So I was digging around in old tweets from the JoJo’s Twitter. The one linked with the site, not the anime twitter, and I found this.
The picture is part of an interview session held by Animate TV with the core cast of Battle Tendency back on the 9th. Even though that’s a picture of seven people, there were ten in the interview: Tomokazu Sugita (Joseph), Takuya Sato (Caeser), Atsuko Tanaka (Lisa Lisa), Atsushi Imaruoka (Stroheim), Akio Ootsuka (Wham), Keiji Fujiwara (ACDC), Kazuhiko Inoue (Cars), Ayako Kawasumi (Erina), and Toru Okawa (The Narrator).
A lot of things were said. There’s only five questions, but with ten people, that comes out to a sizeable interview. I worked through it as best I could, and so I present you with a quick look into the interview and the final thoughts on JoJo’s from the Part 2 cast. As I’m no translator by any stretch, these will be summarized paragraphs of what was said rather than a full on translation.
“How do you feel having finished the last episode?”
Sugita was worried the whole time about “dropping the baton” passed to him from Part 1, but thinking back on it, he realized that there is no baton because Part 2 is so different from Part 1.
Sato is a JoJo’s reader, so he knew what the ending was. Still, there’s a sense of relief because Joseph wins in the end. It’s a sad feeling, though, because JoJo’s is very intense, but also very short.
Tanaka breifly just said that she was sad coming to the end.
Imaruoka felt a strong pride being the voice actor for Stroheim, a man who died honorably in battle.
Ootsuka and Fujiwara were both unhappy they weren’t able to see it to the end because Wham and ACDC die partway into the show.
Inoue was between Sugita and Tanaka: Worried about how the show would go, but sad now to be at the end.
Ueda is the wordiest of the bunch for all the questions. He is sad that it’s over because this was a full half year project for him. There was a lot of pressure, but a rewarding feeling for making it to the end. He gave it his all in the last scene and was left feeling very thankful.
Kawasumi was proud to have been a part of the cast and crew than managed to hold up the original spirit of JoJo’s so well.
Okawa is more towards the relieved side feeling like how you do after a really tough run.
“Having worked on the whole show, what do you look back on as your favorite scene?”
Sugita really liked the part of the OP where Joseph is strutting up and the title kanji burst in. He also really liked the Part 2 PV.
Sato picked the scene where Caeser and Joseph make the icicle rope when Joseph dives in after Cars into the gorge. That scene really portrayed Joseph and Caeser’s relationship with their confidence as a duo but also pride as rivals.
Tanaka was so moved by Caeser’s death scene that rehearsing it at home brought her to tears.
Imaruoka just went with the whole of “Caeser’s Lonely Youth” because the imagry, sound, and acting were all just perfect. He did, however, say that the Stroheim commercial was a close second.
Ootsuka and Fujiwara both went with the fight between Caeser and Wham. There’s a passion and sadness welling up through the scene between these two people fighting desperately for what they believe in even though there’s so much hostility between them.
Inoue felt a little guilty because he picked the scene where he pulled a “win-win” with Cars. I think that’s probably referring to when he traps Joseph in the balancing trap with Lisa Lisa. (Edit: Actually, it’s not “win-win” it’s “wiin wiin” as in air guitar sounds from when Cars was playing Lisa Lisa’s leg. Thanks for correcting me in the comments, Buddy Waters.)
Ueda had a handful. There was episode 3 which convinced him that there is really something powerful about the show. Epsiode 6, the whole cast and crew did a great job conveying the feeling of the story. He has ones in Part 2, like the scene where Joseph and Speedwagon are talking over the radio and both desperately trying to fight inevitability. The last cry he does was completely real.
Kawasumi chose the whole end. It was sad to say “goodbye” while feeling that JoJo’s has so much more to offer.
Okawa wasn’t sure because there’s tons of good scenes, but he also really felt the power of JoJo’s in Episode 3.
“What’s your impression of your character, and when was it hard to play that character?”
Joseph was always the kind of hero Sugita empathized with because he would show what looked like weakness only for it to really be strategy. It was a little tough when Joseph had to be the one surprised.
Sato had trouble with approaching the end of his time as Caeser. “How do you give all you feelings to a close friend so far away?” It brought him a lot of anxiety, but once they started, he realized that the anxiety was meaningless. He also brought up that it can be tough to be the co-star character, but he was happy to express Caeser’s feelings so honestly.
Tanaka initially had trouble with Lisa Lisa because she’s 20 and also 50, so she wasn’t sure how to properly balance her voice. A sound director came up and told her that Lisa Lisa is a woman with a lot experiences, so Tanaka just needed to play it naturally. After that, she could concentrate solely on her acting and not the way her voice sounded.
Imaruoka was nervous because Stroheim has that unique way of talking with “!!” words and “…” words.
Ootsuka was, surprisingly, nervous because he heard about Wham having moves like “Holy Sandstorm” and “Final Mode,” and he was worried he couldn’t do the moves and the expectation of the moves justice.
