Sunrise Festival 2019 Special】The cast was decided by their faces! Ai Shimizu was surprised at the unexpected behind-the-scenes story of the production of "Mai-HiME" told 15 years later! Mai-HiME" Talk Event Report

Sunrise Festival 2019 Fugetsu, an annual event in which Sunrise, which has produced numerous animation works, screens its films in movie theaters every day, was held from September 13, 2019 to September 27, 2019. Among the events, a "Mai-HiME" screening event was held on September 22 at Theatre Shinjuku in Tokyo.

Producer Naotake Kozato and Ai Shimizu, who plays Minabukuro Mikoto, took the stage for a talk show before the screening. The talk show was filled with behind-the-scenes casting stories and secret talks on the production site, which enlivened the audience. Here is a report from the stage.

To commemorate the Sunrise Festival special, "Mai-HiME" visitor bonus posters will be given away to five lucky winners in a drawing!
For details, please refer to the article linked below.

Character Designs Reflect the Personalities of the Voice Actors

When "Mai-HiME" aired, Ms. Shimizu, who played the role of Mibukuro Miki, was in her fourth year as a voice actor. She says that her performance in this work "taught me a lot. Shimizu, who has always had a high pitched natural voice, says that it was difficult for her to tune her voice to a lower level because the character she was playing had a boyish voice. In addition, while the other characters in the film fight using a guardian deity called "Child," Minei uses his great sword, Miroku, in physical combat, so he had to shout and exhale in that voice, and every week he thought, "My throat is burning out! I thought I was going to burn out my throat every week!

She also said that Masafumi Mima, the sound director, had issued a "cute voice ban," and she was troubled by the fact that "this is my natural voice, but what should I do?

On the other hand, Ms. Kozato revealed that she had made a definite offer to the majority of the cast members, saying, "I want this person to play this role.

According to Ms. Kozato, the way she sat in front of the microphone and the image of her face were exactly the same as the image of her life, and that is why she was chosen for the role. Ms. Shimizu expressed her surprise at the "face cast" that she had not expected.

In addition, Sako Chiba, who played the role of Natsuki Kuga, was leaning against a wall when they first met in the Lantis conference room for the audition, and she looked just like Natsuki. The way she was leaning against the wall was just like "Natsuki," he said. Mr. Kozato thought before he heard her voice. Later, Mr. Chiba said, "I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there by the wall. said Shimizu.

Ms. Kozato said that the fact that both Ms. Shimizu, who plays Miki, and Mr. Chiba, who plays Natsuki, have faces that resemble the character designs suggests that their facial contours, jaw frames, height, and body shape are similar in terms of voice quality, which is the meaning of face casting. He also talked about the meaning of face casting.

Regarding the casting of this work, Mr. Kozato said that before "Mai-HiME," he had worked mainly on kids' anime for boys, so he did not know many moe voice actors. Therefore, she studied by watching various moe-kei works. He also continued to use Yukana and Akiko Kimura, who had been used in previous productions. Naomi Shindo, who played Hokuto in "GEAR Warrior Dendo," is from Kyoto, so she created the character Shizuru Fujino, who speaks in the Kyoto dialect. She also said, "I had told Hirokazu Hisayuki, the character designer, that I wanted to use Ms. Shindo for the role of Shizuru, and I wonder if the design reflects that. I wonder if the design reflects that.

Ryoka Yuzuki, who plays Haruka Suzushiro, had played the main character Li Meifeng in Kozato's previous anime "Hoshikata Tenshi Angel Links," but at the time she did not yet have that long of a career as a voice actress. He recalls that he felt enthusiasm when he saw her barefoot in the recording session at such a site. The audience was surprised to hear about the deep relationship between the cast and the character, saying, "I cast her because her frank and gutsy character suited the character of Haruka.

Sound director Masafumi Mima was very busy at the time, and his schedule was limited for the recording of this work. In order to accommodate Mr. Mima's schedule, more than 20 popular voice actors gathered at the studio. It is surprising that there was no "unscheduled recording" (i.e., recording on a different day only for cast members whose schedules did not match).

Mr. Shimizu said, "I think that the more you actually see the actors face to face, the more emotion comes through in their performances. Kozato also recalled, "We were really blessed at the recording site," and "even now, when I think back on it, I am happy that the children who gathered there worked so hard to perform.

The cast had to share the microphone, which was one of the few available, with such a large number of people, and the way the cast members slipped in front of the microphone one after another was like dancing," they recalled. Mr. Shimizu even recreated the position he was in at the time, which brought the audience to their feet.

Mr. Shimizu then began, "I have a confession to make.

At the time, Mr. Shimizu was so busy that he hardly had time to sleep. He would come home late every night and check the script for the next day's recording, and finally, on the day before the last episode of "Mai-HiME," he fell asleep with the script in hand. He confessed that he ended up going into the production with only half of the script checked.

Kozato was the first to learn of such a fact, but she replied, "I didn't notice it at all. The reason for this was that "the entire cast (including Ms. Shimizu) was in character," she said, confirming once again that the cast for this production was the best lineup.

In addition, it was announced that a "Mai-HiME" pop-up store will be opened at both SHIBUYA TSUTAYA and TSUTAYA BOOK STORE Gotanda from October 8 to October 22, 2019.

