Many fans are awaiting anxiously to see Tanjiro Kamado’s next mission in the upcoming season of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. While we wait on that, Demon Slayer made its way to this year’s New York Comic Con for a panel featuring the voice of Tanjiro himself, Zach Aguilar. The voice actor stopped by and shared his time on the series and fans got a peak at what they can expect during the next arc in the popular anime series.
Zach discussed his humble beginnings as a voice actor and his first time at the booth playing Tanjiro. He explained that he landed a gig in voice acting after winning a contest and that was how he kickstarted his journey into the field. After landing the title role in Demon Slayer, Zach said how much his life has changed since playing him and the appreciation he has had from fans from all over who loved the show. He also discussed working with his fellow peers like the late Billy Kametz, who played Rui in the first arc. He also talked about getting to work alongside regular castmates Aleks Le, Bryce Papenbrook, and Abby Trott who play Zenitsu Agatsuma, Inosuke Hashira, and Nezuko respectively.
During the talk, Zach discussed his favorite moments from the series so far. One of his favorites was the final battle between Tanjiro and Rui during the Unwavering Resolve Arc. The reason he picked this intense battle was the hard work he put into Tanjiro’s battle cries as well as getting to work with Kametz on the scene. Another moment that touched his heart was the dream sequence during the Mugen Train Arc where Tanjiro had to leave his family in the dream state to wake up from Nakime’s spell. Through this sequence, Zach said he enjoyed seeing Zach grow as a character and showed a lot of emotion in the scene. He also explained the hard work he had to put Tanjiro’s voice during his fight in the last arc against Gyutaro.
The panel offered some behind-the-scenes of the series, offering a glimpse into the hard work that goes into creating these intense and beautiful fight sequences. Fans got to see the making of the fight inside the Mugen Train with Tanjiro and his friends using a mix of CG and traditional hand drawings to blend the two styles to create the sequence. Another scene that was broken down was the fight with Rengoku during the same arc when he unleashed the ninth gate. The video showcased the beautifully crafted hand drawings that blended with the camera work to create what became a mindblowing fight with the Flame Hashira. Perhaps one of the longest sequences that took time to make was the battle between Zenitsu and Inosuke, which took about seven months to complete.
A special message was sent to Zach by Japanese voice actor Natsuki Hanae, who plays Tanjiro in the original version. Thanking the fans for attending New York Comic Con, Hanae also thanked Zach for taking on the role and hoped that the two of them would meet one day to help learn from each other’s native language as well as put in some gaming time whenever it was possible for them.
Along with that, the limited edition Blu-ray for Demon Slayers’ Entertainment District Arc was unveiled, with a release on December 20th for those looking to own it for their home collection. Speaking of, Demon Slayer also happens to be teaming up with Primitive Skateboarding for some branded clothes as well as skateboards, which Zach got to take home that carries Tanjiro’s face on it.
Finally, fans were given a trailer for the new season of Demon Slayer, revealing that the next mission would be the Swordsmith Village Arc. We look forward to seeing what the next arc brings whenever that comes out.
