At the end, "I'm finally back!" and laughing! Aobuta" - A look back interview with Masami Seto, Marie Uchida and Yurika Kubo, Part 1!

The TV anime "Seishun Butayaku ha Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Yume wo Mai" is approaching its final episode.

This time, Akiba Research Institute conducted a trilogy talk with the cast of the much-talked-about "Seishun Butayaku ha Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Yume wo Mieru" ("Blue Buta").

(hereafter referred to as "Aobuta"), which has been the subject of much discussion at Akiba Research Institute. In the first part, we asked Asami Seto, who plays Mai, Mare Uchida, who plays Nodoka, and Yurika Kubo, who plays Kaede Azusagawa, Sakita's younger sister, to reflect on their impressions after episodes 9 and 10, when the appearance of the sisters, Mai Sakurajima and Nodoka Toyohama, were switched.

I no longer felt like I was playing Nodoka (laughs)! (Uchida)

Ms. Uchida: I don't have the impression that you and Ms. Seto have performed together much.

Uchida: It's not that I didn't have any. ......

Seto: I had never played the main character, and I had never talked with Marei like this before. So to be honest, I was nervous at first, but I was determined to ask her out to dinner! I was determined to ask her out to dinner. After recording, I often went out for dinner with the main character, Kaito Ishikawa, and his friends, so Ishikawa asked me if I wanted to ask her out. But I said, "No, I'll talk to Marei myself! I said, "No, I'll talk to Marei!" and I did it myself (laughs).

Uchida There you have it. And then we went out for dinner.

Seto It doesn't really matter who calls on her.

Uchida As for "Aobuta," I was late in joining the project, and episode 8 was the first episode. So I didn't go to postrecording for about two months.

Q: But you were at the screenings and the Dengeki Festival, weren't you?

Uchida That's right!　I was there even though I wasn't there, so I said I would play Nodoka in the future (laughs). That's how I felt, so when I was asked to be in episode 8, I wondered what it would be like on the set and what kind of person Mr. Seto was. My memory of Mr. Seto was that he was a "wandering son" in his early days as well.

You two made your debut around the same time, didn't you?

Seto: We were all in the same studio at that time (laughs).

Uchida You were called for an audition, right?

Seto Yes. I went there thinking that they would probably be there. So of course I knew their names, but I never had a chance to talk to them.

Uchida There are voice actors like that.

Q: And this time, you are not going to be performing together, but rather you are going to be switching appearances, so you will have to go out for dinner, won't you?

Seto Maybe we should have gone before acting. ......, but in the end we went after acting (laughs).

Uchida: That's why I was so nervous about recording episode 9.

Q: What was it like to be replaced?

Uchida: I think there is a pattern to the switching. For example, when the monologue is spoken, the person is changed back to his or her own voice. But in this case, there was no such pattern at all, and the two whole episodes were completely opposite (laughs).

Seto: It was the opposite.

Uchida That's why I didn't feel like I was playing Nodoka!　No longer (laughs).

Seto: The script was written as Mai (Nodoka) to make it easier to understand, but I wondered which one I was playing.

Kubo It's hard to tell if he wrote the inside first or the outside first (laughs).

Seto: When I was checking the script, I was worried until the very last minute that it was probably correct, but what if they said it was the other way around when I got there?

Q: Mr. Kubo, I think you were watching the dubbing of the two dancers in the background, how did you feel about it?

Kubo: I definitely didn't want to do it myself (laughs). (Laughs.) But I was thinking, "Wow, that's great! (laughs).

Uchida It was tough!

Kubo I don't think it's very often that you get to witness or do that kind of recording, so it was interesting for me to watch. I was thinking that the video would be more convincing and easier for the audience to understand. The script alone was quite confusing.

Uchida: Did you feel confused when you started the microphone?

Uchida: Rather than that, it was difficult to know how I should feel when I got up to the microphone. （I had to consider (Mai's) feelings for Sakihita. For the time being, I killed all my emotions (laughs) and concentrated on playing Nodoka from Mai's point of view! It was like that.

Since the roles are switched, it is necessary to make the way of acting similar to each other, isn't it?

Seto: I tried to make her act very similar. I tried to imitate the tempo of Marei's speech. I tried to imitate the tempo of Marei's voice by imagining it when I was preparing at home and listening to her voice material. When the director was explaining to Marei that Seto's performance was like this, I realized that she thought my performance was like this (laugh). (Laughs) "You know, Seto-chan is more like a tsundere.

Uchida Yes, there was that. I tend to say, "Yes, you do. What I tend to do is to raise the end of the sentence when I say, "That's right. But I lower the end. When I say "tsundere," I go lower. It is difficult to do that.

Seto: I definitely have my own habits, and it is difficult to kill them. But by doing that, I think the viewers would have switched, so I tried to do it carefully.

