Michelle Ruff Interview: Erased, Kakegurui, SEGA’s Catherine

English dub VA Michelle Ruff spoke to The Natural Aristocrat® about voicing young Satoru Fujinuma in Erased, Kirari Momobami in Kakegurui, and Katherine McBride in ATLUS/SEGA video game Catherine.

This interview contains spoilers for Netflix anime shows Erased and Kakegurui.

Michelle Ruff voices young Satoru Fujinuma alongside Kayo Hinazuki (Stephanie Sheh) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT (NIR REGEV): What was it like to dub the attempted drowning scene in ‘Erased’ where Satoru discovers his own teacher Yashiro is the one behind the town’s child abductions & murders? (Episode 10 – “Joy”)

Michelle Ruff voices young Satoru Fujinuma in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

MICHELLE RUFF: Thinking about the whole series itself… There was one upsetting thing happening after another.

Michelle Ruff voices young Satoru Fujinuma alongside Kayo Hinazuki (Stephanie Sheh) and Akemi Hinazuki (Carrie Keranen) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

Honestly, it’s probably my most favorite anime that I’ve ever worked on. Just in the sense that it was so different from every other project that I’ve worked on.

Michelle Ruff voices young Satoru Fujinuma alongside Gaku Yashiro (David W. Collins) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

But that scene and a few other scenes from the show, I just remember leaving the booth and just being in tears.

Michelle Ruff voices young Satoru Fujinuma in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

The content of the show and everything that happened was just so upsetting, because we know that stuff happens in real life.

Gaku Yashiro voiced by David W. Collins in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

I think we all kind of knew that it was the teacher or there were inklings towards it, you know?

Michelle Ruff voices young Satoru Fujinuma alongside Gaku Yashiro (David W. Collins) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

Halfway through Erased, I think people started to figure it out. But yeah, I remember the very last line that I scream out to the teacher. ‘I’ll find you and I know your future!’

I asked Alex Von David, who is the director of Erased, to do the scene a couple of times because I wasn’t happy with my delivery.

Michelle Ruff voices young Satoru Fujinuma in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

I knew what I had in my head and how I wanted it to sound.

And we were almost wrapped and I said, “Alex, can we go back? I really wanna do this line over again.” And he was like, “Sure. I’m happy with what you did.”

Kayo Hinazuki (Stephanie Sheh), Satoru Fujinuma (Michelle Ruff), Sachiko Fujinuma (Sara Cravens), Kenya Kobayashi (Erica Mendez), and Hiromi Sugita (Christine Marie Cabanos) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

And I said, “Yeah, but I have another idea.” So we went back to it and I did it again and he was like, “Ooh, that was it!”

Michelle Ruff voices young Satoru Fujinuma in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

We punched it up just to really drive it home. And I think it worked for sure. Obviously, if it’s left a mark in your brain, I think it left a mark in a lot of people’s brains.

Gaku Yashiro voiced by David W. Collins in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: The most brutal part of ‘Erased’ is how the world moves on during Satoru’s coma, culminating when he sees childhood love Kayo had a son with one of his friends.

Future Satoru Fujinuma (Benjamin Diskin) and Kayo Hinazuki (Stephanie Sheh) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

Have you ever felt the world moving forward while having no choice but to standstill at any point of your career or life?

Future Satoru Fujinuma (Benjamin Diskin) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

MICHELLE RUFF: No, but I’ve lost a lot of people in my life from death, from diseases and cancers. And my dad passed at a pretty early age. And I always think about how the world just keeps going.

Michelle Ruff voices young Satoru Fujinuma alongside Kayo Hinazuki (Stephanie Sheh) and Akemi Hinazuki (Carrie Keranen) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

You know, it’s like death happens, joy happens, life happens, and the world just keeps turning.

Michelle Ruff voices young Satoru Fujinuma alongside Kayo Hinazuki (Stephanie Sheh) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

So I think as sad as it is, it’s symbolic for the way the world works.

Future Satoru Fujinuma (Benjamin Diskin) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: In ‘Kakegurui‘, what was it like to dub the scene where Kirari Momobami requests Midari Ikishima give her left eye in place of a traditional gambling debt?

MICHELLE RUFF: Kirari is probably one of the most villainous characters that I’ve ever played.

Michelle Ruff voices Kirari Momobami in Netflix English dub of Kakegurui anime series. Art Credit: © Kawamoto Homura・Naomura Toru / SQUARE ENIX・”Kakegurui” Production Committee

Just thinking about it, how wrong that whole thing was… But there were so many wrong things going on in that show! (laughs) But yeah, that one was kind of a shocker.

