Sentenced to Be a Hero was probably my favorite anime premiere this season. Opening with a 60-minute special, the series begins in media res, delivering incredibly satisfying animation sequences, action, and unique abilities from its characters. Conceptually, the premise is straightforward and interesting; heroes are not the lauded pinnacles of society, but rather criminals sentenced to go complete missions and help people. This forms a unique foundation for all of the characters as they interact with the notion of heroism and what it means to be decried by society while also having the capacity to be cherished and respected by individuals. From the many intriguing characters introduced thus far in the current season, we had the opportunity to speak with two characters’ English dub voice actors: Emi Lo, English voice of Teoritta, and Dawn M. Bennett, English voice of Patausche Kivia.
Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity.
Q: First, I want to know what your first impression of the series’ premise was, and especially the way the anime launches right into action.
Dawn M. Bennett: It is an insane premise and an insane first episode. I love having this hero to root for — this far from perfect hero who has his own sense of beliefs. And even though the world is against him, you know that he’s a good person at heart. And so you have no choice but to root for him and hope that things turn out okay for him.
Emi Lo: Yeah, I love how nothing is as it seems. Again, the heroes are actually criminals, the goddesses are weapons, not things to be worshipped. And there’s just so much intrigue that makes you want to figure out more. Obviously, the first episode is just a tour de force of animation. And it’s heart pounding and stuff like that. And I just love how after all of that crazy spectacle, it ends with his sentencing. And I just remember for those last five minutes, I was just on the edge of my seat. It was just so quiet and I was so honed in. And I felt like ending it on that note was really what made me want to keep watching. It’s like, “Oh, it’s not just a spectacle. There’s something going on here.”
Q: For both of your characters, what was your initial approach to finding their exact voice and the sort of emotional tone behind it?
Dawn M. Bennett: With Kivia, having someone who is firm, but still willing to change her mind, someone who isn’t just — someone who’s not like you’re talking to a brick wall. Someone who can still have the capability of being warm and understanding, but, ultimately, she just wants to do the right thing.
Emi Lo: With Teoritta, her intro scene was definitely something we worked to finesse because she starts out all like, “Oh, I am this almighty goddess. I am dignified. Make a pact with me. Yes, you are such a brave knight. And then I will help you…and then you’ll give me pats on the head.” So finding that balance and also making sure that she wasn’t too childlike. Less thinking that I wanted her to be a child and more so that I wanted her to be innocent and bright and naive. I think that is what helps me choose her voice.
Q: Emi, digging into what you just said in terms of the process of doing retries of different scenes, figuring out exactly where you wanted that balance to sit, working with the director, can you just talk more about that process and what it was like iterating on that?
Emi Lo: Well, for her opening things, we definitely wanted a more formal way of speaking, calling back to the goddesses you would you would think of. Something on a higher level, an exalted being, just very focused and centered. So we played a little bit, like rounded out — instead of your [said like “yer”] we rounded it out more to your [said like “your”] because it’s less casual and stuff like that. But then I would kind of drop that whenever I would get into a little “Oh, give me pats on the head” and stuff like that.
Where she throws aside the facade and it’s her true little self. So yeah, as for her jubilant moments, I just get very physical and I jump around the booth and stuff like that. And it’s a lot of fun.
Q: Dawn, for Kivia, how do you approach that hard line sense of justice and make sure that’s portrayed in a consistent and also understandable way?
Dawn M. Bennett: Whenever I play Kivia, I kind of straighten my posture and fold my hands behind my back. And you speak more from your diaphragm, down deep into your chest to give that resonance, but also still retain that slight sense of warmth to it. Until she goes on a pretend outing with Xylo as his pretend lover. And then [higher pitched voice] it just kind of goes up there and she becomes very flustered and high. [normal pitched voice] But yeah, I try to have my body language match her. She is an almost unmoving, unstoppable force.
Q: For both of you, when it comes to scenes that are more action or movement heavy versus those that are more expository and speech heavy — you talked a little bit about some of the different physicality that goes into your work. But when differentiating between those two kinds of scenes, what is your approach usually like?
Dawn M. Bennett: Try to swing a sword without hitting the mic (laughs).
Emi Lo: Oh yeah.
Dawn M. Bennett: I’ve definitely — not for this show — but I’ve definitely smacked a pop filter. But it’s because that physicality — you can hear it. You can hear it and you can feel it versus just shouting without doing anything. I think voice acting is a lot more physical than people think.
Emi Lo: Yeah, I remember when I get especially excited as Teoritta — I remember once the director, Shawn [Shawn Gann], was like, “Emi you’re a little off mic there. Get back on mic.” (laughs) Because I was bouncing around so much.
Dawn M. Bennett: I just gotta chase you with a boom mic.
Emi Lo: Right. Exactly. Or just have the little lavalier.
Q: And this next question, again to both of you, have there been any aspects of your character that were surprisingly challenging to portray or where you had to lean a bit more on a director more than you initially expected?
Dawn M. Bennett: I was gonna say, Emi, do you — because there’s nothing that I can quite think of.
Emi Lo: I think just finding the three different modes that she has, which is: one is the goddess mode, two is the battle mode, and then three is the gremlin mode. And so just making them distinct enough, but also still the same person.
Dawn M. Bennett: I think I’m slowly finding those modes with Kivia as well. You have you have the one on one talking with Xylo where it started off very angry but then slowly just became more and more casual and comfortable and intimate versus when she’s speaking to her uncle. And that one was kind of fun to do because her uncle doesn’t come in until later. So when you first meet Kivia, she’s, again, very militaristic, very businesslike. But then you see Kivia speaking with her uncle and the dynamic shifts where she treats this man as not only someone she highly respects, but someone that she’s known since she was a child. And I had a lot of fun playing that side of her where you suddenly see her still businesslike, but a lot more humble and just kind of letting her uncle be the boss in this situation.
We’d like to thank Emi Lo and Dawn M. Bennett for taking the time to speak with us about Sentenced to Be a Hero and thank the folks over at Crunchyroll for setting up the interview. Sentenced to Be a Hero is streaming on Crunchyroll.
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