Attack on Titan's fourth and final season, premiering December 6th, is one of the most highly anticipated anime of 2020. The series follows the surviving members of the Survey Corps as they struggle against a world that's much more vast than they ever knew – and regards the people of Paradis Island as its enemy. The fate of the Survey Corps, Titan Shifters, Paradis and humanity itself will be decided in a season that promises to be even darker and more action-packed than its predecessors.
The cast for Attack on Titan's English dub has been assembled to play their characters for a final time, including Trina Nishimura as Mikasa Ackerman and Jessica Calvello as Hange Zoë. CBR spoke to Trina and Jessica about their thoughts on the season, Attack on Titan's tendency to kill main characters and voice acting during a global pandemic.
CBR: Can you tell us a bit about your first impressions of the characters you play – Mikasa and Hange? Do those impressions differ at all from how you see them going into Season 4?
TN: My first impression I ever had of Mikasa was the very opening scene of the show. And she has her devotion in that moment, and her relationship with Eren in that initial scene remains the same. In a lot of ways, she has changed a lot emotionally over the past seasons. She's definitely not as guarded as she was. I think that's really neat. However, when there is a battle to be fought, she definitely comes through. So knowing that there are quite a few battles left, and quite a bit of change coming, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the new, more emotionally in-tune Mikasa continues to be a fierce warrior.
JC: Oh my God, my first impression of the magnificent Hange. My first impression of her was just wonderful and pure love. The character is wonderfully, wildly complicated and super, super smart and seems to just be, you know, an amazing strategist and educator. Just a beautiful brain.
When I started watching the show – and that's a much longer story – I was like, "Oh my gosh, I hope I get to audition for that character because that character is amazing!" And as far as going into Season 4, I'm actually a little bit behind on the show. I watched the subtitled version, the original, obviously, when it first came out. And then, of course, the cast for the dub happened and everything, and I had already seen Season 1 and then I would watch every episode for Season 2 before we recorded because I wanted to know what was going on. But then for Season 3, I wanted to be completely surprised. So I never actually watched Season 3. It's kind of a weird thing to understand, because it's like, "Well, you've dubbed Season 3. Of course, you saw it." No, I only saw my actual lines and whenever Hange was speaking. And so that's not the same thing as actually watching the episode, so I'm actually kind of behind, but the character has stayed consistent – Hange's crazy, Hange's smarts, Hange's planning and strategizing. It's all there.
Going into Season 4, I expect Hange to have even more answers and really be that beacon of light and comedic edge, you know, that the show desperately needs. Cause it's not a comedy – it's so bleak! So Hange is needed for so many things. And I see that continuing on to Season 4 even though I'm a little behind on the story.
Attack on Titan first aired in 2013, and I imagine it’s been a significant aspect of both your lives since then. How does it feel now that the show is in its final season?
TN: Now that it's in its final season, it's a little bittersweet. There has been so much that the show has given to me as a person. I've met so many amazing people. The actor that plays Eren, Bryce Papenbrook, has become one of my closest friends. I've literally traveled the world and met so many amazing fans and friends and people, that I cannot possibly imagine what my life would be like without this show. And now that it's ending, I'm just incredibly grateful for all of the experiences. Being able to portray the English voice of Mikasa over the years has been an absolute thrill and delight. It's sad to see the end, but I'm so grateful for the ride.
JC: Man, I'm not ready. I'm probably gonna have a little bit of trouble when Season 4 happens. I'm not reading the manga, so no spoilers for me! And I certainly don't want any spoilers from anyone else. Of course, in this day and age, it's impossible to stay away from spoilers, but the show coming to a close is probably going to be a little tough for me creatively.
I really identify with Hange – not because I have her intelligence. Nope! But I've just grown to love the character. It was love at first sight and it's going to be hard to let that go. And it's a similar feeling to when I did lots of stage when I lived in New York. You're great friends with all these people. It's like you have a little family, six to eight weeks, or however long the run of the show is, and at the end of it there's this pain in your heart because it's like, "Oh, it's over now." And for me with this show, we don't get to work with each other as we're dubbing the show. So it's just really my connection with Hange and it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough, but I'm just gonna do my best.
You haven't read the manga, so you don't know, well ...
JC: Nope! I have not. I haven't read any of the manga.
Oh wow.
JC: I know! We'll see. That's what I'm saying. Like it's impossible to stay away from spoilers. Yeah. So I may have heard rumors which I do not want to discuss. But I'm ready for anything. Just with the beautiful character Hange is, I look forward to seeing how things play out and to see what happens and where the show takes things. I do know it's going to be a wild ride.
Last month, I spoke with Justin Briner about My Hero Academia, and he mentioned voice acting from home on account of COVID-19. Is this something you’ve had to do, and if so, what’s it like screaming battle lines in the vicinity of your neighbors?
TN: Yeah. I have recorded at home. It has been challenging. Actually, "fun fact", for the past I guess almost two months now my partner was hospitalized. He's fine now. It was non-COVID related, and he's totally fine now but Gino the head engineer – I don't know what his exact title is at Funimation other than wizard – helped me record from there. The hospital allowed me to turn the telephone room, off of the waiting room, into a recording studio. Gino brought C-stands and sound blankets up to the hospital and dropped them off for me. So I had like a blanket fort inside of the telephone room to record in.
