Anime Expo 2018 News Roundup: Day Zero, One, Two Headlines

Anime Expo 2018: The Seven Deadly Sins with Bryce Papenbrook and Yuuki Kaji

Due to the success of the first season, The Seven Deadly Sins made its return to Netflix with a second season earlier this year. A movie is set to be released later. The popular series is based off a manga created by Nakaba Suzuki, who wrote and illustrated a pilot chapter for Weekly Shōnen Magazine over six years ago. The manga is published and licensed by Kodansha USA.

The series features a group of knights known as the Seven Deadly Sins who were accused of devising a plot to overthrow the monarchy. After being run off by a rival group, the Holy Knights, many in the Liones Kingdom believed the group to be dead. In a cruel twist of fate, the real villains became the Holy Knights, who staged a coup d'etat. Now defeated, Princess Elizabeth decides to search for the mythical Seven Deadly Sins for the sake of her country.

Fans waited with bated breath for The Seven Deadly Sins panel to begin on the second day of Anime Expo, hoping a date would be announced for an upcoming new season. A new trailer for the upcoming movie, The Seven Deadly Sins: Prisoners of the Sky, was shown and the film set to premiere in Japan on August 18. The movie will eventually make its way overseas.

Those lucky enough to gain access into the crowded ballroom were treated to a question and answer session with Bryce Papenbrook and Yūki Kaji, the English and Japanese voices of Meliodas. Upon Kaji's arrival on stage, the fangirls unleashed a mighty roar, and the Q&A begun!

How did you guys react when you got the role of Meliodas in 2014?

Kaji:  I actually knew about the manga when it was announced to become an anime, so when I heard I had received a role in the series I was very excited.

Meliodas is the leader of The Seven Deadly Sins, so as a voice actor I felt I had to be the leader of the whole crew and where I was at in my career during this time, this was a little of a heavy weight on my shoulders.

Papenbrook: I was very excited for the role. I had never played someone thousands of years old before. Another short, blonde character to add to my resume.

How excited were you when you heard about the new season releasing in 2018?

Kaji: So, by the time season one came out, I realized how popular the series was. Not just in Japan, but all over the world. I was hoping I could play Meliodas in another season, so when I heard, I was very happy.

With all the new changes to Meliodas in the new season, what changed about your approach to the character?

Kaji: When the series began, Meliodas is a very established character with personality, so in this new season I got to discover more about his sins and what he is experiencing such as anger and sadness. I feel like I got to understand him a lot better.

What did you do to get into character from the beginning of the series vs now?

Papenbrook: When I started I didn't know the character very well, but as I did the voice more and more I discovered a trick to make me get into the character which is raise my eyebrows so that it will stretch my vocal chords/

What was your most challenging recording session?

Kaji: So in this new season, there is a new group of villains called the Ten Commandments and I do the voice of their leader as well. And so this is a new challenge in this new season for me.

Papenbrook: In the first season, I also play two characters. I play Love Helm, the really annoying referee. Probably the most annoying character in the series. My wife was pregnant when I was practicing this voice. And I was practicing and practicing and she said, "If you practice that voice one more time I'm having this baby right now."

What are you looking forward to most in the new series?

Papenbrook: So this show is called The Seven Deadly Sins and we still have yet to meet them all, so I can't wait to meet the seventh deadly sin.

Which sin would you choose to be if you had to pick?

Kaji: Obviously, I am Meliodas. So, I feel really connected to his power and particularly in getting by every day. I sometimes feel this heavy anger, but sometimes I feel like King because I kind of want to float around on a giant pillow.

Papenbrook: I also feel connected to Meliodas because it would be great to have the power of being so perverted and to get away with it. Other than Meliodas, I really like Ban. It would be really cool to have the power to live forever like that.