Summary
Nazeeh Tarsha, the official English voice actor for Kafka Hibino made his appearance at Anime Expo on the weekend of July 4th. Also known for his roles as Uri Reiss fromAttack on Titanand Seth Lowell fromZenless Zone Zero, Nazeeh graduated from the University of Florida in 2015 with a BA in Theatre Performance. This year,Game Rantwas able to sit down with him to discuss his role and himself inKaiju No. 8’s upcoming second season.
After his home is destroyed by kaiju,Kafka and his childhood friend, Mina, join the Anti-Kaiju Defense Force. Along the way, however, Kafka finds himself with kaiju abilities.
Game Rant:Many compareKaiju No. 8toAttack on Titan. When you were cast, did you take anyinspirationfrom it to add to your performance?
Tarsha:Yes and no. Not necessarily fromAttack on Titanspecifically, but the grounded performances that surroundAttack on Titankind of bringing into the fray of theKaijuworld because there’s a little more, as fantastical as it is, there’s still that sort of like grounded realism, when it comes to the emotions and theintensity of the characters' feel. So there’s kind of a little borrowing from the actors, and you know, the various performances that were given.
Game Rant:As the series goes on, how do you thinkKafka’s social lifewill progress?
Tarsha:I do think as the show and story continues, thatfriendshipsare going to continue to become–continue to be fostered, friendships will strengthen, new bonds will be created, and, as a result, he’ll have an even bigger found family than he originally had when he started.
Game Rant:As a voice actor, what do you think yourbiggest challengewill be voicing Kafka in season 2? He’s gone through a lot of development since the beginning.
Tarsha:I think the toughest thing for me is probably tapping into some of the pain and sorrow thathe may continue to experiencein certain times. There hits a point where you kind of have to draw on your own life experiences and to bring that sort of emotional intensity it requires, you know, digginga littledeeper to make sure that it fully matches and mirrors the intensity that he will be experiencing in those moments.
We already had a hint of those throughout season 1–without spoilers, but were a couple ofreally intense moments, such as towards the end where I had to know, you know, like I said, dig a little into my own life in bringing out that intensity. The more the show develops, that those intense feelings will only increase.
Game Rant:During your career in general, let alone voicing in such alarge production, has there ever been an instance where you’ve felt like you were unsure of yourself? How did you overcome that obstacle?
Tarsha:Funny enough, that is every day [laughs], and wedon’tovercome that obstacle. We fake it ‘til we make it [laughs]. There is a level of looking at my accomplishments and trying to put in perspective the fact that I havemade it a lot furtherthan I ever thought or imagined I would. With that being said…there isn’t a single moment where you don’t doubt yourself, and the moves that you make. At the end of the day, you just want to do your best and make everyone around you happy; and so, you know, it constantly feels like you’re walking a tight rope because you don’t want to disappoint people and yourself.
But like I said, perspective is everything and acknowledging theaccomplishments that I have madehelps to realign my thinking - and I can’t neglect the fact that I have a wonderful support system of friends and family, along the way, who have helped steer me back on track, whenever I do find myself wavering.
Game Rant:Before voicing Kafka, have you read Kaiju No. 8, or knewanything about the series?
Tarsha:No, the most I did was I read the first couple bits of the first volume, in order tolearn enough about the character, to be able to do my audition–because thankfully there is material out there for me to reference. But beyond research purposes, I didn’t delvetootoo deep into it, because, you know, I didn’t know if I was going to book this, and I’m not the type who, necessarily–even if a story is really, really good, I will only do what I need for research purposes - and then,ifI get casted into the show, then I’ll be like “okay, now let’s delve deeper”.
At the end of the day,I’m still only human, and I don’t want to get too attached to a story that I wouldn’t have been able to be a part of; and, you know, I’d be happy for whoever of my friends would have gotten cast, if it wasn’t me. But again [laughs], it’s like–there is like keeping a slight, little bit of emotional distance with these projects, so that I don’t gettootoo attached.
