[Signature Present! Yoshinoh Aoyama was also saved when he said, "Look at Bocchi, there's more down there. ......"! Fall 2022 Anime "Bocchi za Roku! Just before the start of the broadcast! Interview with Yoshinoh Aoyama, Sayumi Suzushiro, Saku Mizuno, and Ikumi Hasegawa [Part 1

The popular comic "Bocchi Za Roku! (original story: Aki Hamaji / serialized in Houbunsha's "Manga Time Kirara MAX") will be adapted into a long-awaited TV anime, which will begin broadcasting and distribution on October 8, 2022.

The story is about a shy and shy girl named "Bokuchi-chan" (Goto Hitori) who joins a band called "Band of Unity" and grows up together with unique members such as Ijichi Nijika, Yamada Ryo, and Kita Ikuyo.

The TV anime is produced by CloverWorks and directed by Keiichiro Saito, and it will be interesting to see how the daily lives of the unique members of the "Band of Unity" will be depicted in the anime.

With the broadcast of the anime just around the corner, we asked Yoshinoh Aoyama (who plays Hitori Goto), Sayumi Suzushiro (who plays Nijika Ijichi), Saku Mizuno (who plays Ryo Yamada), and Ikumi Hasegawa (who plays Ikuyo Kita), who play the members of the "Unity Band," about the appeal of the work, their characters, and their own negative and positive episodes. The article ends with an announcement about a giveaway.

Collapsing, diving into bed......The moment when the roles of the four actors were decided!

--First of all, please tell us about the moment you were chosen for each of the roles.

Aoyama: When my manager told me at the office, I honestly thought it was a lie. I thought it was some kind of a surprise (laughs). So I gave a thin reaction like "Oh, yes," but when I found out from the manager at ...... that it was true, I fell down with a loud cry. That's what it means to be bowled over.

Suzudai: I will never forget that I first encountered this work at the beginning of this New Year's holiday. I saw the original work during the audition, and I thought, "Of course I want to do something like this! I was like, "Of course I want to do this! When I heard the result, it was just the day I was moving into my new house and I was waiting for someone to attend to me. I remember getting a call from the manager in a cleaned and neat room and doing a little leap in the wide empty space (laughs).

Aoyama: Crumbling and leaping (laughs).

Yoshinoh Aoyama

Mizuno I thought I had failed because I had not heard from them by the time I would have heard from them if I had been accepted. Then, just as I was relaxing at home, I received a phone call from my manager, and when I answered the phone, fearing that he would be angry with me, he said, "Ryo-chan, you got accepted! I was so happy that I dived into bed! I was so happy that I dove into bed! (Laughter)

Hasegawa I asked Sayumi (Suzuyo-san) there whether I passed or failed, not the manager (laughs).

Suzuyo No, its .......

Hasegawa On LINE, "Ikumi-san! I was not sure what it was about, and I said, "Oh, you didn't hear? Didn't you hear?" (laugh). (Laughs.) He told me to forget about it, but how could I forget? I was like, "I was told to forget about it, but how can I forget?

Suzuyo: I thought I had done it. It had been quite a while since I had asked the manager, and I thought he might have heard.

Hasegawa But I didn't believe it at all because I didn't think I would be accepted. When my manager told me, "I heard that you are Hasegawa-san from Pro-Fit (my agency at that time)," I thought that maybe there was a Mr. Hasegawa belonging to the agency that I did not know. Much later, my manager told me, "Oh, by the way, I heard about ......," and I realized it was true! I was like, "Oh, that's right, .

Sayumi Suzushiro

Nijika Ijichi

What was the content of your self-promotional video at the audition?

--What was the audition like?

Aoyama: There was a studio audition after the tape audition was scrutinized, but nowadays studio auditions themselves are decreasing to avoid everyone getting together. In such a situation, it was a studio audition with a shouting match, so I was very happy to do a shouting match with the four members of the band of unity. I was so happy to be able to perform with the four members of the band of unity.

Suzuyo: When I got the call that I had made it to the studio audition, even though I had not yet been accepted, I wanted to play in the "Bocchi za Rokku! I bought this skirt because I wanted to wear it if there was an event for "Bocchi za roku!

Aoyama: That's too bad (laughs).

Suzuyo: I was so passionate about the work that I would have thrown this skirt away if I had not been accepted, so I went to the studio audition thinking, "I bought it. I'm glad I was able to wear the skirt this way. I think I will wear it until it is worn out! (Laughs)

Saku Mizuno

Ryo Yamada

Mizuno: When I recorded for the tape audition, the people at the office told me to "make it prettier" because it was a Kirara production. But in my mind, Ryo-chan was not like that, so I did not listen to what I was told. Thankfully, I was allowed to go on to the studio audition, and I knew that this was the voice for Ryo-chan! So I went for it.

