BLEACH’s manga creator and Ichigo’s Japanese Voice Actor discuss the series’ momentous return!

Interviewer: What was your response when it was decided that BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War was going to be animated ten years after the last series had ended?

Masakazu Morita (Morita-san from here on):

Upon hearing that it’s been ten  years, I thought, “Ten years have already passed since the last series?!” It doesn’t feel like that much time has passed.

Tite Kubo Sensei (Kubo Sensei from here on):

I feel the same way as Morita-san.

Morita-san:

Since the anime ended, I’ve continued to have the opportunity to record new lines for the mobile game Bleach: Brave Souls. I think that’s why I haven’t felt the ten years passing by.

Kubo Sensei:

I’m sure having the chance to continue voicing the same character, like for a game, helps maintain the connection a voice actor has to their feelings and image of their role.

Morita-san:

That’s right. Doing a voice for a game ensures your passion doesn’t decline. And with regards to Brave Souls, it also maintained my connection to our fans. I stayed connected to fans not only in Japan, but also in Asia, Europe, and America. I think KLab has put a lot of effort into this, and I am thankful to them. That being said, lines recorded for games are usually self-contained dialogue. But for anime recordings, they are actual conversations between characters. In that sense, it’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to engage in a “conversation” with the other BLEACH cast members.

Kubo Sensei:

That’s true. What you hear in mobile games are not actual “conversations.”

Morita-san:

That’s right. I was a little scared to exchange words in a conversation, but once I heard my castmate’s voice, I was able to respond in my own character’s voice. That sort of phenomenon happened.

Kubo Sensai:

That’s amazing. The ears remember, and that triggers the voice.

Morita-san:

That’s exactly it! It’s like my ears remember.

Interviewer: Please tell us if there’s anything that has changed or hasn’t changed from ten years ago.

Kubo Sensei: 

For Thousand-Year Blood War, I’ve been joining the recording sessions through remote calls. For the returning characters, I’d be asked to listen to a couple of their lines and give my thoughts. But most of the time it’s me just going off, saying, “Yes, that’s the voice I remember.” As Morita-san mentioned, the VAs remember their voices a lot better than me.

Morita-san: 

But even the veteran VAs were a little worried about getting things right. Even (Shin-ichiro) Miki-san asked me if he got the voice of Urahara right.

Kubo Sensei: 

My family commented that Ichigo’s voice had changed after watching episodes one and two of Thousand-Year Blood War at the advance screening event back in September, 2022. I thought that was interesting because to me, the change in Morita-san’s voice perfectly captured Ichigo’s growth as a character, so it sounded fine to me. In fact, I didn’t even notice that Morita-san changed his voice. So when I questioned if it really was that different, they said, “It’s completely different. How could you not notice it?” [lol] But if you ask me, Ichigo in Thousand-Year Blood War is supposed to sound this way.

Morita-san: 

I’m so happy to hear that! To go more into detail, I’m taking a different approach to the way I deliver my lines. For example, “Getsugatensho.” Like the sound of the “ga” in “Getsugatensho,” or adding variety to the sounds I couldn’t make before. Especially at the end of consonants, where I’m adding a few embellishments. Also, I slightly increased the volume of my mid-baritone. I tried to slightly increase my range and make it reverberate a little more. I’ve lengthened the time it takes to pronounce “ge,” “tsu,” and “ga,” and tried to make them linger a little to give them more weight. But it’s a really unnoticeable change to those who aren’t looking for it. Originally, when I first read the BLEACH series in Weekly Shonen Jump, Ichigo spoke with a voice different from my own in my head.

Kubo Sensei: 

Do you mean you had specific VAs in mind for the voices of Ichigo and Rukia?

Morita-san: 

No, I didn’t have any specific VA voices in mind. It was more like an idea of how each character would sound. And that goes for Ichigo too. I have an idea of his voice. I’m always trying to get closer to that, and ten years since the previous series, I feel I can finally get close to it. I’m using slight inflections I never used before for Ichigo’s voice in Thousand-Year Blood War, so I’m glad to hear Kubo Sensei say he thought it matched his idea of a more mature Ichigo. I’ll sleep soundly tonight. [lol]

Interviewer: As the general supervisor and as a lead VA, can you tell us a memorable event that happened during the production of BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War?

