Absolutely Nesossary

The moment we finish shooting, Aika Kobayashi beams at the staff and exclaims “that was so much fun!” She continues, “of course I’m glad to be on the cover of this magazine, but what made me even happier was that I got to try on so many outfits” - it’s clear that she’s a fashion-lover through and through.

I knew I had to wear that red off-shoulder outfit. The colour is just beautiful and the black and white dotted dress has this retro feel about it. I love it! But what I want people to notice the most is the shoes. They piqued my interest during the fitting session and I wanted them so badly that I bought them (laughs). Getting to wear cute shoes all the time is enough to get me hyped! The hat from the second outfit is so adorable too. There are eyes on my forehead! (laughs) There’s also this netting on the hat, which I think gives it an autumn-y feel. I have to say that the third outfit was very dressy. I hardly get a chance to wear clothes like those either for work or in my personal time, so it was a fresh experience for me. It has a girly vibe to it, but if you look closely, it has this playful American comic pattern on it. The gap between those aspects makes it so fascinating.

“Once I get started talking about fashion, I can’t stop”, she giggles. But it’s all too clear that there’s no falsehood in her words. As she picks out outfits for the shoot with her stylist, Kobayashi is asked what her trick is for choosing clothes. She answers simply: “intuition!”

Previously, I was really concerned about the price of clothes, so I stuck to the method of buying cheap and cute clothes at places like outlet malls. Nowadays, though, I don’t have much time to shop so I’ll buy the pieces I find that happen to speak to me: only the ones that I fall in love with at first sight. If I hesitate even slightly, I won’t buy it…. Or so I say, but end up telling myself that this is fate and just buy it anyway. (laughs dryly) Of course, some of them end up being misses, but depending on how I coordinate them with other clothes and accessories, I can try for a new look, or there are cases where my tastes change over time, so I don’t think that any of my purchases go to waste.

Fashion plays an integral part in Kobayashi’s life. Tracing her passion for fashion back in time, she reveals “I’ve been fascinated by it for as long as I can remember.”

I was the sort of kid who would mess around painting her nails. Sometimes I would sneakily put on my mother’s lipstick when she wasn’t looking. After that, I’d show it off to her shouting “Look at me! Look at me!” so it ended up not being sneaky at all (laughs). In elementary school, I loved inviting a bunch of friends to my house and putting on a fashion show: we would have so much fun dressing each other up. It was around that time I started to be so picky about fashion that I would pick my own clothes when I went shopping with my family. I would throw a bit of a tantrum every time I was forced to try on clothes my mother had bought that I didn’t fancy.

Naturally, her dream as a child was to be a designer or model… or perhaps something more?

Of course I did have those aspirations. But I also loved to sing and dance, so I also dreamed of being a singer. I enjoyed taking care of little children too, and was always the one looking after the younger kids around me ever since my kindergarten days. I hoped that one of those dreams would come true.

Kobayashi’s philosophy is to “have as many dreams as you can”. This has allowed her to always have multiple aspirations and come to terms with each of them.

I wanted to learn more about children, so I went to a technical college and earned my qualification as a kindergarten teacher. Even now, I hope to work with children sometime in some form or another. In terms of fashion, I’ve been given chances like this to wear so many different outfits, so I’m just overjoyed that I was able to make that dream come true.

As for song and dance, one needs look no further than her current work. This raises the question: what made her interested in song and dance in the first place?

I love Namie Amuro, who was one of my biggest influences as a child. I’d imitate her singing and choreography. Seeing me do that prompted my mother to put me through voice training and dance school. I learned dance for the first time at five years old: I still remember how to do the dance we performed at our recital and the basic techniques. Later, I started learning hip-hop dance when I was in third grade. I would have a blast singing and dancing with the friends I met there. I continued to attend dance classes in middle school. Looking back on it, that was when I danced the most. And seeing my friends get better than me ignited this burning rivalry inside me, which spurred me on to give my all. It was a place where people who shared the same dream could gather and encourage each other to improve. That’s why I didn’t give up half way through. I really count myself as blessed.

When asked about her personality as a child, she smiles wryly and answers “I couldn’t stand losing…” That hasn’t changed to this very day. But, her dislike of losing is what has enabled her to realise her dreams.

