Bryson Baugus and Christopher Wehkamp are veterans in the anime world, from voicing the bubbly Shoyo Hinata in Haikyuu!! to the stoic Shoto Aizawa in My Hero Academia. Now, they have combined their talents to bring the iconic mentor-mentee duo from Gachiakuta to life, Rudo Surebrec and Enjin.
To say that these two voice actors are perfect for their roles is an understatement. Bryson Baugus perfectly brings out the awkwardness and anger of Rudo, while Christopher Wehkamp has the mysterious and cool tone needed for a personality like Enjin. They understand the nuance of Gachiakuta’s story like no one else does.
In an exclusive interview with FandomWire, Baugus and Wehkamp talk about their roles in Gachiakuta, what it was like to navigate such different characters from their previous roles, and how much they’ve learnt from the personalities of Rudo and Enjin.
FandomWire: Rudo is a very gritty, introverted, and awkward person, but he always tries his best. What was your first impression of him, and what excited you the most about playing this character?
Bryson Baugus: I actually haven’t played as much of a raspy, gritty, and grungy character like Rudo before, so I was excited to be able to explore that aspect as a character. My first impression of him, while I did recognize the anger and rage that he feels, I also feel like, once I read a little bit more about him when researching for my audition, I feel like, at his heart, he was just kind of this misunderstood loner who is looking to connect with other people.
He’s been rejected throughout his life, and he feels downtrodden. In my opinion, he’s internalized a lot of that rejection. He gives me the vibe of somebody who’s their own worst critic. Whenever something goes wrong in the show, it seems like his first instinct is to say, “What did I do wrong? Why are things going badly? Is it because of me?” I feel like that’s kind of the core of his character. He’s very much down on himself, but he’s looking to connect with others. I feel like he’s looking for that family that he didn’t really have growing up.
FandomWire: Speaking about Rudo’s rage, it’s quite evident in his story. What’s it like to bring out those feelings when playing him, and which scene was the biggest challenge for you?
Bryson Baugus: One of the biggest challenges has been a scene that hasn’t aired yet, so I can’t talk about it too much, but there was definitely, definitely that first episode. There was a variety of moments with him. You saw pretty much all of his sides in that first episode. You saw his soft side whenever he was hanging out with Chiwa, you see his quirky side, and him [Rudo] getting annoyed with Regto, who was always just poking and prodding at him, just messing with him.
And then you saw his angry side at the end, once he’s been betrayed and sent down to the pit. He shows a lot of character in that first episode, and I think it was a challenge at first to try and get those moments exactly perfect. I think we did his monologue at the end a couple of times before, just locking it in.
I would do a take, we would listen to it back, and I’d be like, “I got a better one in me for that one.” So, that first episode had a lot of moments that I was really enjoying working on and finding those peak moments, if that makes sense.
FandomWire: Enjin has such a distinct, eccentric personality in Gachiakuta. Despite being so confident, he’s often grounded and realistic. When he met Rudo, he wanted to look like the cool guy, but lost it when he couldn’t hear him. How difficult is it to change tones during a scene?
Christopher Wehkamp: For me as an actor, this is the first time I’ve originated a character in Episode 2, where he is so far out of his [Enjin] normal pocket of where he lives the rest of the time. For the rest of these 11 episodes that have come out so far, he has moments where he kinda loses his cool. But the first time he meets Rudo, he’s at an 11 of 10.
So, that was a really interesting challenge to start with that aspect of the character that you rarely see as your introduction to him. Then, he quickly slides back into his normal sort of spot and dispatches the Trash Beasts with ease. That whole first introduction to Enjin was a great dichotomy of his goofiness.
He [Enjin] can be very impulsive, while also being this protective father figure type to the remainder of the Cleaners on his team that are in his charge. So that sort of dichotomy, right out of the gate. You get to see both sides of it in Episode 2. That was a super fun challenge to get to characterize him and get a chance to bring him to life.
FandomWire: You also mentioned Regto here. Similarly, every protagonist needs a strong mentor figure, and Enjin provides a solid person for Rudo to rely on after Regto. How do you bring that to life, and how does it shape the way you approach the role?
Christopher Wehkamp: The timing of him being there, at the time when Rudo arrives, I feel like is a really interesting start because it’s really Rudo at rock bottom, like literally rock bottom. And then here’s Enjin. There’s still so much we don’t know about Enjin.
So, we don’t understand all of his motivations other than that he was there and able to help at the nick of time. That’s all I wanted to add.
Bryson Baugus: That’s basically all I was going to say. Pretty much everything that Chris mentioned. As soon as Rudo gets down there, he finds somebody who can help, guide him, and figure out what’s going on in this world, much in the same way that I feel Regto did with him up on the sphere.
