CATDOLL: The director of "Sword Art Online" was interviewed and joked that Kirito is no longer a virgin

2014 has already said goodbye to us, and in this year, many stories have also happened in the animation industry. In December, the second season of "Sword Art Online" was successfully completed, which also made director Ito Tomohiko breathe a sigh of relief. So what is his feeling about the past year? Recently, a Japanese media conducted an exclusive interview on this. It is worth noting that the interviewees are not only Ito, but also the idol with I cup - Aoyama Hikaru. Aoyama Hikaru has also received training in the voice actor school, so he should be considered a person in the circle. This time, the two will review various animation events that happened in 2014.

Tomohiko Ito & Hikaru Aoyama

Q: First of all, now that the second season of Sword Art Online has ended, you have worked hard. Now let's review the animation in 2014. Director Ito, what animation did you watch in 2014?

Ito: I didn’t watch any anime in 2014. But I did watch “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure”. Also, I’m a fan of director Hiroshi Hamasaki, so I also watched “The Martian”.

Alien on Mars

Q: Some of the heavy-tasting scenes in "Alien" were processed by blackening, and this technique also caused a topic on the Internet.

Ito: I think people are making too much of a fuss. After all, this is also a question of the TV station's censorship. If the work is broadcast in the late night slot of Japanese TV, then it may not be processed at all. In fact, this TV station also broadcast "Parasyte", right?

Q: I see. So what did Ms. Aoyama watch this year?

Aoyama: Kill la Kill, Sword Art Online Season 2, and Smile on the Cloudy Day. Another one is Love Live!

Q: How have women responded to Love Live!?

Aoyama: I feel like this work is easier to accept than The Idolmaster. Speaking of The Idolmaster, it's an anime that tells the story of an entertainment agency, right? And Love Live! is about idols in the daily life of the school, so it makes people feel close to them. In terms of COS, Love Live! also occupies the majority.

Q: Ms. Aoyama is also a cosplayer. When it comes to cosplay, the “KanColle” series is very eye-catching.

Aoyama: Besides Love Live!, there is KanColle. However, this type of cosplay has a lot of exposure, so the venue will restrict the clothing. Some girls' exposure is too extreme. For example, they only wear thongs under their miniskirts. And there are no restrictions on COSERs' shooting, so they will become the subject of many obscene photos. And since KanColle, it seems that people have formed an impression that "COS is very exposed." Some people walk around in swimsuits, and the phenomenon of overexposure is also increasing.

"KanColle" COS

Ito: The same is true for animation, but there are some strict restrictions on this. For example, the issue of sister monsters (due to excessive sexual innuendo in "My Little Sister is a Little Weird Lately", it was investigated by relevant departments). I think the animation industry has reached a bottleneck. I hope everyone can pay attention to such strange places. And these practices will also affect the sales of DVDs. In the animation industry, some people think that "if you do these extreme things, you will get some hot praise from animation websites, yahoo~!" You should think carefully about this.

Q: There are also many people in the industry who care a lot about online reviews.

Ito: Regardless of whether the online reviews are good or bad, the producers will pay attention to them. Some people go to those websites first after get off work. I think it is best for everyone to quit the Internet.

Q: Director Ito has given up using Twitter.

Ito: I might as well go to work if I have time to check Twitter. Twitter only brings me unnecessary noise. At least people in production companies shouldn't check Twitter. Also, if it's just to get your work on anime information websites, then this motivation is not right, right?

The sense of crisis in the animation industry today

Ito: I complained before that the number of animations is increasing. But it is still not decreasing. And it is said that it will not decrease until 2016. I feel that this industry has no future. I want to give up animation for a moment. Now the number of full 3D works is also increasing rapidly. Although there are more opportunities for animation-related jobs, the number of people who want to become voice actors is also increasing. Everyone, why do you want to become voice actors?

Q: Ms. Aoyama originally studied at a voice actor school.

Aoyama: Although I look like this in real life, the animation can create a completely different image for me due to the different styles of painting. Even if it is the same character, the impression given by different voice actors is different. I think I like this very much and feel very happy. However, many people who are currently aiming to be voice actors are otakus like me. After watching anime, they accept the emotions given by the animation completely, and they lose their imagination and expression. Therefore, some people say that it is more useful to read novels or newspapers at school instead of watching anime.

Q: I once went to watch a voice actor audition and it felt like a lot of people were very similar.

Ito: They tried too hard to do what they had seen before. After listening to the audition dubbing, I wondered, "Why do people read the lines with the same tone and punctuate with the same rhythm when there are no special requirements?" But we didn't write any special requirements for the lines in order to let everyone express themselves freely. I think many people who yearn for animation are influenced by others in their expressiveness. But this is a serious mistake.
Aoyama: Indeed, voice actors these days lack individuality, and it feels like there are more and more people who look the same. And the voice lines are no longer audible. I think many people are dubbing with the same breathing method nowadays. Sometimes I even feel that some works that were originally quite good are ruined by voice actors. If some senior voice actors perform, they bring a kind of personality to people, which I like very much.

Ito: As expected, those veterans who have survived in the voice actor industry are the ones who have their own personalities.

Aoyama: Let's talk about Matsuoka Yoshitsugu, who voiced Kirito in Sword Art Online. Compared to his performance in the early days of the anime, his acting has changed dramatically. He initially had a virgin vibe, but now he's very handsome.

Ito: This probably means that Kirito is no longer a virgin (laughs).

Q: From the perspective of young voice actors, it seems that there are a lot of fans following Mr. Matsuoka.

