j1m0ne's blog

I’d just like to point people to this interview with Nana by Nikkei TRENDYnet which I had linked to on my shared Google reader stuff, and I thought it’d be good to give it a little more exposure here. The interview is done by a non-otaku and is aimed mostly at non-otaku, and throws in a few unconventional questions. I probably won’t translate it all because… it’s a bit long, but I thought there was some amusing stuff in there which I’ll just shoot off quick translations for (I’m at work!).

From Nikkei TRENDYnet

The title of the article itself was LOL: 才色兼備の声優シンガーはオリコン2位！　アニメ界を牽引する水樹奈々を直撃！roughly translates to ‘The Beautiful and Intelligent Seiyuu Singer Hits Oricon No.2! Towing the Anime World (Along), Mizuki Nana Scores A Direct Hit!’

The first part of the article (page 1) is a brief intro to Nana, and also has a few lines of the writer’s impression of Nana (and throughout the rest of the article). Page 2 presses Nana on her enka background and transition to Jpop, and how she got to where she is today. There’s some rather LOL harshly worded! stuff there:

Journalist: There is no more enka (styling) left in your songs.
Nana: No, there are some nuances left!

Journalist: Looking at your agency profile, (I) thought you’d had it plain sailing all your life.
Nana: No, I had it hard! (Nana was still working part-time before she released an indies CD at 19 & then got scouted by King Records when she was 20)

Pages 3 and 4 are all sorts of random questions, both work and non-work related.

Q: Is your anime-related work progressing smoothly, are you getting more work?
A: The anime world is very severe.
Q: Severe?
A: It doesn’t matter if you are a veteran or junior, you have to audition for roles. If you don’t succeed in winning those roles (in auditions), you (may) have to give up the seiyuu profession. What’s more, people who you are normally very good friends with – they all turn into your rivals (during auditions).

Q: Have you ever thought of getting married? And if so, would you tell your fans about it?
A: If ‘the fated one’ does come along one day, I would like to inform (my fans) about it, maybe when I’m on stage. I don’t want to hide it. I do get many comments on my blog along the lines of ‘Will Nana get married like this one day?’ or ‘If (Nana) gets married, please do tell us!’

Q: You seem to be gaining a lot of female fans lately.
A: Yes, there seem to be more of them who listen to my songs, and then come to my live shows. So I do get many (girls) saying ‘Oh, you are a seiyuu!’. And of course, radio. I don’t normally talk about anime on my radio shows, so I do get a lot of people who don’t know (that I am a seiyuu).

Q: What sort of musical genre will you be dabbling in from now on?
A: I think it depends on the circumstances. If it’s an anime opening theme, then the song would have to match the anime’s feel.

Q: Akiba. Prime Minister Aso. Shokotan. These three keywords – what comes to your mind when you think about any of them?
A: Ah Shokotan, isn’t she cute? We have worked together before. That she would put my songs on her iPod is an honour. She seems to know a lot about me! (referring to Nana’s work, profile etc)

Q: Being a seiyuu, do you see Hatsune Miku as a rival?
A: I think it’s difficult to compare Hatsune Miku the character with the voice of a real person. For example, singing live is very different from singing you hear on a CD expression-wise. I like sounds that gets your blood pumping. Even in the studio, I like to use live instruments. And at that one moment when something explosive happens, that’s when people’s hearts are most touched.

Some of Nana’s answers were.. somewhat missing the point, like the Hatsune Miku one which travelled 120 miles in the wrong direction. But on the whole, I thought reading this was better than those boring ones you usually get on anime/geek sites like ‘Please tell us the interesting characteristics of this character’.

I wish I had more time to translate everything in full (someone else oblige, please), but you can make do with this for now.

The interview was done by Aso Kotaro, a lyricist/entertainment journalist who has penned songs for Mori Shinichi, TM Network & Kobayashi Sachiko, and writes regular columns for Nikkei Entertainment and TV Station. He mentions that he has never really had the opportunity to interview a seiyuu before and describes Nana as being a きちんとした女性 (‘precise’ lady) which immediately conjured up thoughts of Chiri Kitsu from Zetsubo-sensei…