Gachiakuta is one of the most exciting new series this season, giving trash anime a whole new meaning. The power system especially, one wherein people are able to make use of powerful cherished objects, is something particularly refreshing, giving each character’s power a natural connection to their background and creating a lot of incredibly creative fighting styles. As the first season of Gachiakuta approaches a close, we had the wonderful opportunity to speak with two of the show’s English dub voice actors: Bryson Baugus, who voices Rudo, and Christopher Wehkamp, who voices Enjin. We discussed the two’s approach to their characters, their thoughts and approach to the English dub’s unique script, and some favorite moments from the season thus far.
Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity. This article contains minor spoilers for Gachiakuta Season 1.
Q: Gachiakuta has a very unique look combining grit with coolness and style. How did you match your own style to the style and vibe of the anime?
Baugus: My visual style — I’ve never been much of a fashion person myself (laughs), but in terms of the voice acting, I don’t know, I try to incorporate a little bit of that grunginess to it. I remember when I was younger, I used to sing a lot of metal and heavy metal stuff and I try to incorporate some ideas that I remember from doing that back in the day when it comes to having that little bit of grit to Rudo’s voice, that bite that he has whenever he gets really angry. And yeah, I think I wear more hats now than I used to.
Wehkamp: I actually grew up in the 80s and 90s and the whole skater aesthetic was a really big deal back then. I had a kid that I went to school with who was a couple years older than me and basically as soon as I saw the audition sides, I was immediately drawn to Enjin and the vibe of his character design just really reminded me of this skater kid that I knew growing up — same kind of haircut, same kind of wild clothing choices, very much his own unique style. And so I brought a little bit of that into how I was interpreting my audition. The interesting thing about Enjin too is that he, despite being this cool kind of skater dude, tough skater dude kind of vibe, also really has a — I would call it a goofy almost silliness to him. And so he seems like kind of a prankster; he’s very much just out here trying to roast people. And so I wanted to try to bring that into it as well. So that all amalgamates into your performance when you first start trying to get your head around a character and all those elements went into it for sure.
Q: In terms of direction, once you actually had the role and were crafting the voice, what kinds of direction did you get, if any?
Baugus: I think what I remember incorporating into my audition was a little bit of a softness to him, to Rudo in particular, that I feel may have been a little bit overlooked when just looking at the sides as they were presented. I remember the audition incorporating some of his angrier moments and stuff and you could read into it a bit of a resentment, in some of his softer lines in those auditions, but I remember reading those lines and after having read the first few chapters, I was like, “Oh, this kid is just misunderstood.” He’s got a softness to him and he still yearns to have that family that he never really had, even though he was thrown out by society and by a lot of his peers, he still had a little bit of that family in Regto and Chiwa at the time that he could rely on and I feel like he was just in a place where he was still trying to search for more people like that. So when being directed, when actually working on the show and doing those first few trailers, there were moments where Lee [Lee George], the director, would say, “Okay, now we need a little bit more of that bite.” Because I think there were some times where I would — my natural inclination as a person is to soften up in general and so sometimes I need a little bit of that reinforcement of “Okay, well, here he needs to be a little bit more aggressive still.” But generally I try to find a good balance from the visuals, the sound effects, and the scene work with the other characters in addition to the guiding force of the original Japanese actor’s performance as well.
Wehkamp: I would say something that stands out for me, I can’t remember if it was Episode 3 or 4, but it’s where Enjin and Rudo are really starting to get down to brass tacks about what is this world. He’s taking Rudo to the doctor, and my initial approach on it was “Okay, this is where Enjin is going to kind of be a father figure.” And so some of the reads I was doing I felt like were honoring the original performance but were also leaning into this as a fatherly moment — he’s gonna kind of be his surrogate dad here. And I remember Lee being like, “That was good, can you give me an option where you’re advising him and it’s kind of annoying?” I was like, “Oh, okay, so we’re doing this more like he’s an older brother, like okay, ‘let me explain to you now how the world works,’ that kind of thing versus ‘let me be a lot more warm, let me be a lot more like understanding'” and honestly, that really helped me. That was a piece of direction that helped me kind of go, “Oh, okay, he cares about this kid but it’s as an older brother, like this is my annoying little brother.” It’s how Enjin is approaching this sometimes. And that was a shift that I feel like put me right where I needed to be.
