ComicsVerse got the chance to sit down with voice actors Kyle McCarley and Chris Niosi about their roles in MOB PSYCHO 100 at Anime NYC 2017. [divider style="shadow" top="12" bottom="12"] ComicsVerse: I'm Sam, I'm here with Kyle McCarley and Chris Niosi. So tell me MOB PSYCHO has countless expressions that constantly shift from simplistic to absurdly detailed. What's it like working with a show with such a unique aesthetic? Chris Niosi: Kyle? Kyle McCarley: Me? Chris Niosi: Yes. Kyle McCarley Throwing that one to me first, okay. I think it's pretty cool that the art style in this show kind of jumps around from, like it could be really super detailed and then it can to just raw, sketchy, fun stuff. And I think that's pretty cool. I kind of, I like that art style almost more than the stuff that's hyper-realistic. I like the aesthetic of MOB but it does jump around a lot. There's really wacky, absurd, fun stuff, mixed in with the simplistic and it's fun. Chris Niosi: Yeah. I'm a huge fan of Studio Bones. I love a lot of their work, I've been watching My Hero Academia,as well, another great show. And yeah, well I love, Mob has this very striking, it's based directly on One the creator, his artwork. This isn't like with ONE PUNCH MAN where he has another artist doing the super cool looking version of it. This is just straight up based on his kind of art. And I love how insane it gets. Especially 'cause also my character is massively, he's a very animated individual though he's also an animated character. And so it's also challenging just because of how literally all over the screen he tends to be at any given shot. But I'm a big animation buff so having a really unique looking show like this and being a part of it is really special. ComicsVerse: So what's the best method of acting for this type of stuff? Kyle McCarley: Oh. That's a very different question for our two characters. Because Mob is so quiet and reserved 99 percent of time. And even when he gets to 100 percent he doesn't really get all that boisterous. I mean there is, there are one or two moments where he gets a little bit screamy. But other than that there's not a whole lot of preparation that necessarily needs to be done. Not a whole lot of vocal warmup. It's a little bit higher pitched than my normal speaking voice but I don't have to you know, go gargle the Chinese throat syrups or anything like that. Chris Niosi: Yeah, I had 8 and a half hours of recording not in a row but total for just episode one because Reigen had just so many lines. So yeah, a lot of me and John Pippa Qwa or Hulk juices we call it in LA sometimes. This magical Chinese cough syrup that just makes your throat better, certainly helps on the physical side. In terms of just influence we we're doing the panel yesterday and we were joking about our voice director Chris Casin was kind of poking fun as if like Mob's voice is almost like Michael Jackson-esk a little bit. And then I realized for myself that I'm like oh, I'm just channeling all of my off-the-wall Jim Carey 90's movie impressions. Kind of, "Well of course your don't understand" that kind of thing. And that was, see I wasn't even thinking that but it was seeping through and I'm like oh I see now. So, anime in general is, for myself anyways I think that doing homework is good. We both watched the show in Japanese before we started recording. Which not everybody always has the time or sometimes patience to deal with every single show. Kyle McCarley: Sometimes some shows it's not even out yet. The Japanese version so we can't watch it so when we do get the chance and we have the time, yah that helps a lot. You were saying sorry I cut you off. Chris Niosi: Well, he's actually even, especially lately with advent of Broadcast dubs or Simal dubs yeah there isn't a lot of opportunity you just go in cold but thankfully 'cause this aired I think about a half a year before we started recording the dub we were able to watch it and you know, get a good sense of okay, where are our characters going in these 12 episodes we have to play with? And I think that actually did help with allowing us to kind of you know, really do the best job we could possibly do with the whole story. So, yay! ComicsVerse: Now that you said it I can see the Jim Carey. Chris Niosi: Right? ComicsVerse: I can see it. Chris Niosi: I went in to record one day and I saw another actor I hadn't seen in a while and we were joking and he was like, "oh, what are you up to today?", I'm like, "oh doing some, I'm doing Jim Carey as an anime character." And he was like, "oh, sounds like a really nice," "relaxing, easy session." and I'm like, "oh you bet, I'm gonna die.". Kyle McCarley: Meanwhile I'm over here, "um, okay, hi". Chris Niosi: You have it easy, no that's not true. Kyle actually doesn't have it easy 'cause a character like Mob is actually quite challenging to play in a way that is interesting 'cause sometimes you get those kind of I don't want to say monotone but you know, affected sort of characters like that. But