Former Sakura Gakuin and current "Girls' Revue Starlight" actress Hinata Sato, who plays Junna Hoshimi, talks about voice actors and idols! The first installment of "The Way of Seiyu from an Idol".

Year after year, Japanese animation is expanding its market overseas and gaining international recognition by being nominated for film-related awards. The popularity of the voice actors who portray the characters has not diminished either. Voice actors attract many young people both in Japan and abroad, but is there any discrepancy between the image of this profession and its reality?

Controversy is commonplace whenever an actor is cast in an animated film, but in the past, there were many voice actors who spoke of their pride in their profession as actors. In other words, voice actors were originally just one category of actors.

With the recent increase in the number of young talents who have made the transition from idol to voice actor, we would like to focus on these young voice actors and ask them what kind of hopes and perplexities they feel as they jump in from a different industry, and weave their real voices about the voice acting profession.

In the first installment of this series, we will introduce an actress who started her career as an actress and at the same time was active as a member of the idol unit "Sakura Gakuin. Later, she worked as a voice actor in "Kutsudaru" and "Love Live! Sunshine! and "Girls' Opera Revue Starlight" as Junna Hoshimi. She has experienced the front lines as both an actress and an idol, so what does she feel are the characteristics of the voice acting profession?

I was frustrated because I couldn't perform as well as I wanted to.

--Please tell us why you started working as a voice actress.

Sato: I really liked Suzuko Mimori, and I had always liked μ's as well, but then I heard about "Love Live! Sunshine! （Sunshine! I was told about an audition for the "Sunshine! But I didn't feel comfortable with how I should speak with emotion in front of a microphone instead of in front of the judges, and I didn't feel that I was able to give the performance I wanted. I was not satisfied with my performance. I am a competitive person by nature, so I felt frustrated. That's when I told my manager that if there were other auditions (for voice actors), I would like to do them.

--Did you have voice acting lessons or voice training for voice actors before you made your debut as a voice actor in "Kutsudaru" in 2014?

Sato: I wasn't doing anything. I was asked to do the voice for "Kutsudaru" when I graduated from Sakura Gakuin, because I was told that this kind of work was also available. （I had no idea about line marks (to put on my lines) or removing lines (from my lines), so Toru Inada (narrator) taught me everything at that time.

--What was the most confusing thing for you?

Sato: The most difficult thing was the sense of distance. In dramas and video plays, you can adjust the volume of your voice to match the distance between you and the audience, but since the audition, when I stood in front of the microphone, I couldn't help but speak at a distance from the microphone. But since the auditions, when I was standing in front of the microphone, I couldn't help but speak at a distance from the microphone. I had to redo the scene where Ria Kazuno is talking to Chika Takami many times because it was very difficult to get the right distance. The biggest difference between voice acting and normal acting is that you cannot act in the flesh. I was given quite a lot of instruction (laughs). Ria has a tendency to be blunt, but when I matched her performance to a picture of her crying, she told me, "Her face is crying, but her voice is not. I was told, "Her face is crying, but her voice is not.

--I felt that the play was not based on the pictures.

Sato That's right. When I was in "Coast of Utopia," directed by Yukio Ninagawa, I was instructed to "always lower the end of a word. I was told that it sounded better if I lowered the end of questions, and that on stage, if I didn't lower the end of a word, I wouldn't be able to say it. But when I watch anime, I see a lot of endings going up, so it's difficult to differentiate between the two. I thought it was the same "act," but when I heard it on TV, it sounded very "stick" (when the endings were lowered). In a drama, it is important to be natural, but in voice acting, you don't want to overdo it, so it's a bit like stage acting. Also, the breathing. The other day, the sound director of "Girls' Opera Revue Starlight" (hereafter referred to as "Starlight") told me, "The way you breathe is different when you sit down and when you stand up. When I sit down, I exhale with a "whoosh," but when I stand up, I use my breath with a lot of energy. In a video play, I am not aware of such a thing at all. If I breathe out, I breathe out, and if I don't breathe out, I don't breathe out. However, voice actors have to create their own sound to match the role, so I felt that I had to have affection for the role and create everything, even the breath of the character.

--I often hear that if you make up the role too much in advance, it is difficult to respond to the demands that come up on the set.

Sato: I have a stubborn streak, and I can't fix things on the spot. I want to have a good grasp of the character and have a lot of drawers for emotions such as joy, anger, sadness, and humor. If I can't do it when I am suddenly asked to, my co-stars won't be able to go home early and I will cause trouble for them.

--It is true that postrecording takes a lot of time (laughs). (laughs) Were you able to respond to sudden requests in your stage and video work?

