Akari Yura plays Shinomiya Kokoa in the smartphone game app "D4DJ Groovy Mix," a DJ-themed media mix project "D4DJ." Originally an idol, she is currently active mainly as a voice actress, releasing songs and performing live as a member of the unit "UniChØrd," to which Shinomiya Kokoa belongs. The unit's song "DJ NANMO WAKARAN" is currently going viral on TikTok, and she is garnering attention. Two years have passed since she decided to "start over from scratch in a completely different field," and we spoke to her about her thoughts on voice acting, and her growing ambition for the future.
◇ "I have no intention of denying my past as an idol," but...
Yura was born on March 12th in Hiroshima Prefecture. After studying singing and dancing at Actors School Hiroshima, she joined the idol group "STU48" at the age of 18. She graduated from the group at the age of 21 and moved to Tokyo, where she began working as a voice actress at the age of 23.
Looking back on her two years as a voice actress, Yura confesses, "Even though I auditioned a lot, I wasn't blessed with many opportunities to appear in anime productions, and there was a time when I felt a bit anxious."
When I was able to get to the dubbing studio, I felt the difference in ability between me and the other voice actors.
"I feel that it's really difficult to make it in this world unless I continue to hone my skills. I still take lessons whenever I have time, but after seeing the performances of various senior actors, I realized that I wasn't born with any natural talent, so I'm determined to hone anything I can."
Yura has always loved anime, and even when she was an idol, fans would often tell her, "You have a cute voice, you're suited to being a voice actress." She says, "I had a vague idea that it would be nice to do that kind of work someday," but soon after she began her voice acting career, she came to strongly feel that "I have to keep in mind that the common sense of the idol world and the common sense of the voice acting world are different."
"My manager at the time gave me a lot of guidance, which changed my perception, and I realized that it would be very rude to do voice acting as an extension of being an idol. Of course, I have no intention of denying my past as an idol, and I think there are some acting skills that I can do precisely because of that past, but I also felt like I wanted to start from scratch and do my best in a completely different place."
◇ As a voice actor, I want to be someone who can still get work 10 years from now.
While gradually increasing his work as a professional voice actor, he also appeared in the TV anime series "The Beginning After the End" and "Catch Me at the Ballpark!" which aired from April to June.
"Acting in front of my seniors is inevitably nerve-wracking, and I was thinking about things like what if I caused the dubbing to be delayed, and I was so nervous I was shaking, but the seniors with more experience were so relaxed and enjoying themselves, and even moving their whole bodies while acting, which was quite shocking. I wondered what I had been afraid of, and realized that I couldn't act well if I was so scared that my body was stiff. I learned this because I was able to actually go to a dubbing studio, and it was a good experience that will help me in the future."
As a voice actor, she says, "My current goal is to be someone who will still be able to get work 10 years from now."
"When I was an idol, my looks and youth were one of my strengths and charms, but as a voice actress, I think that by honing my acting skills, I can play a wide range of roles, from grandmothers to little children, so I hope that even 10 years from now, people will think, 'I'd like to ask Yura-chan to play this role,' regardless of her age."
Apart from her voice acting career, she is currently enthusiastic about performing on stage and in musicals. She appeared in "Love Live! School Idol Musical," which ran from February to April, and said she felt like she had come into contact with the true essence of acting.
"When I was aiming to become a voice actor, I was always talking in front of a microphone, and through the musical I really felt that maybe I had become a 'lip-talker'. In a musical, you have to be dynamic, use your voice from your stomach, and act many times bigger than usual before you can get your message across to the audience, so it was a really good experience for me, and I would like to take on more challenges in stage plays and musicals."
Furthermore, it was a good experience for him to be able to "act without being nervous and have fun."
"That's why I hope to be able to perform on stage again, and I think that by acting in a more relaxed and open manner like that, I'll be able to add more depth to my voice acting in anime dubbing."
Yura will be holding a summer festival event at ACE.LOUNGE Yotsuya 1st (Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo) on August 23rd. She will also throw the ceremonial first pitch and sing the national anthem at the Route Inn BC League game between the Tochigi Golden Braves and Gunma Diamond Pegasus, which will be held at Jet Black Flowers Stadium (Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture) on August 31st.
