#c3hk2016

Out of the three seiyuu stage events I saw, this one was the most high tension. People were running to get seats and there was a lot of cheering even before they came out. It was so exciting~

Since Ohsaka was sick, one of the staff members (manager?) that came for the event recorded an audience message for Ohsaka on his phone. We all screamed “Ohsaka-san, genki ni natte!!! AISHITERU~!!!”

The cheer that arose when they came out was probably the loudest I’ve heard over the last two days. They were in Seidou uniform and both were wearing the number 4 jersey lmao; Hanae was wearing the jeans he wears in like every photo ever and his highlighter pink shoes. Both of them gave their greetings in Cantonese; Nobu probably learned from yesterday, but Hanae totally botched his up (“大家好係” + some gibberish). It took him several times to get the whole phrase right word by word (“大家好，我係花江夏樹”) but he put so much effort into it!!!!

The MC asked us to raise our hands if we saw Nobu in KIRAMUNE yesterday; that was most of the audience (that I could see). He then said that after the event yesterday, he had a massage which left him pretty sore LOL. Then he said he had yum cha where he ate this chicken feet dish (鳳爪) that had a lot of gelatin, so he’ll be okay~

Hanae said this was the first time he’s ever been overseas (!!!). He was nervous when he arrived at 6 this morning, but since there were some fans to greet him in the airport (“Hanae-san, Hong Kong e youkoso!”) he started feeling more confident and demonstrated by strutting. I should probably mention at this point that he LOVES acting things out - he’s really active and is constantly demonstrating with movements. Then he said that when he went to 7/11, he paid with cash and was like “woaaah cash!!! paper money!!!” When he woke up in his hotel room, he got freaked out by his reflection in the mirror since he wasn’t wearing glasses. Also, since the MC was like “he probably didn’t take a shower since he got here at 6” Hanae said that he did indeed take a shower. APPARENTLY, he didn’t hang the “do not disturb” sign on his hotel door so the cleaning lady who came by knocked, said “你好,” and went in without waiting for an answer (this is the true HK way of doing things)… he wasn’t showering with the bathroom door closed, so she got a nice look at him without clothes on… at this point, some people went “urayamashii!!” (“I’m jealous”) and then he STARTED TO LIFT UP THE EDGE OF HIS SHIRT AS IF TO STRIP AND THE AUDIENCE EXPLODED WHILE NOBU TRIED TO STOP HIM. Ahh… the stories he tells… (I wonder if they’re true lol who showers with the door open omfg) While saying all of this, he was actually demonstrating showering and stuff oh my god just no stop

THEN finally came the segue into Daiya-related things. We were shown several clips of the anime featuring Ryousuke and Haruichi, including the  vending machine scene. They were then asked what they thought of their characters. Hanae said that Haruichi is surrounded by people who constantly encourage each other. Nobu said that Eijun needs someone to smack him on the head every once in a while, so Ryou is the one to do it even though he’s shorter than Eijun. Also, even though he’s short, he’s surrounded by people with high expectations. Thus, he’s conflicted about cheering on Haruichi - on one hand, he wants to encourage his little brother but on the other, it’s difficult to cheer him on when Haruichi’s catching up to Ryou and he doesn’t want to lose to his otouto. Hanae said something about how Haruichi’s pink hair obscures his eyes, giving a weird first impression, but it’s soon revealed that he’s someone who looks cute but is manly on the inside. There was a bit of back and forth here which didn’t all get translated, but basically they were talking about Haruichi’s cuteness; Nobu said “Hanae-kun is also cute”. (!!!)

Then there was the part where they were saying lines from the show. I think originally they were only supposed to say one line, but they were trying to out-do each other in impact, so it got more and more intense LOL. I didn’t actually get these down ;_;

One thing they do in the recording studio, since there are so many people, is play this game where you try to knock someone off balance just by pushing their opponents’ palms or avoiding them. Nobu says Hanae is pretty much the worst at this game, lol. Hanae says out of all the seiyuu with their various different voices, one has a particularly quiet voice - Namikawa-san. When Ohsaka’s recording all of Eijuns “WAHAHA’s”, no one can hear Namikawa-san (I think I might’ve gotten this part wrong). Hanae compared him to a mosquito. (SO DISRESPECTFUL LOL)

In the recording studio, sometimes they run out of female seiyuu for mob characters so Hanae does his female voice. “KYAA~ RYOU-SAN~” in a really high-pitched voice.

Then the MC told everyone it was time to wrap things up and HANAE WENT “EHHH??” REALLY DRAMATICALLY AND SAT DOWN ON THE FLOOR. NOBU RESTED HIS ARMS ON TOP OF HIS HEAD LIKE A GOOD ANIKI

Oh one of the winners of the signboards was this Haruichi cosplayer!! She won this special Hanae-only signboard - congrats to her~!

Nobu’s final comment: please keep supporting the anime! I’d like to go to Hong Kong Disneyland if I have time!!

