Blade & Bastard Voice Actors Share Their Characters' Connection
Blade & Bastard is an upcoming fantasy anime based on a light novel series by Kumo Kagyu of the same name. It's set in the world of the classic RPG Wizardry, first released in North America in 1981, and then in Japan in 1985. Many fantasy stories feature plucky heroes on quests to become stronger, but Blade & Bastard focuses on the arduous process of surviving dungeon exploration.
At Anime Expo 2026, we had the chance to sit with Makoto Furukawa, who voices Iarumas, and Daiki Yamashita, who voices Raraja, and ask them about the series' unconventional take on the fantasy genre and the relationship between their characters against the backdrop of such a unique dungeon-crawling story.
Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
What's your impression of Iarumas? What's unique about him that you think might present a challenge (or opportunity) in portraying him?
Makoto Furukawa: Iarumas is a very cool character. He's very relaxed and intelligent, and I think that's what makes him appealing. But because he has amnesia and there isn't as much clear information about his past, there's a mystery about him that makes him very interesting as a character. However, Blade & Bastard is based on the RPG Wizardry, so if you know that game and its lore, you'll have more insight into Iarumas as a character.
Part of the story and the worldview of the series is going into the dungeon and conquering it, and in a certain sense, he's a junkie – discovering ways to get through and beat the dungeon. That's a part of his character, an aspect of the acting that I paid close attention to.
Iarumas spends much of the story dealing with the consequences of other people's adventures. Do you see him as someone who's given up on heroism, or someone who understands it more deeply than others?
FURUKAWA: My take is that he hasn't given up on anything. But maybe he's not so worried about heroism. Instead, he's really focused on the dungeon and its emotional aspect, and for him, going into the dungeon and finding something to accomplish there is what drives him. I think that's an important part of his character.
What's your impression of Raraja? Are there aspects of him that you think present a unique challenge or opportunity in portraying him?
Daiki Yamashita: Of the characters of Blade & Bastard, I think Raraja is probably the most normal. He's the type of character viewers can experience the story with because he gives the freshest reactions to what's happening.
Of course, since it's a fantasy world, some aspects of his character are a little different from normal people. Like everyone else, he has a dark history and a dark past. But for him, the dungeon is a place to go to find a goal to accomplish. He has a reason to go in there. He wants to find something in the dungeon to motivate him.
Iarumas has seen what the dungeon takes from people, while Raraja is still discovering that for himself. What do you think Raraja sees in Iarumas that makes him want to stay by his side?
YAMASHITA: At first, I think Raraja is impressed by Iarumas' strength and fighting ability. That connects to his sense of survival, that he wants to be able to protect himself. They live in such a chaotic world that it can be difficult to survive without power, which is why he looks to Iarumas as someone who can help him survive and live longer. At least at first.
As time goes on, Raraja starts to see a human side to Iarumas, like his emotional side. He discovers that there's a real person in there, someone he can care about. So they start to develop a bit of a partnership. That kind of relationship is special for him.
A lot of fantasy stories focus on conquering the dungeon, but Blade & Bastard is more interested in the aftermath when things go wrong. What stands out to you about that approach, and how do you see it reflected in your characters?
YAMASHITA: In the fantasy genre, many stories have a sense of safety, but Blade & Bastard is not like that. There's always an anxiety that someone may actually die, and I actually like that about the show. Raraja is relatively weak, which surprised me at first. And as we go along in the story, he experiences the most life-threatening situations, and that excitement, that thrill that comes from it, is something that's nice about the show.
Since the show is based on a game, there's the dungeon and having a class. Raraja is a thief, so he gets to interact with treasure chests and deal with traps, which is another part that's fun to watch.
FURUKAWA: The question asks about the aftermath of when things go wrong, but I don't really see it that way. I've played a little bit of Wizardry myself, and I look at beating the dungeon as something you have to do through trial and error. You go down, and something goes wrong – someone dies, or maybe even the whole party dies – but you bring up the body, you have it revived, and then you spend the money and time to get better equipment. And then you go back down again. It's that kind of cycle.
Obviously, some sad things do happen along the way – some characters don't get revived, and instead they turn to ash – that's just part of the process. To a certain extent, the story does focus on that sadness, but that's actually the appeal of Wizardry as a game. Iarumas, as a character, enjoys that trial-and-error process. He's also the character with the most experience and the one who understands how it works, which is why it's more exciting for him.
So many fantasy protagonists are driven by a quest or a desire to get stronger. Iarumas and Raraja seem more occupied with understanding the world they live in and the people around them. Do you think that changes the kinds of emotions you'll get to explore as actors?
