A Long Interview with Toshiki Kameyama, Sound Director! (The 19th "Inside Man" of Anime and Games)

What kind of backgrounds and philosophies do creators in the animation and game industry have as they work on their creations? The "Inside Man" of Anime and Game" interview answers these questions. The 19th interview is with Toshiki Kameyama, sound director. What kind of commitment was behind the success of "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha," "Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei," "Hidamari Sketch," "Maria†Horikku," "Baka to Test to Summoner," "Nonnoobiyo," "Nisekoi," "March of the Lions," etc.? What were the key points in the casting and postrecording of "Fleet Koko Kushon" and "Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru", and in the sound design of "Twilight Maiden x Amnesia", "Koubutsu Graffiti", "BanG Dream! In this article, Mr. Kameyama shared many of his passionate thoughts with us.

Oliver Stone's live-action works, and "Dreams of Prague" and "Dokaben" in animation

Could you tell us about some of the works that have influenced you?

Toshiki Kameyama (Kameyama): For films, I like Oliver Stone's works. I bought the scenario of "Salvador" as well as the video, and watched it so much that I could say where the music came in (laugh). (Laughs.) I am sure that it was an influence on me.

How about anime?

Kameyama: I have watched a lot of animation since the dawn of time, but when I was a child, there was a short animation on TV called "Dreams of Prague. ) I was so excited to see it, and I was like, "Oh my God! It was surreal, but very interesting. I don't know if I can say that I was influenced by it.

I also watched "Dokaben" (1976-79), which my master Shigeharu Shiba was working on. I never thought that I would join the school.

Kameyama: How many films do you watch a month now?

Kameyama: I try to watch films that are popular. I also enjoyed Makoto Shinkai's "What's Your Name? (Note: Mr. Kameyama also participated in "Hoshinokoe" (2002) as a voice actor director).

I listen to songs and instrumentals, of course, but not necessarily at home. Instead, I often go to live concerts. I go to jazz concerts, band concerts, and many others.

Studied under Shigeharu Siba and Kimitsu Chiba

Shigeharu Shinba is the former head of Omnibus Promotion, to which you belonged, and is also a very famous sound director.

Kameyama: He is a master when it comes to a deep understanding of a work. As he said, "I am not a director. I direct the sound as a contribution to the director." He did not call himself a "sound director," but rather a "sound recording director. It was no different from being a "sound director," as people call it. My first work, "Fiddler of Hamelin" (1996-97), followed suit, and I called myself a "recording director.

What are the characteristics of the Shiba style of sound?

Kameyama: Shiba always thought about "what the work should be like," and he had a way of creating a total view of the play. He would always think about how the play should be, and he would always say things like, "Why do you make the actors look like this at such and such a moment? or "That would ruin the play! I would often complain to the animation production company over the phone (laughs).

(Laughs.) ─ Did you have any mentors other than Mr. Shinba?

Kameyama: My mentor, or rather senior mentor, was Shigeru Chiba.

He is also known for his roles as Kazuma Kuwabara in "Yu Yu Hakusho" (1992), Chuubei in "Midori no Makibao" (1996), and more recently as Sebastian in "Overlord" (2015, 2018).

Kameyama: Mr. Chiba is also the sound director for the omnibus, and there was a time when I was under his guidance in the form of following a senior director. We worked together on the first production of "Fiddler of Hamelin.

─ What is the direction of the direction of Mr. Chiba and Mr. Chiba?

Kameyama: They are totally different. Mr. Chiba is very skilled at telling the audience how they should act in an interesting way, and how to make it interesting. I remember watching him, thinking, "What's interesting is that you are the funniest person I've ever seen! I remember watching him while thinking, "What's so interesting about you?

(Laughs) What genre are you good at?

Kameyama: Once I know what is interesting while I am recording, all genres are interesting. I tend to get absorbed in a work.

I want to record "powerful dialogue

What are your specialties in your work? First of all, what do you emphasize in casting and postrecording?

