Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid NYC Interview: Tohru, Kanna VAs

Interview: Meet the Japanese voice actors of Tohru (Yūki Kuwahara) and Kanna (Maria Naganawa) from ‘Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid’ in our exclusive Anime NYC 2025 Q & A.

This interview took place on Friday, August 22 at Javits Center early in the morning on the second day of Anime NYC 2025. 

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT (NIR REGEV): If Kanna and Tohru were to hypothetically leave you a voicemail thanking you for voicing them, what do you think they would say?

MARIA NAGANAWA: (laughs) I think it would be very simple and something like we did in elementary school where we wrote those letters of thanks to our parents! I think it would just be, ‘Thanks,’ that’s it.

YŪKI KUWAHARA: I enjoyed just imagining what she said about Kanna! But also for Tohru’s sake or what Tohru would do? I think she would also thank me but I think she would also say, try to sound cuter! (laughs)

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Do you feel a difference in the way you vocally approached ‘Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: A lonely dragon wants to be loved‘ as a film compared to the TV series? Is there any added pressure?

MARIA NAGANAWA: In the movie, Kanna has a spotlight. She’s in a starring role, so I put my all into playing her this time! (laughs) The movie itself is about family & familial bonds, like how children feel towards their parents and vice versa.

Art Credit: ©coolkyousinnjya, Futabasha / Dragon Maid Committee

A lot of it is very deep and there’s really not a specific answer. Kanna also struggles with trying to find this answer and she has a really hard time. She does go through a lot in the movie… In the TV series, she’s super cute and she still is in the movie.

But basically throughout the film she’s dealing with a lot more really deep, emotional stuff. So you’ll hear the same voice but you can feel that there’s something deeper this time.

YŪKI KUWAHARA: Before we started recording for this movie, I did talk to the director and there were a lot of scenes where Tohru is struggling… But the director told me I didn’t really need to do anything different, just basically do the role as I’ve been doing.

Art Credit: ©coolkyousinnjya, Futabasha / Dragon Maid Committee

So I didn’t really put that much thought into it, I didn’t personally try to change anything in my acting. I just went about doing what I usually do with this role and basically did what was natural.

But like my friends, family and people I know went to see the movie and they would tell me that  seems much more mature now. She looks so cool in the fight scenes and again, I don’t feel like I really changed anything during this movie… But apparently there is a natural change in her voice and how she acts.

So please pay attention to that when you see the movie!

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: What scene best represents who Kanna and Tohru are to you?

MARIA NAGANAWA: In the latter half of the movie, there’s a part where we see Kanna’s emotions explode! Kanna herself usually is not very emotive. She’s got a very blan- well it’s not blank, but she doesn’t really express emotions usually in her face.

Art Credit: ©coolkyousinnjya, Futabasha / Dragon Maid Committee

It’s not like she’s really holding back her feelings. Not purposely, at least. But she’s always at a certain level. And then in the movie the emotions just all explode for once. So it’s the first time we get to see her just lose control of her emotions.

In the movie, we’re seeing more of Kanna and we see a different side of her personality and a deeper side.

YŪKI KUWAHARA: In the movie, Tohru shows sides of herself that you don’t really see in the series. Again, no spoilers, but towards the end of the movie, she shows a very familiar side of herself.

I can’t give details on what it is… But you feel like she’s back and it’s super cute and basically one of my favorite scenes! So please watch the film and try to figure out which scene I was talking about.

Art Credit: ©coolkyousinnjya, Futabasha / Dragon Maid Committee

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: What does it mean to you both to be at Anime NYC 2025 and is this your first time in New York City?

MARIA NAGANAWA & YŪKI KUWAHARA: It’s the first time for both of us!

MARIA NAGANAWA: We actually just walked through the venue and got to see so many cosplayers of various anime characters that we knew. We got to see that Anime has actually crossed the sea from Japan and is apparently very popular over here as well.

