ANYC 2019: Rie Kugimiya Panel Report!

4 years 5 months

At Anime NYC, famous voice actor Rie Kugimiya graced her fans with an hour long panel, featuring:

Short Interviews on her career as a Voice Actress!
Live Dubbing of Toradora!
On the spot Character Creation and Voicing!

Introduction

I hear it’s your first time in New York, have you been able to do anything fun or see the city? New York is also known for its food. Did you eat anything nice?

I only had one day to tour around, but I went to Central Park, Grand Central Station, Guggenheim Museum and the Opera House. It was just absolutely amazing and I had so much fun! As for food, I was able to eat oysters and clam chowder at Grand Central Station.

So you've had an incredible career over the past years, but this is your first time at an American convention. What differences are there between Japanese and International events?

Audience wise, the energy is similar [to Japan]. Maybe it's because it's my first time here, but seeing the standing ovation I was like, Oh my gosh!!!"

(To the Audience) How about another standing ovation for Rie-san?

Audience: **Absolute wild cheering.**

Thank you so much, everyone!

Voice Actor Interview

Let's find out a little bit more about her career as a VA. How did you get your start as a Seiyuu (Voice Actor)?

But there’s so many people that want to get into that world, right? So how did you get your foot in the door?

At the time I started to get interested in being a seiyuu, the internet was not yet a big thing. I’d go to the bookstore to look at books and magazines, and I saw one of the magazines had an ad for vocational school for being a seiyuu. I kept the thought in my mind for a while, but when I went back again later I saw a magazine that said they were having an audition for a TV Program, which used to be really popular in Japan. So I decided to make the track to Tokyo Station. Since I’m from Kumamoto, I had to pay for the trip and the room to stay there for two or three nights with all of my own money in order to get a foothold in the industry. I was really worried since I was using all of my money, what if I never got the chance? However, I got an agent interested in me and did well in the audition, went back to Kumamoto to pack up my things, and that’s when my journey started.

At the time Kumamoto was really behind in broadcasting anime, so they would be broadcasted after they were in Tokyo, sometimes up to half a year. So I really didn't get into the world of seiyuu not so much because of anime, but because of broadcasting club. Growing up though, Creamy Mami was my favorite anime.

Could you give us an idea of a typical day of a Seiyuu?

I wake up in the morning, at around 6 AM so I have enough time to do things like walk around the house, drink some coffee, and go through scripts. At 10 AM, I go through the first project, usually an anime, then get lunch around 1 or 2 PM. After that I go through another project like an Anime or Video Game, and then I finish up my day and go back home.

Are you the kind of person to have many alarms?

Yes, in fact I have alarms for 6:00, 6:05, 6:10, etc. (laughs)

So now we’re going to talk a little bit about Rie-san's character development. Rie-san, how do you come up with the voice for each character?

Every character is different of course, but I like to focus in the drawing, expressions, and even the color of the character. There’s also age, height, etc. If it's an anime based on a manga, I will read that as well to study all about the character.

What would be a life lesson you could share from doing voice acting?

Back then when I was doing Juuni Kokuki (The Twelve Kingdoms), which is based on a manga so I read up on the manga. The director came to me and asked the reason I voiced the character the way I did. I said of course, it's because [the reasons from the manga], and the director said this is extremely important, to know the background of the character.

It’s very important to understand and develop that character, something you need to do as a seiyuu.

If you couldn't become a VA, what would you do?

There is only one thing I would love to do and as I mentioned earlier, I love books so I’d work in a library.

Do you have Voice Actor friends to hang out with?

I do, sometimes we all will be working on a project together, so we just go and get lunch or dinner together. Since we usually just go to get lunch or dinner near the studio, oftentimes I meet up with another VA eating there as well so we just share the table as a very impromptu meetup.

Voice Acting Live!

I have a very special announcement for everyone - are you ready? We are going to perform a live dub for you guys!

Baka Baka Baka Baka! What can you solve by saying that? How could you say something naive like that!?! (...) That's why... That's why you can't say things like, "If only I had never been born!"

I haven't done a live dub in a while so I was nervous but I’m happy to do it in front of everyone here!

Now she’ll come up with a voice for a character live, we have here some roles and personality and she will have to come up with a voice! These are the prompts for the voices:

Voice of a young boy offering an umbrella to the girl he likes on a rainy day
Cool female boss giving a stern warning to her subordinates.
Voice of a timid junior schoolgirl offering bento to senpai.

"You can't even do this kind of simple task? You really aren't reliable, aren't you? How useless... I'll let you off with just a warning this time... prepare yourself!"

[After voicing the characters] Unlike Toradora, these characters are not previously created, so I was a bit nervous to perform in front of you, but I think you can feel the different tones for each character.

Dubbing and Voice Acting Advice

So of course her acting goes beyond Anime and Video Games, she also performs for western and international shows like Stranger Things!

I performed as Eleven! Actually, I have something to tell you guys. When I learned I was going to be playing Eleven, I went to English school to prepare for the role, but it didn't turn out so well. Unrelated, but funnily enough, the staff recognized the show, and characters!

What are your thoughts on voicing something originally versus dubbing?

One of the main things different between dubbing and normal voicing is the breath and pace, since we need to be able to emulate the original actor.

Is there someone you would love to do the dubbing of?

Would love to do a TV Romance Drama!

What is one of the most fun and interesting things about being VA?

I love the feeling that the character and you are becoming one, this organic process is very amazing. Sometimes I want to continue living on that, and of course I love international events as well, like this one here.

Sometimes voice actors will use character voices in normal life to make things more interesting. Have you done this before?

Usually not, but I sometimes I'm afraid people might recognize my voice in public so I usually go for a low tone to order food and so.

Now for some Voice Acting advice from Rie-san!

If you are planning to get into the world of voice acting one of the key points is to keep in mind that you are playing part of a character in a story, so it is very important to save emotions you feel in your life so you eventually are able to use those feelings when creating a character. It’s important to me to have those feelings available at any moment; I’m a very minimalist person, but to me, I try to collect as many of these feelings as possible.

Q&A and Parting Message

If you could become an anime character for one day, who would you want to be, and why?

I have always wanted to be able to fly in the air, so I’d love to turn into Happy from Fairy Tail!

OK, this question that just came in is very difficult: Pancakes or Waffles?

Ahhh, that's a tough one! I like both, pancakes are fluffy but waffles are crunchy, so I like both. What do I put on them? I only put butter on them.

And now we're just about out of time for the panel-- I know, time flies when you're having fun! Rie-san, do you have any parting messages you would like to share with the audience?

I had a great time in NYC! Thank you so much for a special and fun panel. I will continue to be in various works and projects, so I hope you will continue to support me through these endeavors. I encourage you to keep on adding new life experiences, and I hope to visit everyone in New York again!