Whether you love Demon Slayer, Miraculous, Sword Art Online, Attack on Titan, or really most any other anime then this guy needs no introduction. Bryce Papenbrook took the stage at Awesome Con 2024 to share his experiences voicing iconic characters as well as answer questions from fans about them.
Bryce Papenbrook Panel Highlights – Awesome Con 2024
Eren Yeager, Rin Okumura, Cat Noir, Inosuke Hashibira, Kirito, and so many more characters are united by one thing, the amazingly talented Bryce Papenbrook. Bryce Papenbrook has been a professional voice over artist since the age of eight. He was introduced to the voice acting scene by his father, Bob Papenbrook, and has continued the trade in his footsteps.
Bryce has performed in numerous anime, video games, cartoons, and television shows. Some (because trust me this whole post could just be a list of who he has voiced) of his notable roles other than the ones listed already are Shirou Emiya in Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, Meliodas, Zeldris, Love Helm in The Seven Deadly Sins, Rin Okumura in Blue Exorcist, Silver in Team Sonic Racing, Yo Shindo in My Hero Academia, and Liebe in Black Clover.
From drinking sludgy coffee to get into character for Inosuke to shipping the love square of Miraculous, Bryce truly lit up the stage with his pure awesomeness. I also had the chance to chat with him at his booth and I'm just going to say if you have the chance to meet Bryce, do it. He was super nice, funny, and it was a total blast geeking out with him over our excitement that Blue Exorcist is officially back!
On getting into character and finding their voices
Bryce: Rin Okumura from Blue Exorcist is actually the easiest character to get into. I step into the booth, and I'm Rin! That's it! He's probably the character that's closest to my speaking voice and I put a lot of my own personality into the character as well. So yeah, it's been a lot of fun to step back into that role after seven years…And with each character I also leave the booth feeling differently. And with Rin, he just makes me happy.
I'm not as angry as Eren but I do have to find a way to connect with each character. And with Eren, that's me in traffic. I live in Los Angeles, the traffic is terrible and it makes me angry. But I did use something else early on in the show in season one. I had this dog…she loved to eat as they do. I had this bag of chips that I was really looking forward to eating at that poodle, she ate my chips! And that's where I found the anger for Eren.
Inosuke is a different type of anger and I find it in a kind of unique way through dark disgusting coffee. Like black tar in a cup. The kind that is so bitter it makes you angry. So I make this disgusting sludge, I take a sip and I'm just ahhhh that's Inosuke! I can scream like him all day long.
If Inosuke, Rin, and Cat Noir had theme songs what would they be?
Bryce: I feel like Insouke would need some like thrasher metal or something really heavy. I feel like Rin would appreciate that too at times. But he also might like something a little more gentle too. Cat Noir would need something French. I just imagine Cat Noir strolling [around listening] to this nice Parisian coffee drinking music. Are there any songs that are just full of cat puns? Those would work too probably. (Careless Whispers was mentioned by a fan and Bryce agreed with that for Cat Noir!)
On Rin, Inosuke, and Cat Noir surviving in Attack On Titan
Bryce: I think the character who would enjoy it the most is Inosuke. He [would] just be like ooo giant things I can fight! He would just be bouncing around killing stuff forever. I think Rin would fare very well also because he's got a nice sword that can cut and he can jump really high to be able to attack Titans. I think he would do pretty well. Cat Noir, I don't know if he would enjoy being in that world. He would do okay, but I think he might find some trouble if he misses with the cataclysm. If we're between Inosuke and Rin, I'm still part of those stories, I'm still telling them right now. Both of them are training. Rin is in school, and Inosuke's in Hashira training as it seems…so I guess I'll save my response until I see how strong they get.
Martial Arts with Johnny Yong Bosch
Bryce: Yes, I was a martial arts practitioner, that was my first passion. My mom started me in Tang Soo Do when I was just under five, it's the same style that Chuck Norris does and in this crazy world that has become my life. I love martial arts and I still train and I actually taught boxing and Muay Thai and I'm relatively new to Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I'm a full on white belt, which means that I go to classes to get choked out…One of the guys that I've worked with quite a bit, Johnny Yong Bosch, is a legit martial artist. When our schedules aligned, he would come to my house and pick me out before the sun rises. We would go and train and he would choke me out. It was great getting choked out by a Power Ranger. Actually Steve Cardenas, was kind of teaching us and instructing us so it was two Power Rangers choking me out on Sunday. Good times.
Shipping the love square of Miraculous
Bryce: There's this love square. You guys know the love square. It's a square because they don't know each other's identities and people like to connect them or ship them together. I ship the whole square. I want them to end up together in like 15 years because I love my job. I feel like that's the end of the show. Job security! Let them get together but way down the line.
*this interview has been edited for length and clarity*
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