By Kari Lane
Ahead of the The Rising of the Shield Hero season 4 release, we caught up with Kaito Ishikawa (voice actor of Naofumi Iwatani) and Ten Kimura (producer) at Anime Expo 2025. We talk about what it means for them to be at AX, challenges they faced, what item they would want from the show in real life and more.
This interview was conducted with an interrupter and has been edited for clarity.
KARI LANE: Well, first of all, welcome to Anime Expo. How are you feeling, and what does it mean for you to be here?
TEN KIMURA: So just being able to come to LA and breathe that air, it’s very, very exciting, and it really shows how far anime has come in terms of the worldwide audience. I think a lot of American fans are really, really passionate, so as someone who is producing anime in Japan, just seeing that, I think, is very important for me.
KAITO ISHIKAWA: I mean it’s the first time I had a job in the US through anime. So I was really looking forward to this trip actually. But coming here and kinda feeling the energy of the fans first hand, it just makes me feel really excited, and I knew that Japanese anime was gaining popularity and had a lot of worldwide sort of reception, but as a voice actor, I wanted to kinda get closer to, and experience that firsthand, which this has allowed me to do. So I think what remains for me is to continue doing my best to promote anime so that it will be loved even more around the world.
LANE: (To Ishikawa) You once mentioned in an interview how you faced a challenge which caused you to reflect on the people around you and how much they support you. Naofumi faces constant challenges but he has many people around him ready to support him. Did your life experience influence you and how you connect to Naofumi in this way?
ISHIKAWA: Absolutely. I think it affected me immensely. I recently had a surgery on my throat, and as a voice actor, your voice is your weapon or your trade. So I had a lot of support from the company, my friends, my peers. And I think that that journey in a way is very similar to Naofumi’s, where the one weapon that he has, is taken away, when you can’t use that, how does that affect you? And I think that emotion, that experience, to me, I was able to reflect in my performance as a character. So whether it’s the characters that are supporting Naofumi, Raftalia and Filo. I think there’s a very similar support system that I had in real life, and that’s what made me realize how important that is. So that similar emotion, I think, was evoked in my acting. I think in season 3, you’ll notice I’m even more thankful to my peers and friends in the anime as well.
LANE: For Kimura-san – Were there any particular challenges you faced this season and how did you overcome them?
KIMURA: When you say this season, I’m assuming you mean season 4. But I do want to say that the production team, or the anime studio, is by and large, kind of inherited from season 3. I think one of the bigger challenges was between seasons 2 and 3, we had a large rebuilding of the team that developed, and animated the project. And I myself joined in the middle of season 3. So the studio, Kinema Citrus, the animation studio, as well as the previous producer, when I inherited the project. Overcoming that, was to me, perhaps a bigger challenge. So we had to go back to the original works, the underlying IP and really take a close look at it, reinterpret it, and then adapt that into a screenplay. And I think that that process, kind of how we reset, was how we overcame a big challenge of shifting animation teams. Season 4 is really built on top of that, and season 3 had really high praise. So I think, keeping that energy going is how we are going to get through season 4.
LANE: Ishikawa-san, congratulations on Season 4. Has there been anything new that you have learned about your character, or anything that has surprised you?
ISHIKAWA: I’ve performed this character for quite a long time. So because I have spent a long time with him I don’t think there’s any, just ‘oh my god!’ type of moments that would completely change the way I see the character. But I do want to say that in this season there is a moment where he goes to the Q’ten Lo on behalf of Raftalia. So she was always serving as his sword and to see the extent he would go to, to secure her safety, I think was something, it’s almost like a shift in their relationship and the sort of emotional feeling he has towards her. And the trust between the two of them has always been strong but he almost risked everything for this. So I think there is a lot of character development and growth in his emotion, and it really reinforces the strength and bond that they have as a team.
LANE: Awww. This is for both of you. Is there any item of clothing in the show, for your own character or any character that you wish you could have in real life?
ISHIKAWA: It’s gonna be the shield for me without a doubt. I mean you can store items in it, it protects you, protects your team members, and it’s my character’s sacred weapon. So I think without a doubt, I’m gonna go with the shield.
KIMURA: I mean the shield is of course the obvious choice and as much as I want to pick it I would say the demon egg from which Filo is born. I don’t know if that counts as an item, but it would be nice to live together with this fantastic creature.
LANE: (To Ishikawa) If you could be a demi-human in the show, what type of animal character do you think you would be and what would you want to be? And those could be the same.
ISHIKAWA: Well, I would love to be a hunter type bird, so I think eagle, owl, any type of flying hunter, hawk type of bird because they’re a predator, they can fly, they’re powerful, intelligent. I think it’s the most dream-packed, ultimate animal.
LANE: Arigato gozaimasu. Thank you so much!
ISHIKAWA and KIMURA: Thank you.
For more coverage on Anime Expo 2025 news, you can find it right here on the Anime Expo 2025 archive on The Beat!