Kameyama: Susinami told me, "In postrecording, 70% is determined by the casting. What we can do is the remaining 30%. I want to record "powerful lines. By "powerful lines," I don't mean "powerful lines," but rather "lines that reach us through the screen.

I don't know if it's true or not, but I heard a story that dogs used to not bark, but they started to bark because they had more things to appeal to by living with humans who could talk. Dogs also speak for a reason, because they have something they want to say. In other words, the most important thing is not to speak in a certain mood, but to understand the motive for speaking the lines.

The vocal cords are limited in width and tone, so the actor is an instrument. I would like to cast actors who can use their instruments to perform in any way, but I would also like to cast actors who can go back to the point of "why the character is speaking". I believe that the "00-ness" of a character comes out naturally when the character is easily absorbed into the audience.

If there is a work for the October season, and it is about to be made audible for the first time, you don't want to do the same thing as before, do you? So we want someone who will go back to the base for each piece, someone who is aware that we are creating something new.

Do you also need a wealth of life experience in order to deliver "powerful lines"?

Kameyama: There are people who are young, but who are struggling and who see things properly. As is often said at training facilities, it is important for actors to "look at themselves" and "not look away from their own dark side.

The characters in the works you participate in are all very compelling.

Kameyama: I always ask the actors to have this kind of facial expression for the drama. In the first season of "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha" (2004), we asked Rie Kugimiya to play the role of Arisa. When Nanoha is being selfish with Arisa, there is a scene in which she gets really mad at her. I knew I couldn't go on unless I got her to get mad at me. and I asked her to take it to a really crazy point. I think it was because of Ms. Kugimiya that she was able to create a "girl who has reached her limit," and the drama grew from there.

The casting of "Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru" (2010) was also unique and became a topic of conversation among fans.

Kameyama: Ayumori is a rather crazy character, and no matter what she says, you can't tell if she is serious or lying, but in her mind, she is serious. At the end of the audition, director Akiyuki Shinbo and I said, "There is no one but Chiaki Omigawa for Ayumori. When casting the role of Uki, the director said, "I want to do something weird! I asked Takahiro Sakurai to play the role of a granny.

What else did you pay attention to when teaching acting?

Kameyama: The direction of the story and the turning point that the director was looking for were clearly drawn in the storyboards, and they become clearer when you see the images, so I never asked him to go so far as to fix the images. However, if I feel that the director cannot change his mind and move on to the next line, I may ask him to adjust the pauses.

How many retakes do you do during post recording?

Kameyama: My theme is to finish the recording while the lines are still fresh. I have to get the actors to work on their lines while they are still fresh, but as we record over and over again, we sometimes lose track of why they are trying to say what they want to say. In other words, it becomes stale.

So you have a motive to retort to what the other person has said, saying, "You said that. But as you repeat retakes, you can't stay fresh, and "that kind of thing" fades away. So in some cases, we use a lot of test takes. Of course, if there is noise, it's no good.

How much time do you spend on postrecording for an episode of a TV series?

Kameyama: My postrecording is very fast. For "March Lion" (2016-17), I finished recording in a little over two hours, partly because there were many veterans. If there are a lot of newcomers, and if the facial expressions are not captured well, or if the timing is not right, or if they speak by themselves, it can take 4 to 5 hours.

Kameyama: Do you change the way you do things depending on the director?

Kameyama: It depends on the tone of the film, but when we go to the booth and explain the film, how we look and how we speak may be a kind of presentation. Some works are presented in a calm and unassuming manner, while others are presented in a rather light-hearted manner. I change my attitude for each work, and sometimes I use different words in my direction.

Do you communicate with the director mainly in the studio?

Kameyama: For "RED GARDEN" (2006), I entered the studio after having a thorough discussion with the director, Hira Matsuo, about what kind of worldview and who was thinking about what. Since that was an original work, we had no way of knowing what the content would be, so we set up a separate meeting with the actors to discuss it.