The second season of the TV anime "Anyway, I'm Falling in Love with You", based on the manga by Mitsui Haruka currently serialized in the monthly girls' manga magazine Nakayoshi (Kodansha), is currently airing on TBS every Thursday at 1:28 AM and on BS11 every Sunday at 11:30 PM. The series is a school-themed coming-of-age story depicting the heart-pounding romance and youthful experiences of four childhood friends - Hazawa Teruzuki, Kashiwagi Miku, Izumi Ai, and Hoshikawa Shugo - who grew up like family in a seaside town, and the protagonist Nishino Miku. The role of Kashiwagi Miku, an honor student with a crush on Miku, is played by actor Yoshitaka Shion. Yoshitaka is known for her role as Yuri Briar in the musical SPY×FAMILY, and this is her first time voicing a main character in an anime. We spoke to her about her thoughts on the series, behind-the-scenes recording, and highlights of the second season.
◇First main cast in an anime, focusing on everyday life
The first season begins in the summer of 2020, when second-year high school student Mizuho faces the worst possible 17th birthday yet: her chance to get closer to the senior she admires is gone, her parents forget her birthday, and an unknown infectious disease outbreak cancels club competitions and school trips. Then, her childhood friend Teruzuki suddenly declares himself a potential boyfriend, and Teruzuki's actions prompt Miku to confess his feelings to her. Ai and Shugo also begin to move toward their own love lives, and the relationships between the five begin to crumble...
Yoshitaka appeared in the recording of the anime as a main cast member for the first time in the first season, and she recalls, "The day before recording, I always had a stomachache and was nervous. I still feel that way."
"You can't make any noise in the booth, and the tension makes my stomach churn. But actually, once the recording starts it's fun. I started by learning where to stand at the microphone, how to read the script, and how to fit my lines into the number of seconds, and I learned a lot by recording in the studio with everyone. I was conscious of the distance between us, the atmosphere, the vibe that only childhood friends can create, and how to express my own position."
During the recording, Yoshitaka felt that "it had a different sense of everyday life than fantasy or battle anime."
"It felt natural, so I thought there was no need to make any weird changes to my voice. I wanted to express in my own way what I had learned and absorbed from everyone. I feel like my emotions are moving along with Fukami's, and I'm changing."
◇Fuka's unwavering sincerity is a guidepost. The second season is "heartbreaking."
In the first season, Fuka confesses his feelings to Mizuho, but is one step ahead of her as Teruzuki aggressively approaches her.
"It's really amazing. I think it's wonderful how honest and devoted Fuka is as a man, and I think I should follow his example. He walks the walk, studying to be a doctor and actually becoming one, and I really feel his sincerity. In the scene where he goes shopping with Mizuho, I was really impressed by how he tries to convey his feelings directly and properly."
What Yoshitaka values most when playing Fukami is his single-mindedness and sincerity.
"Because he has a single-minded sincerity at his core, and that sincerity never wavers, it was easy for me to live the role of Fuka, and he became a guidepost for me. I think Fuka is surprisingly more straightforward than anyone else. Terutsuki may be more straightforward in the way he communicates, but Fuka's thoughts are straightforward, and every word he says is smooth."
In the second season, "the answer to the approach that Fukami made in the first season will be revealed."
"While I was recording, there were some parts that I couldn't fully accept. For example, even when I said, 'I understand,' it was an 'I understand,' that I couldn't fully digest, and there were many lines that seemed to be implicit. With that answer, I felt that Fuka had become even more mature. It's kind of sad, isn't it? Watching as a viewer, I really thought, 'Why isn't she Fuka?' I myself felt that way, and while playing Fuka, I couldn't stop the overflowing emotions that I couldn't express in the first season."
He said that he recorded the second season alone, saying, "There are things that you can only see when you're alone. I think I was able to approach Mizuho with more focus, or face her in a more direct way. For me, facing Mizuho meant facing Fukami, so it was a fulfilling time."
◇ Surprised by the voice actors' "sound" and discoveries
One of the charms of "IAnyway, I'm Falling in Love with You" is the relationship between the childhood friends, most of whom have romantic feelings for Mizuho, but still care for each other. How does Yoshitaka see this relationship?
"While I think it's wonderful, I'm not really a believer in friendship between men and women (laughs). That's why I often find myself thinking, ' Anyway, I'm Falling in Love with You,' just as the title suggests. These five are in love, and I think they have a great balance, so if I were in the same class, I'd probably look up to them. I mean, wouldn't there be more jealousy and rifts between them? So I think they're just amazing."
He said he was "surprised" by the interactions with his childhood friend Sakura Shinfuku, who plays Mizuho, Kazuki Ura Shoya Chiba, who plays Terutsuki, Shoya Chiba, who plays Ai, and Keiji Inomata, who plays Shugo.
"Having appeared in stage plays and films myself, I feel that the audience can sense the emotional fluctuations of the characters through the sound. During recording, it's clear to see how voice actors are able to manipulate this even more skillfully. It's because they express the sounds of the words so delicately that something becomes apparent even without movement. If it were written as sheet music, the sound would move very much, but I often made discoveries like, 'If I use that kind of sound here, it will be easier to understand.'"
Yoshitaka said, "I hope viewers will be able to see how Fuka reacts to the answers to her love questions and see the emotional changes that take place in the second season."
The story will move forward significantly in the second season, including the "answer" that Fukami receives. Keep an eye on what happens to the childhood friends.
