Before Yusuke Kobayashi’s Q&A panel at Anime Festival Asia Singapore 2025 a little while back, HardwareZone had the privilege of interviewing him backstage to discuss his character (Arthur Boyle) in the popular Shonen anime Fire Force.
Through a translator, Kobayashi shared what it was like to play Arthur, how he gets into character and the advice he has for any aspiring voice actors.
– Before your voice recording sessions, how do you prepare yourself to record Arthur Boyle?
I read the original manga to make sure I understands the character.
Basically Arthur Boyle has two sides. He has this little comical funny side to him and then at the same time he has this really serious side.
So I tries to get a grasp of both sides of the character and makes sure that I channels that when I record.
– What do you enjoy the most about voicing Arthur and what’s the most challenging thing about it?
The most challenging part to play this role is to be the funny Arthur. Because I am not the biggest joker in the world, so that’s the most challenging part. At the same time Arthur is also like a straightforward ‘knight’, a responsible character, that he needs to play.





