What Is the Independent Work from Director Mamoru Hosoda's Junior High School Years That Surprised Shota Sometani? "It's Incredibly Embarrassing!"

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the release of Director Mamoru Hosoda's version of "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," the "Mamoru Hosoda’s Roots Exhibition" is currently being held at CREATIVE MUSEUM TOKYO. This exhibition is a must-see for fans, featuring production materials from his representative works such as "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," "Summer Wars," and "Wolf Children," as well as a legendary independent work produced by Director Hosoda during his junior high school years, which is being unveiled for the first time in 44 years.

Prior to the exhibition's opening on June 20, a press preview was held on the 19th, featuring a talk event between Director Hosoda and actor Shota Sometani, who has appeared in four of the director's past films. This article reports on the details of that talk event.

Sometani has voiced roles including Guildenstern in Hosoda's latest work "Endless Scarlet," Kamishin (Shinjiro Chikami) in "BELLE," Kyuta (adolescent) in "The Boy and the Beast," and Mr. Tanabe in "Wolf Children." The role of Mr. Tanabe, in particular, marked Sometani's very first attempt at voice acting. The dialogue began with the topic of their audition at the time, serving as an anecdote of when the two first met.

Recalling the time they first met at the audition studio, Director Hosoda said, "I heard he walked all the way there (without being driven by his manager to the studio in Yotsuya), and it left a strong impression on me, making me think he must be a highly capable person." Sometani replied with a smile, "I'm glad I walked (lol)."

Director Hosoda went on to look back on how they had repeatedly conversed not just for simple audition selection but also about how Sometani had been acting since childhood. He noted that although the initial role did not match Sometani's age, he desperately wanted him to appear, so he offered him the role of Mr. Tanabe, Yuki's elementary school homeroom teacher. From there, Sometani was directly appointed for the role of Kyuta in "The Boy and the Beast."

Regarding the time he received the offer for the role of Kyuta, Sometani recalled, "I was able to play the character as he grew as one of the protagonists, and the director and actors on set watched over Kyuta, so the same kind of atmosphere as in the film spread through the studio. There was a sense of everyone building it together, and it was incredibly fun."

Director Hosoda also mentioned that he uses a unique method for voice recording in his works. While voice recording for anime films is often done separately for each actor, he said, "On my set, in order to bring out the way emotions shift, all the actors gather and record in chronological order, so Koji Yakusho (voicing Kumatetsu) and Yo Oizumi (voicing Tatara) were also present." Sometani agreed, saying, "Even in live-action, (chronological recording) is quite rare."