Q: One thing I’m personally curious about is the script because I feel like the English dub has gone viral for how good and how modern it is. Have you two had any opportunities to either be involved with the scriptwriting or improvise any lines?
Baugus: In my experience, I haven’t improvised a whole ton. The script writer, James Cheek, has just done a really good job of incorporating that language into the show. I think it’s done in a way that still plays to the strengths of the actors performing it, being that we’re Western actors and so we have Western sensibilities and it makes it feel more natural for us to use slang and stuff that we’re used to hearing around us. But there were a few moments where I got to just get a little bit crazy with it, like during Episode 3, there’s that scene where Zanka is sniffing his Assistaff in a weird, creepy way and Rudo just goes, “Dude, ew.” I think before that, the line itself was just “Ew,” by itself or “What the heck” or “What is he doing?” And so that was a fun little addition I got to add that kind of added to the moment.
Wehkamp: Yeah, we are getting to throw some stuff out. Obviously, it’s always up to the director and the producers and the production team and the licensors and all the people above us to decide what actually gets put in the final cut. But Lee very much creates an environment where we can play and where we can just explore. And so to that end, I have been able to throw in some things that got added. One of them was from the scene where Rudo is finally experiencing sweets for the first time and Enjin’s advice, I forget how it was originally written, but it was just kind of like, “Hey, go easy” or something like that. And I did the line and then I threw out, “Check yourself before you yourself.” And we all laughed. And so that’s not exactly modern slang, but that’s a funny thing for Enjin to say in that moment. And that got included. So I was really happy about that. I’ve certainly never been able to say that in an anime. Only this show.
It’s a very special show.
Q: Bryson, you mentioned earlier the idea of Rudo’s grit. Obviously he has a bit of a temper, but he also has the ability to be very introspective and calm when it comes to things that he cares a lot about. How did you approach balancing those kinds of contrasting sides to him?
Baugus: I think that honestly the writing of the series and Rudo as a character do a really good job of conveying that in a way that it just feels natural for me to play those sides of him. I think that a lot of the scenes flow in a way that he just kind of naturally falls into those things. And the way that I tend to act for voiceover is I take in the scene that I’m watching. I take in all the sound effects, the music, and I hear that original performance of the seiyuu and I use those as a guiding baseline to go for whenever I start doing my first couple of takes on a scene. I don’t know how better to describe it on the technical side of things, but I kind of go with the flow of it, I think, if that makes sense.
Q: And Chris, similar question. Enjin’s sort of everything you want in a mentor character. He can also oscillate between serious, playful, and protective when the situation calls for it. How do you balance those things?
Wehkamp: I mean, it’s interesting. There are moments, I feel like, where, if anything, we’ve pulled back a little bit. Because Enjin is, I feel like, a character who is so given to one-liners and pranky, humorous moments that I think we’ve played some lines a little bit more deadpan than even they did in the Japanese, just to allow him to be more of a mentor-type character and for that to be communicated in the moment. Only a couple times that I can think of. But in general, it’s just all about his presence, too. He’s going to be the part of the story a lot of the time that explains things. So he’s sort of explaining to Rudo, and thereby through Rudo, the audience, how this works. How does this world work? And what does this mean? And where are we going now? And what is the purpose of that? And why do we need a full face mask? And all these things that are just common sense things that everybody on the Ground already knows. But we’re introducing them to Rudo and the audience for the first time. So he fulfills an important part of that storytelling. And I feel like he does it in a way that is not boring. He does it in a way that still engages the audience. We’re going to build this world for you, but it’s going to be fun. And sometimes it’s even going to be funny. And Enjin is just a fantastic character for that.
