Tag Archives: Voice Actors

Kana Ozawa’s “Blue Thermal” Anime Film Debuts on Blu-ray & Digital

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From the renowned animation powerhouse Telecom Animation Film, director Masaki Tachibana and Kana Ozawa, comes a captivating new anime adventure, BLUE THERMAL.

The film is an adaptation of Kana Ozawa’s popular manga series, BLUE THERMAL: Aonagi College Sports Festival Aviation Club, which ran in Shinchosha’s Monthly Comic @Bunch Magazine between April 2015 and November 2017. The series was also published in five book volumes or Tankōbon.

This artful and beautiful coming-of-age movie captures the tension and excitement of a young college student who joins the school’s aviation club flying for the first time, and the beauty and exhilaration of the aerial scenery as seen from the pilot’s seat. The film is directed by Masaki Tachibana, known for Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, Princess Principal, and Barakamon.

BLUE THERMAL opened in Japan in March 2022 and will now make its North American home entertainment debut on Blu-ray and digital download from Eleven Arts and Shout! Factory on March 14, 2023, following its theatrical release.

Preorder: Blue Thermal

Popular Japanese piano rock band SHE’S performs the film’s theme songs, “Blue Thermal” and “Beautiful Bird”. SHE’S consists of Inoue Ryouma (Vocals), Hirose Shingo (Bass), Hattori Kanta (Guitar) & Kimura Masato (Drums). They have also contributed to the ending theme songs for Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion and Major 2nd anime series.

Meet The Cast

BLUE THERMAL features the Japanese voice talents of Mayu Hotta (Kaguya-sama: Love Is War 2019), Nobunaga Shimazaki (Summer Ghost), Junya Enoki (My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission), and more.

Mayu Hotta as Tamaki Tsuru
Nobunaga Shimazaki as Jun Kuramochi
Junya Enoki as Daisuke Sorachi

The Blu-ray will contain an exciting movie presentation and special bonus content, including an interview with director Tachibana and character profiles. A must-have for anime fans, collectors, and pop-culture enthusiasts, BLUE THERMAL, is available for pre-order now at Amazon.com and will be available in stores and other fine retailers.

Movie Synopsis

“I want to experience a love that sparkles!” Arriving from Nagasaki with her wishful mantra is Tamaki Tsuru, who in high school could think only about volleyball. Things don’t begin well, however, when she looks for an extracurricular club to join and proceeds to immediately ding a glider at aviation club tryouts ending up having to work it off. She is initially disillusioned with campus life. Then Kuramochi, the club leader and glider pilot, takes Tamaki under his wing, and from the moment he takes her up for a flight in a glider, Tamaki becomes a captive of the vast beauty of the skies.

Watch the trailer below!

Preorder “Blue Thermal”

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One Piece Film: RED Premieres at AiFF 2022

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One Piece Film Red served as the centerpiece film at this year’s Animation is Film Festival and for the first time fans had the opportunity to experience film in English dubbed, two weeks ahead of its official U.S. theater release.

The film is directed by Goro Taniguchi, who previously directed the 1998 OVA, One Piece: Defeat The Pirate Ganzak! OVA and was the very first time the One Piece manga had been animated, making Taniguchi the first person to animate Luffy. According to the Japanese website, Mantan-Web, Taniguchi stated that he wanted to express a One Piece that has never been seen before and that he will show it in One Piece Film: Red. According to Shinji Shimizu, a staff of Toei Animation and producer of One Piece anime, One Piece Film: Red is the only One Piece film that Eiichiro Oda has actively participated in the most.

The film has been released in Tokyo, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Taiwan, and most recently at New York Comic Con 2022 with a massive New York Times Square billboard takeover.

NYC Times Square Sample – Press Release

Now for the first time ever, fans got to experience the film in English dubbed during this year’s Animation is Film Festival 2022, and we had the opportunity to catch with some of the cast and speak on this new anime film phenomenon:

As of 23 October 2022, the film has grossed ¥17.36 billion in Japan making it the highest-grossing film of the franchise and the highest-grossing film of 2022 in Japan. Worldwide the film has earned over US$144.7 million in eight countries making it the 13th highest-grossing Japanese film of all-time.

The film’s theme song “New Genesis” by Ado is currently number 48 in the Top 100 Global charts on Apple Music. The film is set to be released on the 4th of November 2022, if you haven’t purchased your tickets, now’s the time, you can purchase here.

