What happens next? Interview with four knights of the apocalypse at Otakon 2023

Nakaba Suzuki’s Four Knights of the Apocalypse is a sequel to his popular manga, The Seven Deadly Sins. The series focuses on the young boy Percival, who discovers his destiny is to become part of a group of four knights prophesied to destroy the world. An anime adaptation was announced for 2022 and is expected to premiere later this year. At Otakon 2023, Anime News Network had the opportunity to sit down and chat with four prominent figures who helped bring the series to life, including Yuya Matsuda, manga editor at Weekly Shōnen Magazine, the anime’s producer. Takuma Kishida, along with main voice actors Shou Komura and Kanna Nakamura. After speaking with them, we got a better idea of what fans and new viewers can expect from the upcoming anime adaptation.

I understand you are the editor of Weekly Shōnen Magazine and are currently the editor of the Four Knights of the Apocalypse manga series. Can you share what it’s like being an editor for this series along with your other responsibilities at Weekly Shōnen Magazine? What’s it like working with so many talented writers and artists every week? I understand the work between the author and his editor to be collaborative. What is a typical meeting like between you and the creatives you work with?

Yuya MATSUDA: Since this is a weekly magazine, meetings with the creators will happen about once or twice a week, mainly about what’s happening next. So we’ll talk about what happens next in terms of rough sketches or storyboards that they might have and how we see it as a comic. After I look at it as a manga, I will give feedback on which parts are difficult to read or give feedback like that. And those will then be carried over into the finished comic series. So then we’ll talk about what happens next. It’s an ongoing process of what happens next.

Speaking of what happens next, that’s one of my next questions since Four Knights of the Apocalypse is considered a sequel/spiritual successor to The Seven Deadly Sins. Was it always the plan to continue that series with a sequel focusing on the next generation?

MATSUDA: So although I don’t know how much was planned, Nakaba-sensei originally thought of a manga that focused on exploration, and The Seven Deadly Sins was planned to represent that. I believe that in Nakaba-sensei’s mind, there were probably ideas about the Four Knights of the Apocalypse even before watching The Seven Deadly Sins, but that’s my speculation.

Shou Komura, the voice of Percival Kanna Nakamura, the voice of Anghalad

My next question is for Shou Komura and Kanna Nakamura. I know you two are still very new in the industry. I was hoping you could share a little bit about your voiceover journey. What made you want to do voice acting and what was it like specifically applying for these roles?

Shou Komura: Yes, this is my first main character and the first audition I had for a main role. So, acting with those characteristics is something I feel really excited about. Percival is a character who enters new worlds that are unknown to him. In a sense, he is an adventurer. So in that sense, I believe that Percival is a lot like me because I learn new things every day as a new voice actor and I feel like a part of me really identifies with Percival. That’s what makes Percival such a fun character to play.

Kanna Nakamura: Hello! As a new voice actress, I wanted to play a cool girl who would have fight scenes, and the moment of my audition and the moment I got the role were very meaningful to me because that was when I thought that I want. perform some such role. At the same time, Four Knights of the Apocalypse is something that integrates elements of comedy as well as action. I found both things I wanted to do within the character, and those elements made this role very interesting for me. So this was very important for me because I was able to meet a character that matched the ones I wanted to do and do my dream job since I was a child.

My next question is for Takuma Kishida. For fans of the original manga series as well as fans of the original Seven Deadly Sins, what can we expect from this upcoming adaptation? Is there anything in particular that you want fans or just audiences in general to keep an eye out for?

Takuma Kishida: I guess the first thing I want fans to see is that the main characters, voice actors, and team behind the anime are all new. They are all new to the industry. So that’s what I want people to keep an eye on. I believe the anime has very interesting visuals, good world building and character development. It integrates the idea of everyday scenes and humorous scenes and friendship between characters. So, there are a lot of things that fans can expect from the anime. In fact, action is an element that we are trying very hard to implement. The action scenes will be excellent and the character development in this series is something fans can hope to see in the anime. You can also expect scenes from the original manga to be featured in the animation. So I’m pretty sure that manga fans will probably see scenes they like in the anime as well.

Percival from The Four Knights of the Apocalypse

This last question is a general one for everyone, so for those who may not be familiar with The Seven Deadly Sins, how would you convince them to check out The Four Knights of the Apocalypse?

KISHIDA: So in Four Knights of the Apocalypse, you have five characters. What I want people to do first is watch until you see all five characters, and then I believe that by then, you will probably be sucked into this world.

NAKAMURA: Me too, in a place where I didn’t know the Seven Deadly Sins very well when I first auditioned, however I believed it was a series that you could participate in without prior knowledge. profound knowledge. You can be introduced into the series through the Four Knights of the Apocalypse and then go into the Seven Deadly Sins so you can experience both of them!

MATSUDA: So while Nakaba-sensei originally created Four Knights of the Apocalypse for fans of the Seven Deadly Sins, Nakaba-sensei also cared a lot about making Four Knights of the Apocalypse relevant with new fans. I think you could start with Four Knights of the Apocalypse and move back to The Seven Deadly Sins because it’s accessible.

KOMURA: You don’t need to know The Seven Deadly Sins before joining the Four Knights of the Apocalypse. Since you have new characters and everything is fresh, you can jump in without any previous knowledge. However, if people knew the Seven Deadly Sins before they entered the Four Knights of the Apocalypse, they might see some of the characters meet. Then you can make a connection there because you can say, “I know what’s going to happen with this! I see where this is going!” So you can understand certain scenes better if you have context.