Allegra Clark Talks Voicing for Maki and Miwa on ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’

'Jujutsu Kaisen.' All show images © TOHO Animation.

There have always been culturally significant anime that made their way to the States and amassed legendary fandoms. In the 60s, it was Tatsuo Yoshida’s Speed Racer. In the 70s, it was Monkey Punch’s Lupin III. Then came Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball in 1984 followed by Pokémon just over a decade later. And, for a long time, shows like One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto were the cornerstones of anime viewership through the early 2000s and 2010s. But, for the last eight years, a new set of shows have been quickly stepping into the spotlight as the latest anime pillars for a new generation: My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen, which earned 11 trophies at this year’s Crunchyroll Anime Awards, including Anime of the Year. 

“A lot of it is the characters,” says Jujutsu Kaisen voice actor Allegra Clark, speaking to AWN at Chicago’s Anime Magic convention about what she thought made the show so popular. “It's the world, but it's also the characters. And I think Gege Akutami, for as much as everyone is constantly threatening him and getting him sick with all the death threats he receives all the time, really created a really wonderful cast of characters who feel real. The main trio, the first years, they're interactions are so grounded. And Yuji, as a protagonist, someone who's trying his hardest but also facing insurmountable odds and failing a little bit and genuinely feeling down and harried by the whole thing is really beautiful.”

Jujutsu Kaisen (JJK) – created by Akutami and produced by Studio MAPPA and TOHO Animation with distribution by Crunchyroll and Viz Media – is a dark fantasy, horror series that follows the life of teenager Yuji Itadori, who finds himself entangled in an epic battle between sorcerers and powerful curses, even becoming possessed himself. Through a series of traumatic, life-altering events, Yuji finds himself enrolled at the Tokyo Prefectural Jujutsu High School to train as a sorcerer alongside renowned sorcerers like Satoru Gojo. There, he meets other sorcerers in training, including Maki Zen'in and Kasumi Miwa, both of whom Clark has voiced for in the series for the past two years. 

“I actually didn’t audition for either of them,” admits Clark. “At this point, I had a relationship with the dub studio and, as the series went episode-by-episode and Maki showed up, the dub directors were like, ‘We know someone who would be great for this.’”

She continues, “Then Miwa showed up and they were like, ‘Can you voice for Miwa, too?’ I did a quick Wiki search and was like, ‘Don’t they fight each other later? Do we have to worry about that? No? Ok I guess this is a bridge we’re crossing in a couple episodes.’”

Sure enough, during the first season’s “Kyoto Sister School Exchange Event - Group Battle 3” episode, the two characters meet for the first time and engage in an epic battle as part of an academic event held by Tokyo and Kyoto’s Jujutsu schools. The fight between Miwa, a second-year from Kyoto Jujutsu High, and Maki, a second year at Tokyo Jujutsu High, lasts for half the episode, with the two talking back and forth about themselves and their skill sets. 

This is a clip of the fight scene in Japanese:

Though the clip isn’t Clark’s recording, one can get a sense for how much work was involved in voicing both characters in this scene.

“That recording ended up taking place over the course of two different days, mostly because I was booked for two or three hours and we just weren't able to get through everything in one day because there was so much between all the Miwa talking and then Maki having two fights: one with Miwa and one with her sister Mai,” notes Clark. “We went through everything as Miwa first and then we went through everything as Maki. And the reason we do that is because it's easier on the engineers, where we’re sticking with one track, one character, consistently, versus going back and forth, which we can do. It's just more trouble than it's worth.”

Allegra Clark

“And I've done other projects where I've played multiple characters in the same world and I've had to record me talking to myself in one sitting, which is wild,” she shares. “It’s mental gymnastics, but it's also very interesting and a fun technical challenge. I'm approaching the scene as Miwa while simultaneously imagining in my mind how Maki is going to respond, so that I know how Miwa will reply to what I'm going to do.”

These “mental gymnastics” are tackled, according to Clark, through a cocktail of acting chops and unconventional exercises. 

“You make a lot of really quick decisions based on the information you’re provided and then let things take their course, which is the acting training,” she notes. “But when I know the character well already, I’ll try to listen to music that sounds like them. I had a very violent playlist for when I worked on the Gun Gale Online anime and, if it’s a character with a specific accent, I’ll listen to music in that language. And then it all flows together. It's a little bit of self-direction while still having the director there too, but I'm seeing the scene in its entirety, which is something we don't normally get to do as voice actors.”

But Episode 17 required two voiceover recordings on two separate tracks, just because of how chaotic the episode was from a recording perspective. After all, the episode was full of back-and-forth dialogue, all from women.  

“Episode 17 was absolutely thrilling and phenomenal,” says Clark. “I always say the women in this show are so good and multi-layered and, in this episode, there were barely any men speaking.”

During Maki and Miwa’s fight, there is also a fight between the Kyoto school third year Momo Nishimiya and Tokyo first year Nobara Kugisaki and, during their row, the two engage in a heated discussion about Maki’s strained relationship with her sister Mai. 

“I think the internal conflict of the Nobara versus Momo fight as it unpacks the expectations that the Zen'in Clan and the sorcerer world in general places on women, and how Nobara has her perception of Maki's experiences contrasted to what Momo has seen with Mai suffering at the hands of her family, was really interesting,” says Clark. “Seeing how real it can get, I think, helped the JJK franchise. Then there’s the world where you have these clans and everyone who's within the clan system is absolutely messed up because of it, whether it's the Zen'in Clan, the Gojo Clan, or the Kamo Clan. The world Gege’s created is so inherently screwed up and traumatic that it feels real even in its fantasy.”

Season 3 of the Jujutsu Kaisen’s anime series has been confirmed, with TOHO animation sharing the first look at Season 3 on the day of the Season 2 finale. But as excited as Clark is to reprise her roles as Miwa and Maki for the new season, she says her excitement also comes with some wary emotions. 

“Season 2 was insane, and I want those animators to get the longest vacation on the planet,” says Clark. “But, at the same time, I want Season 3 so bad. It’s complicated, because I know the crunch on Season 2 was so damaging to the teams at MAPPA and TOHO. That crunch culture is pretty endemic in the animation industry and gaming industry in Japan in particular. It wears out its animators really hard, and they tend to peak and break very young as a result. So, I have this selfish desire that I want more JJK asap. But, at the same time, we can’t do that to those animators again. We’ve got this beautiful piece of art, and I don't want it to exist at the expense of the artists.”

Still, she says returning to voice for Maki and Miwa would be like coming home to old friends and it’s an opportunity she’s looking forward to with a lot of anticipation.

“They’re both so different but are actually different aspects of my own personality,” shares Clark. “Maki’s everyone’s internal monologue, where you can be a little unfair and a little unkind. She’s also badass. And I usually play characters like Maki, because that tone falls into the range of my voice. So, a character like Miwa is a breath of fresh air. She’s fun, she’s perky. She’s that very giggly side of my personality. I feel like I’m getting a little bit of myself in each character. I actually feel like people get a fuller picture of me knowing I play both characters. I’m excited to do more with them.”

Victoria Davis is a full-time, freelance journalist and part-time Otaku with an affinity for all things anime. She's reported on numerous stories from activist news to entertainment. Find more about her work at victoriadavisdepiction.com.