"Sword Art Online" animation director review 2014

2014 has also said goodbye to us, and this year has also seen a lot of stories happen in the animation industry. In December, the second season of "Sword Art Online" ended smoothly, which also made director Tomohiko Ito breathe a sigh of relief. So what does he think about the past year? Recently, some Japanese media conducted an exclusive interview on this. It is worth noting that the interview subjects are not only Ito, but also the idol Hikaru Aoyama, who is sitting on I**. Hikaru Aoyama has also been trained at the voice actor school, so he should be said to be a person in the circle. This time, the two will review the various anime events that took place in 2014.

Q: First of all, now that the second season of Sword Art Online has ended, you have worked hard. Let's take a look back at the 2014 anime. Director Ito, what anime did you watch in 2014?

Ito: I didn't watch any anime in 2014. But I watched "JOJO's Bizarre Adventure". In addition, I am a fan of director Hirotsugu Hamasaki, so I also watched "Martian Xenomorph".

Q: Some of the heavy scenes in "Martian Xenomorph" are processed by blacking out, which has also caused a topic on the Internet.

Ito: I don't think people are making too much of a fuss. In the final analysis, this is also a problem of the scale of TV station review. If the work is broadcast on Nippon TV in the late night slot, then it probably won't do anything. Actually, this TV station also aired "Parasite", didn't it?

Q: I see. So what did Miss Aoyama watch this year?

Aoyama: The second season of "Slashing the Girl", "Sword Art Online" and "Laughing on the Cloudy Sky". In addition, Lovelive! 》。

Q: For Lovelive! How did women react?

Aoyama: I feel like this work is more acceptable than "Idol Master". Speaking of "Idol Master", this is an anime that tells the story of an entertainment studio, right? And Lovelive! It's an idol in the daily life of the school park.,So it can make people feel close.。 On the COS side, Lovelive! also occupies the majority.

Q: MS. AOYAMA IS A COSER HERSELF. And when it comes to COS, the "Ship Girl" series is very eye-catching.

Aoyama: In addition to Lovelive! It's the ship's mother. However, this type of cosplay will have a lot of exposure scales, so the venue will have restrictions on costumes. Some girls have accepted the red line. For example, in a miniskirt, there are only thongs and so on. And there are no restrictions on the shooting of COSER, so it will be the subject of many obscene photos. And from the beginning of the ship, I feel that people have the impression that "the exposure of COS is very high". Some people are walking around in swimsuits, and overexposure is on the rise.

Ito: It's the same with anime, but it's somewhat restrictive. For example, this is the case with the problem of sister monsters (due to the excessive sexual innuendo of "Recently, My Sister is a Little Weird", it has been investigated by the relevant authorities). I think the animation industry is already a bit of a bottleneck. I hope you will be aware of this strange place. And all these practices will also affect the sales of DVDs. In the animation industry, some people feel that "if you do these radical things, you will get the popularity of some animation websites, yahoo~!" "It's better to think about it carefully.

Q: There are also many people in the industry who care a lot about online reviews.

Ito: Regardless of whether the online reviews are good or bad, people will care about it. Some people go to those websites first after work. I think it's best for everyone to quit the Internet.

Q: Director Ito has given up using Twitter.

Ito: I have time to read Twitter, so I might as well go to work. Twitter can only bring me superfluous noise. At least the people who make the company shouldn't be looking at Twitter. In addition, if you just want your work to be on the animation information website, then this motive is not right, right?

A sense of crisis in today's animation industry

Ito: I've been complaining before, but now the number of anime is increasing. However, there is still no decrease. And it is said that it will not decrease until 2016. I don't think there's a future in this industry.,I thought about giving up animation for a moment.。 The number of fully 3D works is also increasing rapidly. Although there are more opportunities for anime-related jobs, the number of people who want to become voice actors is also increasing. Guys, why do you want to become a voice actor?

Q: Ms. Aoyama studied at the voice actor school.

Aoyama: Even though I look like this in reality, the anime is able to create an image that is completely different from reality due to the different styles of the animation. Even if it's the same character, the impression is different due to the different voice actors. I think I like this and I'm having a lot of fun. But at present, people who aim for voice actors.,There are a lot of people who are dead houses like me.,And after watching the anime.,,Accept the feelings given by the animation.,And I've lost my imagination and the power of the table.。 Therefore, it has been said that it is more useful to read a novel or a newspaper at school than to watch an anime.

Q: I once went to an audition for voice actors, and I felt like a lot of people were very similar.

Ito: They tried too the works they had seen before. After listening to the audition dubbing, I thought, "Why do people read the lines in the same tone and break sentences in the same rhythm when there are no special requirements?" "But in order to give everyone free rein to play, we didn't have any special requirements for writing on the lines. I think a lot of people who aspire to animation have been influenced by others in terms of their appearance. But this is a strict mistake.

Aoyama: It's true that the recent voice actors lack individuality, and the number of people who feel the same is increasing. And the voice is inaudible. I think a lot of people are using the same breathing way to dub voices these days. I even occasionally feel that some works that were originally good were ruined by voice actors. And if some veteran voice actors play it, it brings a kind of personality that comes to people, which I like very much.

Ito: Sure enough, those who have survived in the voice actor world are the ones who have their own personalities.

Aoyama: Let's talk about Matsuoka Zhencheng, who voiced Kirito-kun in "Sword Art Online". Compared with the table xiàn at the beginning of the animation, his acting skills have been reborn now. At first, he had a virgin atmosphere, but now he is very handsome.

Ito: That probably means that Kirito is no longer a virgin (laughs).

Q: From the perspective of a young voice actor, you have a lot of followers who follow Mr. Matsuoka.

