From YouTube! Interview with Hope Yamamoto and Tomomi Mineuchi, the second part of the project to commemorate the delivery of XFLAG Studio's new anime "The Promised Seven Nights Festival," which you must watch this summer!

XFLAG Studio, the company responsible for Mixi's entertainment business and creator of the "Monster Strike" anime, will distribute the original anime "Seven Nights of Promises" on its YouTube channel on Saturday, July 7, 2018, at 7 p.m.

Although the anime will be linked to the "Fight League" and "Monster Strike" apps, the studio's serious approach to anime production can be seen in the fact that it has a director, Kazuya Murata, who is renowned for his abilities. We have therefore conducted a series of interviews with various staff members involved in "Yakusoku no Nanaya Matsuri" to shed light on the work from various perspectives.

For this second installment, we called up two of the cast members who play the heroine, Mochi Yamamoto (Shiori Senosawa) and Tomomi Mineuchi (Kanna). Since it was before the distribution, we asked them to answer within a limited range.

Shiori, "the heroine," and Kanna, who does not look like an AI

--I heard that you did not audition for the role this time.

Tomomi Mineuchi ( Mineuchi ): Yes. I heard from the office a few days ago.

Hope Yamamoto (Yamamoto): Me too (laughs). I thought, "Oh, it's a job for a game app," but the schedule was held up all day, so I thought, "What? I called the office. So I called the office and they told me it was an animation job, so I immediately went to the office to get the script and when I read it, I thought, "Oh, that's hot! I read it and thought, "Wow, it's hot! I thought it would be a fantasy since it was linked to "Fight League" and "MonSt," but it was full of sci-fi elements such as the appearance of the AI Kanna, battles, romance and friendship, and I enjoyed it. Moreover, as the truth of the story was gradually revealed, there were also emotional elements, such as the emergence of the feeling of "missing each other," which is an important theme of the film, so the script was very worth reading. Therefore, I felt nervous and excited to "play this role.

Mineuchi: When I received the script, I was surprised at how thick it was and also because it was the first time for me personally to speak such long lines in an animation.

--What was your first impression of the character you play?

Yamamoto: Shiori is like "THE heroine.

Mineuchi That's right.

Yamamoto: I think girls can relate to her in many ways. I also thought, "This is the kind of girl I want to be. She was the kind of girl who could greet people with a firm "Ohayo!

Mineuchi: "Good morning! I like that she can say "Good morning!

Yamamoto Yes, she greeted Kanna very politely. Since I work in this kind of industry, I felt like I had to learn from her (laughs).

Hope Yamamoto

--I think you are very good at what you do (laughs). When we passed each other in the office before, you greeted me, a stranger, with a very firm greeting.

Yamamoto: That makes me very happy. Thank you very much.

Mineuchi I will follow your example!

--What about Kanna?

Mineuchi: In the beginning, there is a line that says, "The mechanism of the human mind is very interesting," and I thought, "Indeed. That's it! I felt the same way (laughs). I am also the type of person who acts in a detached manner, so we are similar in that we both say "I can do it" at first, but in the end, I get help from someone else to get it done. ). (lol) I also tend to try to manage on my own at first. So, even though I am an AI, I felt familiar with her in that way.

--How did you plan to play the role of Shiori?

Yamamoto: There was a scene in which Hoshimasa told Shiori that he thought she was older than him, so I tried to make her a calm older sister. However, Shiori has an older sister, so I also wanted her to be a younger sister. But there are science fiction elements and things happen one after the other, so there were a lot of "What? or "What? I was giving her a lot of confused reactions, but the sound director, Hitoshi Akutagawa, told me, "You don't have to get upset so much. From that point on, I was able to grasp the character, and as I performed, I could feel the "link" between the two characters. I was able to feel a link with the character as I played the role.

--What about you, Mr. Mineuchi?

Mineuchi: I didn't really feel that she was an AI (Artificial Intelligence), and there was a part in the beginning where she was gently guiding me.

--What do you feel about the other character?

Yamamoto: "Kanna-chan, you are so cute.

Mineuchi Hahaha (laughs).

Yamamoto But she is very dependable. She knows a lot of difficult words, and there are scenes where she wields a sword, and I thought, "Wow, this girl is amazing. I want one in the family.

--What about Mineuchi's voice?

Yamamoto: She is cute. And when she gets into a battle, her dependable voice is good, too. I don't want her to be just cute, but I also want her to have cool elements, and I thought she had all of them. I also like the way Kanna's ribbons look like cat ears.

All of them. - (Laughs)

--From your point of view, what did you think of Ms. Yamamoto's Shiori?

Mineuchi: When I met Hoshin, I thought she was able to judge things calmly, and I thought that even among sisters, the younger sister was more solid. However, she gradually became more like a younger sister . I thought, "I would be very happy whether she is my sister or my older sister.

Tomomi Mineuchi

I found it difficult in an unexpected way.

