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Of all the characters in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Zenitsu is probably one of the most dynamic. He’s cowardly and lecherous when he’s awake, but yet he becomes an unmitigated badass when he’s knocked unconscious by an enemy. This dichotomy isn’t just the defining characteristic of Zenitsu – it is what has made him so fun to play for the past six years, according to voice actor Aleks Le.

We managed to sit down with Aleks Le, who has been playing Zenitsu in Demon Slayer since 2019, at San Diego Comic Con 2025, and he gave us some insight into what it’s like to play him. Turns out, it is a lot like voicing two different characters in the show. “One side is what he wants to talk about and portray and the other side is this completely different version of him that he doesn’t realize is there,” Le told us. “So it is very much like two completely different characters, and I think that’s what’s fun about this role for me, as an actor.”

How does Le switch between the two? “I just knock out in the recording booth,” he joked before adding. “No… my process is that I prefer to record everything as one version of him and then jump back in later to record the other version just so that there’s consistency every time we’re approaching it.”

You’ll be able to hear both sides of Zenitsu come to the surface when Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba The Movie – Infinity Castle lands in US cinemas on September 12, 2025.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

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