Kara No Kyoukai (The Garden Of Sinners) | Q's Anime Review P.4

Voice Actor Cast & Choreography

If anything, the aspect that truly sells Kara No Kyoukai's character & story would really have to be it's VA cast, as I find the choreography and casting choices to be superb. Having two powerhouses casted as our main leads with Kenichi Suzumura as Mikiya, who's been casted in so many roles beyond count, most notably with roles such as Okita in Gintama & Kakashi in Naruto, and Maaya Sakamoto as Shiki Ryogi, with some of my favourites roles such as the Major in Ghost in The Shell SAC, Shinobu in the Monogatari series & Akashi in Tatami Galaxy, as she's one of my all time favourite Seiyuu's, as both Suzumura & Sakamoto are beyond a doubt experienced, and incredibly diverse at what they do. What else you might ask? They're married as well!! Not only do these two have great synergy, but the cast is definitely an experienced collection of talent each fitting of their respective roles. Here would be some of the following most notable performances/casting selections:

Kenichi Suzumura as Mikiya Kokutō

When you read the novels, I really do find that Suzumura's voice is the first you'd kinda imagine as you read, and despite the light novels having far more private dialogue from Mikiya, often showing a bit more frustration than he lets off, It's that particular youth to his voice, almost like an innocence that sounds grounded as well, quite fitting of his polite demeanour. As his cadence is careful & quiet measured, though he can sound forceful and urgent when he needs too as his voice is somewhat in the upper midrange, and although softly spoken most of the time, you'd never really mistake his character as a push over, as he has a keenly explosive sense of dynamics and modulation, displaying how narrow and forceful his voice can be regarding his voice's tone and harmonics.

"The young voice I heard at the audition had no irony in it, and it sounded main character-ish, even so: I thought, This is the image for Mikiya." Kinoko Nasu [Akiba Blog September 2007] 

Having to re-watch the films, I really do realize how much of an impact he has in selling the character and his line's, in that he contributes so much to the mood and atmosphere of film simply by the way he talks, performing in the most pivotal of moments. Excellent work here, particularly on the phone conversation between him & Shiki on the 7th film Murder Speculation, now that was breathtaking.


Maaya Sakamoto as Shiki Ryougi

It really is the same situation with Sakamoto, as she perfectly embodies the sour and forceful attitude Shiki can have, however still sound feminine & fragile when she needs to. The funny thing is that Shiki pretty much has 3 ways she talks due to her split personality. In that there's a Shiki who's timid and girly, one who talks a bit boyish with quite a bit of slang, and a Shiki who tries to emulate the Shiki who spoke rather boyish. It really goes without saying that Sakamoto is a truly talented Seiyuu, as it shows in how diverse her previous roles can be, displaying how adept she can be as a voice actor, as Kara No Kyoukai is no exception.

"Sakamoto Maaya-san's Shiki is a "downer" type. In order to suit the heavy atmosphere of this "Theatrical edition: Kara no Kyoukai", we chose to have Sakamoto-san" Kinoko Nasu [Akiba Blog September 2007] 

Most of the time, Shiki speaks as the somewhat boyish and sour version of herself, in that Sakamoto is great at speaking with a modulated sense of force, and the non chalant, sarcastic attitude Shiki has that's also quite perfect for her more sadistic lines that occur quite often in the film. Her voice here is quite broad harmonically, with a particularly grounded low midrange and a sharp sibilance in the upper mid range, and although Sakamoto usually voices Shiki as kind of a downer, the way her voice can just explode and pierce your heart is nothing short of spectacular, beautifully contrasting her usually slow & whimsical cadence, alongside being relatively short spoken. Undoubtedly a great performance and an irreplaceable part of Shiki as a character.


Takako Honda as Touko Aozaki

Another treat would be Takako Honda's performance as Touko, in that her role as Touko requires quite a bit of versatility as well, since in the novels it's depicted very clearly how Touko changes the demeanour of her voice & personality depending on the situation. As she often speaks sweet & optimistic when in a good mood with her glasses on, though when she takes them off, you know she's serious as she starts to get prickly, and in that Honda does a wonderful job in embodying the sarcastic and sibilant nature of Touko's character & selling the two different personalities that Touko has.

"First of all, she has a powerful voice, but she still sounds very feminine. Plus, since her character talks for the longest period of time of anyone in this story, we thought it would be best to have a voice that people wouldn't get tired of, no matter how long they listened to it. Then, we also needed someone who could make the scary voice for the times when she takes off her glasses..." Kinoko Nasu [Akiba Blog September 2007] 

Honda's sense cadence and modulation has a particularly raw and whimsical sense of tempo to it, however it's patient and measured at the same time, as in addition to her more grounded, more mid range centric voice, Honda's voice has the perfect mix between the feminine, whimsical & sibilant characteristics that makes her perfect for the relatively diverse role. Another excellent casting choice & performance here. 



Ayumi Fujimura as Azaka Kokutō

I really do think that Fujimura's up tempo & fickle voice was great fit for Azaka's chic & tsundere personality, & as you might imagine I definitely was reminded alot of Tohsaka Rin, voice and all as Azaka's is pretty much the prototype for Tohsaka as are quite a few characters in the Kara No Kyoukai universe. Her voice has a particular coyness & whimsicality when she speaks, and in that I really do feel that Fujimura was indefinitely prepared for Azaka's transient mood swings, in addition to all the delicacy and punctual sharpness that Azaka has with her more light upper midrange centric voice. As her particularly swift and on point sense of modulation & tempo was excellent for the kinds of lines she delivered, being that there's something in her voice that's just perfect in embodying the condescending and elitist attitude she often has.

