Otakon 2022

Toshio Furukawa and Shino Kakinuma Seiyuu Q&A

Seiyū power couple Toshio Furukawa and Shino Kakinuma's Otakon panel started at the early hour of 10:15 am on Friday, meaning that it got off to a slow start. The morning crowd slumped into the panel with faces that bore tired looks. But all of the coffee and protein must have kicked in by the time Furukawa and Kakinuma walked onto the stage, because the audience's faces were absolutely beaming.

Furukawa even came in with a big Piccolo figurine, which he showed off to the audience with delightfully childish glee. “I've got 3,000 figures at home,” he said. “We even have a room in our house entirely dedicated to figurines.” The room proceeded to reward Furukawa's unabashed otaku-ness with a gratifying round of applause.

Most of the questions at the panel were aimed at Furukawa, although a few audience members thankfully gave themselves time to engage with Kakinuma. One attendee even asked a daring question: “What respective roles do you think that person is most like?” Kakinuma was quick on this: “Ataru!” Furukawa laughed this off: “She's lying! Ataru is someone who's like ‘I love you’ while he's grabbing another girl's ass.” Furukawa continued from there. “But you know, he really does love Lum. Ataru is the type of guy who can't even look another woman in the eyes.”

As for the character that best resembles Kakinuma, the famed Dragon Ball voice actor picked another familiar character. “When we were doing Dragon Ball Z Kai,” Furukawa said, “the original voice actor for Videl was away, so when I saw Shino do her, I was like, 'You really are Videl!'”

The couple went on to discuss their history in the anime industry, as well as the many challenges posed by studio demands and now with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

How has the pandemic changed the way you do things?

Furukawa: The biggest change is that everyone used to record the voices together, but things shifted to recording individually, which is the more American method. That being said, there were some scenes where it's important that the two VAs be in the same room, otherwise it's not as powerful, so we had to ensure that. Especially in the case of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Piccolo and Gohan are the featured characters, so there was no way to record that without the two being in the same room.

What changes did you both personally experience during COVID? What changes can you not wait to see go away?

Furukawa: The big thing is that when it changed to the American style of recording your lines, that really knocked a lot of time spent doing work because you can just do your lines and then leave. But then there was working alone and not working with my friends, which I hope goes away as soon as possible. Some jobs were done in one minute, so when I did an episode of One Piece, I just had to go in there and record a character doing an evil laugh for a minute and then I'd go home.

Kakinuma: The thing I'd like to end as quickly as possible is that during events we're not allowed to raise our voices due to restrictions, so a lot of what we do just becomes physical motion. So that's one thing I'd like to end really soon.

Furukawa:When we do voice acting, we really rely on each others reaction, so not having those is pretty big.

To have lent your voice to such milestones in anime as Dragon Ball Z, Gundam, and Sailor Moon, does it feel larger than life to be a part of that?

Kakinuma: Being here right now feels like that. It's otherworldly. Just to be able to have the whole world overseeing our work is a mysterious feeling

Furukawa: I'd definitely like to tell my younger self about it.

When you first got started, were there any VAs that had an impact or influence on you?

Furukawa: Kei Tomiyama. I would check out the magazines he was in, and saw all of the outfits and sunglasses he wore, so I would find all of the stuff he was wearing. I was kinda a groupie like that.

As people grow older, our voices tend to change. But not yours. How do you keep your voices in such great shape?

Furukawa: I don't do any specific kind of training, but I do work every single day. So putting in that work is kind of a perfect supplement.

Kakinuma: My brain really hasn't aged that much, so that's how I get it done.

Do you have any good con stories?

Kakinuma: It's been two and a half years since I've been to a con, so right now it's a special, funny feeling to be here right now.

Furukawa: I'm an otaku myself and I love cosplaying, so to see well-crafted cosplay makes me happy.

Favorite memory of doing Ataru on Urusei Yatsura?

Furukawa: For me, laughing is one of the more difficult acts in the craft, and in Urusei Yatsura, it would be a shock whenever Lum would come to me, so I had to shriek and yell. And then I would have to laugh after getting shocked, which is hard.

I was wondering if you could share your favorite memories on Patlabor.

Furukawa: One of the big things that left an impression on me was when I was told to shift away from the typical anime voice to a more realistic one. So that really left an impression on me. So to give an example, “I said knock it off.” In an anime context, it would be more comical. “I said KNOCK IT OFF!” But in a more dramatic way, “I said...knock it off.”

What are some of the demands and culture surrounding VAs?

Furukawa:The big thing is that being a voice talent has gained legit traction as a career, which really makes us happy. There are a lot of young people who'd love to become voice talent, so there are a lot of institutions for that, which is awesome. We actually are involved in a production company called Aoni Production, and we spend a lot of time preparing the next generation for voice acting. We're normally focused on the acting side of things, and Shino is especially focused on expressing emotions like laughing or crying.

How do you translate what you learned into your teachings?

Kakinuma: The number one thing is imagination, and learning things at home. When you say konnichiwa at home, you bow. But when you're recording, you can't move. You have to stay completely still while keeping those emotions and motives in mind. It's like when you're on stage; you can't turn your back on the audience.

Any difficult roles that you had problems getting into?

Furukawa: In my case, I'm naturally a baritone, so my range is from a to f. So when I was doing Dragon Ball, you see Chis Sabbat and he has a naturally low voice. But when I was doing Dragon Ball, I'd been told to do things even lower. “Vegeta, is that all you got?” “Do it lower.” It felt like I had to be Clint Eastwood. Ataru was easy to do because he has a high voice, which is close to my natural voice.

Kakinuma: In my case, in the Wano arc of One Piece I play O-Tsuru, so I had to play a traditional Japanese woman. So even though I have a t-shirt on, I had to pretend she was wearing a kimono, which was difficult to adjust to. It's exactly one of those things that you have to really imagine it all in your head.

In your roles, you guys had to do a lot of screaming. Have there been any moments that have seriously strained your voice, and how have you dealt with that? (Particularly with Urusei Yatsura)

Furukawa: In particular, when you're doing game soundtracks and you're the only one recording there will be 300 lines you'll have to do. That's the notorious voice killer in the industry. But it's never been a problem for me.

Is there any difficulty getting back into a role you have to get back into after doing it like 10 years ago?

Furukawa: In my case, whenever I see images of that character, it brings back memories of the time I did it, so there's no special preparation. I feel like my voice never changes that much.

What was it like to return to the role of Gundam's Kai Shiden after 40 years?

Furukawa: The voice itself doesn't change that much. He's very nice to children – there's a moment when he's almost about to step on children, so he had to shout “Get out of the way kid!” And that was kind of a challenge to do. Anime used to be aimed at a children's audience. Now that a more sophisticated and more general audience has entered, we have to have a more dramatic approach.

There's a gag scene [in Urusei Yatsura] where Shūtarō peeks into the classroom. What do you think was going through Ataru's head and do you think he could challenge Kenshiro in a fist fight?

Furukawa: *laughs* It would be kind of a stand-off, that's for sure.

Has there been any Western television that has influenced you?

Furukawa: It isn't easy to list, but it's the quality of a line that would stick with me. As far as old movies, Casablanca for sure. I just love that black-and-white era of cinema.

Kakinuma: I love Peanuts. I want to live like Snoopy. Our dogs actually sleep in a Snoopy-shaped house.