Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro
Kimberley Anne Campbell Interview: Voicing Hayase Nagatoro
Kimberley Anne Campbell spoke to The Natural Aristocrat about voicing anime’s one-of-a-kind Hayase Nagatoro in the English Dub of breakout series, ‘Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro‘.
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT (NIR REGEV): How much fun did you have saying ‘Senpai!’ all season long? It sounded like you were genuinely having a blast. Nagatoro must be one of the most fun roles to voice in all of anime.
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: (laughs) Yeah, you kind of have to call him Senpai because I don’t think his name in the anime has ever actually been said. There’s no true English equivalent that sounds nice. So it’s Senpai all the whole way through!
Hayase Nagatoro and Senpai © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I was familiar with the term already having watched anime for years and years, decades. So I already knew what Senpai meant. But I was thinking, what if they had cast somebody who has no idea about anime?
Hayase Nagatoro and Senpai © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
Like they were good at voice acting, but had no idea about anime and the topic & culture. That would’ve been interesting… But luckily, I’ve been engrossed in anime culture for two decades. So, yeah, Senpai!
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: What was your first audition like for Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro?
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: I remember seeing on Crunchyroll that they were going to be dubbing new shows and Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro was one of them. There was no cast list yet but I was thinking, they already cast that for sure… I was like, ‘I wish I could have auditioned for Nagatoro!’
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
And sure enough, two weeks later I actually got an audition for Nagatoro.
Senpai and Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I thought, ‘Oh, okay. I assumed this is already cast and was being kept secret, but okay…’ In reality, they hadn’t even sent out the auditions yet. I was actually surprised to get the audition for Nagatoro too because it’s really not the kind of character that I usually get cast as.
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I usually get cast as little kids and do kid’s voices. So I thought, ‘This is interesting and different’. The audition was from a couple of scenes in episode one. Primarily, the first really abusive scene when Nagatoro is approaching Senpai and backs him up into the bookshelf.
Hayase Nagatoro spots Senpai in the high school library © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I believe that was the audition scene. I actually hadn’t seen the show before that. I think I saw a few bits and clips, but I hadn’t actually watched the entire series.
Senpai © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I thought, ‘Hmm, I’m probably not gonna get this.’ Because I usually get cast for higher pitches, like little kids, as I mentioned.
But I was happy to get at least go to the auditions and took inspiration from the Japanese performance (Sumire Uesaka).
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I watched the first two episodes before recording the audition. I actually then recorded something for my audition and then sat on it for a few hours.
I felt, ‘Wait, wait, I can do better than that! I need to actually be mean, I need to have this bite. It has to actually hurt.’
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I then redid my audition and it felt right. This is it! I’m probably not going to get it. But this is it.
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I sent it off and then a week later, I got the email saying that I’d been cast. I thought they probably want me in for a side character or something. I was really eager to find out which side character they want me for.
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
The email said I’d been cast as Nagatoro. You’ve got the role.
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I was like, ‘Wait. Nagatoro, maybe that’s also the name of a little brother or little sister they want me to voice?’ But it really was Hayase.
I was very, very surprised because I didn’t think that was a role that I would get, since I hadn’t played that type of character before.
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
Hayase Nagatoro was a really fun, unique, and different experience from the roles I usually play.
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: There’s a line by the art club president, Sana Sunomiya, in Episode 11, “If you’re privileged to have an audience, you don’t waste their time with mediocre work.”
I felt like you took this lead role and knocked it out of the park from the opening episode. What vocal detail did you work on most to make Hayase Nagatoro your own?
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: Thank you! I turned on the brattiness and gremlin because while there’s a lot of characters who are gremlin, they’re usually younger kids. Or the super young characters. But this was a teenager and an older gremlin.
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I wanted to try to capture a little bit of the Japanese performance (Sumire Uesaka) in my voice. And also something that if I said this, it would actually be really, really mean to the person on the other end.
So somewhat a little bit of gremlin, a little bit of the Japanese performance (Sumire Uesaka). I was inspired by her.
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
But I also wanted this kind of mean girl essence in my voice when I was doing the auditions to book the role.
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: There are moments where Nagatoro gets incredibly jealous over Senpai getting attention from other girls. Even Yoshi wanting to touch Senpai’s hair makes her instinctively grab her hand.
