"Getting swarmed by middle schoolers (laughs)" — Interview with Yuko Sanpei, Voice Actor for the TV Anime Kill Blue

— Indeed, in the first episode, he's depicted as being bad with children, and he was very confused at first about having to attend middle school in that form.

Sanpei: Compared to the kids who are living vibrantly in the moment, Juzo has a certain detachment, a sense of adult fatigue, and a calm temperament that comes through when I play him.

I think those elements are what make him "Juzo." He’s the world’s best hitman, but he doesn't take much pride in it. He’s a divorcee living away from his kid, thinking, "My life is so boring"—and then he has to go undercover in a middle school.

— When you put it into words like that, the contrast is incredible (laughs).

Sanpei: Plus, he gets swarmed by middle schoolers (laughs). That depicts a kind of pitifulness that’s different from pathos. You suddenly feel close to him when you see that, despite being the world’s best hitman, he’s just an old guy who can’t keep up with social media at all. I find that gap and his cuteness very charming. Personally, the contrast between his cool action scenes as a hitman and the parts where he can't win against middle schoolers is really funny.

— Kill Blue is a work that combines action and comedy, and Juzo is a character who plays both the "funny man" and the "straight man" depending on the situation. He deals with middle schoolers while also facing off against assassins. It seems the range required for the performance became quite large...

Sanpei: (Answering immediately) It was tough!

Everyone: (laughs)

Sanpei: In the first episode, he was just showing off his hard-boiled, professional hitman side as an adult. If I made him sound too much like a middle schooler later on, he would just seem like he was fooling around, so I struggled with how much of that vibe to let out...

— That ties back to what you mentioned earlier about "Juzo-ness."

Sanpei: Also, I think what makes Juzo unique is how he keeps a bit of distance from events. For example, even if something happens with Noren that looks like the start of a rom-com, he’s just obsessed with his ramen or has a detached, "I guess that happens" kind of reaction.

That distance is funny, but I had to discuss with the director during recording to find the right balance of how much to lean into it or hold back.

— Including Juzo, Kill Blue has many characters with multifaceted charms, so a delicate balance is required.

Sanpei: Yes. I want it to be funny for the viewers, but I have to make sure I don't stray too far from the character, which is very difficult.

— From the scene where he starts crying after realizing how fun studying is, to the depiction of him being unable to keep up with the class group chat, we saw both Juzo’s cool and funny sides in the first episode.

Sanpei: That’s true. But while the middle schoolers around him have low energy toward studying, Juzo’s energy is unusually high. I think there’s a big part of him that just doesn't quite fit in with others.

Please look forward to seeing Juzo take on his mission at middle school, making new discoveries while facing various difficulties, in the TV anime Kill Blue now airing.

Interview/Text: kato
(C) 藤巻忠俊／集英社・「キルアオ」製作委員会

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