Retour interview
This: http://www.gamer.ne.jp/news/201507120003/. Just because.
Q. Please share your thoughts after you finished recording.
- At first, I was glad to voice something Angelique. I never expected it would actually happen in a game again. I really am grateful to the people at Koei-Tecmo and the fans' support for this project. Frankly, I spaced out a lot just thinking about that before each recording. When I was done, I was really glad and relieved.
- I've grown a lot since my first performance in this series, so that might be reflected in the love messages this time around. My first approach was to bring back the Oscar of the past. The more thought about it though, I got strangely sheepish about it. I mean, I wanted to preserve the younger me but the current me isn't very embarrassed by these lines anymore. It's strange how things change... That wasn't how it turned out in the booth since I tried to act with my past self in mind. That's why I think you'll see a brand new Oscar in the game.
Q. Please tell us your opinion about Oscar's appeal.
- It's gotta be how he's nice but looks down on you. He's a real sweet guy with a tendency to judge women. Not in a bad way, kinda like he is measuring them up as individuals.
- And there's the side of him that acts professional as a Sacred Guardian. There's a good balance to his character. He is awesome though. He is nice to women yet doesn't grant them favors, and he takes his job seriously. A real adult this guy.
Q. Do you share any similarities with him?
- No! (laughs). If I had to choose one thing, then it's that we're both supervisors. I run my own company and manage teams of juniors making it out into the industry. Oscar interacts with the younger Sacred Guardians. His words may be harsh but he does care and look after them. That's where we're a little similar. Our love for our fellow man is beneath our sharp tongues.
Q. If you were a Queen Candidate, which one would you choose: love or your mission?
- Love. They both happen once in a lifetime in this series. Men would probably go for the job. I would rather choose a lifetime with that special someone in life.
Q. If you became a Sacred Guardian, what would you want to govern?
- I would be the Sacred Guardian of Love. I think it would be awesome to bless people with a love life free from woe and to grant love to the unfortunate ones who never experienced it before. Really though, I don't want to act as anyone else besides Oscar. The Sacred Guardian of Fire is all I want.
Q. Please tell us your thoughts about Oscar's redesign.
- Honestly, I think he's changed quite a bit. He's always been stylish and smart looking, something I liked about him. When I think about my voice coming out of this character design... I think it might break everyone's expectations for him. It looks competently made in a lot of ways, and I'm not sure if my voice would be a good match for it.
- Oscar's looking good. He's really smartly dressed. The voice actors were surprised to see the new designs; I imagine fans must have been more surprised than us. He looks different, but his personality hasn't changed.
- I haven't heard the voice for the new character Brian. I think he really sticks out too. I hope everyone enjoys him too.
Q. If you were to expand the Angelique series, what would you do?
- I think they've done everything by now... Well, I do like the music in the series. I've said this to the composers before; I like how memorable it is. It's easy to hum the songs. We've done a lot of duets, though I don't think we've done too many coupling works in this series. I don't want to sound like a know it all about that. Although I would like to play as Julious someday. (laugh)
- We've done a lot of things in these twenty years, like lots of radio programs and variety CDs. At the next event, I would like to try my hand at writing the screenplay. (laugh) Everyone is a veteran at what they do and they can bring lots of ideas to the table. It would be great if we could have everyone singing the chorus for the ending scenes.
Q. Is there something you wish to point out that we have missed?
- From the top of my head, there's a lot of lines that I've said for Oscar and they're full of his appeal. There's the new characters too. And I remember recording a lot of scenes like a tea party and a ball. There's a lot to enjoy so please look forward to them.
Q. Any last minute messages you have for fans?
- This is the game that I have been waiting for. We always do our best for the Angelique stage events, but we really pulled out all the stops for Retour. Please lend us your strength. Acting is all about enjoying the fruits of great teamwork. We can't do it without all of you. Let's do it one more time together.
Thank you very much.