Hayase Nagatoro grabs Yoshi’s hand from touching Senpai’s hair © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
You can see Hayase’s real, honest feelings toward Senpai in those times. How do you feel about that?
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: (laughs) It so funny to me! It’s really funny to have so much jealousy when you act like this person is gross and nasty.
Yoshi, Maki Gamou (Gamo-Chan), and Hayase Nagatoro (jealous) and Senpai © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
But yet, if they get friendly with another girl, like one of your own friends, ‘Oh no, we can’t have that!’
Yoshi, Maki Gamou (Gamo-Chan), Hayase Nagatoro and Senpai © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I think it’s so funny! But its behavior that is acceptable in anime.
Hayase Nagatoro unhappy at Yoshi & Maki Gamou (Gamo-Chan) recording Senpai’s faux-date with Sakura © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I’m not going to make excuses. I know if somebody acted like this in real life, it wouldn’t be a good look. But it’s so funny and cute in anime!
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: The use of modern slang in this show like “sus” and “sketchy-sketch” makes ‘Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro‘ feel exceptionally fresh. Was it always written that way in the script or did the dub cast come up with that on-the-fly?
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: No actually, that was in the script done by. So yeah, the script was done by Meli Grant.
She is the ADR script writer for Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro as well as a few other shows. She’s also a voice actress herself, but yeah, the script was very well done. I thought it was hilarious!
Sakura, Maki Gamou (Gamo-Chan),Hayase Nagatoro and Sakura © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
There was a line written in the 12th and last episode. I was trying my best, not to burst out, laughing in the booth at the way this line was written.
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I think it was the scene where Nagatoro’s friends were all looking at the President’s artwork. It was so, so good! Meli did an amazing job with the script!
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: I feel at its heart, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro‘s universal appeal is something we’re all taught by our parents as kids. “They’re being mean to you because they secretly like you.”
Childhood concepts resonate strongly. It’s one of the reasons a non-anime like Squid Game got immensely popular. Your thoughts?
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: Oh, my mother would hate that actually. She’d be like, ‘Wait, this boy likes you, but yet he bullies you for what? This girl likes you, but yet bullies you, that’s terrible!’
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
There’s things that are fun and cute in anime, or in a fictional show, that would absolutely not be cute in real life.
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: I’ve heard you’re a big Dragon Ball fan. Did you enjoy all the Dragon Ball power level parodies embedded Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro?
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: Oh yes! Although I have not seen Dragon Ball in like a million years. It was like more of a childhood thing for me.
Although I did go into my mother’s room once many years ago and she was watching Dragon Ball. (laughs)
I don’t know why, I don’t think she really watched much of it when I was a kid. But yeah, all the references were really funny! Also something Meli Grant did in the script.
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: When you were voicing Nekotaro, Senpai’s cat girl fantasy, and during the bathtub Facetime call, was doing those action scene/embarrassment screams hard on your voice?
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: Not really. Like if I had to do a whistle pitch kind of scream, that’s really high pitch and that it might have been difficult. But the way I did some of the screams for Nagatoro was meant to be really comedic rather than just a straight up scream.
It’s really comedic with a lot of texture. I felt it was funnier to do than just a straight scream. But no, I didn’t really have to do that many takes. So it wasn’t that taxing on my voice.
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Senpai is told by the art club President, Sana Sunomiya, to go after his muse after Hayase gets angry at him. What do you feel is your muse day-to-day?
Senpai saves his muse Hayase Nagatoro from falling into the pool © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: Oh, that’s a tough question! I feel part of me is driven by spite against all the people who told me I could not do this.
That I would never work in voice acting. So spite is my answer! (laughs)
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Will you be a featured guest at Anime NYC and Anime Expo this year?
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: If I’m invited to it! The only convention I have lined up is Anime Nebraskon in Nebraska area as indicated by the title. Yeah, that would be in late October as the Zoom convention I have lined up.
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Have you started any preliminary dubbing work for Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Season 2 or are dubs generally done one week after the Japanese simulcast on Crunchyroll? Rather than worked in both regions in sync, simultaneously.
Hayase Nagatoro Paintings by Senpai © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: Season 2 is not quite complete yet. It was announced last fall but there’s nothing to record until it’s actually out (in Japan). The thing with Crunchyroll is that a lot of the new anime that’s coming out are going into the Texas studios (Funimation).