--How do you feel about each other?

Yamamoto: Actually, the scene reminded me of my debut. In my debut work, "UN-GO," I played a role with many lines from the first episode, but I was surrounded by veteran actors, so I had to retake many times and was very nervous. Moreover, Mr. Toyosaki was there at that time as well as today. It was a scene that really "reminded" me of that time. That's why I was really saying to Mineuchi, "Hang in there, hang in there!　Go for it! I was cheering for him. It's something like .......

--It was very nostalgic?

Yamamoto: Yes, I thought so. I thought to myself, "I used to do that too. Even though I was given direction, I couldn't get it into my head, and I was really up in the game. It was a mystery story, so I had long lines to explain, but my hands were shaking and I had to go up early. But when I thought I had it, I went up late. I remember thinking, "I don't understand (crying).

Mineuchi No, it was just as you said.

Everyone (laughs)

Mineuchi I felt sorry for my own inadequacy, but the kindness of everyone at the site soaked into me. Sayaka Ohara and Mr. Toyosaki were sitting next to me, and they gave me advice on scenes with long lines, which I really appreciated.

Yamamoto: I remembered Ms. Toyosaki talking to me in a very kind way when I was there, as I looked at her. I thought to myself, "I should do something too!" I thought, "I can do something too! So I gave him some rice balls (laughs).

(Laughter) .

Mineuchi I was very happy (laughs). Thank you very much.

Yamamoto: (Mr. Mineuchi) worked hard on the script without eating even during his lunch break. I was given a bento lunch box, so I gave him some rice balls that I was going to eat.

Mineuchi: Everyone asked me, "Aren't you going to eat? Are you okay?" I am sorry for making you worry.

--What was your impression of Mr. Yamamoto?

Mineuchi He is my senior at the same training school and affiliated company, but this was the first time I met him. But when I saw him greeting everyone, he had a big smile on his face. I thought this kind of thing is called "divine response. Thank you for everything.

Everyone (laughs)

Yamamoto: No, no, I may not have been able to help you in any way.

Mineuchi The play was very sacred, and the scene in which he expressed his pent-up feelings was very heartwarming and wonderful to hear. ...... Sorry, my vocabulary is limited.

Yamamoto: That kind of thing also brings back memories (laughs).

--I was wondering if you could tell us what was difficult for you in your performance.

Yamamoto: I felt that what was surprisingly difficult was the ordinary greetings. It is often said.

--It's a word that comes out without conscious thought.

Yamamoto: That's right. There was one scene that made me realize how difficult it is to put it into a play. There is a scene in which Hoshin-kun wakes up and says "Good morning" while breathing hard, and at first I said something like "Are you okay? I said something like "Are you all right? I was told to just say it normally. So I said, "Good morning to you normally, good morning to you normally ....... I felt weirdly pressured, didn't I? Like, "What's normal?" I was like, "What's normal? That made me think about how I should say each line to create the character of Shiori.

Mineuchi: At the beginning, I was told to speak without hesitation and without rushing, but that was surprisingly difficult for me. I was like, "No rush, no rush, no rush, I'm going.

Yamamoto: Yes, yes.

Mineuchi: It was difficult. In the latter half, the number of explanatory terms increased, and I am very sorry, but there were more and more things that I could not say properly, so it took me a lot of time.

--I am very sorry, but I had to spend a lot of time explaining things.

Yamamoto: I am not psychic at all. My grandfather has passed away, but everyone in my family except me says things like, "Grandpa came back," or "He was here a while ago.

Mineuchi: What?

Yamamoto: My grandfather passed away in December, and near the anniversary of his death, the ceiling of the room where the Buddhist altar is located opens a little. My parents live in Aomori, so it was already snowing, but when the doorbell rang and I opened the front door, there was no one there, not even a footprint.

Mineuchi!

Yamamoto But I was the only one who didn't see or hear anything. I never felt my grandfather. My mother and sister both said, "We heard some noise, didn't we? Oh, that reminds me, it's the anniversary of his death! But they say something like that. It is true that he was a man who "went his own way," so it would not be surprising if he came back. But I have never seen him, so I consider the whole family to be liars (laughs).

Mineuchi As for Hope, would you like to see it?

Yamamoto: Oh, no, not really (laughs).

--Mineuchi Do you have such an experience?

Mineuchi This may be nothing compared to that, but about a month ago, when I was home alone in the evening, Siri on my iPhone suddenly started up and said, "I didn't say anything. I thought, "I didn't say anything," but when I looked at it, it said something like "Hey! Then it disappeared and said, "Good night," and I went to ....... I thought, "AI is scary.

Yamamoto: Wow!

Mineuchi: I looked it up, and it seems that such things don't happen very often. But I am not psychic at all, so I think it was just a coincidence.

--I think it was just a coincidence.

Mineuchi: No, no, no, no!　I didn't say it!

Yamamoto (laughs).

--Thank you very much! (Laughter)