Kyoto International Manga Anime Fair 2025: Special Ambassadors Nobuhiko Okamoto & Manaka Iwami Appear! "ShibuAni" #59

Additionally, when MC Yūki Iwai (of the comedy duo Haraichi) asked, “Have you met Aoyama-sensei?” Iwami replied, “He came to the recording of episode 1, and there’s this line where Sayaka teases Yaiba, calling him ‘baka’ in her monologue. That line was also in the audition. I delivered it teasingly, but it turned out that Aoyama-sensei was very particular about this line—he asked for something between a ‘ba’ and a ‘pa’ sound, and to express cuteness with a whispery tone.”

When the relevant scene was aired on the show, fellow voice actors Nobuhiko Okamoto and Shugo Nakamura excitedly praised Iwami’s performance, exclaiming, “Wow! It really is between ‘ba’ and ‘pa’!”

The conversation turned to Minami Takayama, the voice of lead character Yaiba Kurogane. Iwami said, “Whenever there are new cast members at the recording, Takayama-san lightens the mood by saying things like ‘I’ll hang in there for as many takes as it takes.’ What stood out the most to me was recording about ten different takes for a scene in episode 2 where Yaiba is laughing in Onimaru’s nightmare—she performed a different laugh for every take. That left a big impression on me,” she said, surprising the studio.

Okamoto and Iwami, this episode’s guests, went on to introduce the Kyoto International Manga Anime Fair 2025 (KyoMafu), scheduled for September 20 (Sat) and 21 (Sun), which will feature spectacular exhibition booths and a variety of stage programs that anime fans won’t want to miss.