Definitely. I wanted to have my cake and eat it too, if I could! (laughs) To phrase it in the negative, there was never a time when I’d shrink back and think “this is impossible.” In elementary school, there were times in class where we’d write about our dreams for the future. I used to dream so big that I’d be embarrassed of what I wrote down. My friends would all write something down to earth, so I felt like I was the only one with my head in the clouds (laughs). Sure, becoming a singer or dancer was a realistic dream to me, but there was one time I wrote down something different. That was the one time I took my eyes off reality. At all other times, I’ve had a strong belief that I should never give up on my dreams.

Her ambition bore fruit and Kobayashi fulfilled her dream, debuting as a singer during her high school years. It was thanks to her meeting with the CEO of her current agency.

He approached me at a competition that I entered during middle school. That led to me making my debut as an artist. I was over the moon. My family was so happy for me too.  I couldn’t stop thinking about how one of my dreams had come true. During my first recording, I felt more enjoyment than pressure. I’ve never felt very nervous when it comes to singing, and that time, I was completely fearless. (laughs) I think the recording staff tried to be considerate of me and let me do my own thing, but that day I just emptied my mind and sang. Now, having experienced so much as an adult means that the experience is a good deal more frightening than it used to be. It’s kind of unfair to the people around you when you’re the only one who knows nothing! (laughs)

There was another source of joy for Kobayashi upon making her debut as an artist: being able to receive feedback directly from her fans.

The 2011 Touhoku earthquake and tsunami happened not long after I made my debut. That was when I received tweets from people saying that listening to my song gave them courage. I felt like having someone say that to me was the reason I’d gone through all that effort. Of course, there was also the joy that I felt from experiencing my first recording and seeing my CD on store shelves and thinking “I’ve really made it.” Those things are all well and good, but I never had the opportunity to hear what people thought of my singing: it was just a one way street. So reading those tweets was the first time I realised that my singing was able to encourage someone. The happiness of knowing that left a lasting impression on me, so even now, I take care to read the letters I receive from my fans.

While continuing her work as a singer, Kobayashi encountered another unexpected turning point: that was beginning her journey as a voice actress.

The CEO of my agency recommended that I give it a try, but I was reluctant at first. I did watch a lot of anime but I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about it. I also didn’t have any acting experience and wasn’t confident in my voice. That was why I turned down the opportunity a number of times at first. But one day, I experienced a shift in my mindset that made me think that I should give it a try. Although I was still singing, I hadn’t made any major breakthroughs, which caused me to go through a lot of anxiety at the time. At the root of it was this hunger for an opportunity to change myself. In the midst of that, I took the audition which ended up giving me the role of Yoshiko Tsushima. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that I’d scored a role in Love Live! Sunshine!!, a franchise that I loved so much.

It so happened that her time as a voice actress would be full of surprises.

Firstly, it felt odd to me to be in the world of anime. I’d been involved with anime in other ways, like singing an ending theme for a series, but I didn’t think the day would come when I would be playing a role in an anime. (laughs) There was a moment when I felt all of the possibilities in my life open up before me and I thought to myself “I didn’t know I could be involved with an anime like this.” (laughs) In that sense, I do hope that my experiences will be a source of courage for people out there who are thinking of pursuing something new. And, well, since I’ve started to receive letters from my fans, I’ve found that many of them are requests for advice along the lines of “I’m not sure if it’s OK to follow my dreams now that I’ve started my career.” My personal opinion is that it’s definitely never too late to start something new. I mean, I am where I am now because I had the unexpected opportunity to pursue voice acting. What’s most important is not time or experience, but how badly you want to follow your dreams. That’s the message that I want to send.

Of course, not everything went smoothly for her.

Acting and singing are the same in the sense that you use both to express something. But, when you consider the technical aspects and all, acting really is a completely different beast. Tweaking the tiniest nuance can change the personality of the character you play. For example, there are times where you might try to add some individuality to your character by giving her an accent, but you overthink things so that everything she says ends up sounding the same. You learn something new every time. Watching anime or dubbed movies, I’ve never felt that the voice acting was unnatural, but I suppose that’s testament to how naturally professional voice actors and actresses can perform. When it came time for me to be the one doing the acting, I found out what a difficult and amazing feat it is.

Kobayashi says that “now, I prioritise feeling more than technique in my acting.”

When you try to get into your character’s head and empathise with their feelings, there are things you can learn about the way they think.

We learn that she has always had an active imagination.