Kubo Sensei: 

The thing that was most memorable was that Takayuki Sugo, who plays Yhwach, had a hard time memorizing lines written in katakana. After being told how to say them several times, he said, “All right, I’ll write it out in hiragana.” [lol] He said it in a really cool voice, so that made it even funnier. [lol]

Morita-san: 

Sugo-san never changes, does he? That happened during the previous series as well. While in the booth, he asked me, “Ichigo, Ichigo, how do you read this line?” and I said, “It says Bankai.” Then he said, “All right, got it. It’s Bankai.” But once we started recording, he said something else. [lol]

Kubo Sensei: 

Not to mention Yhwach has a lot of lines in Thousand-Year Blood War, with many of them containing complex terms.

Morita-san: 

Every time he comes to the studio, he would say, “We’ve got so many lines again.” So I told him, “Sugo-san, your character will have the most lines in Thousand-Year Blood War.” To which he said, “Really? Isn’t there anything you can do about that?” [lol]

Kubo Sensei: 

[lol]

Morita-san: 

A memorable event for me was when we were recording Ichigo’s interaction with Oh-Etsu Nimaiya. Thousand-Year Blood War marks the first on-screen appearance of Squad Zero. So I got to see right before my eyes the process of their VAs working to build and develop their characters. I should be quite familiar with this, but I thought it was memorable. Seeing a character gain flesh and blood and forming into a full-fledged character right before my eyes was quite amazing. I thought Squad Zero was so cool.

Kubo Sensei: 

Squad Zero is great, isn’t it? Sound Director Yukio Nagasaki and Sound Producer Yosuke Morita are the main people in charge of how the voices sound and they’re quite particular about it. With Nagasaki-san, it goes without saying, but Morita-san’s interpretations are also overflowing with love for the characters.

Morita-san: 

I see! Well done, Yo-chan. When this interview is published, I think he’s really going to let it go to his head. [lol] Since he and I share the same last name, we call each other “Yo-chan” and “Masakazu-san.”

Kubo Sensei: 

From the beginning, every cast member has been spot on and has an incredible grasp of the characters. Take for example, Daiki Yamashita, who plays Ryunosuke, and Asami Seto, who plays Shino. Their characters don’t appear very much in the original manga, but I think they’ve been fleshed out thanks to these VAs.

Morita-san: 

What sort of things gave you that impression?

Kubo Sensei: 

It’s difficult to put into words. It’s the impression I get from hearing their voices. I personally had no idea what voices would fit them since I didn’t really come up with many backstories for these characters. But the VAs had a good grasp of their characters. It was also refreshing to have new faces join the show. So I thought all of that was really great.

Morita-san: 

Whereas I enjoyed my interactions with Renji because it felt like we were bringing back the relationship we’d cultivated over the years. Like with the scenes where he and I are soaking in Kirinji’s hot spring, or we are eating food together. Due to the COVID pandemic, it is becoming more common for VAs to record shows separately. So it was fun to have the opportunity to play against each other in the same booth. And when I noticed that our lines were overlapping, Nagasaki-san said, “Don’t worry about it. Just interact the way you feel is most natural.” The way Renji Abarai’s VA, Ito Kentaro, and I let loose afterwards was incredible. [lol] The refreshing feeling and excitement of new cast members joining us for Thousand-Year Blood War was nicely balanced with the reassuring feeling of cast members who had been working with us thus far.

Interviewer: The excitement builds up! Discover their fate in Part 2!

Interviewer: In the spirit of BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War, please tell us of any “fateful events” or “battles” that you’ve recently experienced or seen. 

Morita-san: 

“Fateful events” or “battles,” huh? Kubo Sensei, your work involves having to come up with stories in your head and then put them onto paper, correct? Would you describe that as a battle with yourself?