Like Regto, they keep showing flashbacks to him hanging out with Regto as a child. And it seemed like a lot of what Regto was doing was showing him how the world works. And now Enjin’s showing him how this new world works.
FandomWire: What do you think of Rudo’s evolution, from an outcast to someone who finally found his place in the world?
Bryson Baugus: I think it’s very interesting. He’s [Rudo] still very much discovering a lot more about [like] what it means to be part of a group of friends or a family. He still makes mistakes. He still stumbles here and there. And I still think, at this point in the story, he is struggling with that self-doubt and that self-criticism.
However, I think he’s slowly coming around. As he meets more people and sees more situations, he’s learning more about how to understand different perspectives. For example, I love the example early on with episode three when he first meets Zanka. His first instinct is to be like, “I’m on the back foot. I’m ready to fight. This guy [Zanka] seems like he wants to mess with me.”
But he takes the time to analyze the situation and be like, “Hey, wait. I mean, I stole his thing. Maybe that’s why he’s mad at me. Maybe I should try not to fight just because I’m feeling a little scrappy right now.”
FandomWire: Do you both have a personal connection to your characters, or was it difficult to step into the lives of Rudo and Enjin?
Christopher Wehkamp: Not for me. I think especially with live appearances, and going and meeting fans in person, I’m always trying to be as cool as I can be. Often, that fails because I’m actually just kind of a goofball, personally. And so in a way, I do feel like Enjin shows both of those sides, where he’s really got a goofy, playful, and very impulsive side, where he just goes with his gut in the moment. It usually gives some pretty humorous effect.
So that, to me, it comes from a very real place of me struggling to be as cool as I can when I’m out around like fans. Often, instead, I do something unintentionally funny. It’s interesting because Enjin’s motivations are still a little bit opaque.
We don’t know exactly all of his [Enjin] motivations at this point, which is one of the really interesting things about the character for me. Because he, on the surface, he seems to be so much, and yet we know that there are still a lot of mysteries about his story which have yet to be revealed.
So, I’m super excited to find out [about] his past, his history, and to see what all that means for his current where he’s at in his life right now.
Bryson Baugus: For me, with Rudo, I feel like I’m very lucky, in that I don’t have a similar experience to his childhood. I always had [like] a very supportive family. I’ve always had a good number of friends that I can rely on to hang out with. I had three brothers. So, I definitely had a pretty different experience from him growing up.
But I feel like tapping into that sort of experience is very therapeutic for me. I can empathize with people who’ve experienced that stuff. I feel like he’s got his moments where he can open up to others. And that’s where I can feel a little bit of myself from my childhood being a little bit more open to others. But then there are also those moments where, like I said, he’s [Rudo] very self-critical. Everybody at some point has that level of self-criticism, especially when they experience setbacks here and there, whether you’re in the creative field of being an actor [or] being a musician, or being an artist.
You’re always your own worst critic. You hear it all the time. And I feel like tapping into those sorts of feelings kind of helps with those moments for Rudo as well.
FandomWire: Before we say goodbye, what do you hope fans take away from your characters in Gachiakuta?
Christopher Wehkamp: It’s not necessarily limited to my character, but I like the overall theme across all these characters on the Ground, which is that they’re able to put a lot of love and care into a special item [Vital Instruments] in their life. As in, they don’t just discard things just because they’re not new.
They show a lot of care and love for those things. That theme seems to be similar across all these characters in the Cleaners, for sure. I think that’s a really cool message, especially for anybody in 2025. For example, it’s actually cool to have a favorite shirt for 30 years. That’s very cool, shows a lot of love and character.
Bryson Baugus: With Rudo, a big lesson to learn is not to judge people based on first impressions or first appearances, and then use those first impressions to treat that person a certain way, usually negatively. In the line that he has in Episode 2, “Stop coming up with excuses to treat people like garbage.” I very much believe that everybody is who they are because everybody is made by the life that they’ve lived.
You can’t encapsulate that in a first impression. So, maybe that person that you met, who was maybe having an off day, you don’t have to make conclusions about a person based on one bad impression.
So, as you can see, Bryson Baugus and Christopher Wehkamp have got their characters down to a T. Their insights are enough to tell us just how fit they are for the duo. There is much yet to explore about Rudo and Enjin in Gachiakuta, and the two voice actors are excited to bring those stories to life, see how they evolve, and where everything connects.
Have you been watching Gachiakuta and seeing Baugus and Wehkamp’s brilliant performances as Rudo and Enjin? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Gachiakuta can currently be streamed on Crunchyroll.
