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fukasenanairo · 5 years

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SAO Natalie Comic Shimazaki Nobunaga/Kawahara Reki Translation

(Late) Happy birthday Eugeo! It seems I’m destined to never be free from this hellhole. Putting this here because Tumblr is at least good with formatting and long text. Part 2+3 will be done whenever I have time, though at least I’m like a third of the way into part 2. I did all of them because I’m stupid.

Link to original interview

To Kirito, Eugeo is his very first and last male best friend.

Thank you for your hard work these past two cours.

KAWAHARA: Thank you for your hard work!

SHIMAZAKI: Thank you!

How are you feeling so far now that it’s finished airing?

KAWAHARA: I thought two cours were quite a long time, but now that it’s over, time really went by in a flash.

SHIMAZAKI: Seriously. All these fun times just pass you by.

KAWAHARA: Regarding Eugeo, there was a sense that we were counting down the time to say goodbye. Especially in the latter half, I just kept thinking “Ah, the story is heading to that point…”

SHIMAZAKI: Right? That thought nagged at me somewhat, but probably more so for Matsuoka (Yoshitsugu) than me. Maybe it was because I was playing Eugeo, but as the voice recording went on, I slowly began to accept my fate, so to speak. It was a bittersweet feeling, like the kind you get when you say “I’ll be leaving”. Matsuoka haven’t been able to accept it at all though (laugh).

KAWAHARA: Ahaha (laugh). Well, it’s always hard to say goodbye.

Shimazaki-san and Matsuoka-san are close friends like Kirito and Eugeo, so it was probably even harder.

SHIMAZAKI: For me, I have done everything I could, everything I should have done, in these two cours, so it was just another thing coming to an end. However, I’m sure Kawahara-sensei, too, thought “Eugeo…”

KAWAHARA: Back then, when I was working on the Web serialization as an amateur, I would put my all in writing towards a predetermined conclusion. When I had the opportunity to rewrite through Dengeki Bunko, I had a chance to change Eugeo’s fate. I could not do it then, but I was granted another chance through the anime adaptation. “Eh? Eugeo doesn’t die?” There could have been a development like that. In the end, I could not bring it up in the script meeting.

SHIMAZAKI: If Eugeo had been alive, the story beyond that…

KAWAHARA: The latter half (3rd cour and beyond) would have to be rewritten completely. There would be a huge strain on the scriptwriters, but (as a story) I thought it was possible to create a scenario beyond the 2nd cour that Eugeo could work in. So I thought about changing his fate.

SHIMAZAKI: If you had suggested that, it would have just been “Kawahara-sensei, please take responsibility.”

KAWAHARA: Yeah, it probably would have turned out as “Please write the draft” (laugh). Well, Director Ono (Manabu) was the type to stay faithful to the original work, so that might have been hard either way.

SHIMAZAKI: For you to even consider that, Eugeo must have been an important person to Kawahara-sensei too.

KAWAHARA: SAO will continue from now on, but no other character can take Eugeo’s place. To Kirito, he was his first and last male best friend...It hits quite hard when you think about how he lost such a dear friend.

There were times I could understand how Eugeo felt towards Kirito.

When you wrote Alicization, between the character of Eugeo and the worldbuilding, which did you think of first?

KAWAHARA: First, I had an idea that I wanted to write a story about a world like this. Except for the “Aincrad” arc, Kirito has basically been a stranger, a traveler coming and leaving between worlds. So when I wrote Alicization, I needed someone who bore on the brunt of this world. Eugeo was written as a character that symbolizes the structural contradictions of Underworld, and the tragedy that arose from them. I wanted to make him into Kirito’s partner, so at first I wanted to give him the same kind of energetic feel Kirito had. However, when I actually got to writing, he acted more like a brake to Kirito. Well, he is still the type that says whatever that needs to be said and does whatever that needs to be done. Shimazaki-san I believe is close friends with Matsuoka-san, so when you do something together, which one usually takes the lead?

SHIMAZAKI: Usually it’s not about which one is taking the lead. Matsuoka is the type that prefers actions to words. It’s the same in acting. I am the one that put things into words and make suggestions. When we go eat together too, we start by confirming with each other, like “Is there anything you really want to eat today?” and working towards a compromise. (laugh)

KAWAHARA: For example, usually when you walk together, which one seems to be walking in front?

SHIMAZAKI: No, none of that. It’s just lining up side by side (laugh). However, in a professional context, when I was standing in front of the microphone, there were times I could understand how Eugeo felt towards Kirito. He’s trying to stand as an equal to Kirito, but he feels admiration and a sense of inferiority towards him, like “Kirito is really amazing” and “I’m no match for him”. This is not a negative feeling; it comes from an affectionate regard towards Kirito.

The same goes for the relationship between yourself and Matsuoka-san too.

