Adam McArthur Interview – Professional Voice Actor Talks Kaiju. No 8., Jujutsu Kaisen, and More

Professional voice actor Adam McArthur has made a stunning impact in the space, taking on iconic roles like Kaiju No. 8’s Reno Ichikawa, Jujutsu Kaisen’s protagonist Yuji Itadori, and even the voice of Disney XD.

Gamers Heroes recently spoke to professional voice actor Adam McArthur about his iconic roles like Kaiju No. 8’s Reno Ichikawa and Jujutsu Kaisen’s Yuji Itadori, his love for his fans, and even his work as an evil gingerbread cookie – learn more with our interview.

Adam McArthur Interview – Professional Voice Actor Talks Kaiju. No 8., Jujutsu Kaisen, and More

Gamers Heroes

I really appreciate your time today! I know you’re the man of the hour with the Kaiju No. 8 Anime of the Year nomination – that’s incredible!

Mission Recon is dropping, and Kaiju No. 8 is a huge, huge anime – and, of course, your role as Reno Ichikawa is truly fantastic.

What’s it like voicing him? I know he’s a key member of the Defense Force, so when I went into his design; how did you channel that energy?

Adam McArthur

It’s been amazing voicing him!

What I love about him is that he’s another good boy, meaning I get to add another good boy to my resume.

His personality is a little bit different than some of the other characters that I voice. He’s a little bit more reserved at the beginning; you don’t know why he is so strict in his ways of thinking and morals and all that stuff. 

But then he meets Kafka, and it brings out a new side to Ichikawa. I think they’re the perfect complimentary kind of dynamic duo – an odd couple, if you will. 

It’s been a lot of fun voicing him, and I’m super excited for the movie to come out!

Gamers Heroes

Absolutely – I’ll be there on Sunday!

In a similar vein, I love Jujutsu Kaisen and Yuji Itadori – amazing role, especially during the Shibuya Arc.

How have you refined the character over the years? Cursed energy is a lot to go through! 

Adam McArthur

Yuji definitely goes through a lot over the two seasons!

As an actor, I think in general when you get on a new series, there is some refinement of the character that just happens naturally. 

If you go back and watch early episodes of any major show, the characters were like, “Oh, that’s crazy; I forgot they were like that or that they did that!”

Yuji at the very beginning was very happy-go-lucky, a little oblivious to a lot of things. It was kind of simple in a way, even though there is so much complexity to him.

But he really goes through a journey and really changes so much going through Season Two with the Shibuya Arc. A lot of the things that he’s never wanted to face, or that he said he would never do – he’s having to do and face; and it’s a lot for him!

The thing that I love most about Yuji is that no matter what happens to him, no matter how much good stuff or bad stuff – especially the bad stuff…

He has every right to turn heel and become a villain or be bad or make bad choices or want to get revenge – but he doesn’t. 

He still has pure hearted motives; he still wants to help his friends and do the right thing, and I love that about him.

Gamers Heroes

We’ve been talking about these mega popular characters, and I’m sure you’ve got plenty of fans. 

What’s it like seeing love for your work across so many properties, along with seeing fans at events?

Adam McArthur

It’s crazy!

I started voice acting when I was 16, and I do it because I love it.

I don’t really do it because I think, “Someone’s gonna watch this” or “I’m going to get famous” – truly, I do it because I love it. 

Probably the most I thought about somebody watching it, or if people would like it comes with my nieces and nephews. 

I always think: “Is this going to be something they like?”

Well, they like it!

The fact that I get to travel around and go to all these conventions and meet these people has been such a blessing, and such a cool thing that I get to do. 

It’s almost like a little side quest in my voice actor journey – it’s amazing. We’re all in this together!

You can tell by looking at all the stuff behind me, I’m a fan too.

It’s cool that I get to work in it, do it, and then meet like-minded people who are fans –  I feel grateful that, when I meet them, I get to provide them an experience that is an extension of an interaction with the character that they like. 

Gamers Heroes

I see you’ve got a killer collection right behind you! I see Astro Boy and all that type of stuff – I heard you collect things like Pokémon cards too. 

Is there a “Holy Grail” that you’re especially proud of in your collection?

Adam McArthur

In general, I’m not really a “favorites” person!

I met somebody who works at MAPPA, the studio that does Jujustu Kaisen, and asked if there was any possibility of getting production art from the show. 

Unfortunately, they responded that it’s all on lockdown.

While they couldn’t give any official production right away, she said that she can draw me something. She’s responsible for animating many of Yuji’s fight scenes in Season 2, which is amazing!

She actually hand-drew me something, as if she was doing it for production that I have framed over there. 

She signed it, and she said, “Adam, you are amazing on it!” which is really sweet. 

Gamers Heroes

That’s because you are!

I heard you started out doing improv too, and I’ve heard that some of the best lines from any type of voiceover work come from basically freestyling it. 

Are there any particular lines that you’re especially proud of that we may not have noticed?

Adam McArthur

That’s a good question!

If you’ve ever done improv, sometimes you’re so into that you don’t really pay attention. It’s almost like you black out because you’re so in-the-moment, reacting off what people are saying and giving to you.

There’s definitely been times when it has happened. 

With that said, I will say one of the things as a voice actor I think is a really important thing to do is – at least in your first take – is do it as written as the writers intended it to be before you go outside of that.

