The anime "Takopi's Original Sin" is based on the manga by Taizan5, which was serialized on Shueisha's manga app "Shonen Jump+". Episodes 3 and 4 depicted the complicated relationship between Shizuka Kuze's classmate, Azuma Naoki, and his brother, Junya. Naoki is an excellent student with excellent grades, but he feels an intense inferiority complex towards his perfect brother, Junya. We spoke to Nagase Anna, who plays Naoki, and Ryota Osaka, who plays Junya, about what went on behind the scenes during the recording. (The following contains spoilers up to episode 4)
◇ Higashi's acting changes little by little
-What is your impression of the work?
Nagase: I read the original manga when it was first serialized, and it really shocked me. This is exactly what it means to be "speechless." Even though I haven't experienced the exact same things as the characters, I felt the pain and suffering of the characters very close to home.
I feel bad for Osaka-san . The pictures are cute, so it's even more so. Now that I'm a parent myself, I feel like there aren't any good parents in the story. It's strange. I don't understand how someone could treat a child like that, or be violent towards them. It's scary, and I was annoyed by the adults in the story. I think I felt that way because I was so immersed in it.
Nagase: I also can't understand the behavior of adults, so I really understand the pain children are going through.
--Naoki has complicated feelings towards his family.
Nagase-san must be suffering. Being compared to his older brother, being disappointed in his mother, even being abandoned by Shizuka-chan... he can't help thinking about it. Everything is so hard. Azuma-kun has a sorrowful feeling that "I don't want you to abandon me, I don't want you to leave me behind." He feels lonely and out of his place in the family, he tries to confirm his own value by being kind to others and being praised and needed by others. Although he sometimes spins his wheels, I sympathized with him the most out of all the characters. At the end of episode 4, I couldn't help but cry at the scene where Junya, who spoke properly to Azuma-kun's only younger brother, Naoki, spoke to him.
-What was the most important thing to you when playing the role of Naoki?
Nagase-san: Always have a negative mind. He has a strong inferiority complex towards his brother and an extremely low sense of self-affirmation. Higashi-kun tries hard to be recognized by others, but his negative power is too great, so he basically can't think positively about things. I've become more conscious of the things I do when acting. There are some things I've changed from episode 1 to after. In episode 1, he's trying to help Shizuka-chan, and he speaks while thinking about what would make the other person happy and what would make them recognize him. He writes it in his head once and then outputs it, so it sounds a bit artificial. In episodes 3 and 4, a lot of unexpected situations happen, and he can only make temporary statements and actions. That makes the volume inconsistent and his voice blurry. I was conscious of changing the way I act little by little to match the flow of the story.
-What impression did you have of Junya, Osaka-san?
Osaka-san has many friends, is good at studying, and cares about his younger brother, but he is not omniscient and does not see everything about his brother. He does not know what Naoki is really thinking, and although he scolds him for various things, he just feels like "Do your best!". But in reality, it is not like that at all. When he finds out that Naoki's heart is completely broken, the words "Rely on me more" immediately come to mind. He is such a good guy that it is hard to believe he is in this work. There is nothing bad about him at all.
--Is your acting different from the other characters? I imagine the other characters to have a higher level of humidity...
That's right, Mr. Osaka . It's a dry, sunny day. In particular, in episode 3, I tried to show the difference between him and Naoki by simply being a good older brother. If he was bright and piercing through, Naoki's darkness would become more visible.
◇The attention to detail in the recording is amazing!
--Is there any difference in your acting between the audition and the actual recording?
Nagase-san loved the manga, and I thought, "I definitely want to do this!!" so I auditioned, but I didn't have any response at all. I thought it was no good... so I was very surprised when I was selected for the role. (Iino Shinya) When I asked the director, "Why did you choose me?" he said, "During the audition, I acted in a way that no one else had done, and that was interesting." I wasn't conscious of it, but he said that my performance at the audition was interesting, so I acted in a way that didn't destroy that image.