Kubo Sensei: 

That’s true. I do this by myself.

Morita-san: 

Do you ever “battle” with your editors?

Kubo Sensei: 

No, my editors are people who provide support to get me motivated. So in my case, I don’t have to “battle” with my editors, so to speak.

Morita-san: 

The same goes for being an actor. It is a battle with yourself. As for “fateful event”? What would be a “fateful event”? I wonder why we were asked such a difficult question. I now have a “fateful” grudge against the interviewer. [lol] By the way, I’m currently attending a vocational school to learn how to do narration.

Kubo Sensei: 

Really? Is this a school for becoming a narrator?

Morita-san: 

That’s right. I’m learning ways of speaking and looking at things that are slightly different from those of a VA. Narrators interpret words differently. So when I’m given a manuscript for narration work, sometimes it’s hard to know just how the words should sound. In a play, you find a cue and use it as a lead-in, so you know the course of action. But with narration, I find it hard because I don’t have the necessary skills to draw from. That’s what I’m trying to learn right now. By studying narration, I’m learning new information, I’m acquiring new wisdom, and I’m developing a new eye for things. And in the end, make use of it in the field of acting. I’ve had this feeling that the current “Masakazu Morita” alone would not be enough to play the part of Ichigo Kurosaki until the very end of this series. I felt that I needed to add another new layer to my identity. I’m hoping that this is the nourishment needed to help broaden my range as Ichigo Kurosaki.

Kubo Sensei: 

Indeed, narrating is a job where you have to vocally express something where there are no characters or story.

Morita-san: 

You truly have no one but yourself to rely on. The color and tone you start off with becomes the basis for the rest of the narration. Naturally, Kubo Sensei created the BLEACH series and the character Ichigo Kurosaki, but when I add my voice, I add my own interpretation of Ichigo Kurosaki. If I had an identity that would allow me to inject my personal brand while respecting Kubo Sensei’s vision, I think I could continue doing this until the end. Rather than continue to chase after Kubo Sensei’s Ichigo Kurosaki, I must reach the end with Ichigo. That is the battle I’m fighting against myself and that is my “fate.” Hope this makes sense. [lol]

Kubo Sensei: 

How do I follow Morita-san’s great brush with “fate”? [lol]

Morita-san: 

No, please do! [lol] Kubo Sensei, where do you go to think of ideas?

Kubo Sensei: 

I don’t go to a specific place to think. If I think of something, I make a note of it. It happens while I’m talking to people or even doing completely unrelated activities. For example, while watching a movie, I might suddenly hear a word, or a word will pop into my head. I’ll look it up and expand upon it. I think of it as kind of like an association game.

Interviewer: So you don’t seek out ideas, but rather, you get ideas from things you happen to see?

Kubo Sensei: 

That’s right. I even get ideas from things that are completely unrelated.

Morita-san: 

About the character introduction pages that were at the end of the first couple of manga volumes… How did you decide on the character image songs that are listed there?

Kubo Sensei: 

Some of them are songs I was listening to when I came up with the characters, and others are songs that were playing in my head as I was thinking up character details. And some are songs that I imagined were playing in the background as I was thinking about their past. That’s why they’re so inconsistent with each character.

Morita-san: 

So are there songs that play in your head even if you don’t listen to the music?

Kubo Sensei: 

There are. In fact, I think it’s less common for me to get it from listening to actual music. Or rather, I hardly ever do that. The songs I do like and often listen to automatically play in my head. So when I’m drawing characters, or when I’m thinking up action scenes, there are songs playing in my head. Once I decide on the character’s theme song, playing them makes it easier to draw a story where that character is the main focus.

Morita-san: 

I see. I suppose that’s why in BLEACH and BURN THE WITCH, it feels as if your drawings have a rhythm or a melody.

Kubo Sensei: 

Thank you very much.

Morita-san: 

That’s where you begin your thought process, right?