The director may come back in for a second take or a third take, but the writers get paid to write because they’re amazing! I think it’s always a good rule of thumb to honor everyone’s position and job, because animation is so collaborative. 

I think that’s always a good strategy!

Gamers Heroes

Absolutely!

One role I have to ask about are the Krampus gingerbread men; we actually have a tree topper that’s the angel from WETA Workshop! 

This question is from my wife, who’s a huge fan: 

What went into voicing the Gingerbread Men? Looking at the script, how did you channel that rabid energy?

Adam McArthur

So the audition for Krampus was one of the weirdest auditions I have ever had. I also did the Dark Elves in that movie!

In the audition, I remember they wanted us to do some kind of gibberish that sort of resembled German sounds – and it said:

“Do this for 30 seconds.” 

So I went to my agency, I did what I thought was that, and that was the only audition I had that day. 

When we finished it, I looked at the engineer and asked: 

“Does that sound like something that’s they asked for?”

I ended up getting it!

In that session, there were maybe five of us in a giant room with the Director Michael Dougherty, and we watched it on a giant screen. 

There was one mic in the center of the room, and we would literally walk in a circle. As you walked past the microphone, you would say some lines, and then you would keep going. 

The energy of walking while you were doing it really helped us get that frantic, crazy energy of the evil gingerbread men. 

I’m pretty sure they pitched us up a little bit!

You have to be willing as an actor to look like a fool sometimes and just do what the job takes – that session that day was a lot of fun!

Gamers Heroes

Changing gears from the Gingerbread Men, I also know that you’re the voice of Disney XD. What’s it like working for the House of Mouse? 

Adam McArthur

I feel very, very fortunate!

I’ve worked with Disney in a few capacities. Obviously, I was on Star vs. the Forces of Evil, which was a show on from 2015 to 2019. During that time is when I got cast as the voice of the Disney XD channel. 

There are so many different areas of VO that voice actors have and are able to do in order to piece together a living and make the life of somebody who talks into a microphone for their job a living. 

I’m very, very fortunate for the XD promo stuff; It’s been amazing! 

Star started in 2015, and then I believe I got cast as the voice of the channel in 2017. Jujutsu Kaisen then came in 2020, and then since then, I’ve been on other animes.

But there have been people who come up to me when I see them at conventions and say:

“I love Star vs. the Forces of Evil; I used to watch it when I was a kid, or when I was in high school. And now they love Jujutsu Kaisen – it’s so cool!

My response to them is that we’ve been hanging out for 10 years. All these little things, even if they haven’t watched one of the shows, they’ve watched Disney XD.

And I’m the guy going: “We’ll be right back with more Big City Greens!”

Gamers Heroes 

I know you’ve done some gaming work too – Final Fantasy XV, Type-0, things like that.

Have you noticed any major differences when it comes to video games, as opposed to television and anime?

Adam McArthur

Video games are a little bit different, and typically have to be a lot more secretive. 

I’m not getting a full script – I’m getting things piecemeal, basically just my lines. The director will be the one to provide context or say something like: “The guy talking to you is saying something sort of like this, so you’ll probably want to respond like this.” 

I think it’s because they just the production cycle is so long for video games, they don’t want other companies to find out. 

But these days, video games are kind of like the movies of VO in terms of performance.

For on-camera TV stuff like sitcom acting versus in a movie acting is slightly different – it’s the same for video games. 

Video games tend to be a lot more cinematic and grounded and real, rather than cartoony or anime-sounding. 

Obviously, there are exceptions to the rules!

I’m coming out in a game called “Date Everything!,” which comes out later this summer, that has a couple of my Jujutsu Kaisen cast mates and Max Mittelman. 

So Max Mittelman, Robbie Daymond, and Ray Chase created a video game company and started a video game called Date Everything!, where you can basically romance anything in your house. 

It then turns into a person that you can date!

It’s a cozy game and very cute; there’s lots of really fun stuff in it and over 100 voice actors.

Gamers Heroes

Finally, I was over at GDC a couple of weeks ago, and there are a lot of creative types saying that they’d love to enter the voice acting space themselves. 

There are a lot of people that want to follow in your footsteps and have tremendous respect for people like you. 

What advice would you give to the next generation of voice actors?

Adam McArthur

I would say it’s a couple of things. There’s no right way to get in – there’s a million ways to get in!

Find what works for you; find what feels fun and doesn’t feel like a lot of resistance for you. 

Make sure you’re in acting classes, whether it’s stage, VO specific, improv, things like that.

And then just go for it! 

I was told really early on that someone has to get those jobs, it might as well be you; I’ve always had that stick with me.

I would say that that same exact thing as well!

Gamers Heroes

Again, it’s a huge honor – I really appreciate it!

We’ll do our best to evangelize, and I hope to see you at a future event – I’d love to get a picture then!

Adam McArthur

We’ll make it happen, for sure – that sounds great! I appreciate your time as well – thank you for having me.

Kaiju No. 8: Mission Recon, featuring Adam McArthur as Reno Ichikawa, will be in theaters April 13, April 14, and April 16 – one can get their tickets for a theater near them via the official Fandango website.

Feeling social? One can follow Adam McArthur via his official Twitter/X and Instagram social media accounts.

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