Hanae’s final comment: thanks to everyone who came today, including people at the back (AAAH); I’d like to come again whether it’s tomorrow or the next few months or etc! (At least that’s what the MC translated, but PLEASE COME AGAIN AAAH)

AND THEN BOTH OF THEM BLEW KISSES AT THE AUDIENCE WHILE THEY WERE LEAVING THE STAGE OH MY GOD at this point all my brain cells died and I died

So yeah, that’s what happened. This is the last of my posts on C3HK2016. Hope this wasn’t too annoying to read, lol. This has been too much for my poor weak heart to handle… I’ll need several days to recover…

Few other random things:

Hanae’s voice was actually lower than I expected? It wasn’t DEEP deep or anything, just lower, especially when compared to his Harucchi voice.

I have to say this again, but Hanae definitely knows how to play to the crowd. He sure knows how to deliver fanservice…

MC-san introduced them to a lot of cheering as usual. Kawanishi was wearing this green shirt thing, and Hosoya was wearing a long white shirt..? Like the really drapey type.

THEIR CANTONESE WAS SUPER ACCURATE I WONDER HOW LONG THEY PRACTICED. Of the three seiyuu events I watched, theirs was probably the most accurate - they went "大家好，我係" + their names in Cantonese.

This was the first time either of them have been to Hong Kong (I think? I may have gotten this part wrong). Kawanishi said he'd only seen Hong Kong in movies before, and was surprised when he saw so many tall buildings (this reminds me of what Masuda Toshiki said when he came for a different convention last July, LOL). Maybe this was on the way from the airport to wherever he's staying? I mean the typical Hong Kong movie scene features pretty tall buildings so... or maybe I just missed this part again. ><

Hosoyan in his typical adorable rambling manner talked about how he was having dinner last night and was SUPER surprised by the service in restaurants here. He talked about how the waiter was setting the table fast and furiously, like they were playing darts or something. In Japan, the service is generally much gentler and polite, lol. WELCOME TO HONG KONG!!! :D

The MC asked them what they thought about the food they want to try - Kawanishi said he wanted to try Beijing roast duck, while Hosoya seemed kind of undecided so he asked the audience for recommendations on what dessert was currently popular. (There was this funny part where people suggested this totally tourist trap mango drink place, and the MC thoroughly rejected the idea, LOL - didn't even bother to translate it into Japanese. Hosoya just looked kind of confused AAAAH). The audience settled on Matcha ice cream. Then both of them wanted to know what to do while in Hong Kong besides Disneyland, so they ended up with a recommendation to see the pandas at Ocean Park.

Then there was a clip from Gundam with the OP music while Kawanishi and Hosoya went backstage to change into matching green shirts (i.e. to look like the uniform).

Both of them gave their impressions of their respective characters. This is another part I didn't really catch because I'm not actually familiar with the Chinese names of their characters - I watch anime with English subs. Also, this part was kind of fast for me, haha. Apparently both Kawanishi and Hosoya are long-time Gundam franchise fans, so they're really happy to be working in something they're familiar with.

At this point Kawanishi and Hosoya were distracted by something happening in the audience. Turns out someone started waving the big lance weapon from MSGIBO!!! And then the person with the weapon actually appeared - IN A FULL MOBILE SUIT COSPLAY IT WAS SO COOL LOL. MC-san joked that this was their way of getting a space at the front, lmao.

The discussion them moved on to stuff about the events happening in the anime right now. Hosoya hinted that one of the characters they were expecting to die didn't die yet, so they're really hoping that all of them will make it LOL. Kawanishi told everyone to pay close attention to not just the fight scenes, but the equally intense quiet scenes. THEY HINTED AT SOME CONFLICT BETWEEN THE CHARACTERS - "Even though all of us get along as seiyuu during the afureko, there might be some time in the future when the characters don't..."

Then Hosoya went on about how when he was small, he loved watching Gundam anime but didn't necessarily understand all of the important themes. He said that "at his age, 34 years old" his adult's perspective has made him finally realized, from working on an anime about orphans, how precious life is. THEN HE SLIPPED IN A BIT OF ADVERTISING LOL "I recently rewatched the Gundam anime from when I was young and now I understand the messages. Everyone, please buy the DVDs so that you can watch it 10 years later and hopefully get a different perspective on it!!!" Went from deep to advertising in like a minute lmao

Finally, the MC asked them to give some final comments. Hosoya started advertising again LOL and also said "please keep up with the anime on a daily basis and boost the ratings!!!" Kawanishi went "ne, Orga, dou suru?" and said something to similar (RATINGS RATINGS RATINGS lol) and to spread the joy of the anime with other fans online~~

At the very end, the MC told us to say something to the two of them - "KAWANISHI-SAN, HOSOYA-SAN, DAISUKI~~~" but we were too disorganized so Hosoya had to ask for a repeat. Then - "ARIGATO GOZAIMASU!!"

During the next Kiramune Tour, will you both like to do it overseas?

O: Of course I want to go abroad (to perform) if I have the chance!

K: (loudly) I want to go too!

*Both of you have just finished your respective tours, and many different elements were added to your performances (Kakki's stage games and Pikorin's stage fight w/ a dragon). For the upcoming Kirafes, would you like to add any challenges to your performance?

O: Any challenges... After today's activity (C3HK2016), I think I really want to challenge myself to dance until I shine with sweat!

