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ariadcalfine · 7 years ago

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Meet and Greet with Yusuke Kobayashi

So! I went to Meet & Greet with Yusuke Kobayashi today in C3 AFA Singapore 2017 and it was AWESOME! There were only about 20+ participants, so it was very intimate.

I want to cover the questions asked in Q&A and what I personally talked to him about. Disclaimer: things he said about animes I haven’t watched, like Re: Zero, or games I didn’t play, like “Midnight Cinderella”, I couldn’t remember much, so sorry I only wrote briefly on them.

The questions were not asked in the order below.

1. What were his feelings when working on “Midnight Cinderella” as Yu-ri?

2. What kind of research did he do to prepare himself for the role?

3. What was his favourite line as Yu-ri?

Answers (combined because I forgot some lolol…): The recording for the game was really short and it was over 1 year ago, so he couldn’t remember much about the lines anymore.

He read over the materials given to him by the production team, and at that time, the game has been produced for some time already before the voice recording, so he visualized the character by reading forums and some articles about the game. He did a first try of recording and sent it to the producer and was prepared to make adjustments based on the production team’s suggestions, but the producers were really happy with his first interpretation and accepted it as is.

4. As Natsuki Subaru, which character does Kobayashi actually prefer, Emilia or Rem?

5. Which was his most memorable scene in Re: Zero?

Answers (combined): Kobayashi admitted to have preferred Emilia. He said there were a lot of memorable scenes, but the one that stood out the most was the ending, where Subaru saved Emilia and confessed and their relationship finally changed. He thought it was a moving scene.

6. What made Kobayashi decide to work as Seiyuu?

Answer: when he was a kid, the first anime he really liked was Ranma 1/2. The anime had a lot of shouting of techniques, and he thought it is cool and really want to declare/announce his powers/techniques, so now he’s living his dream!

7. Has Kobayashi met with the seiyuu of Ranma ½, Megumi Hayashibara and Kappei Yamaguchi?

Answer: He has not had the chance to meet Megumi Hayashibara but he had met Kappei Yamaguchi, who happened to voice Arslan in the previous anime adaptation. When he asked Yamaguchi about how his work as Arslan was, Yamaguchi said he was relieved and he thought Kobayashi has done a good job and Arslan is in safe hands. Kobayashi was so touched he actually cried, and it was in a TV programme. Kobayashi wanted the scene where he shed a tear to be cut out, but alas, the producer of the TV show did not agree and the scene remained.

8. What did Kobayashi think was the most difficult part of playing the role of Arslan?

Answer: the scene where Daryun was grievously hurt and Arslan was so angry he told Rajendra if anything happens to Daryun, he’d kill Rajendra. Arslan is a teenage boy so his voice is usually a light tenor, but when someone’s angry, their voice is naturally low, so Kobayashi did his best to lower his voice and portrayed that anger. It was difficult to him also because when Kobayashi is angry, he usually shouts in a growly voice (here he demonstrated his angry voice. Later he profusely apologized for having shocked the audience).

9. What does Kobayashi find most difficult about the job of a Seiyuu?

Answer: If he were to choose, he’d say it is the douga / video. Like Nico Nico or Bilibili. Kobayashi admitted he fundamentally doesn’t like being recorded (and he’s also not good at photography). When he first wanted to be a Seiyuu, it was a job where all the audience knew about the seiyuu were their voices, and they didn’t appear in TV shows, events or or magazine interviews much, but now because of social media and how the era has changed, TV shows, interviews and events have become part and parcel of the job of a Seiyuu. Kobayashi tried his best to accept the parts of the job of a Seiyuu where he originally didn’t like and it took him about 2-3 years to finally become used to it.

10. Has Kobayashi considered other areas in his career, like butai/stage play, musical or singing?

Answer: Butai/stage-play yes, because he originally dabbled in that before he became a seiyuu. Musical, he was never been offered to do, and singing, if such offers come, he will sing.

Not sure if this is the question that lead to this…but at one point in the Q&A, Kobayashi said what he really want to do is to be the narrator of a planetarium. He asked if Singapore has one, and the host said yes, at Singapore Science Centre. He asked if the planetarium has a stargazing show, and we said yes. We then joked that perhaps, one day, we’d hear Kobayashi’s voice there.

11. Which character he’d acted as did he like the most, and which did he learn the most from? (my question!)

Answer: It’s a difficult question.

(Me: he suddenly commented about the song being Eir Aoi. Eir Aoi’s voice is lovely, but is the background song supposed to be like that? May be he was trying to buy some time to think, but also may be he was joking? I didn’t realise this from the Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens stage event, but Kobayashi-san likes to joke.)