SHIMAZAKI: That’s right, since way back, every time when I look at Matsuoka. Matsuoka’s energy and quick wit are amazing, right? That’s why he could take the lead among everyone around him like Kirito does. However, just like how Kirito thinks “Eugeo is stronger than me” Matsuoka also says things like “Nobunaga is really good at this” a lot of times.

The line at the climax of episode 24 “Now stand. My closest friend. My hero”, are there any similarities to the relationship between you two?

SHIMAZAKI: There are a lot. Matsuoka really is a hero. He’s always been amazing ever since back then. We became friends since the time we were just mostly voicing nameless soldier A, soldier B or something like that. After that, we started to be given main roles, but usually Matsuoka would be a little faster. If you ask him, he’d say “There’s no such thing”, but to me he was always running ahead. However, if I want to stand on equal footing with him as a close friend, I want to be standing equal as a voice actor as well. Thanks to that, I have been able to work hard to this point. Honestly, every time we record for SAO, I always act like my life depended on it.

KAWAHARA: Is that so?

SHIMAZAKI: Matsuoka has the experience of someone who’s voiced Kirito up to now, and above all his talent is amazing. Eugeo is a buddy on equal footing with Kirito, so I have to work hard to mirror that with Matsuoka.

KAWAHARA: I have been attending the recording sessions since the first cour, but Matsuoka-san in Alicization’s recordings seem a lot more relaxed. Maybe because Shimazaki-san was sitting next to him.

SHIMAZAKI: Yes, I think so as well (laugh). Of course, it’s due to how much Matsuoka himself has grown in the role as well.

KAWAHARA: Of course (laugh).

When I first heard Shimazaki-san’s Eugeo, I didn’t feel anything out of place.

Kawahara-sensei, what did you feel when you heard Shimazaki-san’s Eugeo?

KAWAHARA: When I write the Light Novels, I can’t hear the character voices at all. However, if it’s a character that appeared in the anime, I can then attach a voice to that character. When I first heard Shimazaki-san’s Eugeo, it just clicked into place in my head. After that, I had the chance to write Eugeo again after a while in the 1st Blu-ray’s bonus novel, and when I did, I could hear Shimazaki-san’s voice.

SHIMAZAKI: I’m honored to hear that! When the SAO anime had just started airing, Matsuoka told me “Later on there is going to be this character called Eugeo, I’d really like to see you voice him”. I read the novels and thought that I would really want to do it. Still, there was no way I could get that wish (laugh). So I didn’t expect too much out of it, but it was something that was always on my mind. After that, when Eugeo was to be voiced in the game Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization’s DLC, they asked for me! I sent a LINE message to Matsuoka while still in shock (laugh). I’m glad to be able to continue in the anime.

Please tell us something you were particularly conscious about when acting as Eugeo.

SHIMAZAKI: That would have to be the childhood part (laugh).

KAWAHARA: Is that so (laugh).

SHIMAZAKI: Matsuoka had experience acting as “Kiriko-chan”, so I thought that was natural that he would do Kirito as a child as well.

In the 2nd cour of “Phantom Bullet”, Matsuoka-san voiced Kirito in a female-lookalike avatar, right?

SHIMAZAKI: That’s why I would probably be voicing Eugeo as a child as well, I thought. Plus, I want to do it myself. That was when Eugeo first appeared, and his story began with the time, as a child, he could not move and could not save Alice. If I leave that to someone else, I feel it would not mesh as well. And so, though it might have been selfish of me, if possible, I wanted to voice him from beginning to end.

Administrator tore open a gap in his heart.

When you voice Eugeo in his childhood, is there anything you pay particular attention to?

SHIMAZAKI: I experimented “What if I acted like this…?”, but once I was actually recording the scene, during the conversation, when we established the balance between the three (with Kirito and Alice) I thought I actually sounded like a child. In the first episode, while Eugeo and Kirito were talking, Alice brought a lunch box. Thanks to the exquisite balance that Kayano-san brought, Alice seemed a little like an older sister to the two of us. I think it established quite well the balance of the three in their childhood.

KAWAHARA: Right, Alice’s “Hey, you two!” really set the scene between the three.

SHIMAZAKI: First, there was this feeling that the two of us could do fine by ourselves. But when Kayano-san’s Alice came for us, it’s like “We’re saved!” for me and Matsuoka (laugh). Her dialogues, or should I say, her voice acting really is amazing.

KAWAHARA: I’m an amateur when it comes to voice acting, but I could feel the difference when actors record separately instead of having a conversation together. Actually, for Sakamoto Maaya-san who voices Administrator, her schedule didn’t line up at first, so she was always recording separately. However, for the last two episodes, everyone joined the recording session. Then, (Administrator’s) impact was on another level. “Scary!” I thought (laugh).