Kubo Sensei: 

If you think that there’s a rhythm, it might be true. When I draw, I have a vague image of it in my head. I visualize stopping the camera at a certain point or moving the camera around at a certain place. I hope that my readers can get a sense of what I see.

Morita-san: 

So when you draw manga, it plays like a video in your head?

Kubo Sensei: 

Yes, it does. As it’s playing, I try to frame scene changes and prominent scenes. That’s how I imagine it.

Morita-san: 

Do all manga artists think like that?

Editor: 

No, I don’t think so. I don’t think there are many people who can do that. [lol] In the past, we asked Kubo Sensei to answer an interview for an article directed at new Weekly Shonen Jump manga artists. When asked, “What is your process for drawing?” he responded with, “I play a video in my head and pause it at the coolest moments.” In the editorial office, we were saying,  “That’s not doable for someone other than Kubo Sensei.” We decided on, “It’s very interesting, but not very helpful.” [lol]

Morita-san: 

I guess this means that Kubo Sensei understands camera work.

Kubo Sensei: 

I don’t understand it, but I kind of have a feel for it. This has turned into something completely unrelated to “fate.” [lol]

Morita-san: 

Not at all. You’ve formed a “fateful” connection with the interviewer who asked you that question and with the new manga artists who will read the article. [lol]

Interviewer: What do you use to inspire your work and give you ideas?

Kubo Sensei: 

I do use a lot of music. I like music by itself, but I’ve always liked things like promotional videos and the openings of anime. When I was little, I loved the openings so much that I would only watch the opening of an anime and spend the rest of the time drawing without watching the actual episode. [lol] When I was little, I was the sort of kid who was always carrying a sketchbook.

Morita-san: 

Did you draw pictures of the anime you were watching?

Kubo Sensei: 

No, something completely unrelated.

Interviewer: You were drawing as you listened to what was happening in the anime?

Kubo Sensei: 

I could follow the story, so I was probably listening.

Morita-san: 

What kind of pictures did you draw?

Kubo Sensei: 

When I was really little, I drew things like dinosaurs and insects. I moved on from that, and for a while, I was fixated on drawing a lot of wrists on my drawing paper. And so, when I looked at my childhood notebook years later as an adult, I was creeped out by it and thought, “I’m surprised my parents didn’t try to consult someone about this.” [lol]

Morita-san: 

That’s true. That would be a bit concerning. [lol]

Kubo Sensei: 

If a kindergarten child was only drawing wrists, I would be concerned.

Morita-san: 

You really are a unique type of individual. [lol] Normally, once you’ve moved on from drawing dinosaurs or insects, you’d draw manga characters. They wouldn’t go to wrists. [lol]

Interviewer: Morita, what kind of child were you at that age?

Morita-san: 

I was the complete opposite of how I am now. I would cry every day. I would go to the pickup location to catch the bus to take me to kindergarten. I’d be happy for a while, but when I saw the bus, I’d cling to the wall and cry, “I don’t want to go.” So I was the child who was always crying in the corner of the classroom from the moment he arrived at kindergarten.

Kubo Sensei: 

What didn’t you like? Did you dislike being around so many people? Did you dislike being with people aside from family?

Morita-san: 

I was probably afraid because I was shy. So one day, my grandma stopped by at my kindergarten to see me on her way back from visiting my family. The kindergarten teacher said, “Your grandma is here now,” so I went to see her and my grandma asked, “Masakazu, are those kids behind you your friends?” Since a stranger had come to the kindergarten, everyone came to have a look. Of course, I didn’t have any friends, since I was shy and always crying. But despite my childish mind, I felt I shouldn’t make my grandma worry, so I told her, “Yeah, they are.” I felt that I needed to make what I told her into the truth. So after that day, I worked hard and gradually changed.

