Reiji Kawashima: "I'm sweating more than I ever have in Yo Asobi history!" Studio Bursts into Laughter at Improvised Ad-lib Kamishibai
And finally, it was time for the two to perform kamishibai themselves. What they were given was Ganchan's original kamishibai with only illustrations and no dialogue written on the back at all. It was a high-difficulty challenge of weaving a story improvisationally while looking at the pictures.
To Kawashima, who couldn't hide his nervousness saying "We're supposed to do this too...?", Iwata also agreed, "After seeing Ganchan's performance, you'd hesitate, right?" First, Kawashima challenged himself with a work called "Kuchisake Onna Shirisake Otoko." He called out to the audience, "Anyone seeing kamishibai for the first time~?" but received no response, already becoming flustered. However, he developed the story by incorporating modern settings and audience engagement, and concluded with an unexpectedly happy ending.
To Kawashima after his performance, Ganchan praised him, saying "As expected of a professional voice actor, the emotional expression of the characters really hit home" and "I thought there are expressions like this too." On the other hand, he also gave professional advice, saying "In kamishibai, the 'awareness of controlling the atmosphere' is important. It would be best if you could skillfully draw out the desired answers from the audience." Kawashima, having finished his big role, said "This is crazy, Mitsuo-san. I'm sweating more than I ever have in Yo Asobi history!" which drew laughter from the studio.
Next, Iwata challenged himself with a work called "Mukashi Mukashi." Calling out to the audience, "What do you think will come out next?", Iwata proceeded while truly creating an "atmosphere." Following the familiar phrase "Mukashi Mukashi," he drew laughter with a development where "old men" appeared one after another, and received a stamp of approval from Ganchan, who said "Your atmosphere-building with the customers was perfect."
After the performance, Iwata said "I actually love this kind of thing" and "I've done picture book readings for children before," seemingly rediscovering the appeal of kamishibai. When voices from viewers such as "Voice actors' dramatic readings are good too, but I'd like to see small-scale kamishibai events and such" were received, Kawashima commented, "This is great. I want to pass it on as culture" and "There's a lot of ad-libbing, so it seems like it would be exciting as variety content." Iwata also nodded with a smile, saying "It really makes you want to make it happen. For us voice actors, it's content with a very high affinity," and in a warm atmosphere throughout, the broadcast for this day came to a close.
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