#my translations

Final Fantasy 7 Remake has a new interview with Co-Director Toriyama where he talks about a lot of small details and trivia about the game! This is the first part of a two part interview. Enjoy~

—It was surprising to hear the FFVII Main Theme play in the Sector 7 Slums! Was this intentional?

Toriyama:Since you visit the Sector 7 slums several times, we wanted it to feel like the hometown in FF7R where feelings of warmth welcome you, almost like returning to the place where you grew up. We decided that the original game’s world map song, the FFVII Main Theme, fit that image the best. Even though the Remake only takes place within Midgar, we wanted the music to not be limited to just from Midgar but include songs from the original game that fit the image and concept that we wanted to create.

—What kind of alcohol does Tifa prepare for you at Seventh Heaven?

Toriyama: The first drink is named after the bar itself, “Seventh Heaven,” and its flavor is supposed to be rejuvenating for those living in the slums. The second drink is called “Cosmo Canyon” with a red appearance to represent the actual Cosmo Canyon scenery. There’s also another green drink on the menu called “The Lifestream.” Since Tifa pulls some cool moves while preparing the drinks, the regulars sitting around the bar usually give her a generous tip if they have the means, so she’s gotten really good at that.

—Is Chadley supposed to be the young pretty boy of the game? What is the purpose of his character?

Toriyama: Chadley is younger than Cloud and the others in age, so I guess you can say he has that role. As for what is his purpose, if you clear battle reports within the game, it unlocks very difficult battles and explains a bit more about him, so I hope that you can challenge yourself with them!

—Sector 7th’s slums have a lot of cats. Is there someone on the development team that likes cats?

Toriyama:Since Wedge likes cats, he usually rescues stray cats around the slums, so he has a lot of them. Hamaguchi, the other Co-Director (Game Design/Programming), also raises cats, so we modeled the cats after them. I’m more of a dog person, so we tried to also include some dogs in the game to have balance it out. The result is the dog that lies down near Marle at the apartment building that she owns.

—Wedge’s cat seem pretty large. Are they supposed to resemble their master?

Toriyama:Wedge usually eats a lot himself, so he gives the same amount and portions to his cats too when raising them.

—Cloud’s mother and Tifa’s father do not have names in the original game, so why did they have names in the Remake?

Toriyama:The original concept art for the game actually had their names written down already, so in the Remake Cloud’s mother is named Claudia and Tifa’s father is named Brian. However, since Tifa’s father doesn’t have any lines in the Remake, the development staff just referred to him as the “dead body.”

—Plants don’t usually grow underneath the plate, so why does the area surrounding Aerith’s house have so many flowers blooming?

Toriyama:There is a large river that runs outside of Sector 5, which allows for a lot of the lifestream to also run underneath Aerith’s house and the rundown church, creating very clean water. Aerith uses this water to carefully raise the flowers. Since Aerith is an Ancient, perhaps she has the power to attract natural water and flowers.

—When you try to sneak out of Aerith’s house at night, the more you fail, the less obstacles stand in your way…?

Toriyama: Though Aerith gets mad at Cloud, she tries to clean up the obstacles a bit so it’s easier for him to sneak out of the house. Also, the lines that Aerith uses to scold Cloud with are supposed to surprise the player, almost like a horror type game. Even after you slip out of the house, she ambushes you later, which perhaps shows that she was just messing with you all along. If you think about it that way, it’s kind of scary, right?

—Moogie, the kid who sells various items, is quite a strange character. Where does he even get these things?

Toriyama:There’s a lot of adults who passionately collect Moogle Medals, so we created a setting where Moogie has connections in obtaining these rare items. The kids in the Sector 5 slums can really tough it out in their everyday lives.

—Why does Rude go easy on the girls? For example, using the Sleep spell on them.

Toriyama: In the original game, there was a setting where Rude did not attack Tifa in battle, so we used that and applied it to the Remake where he does not actively attack the female characters. However, if he didn’t attack at all, then that wouldn’t be considered a battle, so we had him use a few easier moves such as sleep [on Aerith].

—How did the concept of the “Angel of the Slums” come about?

Toriyama:Mireille actually appears in the FFVII light novel “TURKS: The Kids Are All Right,” which takes place after the events of Meteor, so we had her appear in the Remake too. However, when we deeply pondered the question of what she would have been doing in the slums during the time period of the Remake, we decided that she would be a mysterious bandit called the “Angel of the Slums.”

—Kyrie and Leslie also appear in the same light novel, and they are also in FF7R. Was there any specific reason to have these two appear in the Remake?

Toriyama: Although the light novel shows that Kyrie and Leslie are characters who appear only after the events of Meteor, we decided to have them live in the Slums for this game. FF7R includes a lot of characters who make appearances within the FF7 series after the original game, so we decided from the beginning that we would want to include these other characters. We also tried to have the characters connect with their characterizations in the light novels, so we thought about how these characters were like in the past. Since Leslie is Corneo’s henchman, his character is entwined with the main story, which allowed him to have a lot of scenes.

—The cities are full of various characters who each have their distinct characteristics. Is there any specific NPC that caught your attention?

Toriyama:The lines spoken by the NPCs in the original game that I myself worked on were also placed in the Remake, so it was quite nostalgic for me. In particular, I like the two NPCs who are doing PDA in front of the Sector 7 slums.

Here is the full translation of Nomura, Kitase, and Toriyama, and Hamaguchi’s interview from the FF7R Famitsu feature!

Nomura talks about Jessie’s popularity, the decision to include the Masssage Parlour scene, comments about the next installment’s release, and more! 

Kitase discusses how it’s like working with a new generation of game developers, explains a bit more about the scene with Sephiroth and Cloud at the Edge of Creation, and refers to the Remake as the “New FFVII Story.”

Toriyama mentions that the staff who worked on the original game wanted to create a completely new game while younger staff wanted to stay true to the original.

Hamaguchi explains more about the development process as well as how they came up with the battle system, what type of system they have planned for Part 2, and more!

DIRECTOR TETSUYA NOMURA INTERVIEW

—Now that the game has been released, how are you feeling?

Nomura:Well first off, I feel very relieved. Although there’s still a long way to go on the road to completing the entire story, we are now able to see exactly which direction we will be heading.

—From the game’s battle system to its story to the elaborate details of Midgar’s various environments, including songs that sometimes only play in one scene, the game is full of a richness that has been carefully crafted, which shows that a lot of time and effort was spent creating this game. The staff must have been very enthusiastic, right?

Nomura:I think it’s due to the staff’s love for FFVII. The enthusiasm from the fans also helped propel us forward.

—Are there any elements from either the Original game or part of the compilation that you wanted to make a reality or something that you wanted to have in the past game that then added into this game?

Nomura: Definitely the world itself as well as how richly the people are portrayed. With all the different compilations gathered, it was rather easy to create the world. I think we were able to convey the importance of the areas seamlessly.

—FF7R really digs deep into the Original Game’s story, but there is a surprising development towards the end of the game. With Remakes, there’s always a faction of people who don’t want anything changed, but there are also those who actually want things to be changed. Were there discussions among the creators on whether or not you should change things?

Nomura:Since the concept of FF7R was already decided from the beginning, there wasn’t that much discussion. However, since each individual had different ways of perceiving things, we did discuss exactly how far we will change the story. I believe that I was the one who actually put a stop on several ideas towards the latter half of development (laughs).

—The Remake contains the “Whispers of Fate” that are not present in the original story, but what was the intent of having this presence? In English, they’re called the Whispers, but in Japanese they’re called the “Feelers.” Is there a specific reason for this difference, for example if the word “Feeler” was the origin of the name?

Nomura:Nojima-san actually requested us to give the Whispers an eerie aura. Initially, the Whispers were designed to be made out of small particles of sand that crumbled while still maintaining its shape, but also unclear in form. We then created an image of them wearing a robe, but more so than that, when we had to make a lot of them appear together, that’s when their form took a clear shape. The word “feeler” means to sense and to touch, but at the moment I cannot say anymore than that.

—Those who come into contact with Aerith can see the Whispers, right? Also, was Aerith able to see them from the beginning?

Nomura:People can see the Whispers when they come into contact with Aerith. However, at the moment I am unable to tell you when Aerith started seeing them.

—Instead of always being on edge, Cloud seems to behave more cooly but instead comes off as uncool to those around him. Aerith also seems a bit more mature than the original’s portrayal of her, and Barret seems a more unhinged and tense. The characters all seem to have a new side of them now. What kind of concepts did you use to add to the characters in this game?

Nomura:I personally think that the characters still have the same image as they did before, but with much more expressions now, and adding voices also created a large impact. This was my interpretation of the characters at the start, but since the original game required the player to imagine the type of reactions the characters would have, I think that this caused there to be different images of the characters. As time passed, I’m sure that those images of the characters had changed as well. I think that the errors in each individual player’s interpretation is in itself an interesting part of the game.

