Interview with voice actors Bryson Baugus & Kamen Casey for the anime movie “Blue Lock: Episode Nagi”, Out Now Only In Theaters!
That’s a hassle.” That was second-year high schooler Nagi Seishiro’s favorite phrase as he lived his dull life. Until Mikage Reo, a classmate who dreamed of winning the World Cup, discovered Nagi’s hidden skill, inspiring him to play soccer and share his outstanding talent. One day, he receives an invitation to the mysterious BLUE LOCK Project. What awaits him there is an encounter with the finest strikers assembled from across the country. Nagi’s dream of becoming the best, alongside Reo, will take this prodigy to a world he’s never known.
A prodigy can only be shaped when someone discovers him….now, striker Nagi Seishiro’s incredible talent and persona will set the soccer world ablaze.
Criticólogos:
I want to start with some final questions. do you guys follow the sport? in real life? And if you do who is your GOAT, when it comes to the players?
Kamen Casey:
I’d say only following World Cup rolls around and you can’t help it. It’s infectious. You gotta root for your home team, go USA. Want to see him get it done? But, I’m pretty casual when it comes to to the rest of the guys. I know Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have a big rivalry. I’m scared to pick one. I don’t want the fans to jump on me, but I root for all the successful people out there.
Bryson Baugus:
I’ve never been much of a sports person myself. I was very much Nagi in that I played video games my whole life. I was more into that style side of things. But working on these shows, like Blue Lock and Hycu before it, it’s definitely gotten me more interested in checking out games whenever I get the option. I apologize, I’m not really familiar with any of the individual players.
Criticólogos:
The reason that I ask the question is because the World Cup at least this past year, sparked interest on the sport. And I’m wondering if the success of the series and tthe sport in the past couple of years. Do you feel that there’s a tie between both of them?
Bryson Baugus:
Of course. Yes, I feel like they timed it out perfectly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did it on purpose to be like, well, the World Cup’s about to show up. We got to make sure that we have this show airing on TV at the same time as the World Cup, because everybody’s hyped about soccer. Let’s watch this show that’s about soccer. And, just go from there. Yeah, I think they timed it out perfectly.
Kamen Casey:
Yeah, I think the timing was great. Um, it couldn’t have been better. It couldn’t have been better. You know, a lot of people were at the in the anime world, everyone was talking about Chainsaw Man. So I’m glad that the World Cup boosted Blue Lock into the mainstream. Of all these people, seeing the memes on TikTok of this really cool character doing these really cool tricks and like what? What’s that guy? He reminds me of Messi. You know what? I am going to pick a favorite. I’m going to say Messi. He’s my guy because he’s short like me. Let’s go.
Criticólogos:
This is a prequel, right, to how the series came around. And how these two characters came into the facility. So I wonder aspects of the characters were you able to touch upon in the movie that you haven’t been able to touch in the series itself?
Kamen Casey:
I might say, fleshing out the relationship between with with Reo and Nagi and then even Reo’s personal goals and desires and dreams where people could immediately go, oh, maybe he’s just riding the coattails of Nagi. Maybe he’s attracted to Nagi. I saw I saw all of it. And it was so cool to be able to clear up the narrative of why Reos wants to be a soccer star, what his true dreams are, and his relationship with Nagi in the Blue Lock Road?
Bryson Baugus:
Yes, I feel like with the TV series, uh, when Nagi and Reo get introduced, it’s kind of like in the midpoint of the arc in the film. Um, so like being able to go back and showcase some of their earlier relationships, uh, like how they met, how they first developed, and how they first got into Blue Lock. I feel like we, uh, really get to see a lot more of that, obviously, as it focuses on them for this film. Um, and I’m glad that we were able to, discover some of those moments and find more of the nuances, especially, in Nagi’s character in the earlier parts of the series.
Because I feel like in the TV series, he evolves so much over the course of the first few episodes, he shows that, like, he’s kind of he’s kind of become a different person by the end of the first season, and being able to go back to his original, like, state of being and kind of that more like, uh, aloof, uh, less, less caring, uh, character and finding the nuances of that was definitely an interesting challenge. And, and, uh, a fun, um, uh, arc to navigate, if that’s the word I was looking for.
Criticólogos:
The story and the characters are a little bit about ego, it’s about the team, but it’s also about individuals. What is it something that we took away from the series and the movie itself when we talk about balance the egocentric side of the character and the team playing aspect of the sport?
Kamen Casey:
It’s a lot like life, man. Were, um, you grow up in middle school. High school? There’s your best friends in the world, and they want to go be an engineer. I want to go be an actor. And the time you’re going to be able to spend to achieve those goals, you’re going to slowly. You might separate and hopefully still link up for each other’s marriages and things, but you’re going to have to lose friends to pursue your goals. You’re going to have to, um, maybe not make it to every family event to selfishly pursue being the great being great at something. So, um, I love that that they delve deep into that aspect in the, in the movie as well.
Bryson Baugus:
And speaking to Nagi, And Reo’s perspective in particular, I feel like they both go into it, um, as a team, and they’re very much there to support each other. Reo’s was there to bring the best out of Nagi and what he sees in them. Nagi is just there because, uh, my friend likes this game, and I guess I’m good at it. I’ll play it for him. Um, but what I love about both of their character arcs and, uh, they delve into this even further in the series after the film. Um, that like, they kind of find their own reasons for being at Blue Lock independent of each other.
Because I feel like they tend to come in with obviously they have a great friendship, and there’s almost even a little bit of codependency there that they kind of have to figure out for themselves, like why they’re there, uh, regardless of the other person. And I feel like that’s important in real life to where it’s like, you may fall into a relationship or you may fall into doing something that your friends really enjoy doing, and then you’re just kind of there. But if it’s something that you find you really want to do, you also really need to find for yourself like what it is about it that is important to you and what keeps you going at it.
See the full interview below:
Trailer:
