[Toei Animation Co., Ltd. Digimon Project] Takayama Minami, Inoue Marina and other stellar cast members reunite for the first time in 15 years! DIGIMON EXPO ’25 “Digimon Xros Wars” Stage Official Report
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. Digimon Project Press Release: September 22, 2025 A stellar cast including Takayama Minami and Inoue Marina reunites for the first time in 15 years! DIGIMON EXPO ’25 “Digimon Xros Wars” Stage Official Report Image
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https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/160365/19/160365-19-0b5915a3c320f99c82a30823c9b96407-3900×2600.jpg ■Event report “Hey guys!” – Shoutmon and Gumdramon shouted, and the venue erupted in thunderous applause and cheers from the eagerly awaited fans, creating a fervent atmosphere. The opening theme song, “Never Give Up!”, then began, and the performers appeared. In response to the stellar cast’s greetings, the venue erupted in thunderous applause and cheers, marking the start of the long-awaited “Digimon Cross Wars” stage performance! In this report, we’ll cover what the performers talked about! Memorable moment during dubbing Host: First, Takayama-san. In the questionnaire, you wrote about your memories of dubbing, “Most of the time, my seniors played the villain, so I always felt like I couldn’t win (laughs).” From your perspective, was it a bit surprising to see such a lineup of veterans playing villains? Takayama: Yes, that was 15 years ago, so I was still young… …Smile! You should laugh more! (Audience laughs) Takayama: Well, there were so many wonderful seniors, but when I said, “Good morning!” I was like, wow, ah, I can’t win! There were a lot of times when I was like, “Who’s the enemy? Are they my enemy?” And then there were the seniors who I didn’t know whether they were my friend or my foe, and I had a lot of dual roles, so I was doing both, and there were times when I didn’t know what to do (laughs). Host: Next up, Mr. Sakamoto. You said you felt, “Everyone was working like crazy, it was the best.” That sounds like something from your youth. Was there a heated atmosphere on set? Sakamoto: That’s right. You had a lot of dual roles, didn’t you, Kusao? Kusao: Yes! Sakamoto: That’s why he worked so hard. That’s why I got too worked up and ended up pressing cut. When I apologized, they said things like, “If you push me that hard, I’ll give up,” and they were all really trying their best! Everyone’s faces were really red!
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/160365/19/160365-19-32cfd89529c52d7b99190f90684814ff-3900×2600.jpg MC: So Inoue-san, what impressed you the most was Takayama-san’s presence…! Inoue-san: That’s right (laughs). Takayama-san: Oh, what’s that? MC: Were you a little nervous joining from the third season? Inoue: Yes, we started from the third season, so we were all set and warmed up, and then Tagiru suddenly showed up. We were really worried about how to enter the set…! Also, Takayama-san calls him a senior, but from our perspective, it was a set full of
super-super-super-seniors. I felt a lot of pressure and nervousness about being the center of attention, but at the first recording session, Minami welcomed me with a “Welcome!” and asked me where I should sit. MC: That’s where it all started! Inoue: That’s right! Everyone, where are you sitting? Where’s an empty seat? Then Minami said, “Here, here! Sit here!” and let me sit next to her. I was still a rookie at the time, and that was 15 years ago, so I’d only been working for about four or five years. To hear such words from such a senior colleague, and Minami-san truly being the central figure, connecting the entire dubbing studio. That’s when I learned that this is what it means to be the leader of the voice acting industry…! This is what a leader should be like. And as I get older and find myself taking center stage at various studios in the future, I hope to become even a little closer to Minami-san back then, and I’ll use her as my role model. Takayama-san: I’m grateful to have such great juniors growing up… (laughs). Inoue: Oh, no, I learned a lot from Minami! Takayama: No, no, as the ones welcoming the third-year students, we were thinking about how to make them feel comfortable and how to avoid putting pressure on them with all the things we’ve built up up until now, but just being there is a pressure! Actually, there was a lot of pressure to make sure that didn’t happen. Inoue: Thank you so much! Shortly after I started dubbing, Megumi Han was there, and I think everyone, along with Han, really saved us. Thank you so much. Takayama: Not at all, thank you very much. MC: That’s really great. Without these kinds of opportunities, we wouldn’t have many opportunities to talk about what we were thinking at the time, so it’s great. Inoue: I wish they had held this event sooner! Takayama: Really! It’s my first time! Inoue: It’s true! Why has it been 15 years? (laughs)! MC: You’ve really warmed up the topic. Takayama: If we’re holding an event for the first time in 15 years, it’d be awful if there wasn’t something happening (after this), so please do something (laughs).
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/160365/19/160365-19-de4139a5ad76b5519fadb395bb1bc1ab-3900×2600.jpg MC: Sakurai-san, you said that you were impressed by the large number of characters that Kusao-san and Kishio-san were in charge of. What do you think? Sakurai-san: Yes, it was an insane number (laughs). Kusao: It was strange (laughs). It’s hindsight, but it just happened to pile up and that’s how it ended up. Sakurai: I’ve had the experience of playing multiple characters in Toei Animation’s productions. It wasn’t a one-episode character. It was a character that continued to appear, so there was a balance between who was playing a multiple role and who was the main character. Kusao and Kishio are the two I remember most vividly. So, multiple characters would appear in one episode. Kusao: Yes, that happened. It was a surprise. Sometimes they were enemies, sometimes they were allies. Sakurai: That’s right. Kusao: This time, I’m playing the role of Aonuma Kiriha, and the old man at the watch shop who left such a strong impression on me showed up towards the end of the series and turned out to be Bagramon reincarnated, which was the punchline for the final episode. Taking that into consideration, I wondered if there was some significance to being cast? Was there some kind of connection? I asked Sakurada about it, but he just grinned and left it at that. (Audience laughs) Kusao: Like, it’s not relevant? (laughs). MC: What was the meaning of that laughter…? Kusao: At first, a lot of characters that were only supposed to appear once ended up appearing. As a result, there was a lot of overlap. I learned a lot, and as I mentioned earlier, Daisuke Kishio just did whatever he wanted… Sakurai: It was amazing, wasn’t it? I thought I might get scolded one day… Kusao: Like a character impersonating a certain senior. I was surprised to see that this was going to be on air. Kishio was doing whatever he wanted, so it would be bad if I did whatever I wanted too. Everyone else was really trying their best with their faces all red, so I thought, “Oh, I don’t want people to think I’m joking around.” Sakamoto: It’s amazing that Kishio has the time to joke around. He never follows the script. Kusao: Yes, I learned a lot, really (laughs). Question corner from fans
Q: Which Digimon Hunter character would you most like to play? Kikuchi: We were talking about Daisuke Kishio earlier, but I’d like to try playing Zenjiro. I don’t know if I could do it to that extent. I think he was always thinking about how to make his co-stars laugh before recording. When I think about that, I think I might not have the energy to do it. Sakamoto: Kikuchi, it seems like it could happen. Kikuchi: Oh, I see. I thought those kinds of roles were fun. They just took over, all of them. That’s why I think some people would say it was the role that left the biggest impression on them. Honestly, I want to be Kishio Daisuke (laughs). (Audience laughs) MC: That’s a new landing point. Thank you. What do you think, Sakamoto-san?
Sakamoto-san: Well, in this production, I was constantly shouting, so I wanted to play a role where I didn’t have to speak loudly, but spoke in a whisper. Host: I see. What do you think, Shiraishi? Shiraishi: Well, I think Taiki is really cool, and I’d love to play a cool guy like Minami, Taiki. Takayama: Maybe I’ll try playing Taiki. Shiraishi: Wow! Yay! (Audience applause) Shiraishi: Cool, seriously, it was so cool. That’s why I was so touched. MC: So you were feeling excited. Shiraishi: That’s right. Q: I’d like to know if there were any points you paid attention to when playing the new Digimon role! Takayama-san, I’d like to know if there were any points you paid attention to when playing the main character! Sakurai: I originally played the role of Tentomon. Tentomon is a character with a strong Kansai accent, but Dorulumon in Xros Wars was a fearless wolf-like character, so I was able to differentiate myself without being too conscious of it. However, I ended up playing a dual role called Dondokomon (laughs). If I wasn’t careful, I might have sounded too much like Tentomon, so I was careful not to overlap there. MC: Is different acting the most important thing to you? Sakurai: Yes. Well, they’re characters with completely different appearances, personalities, and personalities, so it wasn’t that difficult, but I wanted to play as many different characters as possible, so I made sure to value each one. MC: Thank you. So, I’d like to ask Watanabe-san, what did you think?
Watanabe-san: That’s right. I’ve played a lot of cute roles in Digimon. I was careful about that, but I’ve also played a lot of really mischievous, crazy characters like Gum-chan, or rather unreliable characters. …Um, what was this one again? Was it a role you wanted to play? MC: Well, what did you pay attention to when playing the new Digimon role, how did you differentiate between the characters? Watanabe: Oh… I tried to act really cute so I could become everyone’s idol! (Cheers) Host: Takayama Minami, what did you pay attention to when playing the main character? Takayama: I didn’t really think of any of them as the main characters, but since they’re Digimon, Shoutmon was definitely the main character in my mind. So, I wasn’t trying to make Shoutmon stand out, but I wanted to make Shoutmon stand out. I was just in charge of commanding, so the ones who actually fought were Shoutmon, Ballistamon, and Dorulumon, so that was the mindset I had. MC: So that’s the mindset you had. Thank you. Ending
Moderator: Finally, I’d like to ask each of the speakers to say a few words to everyone who has stayed with us until the end today. Let’s start with Sakurai-san. Sakurai: Thank you for coming today. There wasn’t any announcement about Xros Wars, but there were some things I was able to talk about because of this work and this cast, and I’m sorry to say this is something only I know, but it was really fun backstage. (Audience laughs) Sakurai: It was so much fun. So, I thought it would be great if we could all get together again, and I’d love to be there too, so I’d be really happy if we could all get together again if something happens again. Thank you very much for today. Mr. Kikuchi: This is the costume you lent me today, but I had to take my measurements, and at that time I thought, “Huh? Maybe that means I should wear a Damemon costume?” But I was relieved that it was a proper costume (lol). Hmm…well, if I had been told to do it, I might have done it (lol). I hope you all enjoyed today! ? We really enjoyed it, including the dressing room! Also, if you have such an opportunity, please come and visit us. Thank you very much for today. Mr. Oki: Thank you very much everyone for today. It’s been 15 years since then. Isn’t that the age when your child is a high school student? Ah, I think everyone has probably grown as well (lol), but I also believe that I have grown in some ways…! However, when we got together like this, it felt like I was going back to when I was around 20 years old, and it was a little itchy. As everyone has said, we had the opportunity to celebrate our 15th anniversary, so I’m really looking forward to the 20th anniversary! Everyone, please spread the word that “Digimon Xros Wars” is really interesting. Thank you. Thank you very much for today! Mr. Kusao: I was able to read a new work today for the first time in 15 years, and while I was happy to remember the feeling of those days and feel nostalgic, looking at all of you who came to the venue today, I realized once again that “Digimon Xros Wars” has really stuck in each of you, and that it still remains and that you still love it so much. And that also made me want to do my best to give my all to a work like this, and I really received a lot of energy from everyone. Please continue to support us. Thank you very much. Mr. Shiraishi: I was really happy to be able to get together with this cast for the first time in 15 years, and I was really happy that so many people came to see us. It had been a long time since I had played Akari, so I felt a bit of pressure, but I thought, “Akari…where is she?” But Minami-san gave me a push and said, “If Ryoko plays the role, it’s Akari.” Today, I have one more happy memory. Not just the 20th anniversary, but every year…! ” Mr. Takayama: That’s right! I wish we had a Digimon Festival every year! Mr. Shiraishi: Well, I think it would be nice to have something fun again. Thank you very much for today. Mr. Watanabe: It’s been 15 years, but it was like this 15 years ago, and everyone laughed at it so much. And I have fond memories of going out to eat together and having so much fun. I was reminded of how everyone warmly supported me by telling me, “It’s okay,” and being able to laugh with everyone. It hasn’t changed even after 15 years. But that’s okay too! Everyone, please continue to work with us. Thank you for your support. Mr. Inoue: Thank you very much everyone for coming today. I was really happy to be able to do this event in front of everyone, which I couldn’t do at the time. I really felt everyone’s love for Digimon. I’m really happy that I was able to see people’s faces crying and smiles just by seeing the video. Well, it took 15 years, but thank you for conveying your love for Digimon. The world of Digimon is still going on, and I’m proud to be a part of it, and it was a truly wonderful experience. Please continue to love “Digimon Xros Wars” and the world of all Digimon. Thank you very much for today. Mr. Sakamoto: There are various Digimon events, but the character “ku” from Cross Wars never appears (lol). “Hey, what’s going on?” “Did we do something?” (laughs) Around last year, I started whispering in a small voice, “Polo…Polo…”, something I had been worrying about for a long time. Then, from time to time, I started hearing people say, “That’s right, that’s right.” And the day when someone involved said, “It seems like there’s a good story to be told,” the 15th
anniversary happened. Little by little, everyone’s voices have been heard. I’m really happy that I was able to see so many people’s faces again today, and that I was able to clearly see with my own eyes, “Ah, there are so many people who love Digimon Xros Wars” and that I was able to share this time with everyone. Thank you very much. See you next week! ! …That’s not true (lol). Mr. Takayama: Thank you very much everyone for today. It took us 15 years. …Yeah, because they’re boys who run through time. Yes (lol). Lastly, I would like to take the opportunity to play “Digicross” with everyone. Would you like to do call and response? (Venue applause) Mr. Takayama: So when I say “Cross Heart!” everyone (on stage) should respond “Oh!”. So, when I say “Everyone in the venue!”, please respond with “Oh!”. So, when you say “Digicross!”, everyone should say “Digicross!” together. Is it okay? Did you remember? Can you do it? Audience: You can do it! Mr. Takayama: You can do it, right? You can do it, right? It might lead to next year! Chairman: Yes, please do your best. Takayama-san: Okay, everyone, it’s Digicross! Cross heart! Everyone on stage: Oh! Mr. Takayama: Everyone at the venue! Audience: Oh! Mr. Takayama: Digicross! ! ! All: Digicross! ! ! Mr. Takayama: Thank you very much! 告知 ■ Delivery information “Digimon Cross Wars” is currently available on Amazon Prime Video, Toei Anime Channel, DMM.TV, d Anime Store, U-NEXT Now available on Anime Hodai! ■New product release information “Digital Monster COLOR Digimon Cross Wars 15th Edition Cross Heart Color/Blue Flare Color” is now available for pre-order from today on Premium Bandai for 7,700 yen each including tax!
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