BLUE LOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI- has been released into the wild, and it’s a banger of a film. The film is getting great reviews (you can read our review here) and is getting that BLUE LOCK hype train started once again. In celebration of the film’s release, I was able to sit down with the two English dub leads of the film, Bryson Baugus (Nagi) and Kamen Casey (Reo), to talk about the film, the series, and their characters.

What were your reactions to learning that your characters would be the stars of the film?

Bryson Baugus: I was super excited. I had already known that there was a spin-off manga. I was hoping in the back of my mind that they would do something with that, maybe a small side anime or something like that. But to have a film for it was so exciting!

Kamen Casey: I was thrilled. When I got the cast notice that I was cast as Reo, I thought, “Okay, this Guy comes in like episode 7 or 8.” He’s probably someone’s brother. 2 episodes, cool. To find out we’re in a movie. What? Yeah! Seeing the spin-off manga as well, I was like, Bryson, this sounds so cool.

Having played an energetic sports anime character in Hinata from Haikyu!, What was different about playing a laid-back character like Nagi?

Bryson Baugus: That just comes with the territory of being an actor and working in anime. It’s always been my goal to try and match the energy of what I’m hearing in the original performances and in the finished animation as well. And I feel like that makes it really easy for me to just kind of slip right in and just be like, okay, this is kind of more his vibe.

And to the point of Nagi being a little bit more chill and vibes and to make another comparison to a Haikyu! character.  Kenma is actually my very favourite Haikyu! character. He’s also got that “Yeah, I guess I’m good at this, and I do this for my friend. But I’d rather be playing video games; I don’t like to put too much effort into things.” So I had a little bit of Clint Bickham’s performance as Kenma in the back of my mind, giving me ideas of how to tackle that kind of character as well. And I really loved his performance in that role.

There were challenges in approaching Nagi because he’s also vocally in a different place than Hinata. Because Hinata is way up here, and he’s up here high in my tenor range, and Nagi is more in my medium, just regular range, but he’s also kind of quiet, and he doesn’t really want to talk, and when he does, it’s because he has something to say. It’s so much effort to vocalize sometimes. So I just try to keep it in that little area of my voice, too.

Reo didn’t have as much time to shine in the series compared to other characters but is now front and centre in this film. How did you deal with that pressure?

Kamen Casey: Man. I kind of relished it. I come from a theatre background, and in theatre, you’re memorizing all these lines and pages. When you first get the script, you go, “How in the world am I going to hold all this in my brain?” So, getting the chance to do VO, where a lot of times it’s on the fly, like things are flying at you. You might not have the script ahead of time. It’s so much fun getting in there and letting it fly.

The pressure of seeing the line count and how many reactions I was like, okay, this is serious. This is the real deal. And then, we didn’t get to watch the movie before. We’re kind of watching it as it goes. But hearing the music and seeing the visuals, I’m like, “Okay, everything’s on a 10.” I don’t want to be the one to drop the ball. I gotta bring it. I’m here to do my thing, and hopefully, I do the fans right.

How was the experience recording for the film in comparison to the show?

Bryson Baugus: Just by virtue of having a heavier line count than typical for the series, we were recording and working with Jonathan Rigg, the ADR Director, a lot more on the movie than on the show. Both of us were able to make it a good way into the show as well. Each individual episode took maybe an hour or two to record. Whereas this was, I think, for me, about eight or nine hours of recording, and I don’t know for Kamen’s case, but we really got to delve into the character and make discoveries about Nagi, and what makes him tick.

What I loved about working with Rigg on this one is that he mentioned something about allusions to skulls and stuff where Nagi has some sort of symbolism. He just has this ghostly aura about him where he’s wandering the halls more curious about humanity, alienated from himself. And it’s not so much complaining, like, “Man, why are people working so hard?” but more like, “Why are people working so hard? What is it about people?” He has this line in the show about having this curiosity, and we try to incorporate that into his character. Working with Rigg on this movie has been a good experience, not only to get to work a little bit more but also making new discoveries about the character and incorporating that into the characterization.

Much like Kamen had mentioned, we get cast in these things, and it’s very much like we’re going, we’re going, we’re going, and it’s a lot coming at once. Sometimes, that can result in feeling like I need to figure out this character so fast that I don’t have as much time to make those discoveries before the final thing is out there. And this movie felt like a really good opportunity to rediscover and reintroduce these characters and come at them with a lot of those discoveries we made later in the series.

Kamen Casey: It was fun. I didn’t want it to end honestly, though selfishly, because sometimes you never know. Bryson’s a superstar. Me? I never know if I’m going to work again, right? I’m like, this might be my last job. Let’s go. During the season, I’d say, even in my own career, voiceover-wise, it was about how well can I do my job? How well can I be a professional show-up, do my thing, and take direction?

This time was a bit more collaborative, and I felt like Jonathan Rigg was such an awesome leader; he has an awesome plan but is willing to listen to the actor’s input. I was able to collaborate with jokes and certain lines. It was so cool to have a little more input this time, just due to my own confidence. I’m sure Rigg would have listened to me before, but I just relished getting a chance to protect the character, protect Reo, and have an opinion on his journey. God! It was so much fun doing the movie.

How did you find being able to dig deeper into Nagi’s thought process in the film compared to the show, and can you relate to him in any way?