He’s acted in a lot of roles and it was hard to choose… but if he were to choose, the one he likes the most is Witch Craft Works’s Honoka Takamiya, because that’s his first main character role. It was where his career truly began. The character he learned the most from was Subaru, because Subaru is a very emotional character. When Subaru is angry, his voice is 100% angry, and when he’s sad, his voice portrays even 120% sadness. The fluctuation in Subaru’s emotions made him learn a lot and he worked very hard, even sometimes his throat was hurt because he had to shout so much.

12. What kind of characters does Kobayashi wants to act as in the future? (my question again!)

Answer: Generally there is a myriad of other kinds of characters that he has not tried and wants to act as, but for now, he wants to try villainous characters or characters that have darkness in his heart / “Yami chara” (mimicked a cackling evil witch laughter that amused the audience). He has not acted such roles much because he was often told he has a kind voice/ “yasashii koe”.

There was a secret he shared which shall not leave meeting room 331 ;).

My personal meet and greet with Kobayashi-san went like this:

Me: Thank you so much for accepting my last question.

YK: no problem

Me: *showed him the phone so he could write my name above his autograph*

Me: I first got to know your voice through Arslan. I like the kindness and freshness / “sawayaka” of your voice. As a voice actor, you have been told much that your voice is kind. Do you hate that?

YK didn’t understand and I told the host/translator what does he feel about being typecasted as having a kind voice?

YK: I don’t hate being thought of having kind voice. I’m actually happy (“ureshii”). But as a professional seiyuu, of course I want to widen the breadth of my experience and skills. I want to be known as a seiyuu who can do any kind of character in any kind of situation (“nandemo dekiru seiyuu”)

Me: What are your thoughts about your role in Arslan?

YK: Arslan is a story about a boy growing up and becoming a king, so throughout his trials and tribulations, he grew/developed with me. Eh, it should be I grew/developed with him, right? (joked with the audience).

Me: I got to know you through your voice and I like your voice (“Kobayashi-san no koe ga suki”), but I didn’t find out more about you as a person. Only now then I know that you are not just kind, but you also like to joke. Personally, what kind of fan does Kobayashi-san prefer?

YK didn’t understand (yes, I know my question was very unclear also). The translator stepped in and I told her, does he prefer fans that mainly like his voice-acting / seiyuu work or fans that also want to know him as a person?

YK: Let this be the last one, ok? (oops I’ve been asking too many questions and hogging everyone’s time) Hmm…It’s a difficult question.

Me: Sorry I’ve been asking difficult questions!

YK: I think through voice-acting, that’s when a seiyuu can shine the most. I personally think without voice-acting, I’m just a boring person (laughs)

Me: of course not, how can you say that

YK: it’s true, those who follow my twitter will see I don’t update much, don’t really upload the food I eat (laughs).

*some parts censored because he wants to keep them a secret*

Me: Ok, thank you so much Kobayashi-san, I hope for your success in the future, with getting casted into “Yami chara”

YK: Why did everyone talk about “Yami chara” (laughed)

Me: And about becoming a planetarium narrator also. I hope all your dreams come true.

YK: *shook hand* thank you, and please continue to support me in the future.

I was so flustered about not being understood by him a few times, and focused so much on speaking Japanese, that I barely remembered the handshake. It was shorter than I would have liked T_T. He had already let go while I was speaking all those about “wishing for your success blah blah” and I would have wanted to hold on longer. But I do remember that it was quite firm and his hand felt warm (because my fingers were cold in comparison lol). That was one of the regrets I had T_T.

Another regret was not preparing a gift/letter to him to be handed personally.

There were snippets of conversations of other participant’s meet and greet that I managed to hear and remember, like what Kobayashi-san’s nickname is (It was Kobaseran when he was doing Arslan Senki. Translator joked, ‘not Denka/Your Highness?’) and there was something about Imouto-zuki/sis-con? Lol it is another “secret not supposed to be said outside room 331” anyway and not really something I wanted to know. Better blocked from my memories.

Generally, Kobayashi-san is a very sincere and honest person. When doing the Q&A he walked around the stage to be closer to the person asking the question, and even squatted to be on eye level with them. He was standing up when signing his autographs too, the whole time, to be on eye level with his fans. My second question was actually allowed because he saw me raising my hand but I was not picked by the host when she said “this is the last question”, and he noticed that! I was so touched!!

He is also very honest. His answers were not generic (e.g. “all were meaningful”/ “I love all of the characters”), he really did admit he found participating in TV shows / videos difficult at first. I really like his personality and will be supporting him from now on! All the best to Kobayashi-san!

P.S. If I missed any questions from the Q&A, please PM me! :)

#kobayashi yusuke

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