—Jessie has a lot of scenes in the Remake and has become quite a popular character. Were her scenes planned from the beginning, or were they something that was added midway through development?

Nomura:It was planned from the beginning. However, I did not expect her to be this popular though!

—The three new characters in Wall Market, Andrea Rhodea, Madam M, and Chocobo Sam, left quite an impression. What was created first, the characters’ personalities or their designs? Also, how did the concept of the Massage Parlour come about?

Nomura:At first, the characters’ personalities weren’t that detailed. We didn’t plan for their designs to be that rich either. However, I think that the voices and acting played a great role for them. In regards to the hand massage, in a city like that, well, the maturity rating would probably go up, so we couldn’t go further with what we had.

—Characters such as Leslie and Kyrie appeared in the light novels, but what was the background on bringing them into the Remake? For example, was it for fan service or something else?

Nomura:Since the stories are part of the Compilation, Nojima-san and myself had plans for them to be included from the beginning. We thought that it would be natural for them to appear in that time and place within the story, so we decided to leave them there. In regards to what happens to them after the events in the Remake, I recommend that players read the light novel “Final Fantasy 7 TURKS: The Kids Are All Right.”

—In regards to the battle system, it contains a fusion of both command and action elements, and each character has a different fighting style. By choosing different character moves, players are able to form various effective strategies, making for a very refreshing experience. Also, the acting and conversations that the characters have during battle also gives a fresh spin on each battle. I’m sure that this was made possible by trial and error, but what was the most difficult part in doing all of this?

Nomura:A real time action battle requires a sense of nervousness and realism, but we couldn’t discard the form and battle of the original game’s command RPG style. As a result, we went through a lot of trial and error to find a perfect harmony for the two. We decided early on to allow for a slow motion sequence to take place to allow players the advantage of being able to select their actions, but there was a long period of time that we couldn’t do it properly. It was largely thanks to the staff for tying in the ATB system to perfect this as well.

—Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Nomura:We know that everyone wants the next installment to be released quickly. We would also like to deliver it as soon as possible. Since we were able to see the line of quality from the first installment, we hope to make the next installment even better in quality that will make for an even greater experience. We hope to release it as soon as possible, so please wait a bit more. I think we can clearly convey the direction when we officially announce the next installment, so we hope you can look forward to it!

———

PRODUCER YOSHINORI KITASE INTERVIEW

—From the time that the game was announced at E3 during 2015, the world focused their attention on the game, and after releasing footage of the game’s progress through a promotional video at E3 during 2019, the expectations from the fans has only increased. I’m sure you felt quite a lot of pressure at that time, but now that the game is finally released, how do you feel?

Kitase:I feel relieved that we were able to successfully approach both veteran fans who have been there since the beginning as well as new fans. I feel like right now, the expectations are even higher than before the game was released, and that gives us a lot of motivation to develop the next installment.

—Before the game was released, you mentioned that the hurdle that you needed to overcome was that of the player’s imagination that they have constructed in their minds for the Remake. After seeing the reception from the players post-release, do you feel that you have overcome that hurdle?

Kitase:Well, not just for me, but the power of the entire development staff combined was great. Most of them were fans from the beginning who also played the original game when it first came out. Thanks to that, they knew what kind of image fans probably had for the Remake, and I think we were able to overcome the hurdles that way.

—The game was released worldwide during a time when COVID-19 was affecting the entire world, but did that have any impacts on the game’s development? Also, before the game was released, promotional events were cancelled and the distribution of the game was also shipped ahead of schedule. There seemed to have been a lot of hard decisions to make depending on the situation…

Kitase:In terms of development, we only had the debugging phase left, which meant that the game was pretty much already complete, so there was not much impact from the virus. However, it was a pity that many promotional events were cancelled, and people were not able to really celebrate the release of the game. Luckily, through the means of the downloadable version, we were able to deliver some fun during a very stressful time where it was hard for people to even leave their homes. I hope that we were able to give them at least a moment of reprieve through the game.

—In regards to the FFVII Remake production, was there anything you were particular about?

Kitase: In the latter half of the story, there’s a scene where Cloud and Sephiroth have a confrontation. I wanted the scenery of that segment to show a starry sky that represents the overall themes of FFVII, and the art design team was able to bring that image to life.

—From the game’s battle system to its story to the elaborate details of Midgar’s various environments, including songs that sometimes only play in one scene, the game is full of a richness that has been carefully crafted, which shows that a lot of time and effort was spent creating this game. The staff must have been very enthusiastic, right?

Kitase:That’s all thanks to the careful attention that the Co-Directors Hamaguchi and Toriyama as well as the development staff put in making this game. I started game development ever since the Super Famicom console, so I’m used to the type of “cut” and “reuse” way of production. However, the new generation of games require a sense of reality, so that former way of developing games has become obsolete. The current generation of game development staff have that new type of conscience when creating games, so it’s thanks to their enthusiasm that we were able to make this possible.

—I’m sure that there are several younger development staff who never played the original FFVII, so were there any instances where there was a bit of a generation gap?

Kitase:Not really. But I guess when we wanted to give an example from a movie or something, we wouldn’t bring up a reference from an old movie that they probably wouldn’t know (laughs).

—Are there any elements from either the Original game or part of the Compilation that you wanted to make a reality or something that you wanted to have in the past game that was then added into this game?

Kitase:I suppose that would be making everything in 3D with a 360 degree scope of the world. Especially when you’re looking up into the sky of Midgar or looking down towards the slums, I’m really glad that we were able to give the city a sense of realism.

—As a gamer, was there anything in particular from FF7R that surprised or impressed you?

Kitase:This is connected with my answer to the previous question, but yes, being able to look above towards the sky from the slums, thinking “wow, you can see the sky after all!” For 23 years, I imagined the slums to be under a lot of pressure and cloaked in darkness. In the Remake, you can see a different side of the city during the day that you could not see in the original game, and I thought that was really fun.

—You were involved with the initial level design of the Sector 5 Mako Reactor from when the characters infiltrate the reactor to their escape, but were there any other parts that you also were involved in?

Kitase:I was also in charge of the initial stage level design for the scene at the top of the Shinra Building. The scene where Cloud is about to fall off the rooftop but is saved by Tifa is a callback and answer to the Sector 5 Mako Reactor scene where Tifa couldn’t save Cloud from falling.

—FF7R really digs deep into the Original Game’s story, but there is a surprising development towards the end of the game. With Remakes, there’s always a faction of people who don’t want anything changed, but there are also those who actually want things to be changed. Were there discussions among the creators on whether or not you should change things?

Kitase:Director Nomura as well as Co-Director Hamaguchi and Toriyama hoped to be able to keep all the parts of the original that fans have come to love. However, we also wanted to add several surprises that would balance out the story too. I’m sure there are people who wish to experience the exact same story and relive memories. However, if we were to do that, then all we would be doing is just adding to the original experience, which would cause the Remake to lose its significance. I think that we were able to successfully revive the story by adding new elements for the new generation of a “New FFVII.”

—Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Kitase:The new FFVII’s story has only just begun. Please look forward to the story from here on out!

———

CO-DIRECTOR TORIYAMA MOTOMU INTERVIEW

—Now that the game has been released, how are you feeling?

Toriyama: I’m really glad that despite the abrupt change in lifestyle [due to COVID-19], this game is able to deliver entertainment to people around the world in the comfort of their own homes. There was some skeptism from fans when we announced before the release of the game that the FF7 Remake will only take place in Midgar, but because the game dug so deeply into the world of FF7, I was relieved to hear that a lot of people were extremely satisfied with the game.

—From the game’s battle system to its story to the elaborate details of Midgar’s various environments, including songs that sometimes only play in one scene, the game is full of a richness that has been carefully crafted, which shows that a lot of time and effort was spent creating this game. The staff must have been very enthusiastic, right?

Toriyama:We thought about how we can revive the entity of FFVII using the latest technology as well as capturing the richness of the original. The time it took to oversee one scene or area was great, and in order to do so, we needed much more staff than what we had back in the day. Each and every staff had their own things they were particular about, and we were able to find a balance and successfully craft this game.

—Since you were involved with the development of the game, was there anything you were concerned about?

Toriyama:Since we had to replace many things with a new portrayal, I was quite particular that the essence of FFVII still remained true throughout. I think that if you had played the original game too, you would know which parts were changed and which parts were left in. However, I wanted to make sure that the events of the Remake flowed in a natural way with both new and familiar elements that you can enjoy. I’m happy to know that the Remake is able to add an even more vivid experience to go along with your memories of FFVII.

—I’m sure that there are several younger development staff who never played the original FFVII, so were there any instances where there was a bit of a generation gap?

Toriyama:There are actually a lot of staff who have played the original FFVII and got the opportunity to work in this industry. There are also staff who are more versed in the original game than even the members of staff who worked on the original game, and many of those staff wanted to make an adaptation that kept faithful to the original. In terms of keeping things as traditional as possible, the staff who worked on the original game, myself included, had the notion of “making a new game that no one has ever seen before.” With that conscience in mind, we were able to decide the type of direction we wanted to go in the Remake.