Unless it’s like a sequel or something, it was recorded before this year. For all the anime that’s being licensed and distributed by Crunchyroll, that’s being recorded in Texas in-person.
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
I’m not really a part of that because I don’t live in Texas and I can’t really go and make a trip out there to record in-person in the Texas studio. Season 1 I think aired around spring 2021, but the dubbing didn’t start until November that year.
I’m also part of another show called 86 (Frederica Rosenfort). For that one, I want to say that maybe two or three, or more three to four weeks after the episode airs is when I started recording for 86. There was a session every two weeks or so. It was more after three or four weeks between the episode airing (Subtitled) and the episode being dubbed.
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: I really feel Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro is going to explode in popularity even further when season 2 releases. How do you feel about the future of the series? I mean you’ve claimed the lead, iconic role in Hayase Nagatoro and the show is only going to get bigger from here on out.
Hayase Nagatoro, Senpai, Gamo-Chan (Maki Gamou), Yoshi, and Sakura © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: Yeah, because I’m not a manga reader, I don’t know everything but I know a little bit about what happens… Because you know, spoilers, pictures of big manga panels and people talking about it on Twitter and whatnot, and I’m looking forward to it!
I hope there’s more actual Nagatoro merch. Like a Nendoroid or something. I know a few months ago they at least released a Nagatoro figure and I did pre-order that. I was like, ‘Oh finally, there’s some like actual merch!’
Hayase Nagatoro Painting by Senpai © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
So it would be very nice because the second season is coming out, could we get a Nendoroid? Good Smile Company do something for us, you know? (laughs)
But hopefully it gets more attention. I would like to purchase merch for a lot of the characters that I voiced.
THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Thanks Kimberley!
KIMBERLEY ANNE CAMPBELL: Thank you!
Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
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Voice Actress Kimberley Anne Campbell.
Follow Kimberley Anne Campbell on her official Twitter account at @kixee!
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Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Dub Cast: Main Characters
Hayase Nagatoro and Senpai © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
Kimberley Anne Campbell as Hayase Nagatoro
Erik Kimerer as Senpai (Naoto Hachiouji)
Brittany Cox as Maki Gamou (Gamo-Chan)
Lily Ki (LilyPichu) as Yoshi
Kimberly Woods as Sakura
Justine Lee as Art Club President, Sana Sunomiya
Where to watch Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro English Dubbed
You can watch Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Season 1 on Crunchyroll right now!
Does Hayase Nagatoro like Senpai?
Senpai and Hayase Nagatoro have a gaming session © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
Of course! Do you still have to ask? There is zero doubt at this point despite her relentless but mellowing teasing of Senpai. Hayase definitely wanted to hear if Senpai loves her or not in Episode 12.
Senpai and Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
Art Club President Sana Sunomiya commented “There was love” in Senpai’s paintings of Nagatoro, and when Senpai was cornered about it… “You’re not in love?” Hayase whispered “Answer the woman!”
Senpai and Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
He was saved by Maki Gamo-Chan, Yoshi, Sakura and Nagatoro (ironically) taking him to the cultural festival’s closing. We’ll discover more answers about Hayase Nagatoro’s relationship with Senpai in Season 2.
How many episodes of Dont Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro are there?
Hayase Nagatoro Painting by Senpai © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
There’s currently 12 episodes total, subbed and dubbed, of the anime series available to watch on Crunchyroll.
Is Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro finished?
Sakura, Yoshi, Maki Gamou (Gamo-chan) © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
The anime phenomenon has just begun. Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Season 2 has been officially announced and is in the works. Upcoming seasons will continue being available exclusively on the Crunchyroll anime streaming service.
Where can I read Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro?
Senpai and Hayase Nagatoro © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
Looking to read the Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro manga and get hints on Season 2? You can purchase the full set of volumes on Amazon and Right Stuff!
Right Stuff has Volume 11 and Volume 12 of the Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro manga available to pre-order at the time of this interview article’s publishing.
You can get ahead of most by reading the latest Nagatoro chapters before Season 2 arrives.
There’s 13 volumes confirmed already. Volume 13 of the manga is due to release on November 1, 2022.
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Hayase Nagatoro Painting by Senpai © Nanashi KODANSHA / Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro Production Committee
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