I have a habit of letting my imagination go wild. (laughs) I like to imagine how particular characters would sound like when they laugh, or how they would express themselves if they were angry. I started to notice that if I can imagine that, my voice will change naturally. At first, I only paid attention to the vocal aspect of voice acting work: I would record myself acting and listen to the recording, reflecting on what I did well and what I did poorly. But nowadays, once I get a script I'll read it and let my imagination go wild. I'll make a bunch of notes in the script about the characters' emotions, or write comments like "my character is sweating bullets in this scene". (laughs) I'll tend to do that even when I read the manga or novel. The characters will keep on acting out their lines inside my head - and all in my voice. (laughs) As I read, I'll ponder on the meaning of the illustration pages in novels or the individual panels of manga, so it takes me ages to get through it. (laughs)

Kobayashi never imagined that she would be a voice actress, but she says that it's now among the most enjoyable work she's done. She exudes that enthusiasm through every sentence she speaks, explaining the joy of acting.

All of my roles are very stimulating for me. I mean, it's fantastic that I get to become someone or something other than myself just by using my voice. I could change my appearance or age, my gender, or I could even become something other than a human being. Every time I act I get to step into someone else's shoes for a while and because of that, I've learned to see things from a variety of perspectives. My own life has been pretty packed with experiences up until this point, and to think that I could get to experience even more makes me excited at the prospect of what the future holds. (laughs) Also, it's not like I'm in the business of making anime by myself: it's a collaborative work with my fellow cast members and staff. That makes it so much fun. Before, I used to feel pressured not to be a burden on the people around me, but one day a sound director gave me this advice: "voice acting is something that you neither learn nor study: you just have to experience it." Since then, I've made it a point to absorb all sorts of things from the people around me. Even so, I've still only just begun. For me right now, the words that make me the happiest are when the sound director says "alright, that's a wrap!" (laughs) I'll do my best to get the director's approval in as few takes as possible.

This year marks three years since Aika Kobayashi debuted as a voice actress. It is still only September, but we took an early look back on what kind of year 2018 was for her.

Every month, week and day felt so long, yet it's all gone by so quickly. It's weird. I have no idea what happened. (laughs) I've never felt like this before. But, what I can say for sure is that it's been fulfilling. I think the most fitting word to describe the way time went by is "youth". When I'm with my friends and workmates, I laugh so loudly that it makes me wonder if the people around me think I'm a nuisance. But at the same time, I also feel like that’s what being young is all about. (laughs) I think in essence, it’s about having a lot to learn, a lot of things to absorb and experience for the first time and taking on the challenge with everything you’ve got. Lately, I have a lot of fun even just sleeping! (laughs)

Amusing… but what does that mean?

For example, five years ago I used to feel a sense of impatience about so many different things when I went to bed, but now I can go to sleep with a sense of confidence. Every day is so jam packed and fulfilling and sleep is there for me to recover from the tiredness built up from that day. That makes me so happy.

It’s been a busy 2018 for Kobayashi indeed. But among the busyness, one of her long held dreams came true: working in fashion.

I produced my own parka and was able to get it manufactured. I was of course happy that they made it the way I wanted, but I know there were also a lot of people who were looking forward to wearing it, and I’m sure that it brings joy to a lot of people when they wear it now. It allowed me to experience the emotions that creators feel in a new way. The ways that I approach singing, dancing, acting and designing clothes are all different, but you can see a certain Aika Kobayashi-ness in all of them. It made me happy that I was able to give that to people.

It’s still some ways off, but we ask her about her resolutions for 2019…

I’ll be 25! Wow. Just, wow. The way I used to imagine life at 25 is so different to how my life looks now – I’m at a loss for words. (laughs) I mean I thought I would have settled down, gotten married and maybe even had a child. I never thought I’d be laughing so loudly with friends and thinking to myself “this is what youth is like!” (laughs dryly) When I said “wow” earlier, I didn’t mean it in a negative way: I don’t think that this kind of life as a 25 year old is bad at all. When people get older, I feel like they start to step on the brakes a little: they’ll give up on things and taking a new step forward becomes that much harder. But I want to keep taking on new challenges no matter how old I get. In that sense, I suppose I am still a little bit childish.

When asked about her ambitions outside of voice acting, Kobayashi answers that she’d like to start a fashion brand.

I want to start a brand that caters to a variety of fashion styles: not just parkas. I’m studying design bit by bit in order to achieve that. I’ll do things like researching how to use colour, or taking down notes immediately when I find something cute. I think that I might even want to try making clothes myself, not just designing them. But I’m not too handy so I think I might actually pass on that. (laughs dryly) Before I made a puppet to be the mascot for my Nico Nico Douga livestream (Aika Kobayashi’s Open Rehearsal) – I’m good at making little things like that. But clothes tend to come out a little bit rough around the edges, so I leave that to someone who’s an expert in sewing. (laughs)

Kobayashi is making her dreams come true, while still setting new goals and progressing towards them as well. This resonates with her words from the beginning of this interview: “have as many dreams as you can.”

