Nagasaki Newspaper (February 2020)
Interview Archive
An interview with Billy Kametz and Zach Aguilar conducted by VIZ Media discussing Diamond is Unbreakable in promotion of VIZ's release of the second Blu-ray set of the anime.[1]
Interview
Chatting with Josuke and Koichi!
Billy: Hey everybody, my name is Billy Kametz. I play Josuke in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable.
Zach: And my name is Zach Aguilar. I play Koichi Hirose in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable.
What was the first thing you thought of when you saw Josuke's hair?
Billy: The first thing that I thought of when I saw Josuke's hair... I just said, "Ooh, that is slick! That guy knows what's up." That's what I said. And then I learned that that's the correct answer. 'Cuz if you say anything other than that, then you're... You're done.
Zach: My first thought...
Billy: N-now tread carefully here, Zach, okay?
Zach: Hmm, well... I was like, "Hmm... That hair looks... silky smooth."
Billy: That's right.
Zach: Like silk and butter just mixed together. Like I would—Like cotton candy like... I would eat it if it was edible. But then Koichi ends up eating hair later on, unfortunately. Yukako!
What is your favorite Morioh town attraction?
Billy: My favorite thing would have to be Angelo. I think it's funny that they have like a thing where they just like walk by and everyone's just kinda like, "Hey, what's up, Angelo?" It's like, "Just some guy that was trying to kill us. And now, he's just this thing we say 'hi' to when we're walking from here to there."
Zach: I remember when we recorded the first episode. We thought that... Well, I thought the rock would be there just for that episode. Oh yeah, like, you know, we did our... We had out fight like everything, like okay, he's in the rock now. I remember thirty episodes later, they like go back to the rock and I thought it was so funny. It's like, "Oh my God, it's the guy from the first—"
Billy & Zach: "He's still there!"
Zach: He's still in the rock!
Did you feel any pressure entering the legendary world of JoJo's?
Billy: Yes. I definitely felt a lot of pressure going into JoJo's. I remember last year when they announced me at the JoJo panel. There were—oh my gosh—3500 people that were in this room and it was like... Okay, it was enough like at first to be like, "okay, I'm gonna be playing this guy." And now, there's just this massive crowd of fandom, that's like... You gotta—You gotta do it for all these people. So yeah, I was—I was very nervous to step into the shoes of Josuke, but it was just so fun. It was a fun, fun ride, so I'm happy I got to do it.
Zach: Playing Koichi was probably one of the most challenging roles of my voiceover career so far and it's not just because of the emotion. It's the pitch of the voice as well. And all the screaming. I remember I went in to record and I think I died in that episode. There technically—
Billy: You died in a lot of episodes.
Zach: Yeah, I died—I died a lot. But technically, I died. And then, our director Tony Oliver says to me, "Yeah, you're gonna be doing that a lot in this show. So you better like pace yourself and—and just—just you know, just warm up those chords a little bit before you come in the booth, all right? And you'll be good."
Billy: Good call, Tony. Good call.
Zach: Yeah.
What did you think of your character in general?
Billy: Josuke's awesome. He was just like...... the cool guy that I never was in high school growing up, so it was pretty cool to play a guy that was just like super nice and wholesome sometimes, and kinda goofy and silly, and then also could just throw down and kick some butt. Oh man, that was really, really fun to just step into both of those dudes and just—just have fun. So yeah, he was—Josuke was a blast to play.
Zach: Yeah, I felt like I could relate to Koichi a lot. Just being a nerd. Koichi is a very nice person, and sometimes, I feel like he can be easily taken advantage of. And people have told me the same too. Like, "Zach, you're too nice to people. Like, you need to—You need to sometimes put your foot down and be more assertive and stuff." And so I think it was kinda cool to jump into those shoes and kinda like, relive like a little bit when I was younger, and I think Koichi was actually a very—just a very relatable character to me...... in—in all the good ways, not the bad ways. I've never peed myself ever in my entire life. I promise, okay?
Billy: That's a lie! That's a lie! I've seen it!
Zach: It's never happened.
Was this show as weird as you expected or weirder?
Billy: It was actually weirder than I expected, for sure. This was the first thing that I was on that was on TV. And my parents were all excited, and they were like, "We're watching and Uncle Larry is watching and everything. We're all so excited! This is great!" And we were recording the episode nine with the rat and there's like a thing where you see him keeping people in a fridge and it looks disgusting. And I was just like, "Oh my gosh, Uncle Larry's gonna see this!" There were so many things where I was like, "Dang, this show goes for!" It definitely had a couple of surprises in there that I wasn't expecting.
Zach: Yeah, I remember every single time recording was definitely a very bizarre adventure.
Billy: I see what you did there! It's in the title of the show!
Zach: It was very—It was very bizarre recording the show. No joke, seriously. Because sometimes, you do some shows and there's a lot of dialogue and it seems like it never ends... Every single moment, I've noticed, while recording... sometimes, like we could just be casually talking... "Oh yeah, yeah, what's going on over there?" And then all of a sudden... "Ugh!" ...a big spear's like through your chest, and you're fighting like some crazy war, and somebody stepped in dog poop, and like, the world is just going to hell, and you don't know what is happening. But it's—I think JoJo—I think this show has probably been one of the most entertaining shows to not only record, but, I'm sure, to also watch.
Billy, you have a reputation for being polite like Josuke. Is there anything that sets you off?
Billy: So I'm from Hershey, Pennsylvania, and sometimes, people say, "Reecees Peecees," and that's not a thing. It's not—What is a "Peecees"? That's not a thing. And his name is "Reese's" Like, it's "Reese's" and then "Pieces." ...is the word. So that's what you say. It's "Reese's Pieces." What do you say, Zach? You can tell the truth. I won't be mad.
Zach: "Peecees"?
Billy: Oh come on, man!
Zach: Wait, Bill, come back! Come back, Bill! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!
Zach, have you ever cosplayed?
Zach: No, I've never cosplayed, but I do love Kingdom Hearts, and when I was younger, I ordered a Roxas wig and I ordered the cloak from China. But I was fourteen and I didn't know the sizing and I ordered the wrong size, and basically, the cosplay never happened. But one day, it will happen, hopefully. But who knows? Maybe it'll happen of a—of a certain—certain character named Koichi.
Billy: Ooh...
Billy, do you enjoy playing the main character?
Billy: No. Just kidding. No... No, playing Josuke was a blast, man. He was, like I said earlier, it's just like, he's—He had so many amazing one-liners. I feel like Jalen, was—who plays Okuyasu, was the script adapter and I was blown away by some of the stuff he was able to get away with that we were able to say. And so those were always so fun to play. And just... Yeah, the "dora"s... Those always—Those were always so much fun to do those. And we would always save those for the end, so... So yeah... It was—Josuke was just so much fun to play.
Zach, you got an early start as an actor, can you tell us your origin story?
Zach: I've been acting my entire life. I used to—My mom used to drive me up to Hollywood. She would call my—I was in kindergarten—She'd call my school and be like, "Yeah, Zach's sick. He's really, really sick. Sorry, he won't be able to make it." I'd be booked with auditions the entire week. Just boom, boom, boom. Like knocking out auditions. In 2014, Anime Expo had a voice acting competition and I decided to try out. Well, a friend of mine kinda pushed me into the line because I was so nervous I didn't want to try out. And so I ended up trying out and I won the competition, and the rest has been history.
And now a special message...
Billy & Zach: Get your copy of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, Set 2! Out now!