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Article cover photo by, John photography.

Loundraw Interview: SUMMER GHOST – Animation is Film 2022

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Popular illustrator, Loundraw had his debut film premiere during this year’s Anime Expo 2022, & recently during this year’s Animation Is Film festival, we had the opportunity to interview Loundrawabout his debut film, Summer Ghost

The film is produced by Loundraw’s company Flat Studio, with scripts written by Hirotaka Adachi, and music composed by Akira Kosemura, Itoko Toma, Guiano, and Hideya Kojima.

Summer Ghost was released in Japanese theaters on November 12, 2021, by its distributor Avex Pictures. GKIDS and Shout! Factory is set to release the film in North America on November 1, 2022, on Blu-ray and digital platforms. The film is available to preorder via Prime Video.

Loundraw is an Illustrator who made his professional debut in his teens with a cover illustration for Gara Nagata’s Hoshi no Nemuru Mizuumi e -Ai wo Sagashi ni-. He also worked on the covers of various novels, such as Keigo Higashino’s Koi no Gondola and Yoru Sumino’s Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai.

You can preorder Loundraw’s newest English-translated work Vivy Prototype a light novel by Tappei Nagatsuki & Eiji Umehara, HERE.

Summer Ghost is now available by GKids Films on Blu-ray and Prime Video

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Bridget RETURNS to Guilty Gear | Kelly Ohanian Interview

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Late last month, Guilty Gear Strive began trending on Twitter after fan-favorite character Bridget was announced at EVO 2022 as part of the game’s season 2 roster, with additional characters yet to be revealed!

Bridget in Guilty Gear x2

Bridget was introduced as a twin, male character with a unique upbringing in which Bridget needed to be raised as a girl to avoid a superstition in her village that believed that a family who gave birth to same-sex twins would bring an omen or bad luck to the village; because of this, Bridget came a very memorable character. Although there was much excitement about Bridget’s return after nearly a decade of hiatus, Bridget began trending on Twitter for a different reason.

Bridget’s design 2002 – 2012
Bridget’s design in Guilty Gear Vastedge XT (2013)

In STRIVE, Bridget fully embraced her feminine side and ‘came out’ as a transwoman. Throughout STRIVE, Bridget hints at self-doubt and the feeling of wanting to admit to something but being afraid to do so. Conflicted, Bridget seeks Ky Kiske out, and he encourages her to decide for herself how she wants to live. Her conversations with Ky and Goldlewis lead her to admit to being scared of losing what she has, but she no longer wants to lie to herself and asserts that she is a girl, and finally finds the strength to live as her true self no matter what others think.

Bridget’s new design in Guilty Gear STRIVE

Although a handful of fans were not happy about this decision, most fans came out in support of Bridget. Throughout Twitter, fans showed their support for Bridget with tweets, fanart, and fan videos; sharing their enthusiasm and their opinions as to why Bridget coming out as a trans individual is an important highlight in the Guilty Gear series. Furthermore, Arc System Works confirmed Bridget’s gender, In an article published this morning, (9/14/22) in which Daisuke Ishiwatari (Creator of the Guilty Gear series) states:

Daisuke Ishiwatari at Fanime Con

“We’ve received many inquiries about Bridget’s gender. After the events of Bridget’s story in Arcade Mode, she self-identifies as a woman. So, as to whether “he” or “she” would be the correct pronoun for Bridget, the answer would be “she.” Ishiwatari continues “Bridget tries living as a man, but it doesn’t feel right. This is where the Arcade Mode story begins. After her exchanges with Goldlewis and Ky, Bridget faces parts of herself she has tried to ignore and makes a big decision for herself. I hope that all of you will watch over her path after her courageous choice to stay true to her own feelings.”

We also wanted to hear from the English voice actor of Bridget and get their opinion on the matter and their experiences voicing Bridget. We had the wonderful opportunity to interview the voice of Bridget, KELLY OHANIAN. Join us for this very special interview as we speak about her experience voicing Bridget in Guilty Gear strive and her experience with the fandom!

Purchase Bridget’s Guilty Gear theme song by Aisha for only .99 cents

Click here to stream it or purchase it via Amazon Music

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Crunchyroll Expo 2022 | The Comeback

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Anime over took San Jose this month with Crunchyroll Expo 2022! Crunchyroll Expo or CRX, returned to the San Jose Convention Center after its two year physical hiatus from the pandemic, Drawing thousands from California and out of state. Crunchyroll Expo 2022’s turnstile attendance count was an estimated 45,000!