I have a lot of small dreams. As I fulfil those bit by bit, the bigger dreams change. So I think it’s a never-ending process. But making even the small dreams come true is a confidence booster. I feel that always having that confidence will lead to a positive life.

We can’t help but be interested in the life she’ll be living after she turns 25.

I don’t think I’ll be any different! (laughs) I’ll probably find some new dreams and take them on as well. It’d be awesome if I could say to myself “I’ve never felt younger in my life!”

Thanks to Picup (@eiyuupicup) for proof reading this translation.

This interview was featured in Rikako Aida’s first photobook “R.A”, released 24 July 2018 from Shuueisha.

This photobook was shot in LA, where you used to live as a child. You’ve travelled to LA for work before, haven’t you?

Yes, I’ve been to LA every year for the past three years (laughs). But as I was travelling for work, I wasn’t able to make my way to the area I used to live, or Pasadena, which I often visited with my mother.

When I spoke with you prior to the shooting of this photobook, you told me a little about Pasadena, and we ended up shooting on location there. Of the shots that made the final cut, the photos where you can be seen riding on the back of a coyote or walking around town were taken in Pasadena.

I hadn’t been to Pasadena since the time I used to live in LA: it was my first time visiting in over ten years. That bronze coyote statue has been there since the time I lived there. I was impressed that it hadn’t changed at all.

When we were shooting in Pasadena, I recall you saying to me “there’s a bronze statue of a coyote around this corner”: you showed us around town with such accuracy it left me dumbstruck at how well you remembered the place.

I do remember quite a lot from when I used to live in LA. I was there from grades two to five of elementary school. Kids are quite sensitive to their surroundings at that age, so I remember those years clearly. Add to that the fact that it’s a completely different environment from Japan, and I can’t recall many times in my life that have hit me so hard (laughs). But walking around Pasadena this time, I didn’t remember the town being so small. I’ve grown bigger myself, so I’d chalk it up to my perspective on things having changed compared to back then.

Right. I suppose that is how people change over more than a decade. This book is your first photobook, so did your approach to it differ from the times you’ve done gravure shoots for magazines?

There was a difference, yes. Rather, I should say that my mindset has changed gradually over the past year or so. You were among the same staff I worked with on the two cover shoots for Weekly Young Jump (YJ) and were also involved with producing this photobook, so I should ask: were my expressions really stiff during those initial stages?

Now that I think back on it, perhaps just a little bit (laughs).

My photographer has always told me “don’t try to act for the camera. It’s best if you just do nothing.” When I look at other people’s photos, I want to see their natural expressions, so I try to be conscious that I should act as naturally as possible… When we were out shooting on location, I felt that I needed to do something, so I started doing things like peeking into shop windows. My photographer could tell what I was trying to do straight away (laughs). Ever since my first cover shoot, he’d tell me things like “you don’t need to do things you have no interest in” or “pay no attention to the camera”, which has been very beneficial in helping me learn.

This was the first time you’ve done a swimsuit or lingerie shoot.

Being my first time, I was nervous. I’m not terribly confident in my figure so I had no idea how to best show off the swimsuit… But the first swimsuit shoot we did was at the beach, so I think all of the photos we took were of a very natural me screaming things like “aaah!” or “the water is freezing!”(laughs)

That’s the swimsuit shot at the very beginning of the photobook. We shot in the morning, so at first, I had hoped for you to just get your feet wet because it was a bit chilly outside…

But as soon as I saw the ocean, I just wanted to jump right in and I ended up getting my photographer soaking wet in the process. (laughs) We’d come all the way to the beach so I wanted to leave with photos of me enjoying myself.

And before the poolside shoot, we discussed that we wanted photos of you splashing your feet in the water, but…

Once I’d gotten changed and we headed to the pool, my photographer said “OK, get in” (laughs). But the water was warm so it didn’t take very long for me to start enjoying myself. The swimsuit I was wearing was just the right balance of not too grown-up and not too childish – I really like that shoot. You can tell it’s just me playing around and having fun – I think they’re such refreshing photos.

So, what goes through your mind when you see those photos of yourself in a swimsuit?

I don’t normally go to the beach, so I’d never actually seen photos of myself in a swimsuit before. That being the case, it was nerve-wracking waiting to see how the photos would turn out… But I think that in the end, they were all very well taken, which was a relief.

