Asta’s voice actor revealed how he first reacted to getting the main role when joining the Black Clover anime! The anime adaptation of Yuki Tabata’s original manga series wrapped up its impressive 170 episode run earlier this year, and it was a particularly emotional farewell for the main star behind the series, Gakuto Kajiwara. Not only was Asta one of the actor’s first major roles when he began his voice acting career, but it was his hugest one back then. Now with the series wrapped, Kajiwara has shared his reaction to when he first heard the news that he would be leading the series.
Speaking about joining Black Clover as the voice Asta during a special panel featuring and director Ayataka Tanemura, Kajiwara opened up with how much he’s been growing over the course of the anime as a whole compared to then, “When I got this role, I seriously had just started in the business. I think I’d only been about six months in when I found out I got the role of Asta in Black Clover. And at the time…it really didn’t feel real. I honestly thought I was dreaming.”
Continuing further, Kajiwara stated, “I’ve always loved Jump, and read it ever since I was a little kid and I have so many volumes of various Shonen Jump series. And then I somehow ended up voicing a protagonist from a Shonen Jump series. It seriously felt like a dream, but then all of the recording sessions started.” Then he started to really get into work, “And then I realized I need to probably wake up from this dream. I realized I had to give it my all.”
Reflecting back on his time as Asta, Kajiwara ended with, “I learned a lot of stuff I needed to work on, and I realized things that I couldn’t do before. I still feel a bit conflicted there. Even after recording 170 episodes, I honestly still have some regrets and think about what I could’ve done better…Like ‘I could’ve expressed this part better.’ So at first, I just dove in head first and wanted to do my best, but now I just want to better myself even more. I want to keep creating great things.”
How do you feel about Gakuto Kajiwara’s growth from across Black Clover’s anime as a whole from when he first began? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!
