The TV anime " The Ramparts of Ice ," based on the vertical-scrolling manga by Kocha Agasawa published in Shueisha's Margaret magazine, is airing nationwide every Thursday at 11:56 PM on 28 TBS network stations. The story is a coming-of-age ensemble drama set in a high school, centering on four characters: the aloof girl Hikawa Koyuki , the school idol Azumi Miki, the outgoing boy Amamiya Minato, and the gentle and calm basketball club member Hino Yota. Popular voice actress Fuka Izumi plays Azumi Miki, the childhood friend of the protagonist Hikawa Koyuki . Izumi is a big fan of the work and said she portrayed Azumi Miki "with courage." We asked her about the charm of the work and behind-the-scenes stories from the recording.
◇I empathized with the original story so much... I'm also worried about playing the role of Miki.
" The Ramparts of Ice" was serialized on "LINE Manga" from January 2020 to April 2022. Hikawa Koyuki, who is not good at interacting with people and puts up walls between herself and others, spends her time alone in high school, not interacting with anyone other than her childhood friend Azumi Miki. However, she meets Amamiya Minato, who for some reason closes the distance between her and the laid-back and kind basketball club member Hino Yota. The delicate and realistic portrayal of psychology has resonated with many readers, and the cumulative number of views on "LINE Manga" has exceeded 160 million, and the cumulative number of comic book sales has exceeded 2 million copies, making it very popular.
Izumi has been a big fan of the series since it was first published, and says, "I was obviously younger back then, but I related to it so much that there were even some scenes that made me feel a little uncomfortable."
"Back then, when I was reading it, I often felt like I was looking right through the characters. But the fact that everyone overcomes their worries and struggles and moves forward makes it enjoyable to read, and I feel like it's a work that makes you feel even more attached to the characters and the story itself."
Miki is a character who, having had a bad experience with friendships in middle school, suppresses her naturally boisterous self in high school and acts like the class idol, struggling with the gap between her true self and her public persona. Izumi reveals that she sees similarities between Miki and herself during her middle and high school years.
"In middle school, I was very cheerful and quite lively (laughs). But there was a time in middle school when my relationships with those around me changed a little, and I started to feel uncomfortable. I was always the center of attention, but I thought that maybe some people might have been hurt by it, and maybe there was no point in being the center?... After that realization, I entered high school and became a quiet girl. I wondered what position I should be in, and just like Miki, my place in the world became vague. But I gradually got tired of that too, and I became empty (laughs), so I stopped pretending, and when I tried to live without being overly cheerful or overly quiet, I surprisingly made a lot of friends. I realized that there are people who will be with me even if I don't force myself to be cheerful and the center of attention. In the end, high school life was really fun."
"The Ramparts of Ice" became a deeply meaningful work for me, as it was an experience that truly synchronized with Miki's character. When I was chosen to appear in the anime, I was overjoyed, but at the same time, I also felt anxious because it was a work I loved so much.
"Because I loved the role so much, I also had this feeling that 'I'm not Miki.' I'm not as powerful or cheerful as Miki, so I was really worried about whether I could do it. However, during the audition, the director and assistant director apparently said, 'The real Miki has arrived.' I realized that if I acted the way I wanted to, I could become Miki, and that gave me the confidence to perform more freely."
◇Don't worry about the sound getting rough; just act with your heart.
What Izumi valued most when interacting with Miki was "not overthinking things."
"I think Miki is the kind of girl who acts immediately on impulse, or rather, she moves before she even thinks about it. She's very positive, but she probably doesn't even think of herself as positive. Even when she has a problem, she doesn't think, 'I'll solve it,' but rather she starts moving to solve it. So I tried to let her express the emotions that arose from our interaction without overthinking things."
Miki said she felt like her emotions were a rollercoaster, and that it was difficult to express her rapidly changing emotions.
"In the first 15 minutes, she's incredibly happy, then suddenly she's troubled, then she starts acting out—it's a real rollercoaster, so it was quite difficult to manage those emotions. My acting style is to build my performance around the flow of emotions, so I had to condense it all into short cuts. I was constantly searching for what would trigger Miki's emotions to reach such peaks. This was the first time I'd ever thought about how to bring my emotions to a certain point, from when I was at home until I got to the studio and the voice recording started. I was always thinking about what kind of mental state I should be in when creating the character."
"I also had the desire to act based solely on emotion, without worrying about the sound."
"I consulted with the sound director and asked if I could try it without worrying about the sound becoming rough or deviating from Miki's base voice. To be honest, it took courage, but I thought that it would be more in character for Miki, so I gave it a try. I feel like I was pretty raw and exposed. When I play Miki, my arms and shoulders get tired, but I also feel like I've used up a lot of my heart. Because it's a work that requires delicate emotional expression, I have to pull out emotions from the delicate parts of myself and do it over and over again, so I end up feeling very exhausted. I think this is probably a common experience when doing voice recording for ' The Ramparts of Ice '."
◇A workplace where everyone trusted each other and shared the same enthusiasm.
In the anime, in addition to Izumi-san as Miki, the four main characters are voiced by up-and-coming young voice actors: Anna Shoya Chiba as Koyuki , Shoya Chiba as Minato, and Keishi Inomata as Yota. Reflecting on the recording sessions, she said, "I think the four of us trusted each other. I learned so much."
"Because I loved the original work and read it thoroughly, I had an image of the characters in my mind, but there were many times when I had to take a different approach. However, they were truly alive as characters, and I discovered that there were also plans to take them in that direction. I learned a lot, both technically and emotionally, and through this work, I realized once again how difficult voice acting is. Everyone had a lot of love for their characters, and I think all four of us are the type to think things through, so we were all working seriously and carefully on creating the work. I feel like we were able to act with the same level of intensity."
Izumi, who overcame the anxieties and pressures that come with being a fan of the original work, took on the challenge of the anime " The Ramparts of Ice." She says, "As an animation, it has been finished in a very appealing way, so I think it is a work that you will really enjoy."
"Each character is thinking and living their life with such intensity that I don't think you'll be able to stop watching halfway through. You'll definitely want to see what choices each character makes and what the outcome will be. If there's something in your heart that you haven't been able to come to terms with yet, I think this work might help you process it, give you a clue to resolving it, or give you strength. It's a very interesting work, so I'm sure you'll enjoy watching it. I want you to watch it all the way to the end."
(Shiroinu/MANTANWEB)
