Memorial talk show by three main cast members! Report on the special screening event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original "Saint Tail the Phantom Thief!

The 55th ANNIVERSARY TMS Anime Summer Festival 2019 was held at the EJ Anime Theater Shinjuku in Tokyo from July 19 (Friday) to August 8 (Thursday), 2019; on August 2 (Friday), the "Kaito Saint Tail: 25th Anniversary Special Screening Event of the Original Story" was held.

To commemorate the 55th anniversary of TMS Entertainment's animation production, the "EJ Anime Theater Shinjuku (formerly Kadokawa Cinema Shinjuku)" was established in December 2018 as the only (*) complex facility in Japan that is a theater specializing in animation and has a collaboration cafe where exhibitions, goods sales, and events related to the screened works can be held. The "55th ANNIVERSARY TMS Anime Summer Festival 2019" will be held from July 19 (Fri.) to August 8 (Thu.), 2019 at "EJ Anime Theater Shinjuku (former Kadokawa Cinema Shinjuku)", which was established as Japan's only(*) complex in December 2018.
⇒ " 55th ANNIVERSARY Toms Anime Summer Festival 2019", will be held! Rayearth and Saint's Tale cast members will take the stage at the event!

The official report of "55th ANNIVERSARY Toms Anime Summer Festival 2019" and "Saint's Tale the Phantom Thief 25th Anniversary Special Screening Event" held at EJ Anime Theater Shinjuku on August 2 (Friday) has just arrived.

[Official Report]

Asuka Jr.'s confession scene was recorded with just the two of them - The main cast of "Saint's Tale the Phantom Thief" talks about the year they spent straight with the work.

The "55th ANNIVERSARY Toms Anime Summer Festival 2019" was held at the EJ Anime Theater Shinjuku in Tokyo from July 19 (Friday) to August 8 (Thursday), 2019.On August 2 (Friday), the "Saint's Tale the Phantom Thief: 25th Anniversary Special Screening Event" was held. The first episode of the TV anime "Appearance! The Cute Great Thief! I will steal your heart. and episode 30 "Identity Revealed! and the 30th episode, "Mei Mei's Crisis," were screened. Satoshi Sakurai, who plays Mei Haneoka/Saint Tail the Phantom Thief, Kosuke Okano, who plays Asuka Jr. and Kikuko Inoue, who plays Seira Fukamori, took the stage and held a memorial talk show, the first official event in 24 years.

Kosuke Okano, who also serves as the host of the event, announced as soon as he took the stage, "Actually, I received this notice today! He declared, "Actually, I have received this notice today! On the screen, a notice from Saint Tail the Phantom Thief appeared, "On the night of August 2 (Friday), we will be coming to EJ Anime Theater Shinjuku to get your hearts!　Be careful not to let Saint Tail steal your hearts! The audience was excited.

He then said, "Lord, forgive me for having no seeds and no tricks. One, two, three! Sakurai-san and Inoue-san appeared on stage with a shout of "One, two, three!　They performed the well-known line from the film, "May God bless us all," and were greeted with applause.

It had been five years since Sakurai-san, Okano-san, and Inoue-san had gathered together to record an audio commentary for the Blu-ray box set released in November 2014. The talk among the three began with memories of the first episode.

Sakurai-san said, "In the first episode that you just saw, at first (Mei) didn't extend the end of the words "one, two, three! (Mehmi's) "One, two, three! Since it is a key line that she says every episode, we talked about it a lot on the set, and as we got more comfortable with the direction, we started to extend the end of the phrase.

Inoue continued, "Seira sometimes had to explain things, and it was not unusual for her to have long lines. I was still a newcomer at the time, so I was facing Seira with a lot of worries." Sakurai-san and Okano-san were surprised to hear that "Kikuko-san was a very reliable senior who could be relied on from that time. When Inoue responded, "Even so, I was only '17' at the time! The room was filled with laughter.

Okano-san recalls, "I was able to play Asuka Jr. easily, just by raising my natural voice a little bit," but since the character always called Meimi by her first name, "I was so nervous when I called her 'Meimi' for the first time in the film. I was so nervous when I first called her by her first name that I had to retake it several times (laughs). In my mind, she is still "Haneoka,"" he said with a smile.

The conversation then turned to memories of the musical that was performed in 1996. In the musical version, Mei and Asuka Jr. were played by Sakurai-san and Okano-san, just as in the anime. Sakurai-san recalls, "(Okano-san) was a really hard worker who practiced hard, and everyone was surprised.

