My Hero Academia's Cliff Chapin Had A Hard Time With All The Screaming In The Cavalry Battle Episode
Depicting a world where superpowers — otherwise known as "quirks" — are common, "My Hero Academia" by Kohei Horikoshi is one of the most popular anime of the last decade, with over 65 million copies in circulation (via Twitter), 100 episodes, and three theatrical films. Though fans have had to wait a long time between seasons, this fantastical series has definitely made a name for itself as being worth the wait. "My Hero Academia" chronicles the life of Izuku "Deku" Midoriya (Daiki Yamashita/Justin Briner), a quirkless boy who gains powers from the number-one hero, All Might (Kenta Miyake/Christopher Sabat). Throughout his hero journey, he must learn to control his powerful gift, fight the League of Villains, and show exactly why All Might chose him as his successor.
But there are plenty of other incredible characters surrounding Deku, each with their own unique powers. This includes Katsuki Bakugo (Nobuhiko Okamoto/Clifford Chapin), Deku's childhood friend and bully, who can make explosives with his hands. Just like his quirk, Bakugo has an explosive personality and is easily angered. That often means that his English dub actor, Chapin, is forced to push his voice to the limits in several scenes. In an AMA Reddit thread four years ago, he — alongside co-stars Sabat and Briner — revealed the part of the series that he had the most difficulty with recording.
Clifford Chapin lost his voice
The Reddit AMA thread for the "My Hero Academia" stars saw many fans flocking to ask the voice actors about their characters. One commenter, u/samtaro111, asked what the hardest session was for each of them at the time. Clifford Chapin was quick to reply, though the answer may have changed after the movie, "World Heroes' Mission," was particularly grueling for him.
"I think the hardest episode for me to record was the Cavalry Battle episode where Bakugo chases down Monoma [Austin Tindle]. The screaming in that episode was especially intense and I started losing my voice pretty quickly," he said. The Cavalry Battle took place early on in the series during the U.A. Sports Festival. During the event, students team up — four people, including a rider and at least one horse — and try to steal each other's headbands, which have values printed on them. Being the competitive person he is, Bakugo is not about to lose.
Using Hanta Sero's (Christopher Bevins) tape quirk and Bakugo's explosives, they rush toward Team Monoma. As they begin to close in on their opponents, Bakugo lets out an angry roar and snatches Monoma's headband with an eruptive sense of triumph. With the amount of screaming he had to do to capture Bakugo's personality — and the fact that he probably had to record that scene more than once — it's no wonder that Chapin was left with a strained voice.