I think it takes a lot of courage for a voice actress to put out swimsuit photos of herself like that…

I couldn’t have imagined doing it until now. I think I said something to that effect when I first did the shoot for Miracle Jump, right?

Miracle Jump is a special edition of YJ and your first solo photoshoot was when you appeared in the February 2017 issue. I recall asking you if you were interested in doing a solo gravure shoot, to which you replied “um… you’ll have to let me think about that…” or something non-committal like that. (laughs)

I did, didn’t I? But after that, we (Aqours) did a group shoot for YJ and I ended up doing two solo cover shoots after that, so I think that opened my mind on the issue. I’ve come to think that “if more people will watch the works I have a role in because of this gravure shoot, and if I can expand the boundaries of my work, then maybe I should do it.” I’ve realised that there’s no need for me to be paranoid about protecting myself by shutting down the idea of wearing a swimsuit. I ended up with some amazing photos, so I can say from the bottom of my heart that I’m glad I did it.

I’m glad to hear that. Were there any memorable moments for you during the shooting of this photobook?

Firstly, the cover shot of the photobook. I felt like I remembered that road from somewhere. When I checked with my coordinator, I realised that I’d driven down that road with my mother long ago. That was an emotional moment for me.

That road ran in a completely straight line through the wilderness: a quintessential American landscape.

Not a single obstacle as far as the eye could see: it was very liberating. In Tokyo, we live surrounded by all sorts of things, so standing in that place was such a fresh and invigorating experience. The smile on my face that you see on the cover photo is the result of me being freed of all unnecessary thoughts and emotions. (laughs)

You had such an adorable smile on your face. Now, could you tell me what made the biggest impression on you during your visit to LA?

It would have to be the end of our last day of shooting, when we shot on a bridge near Pasadena.

You’re referring to the photos where you are wearing a red dress at night, towards the end of the photobook, right? That bridge is actually quite famous due to being featured in the movie La La Land.

Maybe because it was the last shoot of the trip, I was a little nervous. I was reflecting on all the things that had happened since I was a child… I was just a child when I used to live in LA and now, I’ve come back as an adult wearing this dress: the very thought of that made me tear up a little. I’m sure that the final session of the on-location shooting for this precious photobook will remain a great memory for years to come.

So now, I’d like to ask you a bit about your upbringing. Could you tell me what you were like as a child?

I was a very shy little girl. I wouldn’t talk to anyone except people I was close to. Even before I started attending elementary school, I was very conscious of the way adults perceived me.

Why do you think you grew up that way?

I think it’s because my mother treated me as if I were more or less equal to her. I can’t phrase it very well, but she didn’t baby me: I suppose you could say she treated me like a human being. That being the case, I didn’t really see myself as a child. I’ve heard that I learned to speak at a relatively early age too.

What sort of things did you like as a child?

I loved watching TV and always had a vague admiration for the entertainment industry since I was a child. I loved SMAP in particular: seeing them sing, dance and even cook on variety shows filled me with an amazement at how they could do practically anything.

So, you didn’t watch children’s cartoons, but rather regular TV programmes?

That’s right. At the time, I loved dramas starring Etsushi Toyokawa. (laughs) I remember watching video tape recordings of the drama Aoi Tori (Blue Bird).

That’s the show where Toyokawa plays the stationmaster of a railway station in the country and has an affair with the main female character!

That’s the one! (laughs) I used to tell my mother “I wanna watch that drama with the stationmaster!” We would watch it together every week.

What was your family like, by the way?

I’m an only child in a single parent family, so it was just my mother and I. My mother divorced my father when I was three, so I have almost no memories of him. My grandfather and grandmother were very kind to me so I never felt lonely, even without my father in my life.

I see. What about your mother? What kind of person was she in your eyes?

Half of the things about her I would absolutely adore and the other half I would be absolutely terrified of. That’s the kind of person she was to me. She would treat me as an equal, but when it came to certain things, she would worry about me so much it was frightening. Throughout my elementary school years, I had to carry a PHS (see note 1) with me and call my mother without fail when I reached school. But, being a kid, I’d be talking with my friends and forget to call her from time to time. That’s when the school would get a phone call asking “is my daughter at school today?”

Being the only daughter of a single mother, she must have been quite worried about you.

