‘Digimon Adventure Tri’ Voice Cast Talks the Big Cliffhanger, Live-Action ‘Digimon’

Digimon‘s 15th Anniversary anime project, Digimon Adventure tri., may have finished its run in Japan, but the final film will soon premiere its English dub in the United States later this Fall.

Comicbook.com recently got the chance to speak with Joshua Seth, Johnny Yong Bosch, and Colleen O’Shaughnessey, the voices of Tai, T.K., and Sora respectively at Anime Expo about Digimon Adventure Tri‘s past, present and future.

These heavy hitters in the voice acting field talk everything from fan response to their work, assumptions some make about voice acting, where the series could go from here.

They even discuss what a live-action Digimon film could bring, and what it would need to succeed in theaters. Most importantly, the three talk the major cliffhanger fans were left on at the end of the fifth film, Coexistence.

Read on for the full interview!

Loving the Popularity

We’re here talking about Digimon Adventure Tri, and you do have a panel coming up later today. A lot of people are excited, so how do you feel about being at this convention for Digimon Adventure Tri, with this franchise being so well-known?

Joshua Seth: It feels great to be able to have the face-to-face interaction with the fans, and the people that have supported us and followed us. It’s very gratifying because obviously, Digimon…we wouldn’t still be making them if people weren’t still asking for it and watching them. So, it feels like a great opportunity to say thank you.

Johnny Yong Bosch: Usually we’re in the booth by ourselves, especially with anime, and so we just go in there we do our job, and there’s no applause, there’s no cheering or rooting, you don’t know…you feel like you do your best, but then this is where you get to meet the fans and find out if they liked it, you know? So, it’s a little scary but also very rewarding to meet the fans of the show.

Colleen O’Shaughnessey: It’s great to be working on the series again, and I love to come to these kinds of events, and see who’s been moved by something that we’ve done.  Because like Johnny was just saying, we’re in a little box and we do it by ourselves. You don’t know, until you get to see the people, how something that you’ve done has affected them and how much they love it. And it’s…I’m honored to play this part of something that has affected people’s – like, I have people come up and say “That was my childhood,” which makes me feel old – thanks a lot – but that something that I did, affected somebody that I never knew in some ways is pretty great.

Voice Acting Isn’t Easy

All of you have stellar resumes within the anime community, and are all very well-known. You must’ve been asked a million times for advice by aspiring voice actors, but I’m kinda curious…what’s one myth about this profession that you would like to bust? What’s one thing that you think people have a lot of assumptions about?

Seth: A lot of people think it’s easy, you know? And it takes years of doing it. You know, for me, it was experiencing it. Doing it, getting it right, learning to work the mic, and all the stuff, but I find that a lot of the fans that want to become voice actors just think, “Oh, it’s super easy,” you know?

O’Shaughnessey: I think they also think, “Oh, people tell me all the time I’ve got a great voice.”

No, you have to have acting experience. You have to be able to create a character. It’s not just about having … a great voice is a good place to start, but you have to be able to know what to do with it. It’s like playing an instrument. “Oh, I have a violin.” That doesn’t mean you can play it. You know, it’s kind of corny to say it, but I do consider it an instrument. You have to know what it can do, what its limitations are, and what its abilities are, and acting classes, like anything … my worst question that people ask me is, “When are you gonna do some real acting?” Boy! It’s in the name! “Voice acting,” you know? And so I always tell people, “All of your basic ‘Acting-101’ things, they all apply to voice over.

Seth: I would say the same thing, that voice acting is acting and people think that if they have an interesting voice it’s sufficient. But you have to know, as Colleen said, how to play that instrument and how to convey emotion through that instrument, through your voice. Therefore, it is acting, but instead of having your all five senses with which to express those emotions, you have to channel it all just through the voice. It’s more rarefied. It’s, in some ways, more difficult.

No One Was Ready for that Finale

The fifth movie ended on a big cliffhanger. How did that finale feel for you all going into the booth? Were you prepared for it? Or did you get blindsided? 

Bosch: I was not prepared for it.

Seth: Right, I think none of us watched the original Japanese voice actors, because we don’t want those reads in our head. We want to bring something of ourselves to the role, so we never know what we’re walking into when we go into the booth. And then hopefully the interpretation that we give is authentic, because we’re only just experiencing it as we’re recording it.