—Are there any elements from either the Original game or part of the Compilation that you wanted to make a reality or something that you wanted to have in the past game that was then added into this game?

Toriyama:In terms of music, FFVII is a rather cinematic series, but in the original game due to disc space and time restraints, we weren’t able to include a movie-worthy soundtrack. However, we were able to challenge ourselves with the Remake. We wanted to have specific songs that played throughout the entire game that would also go along with the scenes, so the Remake gave us a chance to be able to try this out. With this type of composing, we didn’t really have a specific detailed list, so we didn’t count exactly how many songs we created until we realized that the soundtrack itself would span to seven discs, making it a huge volume of songs (laughs).

—As a gamer, was there anything in particular from FF7R that surprised or impressed you?

Toriyama:After the game was released, I saw a gaming review website capture all the little details of various landscapes in the game, from the posters and billboards to the train time schedules, close inspections of the buildings, pretty much everything that showed the lifestyles of people living in Midgar. Although I’m glad that people were able to deeply observe the details we put in, I can’t help but see some flaws, so it kind of gives me pressure to make sure that the next installment will have even more perfected details (laughs).

—Compared to 23 years ago, from the addition of voices in conversations to a change of design, trends have changed. Was it difficult to achieve a balance of retaining the essence of the original game but still representing it for a new generation?

Toriyama:We wanted to have the game be fully voiced including the NPC within the city, so we were careful when putting in dialogue that would sound natural. We left in some funny lines spoken from the original game’s NPC too, but since there were way more NPCs in the Remake compared to the original, we made sure to find a good balance where those lines wouldn’t be buried among the other spoken dialogue.

—Instead of always being on edge, Cloud seems to behave more cooly but instead comes off as uncool to those around him. Aerith also seems a bit more mature than the original’s portrayal of her, and Barret seems a more unhinged and tense. The characters all seem to have a new side of them now. What kind of concepts did you use to add to the characters in this game?

Toriyama: For the Remake, the voice acting was added after we had finished creating the cutscenes, and I think that the character’s performance really shined through from the work that the actors and actresses have done that brought out each character’s charm. During recording, Barret had an unexpected continuity that we pushed further, and the results really brought out his character very well.

—In regards to seeing a brand new side of Cloud, the peak of it would probably be the dance sequence at the Honey Bee Inn. Was this scene planned from the beginning?

Toriyama:We strongly did not want to leave out Cloud’s crossdressing scene but instead wanted to create a concept that would make it stand out even more in the Remake. We decided to make Wall Market a huge entertainment district, and we were very enthusiastic in making the Honey Bee Inn even more of an entertainment hotspot in the Remake. I actually helped create the Honey Bee Inn for the original game, so it was easy for me to reimagine the place for the Remake. While still retaining some elements from the original, we were able to give it a huge makeover.

—The Shinra Mascot dog “Stamp” appears in various locations, even on a snack package blowing in the wind in towards the ending with Zack. Was the character of Stamp originally created in the beginning stages of development?

Toriyama: The dog Stamp is a very important symbol that was planned since the beginning. Stamp’s use was determined along with the game design. AVALANCHE also uses him as their symbol, so there is a good meaning to him that we included to have him stand out. However, the Stamp that appears in the scene with Zack is a different breed, so please pay attention to that.

—I was quite surprised that Chadley turned out to be what he was in the story, but who’s idea was it to create this character?

Toriyama: Chadley is a new character that was not in the original game, so it was the scenario team who decided on creating this character. There are a lot of contents regarding the game’s difficulty levels and clearing the battle reports, so we decided to have Cloud be able to encounter Chadley throughout the entire game. I haven’t finished clearing the HARD mode yet, but I hope that those who haven’t cleared everything yet can challenge themselves with this!

—The new character Roche left quite an impact, but he’s an eccentric one that only appears in Chapter 4 and nowhere else. What was the purpose of his character, and will he appear in the next installment?

Toriyama:We had initially drawn up a concept of having Roche appear at the last battle on the Midgar Highway, but we thought that he might ruin the serious mood of the ending sequence, so we scrapped that idea. We also thought to put him in as a boss battle in the Chapter 14 slums, but since you can’t really race around on a motorbike in the slums, we unfortunately could not make it work. Roche’s spontaneity is one of his character traits that stands out though, so there’s a high chance that he’ll appear in the next installment (laughs).

—In the Remake, the characters have a lot of banter when they’re walking around or fighting battles, and the dialogue is not always the same either. Did you oversee the types of conversations that were put in?

Toriyama:All scenarios were checked and supervised by me and Nojima-san. We actually had a lot more lines prepared in the script for dialogue spoken by characters in boss battles, but somewhere around the middle of production, we eventually cut out the frequency of giving out hints and instead left it to the players to think about what to do. This in turn caused us to cut a lot of dialogue out.

—Are there any specific episodes, scenes, or dialogue that you were interested in or wanted to include?

Toriyama: The AVALANCHE base at the bottom of Seventh Heaven in the original game was an interesting area that left an impression on me, but since Cloud is not very close with AVALANCHE in the Remake, we wanted to show that distance between them, which made us leave out that scene. Although I really wanted to have Barret punching that sandbag in the Remake, I had to restrain myself (laughs).

—Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Toriyama:Even though the first installment of the “FFVII Remake” has ended, the story has only just begun. While listening to the voices of the fans, we also hope to make the next installments something that would exceed your expectations. I personally also played the original game again after finishing the Remake. While waiting for the next installment, I hope you can enjoy the differences in the Remake’s portrayal of Midgar and also have fun imagining what kinds of things lie ahead in the next game too!

———

CO-DIRECTOR HAMAGUCHI NAOKI INTERVIEW

—Now that the game has been released, how are you feeling?

Hamaguchi:I felt very relieved after seeing the user feedback after the game was released. I fully joined the development team for FF7R in 2017 when the fans had been waiting for this game for quite some time already. So I made it my mission to ensure that fans do not wait longer than 3 years for the completion of the game. FF7 is a game that many people have come to love, so there was a real sense of responsibility to carry, but even so, the development team staff is composed of people who are extremely passionate about FF7, so we were able to enjoy making this game while progressing on its development.

—Since you were involved with the development of the game, was there anything you were concerned about?

Hamaguchi:What was constantly said to the team was that we must “respect the original game.” We were not creating a new game that is only inspired by the characters and world of FFVII, but we strove to create a game where the elements of the original are remade using the latest game design and graphics, making it feel “nostalgic yet new.” If we were to stray far away from the source material, then people might think “this is not the FFVII that I know,” so we tried to follow the original story but added details that we could not add 20 years ago using the latest technology. With that, we were able to focus on enriching the story to create an experience that is still “the FFVII that l know, but with a lot more new things waiting to be discovered.”

—From the game’s battle system to its story to the elaborate details of Midgar’s various environments, including songs that sometimes only play in one scene, the game is full of a richness that has been carefully crafted, which shows that a lot of time and effort was spent creating this game. The staff must have been very enthusiastic, right?

Hamaguchi:The Remake was made possible by the enthusiasm from the entire staff. During the production of this game, the task division between the development staff was even more than another Final Fantasy numbered game. For example, a person in charge of location would usually be a level designer that would spend 2-3 years on a single location’s design, execution, and then implementation, and we had specific staff designated to work on all the locations as well. For battle parts, we had a single person in charge of 2-3 bosses at a time, and a level designers also oversaw everything from design to implementation. With this scheme, we were able to have each game designer focus on only the parts that they are designated with, which allowed them to be enthusiastic and particular with the production of their areas. However, because of this, each game designer felt very strongly of their work that they poured their all into, so in order to not lose satisfaction, wemade it a priority to view the contents as a whole within the team. By doing this, we were able to combine everyone’s vision into the end product.

—Without having the battle system be solely either a Command RPG or Action style, it must have been challenging to fuse the two together. During development, there must have been some trial and error to get it right, but was there any part that was specifically concerning or challenging?

Hamaguchi: One of the most particular parts was how we were going to incorporate the ATB Battle System. We didn’t want to incorporate a completely new battle style that was different than the original, so we were inspired by the original FF7’s ATB battle system to create a new and improved one that also works in real time. Of course, I’m sure that the action elements we added gives off a very fresh impression, but the root of the system is from the ATB battle system, allowing us to incorporate a sense of nostalgia to the battle system. The part we worked extremely hard on was how to fuse together action and command style elements. Many of the development team staff including myself have a long history working with command RPGs, so we are very confident with that type of battle style in that field. However, when we tried adding action elements in, there was a sense of discord within the battle system we had.