Fujiwara was always giving 100%! So he had a sore stomach while acting. ACDC is kinda cute, though.
Inoue was confused at first how to go about Cars because he goes through so many transformations so quickly, both in literal form and personality, but it was fun to play him. He also really liked the written sound effects.
Ueda was very aware that Speedwagon is kind of a busybody and always thinking, “I want to do something!” But after he meets Johnathan and starts experiencing all these horrors unlike anything else in the world he changes and thinks, “I can’t do anything.” He’s a nice guy all the same, but speaks with a lot of long words, so he had to be careful not to be redundant. Also, not to speak in a way that would break the tension during strong scenes.
Fujiwara felt that Erina gives this impression that she’s an ideal woman and ahad this “princess” feeling to her. The hard part was moving on to playing Part 2 Erina.
Okawa came in with the weird impression that JoJo’s was a very calm story because there’s narration, so he had to fight as hard as he could against that feeling.
“I imagine recording scenes being very exciting, so tell me about the recordings. I was impressed to the point I figured it must not be like a typical recording.”
Sugita talked about how it was tough, but you get good stories. One time during a tough recording, he was able to get through because Ueda got him two containers of throat drops. Once they were almost all gone, he then had to move onto a big fight scene.
Sato was surprised that even people coming in for unnamed character roles were bringing the big fighting spirit. That sense of unity and the aura that came off actors like those playing the Pillar Men really excited him.
Tanaka talked about how there’s so much energy in saying something as simple as “IT’S!” because the show is so faithful to the original work. Inoue would apparently have a lot of leftover momentum even when doing rerecordings.
Imaruoka was worried because so many actors would leave in the middle because of sore throats. The staff giving out throat drops is what allowed his throat to survive.
Ootsuka talked about how there was lots of impassioned yelling because so many people were into the original.
Fujiwara remarked on how the original cast was just on fire all the way.
Inoue said there was a test recording that had to be scrapped because there was so much intensity. He said he was trying really hard.
Ueda was funny because of his self awareness. The clashing of acting with the preserved original dialogue made him feel like he was doing period piece kabuki. He had to pick up from the intensity of others like Sugita and Ootsuka, and said the staff must have had fun watching them work.
Kawasumi said that JoJo’s is pretty unique because they held so strongly to the original.
Okawa knew he always had to bring his A game because he was watching guys like Ootsuka sweat.
“Do you have a message to the fans?”
Sugita apparently keeps getting asked, “What about Part 3?” He just hopes that they get to do it. (Edit: It’s not that he’s being asked, it’s that he knows “your next words will be” asking about Part 3. Thanks for correcting me, Drakonia.)
Sato said that the show has so much support from the long history of JoJo fans. Getting to play Caeser is a feather in his cap both as an actor and fan of the manga. The passion rising will always be in his heart. He thanks the fans and asks that we’re sure to see the show.
Tanaka’s been getting lots of letters of encouragement since playing Lisa Lisa. She had fun, and wants to thank the fans.
Imaruoka simply said, “JOJO’S BIZZARE ADVENTURE IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD!” I’d like to think he paused for a second, holding up a finger to hold the question, then burst out of his chair screaming.
Ootsuka said that while the anime is over for now, make sure and continue to support it for Part 3. And also eventually Part 4.
Fujiwara thanks the fans and has already been buying some DVDs himself.
Inoue worked hard and wants you to accept his BURNING PASSION!
Ueda is glad that everyone is so happy with the show. There was so much passion brought in because JoJo’s now has a quarter century history. He thanks the fans and asks that we share this show, their feelings, with everyone.
Kawasumi leaves the legacy of JoJo’s to those that come after them. She hopes there’s a day when we can see a new JoJo which, if we’re good and supportive, we may just see it.
Okawa could feel the heated power of the original work and the cast and crew. He asked that we continue to support the show so that it may continue.
Whew. It’s quite the interview. I’m glad to see everyone coming away with such positive feelings about the show. Don’t let their feelings go to waste. As long as they’ve shown their passion, let’s show ours and support JoJo with all our hearts!
(Thanks to Araki JoJo Twitter for posting this. Make sure and check out the original article by Animate TV with the link up at the top)
We finally got it. Our confirmation as MTAC 2014 press just came. We’re set up to get all the pictures, all the panels, and all the interviews that are interesting to us and maybe also interesting to you. I posited this back when we first applied, but we’ll be accepting interview questions for the special guests for as long as we can. If I check the email a few minutes before the interview and it has a new questions, I will work that question in. Here’s the full guest list again.
As the ice thaws and the air warms, all the little anime fans are wriggling their way out of warm blankets to greet the world in ridiculous costumes that may or may not resemble those of famous anime characters. As people like that need to be contained so eyes wounded by over-saturation can be kept to a minimum, we have anime conventions, and thus the Middle Tennessee Anime Convention or MTAC.
One Pixel Jump 