Sato: I think that's another difference. In acting, you have to show what you think, and the performance is completed after the audience accepts it, but in animation, I think the sound director has a clear image of what he wants you to do.

--In the case of anime, the sound director has a clear image of how he wants the characters to act.

Sato: In addition, in anime, there are certain voices that you want to hear when the story develops in this way, and that's what makes anime interesting, but in dramas, you have to convey a sense of realism and excitement. I think that's the difference between voice actors and actresses.

I think voice actors have gentle personalities.

--Sato: If the way you get into the roles is different, has the way you approach the scripts changed as well?

Sato: With a normal script for a play, I can get the lines in my head after reading it three times, so I can make a "plan" based on that, such as matching the other actor's performance. But for voice actors, the timing of speaking is fixed, so I can't leave the script at home. In a drama, there are several opportunities to communicate through readings and face to face meetings, where a "bond" is formed, or rather, we can check each other's breath before acting, so we can think, "He's coming on strong, so I should take this side. However, in the case of voice actors, each actor has to come up with his or her own plan before getting to know each other, and in many cases, the actors have to express how well they get along with each other in their lines in the animation. （In plays (other than animation), I feel that everyone is thinking as they create the play. Especially on stage, everyone is aware of everyone else's performance and creates their own, but in anime, I think each voice actor's personality is packed into the play.

--Did you feel that there is a different sense of distance between the actors in a drama and an anime?

Sato: In dramas and on stage, the co-stars get along well with each other before acting, and even when I was an idol, I felt like I was working with other idols who were also good friends. It was like ....... It was necessary to express to the microphone, "I'm going to be here.

--It's like a group of craftsmen rather than teammates?

Sato: Yes, it's like a group of craftsmen. It's a fun feeling afterwards, though. However, it is the voice actors that I feel have kind personalities.

-- (Laughs). Why is that?

Sato: When I talk to them, I often think, "They have good personalities," but it is only voice actors (laughs). (Laughs.) I think that with ordinary actors, it is necessary to be a bit gruff, but senior voice actors don't hide their skills in order to create a good work, and they tell me everything, telling me what I should do. I am surrounded by kind senior actors who teach me a lot.

--What was your most memorable experience at the site?

Sato: When I was working on "Sunshine! I learned a lot from them, such as how to maintain a sense of distance at the microphone. I learned a lot from them, such as how to handle the microphone distance. ) is a senior at the office, and she taught me everything from the very beginning. Also, Ai Furuhata (who played Ruby Kurosawa) helped me a lot with episodes 8 and 9 of the second season of the TV anime, and asked me if it was okay if I wanted to read my lines at this point. He was very helpful and made it very easy for me. In "Starlight," actors and voice actors who have a lot of experience on stage rehearse together, and when they come from the stage, they have a hard time changing to the anime play, so they rehearse together and go home together depressed (laughs).

(laughs) -- Is there anyone in particular in "Starlight" that you are close with during the current rehearsals?

Sato: (Ito) Ayasa and I get along pretty well.

--How did you get together with her?

Sato: The first time we met was at a singing rehearsal, and we were all sitting far apart because we were still getting used to each other (laughs). (Laughs) Then Ayasa-chan asked me, "Hey, Hinata-chan, let's take a picture. (laughs). I thought to myself, "She seems to be a pretty close-knit girl," and that's how we became very close.

--Ayasa-san likes idols. Did she ask you anything about your idol activities?

Sato: "Did you used to sing? I said, "I used to be in Sakura Gakuin," and she said, "I know," and "It's a group with only cute girls," at the first rehearsal. I was smiling, thinking, "So that's the image I had. Also, Moka (Koizumi, who plays the role of Nana Oba) was my manager at the same office, so we had been paired up in acting lessons for a while, and we had many opportunities to talk. But after working with her again on "Starlight," I realized that she is a very strange girl (laughs). (Laughs.) She is a senior in college, but she wears a frog pouch on her shoulder, her pencil box is a frog, and her backpack is an owl, so I feel as if she is the same age as me. On the second day of the first performance, I heard her whisper, "Looks delicious," when she saw a dog walking by, and I thought, "I wonder if I can get along with her" (laughs).

(Laughs) Yoooi (Iwata), who plays the role of Mahiru Rozaki, is also funny and does all sorts of impersonations without hesitation, but she's just Yoooi Iwata (laughs). She even knocks over her drink and spills it all, making me wonder if I need to be firm with her (laughs).

Suzuko Mimori is also very funny. When I was a sophomore in high school, I said in an interview that I wanted to be in the same anime or on the same stage as Mimori-san, and right after that, we were cast together in "Starlight". But when I met him, he was just as bright and kind as I had imagined him to be, so I thought, "I feel at home.