The part we were stuck on was that implementing a command system will cause the the user to have too much information in regards to fighting strategy, and that would only cause issues if we were also going to add real time action options too. When we were doing trial and error to figure out how to draw the line between how many action and command elements we could add, Battle Director Endou Teruki was able to join our team. He is extremely versed with action battle systems and how to develop them, so as soon as he saw what we had created, he immediately pointed out that we were lacking features in regards to the action elements of the battle system. Since we were having trouble figuring out a balance between the action and command elements, we couldn’t really answer what we were lacking since we just simply added in action elements, so we were not able to create a very refreshing experience. Luckily, Endou was able to concentrate on the action parts and balanced out the battle system with fast paced command RPG strategy as well as action elements, which is what you see in the finished product.

—In terms of creating an action battle system, I’m sure there were concerns about the increasing difficulty of that fighting style. For those who are not fond of action battle systems, there’s also the option of “CLASSIC Mode,” but was there anything else you were particularly conscious about?

Hamaguchi: For those who only wanted to enjoy the game’s story, we implemented EASY Mode, for those who wanted to enjoy the command RPG style of fighting, we also created the CLASSIC mode, so there are different play styles you can choose from. Since the “CLASSIC mode” was something we tried for the first time, we were excited to hear the reactions of the players, and I think the reviews have been favorable. We heard comments from users who enjoyed the Normal mode’s difficulty level but in the CLASSIC mode style, so we will refer to their feedback in the future as well.

—Since the game’s release, I’m sure that most people have viewed the battle system in a very favorable light. What do you think about the reactions that you have seen thus far?

Hamaguchi:We feel that we have delivered the exact type of battle experience that users can accept. I think this is thanks to the way we were able to create a system that not only reimagines the ATB battle system in real time form, but we also pays homage to the Command RPG style, which leaves a sense of nostalgia while giving a fresh new experience to the battle style. I’m sure there are a lot of people who are interested in what kind of battle system we have in store for the next installment too. We would like the battle system to be even more customizable with more action and command strategies that users can curate into their own playing style, giving an even newer experience, so please look forward to that!

—It seems that the level cap at 50 has some limitations in regards to your status attributes and range, and since various weapons have their own strengths, it seems like you put thought into balancing out battles. In regular RPGs, characters grow and their weapons become stronger, but it feels like this was done in moderation. Was this balance something that the development team had planned from the beginning?

Hamaguchi:When we were stuck on how to create the battle system, we made changes to optimize the balance of the battle system. We wanted a balance that also incorporated the original FF7’s customizable options with materia, and Battle Director Endou also had the same thoughts. However, if we allowed players to get as many materia as they would like, then they could technically give the same set of materia to each character, which would defeat the purpose of giving each character their own unique abilities. Thus, we decided to put limits on the amount of attributes you can have. Moreso than putting a moderation on gaining strength, we wanted players to have fun with the strategies that they could incorporate by using different materia or weapons. If you were to redo a battle, you could try other ways of setting up your weapons and materia to create a stress free battle, and I thought that was an important function to have.

—Boss battles within the game have different stages where the attacks or field changes, such as the Sword Dance battle that splits between two parties during the fight. Was this concept of having battles be set up in different stages as the fight progressed something that was decided during the beginning of production?

Hamaguchi: That’s right. I told the team during the beginning that boss battles would be executed out in phases. Many of the bosses within each chapter contain some of the most exciting reveals, so we wanted players to be able to feel immersed within the story even through the boss battles. In order to do that, we constructed each boss battle to have several different phases where the battle strategy changes and also focuses on the story at the same time. We also paid attention to the party structure. In particular, we spent a lot of time and effort to solidify the party structure during the battle with Sephiroth. The battle with the Whisper Harbinger that leads to the climax fight with Sephiroth is one that changes automatically as does the structure of the party you are fighting with, so the protagonists need to work together in order to challenge their own fate.

However, we felt that if we were to do the same type of structure during Sephiroth’s battle, then it might become tedious to the player. For example, if we were to take away one of the protagonists out of the four, then the fans of that protagonist might feel let down. Because of that, we decided that the characters who join you during the Sephiroth battle will depend on how you fought during the Whisper Harbinger battle. However, in order to do this, we would have to create a ton of cutscenes depending on the order that the characters appear in, and even now I remember the look on the cutscene team member’s faces when I proposed the idea and the blank stares that I received (laughs). Because the Final Fantasy Series is one that is known for having a large amount of cutscenes, I am really grateful for the cutscene team member’s assistance in not just the Sephiroth battle scene, but for working so hard on all cutscenes within the series too.

—There are weapons, accessories, materia, and items that were added into the Remake that were not present in the original game, but was there any particular reason for doing this?

Hamaguchi:Right before the game went gold, I actually made an absurd request to the team to add the “Pedometer” materia. You get this materia at the start of Chapter 14, and since you’re there to help people out with odds and ends within the Sector 5 and Sector 6 slums, you would need to walk around the areas a lot. Since you had visited these areas within Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 already, there wouldn’t be many changes, so I thought to give players a reason for walking around these places again by adding in this materia. I actually originally called the materia the “Step” materia, but I noticed that Toriyama changed the name to the “Pedometer” materia instead (laughs). I was reminded of it again when I saw the strategy book refer to that name.

—Is there any specific monster enemy or battle (whether it be within the Colosseum or Battle Simulator) that piqued your interest?

Hamaguchi:The “Level 7 Top Secret Battle” has quite a shock factor. The person in charge of battle planning asked me, “Does it make sense for Bahamut to summon Ifrit?” Since they are fighting in a virtual reality, it wouldn’t be a problem, so I answered “Yeah, go for it!” without thinking too much about it. However, when I was doing a play check for the difficulty level of the battle, I remember being shocked (laughs). When that happens, you’d probably panic and think that you should defeat Ifrit first, but it’s actually more advantageous to focus on attacking Bahamut instead. This battle was the most difficult one for me and left quite an impression.

—I’m sure that there are several younger development staff who never played the original FFVII, so were there any instances where there was a bit of a generation gap?

Hamaguchi: Since the original game was so widely loved by fans everywhere, there were a lot of younger staff members who were scared of making changes. On the other hand, Producer Kitase wanted big changes (laughs). Nomura and I saw the Remake as an homage to the original game, so if we were to change anything, we made sure that it would be something planned with a specific reason that fans could accept.

—Did you have any ideas or wishes that you were entertaining by yourself that was then made a reality in this game?

Hamaguchi:It’s not something I was entertaining for a while, but having an automatic weapon growth system was something that I focused on before working on FF7R since I was on the development team for the “Mobius Final Fantasy” game, which left a strong impression on me. Since a smartphone game operates in a way that you return to it on a daily basis, lots of things are automated as much as possible to create a smooth experience. There’s also a card synthesis system within the game that allows for an automated way to synthesize your cards, so that was a point that I thought would be nice to have in FF7R where weapons could automatically level up as well. I’m always thinking about the consumer side when developing games, and being able to see customer reactions in real time, such as when I was developing smartphone games, gave me an environment to try out a lot of ideas I had. I think that was a great experience for me.

—As a gamer, was there anything in particular from FF7R that surprised or impressed you?

Hamaguchi:Although I myself was involved too, I’m still very impressed that we were able to successfully create a game from start to finish without making compromises to any of the large amount of data we had. This is all thanks to not only Nomura, Toriyama, and other directors such as me, but also to the game designers, graphics team, sound team, system staff, and more. All of us had various responsibilities as creators, and it’s because of the best efforts of everyone that we were able to make this game possible. I’m personally very excited to make the next game with the same team members again!

—FFVII Remake is highly praised as a game with amazing quality with the latest technology, but was there anything that was challenging or something that you did not personally oversee but was still impressed with the outcome?

Hamaguchi: Seeing the world of FFVII open up through its story is one of the highlights that makes the game so enjoyable, but the user experience and story immersion could be greatly impacted with too many loading screens and wait times. We therefore kept a technical eye on the loading system since the beginning. In order to do this, we aligned the data with each situation so that it could simultaneously load, which allowed us to not have the loading screen appear during the middle of the chapter. During the last cutscene of each chapter, the next chapter’s data would already be loading in the background, which allowed for the load screen between chapters to also be as short as possible. We also added tips to read on the load screen, but because the loading times are so short, it’s also difficult to read all of them. It made me cry out with joy!

—Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to the readers?

Hamaguchi:The first installment of the “FFVII Remake Project” was centered around Midgar, and we strived to recreate a Midgar that you could not experience in the original story, showcasing the hustle and bustle of the lives of the people there as well as the environment. The next installment will then shift to the other parts of the world since the characters have escaped from Midgar in the story. We hope to create a game that allows you to experience the charm and allure of the world of FFVII from the various lives of the people as well as the environments that will be present. Production for the next installment is already under way, and our team is putting their all into the advancement of the game. Although there is still a wait, we hope that you can look forward to what we have in store!

TheFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Ultimania book has officially revealed the ages of Rufus and the Turks:

Rufus: 30 years old
Tseng: 30 years old
Reno: 28 years old
Rude: 30 years old

This is the first time that official ages have been announced for these characters among the entire Final Fantasy 7 compilation!

