We are honored to have participated in the Delicious in Dungeon press conference during Anime Impulse Seattle 2024, and get the chance to talk with Laios’ and Chilchuck’s Japanese (JP) and English (EN) voice actors. We’ve compiled our questions into an interview transcript below. Enjoy!
Introductions
Kentaro Kumagai: I’m Kentaro Kumagai, and I’m the Japanese voice actor for Laios.
Asuna Tomari: And I’m the Japanese voice actor for Chilchuck, Asuna Tomari.
Damien Haas: My name is Damien Haas. I’m the English voice actor for Laios.
Casey Mongillo: Hello, I’m the English voice actor for Chilchuck, Casey Mongillo.
What directions or guidance did you receive from Studio Trigger or the voice acting studio for your characters?
Was there a two-way process in shaping the voice of your characters?
Kentaro Kumagai: In Japan, when we do recordings, we usually have all the actors gathered in one place, and do the scene together. Because of this, we will usually run through the scene with the sound director, who will offer directions, and then we record it together. That’s the Japanese style.
Asuna Tomari: We were shooting together, so I felt the same way. With everybody in the same room, instead of focusing on just the characters themselves, I would focus on how to interact with the other characters naturally. For example, sometimes the sound director will point out that the distance between certain characters sound a little bit too far or too close, and we would adjust it. Everybody working together is how we create these characters.
Damien Haas: Yeah, when recording English dubs, it’s very rare that people would be in the same room together as actors. So we end up recording all of our characters separately. That takes a very dedicated and skilled translation team, as well as skilled directors and production staff, which we certainly have. I think what is often a very wonderful aspect of this is that it’s collaborative. There’s often a lot of back and forth where I feel comfortable to ask questions like “This line here, am I doing that because I have an idea that’ll pay off in two pages, or am I just pointing something out normally?” So we all sort of get to look at it holistically as one finished product, as opposed to just moment by moment.
Casey Mongillo: And, since we do record by ourselves, essentially, with just the engineer and the director, we’re alone, but so very collaborative between just the few of us that are in the same room. Like Damien said, when we run through a scene with the directors, sometimes if we’re not feeling something, we’ll go back to it and check it out again. We go back 20 minutes and then we’d listen to it. And, it could be something about being too far or too close, or something about the projection, or something else that didn’t feel right.
We’re able to do stuff like that, which is nice, because sometimes you would record stuff and that would be it. However, for Delicious in Dungeon, you can record something, and if something sticks out, you can say something like, “Hey, what if we tried like this to match this a little bit better?” And more often than not, they’ll let you do it. Usually everyone is a lot happier that we took that chance and redid that because it did come out better. So it’s a good thing that we get to be so collaborative.
Have your own personal experiences or circumstances shaped how you play your characters?
Kentaro Kumagai: When I first learned about the Laios, I didn’t feel too close to Laios and to his personality, because I felt that his moral compass was vastly different from my own. However, the more I acted as Laios, the more similarities I found between me and Laios, such how he’s very into the things he likes, and also the fact that we both have a younger sibling. In my case, it was not a younger sister but a younger brother. So, as I continued to voice Laios, more and more of my life experiences began to perhaps integrate into his character.
Asuna Tomari: So, of course Chilchuck is a character that, despite his appearance as being very juvenile, is a functioning adult. I took a lot of care to incorporate elements of people I’d seen, because I’m a female voice actor voicing a male character. I took references from other male voice actors and the way they would breathe, the way they would enact how a male character would be, and used these references to create Chilchuck’s voice.
Damien Haas: When I first auditioned, I was able to see an example scene, listening to the original Japanese audio. And I had spent a good amount of time trying it different ways, experimenting, and I finished and I exited my recording booth and I thought, I want to try one more and I’m going to do it just as me, as natural as possible, just me. And apparently that was the take. that booked me the role. And so in terms of voice print, it’s a very natural way for me to speak.
