Mushoku Tensei's Madeleine Morris and Lindsay Seidel Talk Rudy and Eris
Anime Atelier recently got to interview the Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation English dub cast, namely Madeleine Morris (Rudy) and Lindsay Seidel (Eris). Right off the bat, it was obvious that these voice actresses have not only an intimate understanding of their characters and the series as a whole, but also an incredible chemistry that ended up being clearly visible in this interview.
Q: We're on Season 3 of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation. Did you expect the series to get this big when you first started voicing your respective characters?
Morris: Yes, I knew it from day one! This series has 26 books in it (energetically waves a volume around). This animation studio was created to make this anime. They have said they're gonna do the whole thing. You don't do that if you've got a dud on your hands. I thought this was gonna fly like Roman candles from day one!
Seidel: Amazing (laughs). I had no idea. In stark contrast, I went in not knowing anything about it, and I had no idea that this was going to blow up the way that it did. But I am so happy about it because I've gotten to see, while working on it, what a special show it is, and it feels amazing and so rewarding to know that so many people have enjoyed it and are continuing to enjoy it. New people are discovering it every day, and it just continues to grow and grow. It's really cool to see.
Q: When your characters met for the first time, I'm not sure if you were familiar with the source material, but did you expect them to end up in the situation they're in at the moment?
Morris: I did read ahead in the light novels a little bit. And when they met originally, I knew of the first few steps of their arc together. I did not know how it was going to end or how she was going to leave. And as soon as, I think basically as soon as Season 1 ended, I got online and spoiled myself for everything down the line. I'm like, "I need to know what happens. I need to know what happens to her right now!"
Seidel: I was not familiar with the source material at all. I didn't know where anything was going. I still don't know where things are going. So I myself am very excited to find out alongside the fans, to see where Eris's journey goes, where the story goes.
Q: Rudy is a bit of a controversial main character, but what do you think of him? How has it been voicing him throughout the years as he grows and develops into a full-fledged adult?
Morris: I love him, I love him. I feel very, very possessive of him. I feel very maternal towards him. I have always really enjoyed media with problematic or controversial or conflicted, complicated characters. And so what an honor it is! What an honor it is to get to play in the space of one of them. Some of my favorite characters in media, the characters that I'm most fascinated by, are damaged or deviant or hurt in some way or another and are not coping with it well. And the interesting thing about those stories is to see how [they] cope with it. How do you move on from it? Do you move on from it? Are these things that you can move on from? Are these things that you can forgive yourself for?
I find those to be endlessly fascinating and more engaging characters both to play and to watch and to read about than Superman. Superman's never been my favorite. (laughs) I don't love a Boy Scout trope. Give me someone who kind of sucks. Give me somebody who makes poor choices. I want to see what they're about. And I think that there are a lot of really interesting psychological questions and developmental questions that we can engage with using Rudy as an example. And I think I find that to be just such an incredible blessing to get to be a part of him in that way.
Q: Do you follow the online discourse regarding Rudy's character development?
Morris: If it's people who are engaging with the material and engaging with the series, if they're actually fans of the series and they're talking about it on that level, absolutely, yeah, for sure. I'm always interested in what people have to say and what people's insights are. I saw a really genuine, beautiful insight about Rudy and Eris and Roxy and Sylphie together, their unit, that I had never considered before. I've just been like, "Wow, what a great point this person made." And I've just kind of been carrying that around back here and being like, "Oh yeah, this guy on Reddit said this," and it was awesome. If it's people who are engaging with the show and with the material and with the themes, then yeah, I'll follow it.
There are a lot of people who get very angry about the existence of this show and want me to know it specifically. I get tagged often. And that's fine. They don't have to engage with it. But then I'm not going to engage with them about it either.
Q: This season marks Eris's big return after quite some time. How did you approach voicing her after this long pause? Obviously, she grew as a character; she changed, she grew up.
Siedel: Definitely, yeah. First of all, I was just so excited to finally get to voice Eris again because it has been such a long time. It's felt like it's been an eternity, and I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for her to come back. I couldn't wait. And so I was really excited to get to dive back into the world of Mushoku Tensei.