Subbed the Kimetsu No Yaiba (Demon Slayer) Infinity Train movie trailer #2! The movie will be out on October 16th, 2020 in Japan!

Here is my full summary for the Boku No Hero Academia HEROES RISING movie! I originally posted it as a thread on Twitter, but here’s a more cohesive version for easy reading! Enjoy~

MOVIE SUMMARY

The movie starts off with Rock Lock, Endeavor, and another Pro-Hero in an epic car chase going after Spinner, Dabi, and Mr. Compress in a truck. They’re transporting some important item somewhere, and there is a SICKASS fight between Endeavor and Dabi.

Endeavor uses his flamethrower and blasts it at Dabi, who scoffs at him but throws his blue fire at Endeavor. The blast from Endeavor is stronger though, and Dabi and co. give up as they turn to mud (via Twice’s quirk). The truck then reels off the cliff.

Hawks is on the scene to check the damage of the truck. He wonders what exactly they were trying to deliver as the truck was heavily damaged by the fire. Later, we see Nine regroup with Slice, Mummy, and Chimera as he tells them they will soon leave.

After the opening scenes with the villains, we have a short recap of “society consists of 80% of the population with super powers” etc. etc. After the short narration, we immediately dive into scenes of the Class A members helping out on Nabu Island.

The first scene is two girls getting hit on by two guys, but Mineta helps save the girls by sticking the guys to the floor with his mogimogi balls. The girls see Ojiro and think that he’s the one who saved him, but Ojiro blushes and says no it’s not me!

Shoji is helping out at the beach as a lifesaver, and he spots a kid in trouble. Tsuyu dives into the water to help grab him, and then Satou rows the boat to save the boy. Tokoyami and Sero are also helping out at the beach.

Todoroki is helping the shaved ice stand make ice, and the shaved ice guy asks Todoroki to make more ice, and Todoroki creates a giant boulder of ice and says, “You can use this, right?” The shaved ice stand maker looks at him like wtf lol.

Next scene is Ashido, Ochako, Aoyama, Hagakure, Kaminari, and Deku sitting around in the Hero Agency headquarters on the island. Ashido is taking calls and dispatching Class A members to help out people around the island. They’re all in hero costumes.

Bakugou and Kirishima are sitting in their own tatami room, and Bakugou is reading a magazine while lying down on the floor. Kirishima sits across from him. Ochako calls across the room and asks if anyone can help someone find a lost kid.

Kirishima offers to go, but Bakugou says to him in a light tone, “do you think your quirk would be effective to help pinpoint a lost boy?” and Kirishima looks at Bakugou like “Hmm actually…” Jirou volunteers instead and says her quirk would be helpful.

Deku narrates “so why exactly are we at the island? well…” There is a flashback to the Hero Committee saying that villains are getting stronger, and they need to train students to be prepared for anything. Aizawa tells Class A they need to do hero work.

Flash forward back to more montage of Class A members helping out with people around the island. Ashido and Aoyama are helping construction workers clear rubble, Kaminari is using his electricity to help power a farming tractor.

Kirishima is helping move cargo on a truck with the truck driver’s wife and baby thanking him. He does his hardening pose and gestures “No problem!” but the hardening scares the baby, making the baby cry LOL.

Yaoyorozu helps repair a motorcycle. Deku, Ochako, and Jirou finding the “missing boy” at a playground. Deku approaches the boy but his sister comes to “save him” from the heroes. The kids then scurry away, leaving Deku, Ochako, & Jirou like wtf was that?

As the Class A members are helping around the island, All Might is back at U.A. and worries about whether they will be okay. Cut back to the kids at the island, and they’re wearing their casual clothes now. They’re super tired from the day’s work.

The Class A members mention how this kind of hero work is still hard, even though they’re not fighting anyone. However, the island citizens are thankful, and they bring a bunch of food for the kids to eat at the Hero Agency.

Bakugou and Kirishima are lounging in the tatami room together, and Bakugou mentions this kind of work is boring. Kirishima has his face on the table and looks at Bakugou like ;) as he says “Well, there’s no villains here, so that’s why.”

Kaminari, Sero, Ojiro come and tell Kirishima to join them at the onsen bath and says that Bakugou can’t go because he has to patrol the grounds since he didn’t do any hero work all day long. Bakugou complains, but the guys leave him be.

As Bakugou is patrolling, Deku is outside training his quirk, and he thinks about OFA and how he can train himself to be able to use this power that All Might has given him. There is a brief scene where they show all the predecessors and silhouettes.

One of the silhouettes looks basically like Bakugou with burning red eyes, surrounded by a red aura. The other silhouette is drawn surrounded by a purple aura with their hair blowing in the wind. It is this exact scene from the manga, but clearer.

As Deku is training, Bakugou sees him and asks him if he’s made that quirk his own yet. Deku says he’s getting there, and Bakugou says, “You think you can surpass ME even with that quirk perfected? Just try.”

Suddenly, Katsuma comes hurriedly to Deku and says that a villain has appeared. Deku is about to help but Bakugou pushes him aside and grabs the kid, telling him to take him to where the villain is.

The next scene shows Hawks in a committee meeting. The Hero Committee mentions that the League of Villains managed to get a hold of perhaps the quirk nullifying bullet as there have been cases of people getting their quirks stolen.

They ask Hawks if he had heard anything about this, but Hawks said that he doesn’t think that these incidents are from the quirk bullet. He thinks it’s something else.

Next scene is Toga, Dabi, Mr. Compress, Spinner, and Shigaraki chilling at a rundown shack in the middle of nowhere. They complain to Shigaraki asking him what they’re supposed to do. Shigaraki said that the Doctor has something for him.

Cut to Katsuma & Maholo’s Dad on a business trip in Kyushu. He suddenly gets attacked by Nine, and Nine takes his quirk. The dad has a cell regeneration quirk. Nine suffers from some kind of ailment that causes his body to freeze up. He needs this quirk.

When Nine takes the Dad’s quirk, he uses it to power up and calls lightning down to destroy parts of the city. He then freezes up as he realizes that the Dad’s quirk cell regeneration isn’t compatible with him. He then sees a video recording of the kids.

Nine then decides to aim for the kids as one of them must have a quirk that is similar to the Dad that might be compatible with his body. Nine is Blood Type B, so he needs someone that can help him regenerate his cells with the correct blood type.

We go back to Bakugou carrying Katsuma and asking him where the damn villain is. They then see a gigantic monster size Praying Mantis wrecking havoc on the side of the hill. Bakugou blasts off to fight the monster but then suddenly stops.

He realizes that the monster is a hologram, and Maholo’s quirk is creating holograms of anything she wants. He could tell that the monster was fake because there was no shadow beneath the monster.

Bakugou is furious as he shouts to the girl if she’s trying to make fun of him? He tells her that he’s aiming to be Number 1 and doesn’t need stupid kids to play pranks on him.

As he lunges at the girl, Deku holds him back, and Bakugou gets angry and wrestles Deku on the floor as Katsuma and Maholo scurry off.

The kids end up in a sugar cane field as they look at the stars. Maholo complains that she hates heroes because they’re all talk. Katsuma says that they’re good heroes though, but Maholo said that the best hero in her heart is their father.

Next scene is back in Kyushu where Hawks is looking at the damage to the city that was caused by Nine earlier that day. He wonders what exactly is going on.

Next day at the island, Ashido gets a call from an island citizen to help out. She dispatches Hagakure and Aoyama, and she tells Mineta that the girl sounded really cute on the phone. Mineta then says he’s down to go help too.

Deku wants to go too, but as he leaves the Hero Agency building, he sees Katsuma approach him. Katsuma comes to apologize for the problems they made for him and Bakugou the previous day.

Bakugou also listens to Katsuma’s apology as he is outside standing on the veranda and eating a popsicle. He listens to Katsuma explain that he wanted to prove to his sister that Heroes were good people who do come to the rescue when people are in need.

Deku tells Katsuma that it’s no problem as his own goal is to become a great hero who can help save people. Bakugou listens carefully to their conversation, and Deku notes that Katsuma has an Edgeshot pin on his bag. He asks Katsuma if he likes heroes.

Katsuma says that he really admires Heroes, but Maholo just worries about him. Deku has a flashback of when his mom told him that she was always so worried about him because heroes put themselves in danger all the time.

Deku asks Katsuma, “What kind of hero do you want to be, Katsuma?” He then explains why he himself wants to be a hero. Bakugou stands at the veranda and listens the whole time, and when they’re done talking, Bakugou realizes his ice cream melted away.

The neighbor sees Katsuma leave Deku & comes to him to explain that Katsuma and Maholo live alone with their father on the island. Their mother passed away when they were very young, and Maholo is very protective of her brother since Dad’s always working

Suddenly, at the harbor, a boat rams into the pier at full speed. The boat topples over, and Nine, Chimera, Mummy, and Slice emerge on the top of the boat. Nine instructs them to do whatever they need to do in order to find the two kids.