Kyle did an awesome job on him and so precious. Kyle McCarley: He's just innocent you know. He's is pure childhood innocence. It's kind of fun watching him kind of develop and have that struggle with well, spoilers. I don't want to go into too much but it you know. Chris Niosi: With his powers. Kyle McCarley: With his powers and everything yeah. Chris Niosi: That's part of the premise right? Yeah. ComicsVerse: So I think you guys both know that you're dynamic in shows, fun, and really, really entertaining. So what's your relationship like outside of the show and has it impacted your performance or vice versa? Chris Niosi: Well it was funny so we were in a video game together I think I did that within the first year I was living in LA and so I knew your name from that specifically and then we ran into each other on a callback for another anime. Kyle McCarley: Literally just passing each other in a hallway and said "Oh hey, how's it going?". Chris Niosi: He said, "Oh hey, you were so and so in such thing." I was like "yeah." Then I think actually that first week when I was just all week. I was doing episode one that was 8 hours spread across Monday through Thanksgiving week it was, it was about a year ago. I think you came into the restroom and were finally talking a little bit more and then just also kind of around by happenstance we just happened to be seeing each other a lot more at other things and then got to know each other. Now we're like brothers but closer. Kyle McCarley: But that was probably the first time we had a conversation we had already started recording. I think I may have already finished the first episode and so we really didn't know each other very well. Even by the time we finished recording the whole show but we've you know, we've gotten to know each other because of it and yeah, yeah, yeah. Chris Niosi: It's funny too because also I mean we, a lot of us do a lot of same shows and you know, 'cause we work for a lot of the same companies and clients and things. So, a lot of even other people in the cast we know Eric Kimerer, Mike Sorich we've worked with, he also directs a lot of stuff too. Max Mittelman who's in everything ever exists right now. A lot of folks and then people from other shows and games we've worked on. We all like, "Let's get coffee" "or let's go do this thing" "or hey you want to hangout after session today?". Whatever, you know, and we're all pretty chummy except when we secretly hate each other. Not really, no. ComicsVerse: I'm sure that makes sessions really relaxing too right? It takes the edge off if you're not really feeling like working that day or. Chris Niosi: Well, see, ah man, I wish there was a universe where it was easy for us to dub anime together. Because they do that in Japan. We can't because it's too difficult to do that and even not just scheduling but just technically it's too difficult to dub at the same time. Some people have tried it, I don't think it worked out very well. But when I'm recording and I hear if somebody's already recorded for me, oh it's so and so, hey it's my buddy. And oh that's cool, or I'll even be, I'm nosy, I'll be like, "who's play da da da?". And they're like, "Chris they're not even cast yet," "shut up just do your lines". So yeah, we're all cool with each other and stuff so. ComicsVerse: The show can be really funny but of course it has its serious and intense moments. How have you managed to act both ways while trying to stay true to your character? Kyle McCarley So I think when the auditions for this show came around I could tell from the art style. I was like oh, this looks a lot like ONE PUNCH MAN I didn't know anything about it prior to that. However, I watched the first episode and I was like, "Oh it's silly, it's goofy, it's fun," "just like ONE PUNCH MAN this is gonna be great". And then we got into recording or well when I got cast I got the chance to watch it all and I went, "Oh there's actually, there's some depth to this show too" "which makes it even better in" "my opinion than ONE PUNCH MAN". And so I think that's really cool. The question was what's it like to act? Sorry I went on a tangent. ComicsVerse How do you, yeah, how do you manage to go from the fun and silly moments but then to the deep and when it gets really personal? Kyle McCarley: I think it's ultimately just putting yourself in that character's shoes. I mean the comedy kind of comes easy I feel like. At least if you've got that comic you know, that comic bone whatever it is, that comedic timing thing. Which I feel like it'd be really tough to do dubbing if you don't have the ability to do comedic timing. So I think that part comes easy. Then just bouncing to the more serious moments is all about just being in the shoes of the character and understanding what they're experiencing. And I think that, that goes for the comedy as well. If you're in the mind of the character and understanding where they're coming from, what they're life experiences are and what they're going through I think