Kubo Sensei: 

That’s amazing. You were a dedicated child. And what a great story. [lol]

Morita-san: 

One of the kindergarten teachers back then asked some older kids to play with me during break time. I started hanging out with them and learned to do a backward flip on a bar. As a result, I grew to like monkey bars and gradually gained even more friends. At the time, the TV series Kamen Rider was popular, so we’d pretend to be Kamen Riders in the schoolyard until the school bus came. I pretended to be Kamen Rider V3, and right when I stood on the monkey bars to strike my “transformation” pose, the setting sun shone on me like a spotlight. That’s what inspired me to want to become a superhero. [lol]

Kubo Sensei: 

This is turning into an interview with someone who became a superhero. [lol]

Morita-san: 

By the way, Kubo Sensei, who do you consider to be your hero?

Kubo Sensei: 

GeGeGe no Kitaro and Saint Seiya are my favorites. But they’re not quite heroes… What is a hero? I’ve never thought of Ichigo as a hero, either. [lol]

Interviewer: With regard to your work, do you have a routine? If you do, please tell us about it.

Morita-san: 

After I read through a script, I look at the rehearsal video and mark up the lines in the script. I know it’s time-consuming, but it gets results and doesn’t use up the actual recording time. Also, I always make a fold at page 17 of my scripts. When I do that, it becomes easier to flip through any script.

Kubo Sensei: 

Is that roughly the middle?

Morita-san: 

With anime, it’s slightly before the middle. But even with foreign movies, it becomes easier to flip through with those folds. The way my fingers grasp onto the spine is the result of extensive research. [lol]

Kubo Sensei: 

Those aspiring to become VAs, be sure to fold the 17th page. [lol] I don’t have any routines. I believe there was a time when routines were quite popular, so I thought it would be cool to have some sort of routine of my own, but I couldn’t come up with anything. [lol] With regard to things I do all the time, one example is that when I draw a storyboard, I draw a little and let some time pass. Back when I was working on a weekly series, I started by drawing the first three pages and then let it sit for a day. Ever since I finished doing a weekly series, I draw about five pages to move the story forward and let it sit for a month. I just live my normal life and draw when I come up with something.

Morita-san: 

Do you end up changing the plot from what you originally had a month ago?

Kubo Sensei: 

When I start, I don’t have an actual plot yet. I just want to start the story with certain words, and once I’ve decided on the opening lines, I don’t do anything with it for a month.

Morita-san: 

Does that mean you need time to let it mature?

Kubo Sensei: 

That’s right. It’s easier to draw after letting some time pass. It’s not a routine, but that’s the way I draw.

Interviewer: Please tell us something you’re excited about or want us to pay attention to in Part 2.

Morita-san: 

I just learned the other day how far Part 2 is going to cover, which left me a bit shocked and light-headed. [lol] I’m trying not to let my knowledge of what’s going to happen in the story affect my performance on Thousand-Year Blood War. I think that how I react whenever something is placed in front of me is important. I feel that I need to take an honest look at it, without letting myself be swayed by my own arbitrary opinions. Kubo Sensei, Director Taguchi, and the entire staff are putting a lot of thought into this production. And as VAs, I believe our job is to understand the intent behind their work so we can give our best performance. And I’d like to continue to do that. I would like to follow through with that regardless of it being Part 2, 3, or 4.

Kubo Sensei: 

In Part 2, there is a new battle that isn’t in the original manga. I wasn’t able to draw a battle between two certain characters. So when the anime production team said, “We want this character to fight around this time,” I decided to revisit that idea by providing them with some drawings and names of the characters.

Morita-san: 

Did you draw it in manga style?

Kubo Sensei: 

I didn’t split it into panels, but I drew about five or six pages of illustrations to show how they would move, how they would transition and how they would fight. I think they’ll probably do a good job on it.

Morita-san: 

Are you serious?! I’m looking forward to that! Fans have been asking, “It’s split into four parts, but will Thousand-Year Blood War end after the fourth part?” But you’re saying there’s also going to be a new battle being inserted in-between.

Kubo Sensei: 

In Part 1, there were several additional scenes, but no new battles.

Morita-san: 

I’m really looking forward to this!

BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War - Part 2 coming July 2023. Own Part 1 digitally now!