Female cast members talk a lot about Shin Furukawa! Interview with Aoi Koga, Yoshimi Ohara, and Mimyu Tomita, Part 2 of "Kaguya-sama ga Tsurenasai - First Kiss Never Ends.

The anime "Kaguya-sama ga Sesshirasai - First Kiss Never Ends" is currently undergoing special screenings from December 17, 2022 (Saturday), prior to its TV broadcast.

Based on the popular romantic comedy manga "Kaguya-sama ga Keshirakasai - Geniuses' Love Brain Battle" (original story: Akasa Akasaka / hereinafter "Kaguya-sama"), which recently reached its final episode in "Weekly Young Jump". The story is set in Shuchiin Academy, an elite school, where a love brain battle unfolds between the student council president, Gyoko Shiragin, and the vice council president, Kaguya Shinomiya. The third season of the TV anime "Kaguya-sama ga Tetsuzarasai -First Kiss Never Ends-," which aired from April 2022, will be followed by "Kaguya-sama wa Sukerasai -Ultra Romantic-.

Prior to its screening, Akiba Research Institute spoke with Aoi Koga (who plays Kaguya Shinomiya), Yoshimi Ohara (who plays Chika Fujiwara), and Miyu Tomita (who plays Miko Iino), who play the female members of the student council, about the highlights of the work, their co-stars, and much more.

In the second part of the interview, the topic slid from the main anime to the appeal of Shin Furukawa, who plays the role of Gyoko Shiragin, the student council president who continues to lead the production as the chairman of the board! The female cast members had a lot to say.

Mr. Furukawa and I had a heated conversation in the studio about the "goodness of Aoi Koga.

--Let us ask you about the recording of the show. Compared to the second and third seasons, the span from the third season to this work was shorter, but how was it to do it?

Koga Indeed, I didn't expect to be able to record a new work so soon. ...... (Thinking about the words) Wow! That's amazing! And.

Obara Vocabulary! (Laughs)

Tomita Ha-ha-ha!

Koga I think the animators worked very hard on the production, even though they had just finished the third season and didn't have much time. The images were really beautifully done, and I could really feel the feeling of "I want to show this scene to everyone! I felt that I had to be even more prepared for this.

--How much time did you spend on the recording?

Tomita: The entire cast recorded the whole thing in three days.

Koga That's right. I recorded it in two days, but the atmosphere was a bit different and tense from the lively atmosphere of the TV series. There wasn't much time between the third season and the first, but Kaguya and the others had been in the ultra-romantic stage for a while, so I reviewed the original story to see what had happened during that time.

--So, you didn't record all of them together, did you?

Obara That's right. Since the third season, we have been recording in a way that is only possible in this day and age (dispersed recording or individual recording), and that was the way we recorded this time as well, so to be honest, I was sad. I think we all probably felt that.

Koga I often recorded with Ms. Furukawa and Koko-chan (Ms. Obara). But there was some overlap (of lines), so I recorded alone in a separate booth. I felt that I was more tense, and I felt that I was really facing the chairman.

Obara In scenes like "Kaguya on Parade," where Kaguya plays a major role, the chairman and Kaguya interact with each other, so I recorded only her in a private room about two tatami mats wide, while Furukawa-san and I recorded in the usual spacious area. She really had to face her loneliness, and we recorded for about an hour. During that time, Mr. Kogawa and I stayed in the studio without going out to the lobby, and we talked about the "goodness of Aoi Koga" together for a long time.

Koga I apologize for keeping you waiting.

Obara Until that scene, we were talking about how we enjoyed "Kaguya-sama" up to this point and what we wanted to do in the future, but her performance was so wonderful that I heard it through my headphones and thought, "No, I mean Aoi Koga. I was impressed by the passionate conversation we had while listening to her voice, saying things like, "She's like this," "She's like that," "I like Kaguya in that episode," and "She's not usually like this.

But this time the target was Aoi Koga, and we could talk passionately about both Yoshiaki Suzuki and Mimyu Tomita. I thought it was a happy time. Especially Mr. Furukawa, who is very passionate about Kaguya Shinomiya, told us how he was influenced by the Kaguya sounds coming from Aoi Koga. Once again, I felt that we were a great group, and that it is important to talk with each other. They really talked a lot, and I wish I had recorded it (laughs). It was like we were trying to see who would say the best thing.

Koga Stop it, stop it!

--I'd love to hear an audio commentary or something someday. What about you, Tomita-san?

Tomita: I only recorded on the last day, and except for some recording with Kokochan at the end of the day, I was mostly on my own. Most of the first half was spent talking with Ishigami, so I had to listen to Ishigami's pre-recorded audio through headphones. As usual, there was a fight scene between Miko and Ishigami, and this time the length was rather long, about 5 cuts, and we were told to "improvise the fight". If I had recorded the scene with Mr. Suzuki, I could have done it while matching the tension, but I didn't. Mr. Suzuki said to me, "I did it.

Suzuki called me and said, "I've done it," but I thought, "What do you mean, 'I've done it'? I went to the site ...... and found that there was no room for me (Miko) to speak, and everything was filled with ad-libs. I thought, "They did it" (laughs).

Obara That was a real fight (laughs).

Tomita That's right. When I heard that, I thought, "What? What should I do?" I thought, "Well, I'll put the whole thing on! I'll do the same thing! I thought to myself, "I'll do the same thing! I filled in all five cuts with one-sided snide remarks and other things that Miko seems to be listening to but isn't (laughs).