Now that I look back on it, I can empathise somewhat with the way she felt. The thing is, even as a high schooler, my curfew was 6 PM, so I couldn’t even go with my friends to Disneyland when they bought “After 6” tickets (see note 2). I think that’s when my rebellious period finally hit. (laughs)

That makes sense. What led up to you moving to LA with your mother in your second year of grade school?

I followed my mother when she moved to LA to study. She was only 20 years old when she gave birth to me, so she was still in her twenties at the time. Perhaps studying abroad was one of the things that she wanted to challenge during her lifetime. She had worked to save up money for the move, gone through all of the paperwork by herself and moved to America with her young daughter: when I reflect on it now I can’t help but be amazed. At the time, it was painful for me not being able to see my grandfather and grandmother for a while and I have to confess that preparing for the move and transferring schools was pretty tough. (laughs)

What did you enjoy about your time in LA?

We spoke about Pasadena earlier: my mother and I went there all the time to eat or shop. Aside from that, we would also frequently go on outings to an area of town they call Little Tokyo.

Were you able to speak English, by the way?

I couldn’t speak a word of English prior to leaving Japan. I think that daily conversation was about the extent of what my mother could manage. That said, I was enrolled in a regular local school in LA and used to show up to class with a dictionary in one hand. After continuing for some time, I found that the language came to me fairly quickly. I would say that I was able to speak it after one or two months.

It’s amazing how quickly children learn. Do you still have any friends over there?

I do. There was one girl that I was very close with. She was a family friend and even now, I still see her every time I travel to LA. She came to visit me at my hotel on the final night of shooting this photobook.

Really now!? Still, the level of motivation that your mother must have had to move to LA with her daughter is just staggering.

Oh yeah, she’s insane. (laughs) In my entire life, I haven’t met anyone as odd as her. We do fight a lot, but my mother supported me in the things I said I wanted to do and she’s my greatest counsellor when I’m going through difficult times. I’m so happy that she’s my mother and that I’m her daughter.

Do you still look to her for advice?

Yes. When I go to her for serious guidance then I know that she will give me solid advice.  I find myself wishing that she would be just as helpful the rest of the time though. (laughs)

Your mother must be an incredibly diligent person given that she saved up enough money as a single parent to move to LA and has raised her daughter so well.

She is. You could say that she doesn’t just live her life: she thrives. I’ve learned so much from her too. If there’s anything I’m not sure of, say, some paperwork that I have to submit to city hall, then she’ll guide me through what I need to do. I still rely on her for things like that.

So tell me, what was your life like when you returned from LA during your fifth year of elementary school?

That was about the time when I was scouted and I started working in the entertainment industry. I’d admired it so much since I was a child, and even though I wasn’t completely serious yet, I was keen to get my feet wet.

What sort of work were you involved in at the time?

I didn’t do any major work in that area, but I wanted to get involved with modelling. After a while of that, during my third year of middle school, I started to worry how I was going to live the rest of my life.

That was about time for you to start thinking about your future, right?

Absolutely. The answer I came to was that I wanted to continue living in the world of entertainment. I’d say I chose that because there wasn’t anything else I wanted to do and I didn’t yet have a clear picture of how harsh the industry could be. (laughs)

“Entertainment” is a broad field: what sort of work were you particularly interested in?

I wanted to act. The opportunity came during my first year of high school when I met a certain casting director. At the time, he was the director for a drama adaptation of a web novel, which I auditioned for.

Was that director also there to screen the auditions?

He was. He told me “you’re small, but I can tell that you’ve got energy and that you gave it your all” – he let me pass the audition. (laughs) After that, he started to look out for me and one day he asked me “our troupe is going to do a stage performance – do you want a part?” That was when I was in my third year of high school.

He remembered you even after such a long time?

Yes, he did. He taught me everything: not just how to act, but also things like how to greet people and manners that are unique to the entertainment industry. In particular, he told me to study more about acting, and I think those words were very impactful for me. Because of that, I was able to come to terms with what acting is really about. I’m really indebted to him for that.

It sounds like he worked very closely with you.

That’s right. But he was really frightening during training. He’d get so mad at me I’d worry that something might happen to me that would make me leave the industry for good. (laughs)  But from time to time, he’d be upfront in telling me “hey, you did really well today”. Those words were all the more believable because he didn’t normally compliment me. That made me learn to love acting even more.

When did you start being interested in becoming a voice actress?

It was when I was still acting as a member of the troupe. I had this conflict raging within me over whether I should continue acting on stage or in film, or if I should do more behind the scenes work as a voice actress.

When did you start to like anime?