Aoyama: That's a lot of them now.

Ito: Matsuoka-kun has a lot of work. He's a very talented person, so as soon as he gets into the audition, he's basically going to be selected. I'm very worried that he'll be spoiled one day.

Male voice actors are more likely to choose those who are fixed than female voice actors

Aoyama: At a certain time, the same voice actor appeared in different anime. This overlap is very noticeable.

Ito: Choosing a voice actor is a more difficult adventure. Once the adventure is overdone, then there will be a situation like "SilverSpoon", where the voice actor lineup is not very bright. However, Shoji Shonokun, who voiced Tokiwa, took on the role of a replacement for "Breaking Bad" (Walter WhiteJR.), which I think is a great thing.

Q: While training voice actors, I also produce zuò animations. Is this something hard?

Ito: We should have had time to train voice actors, but we didn't do that. And if you talk about "Doraemon", there are Nobita, Xiaofu, Fat Tiger, Izuki Shan, etc., I think it is very rich. But now, no matter which male character it is, the producer wants them to have female fans, so he won't choose a very soy sauce candidate. Mr. Kanta Liver, who voiced Xiaofu back then, was very remarkable, but now he can't cultivate such a character. And Ayumi-Murase's voice is also very distinctive, so I thought, "I wonder if anyone can take a fancy to him?" So I wanted to let him join the dubbing of the first season of "Sword Art Online" as a Bole. As a result, he played a role in "Sakamichi's Apollo" earlier, so I can't say, "I found this person!" "I'm very sorry for this (laughs). Now he is also a volleyball boy!! The main voice actor, I think this is fantastic.

Aoyama: I think it's a great arrangement to have Megumi Hayashihara voice Asuna's mother in Sword Art Online. I was guessing who would be the candidate for Asuna's mother, but I actually used Ms. Hayashihara, which can really only be described as powerful. And her actual acting skills are also worthy of our special mention.

Ito: When you see Megumi Hayashihara voicing a mother character, you can't help but feel a shiver. Such a response is great. Nobita's mother is voiced by Kotono Mitsushi, and she played the heroine in the anime that we watched as teenagers, and now she is a mother character. At present, Ms. Hayashi Yuan is basically focused on her family, and almost no longer appears in works except for some main roles that are still dubbing. However, I wanted to have her voice as much as possible, so I negotiated.

Aoyama: Freya's voice actor is Ms. Yuko Miraguchi, and the nursery is voiced by Mr. Tetsuaki Genda, which is really amazing. I didn't expect them to appear in this place.

Ito: It's kind of a game that we make people, and I hope that the voice actor gods will try a little bit of a different role. Also, I would like to meet Ms. Hayashihara. I also learned a lot from other voice actors. And once these veterans meet me, I feel a different kind of nervousness.

Q: Idol voice actors are also increasing, such as Mayori Uchida, who has shown herself in a swimsuit in a weekly magazine. And Miss Aoyama herself is also a cover idol, so have you ever thought about "Don't come here for you voice actors!" ”

Aoyama: No. I just think that people are actually looking to try all sorts of things. Voice actors also hold events and concerts. In terms of the concept of "actor", we are all the same.

Ito: Some people say that we have a different stance from idol voice actors. However, the position and behavior of the so-called idols were never taught to us by the studio, and we came to the studio in the form of a train. When I went back, I was alone, and in real life, we were more ordinary than the image created on the Internet. So if something special happened to me, I think it would be horrible.

Q: Ms. Biru Shiina, who is the voice actress of the original idol, also got married in 2014.

Ito: There are some male voice actors who haven't announced their marriage. However, if fans sort out the information obtained on the Internet, they can find their real marriage partners. But I often sigh: It's a shame that they can come out.

Aoyama: It's all the fans who went to investigate. They compare the celebrity actors' friendships on Twitter.

Ito: Shouldn't that kind of enthusiasm be used to promote the development of other things? Mr. Mamori Miyano also caused a lot of commotion when he announced his marriage, but he overcame this difficulty and is still active. I like idols in the right way, but anime fans have gone the wrong way.

Aoyama: That's true.

Ito: And I think that some businesses are also taking advantage of the distorted mentality of fans to do business, and to be honest, this unsound way can only lead to cornering. I felt a sense of occlusion. It's a society that's completely under surveillance.

Q: Finally, please tell us about your three personal news in 2014.

Ito: First of all, I got married in May. There is also the end of the second season of "Sword Art Online". In addition, I was able to participate in an event called "ギーコポリス", so I got the opportunity to go to Paris. It's an event where fantasy, sci-fi, and cyberpunk coexist, but for some reason, there's a category called "JAPAN" (laughs). There are only 2 Aniplex people from Japan who have passed with me. So I feel very relaxed. At events in the United States, there are a lot of fatter people, while the French are slim. Even if they are dressed as characters from Game of Thrones, they are very consistent. And the event was very lively, very good.

Q: Speaking of Sword Art Online, what if you were invited to make a sequel?

Ito: Oh, how can I say that? It is still quite difficult to continue to make a story with no ending in sight. My impression of the work is exactly the same as the characters in the work. Speaking of which, I'm working on other projects right now.

Q: What are the top 3 news stories for Ms. Aoyama?

Aoyama: First of all, I made my debut in the entertainment industry. My DVD got the first place on Amazon's charts. There is also the newcomer award that won the "Expert Selection DVD Award". My perspective on acting has also changed. The goal for 2015 is to expand the scope of work. I hope that I will be able to work as a voice actor, participate in live-action versions, etc., and work related to video works.

Ito: My goal is to live with care. Don't make your wife angry (laughs).

Q: After all, it's just a matter of getting married. Thank you both for your time today!