Aoyama: There are a lot now.

Ito: Matsuoka-kun has too much work to do. He is a very talented worker, so as long as he enters the audition, he will basically be selected. I am very worried that he will be ruined one day.

Matsuoka Yoshitsugu

Compared with female voice actors, male voice actors are more likely to choose those fixed people

Aoyama: At a certain time, the same voice actor would appear in different animations. This overlap was very obvious.

Ito: It can be said that choosing voice actors is a more difficult risk. Once you take too much risk, you will end up like Silver Spoon, where the voice actors are not very outstanding. However, I think it is great that Shoji Masanobu, who voiced Tokiwa, served as the voice actor for Breaking Bad (Walter White JR.).

Q: Is it difficult to train voice actors and produce animations at the same time?

Ito: We should have time to train voice actors, but no one did it. And if we talk about "Doraemon", there are Nobita, Suneo, Takeshi, Dekisugi, etc., which is very rich. But now, no matter which male character, the producers hope that they can have female fans, so they will not choose someone who is just a supporting role. Mr. Kanta Kantoku, who voiced Suneo back then, was very great, but such a character cannot be trained now. And Murase Ayumu's voice is also very unique, so I thought, "I wonder if anyone can take a liking to him?" So I wanted to be a mentor and let him join the dubbing of the first season of "Sword Art Online". As a result, he played a role in "Sakamichi Apollo" earlier, so I couldn't say "I discovered this person!" I regret it very much (laughs). Now he is also the main voice actor of "Haikyuu! ! ", which I think is great.

Aoyama: I think it was amazing that Ms. Hayashibara Megumi was able to voice Asuna's mother in Sword Art Online. I was wondering who would be the candidate for Asuna's mother, and it turned out that Ms. Hayashibara was chosen. I can only describe it as amazing. Her actual acting skills are also worth mentioning.

Hayashibara Megumi

Ito: When people see Ms. Hayashibara Megumi voice a mother character, their hearts tremble. Such a reaction is great. Nobita's mother is now voiced by Mitsuishi Kotono, who was the heroine in the animations we watched when we were teenagers, and now she is a mother. Currently, Ms. Hayashibara is basically focusing on her family. Except for some main characters that she is still voicing, she almost no longer appears in works. However, I still hope to ask her to voice as much as possible, so I negotiated.

Aoyama: Freya is voiced by Yuko Minaguchi, and Thor is voiced by Tetsuaki Genda, which is great. I didn't expect them to appear in this place.

Ito: This is a game that we producers play. I hope that the voice actor gods can try out slightly different roles. Also, I want to meet Ms. Hayashibara. I also learned a lot from other voice actors. And once these senior people meet me, I will feel a different kind of nervousness.

Q: There are more and more idol voice actors. For example, Uchida Maaya showed her swimsuit pose in a weekly magazine. Ms. Aoyama is also a cover idol. Have you ever thought, "You voice actors, please don't come here!"

Aoyama: That's not true. I just think that everyone wants to try various things. Voice actors also hold events and concerts. In terms of the concept of "actors", we are all the same.

Ito: Some people say that we have a different stance from idol voice actors. But the agency never taught us how to act like an idol, and we came to the studio by train. We were alone when we went back. We are more ordinary in real life than the image we create on the Internet. So if something special happened to me, I think it would be scary.

Q: Ms. Shiina Hiru, the original idol voice actress, also got married in 2014.

Ito: Some male voice actors haven't announced their marriages. But if fans sort out the information they get online, they can find their real marriage partners. But I often sigh: It's a pity that they can find out.

Aoyama: Fans do the research. They compare the voice actors’ friends on Twitter.

Ito: Can't such enthusiasm be used to promote the development of other things? When Mr. Mamoru Miyano announced his marriage, it caused a lot of commotion for a while, but he overcame this difficulty and is still carrying out activities now. You should like idols in the right way, but animation fans have gone astray.

Aoyama: That’s indeed the case.

Ito: I think some businesses are also taking advantage of the twisted mentality of fans to do business, and to be honest, this unhealthy way can only lead to a desperate result. I feel a sense of closure. This is a society that is completely monitored.

Q: Finally, could you please each share your top three pieces of personal news in 2014?

Ito: First of all, I got married in May. Also, the second season of Sword Art Online was successfully concluded. Plus, I got the chance to go to Paris to participate in an event called "ギーコポリス". This is an event with elements of fantasy, science fiction, cyberpunk, etc., but for some reason, there is a category called "JAPAN" (laughs). There were only two people from Aniplex and me who went from Japan. So I felt very relaxed. At the American event, there were many fat people, but the French were all slim. Even if they dressed up as characters from "Game of Thrones", they would still fit in very well. The event was also very lively and great.

Q: Speaking of Sword Art Online, what would it be like if you were invited to make a sequel?

Ito: Oh, how should I put it. It's still quite hard to continue to make a story that has no ending. My impression of the work is completely consistent with the characters in the work. Speaking of which, I am also working on other projects now.

Q: What are Ms. Aoyama’s top three news?

Aoyama: First of all, I made my debut in the entertainment industry. My DVD won the first place in the Amazon ranking. I also won the rookie award of the "Experts' Choice DVD Award". My perspective on entertainment activities has also changed. My goal for 2015 is to expand the scope of my work. I hope to be a voice actor, participate in live-action movies, and work on video works.

Ito: My goal is to live carefully and not make my wife angry (laughs).

Q: After all, you are newly married. Thank you both for accepting our interview today!