Tower of God was announced late last month as part of the initial wave of Crunchyroll’s upcoming Crunchyroll Original anime lineup. As the series premiere nears, in an exclusive interview with Crunchyroll. Lead voice cast actors Taichi Ichikawa and Saori Hayami, discuss bringing lead characters Bam and Rachel to life. Here are some of the highlights of that interview!
For background, Taichi Ichikawa is known for roles such as the caring Seiji Maki from Bloom into You. Saori Hayami is an award-winning actress who has played a range of roles including Yotsugi Ononoki in Monogatari, Shoko Nishimiya in A Silent Voice, Yukino Yukinoshita in My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, and Shinobu Kochou from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
Ichikawa, who had read Tower of God before getting the part of Bam, found himself engrossed in the story, becoming a “huge fan” of the series and not being able to stop reading. He said the more he read, “the more motivated [he] was to keep reading” and becoming more “emotionally invested” in the series.
Being such a global work, Hayami was “surprised” when she was offered to play the part of Rachel. Her emotions are a “mixture of joy, excitement, being surprised, and happiness” at the prospect of being in such a popular property. Ichikawa, on the other hand, felt the “pressure” that is involved in such work knowing so many people will be watching but notes that it “feels great” and he’ll “do [his] best playing Bam.”
Hayami read the original story and between that and the script for the anime, she finds it hard to describe Rachel in a few words. To Hayami, Rachel has a “closed heart” and a “mysterious aura about her that’s puzzling.” Though, once Rachel learns about the desires of other characters “she’ll want to know everything, even if it’s scary.”
Ichikawa feels that Bam “feels trapped and alone” and is “able to get by with the help of Rachel.” One of the important parts, to Ichikawa, is that Bam has “fresh” eyes to a new world and is able to see everything in a straightforward way. Hayami feels that one of the attractions of the anime is that the series is able to expose a “kind of psychological depiction only able to be drawn with animation.”
Saori Hayami said “I would be really happy if many people around the world would watch the anime like they read the original work! Each character in the story is so different from one another and are each so interesting. I hope we can climb the tower together!”
Taichi Ichikawa said: “Even though many people might already know the series, I hope the anime can help make more people fans of the work because the series is not just something you can enjoy on the first floor.”
Tower of God is a Crunchyroll Original series that premieres on April 1.
For the full interview head on over to Crunchyroll!