I was so impressed by director FROGMAN's play, "It's the real Yoshida-kun!" I was so impressed. Interview with Aya Uchida, voice actress for the movie "Taka no Tsume 8

This year, 10 years after the TV animation aired in April 2006, the adventure movie "Takanotsume 8: Yoshida-kun no X (Batten) File" will be released for both children and adults to enjoy. File" will be released. Set in Yoshida-kun's boyhood, the film is an adventure action movie in which Yoshida-kun and his friends play active roles with the World Federal Bureau of Investigation X agents Morellder and Nascarie, who have come from the future.
While "Takanotsume" is well known for the fact that most of the characters are voiced by director and screenwriter FROGMAN, popular voice actress Aya Uchida has joined the cast for this eighth theatrical version. We interviewed Ms. Uchida, who plays Yoshida-kun's friend "Tsuchie," about the recording episode of "Taka no Tsume," supernatural phenomena, and much more. Please read this interview while imagining her cute voice.

─ In "Eiga Taka no Tsume 8" in which you played the role of Tsuchie, you played the role of a boy, which is unusual for you.

Aya Uchida (Uchida): Of course I knew about "Takanotsume," but before appearing in the movie, I first read "Monthly Corocoro Chiban! (Uchida) I knew about "Takanotsume," of course. I was surprised to find out that Tsuchie is a friend of Yoshida-kun. The first named character I played after my debut was a boy, but I haven't had that many opportunities to play boy roles since then. My natural voice is also high like this, so I played the role of Tsutsuki while being conscious of the fact that he is a boy.

─ I think that Uchida's performance made him a serious but somehow cute boy.

Uchida: Tsuchie is a boy genius who always carries around a laptop computer, but in the manga he rarely speaks. When he does speak once in a while, everyone is like, "Tutchi is talking! I thought he was a nerdy boy because he was always tinkering with his computer, but in the movie script, he became a boy who talked together with Yoshida-kun and his friends, and even pulled Yoshida-kun and his friends along as friends. During the recording session, director FROGMAN told me, "Tsuchie is not only to teach Yoshida-kun and his friends what they don't know, but also to explain things to the children who are watching the movie in an easy-to-understand way. So I played the role while keeping in mind that he is an intelligent boy with the brightness of an elementary school student.

───"Takanotsume" is a flash animation. How did you record it?

Uchida: We used a method called prescoding, where we record the voice first and add the pictures later. It was the first time for me to play Tsutsuchi using only the lines from the script, so I went to the studio with many things on my mind, wondering how it would turn out and whether I would be okay. In the usual recording method of postrecording, you are told to say your lines within a few seconds, so the speed of your speech is fixed, but in prescoring, I was free to do what I wanted. I was able to perform at the timing I wanted, which was very refreshing. I was alone during the recording, but when I saw the finished video, I felt that Tsuchie became brighter by talking with the other characters.

─ I heard that director FROGMAN played 21 roles in "Taka no Tsume 8," but did you see such versatility on set?

Uchida: Director FROGMAN worked with me before and after my lines. When Tsuchi-chan was talking with Yoshida-kun, he did Yoshida-kun's voice at the beginning of the scene. I was so impressed that it was the real Yoshida-kun! I was so impressed (laughs). He really is an amazing person, isn't he?

─ By the way, who is your favorite character among the Taka-no-Tsume Clan?

Uchida: Yoshida-kun, after all!　He is cute, isn't he? The way he talks soothes me. Dr. Leonardo the bear is cute, but only in appearance; I think he is scary on the inside (laughs). I like Yoshida-kun because he looks cute, talks cute, and is cute on the inside. Of course, I also like the Führer!　When I look at the Führer, I feel love for him. It is a little different from the love I feel for Yoshida-kun. What I feel for the Führer is motherly love. I think that old men are cute.

─ ─ The theme of this work is supernatural phenomena that cannot be explained by science.

Uchida: My mother told me that when I had a fever as a child, I used to see ghosts and often had nightmares. Whenever she got a fever, she would wake up saying, "There they are, Mom, I'm scared. In fact, I remember, too, that I was seeing Japanese ghosts and goblins. I would laugh at them, but they were things like the Rokurokubi or the Karagasa ghost. Maybe it was just the ghosts from the "Kitaro" cartoons and picture-story shows I was watching at the time that remained in my memory, and I created them in my own consciousness.

─ ─ What do you think you would do if you saw ghosts now that you are an adult?

Uchida: I don't think I would want to see them, but if they did appear, I would hope they were cute ghosts. As long as it is harmless, I think I would be fine. I think it would be nice if we could get along like the chupacabra that appears in the film. I like the chupacabra and Kyusuke. Kyusuke is a child of Kappa, and he is very cute. By the way, Kyusuke will play a big role in the movie, so please look forward to seeing him!

─ Kyusuke is very cute, isn't he? I was surprised that he also likes chupacabra (laughs). Are you interested in unidentified creatures such as chupacabra and kappa?

Uchida: I am sure that they exist somewhere. You can never say for sure that they don't exist. I think that since there are humans, there must also be kappas. I don't believe that there are only humans on the earth, so I am sure that there are also aliens. I don't know what they look like, but I believe that there are intelligent beings other than Earth!

─ ─ I am sure that many people will miss urban legends such as "Mary's phone" that appear in your works.

Uchida: "Mary's phone call" was popular when I was little. I remember that the phone number was circulating, but I definitely did not want to call it on my own home phone. In "Eagle Talon 8," it's a cell phone, but I remember going to a phone booth with everyone else at the time and nervously making the call. Cockroaches were also popular. Such things are scary and exciting, but they also make us dream, don't they? I also loved "The X-Files," which is the basis for this parody, and watched it obsessively when I was in elementary school. I especially loved "Gray," so I was happy to see him in "Eagle Talon 8!　I hope that adults who like "The X-Files" will also watch it. I hope adults who like "The X-Files" will watch it, even though it's not Mulder but Agent Mollerdor in the movie (laughs).

─ So you are saying that this movie was made so that both adults and children can enjoy it.

Uchida: I hope that not only "Takanotsume" fans, but also children who read the manga in "Koro Koro Ichiban! I hope that children who read the manga in "Koro Koro Ichiban! It is also the 10th anniversary of "Takanotsume," so I wonder if there are people who have had a family in the past 10 years. It's a royal adventure story, so I hope adults and children alike will enjoy it with their whole family!

(Interview and text by Tomoko Omagari)

Profile

Aya Uchida

Born on July 23 in Gunma Prefecture, Uchi made her debut as a voice actress in 2008. Major anime roles include "LEGO Ninjago" as Meow, "Aimaimi" as Mai, "Space Battleship Yamato 2199" as Yuria Misaki, "Love Live! In 2014, she made her debut as a singer, and in 2015, she performed in the NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen as a member of μ's. She belongs to Across Entertainment.

Filmography

Eagle Talon 8: The X-Files of Yoshida-kun

Director/Screenplay/Voice: FROGMAN

Original story and manga: FROGMAN Masayoshi Owaki ("The Talon of the Hawk: Yoshida-kun's X File" serialized in Shogakukan's "Monthly Corocoro Chiban! Shogakukan "Monthly Corocoro Chiban!)

Cast: Aoi Morikawa, Aya Uchida, Inuko Inuyama, Tomokazu Sugita, Rika Matsumoto, Norio Wakamoto

Distributor: DLE/Presidio

Premiered at Odaiba Cinema Mediage and TOHO Cinemas Umeda on August 20 (Sat); extended nationwide release on August 27 (Sat).

(C) "Eagle Talon 8" Production Committee