Edo: I recently came across this touching HeroAca fan manga and wanted to share it with English-speaking audiences. It explores the question, “What would happen if Ragdoll used her Quirk on All Might?” Please enjoy!
Spoilers for chapter 72 of the manga and episode 41 of the anime. Also, blood.
Edo: Welcome to part two, in which Hanae goes on a rant about the torture he had to endure on Tokyo Ghoul, Watanabe uses military terms to describe his job, and both gentlemen try to convince you to NOT follow in their footsteps. There’s some bonus content after this interview, so make sure you scroll to the end! If you haven’t read part one, in which Hanae and Watanabe exchange stories about the production of Tokyo Ghoul:re, be sure to check that out. Read More »
Edo: Today, I bring you a Tokyo Ghoul:re-related interview to commemorate Natsuki Hanae’s birthday (June 26) and the end of the anime’s first cour. If you’re wondering why the anime adaptation didn’t turn out as many of us had hoped, there are some answers here. This interview references material up to the 11th episode, so spoiler warning if you’re not caught up. Here’s the first half, in which Hanae and Watanabe share some behind-the-scenes stories about :re. The second half, which should be up soon, is about how they became a voice actor and anime director, respectively. Cheers!
Curiously, Fun’s Project says that the director’s name (渡部穏寛) is read as “Watabe, Toshinori.” However, all the respectable English anime databases call him “Watanabe, Odahiro” and personal experience tells me that the kanji for his given name don’t translate to “Toshinori,” so he shall be referred to as Odahiro Watanabe until further notice.
Natsuki HanaeAffiliated with Across Entertainment. Born in Kanagawa Prefecture. His first named role was Wien (Atsuhiro Maeda) in 2012’s Tari Tari. His first lead role was Kiri Haimura in 2013’s The Severing Crime Edge. His other representative works include Aldnoah.Zero (as Inaho Kaizuka) and Your Lie in April (as Kousei Arima).
Odahiro WatanabeBorn in Hokkaido. Made his debut as an animator on the 2000 movie Jin-Roh. Transferred to the production side afterwards. Made his directorial debut with the 2016 series Soul Buster. His other representative works include Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid (as Assistant Director) and Naruto: Shippuden (as Episode Director of the Shikamaru Hiden Arc).
The popular anime Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS depicts the struggles of protagonists Yusaku Fujiki/Playmaker and Ai as they engage in passionate VR Duels and unravel the mysteries of the Lost Incident. Now in its second year, the story enters a new arc!
We sat down with Shouya Ishige-san (voice of Yusaku Fujiki/Playmaker) and Takahiro Sakurai-san (voice of Ai), as well as new cast members Yuuki Kaji-san (voice of Takeru Homura/Soulburner) and Taku Yashiro-san (voice of Flame), to engage in a heated discussion about the series. So, how did this roundtable turn out?
There was a long gap between when Kizumonogatari was first announced and when voice recording began. How did you feel when you finally started recording for it?
It was half “I’ve been waiting for this!” and half “Are you serious?” During recording sessions for the Monogatari series, I kept asking things like “When are we doing Kizumonogatari?” I was very grateful for the opportunity to be in a film with Koyomi as the protagonist – in other words, with me as the lead actor. I was really looking forward to it. But when it came time to actually do it, I thought “Oh, it’s finally here,” and felt the responsibility weighing down on me. I’ve wanted to see this production myself for quite some time, after hearing rumors about how extraordinary it is, so I felt a mix of anticipation and anxiety.
What exactly do you mean by “extraordinary”?
First off, I heard that the storyboards were all drawn by the director, Oishi-san himself. Normally several people work on film storyboarding, so I knew that he couldn’t have done it alone unless he put in an “extraordinary” amount of passion and thought. I worried: “As a cast member, would I be able to convey that same degree of passion?” Frankly, I was terrified.Read More »
