Aoashi Interview: Junya Enoki, Koki Uchiyama, and Kazuyuki Okitsu on the Challenges Unique to Voice Acting for a Soccer Anime

Season 2 of the TV anime Aoashi, which began airing in April 2022, is now airing on NHK E-Tele every Sunday at 5 p.m. Ashito Aoi, the protagonist who joined the youth team of the J.League club Tokyo City Esperion, was promoted to the A team, the first team, at the end of Season 1. To play alongside even stronger players than before, Ashito and his teammates devote themselves to training in order to take a bigger leap forward, and the story follows their efforts.

Season 2 centers on the A team. For this article, we interviewed Junya Enoki, who voices Yuma Motoki, Koki Uchiyama, who voices Yoichi Kiriki, and Kazuyuki Okitsu, who voices Kenta Yoshitsune. Focusing on the Season 2 recording sessions, we asked them for behind-the-scenes stories unique to a soccer anime.

——In Season 2, Ashito is finally promoted to the A team. Since this is a soccer anime, there is a large cast of characters, isn't there?

Okitsu: The studio was packed. During Season 1, because of the pandemic, we recorded in small groups. This time, both teams, including the opposing side, finally got together to record, but then it was a struggle because there were so many people (laughs). Still, I think that recording together made it easier for us to picture what kind of person each of us is, compared with Season 1.

Enoki: Everyone gets along well, so I think the teamwork is really good. We often record by team, but the Esperion team has been having fun recording, and it reminds me that recording together is just better.

Uchiyama: I truly didn't appear in Season 1, so my sense of being a cast member may have been a little thin...

All: (Laughs)

——Kiriki also makes his full-fledged appearance, so we're looking forward to it.

Uchiyama: Starting with Season 2, I joined with the mindset of taking part in Aoashi as a cast member all over again. The recording sessions did have a really good atmosphere, but it made me realize for the first time in a while how tough voice acting for a sports anime is.

——What exactly was difficult?

Uchiyama: As with other sports anime, there are a lot of audio elements besides lines, such as the breathing during play. Some parts can be recorded all at once, but for others we say, "Let's record this separately later," and the workload keeps growing.

Enoki: We also record in-match shouts like "Move up!" separately, and that was quite a lot of work. I feel like I said "Kiriki!" countless times.

Uchiyama: We don't know where in the finished anime they'll be used, but that's unique to sports anime.

Enoki: What's more, they weren't ad-libs. Those lines were prepared in advance too. I could shout something like "Wide!" if I wanted to, but depending on the position, a player wouldn't say it.

Okitsu: It came across that the lines were carefully designed so that they never misrepresent the situation in the game. Who has the ball, and who is the ball going to? There are feints too, but we recorded the lines separately for those.

In the finished footage, I think you'll hear lines like these coming from all over the place, but Yoshitsune is a character who doesn't speak clearly, and he says some rather odd things (laughs).

——That's very much like Yoshitsune, but it must be a tricky point to actually perform (laughs).

Okitsu: He says things nobody can understand or stops partway through a sentence, and I struggled quite a bit with that in Season 1 too. Respecting the character, I thought about whether he should say it in a slightly odd way or whether it's better not to say it clearly, and I performed with that in mind. It's possible that none of it was used (laughs).

All: (Laughs)

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