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

—In "Aoashi," players connect with each other during matches, and likewise, as actors, it comes down to how you express emotion through your performance during recording and link it together. I felt that's a very universal part of it.

Uchiyama: That said, I feel the way works spread is changing. People now get a lot of information from social media, and for anime too, how widely clipped videos (made from footage of the main episodes) circulate has become a big factor in promoting a work.

As a voice actor, I sometimes think things like: given the flow (of emotion built up by the story so far), this character wouldn't act flashy here, but this is probably a scene they'd want to clip (for promotion), so maybe I should go all out and make it look cool.

Enoki: Ah, right. Yeah.

Uchiyama: (Performing with clipped videos in mind) wouldn't come naturally from the flow of the character's feelings, and I don't know whether it's right for me as a performer or as acting. But I want a lot of people to watch, and I think it's better for a work to spread, so somewhere in the back of my mind there may be a thought of deliberately making it look cool.

Enoki: In a way, you're also somewhat conscious of acting for the clips.

Uchiyama: (Clipped videos shared through social media) have become a new way for works to spread over the past few years, and I think the approach of "hoping it looks great when it's clipped" is a viewpoint that didn't exist 10 or 15 years ago.

These days, how a work spreads may change depending on whether it resonates with a person in five seconds (of a clipped video). The animation and direction staff may be thinking the same way, but as performers, we think about it too.

This interview offered a glimpse into what voice actors think about as performers when acting at the recording studio. We hope it showed how they search together for better expression, even as they wrestle with the need to consider how the ways works spread are changing with the times.

Reporting and text by kato
(C)小林有吾・小学館／「アオアシ Season2」製作委員会