Michelle Ruff voices Kirari Momobami alongside Midari Ikishima (Sarah Anne Williams) in Netflix English dub of Kakegurui anime series. Art Credit: © Kawamoto Homura・Naomura Toru / SQUARE ENIX・”Kakegurui” Production Committee

I was like, ‘No way! She is not doing that.’ And I think it was Steve Staley (Dialogue Director) who was like, “Oh yes, she is! Just wait!” (laughs)

Michelle Ruff voices Kirari Momobami in Netflix English dub of Kakegurui anime series. Art Credit: © Kawamoto Homura・Naomura Toru / SQUARE ENIX・”Kakegurui” Production Committee

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: ‘Kakegurui’ had a Sentai English dub and a later Netflix English dub. What are your thoughts on this kind of definitive redubbing of shows as an artist?

Michelle Ruff voices Kirari Momobami in Netflix English dub of Kakegurui anime series. Art Credit: © Kawamoto Homura・Naomura Toru / SQUARE ENIX・”Kakegurui” Production Committee

MICHELLE RUFF: I mean I didn’t even know that Sentai had done the a separate dub honestly. But it happens a lot with tons of different franchises.

If you’re familiar with Lupin the 3rd, definitely Lupin has been done in Texas. There’s a whole different licensing going on with the Texas crew.

Michelle Ruff also voices Ririka Momobami (Kirari Momobami’s identical twin sister) in Netflix anime series Kakegurui English dub. Art Credit: © Kawamoto Homura・Naomura Toru / SQUARE ENIX・”Kakegurui” Production Committee

Even in Los Angeles there’s been a few projects that have been done through another licensing agent, then they decided to recast the whole thing.

So even though me, Richard Epcar, Lex Lang, Doug Erholtz, Doug Erholtz and Tony Oliver are the original voice actors for Lupin the 3rd… The most popular cast companies will come in and they don’t want to use the same cast.

Michelle Ruff voices Kirari Momobami in Netflix English dub of Kakegurui anime series. Art Credit: © Kawamoto Homura・Naomura Toru / SQUARE ENIX・”Kakegurui” Production Committee

And that happens with Lupin all the time. So, and I’m sure it’s happened with other projects as well. It happens a lot. So yeah, it’s just part of the business.

Michelle Ruff voices Kirari Momobami in Netflix English dub of Kakegurui anime series. Art Credit: © Kawamoto Homura・Naomura Toru / SQUARE ENIX・”Kakegurui” Production Committee

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Considering your incredible amount of voice acting roles, would you say you relate or sympathize with Katherine McBride’s workaholic personality in SEGA’s Catherine?

Michelle Ruff voices Katherine McBride in Catherine and Catherine: Full Body English dubs. Photo Credit: © ATLUS. © SEGA. All rights reserved.

MICHELLE RUFF: I loved playing Katherine! I loved her so, so much. It’s interesting because I was going through a difficult time in my life personally and going into studio and playing her was very cathartic for me in the original and ‘Full Body’. Given where I was at the time, it felt really natural.

Michelle Ruff voices Katherine McBride in Catherine and Catherine: Full Body English dubs. Photo Credit: © ATLUS. © SEGA. All rights reserved.

Valerie Arem directed both games. It was almost therapeutic to play her.

Michelle Ruff voices Katherine McBride in Catherine and Catherine: Full Body English dubs. Photo Credit: © ATLUS. © SEGA. All rights reserved.

And I relate to Katherine’s workaholic nature too, I guess! (laughs) Because I’m also a little bit of a workaholic. I do sort of connect with that.

Michelle Ruff voices Katherine McBride in Catherine and Catherine: Full Body English dubs. Photo Credit: © ATLUS. © SEGA. All rights reserved.

– Be sure to read part 1 of our interview with Michelle Ruff on voicing Etna in the Disgaea anime and game series dub!

– Then check out part 2 on The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Michelle Ruff: “We really redubbed Haruhi Suzumiya Endless Eight”

– And part 3 on Sword Art Online, Michelle Ruff on voicing Sinon on SAO 10th Anniversary

– Get the Blu-ray for Erased, Kakegurui and relive the moments. Re-experience Catherine and Catherine: Full Body, one of gaming’s most unique titles.

Kayo Hinazuki (Stephanie Sheh) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

Michelle Ruff on Social Media:

Michelle Ruff Headshot

You can follow American voice actress Michelle Ruff on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and on her official website!

Michelle Ruff is represented by Epoch Talent. Business and booking inquiries can be made out to [email protected].

Michelle Ruff voices Katherine McBride alongside Vincent Brooks (Troy Baker) in Catherine and Catherine: Full Body English dubs. Photo Credit: © ATLUS. © SEGA. All rights reserved.

