My Hero Academia Star Reflects on Anime’s Iconic ‘Dabi Dance’ Scene

My Hero Academia’s sixth season presented UA Academy’s young heroes with the biggest fight of their lives to date via the Paranormal Liberation War. Aside from several heroes dying and/or being severely injured, many crime fighters had their psyches take a hit. In the revelation that Dabi was the son of Endeavor, the current top hero, the hot-burning revealed his true origin to the world. In a moment of reflection, the Japanese voice actor who brings Dabi to life reflected on the pivotal moment.

Dabi, who was originally known as Toya Todoroki before he flamed out due to his father’s harsh standards, is voiced by Hiro Shimono in Japan. The voice actor has quite the resume outside the My Hero Academia universe, including playing the parts of Demon Slayer’s Zenitsu, Attack on Titan’s Conny, Pokemon’s Nezu, and Black Clover’s Nacht. As shonen fans have witnessed in promotional material, Dabi is set to play a big role in My Hero Academia’s seventh season, sporting a new look to coincide with his true identity being revealed. While Endeavor is still struggling with whether he can fight his own son, Shoto Todoroki appears ready to step up to the plate in the anime’s final arc.

Hiro Shimono Reflects On The “Dabi Dance”

Shimono started by breaking down the recording process of the dance that many anime fans compared to the Joker’s, “I recorded it with Toru Inada (who plays Endeavor) and Yuki Kaji (who plays Shoto Todoroki). Above all, I was looking forward to the scene in “Dabi Dance” where Endeavor fights Shoto, so I went into the dubbing with the mindset that I would play out the sequence over and over again no matter what order I received. That’s why when I finished recording, I thought to myself, “Are we done already?” or “We’ve only recorded two or three times.” Up until now, when I had played the role of Dabi, I had always felt repressed and didn’t know how to act. I’m not the type to raise my voice, and I say things that seem to make sense even when I don’t know what he’s thinking (lol).”

Hiro then explains how he feels about Dabi’s current mindset as one of the franchise’s biggest villains, “In my opinion, because Dabi has already died, he will continue to live, and he doesn’t think about what happens after he achieves his goal. That’s why I’ve been using the name “Dabi”. So from now on, I think all I can think about is putting all my strength, body, and soul into it.”

Via Animate Times