However, when finding more about the character, the similarities seem to never end. I would do anything for my sister. I love trying whatever food is available and experimenting with that. I love being curious. I love explaining fun facts to people, not because I would be a know-it-all, but because I’m so excited to share the information. And I’ll even say this, there’s a point later where you see Laios has drawn a monster. I can’t tell you how closely even the style matches what I used to draw as a kid every day in every notebook in school. Same teeth, same eyes, same facial shape, everything. I drew that. So yeah.
Casey Mongillo: And for me, I guess, Chilchuk is, you know, a now 29, I suppose, year old who looks and sounds a lot younger than his age. I know the people reading can’t exactly tell what I’m doing, but I’m gesturing to myself. Basically, I’ve gone through that sort of thing my whole life. Chilchuk can be treated as like the kid or be seen as the youth of the group, but in reality, he’s actually, in my opinion, sometimes the most mature and level-headed one. Nobody will take me seriously because of how my voice still sounds like I do when I was 13, so, Chilchuck sounding younger but is older, I totally relate to that every single day.
That’s definitely the obvious one, but that whole Chilchuck attitude of wanting to get things done, saying things like “We have a job to do.”, “Let’s do this right!” and “Come on guys, what are you doing?”, sometimes I don’t even feel like I’m acting when I’m doing some of those lines. Those’re very something I would probably say. It’s strange how the parallels can form between the actor and the character. When they come out, it just makes performing that character that much easier. It just comes out a lot more naturally and you don’t really have to even focus as hard.
Do you like foraging, field cooking, and camping?
Has delicious in dungeon inspired you to do any of these activities?
Kentaro Kumagai: I have many friends who often go camping, but I haven’t had the opportunity to do so. Maybe sometime in the future would be nice, and I want to wear one of those frog suits. Might be a nice change of pace.
Asuna Tomari: I also have not had the opportunity to go camping, but I’d like to give that a go sometime. If it was possible, I’d like to go and actually forage for food, and actually try to cook it in the wild.
Damien Haas: You may not have noticed, but I am almost as pale as this table. In a way, I’m very much like a vampire. I have to get a shot every month so I can go out into the sun. So I don’t necessarily spend much time camping out in the wild. That being said, something like a cold dungeon underground actually sounds pretty fun to me. Realistically, I remember when I was a kid, I would go out into my backyard and forage for wild spring onions so that I could add them to my ramen.
Yeah, it’s safer to do than before living in a city. But now that I live in Los Angeles, it’s a little harder to find safe vegetables. I can look around and identify dandelion greens, which would be good to eat, but you don’t know what kind of things have been sprayed on it in the city. Actually, honeysuckle is something I used to find back home that I have found local in LA. You can, every once in a while, pick off the flower and taste the nectar a bit, just a little bit. Not too much, but yeah.
Casey Mongillo: I used to go camping with friends as a little kid, maybe like ten years old, and we would do things like forage and just see what we can find, and it was a great time. And throughout my youth and into my teenage years, I did learn how to pick locks and things like that. So it was really funny when the character does lock picking and stuff like that, I’m like, “I know how to do that.”. Certain types of locks I’d learned to pick was just something that I picked up when I was in high school. It was just something that I would do and when I would play a video game or something and I would always play as the thief character or the sneaky short rogue. All of those character traits and elements like lock picking and disarming traps was always like my thing. So, seeing it in the show, I want to feel like some of that paid off.
Damien Haas: Can I tell you something funny, Casey? I also know how to pick locks and I didn’t know that about you. And I ordered you a lock pick set as a gift that hasn’t arrived yet. So that I could show you how to do it. But now I know you already know.
Casey Mongillo: Did you really? That’s amazing. I’ll show you something you didn’t know, probably.
Damien Haas: Okay, perfect. Sounds fun.
If you could be in the world of Delicious in Dungeon, what race and class would you like to be?
Kentaro Kumagai: That’s difficult… I might be interested in being an ogre or orc, because it feels that that race has a lot that I don’t have, like greater height and more power. Maybe I can be an ogre and be a bodyguard or something.
Asuna Tomari: I do want to use magic, so I would like to be an elf, but knowing that I am sort of like a short, power-type, I would probably end up being a dwarf. And most likely I’ll end up on the front lines as a fighter, you know, during the fighting up front.