O’Shaughnessey: We don’t get the scripts ahead of time and so, you know, if when you see Sora on the screen, that’s as much as I get to see of the movie. So, she’s not involved in some of the more story-driven parts of the movie, then I don’t, you know – beyond what the director tells me, I don’t even know. Like, “Oh, that happened? I had no idea.”

Could a Live-Action ‘Digimon’ Work?

Digimon is one of the more well-known franchises here in the West. In the U.S., if you ask people what anime they know, they’re probably gonna say “Pokemon,” they’re probably gonna say “Digimon.”

So, with that now, and anime becoming more popular in the U.S., live-action is becoming a thing – they’re making live-action Pokemon. Do you think Digimon ever could be turned into a live-action project successfully? 

O’Shaughnessey: I mean, I think it could work. I always find it funny when they want to do that. Like, I’m on Sonic Boom, and they’re making a live-action Sonic movie. 

Bosch: A lot of times, though, when I see the live-action, it’s not nearly as good. And especially when it’s a series, when they try to cram it all into one movie and it doesn’t ever really work. But I think it’s possible to do a good movie, it just has to be in the right, capable hands.

Seth: I think you never know what’s gonna happen until you make the thing. Like, a lot of times think they have a great idea, and pour a bunch of money and effort into it, and the movie sucks. And then, something sounds weird, like “Oh, live-action Digimon, that’ll never work,” and then maybe it would, who’s to say? It just depends what kind of greater talents come together and whose vision is helming it.

What Does a Live-Action ‘Digimon’ Need to Succeed?

In your opinion, as Digimon actors, what do you think a Digimon live-action project needs to do right, if they were going to be successful?

Bosch: It’d have to be the right kind of chemistry in the relationships between the performers. I think that’s one of the reasons the fans gravitate toward Digimon over some of the other classic anime that aren’t still being made. There’s a sense of comraderie or companionship or friendship even between the characters. 

What Else Could Digimon Explore?

What’s a part of the Digimon world or universe that you really want to see explored that hasn’t been?

Seth: I literally was just writing this last month. I was thinking, “You know, when we made Digimon 20 years ago, and that Season 1, Episode 1, the kids fall out of the real world into the digital world, and then basically spend the rest of the season trying to fight their way back, or find some balance between them.” 

That was fiction back then, and it is fact now, that is what we are all living through is how do we balance our real lives, real relationships, and our time … between that and screen time. I would think if they could really bring that idea to the floor and explore, not just metaphorically, the idea of the digital world and the real world, but actually as we all experience it; that we’re all really getting sucked into our devices, our screens. We’ve all got screens in our pockets that we’re fighting not to pull out and look at right now. Maybe make that metaphor more overt and real.

O’Shaughnessey: I mean, I guess since they had to do the re-boot, and all that, that they could get back to where they were before, or make it even – maybe go further with their relationship.

How’s the Response From Fans?

How have fans reacted to the franchise’s reboot and its comeback after all these years given its nostalgic leanings?

Seth: Honestly, it’s been 100% positive. I wasn’t so sure when we first went in to record Digimon Tri, and the first thing that I noticed that was different was the music. And I thought, “Oh, are people going to respond well to that?” Like, part of the reason people want us to make more Digimon is the nostalgic aspect, and right away they’re changing up everything, like the age, the music, the tone. 

But, everybody’s, at least to me, been very positive about everything and very keyed into it, to the point where when I checked in the hotel for the conference, I got recognized just from talking by fans in line. “Oh, are you the voice of Tai?” Which means it’s out there in the zeitgeist. People are watching it, they’re enjoying it, and they’ve been nothing but positive and supportive.

*****

For those unfamiliar with Digimon, the series was originally conceived by Bandai, Toei Animation, and WiZ in 1997 as a way to capitalize on the virtual pet craze sparked by Tamagotchi. The franchise focus on its titular “Digital Monsters,” monsters that live in a parallel, digital world that came from mankind’s technology. The franchise had its first anime adaptation, Digimon Adventure, which focuses on a group of children known as the DigiDestined (or “Chosen Children” in Japan) that are transported to the world of Digimon and have to fight the various evil digital beasts that roam the land.

Digimon Adventure Tri. is Toei Animation’s film series celebrating the franchise’s 15th Anniversary. The film series serves as a sequel to both Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, with the first film releasing in Japan in 2015 and the final film releasing in May 2018. Taking place three years after Digimon Adventure 02, the DigiDestined are reunited with their partner Digimon in order to figure out why a mysterious virus has infected both the human and digital worlds.

The final film, Digimon Adventure tri.: Future,will close out the series on September 20th.