The Shonen genre of anime is probably one of the most popular genres in anime, and each year several names get added to it. However, there are only a handful of names that are remembered prominently by the fans. One of them is Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter x Hunter.
The series is considered to be an underrated gem that takes place in an uncharted world, featuring hunters who are tasked with capturing different criminals or finding lost treasures in dangerous territories. Amidst the heart of all the chaos, Togashi-San features Gon Freecss, a young boy of about 14 years who is obsessed with being a hunter and finding his father, Ging Freecss.
The mangaka’s idea of adding a kid as its protagonist made the series so popular. However, this notion often made Erica Mendez worry about her character as she was stressed about the kid’s well-being.
Erica Mendez Hates The Most Endearing Feature of Hunter x Hunter
Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter x Hunter is known for a ton of things, from having well-written characters to getting darker as the plot progresses. The Shonen series has several key points that make it a popular name.
However, the idea of having a young protagonist who is obsessed with becoming a proud and successful hunter like his father, who had abandoned him, was loved by the fans. As a result, the 1990s show was extremely popular, and even received a remake in 2011.
Nevertheless, this feature did not resonate too well with Erica Mendez, who is the English voice actor of our protagonist, Gon Freecss. During an interview with Anime News Network, the interviewer asked her if there was anything about the show that bothered her a lot.
Mendez replied that there’s one feature that makes her very uncomfortable: how Gon Frecss never backs out when the situation gets really dangerous, often making her worry about the kid’s safety. She said,
I wouldn’t say it gets on my nerves, but Gon tends to not want to back down even when things get really dangerous. I’m a very non-confrontational person so whenever I see him endangering his life, I’m like “No! Just let this one go… it’s fine… please don’t let him break your other arm…” I know it’s a shonen series, but I get really concerned about his safety.
Indeed, when you are a young boy of about 13 or 14 years old, fans would worry about your safety, considering the fact that the world features a lot of dangerous names that would make everyone worry about the young protagonist.
Erica Mendez Gets Candid on How She Voiced Gon Freecss
In the same interview with Anime News Network, she was asked if it was harder for her to voice the “male character in this show” than the female ones she has done in other series. Erica Mendez acknowledged the question and mentioned that she was instructed not to give a “typical scratchy” voice to the protagonist.
Hence, she decided to add “rasp” to make him sound more believable to the fans. She said,
It really depends. For a boy like Gon, the client didn’t want him to be your typical scratchy voiced young boy protagonist. Adding a rasp to a voice tends to make boy voices sound more believable to the audience, but because of the way we set Gon’s character, he doesn’t have a lot of rasp unless he’s in a tense situation so there’s a really fine line for him maybe sounding a little girlish at times, because he’s so naïve and happy most of the time.
The voice actor further shared her experience of how she would do small actions to match her energy with Gon Freecss. She added,
In the booth, I actually stand with my legs apart and get a little bouncier to keep my energy up when I play characters like Gon. Also, I find myself more likely to copy whatever position the character’s arms are in when I’m voicing boys. I feel like boy voices come a little more naturally to me, especially as far as attitude goes.
Nevertheless, she emphasized that voicing the boy characters comes more naturally to her because their attitude tends to come more naturally to her. Hence, this makes her one of the most popular names in the anime industry, bringing the character to life in the dubbed version.
Hunter x Hunter (2011) can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