When I told the person who auditioned with me that I had been cast, he said, "Oh, I thought so." If he thought that, then the direction I took in the audition must not have been wrong, so I tried not to change it.
--What was the recording like?
Mr. Osaka values the dialogue, and won't record unless all the voice actors for the main characters are present. The director's attention to detail is amazing.
Because all the members of Nagase-san are performing together, each actor's acting is different. We took our time to record from the beginning.
--What did you feel while working together?
Nagase-san mentioned earlier that he acts in a straightforward manner, but when Junya appears, I feel such an overwhelming "light" that I have the illusion that I am watching a different work for a moment. There is no hidden meaning in Junya's words, everything is honest and there is no shadow. That is why Higashi-kun's shadow becomes darker. It was my first time working with Osaka-san on set, but I thought that Osaka-san's personality and warmth may be similar to Junya's.
When I listened to the dialogue between Osaka-san and other characters, I thought, "Huh? Is my acting out of place? Is it okay?" But now I realize that it might have been the right answer (laughs). Nagase-san, have you played a boy before?
This is the first time that Nagase-san has acted so intensely.
The darkness that appears when Naoki falls is incredible, isn't it? I like to go with the flow of the recording session, so it was hard for me to switch gears when I was playing Junya. I was pulled along by other characters and it almost made me feel depressed, but I had to be fired up to do it.
--While playing the role of Naoki, were you ever drawn to the darkness?
When I was watching the rehearsal footage at Nagase's house, the depiction of Azuma being cornered was so painful that I couldn't practice for a while. That was especially true in episode 4. I was worried about whether I could do it. Some parts looked even more cruel when they were made into an anime. I took on the recording with that pain and fear in mind. I hope that the anxiety I felt was well reflected in Azuma's feelings.
◇This is the first time I’ve ever felt this tired…
--I was also drawn in by Reina Ueda's acting as Shizuka. What did you feel while acting together?
Nagase-san is captivating. Ueda-san's enchanting voice and acting. I felt like I would be swallowed up if I let my guard down for a moment. During the break, everyone was friendly and chatting away. I think that's why we were able to record.
When I listened to Ueda's acting in episodes 3 and 4, Osaka-san was laughing, but I felt a sense of emptiness. I felt more emotion in episodes 1 and 2, when he was being bullied. It's strange. To be honest, I don't want Ueda to play this kind of role (laughs). He's a person with a pure heart.
Nagase- san: Shizuka-chan has no interest in anything other than going to find Chappie. She just uses Azuma-kun and doesn't think anything of him.
Osaka: Exactly. The part where he said "I wish he'd turn himself in" was really scary.
--Did you feel any pressure because it's a popular work? Was it a challenge?
Nagase-san: It was a much talked about work, and I loved the original work, so I felt nervous and under pressure. I guess the biggest challenge was switching my mindset. I thought I could clearly distinguish between fiction and the real world, and I thought I was good at switching between my normal self and the role I was playing, but it was the first time I'd ever felt so emotionally exhausted while acting. Every episode, I encouraged myself by saying, "I can't get too carried away, I have to work hard!" as I approached the recording.
Expectations are high for Osaka-san's popular works, and sometimes I try to make it look good, and I get a strange enthusiasm, and it ends up being a waste of time. But I have to make it natural, and I think it's important to create it together with everyone. So every time is a challenge. Of course I'm conscious of it. I've also had the opportunity to appear in the voice comic for Taizan5-sensei's "The Deadly Sins of the Ichinose Family," so that's even more so. But I was conscious of staying true to myself as Junya.
--This is an anime that is filled with the thoughts of the staff and cast.
Osaka-san has become amazing. She has been amazing since the first episode.
Nagase-san : From the storyboard stage, I knew this was going to be a great anime! It's packed with a lot of attention to detail.
--What happens after episode 5?
There are some scenes that have been expanded from Nagase's original work, so even if you have already read the original work, you may be able to see a different side of the characters. I hope you will look forward to it. I hope you will watch "Takopi's Original Sin" until the end.
