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japaneseadventures · 7 months ago

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Tsuda Kenjiro - Nichiyoubi no Hatsumimi Gaku 2024.03.10

Highlights/Anecdotes of this episode:

Tsudaken tries to do the narration for his own guest appearance and dies of embarrassment

He blanked out and forgot his lines when he tried to act for the first time in a long while

Clips of his many major and minor TV drama appearances over the years were shown

His role in The Last Man made him trend worldwide on Twitter

Tsuda shared why he started acting and voice acting

He went on a 1-week holiday trip to Prague and got recognized by overseas Jujutsu Kaisen fans 5 times.

Nakajima Kento talked about how he admired Kaiba Seto from Yu-Gi-Oh. He told Tsuda about it when they worked together. On Kento's birthday, Tsuda sent him a personalized voice message, saying one of the most famous lines in Yu-Gi-Oh.

Tsuda played Inui Sadaharu in Prince of Tennis (PoT) and it changed his life dramatically. PoT was at the forefront of the "ikemen" boom at the time, and he could finally quit doing part-time jobs.

Kazama Shunsuke, who voice acted as the main character for Yu-Gi-Oh, talks about how close the two of them were in that series even though they were playing as each other's rivals. They were both newbies to the voice acting industry with no other jobs at the time, so they hung out a lot as they waited for their call time.

Kazama is particularly smug at being aware of Tsuda's charm a lot earlier than most people, and he wants everybody to know that, lol

Tsuda shares how the cast and staff from the TV drama Saiai are really passionate about the drama. Same goes from the staff of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Namikawa Daisuke shares some anecdotes about Tsuda. Sometimes tsuda texts him about eating out together, but then leaves him on read when Namikawa asks when he's free.

Tsuda talks about his latest movie, where he plays as a villain for the first time.

Tsudaken talks about his kids (!!) His daughter in particular is a bit eccentric, just like Tsuda (That's Tsuda and the TV Show host's words not mine lol)

A more detailed summary of the episode under the read more:

On his TV drama/ Movie Discography:

Tsuda talked about experience acting in the hit TV drama Saiai. On his first day filming, he forgot his lines. It's been 12 years since he last played as a recurring character in a TV show, and for his first scene, he had to do a long presentation in front of 30 people. All he could think was that there were a lot of people, and then his mind went blank.

Some notable TV drama appearances of Tsuda:

- Played as a host in Ikebukuro West Gate Park (2000) in his 20s for 21 seconds - A guy hitting on the main character (Inoue Mao) in Hana Yori Dango in his 30s (2005) for 30 seconds ("Ooh, I got more screentime") - A doctor in Jin (2009) for 24 seconds ("Aww, I had less screentime lol.").

In 2023, he trended worldwide on X/Twitter as an actor for his impactful scene in the drama The Last Man. When Tsuda turned up in the second episode, his acting was a popular topic on social media.

He adlibbed in the last scene of Last Man. Came up with 30 versions for that scene, and settled on "Shintaro, are you hungry?" Figured a parent would be worrying about whether his kid is feeling hungry, cold or hot.

On his acting:

Originally was aiming to be an actor, not a voice actor.

When he started acting, he was able to let all his dark emotions out using the lines he had to act out. These were feelings such as "hating people", and "hate towards society". It was the first outlet he found for those feelings, and he found that very fun. He was able to bring out his real self when he acted. Because of that experience, he couldn't give up acting.

Unfortunately, money was tight at the time and his electricity and gas would get cut off. It even came to a point when even his water would get cut off. He kept on failing in auditions, so even if he's been practicing on his acting, he didn't really have a chance to show it to others.

For him, the most painful thing about it all was that he was an absolute nobody. He had no proof that he's actually alive. But he overcame that difficulty because he was obstinate-- He believes that this is where his strength lies. He keeps doing things until he's satisfied with it.

On his voice acting career:

Voice acting was what gave him an opportunity to link with the world of expressing himself.

Says Nanami Kento is a wonderful role to play. That Jujutsu Kaisen's influence is amazing.

During the New Year's holidays, he went on a holiday trip abroad. While he was sightseeing, a foreigner would call out, "Mr. Tsuda?" He said yes, all the while taken aback since he was in Prague. They asked for a photo and a signature. In the one week that he stayed there, it happened 5 times.

When he asked them how they knew him, everyone answered Jujutsu Kaisen. "Nanami, Nanami." He really didn't expect it to be so popular abroad. It made him feel the power of Japanese anime.

While he was struggling with acting, he was invited to an audition for voice acting and he accepted the invitation with no hesitation. At age 25, he debuted as a voice actor for the anime H2.

At age 29 was his fateful encounter with the series Yu-gi-oh Duel Monsters (2000) where he played Kaiba Seto.

