If you’re like me, you were told, at some point in your life, that you would “grow out of” your love for anime. That’s why I feel an extra bit of joy when I see that plenty of people have done the exact opposite. Sure, some may stop liking anime, which is fine, but there shouldn’t be this expectation of losing love for something that brings you joy because you’re getting older. Some of us actually grow into it with age, whether we mean to or not. Such is the case with Lauryn Alexandria, known as Toastymarshmellow online. RELATED: Emily Marshall on Conducting Naruto: The Symphonic Experience You may recognize Toastymarshmellow (or Toasty) from the Naruto: The Symphonic Experience , the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anniversary concert that happened at Anime Expo, or if you don’t mind a good scare from a horror game (she doesn’t even mind seeing the character she voices get their head cut off). With each new geeky endeavor comes an infectious joy for whatever Toasty’s taking part in. Clearly, she’s not going to “grow out of” it anytime soon, but that wasn’t always the plan. In our interview, Toasty talks about her musical theater background, how the joy of performing anime covers led to a new career path, and how expressing herself through fandom has made her both a better performer and a more well-rounded person. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview! Can you introduce yourself to our readers? Toasty: I’m Lauryn, but I go by Toastymarshmellow online! I’m a singer and content creator formally based in NY, but I just moved to LA recently. I started my journey posting anime covers online and now I sing for anime and video games! What got you into anime? What was the series that pulled you in? Toasty: Naruto . It’s always gonna be Naruto for me! I watched the first episode on Toonami back in 2005 and the rest is history. RELATED: The History of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden's Run on US Television You made a post on Instagram that talked about how you went from doing Naruto covers in your room to being the lead vocalist in the Naruto: The Symphonic Experience . What has it been like turning your fandom love into career highlights? Was that always something you wanted to do? Toasty: So funny enough, I never planned on turning this into a career. I went to school for musical theatre and was on a one-way track to being a performer on Broadway, but when the pandemic hit and I found myself sad in my bedroom, I asked myself what would bring me joy right now… and the answer was animusic. I love what I do now and feel so lucky to have combined my love of anime and performance into one career. It’s also been very fulfilling for my followers and friends who have watched my growth over the years. How does your love for anime, video games, and geeky media in general inspire you as a performer and content creator? Toasty: It inspires everything I do now. I feel like through my expression in fandom I’ve become a better performer and overall more well-rounded person. I’m confident in the things I like and dislike, whether that be anime, food, fashion, you name it. I know what’s right for me now instead of trying to fit any mold. You do a little bit of everything when it comes to nerdy endeavors, from singing in anime orchestras to video game streams and voice acting. How do you balance the fun of anime and video games with the work it takes to maintain them as a career? Toasty: That’s a great question. You always run the risk of losing your love for something once you monetize it. That’s why I tend to only document the things I feel won’t affect that for me. You won’t see me doing anime reviews because I love anime too much to pick it apart. Likewise with video games. I prefer to document my involvement in projects now or cool activations my followers can attend. RELATED: Kiera Please Shares Her Journey from Anime Fan, to Cosplayer, to Date Everything! Character You've worked on a couple of horror games ( Indigo Park and Don’t Fret ) and also stream horror games like Amanda the Adventurer . What is it about horror that draws you to it so much that you don’t just play it, you do voice work in it as well? Toasty: I’ve always been a fan of scary media, whether that be true crime podcasts or Stephen King novels. One of the first games I ever streamed was Little Nightmares , and ever since then my audience and I have had a deep connection to horror games with deeper meanings. Getting to voice act in them now is just the cherry on top, and it’s so fun to stream the games I’m in! Speaking of which, in some of your video game streams, you actually react to hearing yourself in a game or a song. What’s it like listening to yourself perform, especially when you’re sharing your reaction with other people? Toasty: It’s the most fun and surreal thing ever!! I’ll never forget when I was playing Indigo Park Chapter 1, not knowing how the game would end and then seeing my character [SPOILER ALERT] get her head chopped off. That reaction was PRICELESS! RELATED: Silent Hill f Team Discuss Why Feeling Joy Is a Key Part of the Horror Experience You recently performed in the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anniversary concert at Anime Expo, and even got to sing part of the first opening (“Gurenge”) for LiSA. After being part of Naruto and Demon Slayer in such a way, what other anime series would you like to lend your voice to? Toasty: Singing for and meeting LiSA has to be in the top 3 of things I’ve ever done. I literally went to her birthday party after! I personally would love to do something new for an anime that hasn’t come out yet. Anime composer friends hit me up! In your opinion, what other anime series would make for a good symphony orchestra? What anime soundtracks would fit that genre of music? Toasty: My Hero Academia would make such a great concert. That soundtrack makes me cry within two seconds of hearing it. Bonus points if we can get BLUE ENCOUNT to guest star at some of the shows! If you could sing in any anime universe, which would it be, and why? Toasty: I’ve always said Pokémon and I actually just had an original song for Pokémon release on the Pokémon Worlds album!! The song is called “Good Game” and it features my friend Cam Steady. The entire album is soooo good! If you could game with any anime or video game character (or both), who would it be, and what game would you play with them? Toasty: Easy. Itachi (my husbando) and I would play horror games all night. He would love Five Nights at Freddy’s because he could use his Sharingan to predict when the animatronics would pop out!