We didn’t really get to see that change ourselves in-person until now. I’m very thankful that we got the opportunity to see this in-person and to see how much everyone loves these characters! We do have a panel coming up after this and I just want to tell everyone how grateful and thankful that I am for this opportunity and I would love to come again to New York.

Art Credit: ©coolkyousinnjya, Futabasha / Dragon Maid Committee

YŪKI KUWAHARA: I also got to go around the convention and just see everyone up close. All the cosplayers were having so much fun with Japanese anime and they’re all posing and then smiling & laughing with their friends and discussing the characters in the series.

And just from witnessing all of their fun, I found myself also smiling and just feeling all their fun feelings myself. That made me really happy! Right after this we have a panel, so I’m hoping that it’ll be an amazing panel and I want to express all the fun feelings I’ve been feeling!

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: What message do you hope fans take away from the first ever ‘Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid‘ movie?

YŪKI KUWAHARA: We’ve seen the movie together many times and there’s a lyric in the ending theme of the ending song for the movie about how basically, there’s no such thing as coincidence. Everything is fake. That really hit me personally.

It also made me want to call my parents and basically express how grateful I am of everyone in my life. So I hope people who see the movie sort of feel the same thing.

MARIA NAGANAWA: The movie itself is about family, friends and basically different kinds of love that people experience. I’ve seen the movie many times, but I come out thinking about different things every time that I’ve seen it.

There’s also the theme of the difference in values between dragons and humans, but as humans we also experience that ourselves. We experience differences between other people and vocally things are expressed in the film as well.

You know, we may have different opinions or different values with each other, but we don’t need to agree on everything. The time to think about these things is very precious and I think that’s expressed in this film. It’s a very fun film and it’s filled with love!

I’m always crying when I see it in the theater! But they’re not really sad tears. It’s really sort of just emotional and happy tears. So even if you see it by yourself or with loved ones, I think this is a movie that’ll basically stay in everyone’s heart for a very long time!

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Thank you Maria and Yūki!

MARIA NAGANAWA & YŪKI KUWAHARA: Thank you!

About Film

Art Credit: ©coolkyousinnjya, Futabasha / Dragon Maid Committee

Title: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: A lonely dragon wants to be loved

Directed: Tatsuya Ishihara

Original Story: Based on the manga by: coolkyousinnjya (serialized in Futabasha’s Manga Action)

Runtime: 104 Minutes

Language: Japanese with English subtitles

Genre: Comedy, fantasy, and supernatural

Distributor: Crunchyroll & Sony Pictures Entertainment

Synopsis: “Miss Kobayashi, Tohru, Kanna, and Iruru’s peaceful lives are shattered when Kanna’s father, Kamun Kamui, leader of the Chaos Forces, arrives and forces her to return to the Dragon World to fix a past mistake.

With a war brewing between Chaos and Harmony, Kanna must find a way to unite the two worlds but is torn between her loyalty to her friends and her father’s demands.

Miss Kobayashi, however, refuses to let her go and tries to mend Kanna and Kamui’s broken bond. As dragons clash, Iruru uncovers a hidden force manipulating the war.

Can they stop the war before it consumes both worlds?”

About the franchise: “Miss Kobayashi is your average office worker who lives a boring life, alone in her small apartment–until she saves the life of a female dragon in distress.

The dragon, named Tohru, has the ability to magically transform into an adorable human girl (albeit with horns and a long tail!), who will do anything to pay off her debt of gratitude, whether Miss Kobayashi likes it or not.

With a very persistent and amorous dragon as a roommate, nothing comes easy, and Miss Kobayashi’s normal life is about to go off the deep end!”

Voice Actor Trivia

Trivia

Maria Naganawa

“Japanese voice actress, she plays Kanna in Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid series and Platelet in Cells at Work!”

Yuuki Kuwahara

“Japanese voice actress, she plays Tohru in Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid series and Yue in Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest.”

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