That was after I started high school. There was a period where I couldn’t find enjoyment in anything and I was at my wit’s end with so many things in my life. I was going through a rebellious phase and would fight with my mother too. One day, when I turned on the TV, Gintama just happened to be on the air. Until then I was never the type of person to be interested in anime or manga, but for whatever reason, I was hooked on Gintama from that time on. I read the manga and started watching other anime too… I am who I am today because of that: I really think that watching Gintama that day changed the course of my life.

Did you become aware of voice acting as a profession immediately after watching Gintama?

I did. It made me think to myself “I didn’t know there was this complete other category of acting!” or “I had no idea that you could work in an anime!” (laughs) I hesitated for a while because I had no clue how to become a voice actress and the industry I’d been active in until then was quite different. Still, I couldn’t give up on it. It was then that I realised for the first time that this is what I really wanted to do.

All of that worry caused you to realise what you really wanted, didn’t it?

Yes. To be honest, there were parts of my life that I had lived passively until that point, but I felt for the first time that I wanted to take action. So I ordered some pamphlets for voice acting colleges in hopes of finding a place where I could study how voice actors and actresses approach acting.

What did your mother have to say about that?

At first, I kept it a secret from my mother and had the pamphlets sent to my friend’s house instead. (laughs) But, I was still a minor at the time, so at the end of the day, there wasn’t anything I could do to change my situation. That’s when I decided to open up to my mother about it. She didn’t oppose me, but I remember her saying “it’s sad that you won’t be working on TV, or somewhere that people will be able to see you.”

Generally, most people do have a mental picture that voice acting is a backstage role that doesn’t allow you to be seen very much.

You’re right about that. Personally, I would have been fine if I was simply able to work in the anime industry from behind the scenes. But now, I’m performing at concerts and releasing photobooks like this, so that makes my mother happy too.

Did you end up enrolling in a voice acting college after that?

It wasn’t really a college, but more so a basic course designed to develop the skills of people aspiring to be voice actors or actresses. That’s where I started. That said, that college is run by the agency I’m working for now and they were looking for people with acting experience. So they also opened a basic course one step below the college programme, which allows students or adults with no experience to learn: I was one of their first students. I did have some acting experience, but I wanted to learn beginning with the most basic skills that would allow me to become a voice actress.

So you more or less started learning from scratch?

That’s right. I was in the basic course for one year after which I moved up to the college. It was only then that I started to have opportunities to see the pros at work… I would watch them voicing incomplete footage and be filled with shock and awe.

During anime production, voice actors will usually dub over rough sketches of frames or incomplete footage while the final footage would be worked on by the animators in parallel, correct?

Yes, that’s correct. I didn’t know that at the time, so I was just in a constant state of shock thinking “how did she know that that was the right timing to deliver her line?!” or “am I going to be able to do this myself?” That was when I had a role in one particular scene with a lot of characters on screen: I was one of the voices in the background saying “wow”.

So when did you pass your first audition?

My first successful audition was for the role of Riko Sakurauchi in Love Live! Sunshine!!. I auditioned for the role while I was still at the voice acting college and found out that I’d passed just as I’d transferred to the agency. Love Live! Sunshine!! has a special place in my heart as the series I made my debut in.

Love Live! Sunshine!! is a mixed media project where the cast playing the school idol group Aqours, on which the series is centred, also dance and sing on stage. What did you think of that at first?

It was weird. When I was aiming to become a voice actress, I was convinced that I would be acting behind the scenes and didn’t at all imagine that I’d one day be doing all these things an idol would do. But, I figured that since this is what I’m doing now, I want to be the best idol I can possibly be.  

Did you have any prior experience singing or dancing?

There was a time where I dabbled in singing and dancing, but I had next to no experience. I ran into a lot of trouble at first due to my lack of stamina. It was so bad I would be hyperventilating after dancing for one song. (laughs)

But you’ve made so much progress that you can now keep up such a vigorous performance for multiple songs now.

I suppose that I did gain some stamina naturally just by continuing to perform, but I also made the effort to start jogging before Aqours’ first concert (held in February 2017 at Yokohama Arena). I had my doubts about what would happen if I continued the way I was going, so I decided to test how far I could run: it turned out that I couldn’t even manage two kilometres.  But as I continued jogging, I managed to increase that to five or six kilometres. I knew that I would be singing on stage, so I would hum as I ran as well.

You were able to grow so much because of all the effort that you put in.

