Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen
Akiko's 14 year old seiyuu interview... I hope I'm not the only feeling slightly awkward  .... |
No, you're not the only one. It has always seemed fairly bizarre to me. Although 14-year-olds can say outrageous things among themselves, saying them in public is kind of extreme. As far as the interview goes, she doesn't seem fazed by the things she has to say. She talks about the rhythms of the conversations and the way Akiko's emotions roll all over the place.
She says that she had wanted to be a seiyuu since she was in fourth grade and watched
Shugo Chara. She knew about Mizuki Nana and thought that being a seiyuu like her would be a great thing to do. She turned the sound off and did all the voices herself.
She finally took part in a nationwide talent contest, and when she didn't win she was devastated, and didn't know what she could do for a living. Her mother said that if she wanted to be a seiyuu so badly, they would go to Tokyo (from Aomori, which is up north) and she could take lessons. "She recognized my dream." So she went to Tokyo in January of this year. (From the Japanese, I'm not sure if maybe mother was already living there. Perhaps someone else can tell.)
She took many lessons (recording, breathing, acting, pronunciation...) and had unsuccessful audition after unsuccessful audition. When she tried out for this show, she really tried to get across Akiko's feelings of "I love Oniisan." She made mistake after mistake in the audition, however, and felt terrible about herself. When she was told she'd got it, she couldn't believe it, and tears sprang to her eyes. In the recording of the show, she decided that she had to do her absolute best to say her lines with impact, and "couldn't lose to" any of the other seiyuu in making that impact.
I have the feeling that "impact" refers to the outrageous things Akiko says, and saying them as strongly as possible. She's certainly doing it in the show. I guess after training and auditions, she could get over any embarrassment and just do it.
She says Tokyo is amazing, however, and she finds Shibuya and Akihabara "scary." Except for work, she says with a laugh, she stays at home.
She says she's really simple and ordinary, and chose to do cooking and sewing classes, and talks about anime with her friends. She says she liked
Death Note a lot, and was really affected by Miyano Mamoru's acting at the end. She says that if she didn't become a seiyuu, she would be a nurse; her mother is a nurse and used to tell her that as long as she got a nursing license, she could go ahead and do any job she liked. Her favorite thing about becoming a seiyuu was getting her first fan letter. At first, she used to carry it with her around the house all the time.