Maholo and Katsuma are returning to their house when Nine appears out of nowhere and literally OBLITERATES their house by striking lightning out of thin air to destroy the home. Maholo then tries to call the Hero Agency to ask for help.

As she calls the Hero Agency, the phone line gets cut off. The Class A members then check their phones and sees that even their cellphone reception is down. We then see that Chimera destroyed the island’s telephone and communication tower.

At the harbor, Mineta, Hagakure, and Aoyama just finished helping a couple out with a missing bag. Mineta scoffs to the side saying that Ashido tricked him into coming because the girl was actually taken. Suddenly, they see villains coming up the road.

The villain Mummy uses his bindings and turns anything, even inanimate objects into moving zombies. Aoyama uses his beam to blast away at Mummy’s weird zombies, but he just keeps making more.

At the beach, Tsuyu is trying to evacuate all the beach goers as Chimera approaches dauntingly. Ojiro takes the initiative and attacks chimera. He tells Tokoyami to go back to the Hero Agency to ask for help since everyone’s cellphones aren’t working.

Tokoyami makes it back to the Hero Agency, and he says villains are near the harbor and beach. They need back-up. Iida dispatches everyone. Teams are

Bakugou, Kirishima, & Kaminari

Yaoyorozu, Jirou, & Ashido

Koda & Ochako

Iida, Todoroki, Sero, & Tokoyami

Aoyama is at his limit as he continues to fight Mummy, but thankfully, Bakugou blasts an explosion aimed towards Mummy to throw him off. Behind Bakugou, Kirishima comes rushing in and says “RED RIOT IS HERE!” Kaminari releases electricity too.

Ashido comes to Aoyama’s aid and helps him up. She, Jirou, and Yaoyorozu bring the others to safety as well as direct the citizens to the safehold.

Mummy continues to attack Bakugou, Kirishima, and Kaminari. Mummy finds an opening and tries to hit Bakugou, but Kirishima jumps in front of him and deflects the attack but gets caught himself. Bakugou then gets bounded, and Kirishima yells “Bakugou!”

Ojiro continues to fight Chimera at the beach and pulls some pretty cool moves on him. Good thing back up comes from Todoroki rushing in with Iida as well as Tokoyami having Dark Shadow drop him and Satou onto Chimera.

As Satou drops in and tries using his Sugar Rush attack move on Chimera, there is a BEAUTIFUL shot of him and Chimera fist to fist fighting against the sunset mid-air. It was such a dynamic shot. Totally not necessary but beautiful to see lol.

Back at Katsuma and Maholo’s destroyed house (I realized that Nine destroys the house after, not before the beach fights). Nine can glance at a person and know what their stats, and he figures out that Katsuma is the one with the cell regeneration quirk.

Nine tells Katsuma and Maholo that he will not kill them, but that they should follow him because he needs something from them. Deku then comes to the rescue though and rushes them through the forest.

Nine then slowly walks to Deku and says, “get out of the way. If you’re in my way, I will kill you.” Deku then uses full cowl, but Nine is able to block him with a barrier. Nine also shoots energy from his fingers, and Deku thinks that he’s like AFO.

Back at the battle with Mummy, Bakugou is completely controlled by Mummy, but he is trying to resist. Mummy is making Bakugou attack Kirishima and Kaminari against his will, and Kirishima tries to desperately call out to Bakugou.

Mummy then wraps both Kirishima and Kaminari, and Kaminari says, “Kirishima, what should we do!?” Mummy then says to them that they either surrender or watch as Bakugou kills them. As he says this, Bakugou’s red eye shines, and he creates a huge explosion.

Bakugou is able to blast away the bindings and he completely OBLITERATES Mummy as he pins him against a wall and maniacally uses an explosion that is directed right at Mummy’s face. Mummy passes out, and afterwards, they regroup with the others.

Kirishima and Kaminari stay with the rest, but Bakugou blasts off. Jirou asks where he’s going, and Bakugou says he needs to fight the other villains on the island.

Next scene is Chimera fighting Todoroki, but Chimera is just too strong. Sero uses his tape to wrap around Todoroki as he saves him from Chimera’s blow. Chimera can also breathe fire, and the guys find themselves outmatched by him.

Deku continues to fight Nine and uses Delaware Smash, but Nine uses a barrier to deflect his attack. Deku wonders to himself just how many quirks does Nine even have!? He then tries to use One For All 20% Full Cowl. Nine muses that Deku has a great power.

Nine then grabs Deku’s head and tries to steal the quirk from him. Deku then thinks to himself that if Nine can steal quirks, that’s exactly like AFO. Suddenly, an image of the OFA vestiges appears including the silhouettes. They appear in line like this:

The OFA users prevent OFA from being stolen. Deku then realizes that the kids are still here, even though he told them to run -_-;; Nine then shoots Deku with his quirk and heavily injures him. The kids are too scared to move.

As Nine approaches Deku, who’s badly injured, he’s about to deliver a finishing blow but Bakugou flies in to save Deku. Bakugou attacks Nine, and Deku says “Kacchan! Watch out this guy has more than one quirk and can steal quirks!”

Bakugou then says that he just has to keep fighting him then, right? However, Nine pulls out another quirk that looks like Blue Eyes White Dragon (no joke) that pins down Bakugou. Deku tells himself to try to move as Bakugou blasts an explosion to him.

Deku wills himself to move and they try to fight him, but Nine is too powerful. He pins both of them to the ground and tries to go after the kids, but Deku and Bakugou each hold one of Nine’s legs to stop him.

Nine gets super annoyed at them and calls forth a HUGE blast of lightning that zaps Deku and Bakugou completely unconscious. However, since he used his quirk too much, his body freezes up, and he falls to the ground. Slice comes to help him.

Nine tells Slice to get the kids, but as she tries to approach them, Koda calls forth a huge flock of crows to block her path. Shouji then rushes in and carries the kids off while Ochako taps Deku and Bakugou, & Tsuyu carries them together with her tongue.

The kids all escape and meanwhile, Chimera also retreats from where Todoroki, Sero, and co. were fighting him at the beach. The Class A members regroup at a shelter where the rest of the island citizens are currently staying at due to the villain attack.

It’s raining, and Nine is sleeping on a bed somewhere on the island, trying to recover as Slice watches over him. Chimera comes into the room and asks where’s Mummy, and they realize that Mummy was captured.

There is a flashback to when Nine was without his artifical quirks. He had a very weak body, but he wanted to get stronger and saved Chimera even though everyone hated Chimera due to his appearance.

Chimera says that he is thankful that Nine saved him that day. Also, side note, Nine looked super hot when he was younger and without a mask lol.

Flashback continues to when Nine gets experimented on by Dr. Ujiko. He tells him that he can steal up to nine quirks. Flash forward and Nine wakes up and says that he has to get the cell regeneration quirk that Katsuma has to help his body.

Ochako goes into the room where other civilians are being healed by people with healing quirks. She asks how is Deku and Bakugou doing. They’re both completely unconscious as the healers try to help, but they’re not doctors so their efforts aren’t working.

Katsuma then comes into the room and says that he can help heal Deku and Bakugou. He explains that his quirk speeds up cell regeneration and can also boost one’s power. He tries his hardest to heal Deku and Bakugou, to the point where he almost passes out.

The rest of Class A are resting in a break room in the shelter and are trying to figure out what to do with the villains. Deku enters the room with Katsuma, and Ochako says “Deku!” surprised he’s completely healed.

Katsuma then tells everyone that the villains are after him, so he can just give himself up to save everyone the trouble of being attacked. However, Deku says that he will never let that happen as he will protect Katsuma and the rest of the citizens.

Bakugou then walks into the room slowly, and Kirishima looks up and says “Bakugou!” while looking relieved. Bakugou heard Deku’s words of wanting to protect the citizens. He glances at Deku as they both recall All Might’s words “win & save, save & win.”

Bakugou then does this pose and says that what they gotta do is just fight these damn villains. Everyone else agrees, and Yaoyorozu & Iida lead the others in a PLUS ULTRA! cheer. Deku then devises a plan on how to capture the villains.

The plan is to lure the villains to the furthest corner of the island where ancient castle ruins are. Koda, Satou, and Hagakure will lead the island’s citizens and livestock into a cave to hide. Meanwhile, the rest of the Class A will fight the villains.

(Just random commentary, but can I just mention how hilarious it is to ask the INVISIBLE GIRL to lead the citizens into a dark cave? Like, WHAT IS LOGIC???“)

The Class A members then prepare for a large battle as the sun rises. This is the epic scene here where they stand together.

As according to plan, the villains approach exactly down the path that Deku predicted. Shouji is the one in charge of guarding the children while Jirou and Ojiro are nearby as the lookout. Each Class A member is stationed in different locations.

