{"id":168794,"date":"2026-10-02T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/?p=168794"},"modified":"2026-10-02T00:03:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T07:03:55","slug":"kagurabachi-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/2026\/10\/02\/kagurabachi-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"[INTERVIEW] Kagurabachi Anime First Look With Japanese Cast Taihi Kimura, Voice of Chihiro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The first twenty minutes of the <\/span>Kagurabachi <\/span><\/i>anime <\/span>episode 1<\/span> have premiered to audiences in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Mannheim, and more as part of the Kagurabachi Anime World Tour, with <\/span>Part 2 currently underway<\/span><\/a> and expanding across all five continents.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, further information regarding Part 3 and details for the Tour Final in Japan are <\/span>scheduled to be revealed this autumn.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first twenty minutes look at the highly anticipated adaptation drew audiences to see the first look of the action and the vocal performance of <\/span>Taihi Kimura<\/b>, the Japanese voice of the series protagonist, Chihiro Rokuhira.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Following the Kagurabachi Anime World Tour, Anime Trending had the honor of interviewing Taihi Kimura. We discussed the world of <\/span>Kagurabachi<\/span><\/i> and Kimura\u2019s approach to voicing Chihiro, as well as how he balances Chihiro’s emotional weight throughout his journey.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The anime <\/b>Kagurabachi <\/i><\/b>mixes traditional Japanese swordsmithing with a darker, modern action setting. What stands out to you about the setting?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Taihi Kimura:<\/b> In their world, Japan is a katana society, and there is a \u201ccool Japan\u201d inside of it. I think it\u2019s quite amazing and a little bit mysterious in that way.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What was your first impression of Chihiro when you read the script, and what do you think defines Chihiro as a shonen protagonist?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Taihi Kimura:<\/b> My first impression of Chihiro is that he’s very composed, but very lonely at the same time. He is actually suffering from his own heart, so it gives a lonely impression. I think what defines him is having his own sense of justice and strong moral principles so that he never hurts anyone else, and what he carries throughout his life is his justice inside his heart.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

How did you approach building Chihiro’s voice, especially balancing his mindset and the emotional weight he carries?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Taihi Kimura:<\/b> I thought it was important to act like an eighteen-year-old. Chihiro\u2019s not so talkative, but he looks older and is so strong. He has the peculiar experience of losing his father right in front of his eyes, so he has this sadness, anger, and pain inside of him, but when I try to show these expressions outward, it might sound too old for Chihiro\u2019s age. I valued that he was still an eighteen-year-old boy, and while I am still in the process of building up Chihiro\u2019s voice and character, that is one of the main things I think is important when acting as Chihiro.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The series places a strong emphasis on Chihiro’s past and motivations. How did that influence your performance in different scenes of the anime?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Taihi Kimura:<\/b> Because I recorded the past scenes, the recording experience of acting as a young Chihiro remained inside my own heart as well as the hearts of the viewers. Those memories and experiences help me act as an eighteen-year-old Chihiro nowadays.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When Chihiro was fifteen, tragedy hadn\u2019t struck yet. He was just living with his weird father in a happy home. But he lost his father in front of him and experienced tragedy, and he lost his emotions as well as his father. That\u2019s why he has this complex personality; even if he\u2019s an eighteen-year-old, he has lost so many things and is forced to grow up and try to avenge his father.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The action sequences in the anime <\/b>Kagurabachi<\/i><\/b> are very intense. What is your process for preparing vocally for those moments?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Taihi Kimura:<\/b> Because Chihiro\u2019s so strong, he doesn\u2019t shout. He\u2019s quite silent and very sharp, so I don\u2019t have to prepare something specifically for that battle scene. I just use a breath. When more episodes are released and as battles become more intense, that might change. Because Chihiro himself is a quiet, introspective character with his emotions, that could be related.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As audiences see the anime <\/b>Kagurabachi<\/i><\/b> for the first time, what are you most excited for them to discover about Chihiro and his journey?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Taihi Kimura: <\/b>The anime <\/span>Kagurabachi<\/span><\/i> is also a coming-of-age story for Chihiro. He isn\u2019t just a machine that kills people. He has emotions as a human being, and seeing him grow up and gradually experience a wider range of emotions will draw the audience into the story. I was so happy to see the audience’s reactions to the twenty minutes of the first episode. The audience gave me so much energy!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

*The anime <\/span>Kagurabachi <\/span><\/i>will be available to stream worldwide outside of select Asian territories on Crunchyroll in April 2027.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You can follow the <\/span>Kagurabachi <\/span><\/i>anime via the <\/span>official website<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>X<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>TikTok<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>Instagram<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first twenty minutes of the Kagurabachi anime episode 1 have premiered to audiences in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Mannheim, and more as part of the Kagurabachi Anime World Tour, with Part 2 currently underway and expanding across all five continents. Additionally, further information regarding Part 3 and details for the Tour Final in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":168796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1053,138,10],"tags":[14,8418],"class_list":["post-168794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-feature","category-interview","category-anime","tag-anime","tag-kagurabachi"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/anitrendz.net\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/KB_still_teaser_1.png?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8n4QV-HUu","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168794"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168794"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170050,"href":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168794\/revisions\/170050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anitrendz.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}