Damien Haas: I would say elf, but I think they’ve shown themselves to be a bit intolerant of other people for the most part. So, to save myself from that, I would prefer to stay a tall man. I think in terms of how I would play a role in the dungeon, I would either fight like Kabru does, using conversation and charisma before you have to fight, but then if you do have to fight, it’s very quick and very precise. Or, I would want to be a healer, in a world where people can be revived, and that’s so important. I would feel a great sense of responsibility to take care of everyone I care about and learn protective spells as best as possible, you know, make sure everyone’s safe.
Casey Mongillo: I guess I kind of answered that question with my last one, didn’t I? I think as cool as it would be to be an elf or something different from what I am. I still feel like I would just, at the end of the day, be the half foot who just picks locks and disarms traps and can be sneaky and wants to stay out of the fight.
I think we have a pretty full party here. There’s a nice balance too.
Damien Haas: Ogre, dwarf, tall-men, half-foot, yeah, there we go. Okay, deal. Let’s go!
What’s your favorite monster from the show?
Not for eating, that is.
Kentaro Kumagai: I really like dogs in real life, so I like the shape shifter. What was the wolves from the barometz episode? Dire wolves? I like them too!
Asuna Tomari: When I think about monsters from the show, I tend to think about eating them. If it’s just about looks, I like the walking mushrooms quite a bit. And, since there are variations, that there must be a really cute one somewhere out there that I haven’t seen yet.
Damien Haas: I really like the idea of an undine. because most of the spirits we see in the show of people have either been misunderstood or just have lost their way because they’ve gone mad from being undead for so long. But the idea of an undine being an orb of only spirits that are so tiny working together, it makes me wonder what other things like that might exist in this world. Is it only water? Are there other elements like undine? And, we even saw a gnome using an undine as a friend, which is so interesting to me. It feels like it’s its own category of monster that I just want to explore. And they also probably taste pretty good.
Casey Mongillo: I think the shapeshifters are pretty cool and that entire scene was a lot of fun. So, I’d have to say shape shifters are just definitely one of the coolest, if not the coolest, beings in the dungeon for sure.
Back to eating monsters, which do you to try the most?
Where is your line in the sand for not wanting to eat a monster?
Kentaro Kumagai: The monster that I’d most want to try, because it seems the most delicious, would be the Red Dragon. I also want to try the dungeon cleaners, because I’m very curious of what they taste like, if anything. I’m not a picky eater, so there’s no point in the show, of any of the monsters that’s been shown so far, where I think eating that crosses the line. I would be open to trying anything that’s currently in the show.
Asuna Tomari: I’m really curious about the slime. I wonder what it will taste like, what texture it will be, both in the beginning when we were eating that in a mizutaki hot pot, and later on in the sorbet. And, I’ll draw the line at the dungeon cleaner. I definitely don’t want to eat that.
Damien Haas: I think I would be most curious about the frog katsu that they had done after going down through the tentacle tower. I don’t think I would have any food there that I wouldn’t want to try. They all looks interesting to me one way or another. The one thing that I was surprised about is dungeon cleaners. There’s no issue with me, morally, eating them. It still sounds like it would be a good food, but I’m not sure if it was a difference in translation but at least in the English version I believe Laios says it tastes like cabbage worm, lemon, and dirt. And for me, that’s like, “I’m all set. No thank you.”. I can imagine it well enough. And, I will say this: I think we should have eaten the fishmen. Sorry.
Casey Mongillo: Well, to follow up with that. My hard line is anything humanoid. Of course I would try the basilisk because it just looks good. I’m also curious about the coin bugs. They made them look a bit appetizing on the show for some reason. And I’m like, “Hmm…”. So, no to the humanoid stuff, and also the dungeon cleaners.
Damien Haas: Now, humanoid is a very targeted word. It’s shaped like a human. It is a fish.
[Laughs and growns all around]
Damien Haas: And suddenly this is not a safe space.
Kentaro Kumagai: You’re right, it’s fish.
Damien Haas: Thank you. That’s right.
For the mermaid song, what was the direction or guidance?
Will a full version of the song be available someday?