Special guests featured included Megan Shipman, Roseline Chiang, and Dominique “King Vader” Barrett with musical guests, Burnout Syndromes, SiM and MADKID. Although we did not have time to cover CRX’s special musical guests, we did manage to get some interviews with special guests Megan Shipman, Roseline Chiang and content creator King Vader.

Spy X Family has been trending ever since its anime adaptation release back in April of this year. Anya, the 6 year old telepath and became the center of attention among Spy X Family memes. We had the chance to sit down with Anya’s English voice actor, Megan Shipman to speak about her role and the impact it has made in her career.

In a surprising announcement, CRX announced Roseline Chiang as guest of honor. Roseline Chiang is best known for voicing Meilin “Mei” Lee in Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red. Not many may know that Roseline is a huge anime fan and Crunchy Roll Expo 2022 was her very first anime convention ever! Here’s our brief interview with Roseline during CRX’22.

To wrap-up, we spoke with content creator King Vader regarding his newest film, Hood Jujutsu Kaizen, which premiered during the convention, and his reasoning behind why people love his content and his future, listen to the full audio interview below.

https://thekitsunetwork.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Interview-With-King-Vader.mp3
Interview with Writer/Director Dominque Barrett AKA, King Vader during CRX 2022

As a bonus, we managed to briefly speak with Crunchy Roll mascot Crunchyroll-Hime!

Con-goers got to enjoy a great musical lineup, industry panels, and free bike rides from and to the convention center!

Slightly lite on activities, most of CRX’s content relied on V-Tubers, which, if you were not a fan of, the convention would have seemed like it had less to offer. However, let’s not forget that CRX, like many other conventions, are recovering and emerging from a two-year-long hiatus after the pandemic.

One would argue that cons had enough to prep up to come back, but with COVID-19 mandates still active in some states, it is no wonder conventions are taking it slow and experimenting with its content. We look forward to visiting New Crunchy City next year and seeing its various content Crunchyroll will have in store!

If you wish to see our photoset from Crunchyroll Expo 2022, head on over to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account!

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Exclusive Interview with Voice actors, CAT THOMAS & AVERY SMITHHART

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Earlier this year we had the honor to sit down and speak with voice actors Cat Thomas and Avery Smithhart, about their roles in anime, from Yui Yuigahama in My Romantic Teen Comedy SNAFU to Anne and Grea in the heart warming anime series, Manaria Friends (Mysteria Friends). Here are some snippets from our interview, you can watch the entire interview below.

Cat Thomas – Yui Yuigahama

While searching the series for our interview, many fans were were curious about a single word, dub difference behind the Japanese and the English version. The scene in question is from episode one, where Hachiman call Yui a “slut” but changed to a different slur in the English version:

Avery Smithhart – “– -Butt Muscle!“

According to Avery, during the recording the first episode of Land of the Lustrous as her character Cinnabar, Avery recalls pulling a muscle in a rather hilarious way:

Watch our FULL interview to learn more behind the scene stories from CAT THOMAS & AVERY SMITHHART

Exclusive High School of The Dead Interview | The Boys

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This July will mark the 12th Anniversary of the anime, fan-favorite series, High School of the Dead. The series ended all production after series creator and writer, Daisuke Sato died on March 22, 2017. Fast forward 12 years and Jrock band Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets, the band that sang the now-famous HOTD opening, released an updated version of said opening with its very first music video to go along with it.

Now, after 12 years HOTD English cast members Leraldo Anzaldua and Mark X. Laskowski, who play Takashi Komuro and Kōta Hirano respectively, recount their time working behind the mic on this series. Watch our exclusive interview and enter for your chance to win an auto from Leraldo and Mark, and the VOL.1 of the HOTD Manga! More details in our interview below:

-Giveaway-

Learn how you can this HOTD bundle, which includes an autograph from Leraldo, Mark, and Vol.1 of HOTD Manga! Details in the interview video above!

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BELLE – Exclusive Special Release Interview with Kylie McNeil

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This week saw the release of the much anticipated BELLE, Mamoru Hosoda’s 7th feature film. The film instantly made headlines at Cannes with a 14-minute standing ovation. The film later made headlines among anime fans during its theatrical release back in January of this year. Both the original Japanese and the newly dubbed English version were shown in theaters nation-wide. In the film’s U.S. opening weekend it made $1.6 million from 1,326 theaters, and a total of $1.8 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Day holiday frame.