SHIMAZAKI: She was amazing. Now that you mention it, that was just the right timing when Administrator started going all out. I could feel chills going down my spine in the recording.

KAWAHARA: Of course, Sakamoto-san’s Administrator was amazing ever since the start too. Actually, in the Web version, Eugeo brushed off Administrator’s temptation, so he did not become an Integrity Knight.

The development where he fell to her temptation and got brainwashed was adapted to the anime from the Light Novel, right?

KAWAHARA: It became like that in the Dengeki Bunko version because my editor Miki-san said “I really want to see Kirito versus Eugeo!” “I want to tie up that foreshadow-y loose end where Kirito thought “One day he might surpass me” about Eugeo”. Since he appealed so strongly, I was compelled to act. I was convinced to rewrite it, but even so a part of me thought “Eugeo is not that weak of a person”. However, when I saw Sakamoto-san’s Administrator, I thought “I definitely can’t blame him for falling for this”.

SHIMAZAKI: As the one she directed those words at, I have to admit it was very persuasive. However, while Administrator was skillful in her deceit and very alluring, Eugeo was not enamored with her in a sexual sense.

KAWAHARA: That’s right.

SHIMAZAKI: It did include a love for the opposite sex, but what she struck was a gap in his heart caused by a lack of familial, brotherly, and many other kinds of love. The anime did not show Eugeo’s family, though…

In the original work, Eugeo was not blessed with love from his parents or brothers.

SHIMAZAKI: So, in that scene, I remembered that in the text of the original, he was always alone, working and having his money taken away by his family. Above all that, his memories of his time with Kirito was taken, and so there would be a big gap there as well.

KAWAHARA: I’m sure that if he had had the memories of the time the three of them spent together, he would not have fallen to her temptation.

SHIMAZAKI: That’s right! I think he would have brushed her off as well.

It is not impossible to revive Eugeo and Alice Schuberg

Please elaborate more about the Alice that was precious to Eugeo.

KAWAHARA: Earlier, I said Eugeo was the character that symbolized the contradictions and distortion of Underworld. Alice, on the other hand, is the character that symbolize Underworld’s hope and “proof”. She was set as a character who was just as much of a victim as Eugeo, but continued to struggle against her cruel fate.

From when you created these characters, what did you imagine Eugeo’s feelings toward Alice to be?

KAWAHARA: What Eugeo is searching for is the Alice Schuberg from his childhood that was taken away. It is not the changed personality Synthesis Thirty.

SHIMAZAKI: It is quite painful.

KAWAHARA: In episode 21, when Kirito, Eugeo and Alice stand side by side, I was really impressed. However, that Alice is not the Alice (Schuberg) Eugeo have been thinking about. Also, while talking to Kirito, she refers to Eugeo as “your friend”, and treats him like someone she is only barely acquainted with. It was honestly heartending.

SHIMAZAKI: That “Synthesis or Schuberg” issue was quite a big thing for me too. That scene Kawahara-sensei talked about just now, about the three people standing side by side, I thought the same thing. I don’t know if I should say this, but…Really, is it possible to have a Super Happy End where they defeated Administrator, no one died, and they could separate Schuberg and Synthesis?

KAWAHARA: Yes. If Cardinal lived, it would be possible to separate the two Alices’ Fluctlights (souls). There is a hurdle about the other Alice’s body, but just within the setting, it is possible.

SHIMAZAKI: Also, at the end (of episode 24) when Schuberg’s Fluctlight left with Eugeo, I thought it was due to the power of a “will” beyond logic. I really loved that scene in the original. Did you decide on that end from the beginning?

KAWAHARA: Because it would be too sad if Eugeo left by himself. When he became a sword, a part of Eugeo’s Fluctlight merged with Schuberg’s Fluctlight. In that way, once the two have merged and were gone, I wrote “No one yet knows where the collection of photons that formed the two souls would go.” I did leave a little implication in there.

I’m expecting something from that expression “No one yet knows”.

KAWAHARA: In the original, the new arc “Unital Ring” have just begun. And so, this will be the third time I am having this conflict. In terms of setting, bringing back Eugeo and Alice Schuberg is not impossible, so I feel like it’s a problem I’m always having (laugh). It’s just that, I have to think as an author whether bringing someone back to life so easily is a good thing…I think this conflict will continue on for a while.

SHIMAZAKI: That’s quite hard…Please endeavor to make SAO the best you possibly can.

KAWAHARA: Right.

I thought it was impressive that you didn’t push for Eugeo’s revival (laugh).

SHIMAZAKI: No, no (laugh). Of course I want him to come back, but as a work, it is important to make it as good as possible. I’m sure it’s the best thing for Eugeo as well. Plus, later in the SAO media mix, maybe there will be an “if” where a grown up Alice Schuberg, Kirito and Eugeo appear together. There might be a chance that Kawahara-sensei would write something like that, right?

