Interview with Shun Horie, who plays the main character Satu, from the collection of his own poems to his days at the training school, where he had many hardships, to "Death March Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyokyoku," where he leads the production as the chairman.

Death March Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku" is a very popular work (as of February 2018) that has been published on the novel submission site "Shosetsu-ka Naro" with a PV of over 600 million and a total of over 2.5 million copies of the novel and manga series in circulation. It is a heartwarming story about the main character "Satu," who wandered into another world and accidentally gained the most powerful power and treasures, and embarked on a dreamlike journey of rescuing girls, dating, sightseeing, and eating delicious food (......). It's a heartwarming account of sightseeing in a different world.

To commemorate the start of the anime broadcast, we conducted an interview with Shun Horie, who voices the main character Satu, asking him about the appeal of this work.
Mr. Horie said that this is the first time he has been interviewed by himself. He was shy, saying, "I get nervous by myself," but with a big smile on his face, he told us all about his past and future.

The difference between an adult and a child, as seen in the voice actor she admires.

───What did you think when you were chosen to appear in the film?

Horie: I have always been a reader of light novels, starting with "Kino's Journey," so I was very happy to be able to play the main character in a novel. It was one of the many things I wanted to do as a voice actor.

───Can you tell us about the character you are playing, Satu?

Horie: In the real world, Satu is a very ordinary 29-year-old company employee, but in another world, he is a "boy" or rather, a "man" who is rejuvenated to live in the body of a 15-year-old. He is not a typical "the protagonist of a light novel" type of character, but rather a 29-year-old ordinary member of society with a certain amount of education, and because of that, he is able to stand calmly and with a bird's eye view even in another world, a character that I think is unique in other works. When you read the original work, watch the anime, or read the script, there are many places that make you think that he is able to stay calm because he is a 29-year-old adult. I think that in these places, it gives us the feeling that we are really ordinary people who have wandered into a different world.

─ ─ Satu is older than you are, but do you find it easier to play the role of a 29-year-old and a 15-year-old because they are similar, or is there anything you pay attention to during the recording process?

Horie: I didn't feel that I resembled either of them, so I didn't try to bring out my own life size. Of course I have a high and low voice, but inside I am the same 29-year-old man, so I don't feel that I have to act young because I am getting younger. I am playing the younger Satu while trying to maintain the image of a 29-year-old man. If I were to waver on that point, I feel that I would no longer be the same Ichiro Suzuki, so I feel that I have to protect that aspect.

─ I heard that when the author's teacher visited the recording studio, he thought that "Mr. Horie seemed to have the hardest time.

Horie: In a sense, I think I was playing two roles, as I had to clearly separate the roles of an adult and a child, and speak as a child right after speaking as an adult. So of course there is a way to record the 29-year-old and the 15-year-old separately, but we want to keep the flow of the story, so we try to record as much as possible without stopping unless it is impossible to do so. Of course, there are limits, but we try to keep the flow of the recording, and I feel that this is a very difficult task. Also, the first episode had a huge amount of dialogue, so I think it was difficult in a physical sense. But as the number of episodes progressed, the number of parties increased, and I realized that "conversation is fun! I really felt that "conversation is fun!

I was surprised because I didn't think I would be able to act in an adult voice. I think the way you use both adult and child voices is similar to Wataru Takagi, whom you admire.

Horie: This is not the first time for me to play an adult, but since I have this kind of voice, most of the characters I have played in the past have been cute, so this is the first time for me to play an adult man in a main role. In the work that made me fall in love with Mr. Takagi, he played two completely different characters, one as an adult and the other as a child. In a sense, I am playing both an adult and a child, so when people see "Death Star" and say, "I was surprised," it makes me happy, even though it is a bit embarrassing. I think I have experienced one of the best parts of being a voice actor.

───Did you do any preparation for playing an adult male?

Horie: I didn't do anything in particular. When I sing, I have a very low voice when I sing with my natural voice. So I thought that maybe my natural voice is not that high. So I don't find it hard to produce it, but it is difficult to switch between the two. Also, it was difficult to convey the feeling of a 29 year old in the middle of a death march, exhausted and withered, and since I have never been in a situation where I haven't taken a bath in 3 days, or where I am growing a beard, it was difficult to create a dim atmosphere.

─ ─ When you were auditioning, did you feel that they were more interested in the 15-year-old or the 29-year-old? Also, how do you yourself play the role?

Horie: It was probably 50-50; I remember the name "I'm Satu" at the end of part A of episode 1 was in the audition script, and I was thinking a lot about how I should read it. When I was doing postrecording, I was not just trying to act differently, but I was trying different ways of reading the words that I thought would be interesting and trying to think of how I could make it sound more appealing.

Battles are not the only attraction. The appeal of this work is that you can enjoy the gourmet food of another world.

───Can you tell us about the appeal of this work?

Horie: It's not just about battling in another world. Of course there are battles, but the cast and I often talk about how we are eating today, and how we are doing a lot of sightseeing. Many of the characters who join the party are rather young, but Satu is not interested in young girls and prefers older women, so I think it's attractive that he is not so much surrounded by women that he gets carried away, and that he does not carelessly run into harems. I feel that he is treated as a member of the party and has healthy adventures. I myself am looking forward to the food report time that suddenly starts in the anime.

─ You said that the powerful battle scenes are not the only attraction of this work.

Horie: When I saw the first episode on the screen at the advance screening, it was very powerful, and the music had a Celtic feel to it. I think it's an anime that tastes five times as good once.

───What is your favorite scene in this work?

Horie: The battle scenes are of course my favorite, but I also like the scenes where they are eating. When I think about what I would want to do if I were lost in another world, of course I want to have adventures, but I also want to enjoy gourmet food.

───What about your favorite character?

Horie: Lulu (CV: Rika Hayase) with her black hair and reserved personality. She has the unbelievable setting of not being very good looking in the world of "Death Star," but she makes you want to cheer her on and say, "You can be more regal!" It's a character that makes you want to cheer her up, or at least make you want to protect her. There is also Pochi Tama, whom I want to protect, but it is a different feeling.

─ Since you are the chairperson this time, could you tell us about the atmosphere at the postrecording studio?

Horie: This time, I tried not to think too much about "I have to do this because I am the chairperson. The cast is generally young, so if I enjoy myself, the postrecording atmosphere will naturally change to "Let's all enjoy this scene together! I think I can create an atmosphere of "Let's all enjoy this scene together! Rather than trying to lead the scene, it is more like, "Let's all do our best. Even though there are many young people in the cast, I am one of the younger ones, so I feel that everyone around me is like an older sister, and I am able to lean on them to help me. I am glad that Minami Tsuda calls out to me and brings me goodies at every scene, and I am glad that she is taking care of me. I enjoy the friendly atmosphere of the postrecording sessions every time.


⇒In the next page, we asked Ms. Horie to answer various questions about herself.