The second interview to commemorate the completion of "Shinkansen Transformable Robot Shinkarion Z" - "Seeing Tsuda (Minami)-san's figure, I tried my best," says Akari Kito, talking about Abuto Usui!

The TV anime "Shinkansen Transformable Robot Shinkarion Z" ("Shinkarion Z") recently reached the conclusion of its year-long journey.

In addition to the mechanical appeal of the cool-looking Shinkarion Z, such as the Z-formation, the battles and feelings of the two main characters, Shin and Abuto, were passionately depicted from the middle of the story, and many people may have been relieved to see the story come to a successful conclusion.

To commemorate the conclusion of "Shinkarion Z," Akiba Research Institute conducted interviews with each of the three actors who played the main characters in this work. In this second installment, we present an interview with Akari Kito, who plays the role of Abuto Usui.

⇒ Minami Tsuda talks about the main character, Shin Shinta, "Shin was my child, and it was as if I shared my soul with him!

I felt that playing Abto was not just a boy with a low voice.

--Before the broadcast, you said that you were shocked that Abuto could not ride on Shinkarion Z even though he was the main character of the series, but he did, didn't he?

Kito: That's right. But I was surprised because I didn't think he would get to ride in that way (laughs).

--I was surprised (laughs). -That was such a surprising turn of events for "Shinkarion Z." How do you feel now that you have completed the one-year run?

Kito: It really flew by. Abto spent a lot of time on Teoti's side, and it was a little sad that he was unexpectedly separated from everyone else, but Abto was an important character in his own right, so I really enjoyed playing him.

--But Abt was an important character in his own right, and I really enjoyed playing him.

Kito: I had no idea.

--How did you feel when you got the script and found out?

Kito: At first, it was like "I'm going to look for my father," so I thought he would come back soon. But he didn't come back at all, and if anything, he fell into the darkness in the middle of the scene (laughs). (Laughs.) The people in the same scene would record together, so I wondered if he would come back yet, or if he would still not be able to record with everyone. For a while, I was sad that I didn't get to be with the main people at all.

--I had mixed feelings because I was on the side of Teoti, or let's say, the enemy, so it was inevitable that we didn't get to record together.

Kito: Abto had been acting with a lot of hard feelings for a long time, so when I saw the scenes with Shin and the others, I thought, "They look like they're having fun, how nice!

(laughs) -- Let me ask you about Abuto's performance. I heard that this was the first time for you to play a boy so well.

Kito: That's right. It was the first time for me to play a boy so firmly, and I was very nervous at first. But I was surrounded by people who were good at playing boys. I learned a lot from working with them on a regular basis.

--Was there anything that was difficult for you, including creating the role, or was there any direction that was memorable for you?

Kito: I had never played a boy before, and Abuto is a cool and calm type, so at first I was thinking, "I have to work hard to keep my voice low. But Masafumi Mima, the sound director, never once told me to lower my voice, but rather told me to prioritize emotion. He often told me that I should keep my voice low even when I thought the lines were a little too high, which made me feel that lowering my voice was not the only way to act as a boy.

--I felt that the quality of his lines has changed in the battle scenes after his fall into darkness and in the scenes where he reveals his feelings for Shin. How do you feel about your performance in those scenes?

Kito: When I was in the dark, I kept the feelings of hatred and conflict in my mind, so I think my voice naturally had a dusky quality to it.

--I think I naturally made it sound like I was playing the role of a man who is in love with a woman, but who is also a man of hate and conflict. Is there anything that you were very conscious of in this part but didn't think too much about this part?

Kito: Although he is a child, Abto has a lot on his shoulders, so he has to become more mature. I was conscious of how it feels to be caught between the two for such a young boy. However, I was not conscious of being a boy in general.

Seeing Mr. Tsuda working so hard, I thought I would work hard with him.

--What kind of conversations did you have with Minami Tsuda, who plays Shin, between recording sessions?

Kito: We didn't have much time together in the middle of the recording, but when we did, Ms. Tsuda talked to me a lot and I talked to her. There was a day when Mr. Tsuda brought me a pot of kamameshi, saying, "I ate kamameshi from the mountain pass" (laughs).

--(Laughter) - just a kettle? (Laughs)

Kito: He said that the inside would go bad (laughs). (laughs) He also took pictures of me, and I could sense that he was filled with great love for Shinkarion.

--Tsuda-san, it was your first time to play a leading boy role, and it must have been great for the two of you to be able to work hard and compete with each other.

Kito: (Abt and Shin) were completely different types of roles, but I felt an atmosphere of "Let's do our best together! I felt that they were very dependable. If it had been a role that I had never played before, I might have been a bit overwhelmed, but Mr. Tsuda also showed that he had to do his best since it was the first time for him to play the main character as a boy. I thought I would do my best with him.

--I think the other co-stars were also very encouraging.

Kito: They were all very dependable and reliable in terms of acting, so I felt like I could see their backs and know that there was another way to approach the role. I always felt like I could trust them with my back.

--I don't think Abuto is a character that requires a lot of improvisation, but did you all do a lot of improvisation during recording?

Kito: Hanabi and the others improvised a lot. It was a lot of fun to follow the scripts and listen to them and see, "Oh, they just ad-libbed.

--I wanted to tell Mr. Kito that "the black-haired Abuto is so cool! but I couldn't say it.

Kito: Ha-ha-ha! Mr. Tsuda is possessed by Shin, or rather, I can feel that he really likes Abuto from Shin's point of view. I could also feel that he was looking at me through that filter. It was as if Shin loved Abt so much that Mr. Tsuda loved me too (laughs). I was happy that he talked to me on the set as well.

