"I Didn't Really Feel Like I Struggled That Much"—How Voice Actor Shūichirō Umeda Approaches "Character Differentiation"【Interview for "The Summer Hikaru Died"】

—— How do you see Hikaru as a character?

Umeda: You mean the current Hikaru (after he became the “something”)? It’s really hard to summarize in a single phrase—he’s a very complex character.

He possesses power, and because of that he acts outside of human norms, yet in other ways, he’s just like any other child. He gets sad about things, he gets happy about them—he’s a character I’ve grown very attached to.

If I were in (the protagonist) Yoshiki Tsujinaka's position, I might find that attachment itself unsettling. But as Hikaru’s voice actor, I feel a strong sense of affection and connection to him.

—— Was there any change in your image of Hikaru after the audition and after actually performing him during recording?

Umeda: Of course, there were things I discovered through discussions with the director and my own interpretations, but in terms of my overall impression, it didn’t change much.

From the beginning of the audition, I had a hunch that there wasn’t a single Hikaru who resembled myself. In fact, I felt that each person called to the studio audition was brought in to play a different “Hikaru.” That’s just intuition, so I can’t be certain.

So although my understanding deepened, from the studio audition to the actual recording, my core image of Hikaru himself didn’t change very much.

—— There are differences in the way you portray Hikaru during his lifetime and now, particularly when talking to Yoshiki. Did you find anything especially difficult about differentiating those versions?

Umeda: Well, of course, it’s challenging, but for me, I didn’t feel like I struggled that much.

The reason is—and I’ve said this in other interviews as well—rather than simply changing my voice, I shifted the way Hikaru interacts with others and his own emotional stance, performing each as a distinct entity. Rather than being difficult, I found the differentiation process very enjoyable.

For example, if the way Hikaru interacts with Yoshiki changes, naturally the tone of his voice does too. Whether he feels at ease or not also affects his voice. Even just saying “Yoshiki,” I would consider whether he’s keeping his distance because he understands Yoshiki, or if he’s not keeping his distance because he doesn’t understand him—those are the kinds of things I paid attention to.