The first attack is by Yaoyorozu and Aoyama. Yaoyorozu pulls out her twin cannons, and Aoyama uses a super powerful navel beam that holds off the villains for a while. The blast is so strong that it causes the ground beneath the villains to break.

Slice then falls down into a cave below, but Chimera and Nine are able to evade the attack and go separate ways. Ochako, Sero, and Mineta work together to barrage Nine with thousands of falling rocks. This action combination looked really cool.

Meanwhile, Slice finds herself in a cave where Tokoyami and Ashido battle her together. Chimera is at another area where he’s near a waterfall. As he steps into the water to cross the river, Todoroki turns the entire waterfall and river into ice.

Tsuyu captures Chimera with her tongue and pulls him further into the river where Todoroki tries freezing him. Iida, Todoroki, Kirishima, and Tsuyu then ready themselves as Chimera struggles to get out of his icy bonds.

Nine keeps attacking Sero and Ochako, and they try over and over to stop him with the barrage of rocks flung at him. Ochako is overusing her quirk, and Sero grabs her before she falls down and uses his tape to swing to higher ground.

Ochako then goes to a huge wall of thousands of rocks and uses her Zero Gravity on all of them. She falls to the ground, exhausted, but tries to still fight. Yaoyorozu and Aoyama also fight Nine as they throw attacks at him.

Deku and Bakugou then join Aoyama, Yaoyorozu, Sero, Mineta, and Ochako in the fight against Nine. Bakugou is in the air as Deku jumps high up and grabs his hand while Bakugou spins Deku, and the momentum helps them deal a super cool combo move together.

Meanwhile in the cave, Slice continues to fight Tokoyami, but suddenly she feels the cave stalactites falling as she realizes Ashido is using her acid to loosen the spikes on the ceiling. Ashido then unleashes a bunch of acid and burns off Slice’s hair.

With her hair now short, Slice is still able to use them as small spears that she unleashes at Ashido all at once. Ashido is able to evade most of them, but three spears stab her thigh and causes her to fall down side of the cave.

Tokoyami yells, "ASHIDO!” as she plummets to the bottom of the cave. He approaches her and sees that she’s very badly injured and bleeding, and his eyes go crazy as he loses it and Dark Shadow explodes out of him. He turns to Slice and says, “YOU BASTARD!”

Deku and Bakugou continue to fight Nine, and Nine keeps using his various quirks to hold them off. The scene then cuts to Iida fighting Chimera. He kicks Chimera, then Kirishima follows up with Red Gauntlet. Their attacks look weak, and Chimera laughs.

However suddenly, Chimera freezes up and Todoroki slowly approaches him as he explains that Kirishima and Iida were only distracting Chimera as they put Tsuyu’s poison on his body, effectively stopping his body from moving.

Chimera says not to underestimate him, and he evolves into a crazy animal fusion. Kirishima says, “Woah what is he, Amajiki-senpai!?” Chimera then blasts energy all around him from his mouth, and Tsuyu uses her tongue to wrap around Kirishima to save him.

Iida then grabs Todoroki to push him out of the way from Chimera’s energy beam. We then cut to a scene of Shouji protecting the kids as Nine continues to fight Deku and Bakugou but effectively advances towards the kids. Nine destroys Bakugou’s gauntlet.

Sero tries to help and attack Nine, but Nine easily throws him aside. Bakugou shouts, “SERO!!” as he falls to the ground. Nine then throws Ochako into the air as well, and Deku quickly rushes into the air and catches her, holding her in his arms.

As he holds Ochako, she murmurs まだ….まだ… “not yet…I can still do more…” but then passes out. Deku then lays her gently on the ground. Nine then approaches Deku and Bakugou but freezes up as his cells have some issue when he overuses his quirk.

Todoroki then devises a plan to fight Chimera. He tells everyone of the plan, and Iida springs to action, trying to distract Chimera. Todoroki then holds Kirishima by the waist as he speeds them forward towards Chimera while sliding on his ice.

As Todoroki wraps his arms around Kirishima, Kirishima says, “Heh, this kind of reminds me of Kamino.” Then Todoroki tells Kirishima to harden, and Kirishima uses Unbreakable. Chimera blasts Kirishima with his energy beam, and this scene is SICKKKK!!!!!

While holding Kirishima in front of him as a shield, Todoroki tries to push forward as Kirishima withstands Chimera’s energy beam. However, his energy beam causes Kirishima’s sleeves to rip, but Chimera finally exhausts his beam and needs to recharge.

As Chimera pauses for a moment, Kirishima falls to the ground, but Todoroki then gets close enough to lunge himself on top of Chimera as he sticks his hand down his throat and gruesomely freezes Chimera’s entire body inside out with ice.

Todoroki then also passes out and his thoughts before he loses consciousness is “Midoriya…Bakugou…it’s up to you guys now.” Chimera, along with Todoroki, Kirishima, Tsuyu, and Iida, are all defeated.

Shouji continues to protect the kids even though nine is advancing towards them still. Meanwhile, Hawks visits the children’s father in the hospital. The Dad explains to him that his son has the similar quirk to him.

The difference between Katsuma’s cell regeneration quirk and his Dad’s quirk is that his Dad’s quirk can only help people with Blood Type A. However, Katsuma’s quirk can help other blood types too. Hawks then realizes that the villains are at the island.

Hawks calls the other Pro-Heroes and tells them that they need to head to Nabu Island right away as the people there are all in danger, including Class A. He flies to the island first.

Note that it takes around 1 hour for a jet plane to fly from Kyushu to Okinawa (where this Nabu Island is supposedly located), so Hawks flying there is quite a feat lol.

Ojiro and Jirou tell Shouji to project the kids as they go forth and fight Nine. However, Nine is weakened by the constant attacks from Deku, Bakugou, and the earlier ones from the other Class A members.

Shouji holds the kids close to him as he blocks them from Nine’s attacks. He takes on all of Nine’s attacks and is heavily injured, and he tells the kids to run away.

However, Nine is able to catch Maholo before they can escape, and he tells Katsuma “If you value your sister’s life, then come with me.” Katsuma is about to give himself up but Deku comes to the rescue and uses SMASH against Nine.

Nine tosses Maholo to the side, but Bakugou is able to capture her before she falls the ground. Bakugou then tells her, “See I told you, I’m going to be the Number 1 Hero. That’s why I’m strong!” He puts her down, and proceeds to fight Nine along with Deku.

Deku and Bakugou look like they are getting the upper hand as they throw explosion after smash attacks at Nine. However, Nine uses the purple fluid he carries on his back and makes himself super powered and indestructible. He then creates fire pillars.

He brings down lightning from the sky, and Deku tries using OFA 100% against him. Deku uses a Detroit Smash and Bakugou uses Howitzer Impact against Nine. They hold their attacks as long as they can, and this causes their costumes to get tattered.

Shouji, even in his beaten state, still manages to hold onto the kids to protect them. Bakugou and Deku then look up at Nine as their attacks were rendered useless against him.

Nine then goes onto a short cliche villain monologue about wanting to create a perfect society where only those with powerful quirks live in and those who are weak are eliminated. Deku and Bakugou look at him in disbelief.

Nine uses his blue eyes white dragon move and captures both Deku and Bakugou in its grasp. All hope looks like it’s lost, but Maholo and Katsuma cry out to them saying, “Big Brother Deku! Bakugou!!! Don’t give up!!!!!!”

Deku then tells Bakugou that in order to continue this fight, there’s only one thing they can do. Bakugou makes this face as he hears Deku say this as he knows that in order to fight, he needs to have One For All. He looks regretful with this decision.

Deku and Bakugou both recall All Might’s words to them about being heroes who can save and win, win and save. Deku reaches his bloody finger out to Bakugou, and Bakugou extends his finger as well. They miss at first, but they finally make contact.

They touch fingers for a few seconds as OFA is transferred into Bakugou, then they grasp hands firmly like this stock image. The OFA transfer is now complete as Deku wills it to be.

Bakugou asks Deku if he is even still capable of using OFA, and Deku explains that during All Might’s fight against All For One, he still was able to use OFA as he was holding onto the flickering embers of the quirk.

Bakugou asks Deku if this is okay, and Deku says it’s the only way. They then power themselves up using OFA, and they legit look like Goku and Vegeta as Super Saiyan, even with their hair standing up like this. Bakugou has orange energy, Deku with green.

Might+ U starts playing in this scene where Deku and Bakugou throw punch and explosion one after another at Nine. There is no sound effects or speech during this entire montage as the only music playing is Might+u.

The visuals of this scene are INSANE. Like holy shit the SAKUGA!!!!!! IS OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!!!!! There was this one scene where Super Saiyan Bakugou walks into the side of a mountain and completely melts the ENTIRE MOUNTAIN and throws it at Nine.

