Summary
The currently airing comedy horror anime,Zom 100: Bucket List of the Deadhas been one of the Summer’s standout anime projects, available for streaming onCrunchyroll. The series follows Akira Tendo, the former employee of an exploitative corporation as he lives his life to the fullest in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.
GameRant got the honor to sit down with Zeno Robinson, the English dub voice actor of Akira to gain some insight into this role and to learn more about the person behind the voice.
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The following interview has been slightly edited for brevity.
Q: How did you get involved with theZom 100project?
Robinson: I got an audition in my inbox from a studio whose roster I’m on. I’d known a little about the show before auditioning. The auditions were for the roles of Akira and Kencho, and it had been a long time, so I just assumed “I didn’t book that”. I was sad about not being cast in another project that I really wanted to be in, but my agent contacted me saying, “Hey, you booked the lead character in that show”. I was shocked that they’d chosen me. I’m very honored, but I was not expecting it at all!(laughs)It’s a long-winded way of saying “I just auditioned”.
Q: How would you describe the character Akira to someone who hasn’t watched or readZom 100?
Robinson: I’d describe him as a pure-hearted, fun-loving, wide-eyed kid who really has big ideas and big dreams. He’s really ambitious, driven, and hardworking; someone who really sees the value in his own life – at first, he loses that spark and loses himself in his work; finding himself againin the midst of the zombie apocalypse.
Q: His loss of the sense of wonder in his own life hits really hard, especially with your vivid portrayal of his despair. Do you ever draw from personal experiences when you do those kinds of voice-acting performances?
Robinson: Yeah, 100%. I think Akira especially, is a character that I’ve found myself relating to on a deeper level than I expected. The way Akira looks at the world; at other people, and how he finds the bright side to this really grim situation are all things that I relate to. I find myself very busy all the time to the point where I don’t have as much time as I’d like with people that I love; or to do things outside of work, so working hard and overworking are also things that I relate to.
I’m learning through playing Akira, and trying to find a better balance between working hard because you love what you do and want to achieve your dreams; but also making sure that you make time for the other things that you want to do. I related a lot to his realization that life is short and anything can happen at any point – so why not go for it?
Q: What you’ve said about Akira wanting to be a superhero is interesting, considering that you played Gamma 2 inDragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
Given that you’ve lent your voice to asuperhero character who catalyzes the growth of Gohan; a character that you love, how does it feel being the voice of a superhero in theDragon Balluniverse, and also voicing someone else who wants to be a superhero?
Robinson: It’s funny because he puts on the superhero persona – it’s a Tokusatsu kind of style, which is what Gamma 2 is heavily inspired by, especially with the poses and dramatic explosions! It’s cool to play another hero that another character idolizes and wants to be like. As someone who does find himself always wanting to help people; I resonate with idolizing heroes and people who are selfless and always want to save people, even at the cost of themselves. It’s just another deeper layer of relation to Akira. Everybody’s saying Akira’s having thisMy Hero Academiamoment (laughs) which is also a show I’m inwhere I play a hero– there’s just so many parallels!
It’s not just in my personal life, but also in my career. That’s one of my favorite moments from Akira because it is something that I would love to do; he asks himself, “How do I turn this grim situation into one where I save people or help others?” That’s what he does throughout the show. He’s just helping people become more like themselves. He even convinces Kencho to follow his dreams while he still can. It’s a really cool spiritual connection (laughs) – playing these different hero characters in different properties who are the type of heroes that Akira looks up to and emulates – which then leads into me trying to emulate all those guys.
Q: This is reminiscent of what you did a few years back with Complex, regarding your role as Cyborg on Young Justice, where you mentioned wanting to delve into the industry as a writer or artist. What kind work do you want to be doing, and have you crossed that off your bucket list?
Robinson: Funny enough, that is on my bucket list! I tweeted the other day that I want to make a video game, and right now, I haven’t quite crossed it out in the way that it’s done, but I am in the process of working on something. I teamed up withan artist friend of mine. He goes by “Unlimited Works” on Twitter. We’re working on a manga called"Memento Mori". The kinds of stories I wanted to tell are ones that resonated with me and the way that I view the world and life. It’s got all these existential elements twirled into this very action-packed envelope.
Hopefully, it’ll come out soon – it’s my first foray into writing, and I’m really nervous. I just want to put it out there and see what happens. I want to tell stories that resonate with me. I love telling stories as an actor, and I want to tell stories that I want to see as well. I’m very excited – thanks for asking about that! Hopefully, we’ll have something to show by the end of the year.
Q: Touching on the stories that resonate with you, especially as a black voice actor, and how you’ve been paving the way for the next generation in your own ways, do you think that your playing Akira, keeping in mind the themes of workplace exploitation central toZom 100, will open more doors for more black voice actors and voice actors of color?
Robinson: I hope so. Within the last few years, there have been a few black people who played leads – you’ve AJ Beckles, Anairis Quiñones, me, Kevin Thelwell over in Texas. My whole thing when I started was that I didn’t see many actors who looked like me. I think that somewhere along the line, there aren’t a lot of actors who know that this is actually possible for them because they haven’t seen anyone who looks like them in the type of roles that are visible enough to connect those dots.
I look at my peers and people I grew up watching and listening to because they’re in something popular that was constantly in my face. I think playing Akira inZom 100can be one of those bridges. That’s my goal, showing other marginalized actors thatthis is possible for them, like “I once thought it wasn’t possible for me, it’s possible for you too.”
Q: You’ve voiced many characters who weren’t the lead, but it’s your desire to voice a (battle) shonen lead. Does Akira count, and also, looking at how you’ve voiced angry characters like Taiga Kagami, do you enjoy voicing those guys more or do you prefer someone bright-eyed like Akira?
Robinson: I prefer bright-eyed Akira! I love the sweet, genuine hero; the kid whose always going to look at the bright side and see someone’s humanity first. The angry guys are fun, because I like yelling and screaming, but I like the pure-hearted types. Those are the kinds of characters I learned from when I was a kid – I based my personality onSora fromKingdom Heartsand what I loved about him was that he could befriend anyone from any world. The first thing he’d do when he arrived in a new world was break the rules, and figure out how to help someone.
I thought “Wow, I want to be like that”, like a pure-hearted hero. I think Akira is up there! At first, I wasn’t sure about where this role lands in terms of my dreams of playing a battle shonen hero, but the more I play Akira, the more I feel like he and I were fated to meet. I’ve learned so much from playing him, and doing so has been so cathartic. I think especially with the Hero of the Dead episode, he’s building up to it.
I still want that battle shonen, though! (laughs)
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