Ms. Okano, who had little experience on stage and this was her first experience in a musical, said that she started by learning the box step (four steps in a square), one of the basics of dance, and practiced for hours on end. She was also the only one of the actors who had to change costumes quickly during the performance, as she had to change from Meimi to Saint Tail. He recalls with a laugh, "The wig kept slipping off as we danced, and I was always in fear that it would come off.

The topic of conversation also turned to vocal songs, including character songs. Inoue-san said he will never forget the shock of hearing the ending theme song "Junshin" for the first time, and also mentioned the character song "E Yume, Mi Miyo! which he sang with Mr. Sakurai. He also recalled the jacket photo shoot he and Mr. Sakurai did together, and how he can still vividly remember the recording of the song. Also, Seira's solo character song "Sugar Candy Not" was written in 5/8 time and was very difficult to keep the rhythm of the song.

The next topic of discussion was the original episodes of the anime, which were not in the original work, and the cast members' feelings for each character became even deeper as they delved more deeply into each character. In response to these stories, Okano-san said, "Nowadays, there are many one-cour anime, but it was interesting because it could be broadcast for one year (four-cour). If you can continue to play the same character for this long, you become deeply attached to them. That is why we naturally put a lot of effort into the confession scenes. The recording booth was just the two of us! Asuka Jr.

During the recording of the scene where Asuka Jr. confesses his feelings to Meimi, Akio Otsuka, who plays Asuka Jr.'s father, Tomoki Asuka, and Kazuhiko Inoue, who plays Meimi's father, Genichiro Haoka, left the booth, saying, "I'm embarrassed so I'll go outside," and Inoue, seeing this, said, "...Okay then. and Mr. Okano and Mr. Sakurai were left alone to record the scene.

The audience was then asked to share their favorite scenes. In the audience
The scene where Mei starts to cry after Asuka Jr. confesses her feelings to her (Episode 40 "Mother's Secret!　The Female Thief's Revenge")
The encounter between Saint Tail and Asuka Jr. over a telephone booth (Episode 12 "The Great Lizard Santa? Santa Claus the Giant Lizard?)
Saint Tail and Asuka Jr. cooperate with each other after they are both taken prisoner (Episode 29 "The Mayor's Conspiracy!　Steal the Swan").
The three speakers also expressed their joy, saying, "Whenever a scene is mentioned, I'm happy to see the sense of togetherness as everyone (in the audience) nods their heads in agreement. When it came to the topic that "Saint's Tale had many male viewers," Mr. Okano mentioned that many years after the broadcast of this work, his junior Tomokazu Sugita once told him, "I used to watch Saint's Tale.

The talk show, which was like a never-ending fountain of memories, was about to come to an end. When Okano-san asked what "Saint's Tale" meant to him, Sakurai-san replied, "I felt again that it is an important work that can be called my masterpiece. No matter where you take it, it never fades away, and it always brings peace to your heart. I hope it will be handed down from generation to generation." Mr. Inoue said, "I am happy to have met Okano-kun and Tomo-chan in this work. I heard that Tomo-chan used to get up early every morning and go jogging during the recording sessions, and that's why I could always hear such wonderful "one, two, three! I felt as if I was one of her fans.

Mr. Okano added, "The cast all faced the characters and the story without looking away. I think that's why the work is always fun to watch. I still remember the scene where Asuka Jr. confesses his feelings to Haneoka and the scene where he catches Saint's Tail in the last episode. The audience gasped. The audience was then encouraged by Mr. Inoue, who said, "Give up and catch it quietly. Okano-san's staccato performance of "I'm sorry I didn't realize it the whole time..." was met with applause from the audience.

In the midst of the excitement, Sakurai-san said, "I myself was really looking forward to today's event. Even in the dressing room, the three of us were talking that it would be great if we could have another event in the near future. I hope to see you all again! The talk show ended with the greeting, "I hope to see you all again!

[Event Information]
■Event Name: 55th ANNIVERSARY TMS Anime Summer Festival 2019
Venue: EJ Anime Theater Shinjuku (Shinjuku Bunka Building 4/5F, 3-13-3 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo)
Dates: Friday, July 19 - Thursday, August 8, 2019
Organizer: TMS Entertainment/KADOKAWA
Contents: Screening of films produced by TMS, café featuring the screened films, exhibitions in the museum related to the screened films, related events, etc.

(C) Megumi Tachikawa / Kodansha, TMS