Obara It's a geeky party.

Tomita I have impressive memories of how it really turned out. I was also surprised at the volume of the script as a whole. When I received the script for this project, there were four 30-minute scripts, so I went into the recording sessions feeling that it would be a lot of work but also a lot of fun.

The three of us enthusiastically talked about the greatness of Shin Koga as an actor and human being.

--I heard that you and Mr. Furukawa discussed the greatness of Mr. Koga's acting, but Mr. Furukawa's acting is also great every time, isn't it? So this time, I was hoping that you would talk about the good qualities of Mr. Furukawa without him being present.

Obara: The passionate speech captain for that will be Ms. Aoi Koga! (Laughs)

Tomita She is the one who is closest to the audience.

Kohara It was so amazing that I lost my vocabulary.

Koga That's right. I lose my vocabulary so much that I get angry at myself for not praising him more properly. ...... Kogawa-san is really a wonderful person and I think he is a wonderful actor who performs wonderful plays.

When I worked with Mr. Furukawa in another production, he came as a guest and overwhelmed the regulars who were there and left. I had a strong impression of him. After that, I had the opportunity to work with him on "Kaguya-sama," and from the very first episode, I was impressed by the way he made decisions at key points in the story.

I also think that Mr. Furukawa is similar to the Chairman in many ways. He is stoic in the way he faces the role, and he clearly indicates his position as the chairman in each scene, creating an environment that makes it easy for me and Kaguya to work together. There are many scenes that were completed thanks to Mr. Furukawa's strong pull. His ability to pull and attract everyone is truly amazing.

(Mr. Koga is getting more and more enthusiastic.)

And, you know! Until the third season, I have seen many perfect parts of the chairman. In the "Ultra Romantic" episode, you had a very detailed plan, right? He would make a clear path, saying, "If I do this, Fujiwara will go this way," "If I do this, Miko will go this way," "If I say this to Ishigami, it will be OK," and so on. That's why Mr. Furukawa seemed so perfect.

However, around the time we recorded the final episode of the third season, I began to see a blur inside the chairman, and even in this new work, I felt like, "What? I started to feel that there was something different in the new film. From the moment I arrived at the site, I felt that Mr. Furukawa was wearing something different from what he had worn in the past. I was overwhelmed even before I entered the booth, and I felt that this time was different and I was very tense. At that time, I really felt that Mr. Furukawa was carrying the chairman's weight both inside and outside the booth. He has the power to pull us along even outside the booth. I think that is Shin Furukawa.

What do you think? What do you think of the two of them?

Obara: Mr. Furukawa, since you are playing the role of Gyoko Shiragin, you always look at things from the perspective of Gyoko Shiragin. He is so serious that even when the female members release character songs, he wonders if he should listen to Kaguya's answer song as himself (instead of Goko Shiragin) without going through the role of the character.

While he is, he also has a bird's eye view. I wonder how the various characters will look when they are added to the pentagon of the student council members, how things will develop later on, and I also look at it from the perspective of "this is where I stand ...... at that time. That is why I always felt that even if there were characters who had not been voiced yet in the dispersed recording, he anticipated that and acted accordingly. That is also amazing. Some people can only see what they see when they play a character.

And although Mr. Furukawa is the oldest of the student council members, he listens to our problems as actors and not only listens to our problems but also shares his own problems with us. I feel that the way he opens his heart to us has influenced us a lot. It all sounds wonderful, doesn't it?

Tomita Yes, yes, yes.

--You are the youngest in terms of age, aren't you? What is your impression of Mr. Furukawa?

Tomita: I had a chance to work with Mr. Furukawa before "Kaguya-sama," and we often work together in other scenes now, so I am always watching his plays. In "Kaguya-sama," the student council election episode in the second season was the first time I had the opportunity to work with Mr. Furukawa nonstop. When you are acting, there are moments when you are in the "zone," as they say of athletes, and that was the timing I needed to be in.

However, it has been almost three years since I have been involved in this work, and I was even more inexperienced then than I am now, so even though I had to be equal to Mr. Furukawa in terms of acting, I thought it might be impossible when I saw the script. ...... I went to the scene of the student council election with trepidation. Then I felt next to Mr. Furukawa, who is not a man of many words, but he spoke very much with his back in the recording, and I felt next to him that he was really showing me "Tomita-chan, this way," by his atmosphere.

In the student council election, there is a scene in which Miko becomes able to speak after the president tells her to "say it". I felt that you lifted me up, and I couldn't stop respecting you because I had experienced that. You mentioned that you consulted with me, and Mr. Furukawa is very kind to listen to me even when I talk about work that has nothing to do with "Kaguya-sama" at all.

I also had a moment the other day when I felt that he is a very loving person. At the "Bokushin Matsuri in AKIHABARA" event (held October 28-30, 2022), Suzuki was on stage and Coco and Ao were doing the shadow narration. Mr. Furukawa and I were sitting in the waiting chairs, and he was looking at the monitor with a very loving expression on his face.

Obara Dad (laughs).

Koga Ha ha ha!

Tomita I felt that he really likes this site, and it made me feel relaxed.

--It really is a wonderful site. Thank you for many stories!

(Reporting, writing, and photography by Kenichi Chiba)