The TV anime "Witch Watch," based on the popular manga by Shinohara Kenta currently being serialized in "Weekly Shonen Jump" (Shueisha), will be broadcast on MBS and TBS in the Sunday 5pm anime slot starting April 6th. Voice actress Kawaguchi Rina has been selected to play the role of the series' heroine, the clumsy witch Wakatsuki Nico. Kawaguchi has also played the role of Ikaruga Luka in the game "The Idolmaster: Shiny Colors," but this is her first time playing the heroine of a TV anime. Kawaguchi, who said she felt "a lot of pressure," shared her thoughts on the series and what it was like behind the scenes during the recording.
◇ Extremely nervous about his first big role, "My hands were shaking..." Overcoming failure and staying positive
"Witch Watch" is a comedy manga by Shinohara, who is known for "SKET DANCE" and "Astra Lost in Space". It began serialization in February 2021 in "Weekly Shonen Jump". It depicts the cohabitation life of Wakatsuki Nico, who is training to become a witch, and her childhood friend Otogi Morihito (Morihito), a high school student with the powers of a demon. Morihito is given the mission of being a familiar to protect Nico from a prophesied disaster, and his future begins to be full of difficulties and mysteries. Ryota Suzuki will play Morihito, and voice actors such as Kohei Amasaki, Kaito Ishikawa, and Kusunoki Tomori will appear. It will be broadcast for two consecutive seasons.
Kawaguchi says that what inspired her to become a voice actor was a friend from junior high school.
"A friend I met in middle school dreamed of becoming a voice actor, and that's when I wanted to become friends with her. At school, you have classes where you're asked about your future career path and you research careers, right? At the time, I thought that if we pursued the same dream, we might become friends. At first, I started aiming for it because I wanted to be able to converse with her. Up until then, I hadn't even heard of the profession of voice acting. That's how I found out about the profession, but we often played around by coming up with original characters together and writing and reading our own scripts, and I gradually realised that acting with a voice was fun."
She then pursued a career as a voice actress, and was chosen to play the roles of Ikaruga Luka in "The Idolmaster: Shiny Colors" and Reginleif in "Record of Ragnarok", and now she will be playing the heroine for the first time in "Witch Watch".
She said that she "honestly don't remember much about the audition for the role of Nico because I was so desperate." When she was selected for the role, she said, "I was honestly happy, but at the same time, I also felt pressure because it's such a big title and I think it's an important work that Shinohara-sensei, the original author, and all the fans have built up over the years."
Looking back, he was very nervous during the recording of the first episode, saying, "I think I was tensing my shoulders quite a bit."
"During the first episode, my hands were shaking as I held the script, and there was a time when I almost lost track of my lines due to the speed of the story. At that time, Suzuki-san even told me the timing of Nico's lip-syncing. That's how nervous I was."
He also feels that it was this failure that enabled him to gradually become accustomed to the work environment.
"Of course, it's best to make a clean decision. Because I failed once, I've come to think, 'Failure is not something to be afraid of. I have seniors who will help me.' After the first episode of dubbing, Suzuki-san told me, 'It's fine to talk to me in casual terms,' and I'm grateful for his friendly attitude. Just as Nico relies on Moi-chan (Morihito), Suzuki-san and the other seniors who work with me are all kind, so I was able to gradually relax and realize that it was a safe set. I tried not to rely too much on others, but from then on, instead of getting depressed about tension or failure, I was able to switch to a positive mindset and say, 'I'll try harder.'"
Kawaguchi said of Nico's charm, "At first, I had the image of her as a very innocent, curious and active girl, but as I followed the story, I realized that Nico has a kind heart, and even though she sometimes makes mistakes and ends up going around in circles, she has a core of wanting to use her magic for someone else. That's why people around her want to help her, even when she makes mistakes." She said she has been influenced by Nico in a positive way.
"Nico rarely becomes negative, no matter what the situation, and she always tries to do something before thinking. I didn't have that kind of initiative in myself, so I sometimes struggled to express it. But acting influenced me, and I started to think a little more that maybe it's okay to think more loosely, that maybe it's okay to just act first without thinking too much about the future. I'm really grateful to Nico for that."
◇A place where you can train your explosive power and abdominal muscles, learn and discover
In playing the role of Nico, the words of the original author, Shinohara-san, and director Ikehata Hiroshi were a great source of encouragement.
"Both Shinohara-sensei, the author of the original work, and Director Ikebata, said, 'When I heard your first words at the audition, I absolutely thought you were the one for Nico,' and it made me really happy. Even before recording began, they told me, 'Please act as you wish, Kawaguchi-san,' and left it to me. It was the first time I'd ever been told something like that. That's why, in playing Nico, I think it's better not to think too much about it, and rather than making it look contrived and cunning, to just be true to yourself, be nervous and desperate, and do your best, so that Nico's personality comes out. Now I'm used to the set and I'm feeling a little more relaxed, but I want to try not to forget that fresh feeling I had at the beginning."
The recording of "Witch Watch" involved a lot of improvisation, which Kawaguchi says was also a challenge.
"While there was a lot of ad-lib and it was a lot of fun, at the beginning I was thinking things like, 'I have to think up my lines', 'How many cuts can I continue for?' But now I've realised that while funny ad-lib lines are important, it's more important to create a lively atmosphere, so even if it's a bit disorganised, I've come to think that it's fine if I try it out in a test first, and that it's entertaining. I really learned a lot on this set. Sometimes we're asked to ad-lib suddenly on set, so it really helped me hone my reflexes."
Although she was initially so nervous on set that her hands were shaking, she now smiles and says, "It's a lot of fun."
"When we have a dialogue, we have to catch the ball that the other person throws and then throw it back. Sometimes we have to drop the ball on purpose. There is a lot to learn from my seniors and there are many discoveries on set, so I think it's a place where I can get a lot of new experiences. The ad libs that everyone pops out are really funny, and I might have ripped abs by the time the two seasons are over (laughs). I'm really grateful to everyone around me for allowing me to record in such a friendly atmosphere. It's so much fun!"
Finally, we asked Kawaguchi about her goals as a voice actor.
"I haven't decided yet. I hope to be able to solidify it from now on, but in this job there are a lot of encounters where we meet for the first time, and on top of that, depending on the location, the roles are completely different. On this location, we might play friendly characters, but on another location, we might play characters who are fighting. I get to meet all kinds of people in all kinds of situations, so I think it's a really strange world. I want to cherish each and every encounter, and I want to firmly connect the connections I've made. Not just for the moment, but so that we can connect in the future. I want to be the kind of person that people think, 'I want to work with you again.'"
Kawaguchi will be taking on her first major role in "Witch Watch." Watch her put her heart into playing the clumsy witch Nico as she struggles to impress.
*The surname "saki" in Kohei Amasaki's name is pronounced "tatsusaki" (standing cape).