My first recording session back, our director, Jeremy Inman, was very helpful and kind of gave me the lowdown, reminding me where things left off with Eris, what she's been up to, where her headspace would be at. And that really helped inform kind of the tone that I was giving her and kept things in mind about the fact that she's matured a lot since the time when we first met her. She literally has gotten older and has seen a lot more and experienced a lot more. And so I let all those things inform. where I let the voice sit, and everything just kind of followed naturally from there.
Q: Do you think your dynamic is different compared to the dynamic your characters have with other characters?
Morris: Yeah, it feels strange to compare Rudy and Eris's dynamic currently to the other people in his life since they've been apart for so long. But I think the interesting thing to me is that Rudy, where we see him in Season 3, is finally getting to the point where he can let Eris go. Like, he is finally getting over it. And even with Sylphie, he's got his first wife being like, " You're allowed to love people. You can love other people. If you find, like, if there's somebody else in your life that you think is special, and they think that you're special, f****** bring her over. Like, please. I'm always happy to meet people who love you. And Rudy's reaction to that is he remembers Eris and is like, "No, no, no. That's not going to happen. Nope, not going to happen. Done. Gone forever. Can't do it. Don't want to go there. Not going to think about it. Thanks, Sylphie."
Siedel: Meanwhile, Rudeus is like all Eris is thinking about.
Morris: Literally, yes. And that's going to be crushing. Oh, I want to see that. I want to see that reunion desperately, and I'm really interested in how she's going to throw a wrench into his relationships with other side characters, not even just with Sylphie and Roxy, but how is this going to affect Cliff, Elinalisa, and Zanoba. How is this gonna affect Rudy's relationship to Ghislaine? I love Ghislaine. I'm a big Ghislaine head. I want more Ghislaine always. Ghislaine is a great character; I love her so much.
Q: Do you have a favorite character outside of the characters you voice?
Morris: Ghislaine. Ghislaine.
Siedel: Ghilaine. Ghislaine is great. I also, I mean, he is the protagonist, but I do find Rudeus to be such a compelling, interesting character, and I love that we get to hear his inner monologue. I think that makes him a lot more interesting. We get to gain a lot of insight into a lot more than we would otherwise. And I really enjoy that. And I enjoy that we get to hear two actors' performances for the same character. I think that's really cool too, because we hear, you know, Ben Phillips as well as Maddie. And I think that's really, really cool.
Morris: I always wanted to be Ben when I grew up.
Q: Do you think his portrayal of Rudy somehow affects the way you voice the character?
Morris: I don't think so. We've never, we never talked about it exactly. But in the years since we've been working on this, when we hang out, we'll check in about it, and I get the sense that we see Rudeus much the same way. Like Lindsay said, getting to have that inner monologue- there's so much additional context to him and his thought process that I think it's much easier for two actors to keep on the same page that way, even if they are split up in this kind of internal, external voice situation. I think it would be much harder to have two actors play the same character if there wasn't that.
Did you ever play the original Fallout games? One of the final bosses in Fallout 2, I think, is played by two different actors at the same time. And the voice phases in and out between- that's cool. But that's also a completely different thing. Yeah, we never discussed it or anything. I don't know how much we have informed each other. I think if we have, that's, that's vis-à-vis Jeremy Inman saying, "Oh, Ben did this. That would be funny. You should do this too." That must be as far as that's gone.
Q: And one final question, because I'm out of time. I feel like this interview has been very fun, and I really love that. But if you were Rudy and you had to choose the best girl, who would it be?
Morris: Oh, if I were Rudy and somebody said, I would abstain.
Siedel: I would leave it up to the girls to decide. They can decide amongst themselves who loves me the most, and I'll take that one.
Morris: I don't have a best wife. That's something that I love about their dynamic; each one of them represents a different type of love and a different form of Rudy's growth into this blossoming adulthood. I don't think you can compare them.
Siedel: I also feel like I can't approach it from an unbiased perspective since I do voice one of those girls. (laughs)
We'd like to thank Madeleine Morris and Lindsay Seidel for an incredibly fun interview and for sharing their thoughts on the world of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation with us!
You can catch new episodes of the Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation anime weekly on Crunchyroll.
Images: Courtesy of Crunchyroll; ©Rifujinnamagonote/MFBOOKS/ Mushoku Tensei Production Committee