And I think my favorite recording moment of 2020 and recording remotely, was when I was screaming at the top of my lungs that – for a show – I was going to kill someone over and over because the mic kept peaking out. So I just kept screaming, "I'm going to kill you!" or kind of a little bit more explicit than that over and over and over. And somebody was like, "Are you okay?!" And ripped the door open. And it was this janitor man who was older, and he was very worried because he couldn't see into the telephone room because of the blankets and he thought I was killing somebody...
That's hilarious.
TN: That's my favorite remote recording moment. Like some nice old cleaning man thought I was killing somebody.
It's dedicated of you to be doing your lines from the hospital.
TN: It was a crazy moment. I was fortunate enough to have such an amazing tribe and Funimation was so flexible and so kind about the whole experience. It was a much welcome reprieve for my brain to be able to scream my frustration into a microphone, much to the dismay of the hospital staff.
JC: I've been super lucky to have my own studio space since like 2013. I had this space built because I wanted to partner with a bunch of different companies, some anime, some not anime. I work with other animation companies like Sideline Happiness. I've done some work with Nosy Entertainment, dubbed some great shows with them. So I've actually been doing this for a minute. It's been going on six, seven years.
I feel for my comrades and colleagues because putting this thing together is really challenging. It's literally built into my home with double pane glass and soundproofing in the walls and under the floor for richer bass tones. Before that, I had this great little makeshift studio out of my closet, which works just fine too, but that also wasn't easy. And don't even get me started on the technical nightmares you can encounter just turning on your freaking mic. I've always been grateful to have a lot of really good people in my life who are way smarter than I am.
In Season 4, Mikasa’s motivations and loyalties will be tested more than anyone else. For a character that’s not known for expressing her feelings much, Trina, how do you approach voicing those moments of emotional crisis?
TN: Mikasa isn't known for emoting, right? She's not known for showing her emotions or showing her cards, and a lot of that is because of the childhood trauma that she endured. So she is accustomed to fighting and fighting and fighting, and emotions ... well, the way that I perceived it when I was playing her was that she saw – what I thought in my brain when I was trying to be stone-cold – that as a weakness. Being sad is a weakness or being emotional is a weakness. And it exposes you to danger. Like, when that thing happened to her in Season 1, which I'm trying not to spoil by dancing around it.
But she does have a deep well of emotion and she does have so much care and so much love and so much feeling. And that's why she fights. She never wanted to join the Survey Corps, that was just to protect Eren. She never wanted to fight. She never wanted to be a good fighter. She does it out of love and devotion to her adopted family unit. All of that comes from love. Emoting that or expressing those feelings or ideas isn't something that she's incapable of. It's just something that happens when she is at her most desperate. So that's basically how I approach it.
Jessica, your character in a lot of ways is the opposite of Mikasa with her over the top enthusiasm and passion. Is it hard for you to get into Hange's mindset?
JC: Noooooo, because that's me. I am so extra. I'm not saying Hange is a typecast, but I am normally sort of pigeonholed and typecast into super, super, super, super, super energetic characters, no brag and no problem. Because that's the thing I do. I have a lot of energy and I can speak really fast.
My challenge with Hange is to pull her back because there are definitely times when, you know, Hange goes crazy and she's really expressive and all the things are happening! But there's a lot of times when Hange is giving exposition and she's not as excitable as that character normally is. And I have to really rein it in and make sure that I'm not too over the top. Because if I don't give Hange good balance, then the over the top scenes are going to be tiresome, and then the exposition scenes are going to be too much. So it really is a fine balance that I try to strike in keeping in tune with the character.
Attack on Titan is a show where no character is safe, and this is even more true in the final season. Have either of you ever been nervous that your character would die?
TN: Every episode. I am nervous every episode that my character will die. I have been told over the years at various times by various people that my character does in fact die. The first time it happened, I was really nervous about it and I called the director. I was like, "Do I die next season?" He was like "No, you don't die." He had no idea. But he gave me reassurance anyway and luckily I didn't. But yeah, I'm nervous every single time that I go into the booth that I'm going to die because it's one of those shows where you just could.
JC: Oh yes. Like all the time! I don't know how this is going to play out, cause I don't know what happens in Season 4, but I've always said this – I've said this at cons, I've said this in other interviews. I truly hope that if Hange dies at some point, that the character is given a spectacular death because Hange is a spectacular character and – I'm getting emotional.
I got a little worried in the first season. We're introduced to her insane antics and you know, jumping into the mouths of Titans and just being really into her science, poking things in the eyes. Then poor Moblit. Oh sweet, sweet, sweet, dear Moblit, constantly trying to rein Hange in. Like, "Commander, oh my God, stop. What are you doing, please? You're too close." And Hange's just "Ahahahaha!" because she's nuts.
But if Hange goes out, I want her to go out with a big bang and I hope it's extraordinary and I hope it's honorable because that character deserves it.
Last question. Now that Attack on Titan is in the final part of its story, is there anything you hope other shows will learn from it?
TN: Big takeaways from Attack on Titan for other shows, or just big takeaways from Attack on Titan in general, would be that inclusion is important. That outdated standards about gender roles are silly and pointless, and that it's important to make sure everyone is represented. And that everyone is included as an individual without any preconceived notions of what they should be. And I think that Attack on Titan has done that beautifully over the years, even when it wasn't popular to do so.
JC: I think character arcs are important, and I've seen Armin go through an extraordinary character arc. I love character arcs. I think there's always something to be learned about something that's done really well.
Attack on Titan is returning for its final season on December 6th. It is available for streaming on FunimationNow and Crunchyroll.
