Naruto Voice Actress Recalls First Day Recording the Series

It has been years since Naruto was released, but the franchise is going on strong. Thanks to Boruto, the Hidden Leaf is moving into a new future. Of course, many of the fans following Boruto began with Naruto years ago, and a good few of them are familiar with the anime’s English dub, and the star who helped bring that version to life has opened up about her first days in the recording booth.

Recently, Anime NYC went live to the joy of all kinds of fans. Attendees flocked to the big-time convention, and it was there Maile Flanagan appeared. The actress, who voices Naruto in the English dub, appeared on a panel about voice acting where she admitted she was super nervous on her first day.

“I was nervous, really nervous,” she said about her first day recording Naruto.

“I had unfortunately looked at Naruto and realized it was huge and all on me. It was fun to dive in.”

Of course, just about anyone can understand those nerves whether they have acted or not. The first day on a job can be an exciting one which racks up nerves. Facing a set of unknown tasks as you get into a rhythm is intimidating, and the same fear presents itself to actors as well. While Flanagan might have been nervous to start, the actress got her bearings before long to become one of Naruto’s definitive voices.

Would you ever want to try your hand at voice acting? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, Naruto follows a young ninja, with a sealed demon within him, that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The series ran for 700 chapters overall, and was adapted into an anime series by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex that ran from 2002 to 2017. The series was popular enough to warrant a sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations which is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and features the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.