By Paul Salfen
When Ryan Colt Levy steps into a recording booth as Denji, the chainsaw-wielding, devil-hunting protagonist of Chainsaw Man, something electric happens. The raw, unfiltered energy that once powered stages with his band Braeves now fuels one of the most beloved characters in modern anime. In this candid conversation with AMFM Magazine, the voice actor and musician opens up about the surreal journey from broke musician to the face (and voice) of a global phenomenon, the emotional weight of the Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, and why the series’ diverse, emotionally intelligent fanbase continues to blow him away.
A Kid on the Street and a Global Movement
“It still catches me off guard,” Levy laughs, recounting a recent encounter. “I’m walking down the street and one of the bartenders from my local spot comes running up with his little kid hiding behind him. The boy peeks out and just whispers, ‘You’re Chainsaw Man.’ I’m like… dude, are you even allowed to watch this show?”
That moment perfectly encapsulates the wild reach of Chainsaw Man. What began as a hyper-violent, deeply human shōnen series has become a cultural juggernaut that transcends age, race, and gender. “The fanbase is younger than you’d assume and older than you’d assume,” Levy says. “There’s this emotional maturity to them that’s really unique. Kids will come up and talk about the themes like they’ve lived them. It’s wild.”
Recording the Reze Arc: “I was fully crying in the booth”
The recently released Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc (Sony Pictures) stormed to #1 at the U.S. box office its opening weekend, pulling in $18 million and earning a near-perfect 98% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. For Levy, watching the finished film in the recording sessions was overwhelming.
“The first day, before we even started recording, director Sean Gunn pulled me aside and said, ‘I have to show you the pool scene.’ We weren’t even touching it that day. I just sat there, headphones on, watching this sequence with the music swelling… and I’m openly weeping in the booth. They handled it with so much sensitivity. It’s beautiful.”
Having lived with Denji for years, Levy already knew the story’s emotional gut-punches, but seeing MAPPA’s animation married to the dub performances hit differently. “Reagan Murdoch (Aki) and I keep saying we knew it was special, but you never know how the world will receive something. To see people embrace it this hard… it’s incredible.”
From Band Breakup to Breakthrough
Levy’s path to anime stardom wasn’t exactly linear. After moving from New York to Los Angeles with his band Braeves in 2015, years of touring, radio play, and day jobs left him burned out and broke. Then, in one brutal week in late 2018, the band broke up and he was laid off from his job.
“I’m having breakup lunch with the band and literally in that moment I thought, ‘I think the universe is telling me to act.’ No safety net, car always on empty, apartment flooded, someone totaled my car two days later… rock bottom. So I took every dollar I had, put it into acting classes and headshots, and just went feral.”
By summer 2019 the gamble paid off. He hasn’t stopped working since.
Advice for the Next Generation
With his Forbes feature highlighting one of the industry’s most unconventional rises, aspiring artists constantly ask Levy for guidance. His answer is refreshingly honest:
“Treat it like an obsession. It has to be the thing you can’t not do. If you’re only chasing the job, you’ll burn out and get bitter. Do it because you love it so deeply that not creating makes you feel incomplete. The rest — classes, reels, auditions — that’s just logistics. The internet has all the information now. Educate yourself, work your ass off, and get out of your own way.”
What’s Next
Fresh off wrapping a 67-episode season of Digimon: Ghost Game (currently streaming in the UK and coming soon to the U.S.), Levy is deep in high-profile video game projects (he teases “some really cool stuff” over the next year or two) and itching to return to on-camera work.
“I’m loud about announcements,” he grins. “If you follow me anywhere, you’ll know the second I’m allowed to scream about it.”
From a kid on the street whispering “You’re Chainsaw Man” to sold-out theatrical screenings where audiences lose their minds at the first rev of Pochita’s engine, Ryan Colt Levy’s journey proves that sometimes the biggest risks ignite the loudest chainsaws.
Follow Ryan Colt Levy on Instagram (@ryancoltlevy), X, and TikTok for the latest announcements — because whatever he does next, it’s going to be loud, raw, and unapologetically him.
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc is now playing in theaters nationwide.
