As you guys may or may not have seen already, the Yuri on Ice production team aired a pre-Grand Prix Final special event today featuring the creator of the anime, Kubo Mitsurou, and the Japanesevoice actors of Yuuri Katsuki (Toyonaga Toshiyuki), Victor Nikiforov (Suwabe Junichi) and Yuri Plisetsky (Uchiyama Kouki). (You can watch the special here.)
You may have seen a variation of this picture in the past few hours and that comes from said special event (the people in the picture are listed above, going from left to right):
What I want to do here is compile the most relevant translations of what they said during this special eventin this post. Also, they openly addressed the kiss scene in episode 7 for the first time ever during this special, so you might wanna keep reading for that!
I’ll be going more or less chronologically.
They highlighted that the recording
sessions for YOI were way longer than most of the other anime series they
played in during their careers. They said that recording the voices for one
episode took around 6-7 hours (whereas for other anime usually it would be around 3, 4 at
most). They said that they spent that time on redoing scenes and creating all
the proper nuances in the characters’ speech/reactions etc. They agreed that it
was tiring, but fun in the end. Suwabe admitted that his image of Victor and
the director’s image of Victor were different (especially at first) so getting
on the same page and agreeing on the proper sound of the characters was crucial
and also took some time.
Toyonaga said that during the recording of
the first episode, he sat down with the sound director and discussed in which direction
they should take his acting for Yuuri for a long time. They decided that Yuuri should not
have many typical anime protagonist antics and quirks (acting-wise) and should
sound as real and realistic as possible. In the end, they came up with the
natural, raw-sounding voice and that’s what they went with from the first
episode until the last. Toyonaga said that this is also something that is
rarely done in the industry and what makes acting for YOI feel special.
^Toyonaga’s
face when Kubo said that, the moment she heard him in the audition, she knew he
was the only one for the role.
Kubo said that after the first episode aired,
many male manga authors contacted her, saying how much they liked her new
anime. She was especially moved by the message from the author of “Hajime no
Ippo” George Morikawa who said that he really enjoyed the first episode and was
really impressed with Kubo.
Kubo
was asked whether she got to interview any skaters or got to see the backstage
of any skating events and she said that she didn’t get that opportunity at all
and in fact had to pay for her own tickets to go and see the skating rinks we
see in the anime (apparently she even went to Russia for references for the
anime).
^Suwabe casually feeding Toyonaga some katsudon. (Foreshadowing?)
They also talked about the scene where Victor first meets Yuuri in the hot springs and had a long discussion about Victor’s nipples
and how the writers weren’t sure what color or shape or size to give them but they
ended up reaching a consensus and that’s what we can see in the anime. Kubo
also said that they hadn’t decided what Yuuri’s nipples would look like but she
had to draw them for that one poster in that one magazine and again it was a
difficult decision because there’s such a variety of nipples out there that it’s
hard to choose. They concluded that Yuri on Ice had nuance even in the nipple
department.
Then they discussed THE scene from episode
7 and I found this part quite exciting because this is the first time the
creator/voice actors addressed it directly and openly. And well, they called it
the hug/kiss scene. Kubo said that she got a lot of tweets from all over the
world, asking her for clarification (and some private messages, to which she
responded with the truth, but she didn’t share what ‘the truth’ was during the event (she was
smiling like all hell though so I think it’s pretty damn clear that it was a
kiss)). In the end, Kubo explained that
she doesn’t want to push only one way of seeing the scene onto the viewers and
she thinks it’s better if the fans decide what they’re more comfortable with
themselves.
Which I’d say is fair enough and doesn’t take anything away from the scene, because it’s all about how we the viewers see it. She basically admitted that both interpretations are true. So we’re good.
Random bonus: They all agreed that JJ’s song (Theme of
King JJ) was memorable to them because the entire cast had to gather during
that recording session to record the audience singing that song. During
recording sessions, there is usually a break before the A-Part and B-Part of an
episode and on that occasion the sound director told them to listen to the song
during their break and memorize the lyrics so that they can get it recorded
immediately after. They all agreed that they struggled a bit because it was so
sudden and the lyrics were entirely in English. Uchiyama also said that Miyano
Mamoru (JJ’s VA) learned the lyrics quickly and started translating and singing
them in Japanese and the rest of the cast just sort of glared at him.
Bronus:
^Embarrassing hugs.
I think my translations are accurate, but feel free to check them with the video! I found this to be a very interesting and amusing event and I sure hope we’ll get another one, addressing the events in later episodes *cough airport scene and engagement rings cough* directly, eventually.
Hope you found this post educational or useful otherwise! (And if you have any questions, feel free to message me!)
Shinhwa member Shin Hyesung embarked on an autumn camp with his fans.
For three days from September 30 to October 2, Shin Hyesung enjoyed a dreamy autumn camp titled ‘2016 HS Camp - Delight Time’ at a resort in Gangchon with fans from Korea, Japan, China, and more.
The first thing the singer did was to call out each and every participant’s name, even those with foreign names difficult to pronounce. He then went on to brief his fans on the upcoming schedule, answer fan questions, take photos with the fans, and speak in a surprise phone call with fellow member Kim Dongwan.
What followed was a surprise event in which Shin Hyesung visited fan rooms, taking photos with and giving out presents to those that won against him in a mini-game, kicking off the camp with a night to remember.
On the second day, the singer showed off his cooking skills, then held a mini-sports event and played games such as tug-of-war and relay walking race. The sports event included a fierce game of foot-volleyball with guest member Jun Jin, who dropped by to congratulate Shin Hyesung on his camp.
In the mini-concert held the same evening, Shin Hyesung sang his own songs ‘Roco Drama’, ‘One Step More’, and more, as well as reminiscent melodies such as Oh Hyuk’s ‘Girl’, Lee Jeok’s ‘Don’t Worry’, and other tunes. He also introduced stories turned in from his fans, adding to the mood.
After the concert, Shin Hyesung delivered a sincere and thankful goodbye to his fans and shook each and every fan’s hand, looking into their eyes and thanking them.
The camp was made even more special in that Shin Hyesung participated in every step from event design to the details, even preparing greetings for the foreign fans and leading everyone to participate actively.
His agency Live Works Company commented, “We thank Shin Hyesung’s fans for their unwavering support, and we hope the camp will remain as a good memory. We’ll continue to prepare such events where fans can meet with Shin Hyesung, so we hope to see their support, and we also hope they’re looking forward to the Shinhwa promotions to take place later in the year.”
Shin Hyesung will soon be promoting with his group Shinhwa, which is set to return with its 13th studio album later this year.
