A stage greeting was held in Los Angeles for the theatrical screening of the World Tour of Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc and the English & Japanese voice actors of the main character of the series, Tanjiro Kamado performed on the stage together.

Zack Aguilar who plays Tanjiro in the English dub and Natsuki Hanae who plays the Japanese voice of Tanjiro, performed the line, “No one can tear the bond between me and Nezuko!“, in their respective languages i.e. English and Japanese, respectively.

This was the first time for both the voice actors to perform and meet face-to-face. Tanjiro’s Japanese voice actor Hanae Natsuki talked about his first impression of his English counterpart and said, “I thought he was a very nice person. When we were talking, he looked at me with his sparkling puppy dog eyes (laughs). I would like to get to know him better and play games with him.“

Whereas Aguilar expressed about his first impression of his Japanese counterpart by saying, “I’ve been following Hanae-san’s voice and playing the role for a long time, so I really can’t believe (that I got to meet him). (Hanae-san) is incredibly talented, very kind and thoughtful, and a truly great role model, just like Tanjiro. It was truly wonderful to meet and talk with him, and I look forward to getting to know him even better in the future.“

Aguilar has played the English version of Tanjiro for four years and going now, while talking about his journey with Tanjiro he said, “To say that my life has changed would be an understatement. It’s truly incredible. Being a part of this amazing series and playing such a special character like Tanjiro has changed my life in a big way.“

To commemorate the Tanjiro collaboration between Japan and the U.S., Hanae-san and Aguilar were asked to do a live recording of one of their famous lines.

To which, Hanae performed, “Don’t lose!　Burn it, burn it!　Burn it!　Burn your hearts!　Hinokami Kagura!　Retsujitsu Kokyo!” and Aguilar thrilled the audience with his powerful performance of the same line in English, “Don’t go down in your feet Burn! Burn, Burn, Set your heart ablaze! Hinokami kagura Raging sun!“

The event took place at the Orpheum Theatre which was decorated to look like a building from Taisho era (1912-1926).

Hanae further talked about the world tour and the venue it was taking place at, “I felt like I was connected to the Demon Slayer and the U.S. beyond time. This world tour was born from the thoughts of the staff. Making an anime is never easy and sometimes hard, but the support of the fans is what makes the staff strong. I think the main purpose of this world tour is to thank everyone for their support and to say ‘thank you’ directly to them in this way. I am very happy to have this opportunity to say thank you in this way.”

He further expressed his excitement at being able to hold his very first world tour and his joy of meeting fans from around the world, he added, “When the first season was released, it was shown in fewer movie theaters in Japan than now, but I am very happy that it has spread to the world like this.“

While talking about the last season’s entertainment district arc and Tanjiro, Hanae also said, “As Tanjiro, I tried to express his feelings as he felt them by going to the studio without thinking too much beforehand and without making up any ideas.”

To which Aguilar who plays Tanjiro in the English dub commented on Hanae’s performance in episode 10 and 11 of the entertainment district arc, “Every time I heard Hanae-san’s performance, I felt a sense of respect for him. Just hearing that scream, all I could think was, ‘It’s wonderful. He must have lungs of steel (laughs). Just trying to imitate that performance is definitely difficult. So I have the utmost respect for him, and I am impressed“

However, Hanae imparted words of wisdom to Aguilar regarding the upcoming recording of the latest Swordsmith Village Arc as one Tanjiro to another Tanjiro, “If you can really say what you feel from, you can do it without worrying too much about me. I hope you can be your own Tanjiro without worrying too much about me.”

Furthermore, the producer of the Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc movie, Yuma Takahashi, shed some light regarding the production staff, “They are all very sincere about their work. They always aim to create the best images they can at the time, and they never give up, just like Tanjiro and Uzui Tengen, and they always work on the film with a burning heart. They are truly beautiful and I always have respect for them.” He further expressed his joy that people around the globe can see their technical skills.

During the stage greeting, Japanese pop sensation Aimer also performed the opening and ending themes of the Entertainment District arc. During her performance, a strong and powerful battle sequence of Uzui Tengen was shown.

To which, Hanae exclaimed, “That was amazing!” at the powerful performance whereas producer Takahashi said, “It was so wonderful to see a stage as flashy as Uzui’s.“

Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc will release in Japan in April 2023. The first episode of the anime will be aired as a one hour special episode. The first episode is also getting a theatrical release in the US and other countries as part of the franchise’s World Tour. 

Kana Hanazawa and Kengo Kawanishi will be returning to voice Kanroji Mitsuri and Muichiri Tokito respectively. Voice actors of Tanjiro, Nezuko, Zenitsu, and Inosuke will also be reprising their roles for the upcoming season.

Ufotable will be in charge of animating Demon Slayer Season 3 ‘Swordsmith Village Arc’. Akira Matsushima will return as character designer for the third installment of the series too.

The first season of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba TV anime consisted of twenty-six episodes produced by Ufotable aired in Japan from April to September 2019.

A sequel film, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, was released in October 2020 and became the highest-grossing anime film and Japanese film of all time.

A second season of the anime series, readapting the “Mugen Train” arc seen in the film in seven episodes and covering the “Entertainment District” arc from the manga in eleven episodes, aired from October 2021 to February 2022.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge. It was serialized in Shueisha’s shonen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from February 2016 to May 2020, with its chapters collected in 23 tankobon volumes.

It has been published in English by Viz Media and simultaneously published by Shueisha on their Manga Plus platform.

Source: Mantan Web