The film received five Annie Award nominations making it the most nominations for a Japanese anime film ever at the show, even surpassing previous films Spirited Away, Millennium Actress, and the more recent, Weathering with You. Most notable, the film’s cast, both in English and Japanese, were both praise for their vocal performance. This is both Kaho Nakamura and Kylie McNeil’s first anime, voice over performance.

Kylie McNeil, already an upcoming actor and singer in the theater scene in New York, had zero film credits, aside from an off-Broadway show “Runaways“, BELLE is Kylie’s very first film credit.

After its theatrical run, fans anticipated its home video release, which finally happened on May 17th. Coinciding with the Blu-ray and the Target exclusive: Steelbook release, Milan Records opened preorders for the vinyl copy of BELLE’s soundtrack, and is currently available to pre-order on Amazon.

Join us in celebration of Mamoru Hosoda’s BELLE release with this special interview with the voice of Suzu / BELLE, Kylie McNeil! Back for a more in-depth and formal interview, Kylie walks through her experiences working behind the mic, voicing Suzu / BELLE.

Watch our interview above and learn how you could win our exclusive BELLE Bundle, which includes:

The BELLE movie (Steelbook ed.), A copy of the BELLE soundtrack (from Japan) & an autograph print from Paul Castro Jr. (the voice of BEAST)

all this and more in our exclusive interview! Don’t forget to subscribe for more anime and voice actor content or subscribe to our site:

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Exclusive XAIO Interview – Genshin Impact

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Ever since the release of Genshin Impact 1.3 in February 3, 2021, XIAO’s design and character traits made him an instant fan favorite. From his character stats to his mysterious demeanor, XIAO draws in fans from around the world.

Join me and voice actor Laila Berzins, as we discuss her career origins and experiences voicing XIAO in Genshin Impact. Get to know the voice behind everyone’s favorite “angsty, emo teenager” in our most recent Genshin Impact interview:

Learn how you can win an autographed print, signed by Laila Berzins!

Watch our interview above for instructions on how to enter. Deadline to enter the giveaway:
May 7th, 2022

Takayuki Hirao’s POMPO THE CINEPHILE Coming to Theaters Soon!

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GKIDS and Fathom Events continue their partnership into 2022 with the release of Pompo The Cinephile feature film on April 27 and 28. POMPO THE CINEPHILE will play in select cinemas nationwide on Wednesday, April 27th (Japanese ver) and Thursday, April 28th (English dubbed).

In addition to the full feature, audiences will view a special introduction from director Takayuki Hirao, exclusive to the Fathom Events screenings. Fan preview events will be followed by a limited theatrical release in select markets nationwide by GKIDS starting April 29th.

Known for God Eater (Anime seires) & The Garden of Sinners, Takayuki Hirao returns to the director’s chair with production from the all-new studio CLAP. POMPO THE CINEPHILE was domestically released on June 4, 2021, and swiftly became an indie hit.

The film is an adaptation of Shogo Sugitani’s manga of the same name. The series was published on pixiv Comic website and later, collected in six tankōbon volumes. In July 2018, Sugitani release a spin off titled Fran: The Cinéphile (映画大好きフランちゃん, Eiga Daisuki Fran-chan.

Pompo: The Cinéphile (映画大好きポンポさん, Eiga Daisuki Ponpo-san) Manga cover
Fran: The Cinéphile (映画大好きフランちゃん, Eiga Daisuki Fran-chan) Spin-off cover

SYNOPSIS

Pompo is a talented and gutsy producer in “Nyallywood,” the movie-making capital of the world. Although she’s known for B-movies, one day Pompo tells her movie-loving but apprehensive assistant Gene that he will direct her next script: a delicate drama about an aging and tormented creative genius, starring the legendary and Brando-esque actor Martin Braddock, and a young actress seeking her first break. But when the production heads towards chaos, can Gene rise to Pompo’s challenge, and succeed as a first-time director?

Pompo the Cinephile is a rollicking, exuberant ode to the power of the movies, and the joys and heartbreak of the creative process, as a new director and his team devote their lives to the pursuit of a “masterpiece.”

Tickets are currently on sale at FathomEvents.com, PompoMovie.com and participating theater box offices. English cast is as follows:

We have an upcoming interview with director Takayuki Hirao soon, stay tuned!

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