Megumi Han "Space Battleship Yamato" Interview: The role of Sasha passed down from mother to daughter with love and respect

Voice actress Megumi Han is playing the popular character Sasha in the latest remake of the popular anime Space Battleship Yamato, Yamato Forever REBEL 3199, which has been much talked about. Yamato 3199 is the latest in the remake series, based on the third anime film, Yamato Forever, released in 1980, and is a new interpretation of the original. In the original Yamato Forever, Megumi Han's mother, Keiko Han, played Sasha, and Megumi Han will take over the role from her mother. Sasha is the daughter of Mamoru Kodai and Starsha. She is the niece of the main character, Susumu Kodai, and holds the key to the story.

◇The Romance of Yamato

Megumi is known for her roles as Gon Freecss in Hunter x Hunter and Arima Kana in Oshi no Ko, while Keiko has played Lalah Sune in Mobile Suit Gundam. The mother and daughter will be playing popular characters that transcend time. Keiko is currently playing the role of Mother Desarium in the remake series. Megumi's character Sasha will make her full appearance in the second chapter of "3199," "Red Sun's Sorcerer."

　General Director Harutoshi Fukui explained the reason for casting the mother and daughter pair, saying, "I couldn't think of anyone else. I've been thinking about that since 2205." Megumi said she is "honored" to play Sasha.

　"I'm very grateful to be able to take over the role from my mother, and Fukui was very helpful to me when I made my debut in Mobile Suit Gundam UC, so I'm happy to be able to work with her again like this. I'm overwhelmed with emotion."

"Space Battleship Yamato" is a masterpiece that has been loved for a long time, half a century after the first TV anime series aired in 1974. Keiko played Sasha in "Yamato Forever" before Megumi was born, but she has been watching "Space Battleship Yamato" since she was a child.

"I have vivid memories of the first time I came across 'Yamato'. I was about three years old, so I was a little earlier than the other kids. I remember watching it on a laser disc we had at home and feeling a sense of romance even as a child. I was young so I didn't understand the whole story, but I was moved by the scene where Yamato takes off. They are in the middle of a battle, but each has their own principles, and wars with no answers are repeated. That has always been the case, and it depicts something universal. Of course there is romance, and the heart that tries to understand other people's feelings is also depicted, and I feel that there are as many answers as there are lives."

◇ Mother and Sasha overlap

When it came to taking over Sasha, her mother said some memorable words to her.

"She said to me, 'You will be taking on this role from now on,' which is a motherly thing to say. I think it also includes the fate that the character Sasha will carry. My mother plays Mother Desariam in this film, and Sasha is mentioned in the second chapter, but I wonder what she was thinking? We haven't talked about it, and no one has asked me about it."

Even before it was decided that Megumi would appear in "3199," her mother told her about "Space Battleship Yamato," and she felt like she saw Sasha and her mother in some ways.

"I feel that Sasha is a cute, charming, very pure, girlish character, and when I hear about my mother's life, she's just like Sasha. She's cute and charming, and has all the sparkly things we had as children, and has a soft demeanor, but I sense a certain strength of will, and from my perspective as a daughter, I can see a glimpse of her stubbornness. I feel that Sasha is a complex yet simple coexistence of these things. Sasha is a strong character who ultimately makes her own choices. She is both my mother then and my mother now, and I think of her as a mother's life."

I can feel the love and respect for her mother in Megumi's words. She is playing Sasha with these feelings in her heart.

"It feels like it was instilled in me as part of my DNA even before I was involved with Yamato. I rewatched Forever before recording, and I still remembered it. I want to protect the feelings and memories of Yamato fans, some of whom have joined us for the first time, and those who have supported us for a long time, and cherish those feelings as I play Sasha. The Yamato of today has the lines that Fukui wrote, and the Yamato crew today is different from back then."

◇The appeal of Harutoshi Fukui's words

In 3199, Sasha is an important character who holds the key to the story. However, in the second chapter, she is still a child and appears as a pure being.

"The character I play, Sasha, starts out as a two-year-old. She doesn't understand the complexities of her birth. I know everything, so I have to play her as a straight-A girl before she has even grown up, who accepts things purely and expresses them. I was conscious of the Yamato crew and Susumu Kodai being honest with their own feelings while they cannot move forward with their own feelings alone."

I was able to record with Daisuke Ono, who plays the "uncle" Susumu Kodai.

"There are times when I get to be with an uncle. I've worked with Ono on other sets, but when we first got together on the Yamato set, I had a strange feeling that I can't put into words, like it was the first time. I also felt something like the nostalgia that Sasha feels. I hope you look forward to the interaction between the uncle and Sasha."

Fukui was in charge of the series composition and scriptwriting for the remake series "Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love" and "Space Battleship Yamato 2205: A New Voyage," and will also serve as general director for the latest work. As an actor, how does Fukui feel about the story and lines he weaves?

"I feel a sense of romance in his words. They're not words I would choose in everyday conversation, but they're very beautiful and somehow poetic, and yet they're packed with drama, with the person's life. That's why I think I can empathize with them and let my thoughts flow. It's like I'm on stage, like I'm experiencing a great river. The stage directions in the script contain emotions, and they're also written in scenes without dialogue, which makes it very dramatic."

It's not yet clear how Sasha will play a role in "3199."

"Mr. Fukui has told me my role, but there are still many mysteries and I haven't been told how it will end. We've recorded up to the beginning of Chapter 5, and Sasha is changing rapidly. I think we'll see a side of Sasha that doesn't just follow through on "Forever". At that point, Sasha will become more and more like Kodai. There may be an element of a blood connection there. Before recording, Mr. Fukui told me about the feelings behind the lines and her true thoughts, so I went into the recording. It's a luxurious time, and I want to cherish it while I act."

Megumi plays Sasha with many thoughts deeply engraved in her heart. I want people to feel the feelings passed down from mother to daughter in "3199".