Bryson Baugus: I feel like everyone’s got a Nagi in them. They just want to not have to work so hard. I don’t want to have to go to work all day. I just want to stay home and play video games or read a book or watch a movie or something like that, and I’m very much a gamer like him. And the character, Kenma that I mentioned before. I want to be sitting in the stands playing game boy all the time.

I feel like there’s always a little bit of that in yourself, but also being an actor and somebody who’s had to put myself out there, be self-employed, and make connections. It’s hard for me to stay in that zone for too long because I need to always be at the top of my game, always trying to get out there and make opportunities happen. So I can’t be sitting in the Nagi zone for too long. But you definitely have maybe a few days, or maybe a few weeks at a time, where you’re just kind of like, I just want to sit on the couch and not do anything.

Reo also gets a lot more backstory in this film, as well as some emotional moments. How did you approach Reo’s more sensitive moments?

Kamen Casey: Oh, so happy to see his arc of things! But I would say getting in touch with him; he’s always chipper. He’s always up. Golden retriever energy is what Jonathan Rigg coined for Reo. I think I could relate to it in real life, the pressure of his dreams. If any time, if anyone’s ever stepped out on a limb and said, I’m going to go try this thing, or I’m going to go, be this thing, and a lot of people around them don’t relate, they’re like, yo go get a real job. What are you doing? You want to be a voice actor? Is that going to make money? Even from his parents’ perspective of this dream of soccer. Okay, you can run this corporation we have established for you. Why are you over there? Why do you want to do that thing?

And it’s because my heart says I want to do that thing. I didn’t choose it; it chose me, so I felt the pressure of how he visualized his dreams coming together. And then whatever happens to not go the exact path the way he saw it. No spoilers, but I think I was able to really get in touch with that. And that was like, Oh, they just kinda opened me up.

Reo and Nagi spend a lot of time together in this film and the show. Do you two talk about the characters and how to approach them together, and if so, what was that process like?

Bryson Baugus: Unfortunately, no. The way that recording anime works is we tend to record one at a time and they also don’t give us the scripts ahead of time, because I guess they don’t like the materials getting out. I’d love to hang out with Kamen more. We’ve got a few events coming up that we were actually going to be participating in that I’m looking forward to. We’ve run into each other in the hallways at the studio sometimes. But yeah, looking forward to hanging out more.

Kamen Casey: Yeah, heck yeah, man.

Nagi has grown so much as a character in this film and the show. Where do you hope Nagi’s character will go, and what excites you about it?

Bryson Baugus: I hope he can fall in love with the game a bit more. I know that he’s already started to find his own reasons for being in the game, and what I love about Nagi’s character arc in general, and what they can showcase, is that Nagi’s got this natural talent for the game. He doesn’t even really have to try very hard because it’s just that effortless for him. What I like about what the show does with his character is that they show that raw talent is great. It can get you far, but it can only get you so far before you start having to put in your own effort and find those reasons why you want to stick around and do things. I would love to see continued growth in that for Nagi because I feel he cares more as the series progresses, and he does want to win, and has that drive.

I feel like he still has a tendency every now and then to revert back to old habits. I think Nagi has a lot of room to grow in that regard, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of it as the series continues.

Reo also changes a bit over the course of the film. Where do you see Reo going in future seasons or films? Do you think he can crawl back from the pits of despair?

Kamen Casey: Yeah, I hope he taps into that. I don’t know if anyone’s had their heart broken or didn’t get what they wanted, but sometimes it puts you in that cold zone, and you can draw a lot of motivation from that. It’s almost like the ring in Lord of the Rings. You hold on to that thing, but if you hold on too long, it can end you. But tap into that negativity just a little bit; hopefully, it can make you stronger.

Favourite moment in the film or show, and why?

Bryson Baugus: There are a few moments where Nagi gets into this really intense, smoky skull popping up, and its visuals are so cool. I think he’s got a moment where he’s kind of like, “Do you still think I’m boring?” And he’s got this, really cool half of his face symbolically replaced with this skeleton. The visuals are amazing in this film. It really got me into the zone working on this stuff. And I had many moments where I was watching back what we had recorded and, wow! This is what I wanted to be a voice actor for. To work on stuff like this.

Kamen Casey: Two parts. One, Reo getting a chance to talk some shit. When he’s playing, he’s always making fun of people. He’s roasting Raichi or Kunigami during the season, and so I was hoping we got more of that. Getting a chance to see him be playful and antagonize his enemy while he’s playing. But then, as an actor, act 3 without his foot. Act 3 is what I’ve been dying to get my hands on.

The opportunity to show what I can do. I know I come in there, and he’s like, “Oh, this guy works out. He’s probably just a TV actor.” That stuff, I’m like, no, I can go. I have a theatre background. Let me go. And so getting a chance to have a role where he has such an awesome arc and gets to express some emotion and then being on an IP this huge and growing. I was so glad to be able to have the ball in the 4th quarter, if you will, getting a chance to shine in a big game.

You can check out the video of the interview below:

Huge thanks to Bryson and Kamen for chatting with us about all things -EPISODE NAGI-. Be sure to check out the film in theatres if you can, or watch the first season over on Crunchyroll. And keep it locked to Couch Soup for more BLUE LOCK content to feed your hungry nerd soul.