‘Anime Japan’ March 2023: Attack On Titan Stage Event
Preamble
Every March in Tokyo, representatives of different anime studios and shops put up stalls at the Tokyo Big Site Exhibition Hall to advertise upcoming anime and related goods. ‘Anime Japan’ is also a locus for interviews with voice actors. This year, Kaji Yuki (Eren), Ishikawa Yui (Mikasa), and Inoue Marina (Armin) went to promote Part 3 of The Final Season.
I couldn’t pass up the chance to go. However, there is limited space at the Stage Events, and the success of an application is determined by lottery. I applied for five events and got rejected from four – but as fate would have it, I got the ticket for SNK! I was as excited as Armin at the ocean. I of course went in my Survey Corps cloak.
Two caveats: photographs were not permitted, so none are provided. Also, my Japanese isn’t perfect, but I’m confident I got the gist of what they were saying.
The Event
The three seiyuu expressed sadness at the series coming to an end, and at how this would be their last time at Anime Japan after ten years. They thanked the presenter for having been their ‘MC’ for all this time.
On the projector, a scene from the last episode relevant to each of their characters was played. First up was Armin and his love confession to Annie on the ship (no pun intended). Inoue expressed interest in the complex feelings between them, and is curious to see where it goes because, unlike the other two, she hasn’t read the ending yet.
Next was Mikasa, who was given the redux of her “See you later, Eren” scene from the start of the series. Ishikawa was really excited for everyone to understand the meaning of those words, but managed to hold herself back from spoiling us.
Finally we had Eren with his breakdown in front of Ramzi. Kaji referred to this scene as Eren expressing his honne. In Japanese culture it is often said that people have a public face, tatemae, and a private face, honne. This is very true of Eren. Kaji commented that, although Eren is acting like a scary titan, this scene shows us he is human at heart after all.
Kaji found it very difficult to talk about the scene further without spoiling anything, but what he did say was very interesting. He expressed his inner conflict over Eren’s actions: acknowledging their awfulness, but understanding the desire to protect the people close to you. Having been with the character for such a long time now, he told us that, ultimately, he wants to be his ally. This was immediately followed up with a pained expression and the rider that “it’s complicated”.
I was really impressed by how deeply Kaji understands Eren. It’s exactly what you’d want from a lead actor, to have such a connection with their character. Interestingly, the word he used for ‘ally’, 味方 (mikata), is the same one Historia uses when she rescues Eren.
After this, the presenter mentioned perhaps the biggest event from the last episode: Hange’s death. Kaji reflected that, although it’s tragic, Hange must be happy to be with their senpai again.
Then came various announcements of events for the SNK anime’s 10th anniversary. You can find all these on the anime’s Twitter page. The merchandise collab with the Gudetama ‘Lazy Egg’ character drew a laugh from everyone.
Another landmark was SNK Radio’s 100th episode. Kaji was fiercely proud of this. He gave a booming YOROSHIKU ONEGAISHIMASU and an inordinately deep bow when he asked us to tune in.
A video compiling key moments from across all four seasons was then played on the projector. Inoue was conflicted, wanting to go “Woah!” on the one hand, but also “Nooo” because it’s ending. Ishikawa agreed there was a certain painful feeling.
The actors will be giving their last interview for the series at K Arena, Yokohama in 2024. Like Inoue, Kaji said he can’t look forward to it because he doesn’t want everything to end – but that he is excited nevertheless. There was a cute moment when a baby started crying and Kaji joked around with a dad in the crowd.
For the finale, the audience were instructed to stand and give a Survey Corps salute on Kaji’s SHINZO WO SASAGEYO, which filled the hall without the aid of a microphone. Ishikawa smiled and waved in my general direction while she left, so I can die content.
The Red Stage, where this interview took place, had no room for ticketless bystanders, so I really was lucky to get in. At the Blue Stage, I was able to peek over the stanchions to watch the BokuYaba and Tokyo Revengers interviews. I didn’t take notes on these, but I can sum up what I remember if anyone’s interested.
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Rant about Sakurai Takahiro. (Getou's va)
I don't usually rant but I need to blow off some stream.
I just came to know that veteran seiyuu Sakurai Takahiro was caught cheating on his wife for 10 years with a writer of his radio show. The mistress had no idea that he was married as seiyuus are very good at hiding their marriage from paparazzi, his marriage was disclosed last month and the cheating was disclosed today.
What's worse is that the mistress really had no idea about him being married and actually thought she would be marrying him and oh my god...how can a person just downgrade so much to the point they feel the need to cheat on their spouse FOR 10 FEAKING YEAR And play with other people's hearts.
Due to the shock the mistress was h0spitalized and she is in deep tra uma.
Another worse thing is that seiyuu stans are making it all about anime which just proves that wow, fans sometimes are the reason for an artist's downfall like you telling me you are more worried about Getou's voice getting replaced than the fact that the voice behind Getou literally cheated on his spouse for 10yrs and played with mistress's heart and gave her so much shock to the point she was sent to h0spital???
Not everything is about anime and your favorite character, open your eyes and read the fucking room. This man caused so many trouble for his agency, wife, poor mistress, all the contracts of collab and solo work he had with different companies and what not.
Absolutely disappointed and disgusted to know that people like him even exist.
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Souma's route was a slog to get through so here's some bad jokes that kept me awake
I got scared every time Kaji-san screamed ^^' Dialovers trauma is real
(So disappointed we didn't get a proper Dialovers reunion scene...)
(It's so weird to me that Hakuouki was first with the whole MC-gets-her-blood-sucked-by-her-love-interests thing and Dialovers just leaned into it more. Ah, and comparing the blood-drinking scenes from EB with DL really did me no good, it just frustrated me due to the missed opportunities... Especially since imagining Souma during Kanato's dummy head moments helped me get through his route ^^' I kinda want a Souma with some Kanato-elements now, you know? Oh, and not to mention all the shame every Hakuouki love interest felt before/while/after drinking blood, like: It wouldn't be awkward/bad if you didn't make it so! Also feels like kink-shaming tbh...)
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