the comedy just happens on its own too. Chris Niosi: Yeah, I tell a lie 'cause even though the screaming and yelling and ridiculousness of Reigen was definitely challenging it also, I felt really comfortable in this character. I keep joking all the time about how I almost feel like the fact that I got cast as him was kind of a fluke 'cause I play a lot of these kind of guys in a lot of other anime and I don't even think that I'm particularly good at those kind of guys. But Reigen was oh this is just me. I'm just, it's just me in pure dialed out to 11 being ridiculous. So it felt very comfortable and then because of that, especially because our director Chris Casin was so collaborative. We were given a lot of freedom by Crunchy Role and by Bang Zoom as well. Then Mike McFarland from Funimation did some awesome scripts. You know, it was a really good set up that lent itself to just oh, we can like play with this and have fun and really put a lot of effort and make this as good as we can possibly make it. And I think the fact that also the casting for all the characters I think was very well put together. I think that everybody was pretty like, "hey, yeah, I relate to this insane person" "who may or may not have psychic powers". So it was just, did that answer the question at all? I hope, I don't know. Did in a way. ComicsVerse: So finally, what's been your absolute favorite moment? Kyle McCarley: From the show? ComicsVerse: Mhmm. Kyle McCarley: Okay, my favorite moment is I think it's in episode 2 maybe episode 3. I can't remember. It's Mob is revealing to the Telepathy club his psychic powers for the first time. Because they're all like, "you don't have psychic powers". So then he lifts up all of the, spins them around the room and they're all like, "What?!". And then there's the one weight that's just floating above his hand and he says, "so is that enough, do you believe me now?" And then he lets it drop into his hand and goes, "whoa, that's heavy!". That's my favorite moment. Chris Niosi: A favorite funny moment for me? Oh god, don't make me choose. No, okay, I like I think it's the second episode. Yeah, that was the third one you're talking about. Episode 2 was before when he's meeting the Telepathy club but also we go to another school on an investigative job and we dress up as girls. Funny story, so Casin originally wanted me to do this falsetto like I am a girl kind of voice for when Reigen was having the skirt on and everything. My voice was so shot from basically having three Thanksgivings in a row. All the Hulk juice in the world couldn't save it so I could do the "Ah" thing at all. So I was like, "Casin can I try something else?" "Okay, so I just did this like um, excuse me," "We on our way to class," "I'm just a girl that goes to school here, yeah.". And then he does the noises with his mouth flapping open, that was fun. And also as far as a dramatic moment, we were talking about this in the panel yesterday, the second to last episode where some very dramatic stuff is happening. There's clutching and listen to me I'm trying to help kind of thing and then without giving too much away. It was a flashback where they meet for the first time. And despite the fact that Reigen is very megalomaniacal, that's a word. He's an egotist and a manipulator, there we go. He really, really genuinely cares about Mob a lot. I feel like that first scene of them meeting when Mob's like a little, itty, bitty kiddo, really says everything about their relationship. Then it leads very nicely into the finale. And I loved getting to do that, we worked really hard on that sequence in particular. Do you have a favorite serious moment Kyle? Kyle McCarley: I don't want to spoil anything but there's some really good development between Mob and Ritsu. And the moment that you're talking about with Reigen is pretty. I think very important to the development of the story as well. But there's some really good stuff with Mob and Ritsu that happens late in the show that I really like as well. I don't want to get any more specific on that. Chris Niosi: There's tears throughout. Also, some really good fights. Oh this is the middle point, there's the fight scene between you and the hoodie guy from Claw. I can't remember his name. There's a really, really gorgeously animated, kick-ass fight scene the middle half of the show. I won't give context in the story but that's a thing to look forward to in case you haven't seen it already but you know. And why haven't you? Why aren't you watching unless you haven't already? Kyle McCarley: MOB PSCYHO 100, Blue-Ray and DVD available for purchase on December 5th. Chris Niosi: Do it, do it. Kyle McCarley: It's an excellent decision. Chris Niosi Yes, you did my thing! Kyle McCarley: I did your thing. ComicsVerse: You guys are amazing. Kyle McCarley: Thank you. ComicsVerse: Thank you so much for your time. For more interviews like this go to ComicsVerse.com. I'm Sam and you're watching Comicsverse.

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