KAWAHARA: That’s true. That chance might come up.

Believe in Kirito, and watch over the last of the Alicization arc.

In addition to the ones mentioned above, do you have a favorite scene?

SHIMAZAKI: I have a lot…For example, (in episode 10) the case with Raios (Antinous) and Humbert (Zizak), Eugeo said “I’m just like those goblins” and Kirito said “You’re human, Eugeo. Just like me”, I really loved that scene. Up to this point, Kirito has accumulated a lot of experience, which included killing people, but he is not making excuses for killing a person. He’s going to grit his teeth and move forward, without losing his way or being conflicted. I thought that was amazing.

KAWAHARA: Kirito was not reincarnated into another world, but rather in principle it’s like playing a game with a controller. He’s been burdened with a heroic role, but he’s not really a hero. In essence, he’s a high school student living in Kawagoe. I wanted to emphasize that part.

What is Kawahara-sensei’s favorite part?

KAWAHARA: At the time of this interview, it has not been broadcast yet, but the last scene between Kirito and Eugeo left a strong impression on me. They did a lot of testing on Eugeo’s final words to Kirito, but in the actual scene it still hits you in the gut. It’s painful no matter how many times I see it. How much do voice actors control their emotions in such a scene?

SHIMAZAKI: In that scene with Kirito and Eugeo, I didn’t really try to control anything and just went with my own emotions. It’s strange, but I was calm during that scene. (In episode 23) when Eugeo said “I know the mission I should fulfill” and became a sword, Matsuoka’s performance, as Kirito, was so moving as he desperately tried to stop Eugeo. But at that time, I think Eugeo had already made up his resolve, and I too, calmly said “It’s fine, Kirito”. I was already prepared for the jump around then.

KAWAHARA: Then, in the farewell with Kirito, you were calm like that too?

SHIMAZAKI: Yes. My feelings were all over the place, but somewhere I was really calm…

KAWAHARA: Eugeo himself was probably calm as well.

SHIMAZAKI: That’s true. Eugeo suffered a lot because of Underworld. In the end, he was saved by being together with Alice Schuberg, so I feel like I was convinced that it was okay. When we approached around the 20th episode, I had the feeling of “I want to stay with everyone in the last two cours too”. However, when the time came, I felt calm. I had done what I could and what I should have done, with all my power.

KAWAHARA: What about Matsuoka-san?

SHIMAZAKI: Of course, like Kirito, he received a great shock and got horribly messed up (laugh).

KAWAHARA: Ah…(laugh)

SHIMAZAKI: A lot of times mid-conversation, he’d say something like “Nobunaga’s gone”* and get depressed, looking really sad. At the end, when we were talking in front of the microphone, I could almost feel Matsuoka’s Kirito saying “I don’t want this to happen!” That’s why I was calm instead, that it was better this way. If I were to be greedy and say “I want to do more”, it might have affected the voice acting, and make it seem like Eugeo has regrets. Of course, it’s not like he didn’t feel any at all, but in that instant, that regret was very close to zero.

Then, finally, to those who watched the first two cours, is there anything you would like to say? Please also tell us about any highlights in the third and last cours that will be broadcast from October.

SHIMAZAKI: First, thank you for watching up to episode 24. I greatly enjoyed this experience as an actor and a person. Also, I think that the first two cours were great thanks to the efforts of everyone involved in SAO, including Kawahara-sensei’s original work. I would be happy if everyone thought so as well. If you reached episode 24, you may be feeling depressed. It was an unsettling ending, and the last two cours will surely be painful and difficult as well. However, it’s alright because Kirito will be there. “My hero” will be there. I believe that if it is Kirito, he will surely lead everyone to a good future. Please believe in Kirito and watch over Alicization to the end. As Eugeo, I will be watching over with everyone.

KAWAHARA: Thank you for sticking with Alicization through 24 (+1) episodes. However, surprisingly, Alicization arc is not ending yet (laugh). That said, once the second half starts, it will go by in a flash as well, so I hope everyone continue to enjoy Sword Art Online Alicization: War of Underworld from October. Eugeo has left the stage, but many characters (except Administrator and Chudelkin) will continue to appear. As for Chudelkin, Takagi-san’s performance was so great that it feels like we lost another precious person. (laughs) In the last two cours, characters who make a big impact like Chudelkin will continue to appear one after another in the enemy side, so please look forward to that.

*Note: Yoshitsugu was saying 「信長ロス」which generally means the same but is used in many contexts (e.g. when a pet dies or when a celebrity get married) and never sound good translated as “Nobunaga loss”.

#sao #sword art online #eugeo #shimazaki nobunaga #kawahara reki #translations #I'm sleepy #zakki please stop the love letter to tsugu I can't handle too much at once #I was stupid and did all of this in a few hours and now I'm dead

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