K: Wow... (voice of praise) That's awesome! For me, I do quite a lot of dancing with my dance members, so I want to improve on the MVs. I want to do more digital work together with the staff so that I can produce better work for everyone.

In Kiramune, there are some duos like Kamiyu etc, have both of you ever thought of joining any other members to combine into your own group or duos?

(Both of them raises their fists)

O: I'm still going solo, but I actually would like to be in a duo or group more, because I think it's lonely if you're all alone. So if I'm put into a group, I have no problems with it. Even if Kakki-san asked me to form a duo with him, I'd tell him let's do it immediately!

K: What you say makes me really happy! (laugh) The 'Love Call' I got from Nobu makes me especially happy. Actually, I'm also a solo member, but whenever I perform I treat the members on stage and the audience as a team. Of course, since Nobu has already said it, then we shall call our duo "Okaki" ! (name derived from their own names)

O: The name wil make everyone laugh.

K: Please do laugh. This will be our duo's main image. (laughs)

Last year Kakihara-san released his solo album, [Orange]. May I ask what is your favourite song?

K: I'm very sorry, but out of all the 10 songs I wrote, I love all of them. Of course I still hope that the people who listen to my songs will share them with their loved ones, so in fact there isn't a "favourite" of mine. But the theme song "Orange" actually ties in for Kiramune's 5th Anniversary (Kiramune theme colour is orange), and through it I wish to express my feelings, so to me it's a very important song.

*An easy question. Valentine's day has just passed us by, did both of you receive many presents?

O: For that... I received a lot of love from everyone. (laughs)

K: Are you talking about the gifts we received from our fans? Actually...

O: Actually we didn't receive much either... how to say... in our workplace some of the female staff members would always bring plenty of chocolate for everyone to share, so...

K: Yeah, that's true. In short, in our industry people are thinking along the lines of "Oh today is 14th of February, Valentine's Day. Ah, fine, fine. I'll send some chocolate to everyone." So everyone will get chocolates. (laughs) But we're very happy to receive those kinds of chocolates as well!

Kakihara-san once mentioned that doing a Live was like having a date with everyone, so how do you feel about today's date?

K: It's my first time in Hong Kong and with so many pretty girls, of course I'm happy!

Would like to ask you both, out of Drama CDs, games and anime, which do you think needs to take up a lot of your energy and time to do (basically means most difficult) ?

O: That's difficult... The one that needs me to imagine the character in my brain and fully feel what the character is feeling is still Drama CD. Because there isn't any animations for me to go on. For anime, especially those with big and fun animations, are the most fun to voice act on. Every different kind of job has its own difficulties, and asking me to pick which is the easiest and which is the hardest is very difficult for me, but recently I really like to do Kiramune's Reading Live.

K: I think, seriously, the most difficult part is when one has to go for voice acting auditions. Standing out from ten hundred people takes a lot of effort and preparation, because we have to fully immerse ourselves into the character, so that staff will say ah, this is the person who's suited to the role.

*Topic outside of work. Okamoto-san has recently purchased a Segway (electrically-powered 2 wheeler), was wondering what experiences had you had with it?

O: I feel it's very refreshing! After that it's... I look forward to new advancements in technology!

K: Ah.... (understanding like)

O: I would like to use it so that I can fly! (Both laugh)

K: That's no longer one of the uses of Segway is it?!

In Kiramune both of you are represented by your own colours. If you had a choice, what colour would you choose?

O: I don't think I'd want to choose. Since I've already been chosen for white, then I think that white suits me...

K: I'm already green... so maybe I'd be green. At first though it's not like I particularly like this colour. (O: I didn't very much like white at first either)

K: But after seeing the passionate crowd waving white and green glow-sticks whenever we perform, we slowly got to like our respective colours. I think other than white and green, both of us couldn't pick another colour.

O: Remember our Kiramune Root Rexx performance last year? We were portraying our characters and I was assigned green, but when I saw the glowing green light sticks in the crowd I would immediately think of Kakki-san, because I think that colour belongs to him.

If Kakihara-san had the chance to perform songs in German, what genre would you pick?

K: Probably ballads (slow songs)! In comparison to other languages, German is very intense, so if we used German to sing pop songs for example, it will turn out to be very rough. But when used for ballads they sound beautiful.

Okamoto-san had designed a game before, called 《岡本信彦のダイスブレイカー》 , why did you want to design this game?

O: Because of the experience I had playing games while I was younger, had no money yet still wanted to play games with everyone... So I'd draw something on my own, and everyone would draw something, and we'd compile all our drawings together to see if there was anything we could use for a proper gameplay.

(Because of time restraints, the interview was coming to a close. But both of them at this time raised some questions to the crowd instead)

K: Nobu and I would like to ask everyone what roles of ours do you like best!

(Crowd raised some of their characters from otome games and Drama CDs)

K: That... what about a little more mainstream, like from anime everyone? (laughs)

(In which everyone mentioned Fairy Tail, Magi, Ao no Exorcist and the like)

K: Ah,... so everyone is still pretty biased about these animes huh? (laughs out loud)