Nakajima Kento says his idol in life is Kaiba Seto. It was also thanks to Tsuda's acting that Kento admired Kaiba, and he told Tsuda exactly that when Tsuda did the narration for Kento's movie show. On Kento's 27th birthday, he got a voice message from Tsuda, saying "It's 27-year-old Nakajima Kento's turn! Draw!!" Kento was ecstatic. He thinks Tsuda is really cool.

A year after Yu-Gi-oh, he played Inui Sadaharu from Prince of Tennis. The Ikemen (Hot Guys) boom was rising at the time, and Prince of Tennis was at the forefront of this trend. It changed his life dramatically. He was finally able to quit doing part-time jobs. At around 31 years old. He always felt like he was walking a fine line, so it was a relief to have a stable livelihood.

Anecdotes from Kazama Shunsuke, voice actor of Yugi Moto from Yu-Gi-Oh

Both Tsuda and Kazama Shunsuke, who played the main character of Yu-gi-oh, were newbies at voice acting when they did Yu-gi-oh. Tsuda was still new to voice acting at the time, while Kazama had never done it before. Although they were playing as each other's rivals, they became close since they were both newbies.

They both didn't have any other work to do, so they had a lot of time on their hands. Kazama would contact Tsuda and ask if he came to work early, and Tsuda would reply, "I'm free right now so I'm lurking nearby." And they'd have tea together. We'd talk about what we could do to be good at voice acting like other VAs.

Kazama talked about how worried he was about Tsuda. When he laughs, Tsuda does it in 3 levels of increasing laughter. At times, he'd even do 5 levels, since the animation would also have 5 different clips as the power of his laughter increases. The 3rd level would be his usual laughter, so Kazama thought Tsuda's blood vessels would burst going beyond that lol

Kazama says he's super happy that Tsuda got to have a lot of regular acting and voice acting jobs. But Kazama just wants people to know that he's been aware of Tsuda's charm for more than 20 years now. A lot earlier than most people have lmao.

On what went on behind of the scenes of a popular scene in JJK:

Says there's a particular scene that highlights Nanami. He wondered how he'd do it, since that scene was originally in the manga. The producer told him what the mangaka said was Nanami's feelings during that scene, but Tsuda and the staff are free to play it out as they like. The director also told Tsuda to do it the way Tsuda thinks it should be acted. Leave no regrets. Like in the making of the drama Saiai, Tsuda feels that hit series like Jujutsu Kaisen are made with a lot of love from the staff, and this love is reflected in the tiny details. He believes that viewers could really tell from that.

Anecdotes from Namikawa Daisuke, who he's voice acted with in a number of works

Namikawa Daisuke says Tsuda's acting method is something unique to Tsuda. It can't be learned.

Namikawa describes Tsuda as a sloth with a nice voice. Tsuda: LOL. Say something nicer!

Tsuda would just contact him whenever, going, "I want to eat soon."

Namikawa: I'm not your mom!! When I text back, "When are you available?" He doesn't reply. He probably isn't feeling up to it right then. Staff: How long do you have to wait for a reply? Namikawa: At the latest, he leaves me on read.

In his latest movie My Home Hero, it is Tsuda's first time playing a villain. Said he had fun doing it. He was asked to make the character very quirky, which really pleased him as an actor. Sasaki Kuranosuke would make pleased faces due to the littlest things Tsuda would do, and it really pleases Tsuda in return.

On his family

Tsuda has 2 kids, a daughter in middle school and a son in grade school. It was his first time talking about his children in a show. Says no one ever asked, so he never had an opportunity to talk about it.

During holidays, Tsuda never answer work calls from his manager. He wants his day offs to be dedicated to playing with his children.

Wakako-san was just fangirling over Tsuda this whole episode lol "Ah, so cute!"

Tsuda talks about how his children won't speak with him if they haven't seen each other for a long period of time, and it makes him feel lonely.

His kids watch anime, and some of them are ones he's in. When he mentions this to his children, they're like, "I know." But they never try to talk to him about it. Tsuda: Why??

His kids love Detective Conan, and Tsuda actually is in the latest movie. (The host, Hayashi Osamu, uses this opportunity to flex and share that he's appeared in a Conon work before too LOL)

Tsuda says his daughter is a bit eccentric like him. When he asked her what she'd like for her birthday, she asked for a biwa (musical instrument), leaving him very baffled. In the previous years, she asked for a pocket watch, ship in a bottle, kemari (ball from a sport back in ancient Japan) Tsuda: Huh…

Tsuda says that now that the borders between countries are dissolving thanks to the internet and social media, he wants them to strengthen their identity as a Japanese person who lived in Japan by attending lessons for Nohgaku (a traditional style of Japanese theater).

Says experiencing something is also remembering what's tough. How there's a disparity with your imagination and experience. For example, we all know that getting scalded is hot. But actually getting scalded is hotter than you would have imagined.

Tsuda talked about he wasn't an elite. If anything, acting may be the thing he's worst at. But he believes life has consolation matches. (Meaning, even if you fail once doesn't mean you're completely out of the running) Being an early bloomer isn't everything.

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