I suppose so, but when our first concert rolled around I felt stressed and didn’t have any emotional leeway. Now, I’m able to pay attention to my expressions and how I present myself on stage, but I’m still thinking about what I need to do in order to take my performance to the next level.

Aside from your work with the Aqours cast, you’ve also been involved with other work such as dubbing films and doing narrations for music programmes. You’ve developed a remarkable catalogue of work recently!

I’m glad that my work has grown gradually over time. When I’m doing narrations, I have to ask myself “how do I say this word?” as I would when I’m acting, but have to approach it from a different angle. I enjoy myself wondering how I should read out different words. There’s a lot that I can add to introductions of songs or artists by bringing out their individual characteristics in the way that I introduce them.  

It’s different to acting where you have a pre-defined role, right?

Very much so. There’s a lot that I have to consider when I act, but it’s all based on the role I’ve been assigned, so I can’t stray too far off the path with that. But I can showcase more of my own little idiosyncrasies in narration, which I find to be really interesting. Now, I try to listen to a variety of voice actors and actresses who do narrations on TV to see what I can learn.

And what about dubbing?

Even before I started dubbing, I was a big fan of foreign dramas like The Walking Dead. So, I was elated when I got the opportunity to perform a role in the Japanese dub of Pacific Rim: Uprising. You have to match your performance with the real actors on screen, so there are parts of it that are more difficult than voicing an anime, but I do feel like I’m suited to this kind of work.

What about dubbing do you specifically think you can do well?

For better or worse, I don’t have a particularly unique voice, so I think a normal-sounding voice is one of the things I can offer. Comparing myself with people in the voice acting industry, I think that my voice sounds close to that of a regular human being and I like to think of myself as just a normal person, so I want to be able to leverage that more in the future.

On a different note, are you able to understand the English dialogue in these movies without subtitles?

It depends on the movie. I can understand things like romance films where the dialogue is mainly daily conversation. But when it comes to movies like the Harry Potter series where they often use words that aren’t typically used on a daily basis, I wouldn’t be able to understand those without subtitles. As for Pacific Rim… well, there are just so many names of fighter jets or robots I couldn’t keep up with it. (laughs)

To round out this interview, I’d like to ask about your plans for the future. What is the ultimate goal you’d like to achieve with your voice work?

I haven’t really given thought to what my “ultimate goal” is… I don’t think I’d be completely satisfied with acting no matter how far I took it, so I’d just like to continue with it for as long as I can. I haven’t done anything else in my life, so I don’t think I’d be able to work in any other industry.

Well, you have been acting since you were still in school.

That’s right. Besides that, I’ve always hoped to exclusively live in the world of voice acting, so in some ways I’ve restricted myself from doing other things. I probably could have studied voice acting while going to university, but at the time, I could only get into the mindset of “living in this world” by putting pressure on myself, so that’s what I did. I can’t afford to do a half-baked job because I’ve rejected all other paths in order to become a voice actress and I’m confident that my resolve is second to none.

Those are strong words.

At the same time, all the different work I’ve done until now has finally come together and here I am releasing this photobook: I think that’s really amazing. Normally, my job is to bring to life characters who live inside a work of fiction, but there’s a special kind of joy in leaving behind a work made by Rikako Aida as an individual. When I look back on everything, I’m glad that I put in the effort to come this far. (laughs)

When you first became a voice actress, you wanted to work behind the scenes: have your thoughts on that changed at all?

They have. In the course of my work, I’ve met so many new people and had the opportunity to tackle so many new things, so my values have changed to reflect the attitude that it’s OK for me to do this job. Besides, I don’t believe that there’s anything I can’t or shouldn’t do simply because I’m a voice actress. I hope that all kinds of different voice actors and actresses will be able to try their hands at a whole assortment of new challenges.

This photobook was nothing short of “new challenge” for yourself too.

You’re absolutely right. I suppose it would sound like I don’t particularly care if I said my attitude was one of “I’ll give it a try and give up if things don’t work out”, but lately, I feel that it’d be a shame not to try everything. Rikako Aida only lives once, so I want to do everything in my life that I can do and have the opportunity to do.

Note 1: A PHS (Personal Handyphone System) is a cheaper alternative to a mobile phone and so was popular in Japan as a means for children to contact their parents or guardians in an emergency. They have fallen out of favour in recent years due to improvements in mobile phone technology.

Note 2: Tokyo Disneyland sells “After 6 tickets” which allow entry to the park on weekdays after 6 PM at a significant discount to regular admission.

Thanks to Picup (@EiyuuPicup) for proofreading.