Erased Anime Series English Dub Voice Cast: VA Leads

Michelle Ruff voices young Satoru Fujinuma alongside Kayo Hinazuki (Stephanie Sheh) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

Ben Diskin as Satoru Fujinuma (Future / Adult)
Michelle Ruff as Young Satoru Fujinuma
Stephanie Sheh as Kayo Hinazuki
David W. Collins as Gaku Yashiro
Sara Cravens as Sachiko Fujinuma
Carrie Keranen as Akemi Hinazuki
Cherami Leigh as Airi Katagiri
Christine Marie Cabanos as Hiromi Sugita
Bobby Thong as Kazu
Erica Mendez as Kenya Kobayashi
Max Mittelman as Jun “Yuuki” Shiratori
Ryan Bartley as Osamu

Kakegurui Anime Series English Dub Voice Cast: VA Leads

Michelle Ruff voices Kirari Momobami in Netflix English dub of Kakegurui. Art Credit: © Kawamoto Homura・Naomura Toru / SQUARE ENIX・”Kakegurui” Production Committee

Erika Harlacher as Yumeko Jabami
Michelle Ruff as Kirari Momobami and Ririka Momobami
Griffin Burns as Ryota Suzui
Kira Buckland as Mary Saotome
Sarah Anne Williams as Midari Ikishima
Kayli Mills as Runa Yomozuki
Erica Mendez as Itsuki Sumeragi
Cristina Vee as Yuriko Nishinotouin
Erica Lindbeck as Sayaka Igarashi
Faye Mata as Yumemi Yumemite
Chris Niosi as Kaede Manyuda
Lauren Landa as Saori
Allegra Clark as Kumagusu
Christine Marie Cabanos as Nanami Tsubomi
Austin Lee Matthews as Jun Kiwatori
Edward Bosco as Shinnoji
Kyle Hebert as Kaede’s Father

‘Catherine’ English Dub Voice Cast: VA Leads

Michelle Ruff voices Katherine McBride alongside Vincent Brooks (Troy Baker) and Catherine (Laura Bailey) in ‘Catherine’ and ‘Catherine: Full Body’ English dubs. Photo Credit: © ATLUS. © SEGA. All rights reserved.

Troy Baker as Vincent Brooks
Laura Bailey as Catherine
Michelle Ruff as Katherine McBride
Liam O’Brien as Orlando Haddick
Travis Willingham as Jonny Ariga
Yuri Lowenthal as Toby Nebbins and Astaroth
Erin Fitzgerald as Trisha and Erica Anderson
Dave B. Mitchell as Steve Delhomme (Sheep)
Kirk Thornton as Boss
Richard Epcar as Morgan Cortez
Valerie Arem as the game’s System Voice (Game Over etc.) and Newscaster. – Valerie is also the Voice Director for Catherine.
Jamieson Price as the Narrator

‘Catherine: Full Body’ English Dub Voice Cast: VA Leads

Michelle Ruff voices Katherine McBride alongside Catherine (Laura Bailey) in ‘Catherine’ and ‘Catherine: Full Body’ English dubs. Photo Credit: © ATLUS. © SEGA. All rights reserved.

Troy Baker as Vincent Brooks
Laura Bailey as Catherine
Michelle Ruff as Katherine McBride
Brianna Knickerbocker as Rin
Liam O’Brien as Orlando Haddick
Travis Willingham as Jonny Ariga
Yuri Lowenthal as Toby Nebbins and Astaroth
Erin Fitzgerald as Trisha and Erica Anderson
Dave B. Mitchell as Steve Delhomme (Sheep)
Kirk Thornton as Boss
Richard Epcar as Morgan Cortez
Valerie Arem as the game’s System Voice (Game Over etc.) and Newscaster. – Valerie is also the Voice Director for Catherine: Full Body.
Jamieson Price as the Narrator

More Exclusive Anime NYC Interviews with English Dub Voice Actors

Michelle Ruff voices Katherine McBride alongside Vincent Brooks (Troy Baker) in Catherine and Catherine: Full Body English dubs. Photo Credit: © ATLUS. © SEGA. All rights reserved.

Be sure to watch and read the transcripts for these English dub VAs:

– Cherami Leigh Video Interview at Anime NYC: Sword Art Online 10th Anniversary

– Ricco Fajardo talks Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! English Dub at Anime NYC (Video Interview)

– Ricco Fajardo on why same day English SimulDubs aren’t common (Video Interview @ Anime NYC)

Airi Katagiri (Cherami Leigh), Kayo Hinazuki (Stephanie Sheh), Sachiko Fujinuma and future Satoru Fujinuma (Benjamin Diskin) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee

Visit the Anime Interviews and Anime NYC sections for the latest chats with the top English dub talent in the industry!

Kayo Hinazuki (Stephanie Sheh) in Erased anime English dub. Art Credit: © 2016 Kei Sanbe / KADOKAWA / Bokumachi Animation Committee