Kentaro Kumagai: Before I recorded that scene, I was given sort of an audio of what it should be, as a guide. I then took that and wrote it out in katakana and mulled over it. When I first sang it, I did it like Laios was belting out in his own world, and he’s feeling good about himself. Although I wanted to do it well, the director did not want it to sound too good. It was a difficult request, and I took about four takes to get that scene right. And as for when the full version will ever come out, if the person that created this, Mitsuda-san, ever says yes, then maybe.
Which is your favorite recipe from the show?
Have you tried to replicate any of the recipes or their real life comforts?
Kentaro Kumagai: I really like lamb and goat meat, and I actually make lamb dishes at home. Regarding the barometz, which looks like a lamb but apparently tastes like a crab, I’m very curious about what that would even be like and how I would even attempt to cook it. So that is definitely the recipe that I’m very curious about.
Asuna Tomari: I’ve always wanted to make kakiage. I tried to make it myself, but I messed up in the same ways Chilchuck did in the show, like the pieces falling apart, and not controlling the fire properly. I want to give that another go and hopefully it’ll turn out as well as they did in the show.
Damien Haas: I once made a very hearty stew with a base of pumpkin puree. My goal was for it to have a very autumnal, harvesty kind of flavor to it and have it be very rich. But the flavors didn’t meld in the way that I’d hoped. And so it was fine, but it wasn’t something to be proud of. I think what was missing was putting it in a pumpkin with a face. So I would like to make dryad fruit soup and see how that tastes.
Casey Mongillo: Red Dragon Pizza. I’ve made lots of pizza in my day and something about it, it just looks like something, I don’t know how I would do it, but I would attempt to. I would attempt somehow, if I could. I don’t know what I would use as a substitute for a Red Dragon, but I would definitely try some sort of a imitation red dragon pizza. It just looks really good.
Damien Haas: Try gator. It does taste like chicken.
Casey Mongillo: I would so do it.
For the last question, would you like to leave a message for your fans and for the fans of the show?
Kentaro Kumagai: I appreciate that so many people in the West here have so much love for the show. Perhaps Damien’s Laios is the definitive Laios for a lot of you who watch the English dub. However, if you don’t mind, then perhaps you could try to watch the Japanese version too. That way you can enjoy the same show twice, in a different way. And, if you are interested, please read the original manga. I hope you will continue to support Delicious in Dungeon. Thank you.
Asuna Tomari: I appreciate all the love and support that are coming from the fans in the West. I am look forward to enjoy watching the English version together, and I hope you will enjoy the Japanese version too. I would hope that everybody would continue to love Delicious in Dungeon for years to come. Thank you very much.
Damien Haas: I’m extremely grateful and proud to be trusted with being a part of telling this wonderful story. Whether you are experiencing it in English or in Japanese, and I personally recommend watching both, you can tell that every actor is putting their entire heart into this character. So even though you are getting the same story, you are getting completely unique and personal experiences put into it. I am extremely honored to follow the lead of the Japanese voice acting for Laios. When I get to hear a take, it’s very lucky to be able to have a lot of that emotional work done for me at the very start. And I promise that for the fans out there who truly love this series, I will continue to do my best to represent Laios in the best way I’m able.
Casey Mongillo: It’s hard to add much to that because everything had already been set, but yeah, just thank you to everyone who has been watching. I hope that this is a show that everyone will continue to enjoy throughout the years. Please, if you can, watch it in English and Japanese, because they are both fantastic. I do watch the Japanese version, and of course, when I’m working on performing Chilchuck I listen to the Japanese performances of Chilchuck. And like Damien said, the hard works are kind of done. So, all I want to do is be able to at least come close to matching the performances that are so brilliant and already there in front of me. That can be a very challenging task, because it’s so good. I don’t want to overthink it, but I just really want to make sure it’s satisfactory, at least for me.
A lot of fans have shown their love for the show, in both Japanese and English. It makes me so happy that people watching both and experiencing both, experiencing it twice. It’s just such a fantastic, wonderful show with such fun characters. All the characters are on a totally crazy journey, and it’s just a lot of fun. I’m just really enjoying seeing everyone look forward every single week to the new episodes. It’s pretty amazing to be part of it, so thank you very much.
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