Commenting on the new development on the occasion of the 15th anniversary, Ms. Kozato said, "Even after 15 years, I am happy to be able to be involved in a happy work that brings together customers and original products. Ms. Shimizu also smiled and said, "I am grateful to have this opportunity to talk about my old memories in front of everyone," bringing the talk stage to a close.

Ms. Kozato said, "There are still more behind-the-scenes stories that I haven't told you," so we can look forward to another opportunity to hear them.

After the event, we interviewed producer Kozato and Ai Shimizu!

───What did you think of the event?

Shimizu: It's been a while since I met Kozato-san, and we talked a lot backstage, but I was happy to be able to talk with her in front of all the "Mai-HiME" fans who came to hear our conversation.

Kozato: I still have enough material to talk for 5 or 6 hours, so it was hard to put it all together on stage in 45 minutes (laughs).

(Laughs.) At the time, I was attending various events such as Comiket with Mr. Shimizu and appearing on the radio, so in that sense, I really missed it. Of course, after "Mai-HiME" ended, we never worked together.

Shimizu: Yes.

Kozato I couldn't talk about this on stage today, but when "Mai-HiME" was broadcast, there were several girl battle anime that were also broadcast at about the same time. It was coincidental timing, but I was surprised. At the same time, I thought, "I knew it was coming. The times call for it, don't they?

─ ─ What is "Mai-HiME" like for you two?

Shimizu: I got to play a role that was new to me after I debuted, and I really learned a lot during the postrecording sessions. I am very proud and happy to have worked on this film.

Kozato: My positioning is clear. Make a hit film! "If I can't make a hit, I'll quit Sunrise! If I couldn't make it, I would quit Sunrise! Until then, I had often worked on animations linked to toys, which in itself was a job I loved, but I wanted to make an original animation in which I would do everything from planning to budget-raising, production, and promotion. I wanted to test myself, or rather, I wanted to create an interesting animation with the staff I have worked with for many years, an animation that would be a hit, an animation that would remain in the hearts of the audience.

Shimizu: When you decided to make a hit, why did you decide to do something new instead of the usual "ironclad" projects that would sell well?

Kozato Is it a steel plate? Do you mean to say that Sunrise's steel plate is "science fiction robot animation"? Other studios were already producing those works.

We looked around Sunrise's productions and chose an anime with a girl as the main character, based on the current trends. The time was "moe. I had felt this since we did "Hoshikata Tenshi Angel Links" in 1999, and I was absolutely certain that this would be the next one. I was determined to recreate it using Sunrise's techniques and know-how. That is why "Mai-HiME" includes elements such as transforming, combining, and supernatural powers. Although Mai doesn't ride a robot, Director Obara saw it as "Mai-chan is riding a Gundam, even though she doesn't want to, because she picked it up. On top of that, we asked the creators who grew up at Sunrise and wanted to draw robot action to change "moe" to "burn" and create a new work. It would sound cool if I said that, but in reality, the staff didn't know what "moe" was, so it became "burn" ...... (laughs).

In the end, we ended up creating "Cyber Formula", "Dendo", and other Sunrise-style racing battles, robot action, and so on. And then there was the fusion of the bishojo heroine stories that I had developed with "Angel Links". But "Angel Links" had only one heroine. I think this was a mistake. At that time (1999), the current trend was for idol groups with several members. In other words, "Morning Musume. Morning Musume. I studied Morning Musume. I studied Morning Musume and learned a lot by increasing the number of leading actors. Dendo" had two main actors. In "Crash Gear Turbo," we had a team of four main characters. In "Machine Robo Rescue," we made a group of 11 men and women, and finally decided to make an anime that would have more than 10 girls.

In the 2000s, idol groups ranged from "Mao Musume" to "AKB 48. to "AKB 48" came and the number of people in the group increased more than expected. And in the animation field as well, the number of animations featuring large groups of girls increased. I wonder if "Mai-HiME" was able to leave a small mark among them. I think "Mai-HiME" has left its mark among them. And I feel that "Mai-HiME" has continued on to "Revue Starlight," a work produced by another company that I am involved with. By the way, this is an advertisement.

─ ─ When you talk about this, I can understand that "Mai-HiME" is a work that marks a major turning point for you. Please give a final comment to your fans.

Shimizu: If you have come this far, please love it for the rest of your life! Please tell your descendants that there is an anime called "Mai-HiME" for a long time to come.

Kozato: I believe that it would be a waste not to always try something new. It is truly the exploration of a new genre to incorporate something new into Sunrise's ironclad anime. I created "Mai-HiME" with that in mind, and I am happy in the sense that it was the beginning of the idol line of Sunrise works that continues to this day. When I was at Sunrise, the president always told me, "Don't rely on Gundam! . And, "Create original works that will last 10 years! I was always told by the president of Sunrise, "Don't rely on Gundam!

In 2000, Sunrise was producing original works in a variety of genres, including the Gundam series, science fiction action, robot, and supernatural works, and each studio was producing excellent animation. The genre that I and the staff of the late 8th Studio chose to work in was the original bishojo moe-burn type action anime such as "Mai-HiME".

Fifteen years later, if the characters and stories are still loved today, I wonder if we were able to create a memorable original anime. I think that is the producer's ultimate goal. That's all I can say.

■Five luckywinnerswill receive a "Mai-HiME" poster asa Sunrise Festival visitorprize!

For details, please click on the link below!