- Interview Location: Anime Expo 2026
- Interview Format:In-person, One-on-One
Anime Herald: What did you learn about performing rakugo in preparation for this role?
Anna Nagase: I had a little over one year to practice and train in rakugo. What I felt was important in guiding my training and self development for rakugo was thinking about “How do I want to be perceived by the audience and the viewers?”
I think raguko is an art style where your own personal style has to come out and shine. I observed this through the other voice actors acting out their rakugo scenes. I think it is something you have to watch and feel for yourself. You have to be able to practice over and over, so you can figure out what works for you and what your own personal style is.
Anime Herald: Do you think that training will help you with your voice acting in the future?
.Anna Nagase: Yes. I think it is very useful for me becoming a more developed voice actor. I worked with Akio Otsuka, who played the character Issho Arakawa. We talked quite a bit. Akio-san told me that it’s the attitude of needing to know how people perceive you that helped shape him as an actor. It’s not something you do consciously. You have to let it shine naturally and understand your personal style. It’s through those feelings that, as an actor, or a rakugo storyteller, you need to find a style that makes you proud. I learned a lot about these different aspects of being a rakugo storyteller and being a voice actor in order to gain more experience and help with both sides.
Anime Herald: Thank you, that was a great answer.
Revenge is a powerful motivation. What did you do to present that part of Akane Ōsaki’s character?
Anna Nagase: In the first episode, there’s a scene where Akane finds out her father was exiled from the professional rakugo world. That shock that Akane feels causes her to think over and over, “How did this happen? Why did this happen?”
Trying to consciously express this side of Akane, who is mostly seen as a bright and cheery character, but she does have a dark side to herself in these anxious feelings. Having that emotional gap in the two different sides of Akane, the bright cheery side, and the dark side, I wanted to ensure I acted properly. Although Akane is a bright cheery positive side, she does have multi-dimensional sides to her character.
Anime Herald: Which of her rakugo stories is your personal favorite to perform?
Anna Nagase: I find that the Jugemu story was particularly fun to perform. It was shown in the tenth episode. It was mostly done in one take. With the scene of the father and mother having the conversation, while the kid was drowning, we did it in one take. It was quite the difficult challenge, but it was very enjoyable.
Anime Herald: What would you like our readers to know about theAkane-banashianime adaptation?
Anna Nagase: Rakugo is often perceived as a stiff art form. However, I personally believe Akane-banashi has this kind of plain, everyday life part of it. However, it is also a manga that comes from Shonen Jump, so I think the way rakugo is treated in Akane-banashi can feel similar to battle manga, with the fiery battle scenes as these actors act out many different characters within one story, and express so many different feelings and emotions. With Akane-banashi, seeing the character development and the characters’ relationships with each other is very enjoyable and a highlight of Akane-banashi. I hope the readers of Anime Herald can appreciate that.
Anime Herald: What has it been like working with Kikuhiko Hayashiya?
Anna Nagase: I think Kikuhiko-san is so much fun. He’s incredibly funny. He is really good at doing impressions. He did an impression of me, of the director, of various members of the staff. Every single impression he did of us was on point and so funny to watch. I think that truly expresses his rakugo style. He’s such a good conversationalist. He’s so charismatic. I feel really grateful that I was able to practice with him for a year. I learned so much from his techniques and his way of doing rakugo. I really appreciate the time that I had to train with him.