"...we had to choose between making her incredibly bright and cute, or modulating her character to fit the chic theatrical atmosphere, and we went for the latter." Kinoko Nasu [Akiba Blog September 2007] 

Despite Azaka having a relatively minor role within the series, Honda's role as Azaka really stands as a great example of a great casting selection, as she's quite perfect for the role, being one of my favourite voices in the film to listen to and admire.


Jouji Nakata as Soren Araya

Having a voice actor such as Jouji Nakata play Araya was the perfect choice, in that he's amongst the absolute best for having a characteristically super deep voice amongst his peers amongst as a veteran voice actor, and his role on Kara No Kyoukai is no exception. As you might imagine his voice is somewhat monotonous as there's very little modulation to his voice to the benefit of his role, however Nakata has a particular force in his punctuation and dynamics, that beautifully synergizes with his short spoken and ambiguous lines, that just make his character that much more abrupt and unpredictable, not to mention somewhat intimidating.

"I thought, if we were changing one actor, we might as well change them all, but ufotable thought Nakada-san was best, no matter what. They said things like, Jouji is best for Araya. Araya is best for Jouji." Kinoko Nasu [Akiba Blog September 2007] 

Another great example of a role excellently casted for the respective character, as Jouji was indeed truly made for his role as Araya. A definitively memorable performance by Jouji Nakata.


Mamiko Noto as Fujino Asagami

While not really my favourite character within the series, as I find her character really somewhat facile & poorly written, I do think some of the redeeming aspects of her character was Mamiko Noto's delivery of her lines. In that while I do think her voice is somewhat of a mismatch regarding how she looks visually in the original film series, I do think in the last short film Extra Chorus with her updated model it makes her voice oddly more fitting, as I find Tomonori Suduo's new designs quite pleasing. The reason being is that Noto's voice is quite softly spoken and private, in that I find her original designs for the original series a little juxtaposed, while I was hearing this somewhat moe/yandere voice in my head, the character on screen was quite a bit more bat shit crazy & clunky looking if anything, really going against the elegance of her character and Noto's voice.

Since I find that the more lax and more elegant design in Extra chorus was more fitting of her reserved demeanour. Particularly with how her facial complexion and eyes are designed. Finding that the almost jaded and elegant look perfect for her character. I digress however since that really is not on Mamiko Noto, as her voicing of Fujino is quite well alined in what I imagined her to sound like from the light novels. In that her voice is soft but bodied, as she has a particular carful sense of punctuation that's free of any particularly sharp sibilance's such as Maaya Sakamoto's voice has. Along with her character being rather placid, here Noto opts for a slower cadence and monotonous sense of modulation, that really lends itself to the deceivingly peaceful aura of her character. However this placid way of speaking is also absolutely perfect for the sadistic yandere stuff she has to pull off as well.


Tetsuya Kakihara as Tomoe Enjou

Last is indefinitely one of my favourite characters within the series, in that not only is he pretty much the prototype to Fate/Stay Night's Emiya Shirou, his character really has been that of the underdog, which of course harkens back to my likening of anime such Naruto or perhaps Bleach. In achieving that sort of reckless & heated personality, while his role was only present in the film Paradox Spiral, Tetsuya Kakihara does a great job in selling the particularly stubborn and brash character, as he's definitely one of the more memorable characters within the franchise asides from the main cast. In that, while Tomoe certainly tries to put a up a front and act tough and daring, there really is an unmistakable underlying emotional aspect to his character & Kakihara here does a great job in contrasting his usually dishonestly coy and daring attitude, with a character who's struggled and we actually can empathize with, regarding his courage and strength.

Kakihara definitely nails the more fragile parts of his character, though he's really a character with a lot of guts, as that particular youth and edginess are what really sell the entire package. His voice is somewhat light however, though rough at the same time, where his voice is more so in the mid range with a bit of it in the upper low end of the spectrum, really just enough for him to sound male, but young and boyish at the same time. He's a pretty rash character, and in that his cadence is up tempo and progressive as is his sense of modulation and harder punctuation. As I find Kakihara does a splendid job capturing in both moments of fragility, anger & everything in between. A great casting choice and selection.


Segment Conclusion -

While I'll stand to omit some of the more lack lustre performances and characters all together, since this is a relatively character centric story, a huge part of the enjoyment in watching the films instead of reading the light novels is because the voice actors here really just bring the damned thing to life in the best possible way, with the sort of velocity, force and nuance we'd imagine when reading the light novels. A fine example of Yoshikazu Iwanami and all involved in the casting and directing process of what a great dub can be like, much to the success of Kara No Kyoukai's reception.

Page 4

Article Contents - Comments Section

1. Plot & Narrative Aspects [Release vs Chronological Order | Character Analyses] 
2. The Light Novels & The Films  [The Differences | How It Translates To Film] 
3. Production Aspects [A Little History Overlook | Bluray's Just Dvd Upscales? | Animation & Photography]
4. Voice Actor Cast & Choreography
5. Addendum

3rd Page will contain individual links for production analysis on each individual film