Hasegawa: For the tape audition, there was not only the voice reading the lines, but also a video comment of about one minute.

Suzudai: There was a note saying "I'm going to write about myself and my PR [about my character].

Mizuno: Yes, there was.

Aoyama I was told (the theme) was free (laughs).

Hasegawa There were quite a lot of lines, and I was a bit sneaky, so I took a video thinking, "You have to be pretty or cute to be accepted anyway. ......" Miraculously, I made it to the studio audition. I remember going to the audition as if it was a commemorative exam (laughs).

Aoyama Speaking of what was written, during the audition for "Bokuchi," it said, "Those who are essentially negative in nature, please. I wondered what "essentially negative" meant (laughs).

Hasegawa: You can tell how an office views a person by who they choose (to send to an audition). I thought, "This is Aoyama" (laughs).

Aoyama: Huh? The manager? (Did you think so?). (You thought so?) Like that.

Ikumi Hasegawa

Ikuyo Kita

--Do you remember the content of that video?

Suzuyo: When I was in junior high school, there was a time when I longed to be a drummer, and my parents bought me just drum sticks as a Christmas present. I still have those sticks, so I think I said a few words about my strengths and weaknesses while holding the sticks, and it was something mysterious like, "I have the sticks, but I just put them out there" (laughs).

Mizuno: I don't remember much, but the office said, "If you can play an instrument, why don't you talk about that? I think I told them that I could play the guitar.

Aoyama: You can play the guitar! That's amazing. I thought it would be stronger (in the audition) if I could play the guitar, since I was the only one who played the guitar! （I closed the audition by playing a C chord on a guitar I borrowed from someone else, even though I couldn't play it (laughs).

Suzuyo I couldn't play either, but I brought a stick with me (laughs).

Hasegawa: I wondered what to do because I can't play an instrument either, but Kita-chan's name is Ikuyo and mine is Ikumi, which is close. Besides, Kita-chan doesn't like to be called by her first name, and I hate being called "Ikumin" when I am given a nickname, so I think I told her that I also don't like to be called by my first name, and so on.

Suzuyo Interesting (laughs).

Seeing Bokuchi, I was relieved to know that there are others below me (laughs).

--Aoyama: So that's how you were all chosen. What was your impression of the original work when you read it, and what would you recommend?

Aoyama: I think there probably isn't an otaku in the world who can't relate to this work. There are depictions that even non-otaku, even those who are called incredibly cheerful people, can relate to, and I felt that it is a manga that can be close to everyone.

Besides, I feel saved by the fact that Bocchi expresses in a crazy and colorful way feelings that I have never been able to express in words or text. I thought I was the only one who was such a despicable scumbag, but Bocchi went beyond that, so I felt relieved that there was someone beneath me (laughs).

3 (laughs).

Aoyama: But it seems that ordinary people, or yo-katsu-sha, do not judge people by whether they are above or below them. I learned that in "Bocchi za roku! I would like everyone to read it as a textbook for life.

Suzuyo: This work has both yin and yang aspects, but Nijinatsu has her own goals and dreams, and Bokuchis have their own things to think about. This is a nice synergistic effect, and it has an adolescent-like quality to it. The book has a good balance of the negative elements of "Bokuchi," a fast-paced comical feel, and a bit of a "sporty" adolescent feel, so it is easy to read. Also, the facial expressions are amazing (laughs). They can be daphnids or aardvarks. Kirara's works don't often have such things, so I enjoyed reading this book with a fresh feeling.

Mizuno: The illustrations and colors are very cute, and at first I was under the impression that it was a warm and friendly gag manga. But when I actually read it, it was a little different from what I had imagined. As Yoppi-san (Aoyama-san) said, the more I looked at the Bokuchis, the more I felt relieved that "maybe I am not a gloomy person" (laugh). The other characters are also kind to Bokuchi, and I wish I could have had the same kind of youth.

Hasegawa: I thought it was amazing that the four panels, which are basically the same size, were able to keep me reading without getting bored. The parts that are quiet are quiet, but the interesting scenes are exciting and have an ending. Moreover, I was betrayed in a good way by the main character, who I didn't think was a Kirara work. I really enjoyed laughing at the eccentricities of one of them, and I also found myself smiling, but there were also moments when she shined. Those moments made me so happy to read the book.

To be continued in the second part!

(Reporting and writing by Kenichi Chiba; Photography by Shohei Kanazawa)

Outline of Present Campaign

<Prize
In commemoration of the start of "Bocchi za roku! Commemorating the start of broadcast! Yoshinoh Aoyama, Sayumi Suzushiro, Saku Mizuno, and Ikumi Hasegawa autographs will be given away!

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