YAMASHITA: For that adventurer archetype of character in fantasy, it's very common for them to excitedly say something like “Yeah, I wanna get strong!”, but there's no one like that in the show. All the characters in the show are struggling. Some of them, like Garbage, have a really sad past. At the same time, they're excited about going through the dungeon.
That gets at the core of what an adventure is. Blade & Bastard has a very good balance of going on an adventure into the unknown, which is fun and exciting, but at the same time, you might die. So there's a sense of anxiety and tension.
Even as actors, it's exciting because we don't know what's going to happen as the adventure goes on. We might suffer, we might fail, but that's part of the excitement.
I'll do my best and hope that Raraja doesn't die.
FURUKAWA: Even if Raraja dies, Iarumas will bring him back and revive him. The revival definitely won't fail for him.
[They both laugh.]
FURUKAWA: In terms of voicing Iarumas, it's a balance of rational thinking and emotional thinking. But when it comes to adventurers going into the dungeon, you need to establish trust within the party to create that sense of safety as you explore. That's something I'm conscious of as we record. Iarumas has a clear goal: he wants to get his past back and remember what happened before. Part of reaching that goal is going into the dungeon. He understands and enjoys that process. I think he cares about the members of his party who also understand and enjoy it.
Maybe from the outside, Iarumas seems very cold and not very human, but as you go along, glimpses of his human side come through in these interactions.
When Raraja and Iarumas are together, do you think Raraja sees Iarumas as a role model, a warning, or something in between?
YAMASHITA: From Raraja's perspective, life in this world, and particularly in the dungeon, is full of despair. And when he was on the very edge of this despair, Iarumas taught him what it means to go on an adventure and how fun it can actually be. So he's kind of like the light of hope, and a teacher, and many different things at the same time.
The scene that exemplifies this most is when he has to open a treasure chest. From Iarumas' perspective, that's Raraja's job. He's the thief, so he should be opening the chest. Although no one says it to Raraja specifically, there's a sense of expectation that he has a role to fulfill. And he's probably never had anyone put that expectation on him before. So for Raraja, that's actually one of the exciting parts about it. He goes, “Oh, I have a thing to do with this party”, and I think that actually makes him happy.
Raraja sometimes sees a hint of sadness in Iarumas' character, and he doesn't want to ignore it. He can't let him go. He needs to be with him.
Iarumas keeps people at a distance, for understandable reasons. What is it about Raraja that makes him willing to let him in?
FURUKAWA: Iarumas sees Raraja as this young character who's throwing everything he has into beating the dungeon. I think Iarumas probably had that part of his life where he was young and throwing himself at the challenge, so when he looks at Raraja, he kind of smiles and thinks, “Good for him.” Communication is not his strong suit, but because they're a party, they have to communicate. Over time, they open up a little more, and he develops a relationship with Raraja.
Blade & Bastard has a lot of characters who have lost something, be it their memories, their companions, or even simple certainty. Do you think it's still ultimately a hopeful story?
YAMASHITA: It's impossible to fight without some sort of hope, because it would just be a pointless struggle, so I think there is some hope in the story. People need a goal, something they want to achieve. And that's what drives them to become stronger. So, yes, I think it's hopeful.
FURUKAWA: I can't really give you a solid answer. I think it's a story where hope gets born. Each character is finding their own hope as they come to understand the process. It isn't necessarily something that's given to them, but something they have to find through experience.
If you don't beat the dungeon the first time, you have to go back again, and you can't do that without hope. As you look ahead, I feel like you can imagine each character developing into the strong adventurer you normally associate with this type of story.
If someone came into Blade & Bastard expecting a typical fantasy adventure, what aspect of the story do you think would surprise them most?
FURUKAWA: In the fantasy genre, it's very common for characters to fight, then level up and get stronger, which is kind of easy to interpret. One of the nice parts about Blade & Bastard is that it's a little more old-fashioned. It's not quite that simple. They have to really struggle to reach their goals. It's about thinking through how to approach the fight. That's what makes the story interesting.
YAMASHITA: A lot of us grew up on those adventure stories where it's kind of slower and step-by-step. In that sense, going through the show, it has an almost nostalgic feel, and I like that about it.
FURUKAWA: Kind of like [Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai]. It's a pretty complicated show, in the sense that a lot of aspects are coming together, so there's no easy example to put on the table and say, “Yeah, that's a surprising element”; it's kind of an overall thing.
YAMASHITA: As we've said before, it's trial and error. It's a process of failing, getting back up, and then trying again. And as you watch it, you're inspired to root for them because it's not easy.
discuss this in the forum |
back to All the News and Reviews from Anime Expo 2026
Convention homepage / archives
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.