--How about the other way around?

Kito: Abto doesn't show that he likes Shin, but he trusts him from the bottom of his heart, and I feel the same way about Tsuda-san.

What scenes or characters were you particularly interested in, Mr. Kito?

--I was especially so after I got on Teoti's side, but the fight and conversation between Abt and Shin and other scenes were very heartwarming. Which scene was particularly impressive for you, Kito-san?

Kito: I love the part when he comes back from the fall into darkness and hugs her. Up until now, he has been playing tag with Shin, saying "Try to catch me" and taunting him with "That's a lie. When Shin said, "I finally caught you," it reminded me of everything that had happened up to that point, and I was touched. I could feel that Shin had grown up to that point, and combined with the music, it was very impressive.

--That scene was great. What about the other characters? Were there any characters you were particularly interested in?

Kito: Abuto's father (Tokonami Usui). When Abuto thought he came back, his father disappeared into space. "To-sa-san!" I was a bit surprised to see Abuto doing his homework on Earth in the next episode. Even on the set, people were saying, "You're not going to forget about what happened last time, are you? You're going to save your father, aren't you?" (laughs).

--(laughs). Even if I said I was going to go look for him, I didn't know what to do. ......

Kito: He is a bit mysterious, isn't he?

--Kito: Despite all that, in the end you were able to depict the three of you together as father and son.

Kito: It took a long time, but the three of us finally came together. I was very happy to see that Abuto, who had to become more mature because of his circumstances, was finally able to return to being a boy again after resolving the various issues.

--I was very happy to see that he became a real boy again.

Kito: I thought Nagara (Nagara Anjo) and Ginga (Ginga Arashiyama) were very cute and good characters. However, I didn't get to get involved with Abuto at all, so I wanted to get to know him a little more. I wanted to get to know him a little more. （I was surprised that Mater (Mater Tsukino), who I thought was a collaboration character (for that episode only), became a regular member and fought with us all the time (laughs).

--I was surprised to see Mater (Mater Tsukino), who I thought was just a collaborator for the episode, and she fought alongside me the whole time (laughs). But Mater appeared as a regular driver, and Godaigo's "Galaxy Express 999" (the theme song of the theatrical version of "Galaxy Express 999") was played as is as she left for space.

Kito: That's right. I felt it was a role that I had to play in the story.

--As in the previous work, one of the highlights of "Shinkarion Z" was that it was filled with collaborations, homages, and small stories. How do you feel about that aspect of "Shinkarion Z"?

Kito: To be honest, I wish I could have been involved in the Hello Kitty episode (episode 16) and the Evangelion episode (episode 21), since Abto was not involved at all. But since we collaborated indirectly as a work of art, I can boast about it to my parents (laughs). My parents love "Evangelion," so I feel proud of them.

Shinkarion Z" made many dreams come true!

--The Dark Shinkarion that Abto rode was also cool and popular. What did you think of Dark Shinkarion?

Kito: I thought it was really cool. The transformation scenes are of high quality, and even though I couldn't become a real bullet train driver, I think this was a great idea.

--It transforms into centaur mode and devil mode, and at the end it becomes Dark Shinkarion Absolute, which tickled my heart.

Kito: It really is hot, isn't it? I had signed a Plarail box before, and the illustration on the box was really cool. The illustration on the box was really cool, too. I thought black was cool.

--Kito: Both are cool, but if you choose black (Dark Shinkarion) or silver (Dark Shinkarion Absolute), do you prefer the black one?

Kito: Didn't you admire black when you were a child? (Laughs)

--Yes, I did (laughs).

Kito: Black looks strong, so I think it is cool for children! I think black is cool for kids because it looks strong.

--Kito: You must have been happy to be able to ride on the Shinkansen of darkness, weren't you?

Kito: I had mixed feelings about it, since it was the one that made Abto suffer (laughs). (Laughs.) But it is a strong plane, so I felt reassured, and I thought it was really cool that Abto was able to ride it.

--I think I would have been quite attracted to Dark Shinkarion if I had seen it when I was a child. However, do you honestly feel that you would have liked to ride on Shin and his friends' Shinkarion Z?

Kito: If it's a real Shinkansen, you can go see them. I was a bit jealous of the fact that when I actually got on the Shinkansen, I could say, "This is the Shinkansen I'm on. But I was happy that Shinkarion Z was made so cool because it doesn't exist.

--If you were to do something else with "Shinkarion Z" in the future, what would you like to do as Abto?

Kito: As I mentioned earlier, I would be happy to have a chance to work with the characters that have grown during Abto's absence. Also, on a personal note, I have always wanted to visit the Railway Museum, so I would like to go there someday.

--I'd love to see the pattern of the event, too. By the way, I heard that when one of our editorial staff went to the Railway Museum the other day, the Dark Shinkarion lunchboxes were so popular that they were the first to sell out.

Kito: Eh~! I definitely want one too!

--Lastly, I think that Abto must have become an important role for you after playing Abto for a year.

Kito: It was one of my dreams in my life as a voice actor to play a boy's role with gusto, and I also wanted to appear in an animation for children, so I can only thank "Shinkarion Z" for making all these things possible for me. I am truly grateful to "Shinkarion Z" for making so many things come true for me.

--I am really grateful that I was able to spend a whole year working on a single work, and on a work that is very popular among children.

Kito: I am truly grateful. I think it was a very big part of my life experience.

(Interview, text, and photography by Kenichi Chiba)

(C) Leiji Matsumoto, Toei Animation
(c)Color