationship? And that he can put himself second, which most people can’t.

Casey: Yeah. I was so glad to see that explored more in the movie. Because it could come across as saying, “Oh, I’m just going to hang onto him.” Who likes that guy? But to see that being like, “No, man, I can’t just let you play games on your phone. You can be great. If those are the rules, then let’s see. I’m going to find my dream as we go along.” So to see him physically carry Naga around, just go on that journey with his buddy. I love seeing that friendship blossom.

Bryson, this movie comes out at an interesting time because it takes place before Season 2. It serves as a great refresher because you see the events of Season 1 from a different perspective, and it’s also a great prequel. So at the same time, it’s also a great jumping-off point for new fans. What did you like most about the format of the movie and how does it work for both returning and new fans?

Casting: What I love about it is that it rebuilds the world and shows a lot of the early scenes from the first season. Even if someone hasn’t seen the show, they can go into it completely unprepared and re-experience it and still get an idea of ​​what Blue Lock is about in an abbreviated framework. The fact that the show is from this different perspective makes you, as a returning fan, maybe see things again from a different perspective and think, “Oh, they did that in the first six episodes before they actually showed up in the show.” So I think there’s something for everyone when approaching this movie as opposed to the TV series.

I definitely recommend watching the show as well, because it’s all on Crunchyroll right now. Just watch it. Because there will be parts in the movie where you’ll be like, “Oh, I remember that from the show,” and really cool Easter eggs and stuff. So if you haven’t seen the show, I highly recommend you do. But even if you don’t have time to do it before the movie comes out, it’s definitely something you can jump into completely from nothing.

Kamen, I saw this really cool post on your Instagram about how you got to sign your first autographs at a convention and how you bought the Reo figure. What does it mean to you to lend your voice to this character that people have a real connection to and really love? That has to make it all the more special.

Casey: Yeah, man, I can’t believe it. I try to stay in the moment as long as I can and feel all the feelings later. But it was just overwhelming because you never know what’s going to lead to where, right? You just never know when you’re being cast in commercials, TV, movies, pilots, voiceovers. You don’t know if it’s ever going to take off (and if they will), and cling to the show. It felt like it was during Chainsaw (Man) season, so all “Chainsaw, Chainsaw…” and then these underdogs like the show came out of nowhere. Blue Lock just took off in Japan while there was so much soccer going on and the national teams were going on. Gosh, man, career-wise, it was an absolute blessing. It was an absolute blessing.

I remember not knowing anything about how to even get into voice acting or Crunchyroll specifically. I sent a friend of mine, Caitlin Glass, the most stuff that you just never do… I was like, “When are you going to put me on a show?” She didn’t even realize how horribly disrespectful and stupid that was. But she understood that I was completely ignorant and had no idea what was going on, how any of this works. Then, after two years of auditioning, and I had even done some side stuff, like years before, but seriously, auditioning for that, seeing that, getting accepted into the building, and ultimately landing a role like that was just so awesome, man. I could talk about it all day.

Bryson, Nagi was a fan favorite pretty early on in this series, but it’s pretty crazy that he’s getting this spin-off manga and then a movie as well. What was your first reaction when you saw that they were really going all out to explore this character in all these other ways?

Casting: I was super excited. I was introduced to it by some of my friends who had seen the show before I joined the cast, and they had mentioned that he was a great character. He’s great. I was like, “Oh, cool. No pressure.” I was super excited to get started.

All I can say is that I feel super lucky that they decided to have this popular character get his own spin-off and stuff. It was just luck at the time, but he’s also just such a fascinating character that it’s no wonder he’s so popular. He has all these different facets that they really showcase in the movie and the manga. Yeah, I feel very lucky.

Kamen, you mentioned that this was really a breakthrough for you in terms of anime and voice acting. What was most rewarding about engaging with fans and receiving feedback and love from them??

Casey: Yeah, it’s great. Anime fans are different. They’re special, they’re energetic, they’re passionate, they have opinions, and I love it. It’s like sports. I come from a sports background. To see how dedicated they are to their art and their fandom, man, it’s intense and it scares me sometimes. I’m nowhere near famous. So I’m like, okay, I can still kind of hang out here on the fringes of things, but I see how intense they can be. I hope I do a good job. I hope they’re proud of my work and I hope they know that I bust my ass to do my best and try to take care of every character I play.

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Thanks to Bryson Baugus and Kamen Casey for talking about Episode Nagi, the Blue Lock movie.