Aoashi Cast Junya Enoki, Koki Uchiyama, and Kazuyuki Okitsu on What Voice Acting and Soccer Have in Common, and Acting for the Times

The TV anime "Aoashi" Season 2 is airing every Sunday at 5 p.m. on NHK Educational TV. Set in the youth team of the J.League club "Tokyo City Esperion," the series is known for a story that spotlights the tactical side of soccer.

The protagonist, Ashito Aoi, works on how to think his way through soccer, and in Season 1 he made it into the A Team, also putting to use his natural gift, a bird's-eye field of vision called ＜Eagle Eye＞. As of Season 2, all eyes are on what kind of soccer Ashito will play in an A Team packed with talented players.

In this article, we bring you an interview with Junya Enoki, who voices Yuma Motoki, Koki Uchiyama, who voices Yoichi Kiriki, and Kazuyuki Okitsu, who voices Kenta Yoshitsune, all characters on the A Team. We asked what they think about as actors at the recording studio, and whether they can relate to the idea of "playing while thinking" depicted in "Aoashi."

—Experiencing "Aoashi" made me feel the fun of thinking through how to play soccer, tactics included. I'm curious what parts of the "thinking" in this work you, as the people voicing its characters, can relate to as actors.

Uchiyama: In Season 2, how Kiriki communicates with the younger generation becomes important, and I feel there's some overlap in how he tries his best in areas beyond just playing.

Voice recording is basically something everyone does together, so it isn't something one person can complete alone. Expressing your own lines accurately matters, but communication becomes important outside of your own lines.

Okitsu: I think our goal is for what we want the work to be, as a whole, to reach viewers as emotion. We keep passing the ball through the accumulation of one line after another and score the goal of emotion, but if we overdo it and get a "There's no one out there to receive it!" moment, the goal doesn't happen.

In that sense, we need to confirm the shared understanding of how to proceed at the very start through our relationships outside the lines, and decide on the direction we're heading. As Uchiyama said, I think communication is important.

Enoki: When it comes to communication, sometimes we do it through acting, and sometimes I try to make it easier for the other person to deliver their lines. But as "Aoashi" also depicts, you have to get to the point where you can do it without thinking.

When you do something deliberately, it tends to show, or it can come across as contrived, so I can relate to the idea of thinking while also trying not to think.

Okitsu: It's important to let the people around you know what you're thinking. Even in the team in "Aoashi," fights break out because people say things too bluntly, but I think it's necessary to train the ability to sense each other's thoughts without saying anything.

Just as there's no time to consult or put things into words while playing soccer, time is limited in voice recording too. We move on our own instincts, and that leads to the goal. We push each other up to that level. In the sense of working toward a shared aim, I think soccer and voice recording are the same.

—When I ask voice actors about recording, what always stands out is how they value the atmosphere in the room and pick things up through the back-and-forth, so this is a fascinating story.

Okitsu: For example, even if you say "I love you!", some people will think "You're lying," so there are plenty of times when your words aren't received even after you say them (laughs). That's why aligning emotions is something you connect through means other than words.

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