Being Able To Sing After Becoming A Proper Voice Actress
– You don’t feel strongly about your character songs gaining attention?
No, I feel extremely happy about that! I mentioned previously that I think the characters I voice are like a part of me or like my child, so when their CDs are released I’d feel something like “Isn’t that great? My child released a CD!” (lol). And when the CM for that character song gets aired on TV, “That’s my child’s CD!” (lol).
– Unfortunately, it’s the character that gets the attention and the popularity instead of the name “Hikasa Youko”. When Don’t Say “Lazy” became a hit, did anything change with regards to your singing-related endeavours? For example, having a solo debut(!) or something along those lines….
I didn’t think about that at all. Or perhaps I should say, I declined it (lol).
– Ah, so there was an offer?
Yes, there was.
– But you turned it down?
Although both acting and singing are forms of expressions, they’re different after all. Offers for acting roles come from anime production companies while singing offers are from record companies. They’re different worlds after all. So when I started receiving offers for a CD debut, I thought “A person who doesn’t have confidence as an actor shouldn’t go ahead and debut”. As an unconfident actor who has yet to be able to act properly, I wouldn’t be able to fare well jumping to another world that is music. In addition, I feel that someone who has yet to able to satisfactorily portray a character wouldn’t be able to properly express him/herself in his/her music. So at that time I didn’t want to be a half-baked actor and be a half-baked person in the music industry at the same time.
– So why did you accept the offer this time round?
After 8 years as an actor, previous vague thoughts like “I want to try this sort of acting” have been replaced by clearer, more definite thoughts like “This is what I’m aiming for!”. I’ve been able to properly consider what path to take to attain those goals. After being able to gather enough confidence to achieve these things, I got an offer to sing a character song for a certain production and I really enjoyed working on it. I started feeling things like “Singing is really great~” and “Live shows are awesome~”. That was extremely fun!
– I see.
Recently I realised why I really enjoyed it: it was because of all the practice needed to achieve it. The longer the practice, the time you spend with the song increases as well and you absorb the song into you. You’ll be able to really enjoy singing from the bottom of your heart doing the Live Show after all the hard work put into it. Moreover, that feeling will also be passed on to the audience and the venue of the Live will have a really fantastic feel to it. Exactly at that point in time, Pony Canyon called out to me. Even though I’ve declined them so many times (lol).
– So after being able to be a “proper” seiyuu and being able to enjoy singing in front of people you accepted this offer?
Indeed. The timing was perfect I believe. I think that I accepted the offer from the staff that I’ve worked with for a long time on character songs after being able to feel that way.