Q: In terms of the dynamic between Enjin and Rudo, what’s your impression of it? And do you both think that Enjin was the ideal Cleaner to first find Rudo?
Baugus: I think so. I think finding Enjin so early on was good for Rudo, because he used to have that guiding force in Regto, trying to help him figure out how to handle emotional situations that he’s put in when he’s in the Sphere. And now that he’s on the Ground, he’s immediately found somebody that can help guide him and show him the ropes as to what this new world is all about that he’s not familiar with.
But I think the dynamic has shifted much to what Chris said before, in that it’s more of a bratty younger brother and an older brother who’s too cool for school. They get at each other’s nerves sometimes, but they generally respect each other. At least that’s how I feel.
Wehkamp: And they’re very much from two different worlds. It was fascinating to me from a character perspective that Enjin basically just tests Rudo to the point that maybe he would die. And he’s just like, “Let’s see if this kid could do this.” That’s sort of the world of the Ground. The Ground is brutal. And so Enjin is kind of our first look at that. Of course he’s there, he’s paying attention, he’s observing from a distance as Rudo goes up against these random dudes that are trying to kidnap him, essentially. But it is interesting that that’s Enjin’s approach. He’s like, “Let’s see how useful this kid is. Let’s see what he’s made of.” And so there are a lot of different ways that could have gone. But Enjin, I guess, trusts himself, he trusts his own capability, he trusts his own ability to protect him in a very dangerous world. And I assume that comes from a lot of experience. We just don’t know that much about Enjin yet. We’re still speculating a lot about his backstory and where he gets all this from. But yeah, so far I think it’s been a really interesting entree to the world. These are two characters from two totally different worlds, and getting a chance to see them interact has been one of the most fun things about the first 11 episodes so far.
Q: What has been one of your favorite scenes so far, either to perform or to watch?
Baugus: I really loved the Jabber fight, just the two-episode, two-parter. I think the talisman Vital Instrument that Rudo uses is one of the coolest designs in the whole season so far. And then I just love Zeno’s [Zeno Robinson] performance as Jabber. It’s amazing to watch. And yeah, in terms of more fun to record, the sweets scene was a lot of fun, just gobbling up all the cartoon candy (laughs).
Wehkamp: I will say, I have to give Bryson some credit because I didn’t know what to expect from the Rudo smiling at Zanka scene, but that’s maybe one of the biggest laughs I’ve ever had, watching that episode and seeing what Bryson did with it. Absolutely just killed me. I don’t know how you did that.
You must have had your hands in your mouth or something, but that was freaking hilarious.
Baugus: Thank you, thank you. That’s another one that was a hilarious, fun time to record, just that entire episode with Zanka, non-stop laughs.
Q: And then last question, the obligatory question, what would be your personal Vital Instrument?
Baugus: So I have a Game Boy Advance copy of Mega Man Battle Network 2, that the label’s been peeled off of and so I just wrote with Sharpie on it. And I’ve had that for 20 years or something and it’s come with me through my entire childhood and my adult life. I would imagine it would turn into something like a catch-all game system or something that will play whatever I want to at that moment.
Wehkamp: For me, I spent my 20s in bands playing drums and touring around and cutting records and stuff, and I still have my original pair of sticks that I learned to play drums on back when I was 14 or 15. They’re beat to hell and destroyed, but I would love to be able to pull those out and then maybe summon a ghostly drum set anywhere I am so I don’t have to lug them around, and then maybe I could play them at whatever volume I want and other people around me really can’t hear them, so it’s just for me and I don’t have to disturb the peace.
We’d like to thank Bryson Baugus and Christopher Wehkamp for taking the time to speak to us about all things Gachiakuta. You can watch the 11 currently released episodes of Gachiakuta on Crunchyroll. If you’re interested in our conversation with the creators of Gachiakuta, check out that interview here.
© Kei Urana, Hideyoshi Andou and KODANSHA/ “GACHIAKUTA” Production Committee
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