"The Only Warped Part Is Her Love for the Young Lady": Voice Actor Fuka Izumi on the Pride Behind Playing a Maid - Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden Interview

—So you play her by staying close to Rinokis's emotions. On that note, one thing I was curious about is the tongue click in the training ground in Episode 2...

Izumi: Ha ha. Yes, I clicked my tongue a lot! When expressing a tongue click in anime, I think there are two ways: actually doing it, or saying "Tch" as a line. This work is a fantasy, but many parts of it are made with a texture close to the real world, so I did a real tongue click. ...I was genuinely annoyed while I was performing it lol.

—From Rinokis's point of view, it is certainly an irritating situation lol. Then in Episode 3, in the scene where she watches Nia trample a group of thugs, there's a conversation where, conversely, her emotional ups and downs don't show. In terms of contrast, that scene also caught my attention.

Izumi: I think Rinokis felt a lot of things in that scene too. As a maid, she is in a position to guard Nia, but she witnessed Nia's overwhelming strength. Of course, I think she felt frustrated and ashamed of her own inadequacy, but even more than that, she felt she had to do something about it right away.

—As a maid, if she's weak, she has to become strong?

Izumi: Exactly. She accepts as a fact that she is weak as a maid and feels she needs to become strong. If she had been speaking in a monologue or to herself rather than in a conversation, perhaps more of her frustration would have seeped through, but (the person she's talking to) is a stranger to Rinokis.

—I see, that makes sense. She doesn't act the same way toward everyone as she does toward Nia.

Izumi: Rinokis is actually a calm person, and that's basically her stance toward anyone other than the young lady. She just happened to be spoken to, so she answered calmly, with the sense that there was no need to say much. As the one playing her, it was about sorting out the facts Rinokis perceives, what she herself must do, and her feeling of frustration.

—What do you think drew Rinokis to Nia?

Izumi: The time Rinokis spent with Nia back when she was frail was surprisingly not that long, but as they overcame various things together, Nia's presence gradually grew larger and Rinokis's love deepened. That also led to Rinokis's sense of responsibility as a maid growing, and I think her resolve was gradually settled.

Her resolve to live alongside the young lady Nia Liston as her maid took shape naturally within her.

—So if she can't fulfill her duties as a maid because she is weak, she tries to become strong. It's logical, and it holds together as a principle of action too.

Izumi: Exactly. Rinokis is an emotionally rich girl, but she's also very calm and never strays from what is rational. She speaks sound reason too (to rebuke Nia), she does what she must as a maid, and she's conscious of having to protect the young lady as someone who carries the Liston family on her shoulders, so she's very straightforward. The only warped part of her is her love for the young lady lol.

Why not check out the TV anime Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden while paying attention not only to the emotions Rinokis shows on the surface, but also to the subtle feelings hidden beneath?

Interview, Photography, Text: kato
(C)南野海風・ホビージャパン/凶乱令嬢ニア・リストン製作委員会

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