Q: From your point of view, were you replaced?

Kubo: Yes, they were replaced!

Seto/Uchida Thank you very much!

Uchida But I'm anxious, I can't wait to see the on-air .......

Seto I'm looking forward to seeing the fans' reactions, and I'm anxious .......

Uchida In the preview, I said "piggy bastard, right?" in Nodoka, but that Nodoka doesn't appear in the preview (laughs).

ーーBut this will be posted after episode 10.

Seto So you are all reading this conflict after you finish watching it?

Uchida In episode 10, they finally get back together and hug each other. That was a great feeling of relief, wasn't it?　We are finally back together! I could finally come back.

Seto We're back!　But I don't know. There was also something like that (laughs).

Uchida Is this correct?　Isn't it becoming more like Mai's? Like that (laughs).

Seto: Because I was excited, I was different from usual, and my "throatiness" might have come out, but I was already Mai! I'm Mai! I couldn't tell. It was like I was crying and laughing with such a sobbing feeling.

Kubo: (The joy was) very real.

Seto: Yes, it was. The laughter was ad-libbed.

Q: What would it be like if you switched places?　Since Marei sings and dances, I thought it was pretty close to the situation of the role.

Seto: Oh, indeed. But I don't think I would be able to do it as well as Mare. It would be scary to suddenly join a dance lesson.

But I thought you couldn't do it, but you can do it.

Uchida I can do it perfectly.

Seto You are a perfect person, Mai.

Uchida But if we actually switched, the stress might be too much.

Seto I say this because I don't think it's perverse, but I would like to see the closet if we switched!　I'm looking forward to switching places and being able to choose clothes. Marei is stylish, so I'm sure she'd have fun picking out clothes.

Uchida I see. All I wear is hoodies and jeans (laughs)?　Seto-chan is so active, I want to use her physical abilities to jump into the ocean!　Because I can't swim. I want to scuba dive.

Q: How was the story about sisters?

Uchida: Sisters are the part of the story that people don't like to see or touch. Love is something we all go through, and it can be heartwarming or sad, but it all seems to be a good thing. But I feel that stories between brothers and sisters are very naive.

Seto: No matter how much they fight, they never leave each other. It's like they can be forgiven. Brothers, sisters, and family are indeed mysterious. Because they are not strangers, they are spoiled and forgiven in some way. I have an older sister, and I was completely obedient to JoOusama, but I love my sister, so I think it is strange.

Q: Since you have both brothers and sisters, you played the role while somehow understanding their feelings. But the situation with these sisters was complicated, too.

Uchida It must be awkward.

Seto They are both in show business and have different mothers, so it was a bit complicated, but Mai was positive about it. That may have been because she was trying not to make Nodoka feel uneasy, but I thought Mai was a kind person.

Uchida She is very kind, isn't she? As a result, I thought that Nodoka's story (in episodes 9-10) was about Mai and Nodoka's sisters, although Sakita also helped her. So I am glad that things worked out with her sister. So when I think of "Aobuta," it is more about Mai than Sakita.

Mai told Sakihita not to open the shelves, but she meant that he should open the shelves.

Seto: That's absolutely right. Otherwise, the story would not have progressed. But it was a great gesture. If I didn't tell him, he would never have understood, but he went to the trouble of telling me.

Uchida: I would never open the door of a cabinet in someone's house.

Kubo: You know Sakihita very well, don't you? Kubo, were there any striking scenes in these two episodes?

Kubo: There is a scene where Nodoka goes into the sea, and she looks like Mai on the outside, but inside she is Nodoka. I wanted to see this scene with both voices. I also wanted to hear Nodoka played exactly by Marei. I am sure that Sakihta would have stopped her immediately because of Mai's appearance. I could imagine how interesting that scene would have been if I could have heard both of their voices.

Uchida: Indeed, I might like to see a version where the whole story is completely reversed.

Seto If we could hear Mai's voice coming out of Mari's mouth, it would give a different impression, wouldn't it?

Kubo: It was interesting to be able to imagine so many different things.

Kubo: Looking at the script, Nodoka's lines sounded like something Mare would say, but it was Seto who said them.

Uchida: In the audition, there was a good scene for Nodoka, but I was actually watching over her as Mai on the inside (laughs).

Seto I played all of Nodoka's good scenes (laughs).

I think the story ended on a moving note, but Nodoka's appearance was in only two episodes, right? But is two episodes the limit?

Uchida I think that might be the limit!

Seto If I had been asked to continue for one more episode, it would have been tough.

Uchida That would have been tough.

You're right, ....... But you were able to mend your relationship with each other, and the episode led to the next one, didn't it?

Uchida It was an important episode for me and for Nodoka, as it brought the sisters closer together and improved the bond between the characters in the "Aobuta" world.

To be continued in Part 2!

(Reporting and writing by Junichi Tsukagoshi)