As they attack Nine, there is a flashback of when they are children, and Bakugou stands in front of a T.V. and says wow how cool is All Might?? There is also a flashback of Deku as a kid crying in front of his computer screen saying to his Mom AM is so cool

Both of them admire All Might, and the final few attacks are Deku and Bakugou perfectly mirroring each other, doing attacks in sync. They then prepare their finishing blow and do DETROIT SMASH into the air, clearing away the powerful storm to blue skies.

But wait! That wasn’t the last move! The fight actually continues in silence with Might+u still playing in the background. Deku has a line over the montage that says “This, this is what One For All is capable of.”

Bakugou prepares his final explosion and Deku prepares a finishing kick to Nine, and as they unleash their powerful attacks, Deku says “Thank you and goodbye, One For All” as he passes out, which is this scene in the trailer.

Before passing out and during the part where Deku recalls what One For All means, what One For All is capable of, there is a montage of all of Class A passed out from their own respective fights.

I missed a scene with Tokoyami and Ashido. As Dark Shadow goes crazy, he captures Slice but also causes the cave to fall down on them. Tokoyami shields Ashido with his body, and after Deku & Bakugou’s fight, we see Hawks pulling Tokoyami from the rubble.

Hawks asks Tokoyami if he’s alive, and Tokoyami says, “Hawks, why are you here??” Hawks then says that he’s not the only one who’s here as help has arrived.

We then see All Might kneeling next to Deku & Bakugou, who are lying on the ground passed out. All Might cradles Deku in his arms and says he did well. Deku asks if Bakugou is okay. All Might says “Always putting others in front of yourself, yes he’s fine.”

Deku then starts crying as he apologizes to All Might as he gave away such a great power entrusted with him by All Might. This is the scene where he says “I’m sorry, All Might. I’m sorry…”

All Might says Deku is brave and deserving of OFA, and then miraculously, Deku’s body glows with the power of OFA coursing through his veins once more. All Might says it’s a miracle, but perhaps the Predecessors willed it for Deku to hold this power.

All Might then thanks his master Nana as well as the predecessors for returning OFA back to Deku. He then holds Deku hand with one hand and in the other, holds Bakugou’s hand as he cries.

The ending scene shows everyone being helped out by the Pro-Heroes. I originally thought that the scene took place in an infirmary, but it was actually on site where everyone was passed out.

Although the scene is also silent, we see Endeavor hugging Todoroki tightly as he cries comedically while he says “SHOUTOOOO!!!!!!” there is also a scene of Kaminari and Sero doing a fist bump as they are being held up by the pro-heroes.

 Ashido is being helped out on a stretcher, Tokoyami watches over her closely as she smiles at him, Ryukyu helps Tsuyu and Ochako, and the other students are escorted by the pro-heroes.

Hawks watches as Chimera and Slice are put into custody. He then wonders what Shigaraki has planned. We then see Nine was blasted away to an island surrounded by flowers. Shigaraki appears in front of him, and Nine says he needs more time.

Nine reaches out saying that he hasn’t perfected the society yet, and there needs to be someone who can guide everyone. Shigaraki puts his hand on Nine’s face and says, “Yes, someone. That someone is me. Good work and goodnight Nine.” He disintegrates him.

The next scene is Bakugou waking up in the infirmary next to Recovery Girl. Deku narrates that Bakugou for some reason had no recollection of ever using OFA (how convenient lol), and Bakugou complains that his arms hurt like hell.

Katsuma accidentally sees Recovery Girl kissing Bakugou, and she blushes in embarrassment LOL. Deku tells Katsuma that he will be a great hero. The kids then are reunited with their father and are very happy to see him.

Class A board the boat as they are ready to go home, and Bakugou is at the top of the stern. He sees Deku and asks him if it’s okay to leave without saying bye to the kids. Deku says it’s fine. However, they then see the kids running to the pier.

The kids wave to Class A and say “Big Brother Deku, Bakugou, Everyone!!! Thank you so much!!” and Class A waves back at them. Katsuma then waves to Deku and says “Big Brother Deku! I’ll be a hero just like you!” and Deku says U.A. is waiting for him!

Deku then waves back at Katsuma and Maholo and Bakugou puts his hand up and sort of waves. The last scene is Katsuma’s smiling face as he looks on with hope, inspired by the heroes who helped change his life.

THE END!!!!!!

PLUS ULTRA~~~

There was a live event for Yamashita (Deku VA) & Masuda (Kirishima VA)’s bi-weekly radio show, and they re-enacted the “I want to see your cute face” line as Deku & Kirishima. Here is the full transcription of what happened. Kirishima says the line to Bakugou, and fans explode.

The live recording will be available online February 21st, 2020!

—–

BNHA Radio Live Recording with Yamashita Daiki (Deku), Masuda Toshiki (Kirishima), and Okamoto Nobuhiko (Bakugou)

During the Afternoon Showing

Prompt:Maboroki-kun (nickname for Todoroki’s Illusion) was awesome! Kacchan also did it, which was unexpected! Let’s have Deku-kun and Kirishima-kunalso say the line “I want to see your cute face!”

Yamashita & Masuda: Okay, let’s do it!

Yamashita:So how should I do this? Who am I saying this to…?

Okamoto: ALL MIGHT!!

Yamashita:All Might!? (laughs) But if Deku is doing it then I feel like he would say it to Eri-chan! Or even Katsuma-kun [from the HEROES RISING movie]! Let me change it a bit. “I want to see your cute face!” Is that good? Okay, here I go!

Deku (super cute voice): I want to see your cute face…!

Audience: Kyaaa~ *applause*

Yamashita:Okay, Kirishima-kun is up next!

Masuda:Uh…so what kind of situation is it? What would be the best setting?

Who am I saying this to…?

Yamashita: Hmmm (laughs)

Okamoto (like a call from God):BAKUGOU!!

*Audience chatters*

Yamashita:All right, let me step aside for this then. (laughs)

Yamashita heads to the back of the stage.

Masuda and Okamoto stare at each other.

Yamashita (suddenly narrating): One day, at a cafe…

Kirishima:I…I uh…I want to see your…c—cu—cu…cute face!!

Bakugou (in a soft and sweet tone): You idiot…

Audience:KYAAAAAA!!!!!!!

Okamoto:Wait!! (laughs). I just gagged doing this!!! It’s an illusion! Just an illusion!!!

Yamashita:This takes place in a different world!!

Masuda:(laughs)

Okamoto:I kind of wanted to do that though! Sorry! I wanted him to say something like “kyaa!” so I did it without thinking!

Yamashita:So instead of Kacchan saying something like “I’ll kill you,” he actually accepted that compliment, right!? (laughs)

Got the Dr. STONE 2020 Calendar by Ensky, and it’s full of new art from the series! Here are close-ups of the pages.

January & February: Senku talking with Taiju and Yuzuriha in front of a campfire.

March & April: Senku, Kohaku, and Chrome in a flower field 

May & June: Tsukasa in the rain (because June is rainy season in Japan)

July & August: Kohaku and Ruri chilling at a lake while Ginrou and Kinrou guard them

September & October: Gen whispering to Suika to be quieter as everyone naps.

November & December: Chrome, Senku, Gen, & Magma watch the snow fall as they drink grape juice(?) wine? 

The Boku No Hero Academia Season 4 second cour’s “Cultural Festival Arc” begins January 25th at 5:30pm JST! Here’s the subbed teaser PV! Enjoy~

2ndl_info:[Announcement] New event project “Nogami Sho’s Nogami SHOW” will be held on October 13, 2018 (Saturday)!
Performer: Nogami Sho
Venue: Shidax Culture Hall A
Animate Online Shop will start accepting ticket preorders (lottery) on July 20 (Friday), at 12:00 PM. Additional details will be posted on SECOND LINE’s official Twitter account.

Context: These pictures were posted in this exact order, over a period of eight days, one picture a day.

追憶レター (Recollection Letter)

Enoki Junya (E) and Yashiro Taku (Y)

E: We definitely can’t get any closer than this
You’re right by my side, but your words are far away
Y: These feelings I can’t ever say,
It feels like they’ll vanish soon.

E: This time,
Y: I’ll write it all down,
E: And leave it in
Y: A letter
Both: If I leave it all behind, will I finally be at ease?

Your serene profile reminds me a bit of the shadows,
And the pain of the past I’ve hidden between the lines
To whoever’s in the future, so it won’t vanish away in memories:
I send your kind, laughing silhouette
E:My heart aches,
Y: But, beautifully,
Both: I shall waver

I still…

Hatanaka Tasuku (H) and Lounsbery Arthur (L)

(Whoa…)

H: You always tell me too much stuff,
Just for my embarrassed reactions, yeah…
L:In (a day) packed to the minute, I keep remembering you
I’ll stop tapping out letters with my fingertips,
Both:Turn off the screen…

H: You definitely don’t know, and you’ll never answer back,
Both: But nevertheless, inside my head –
Ah, but no, you won’t, not like this,
I’ll answer my own questions all over again;
I’ll be wound up.(?)
It isn’t even that deep,
L: It’s just one word
Both: But it always drives me crazy.

月の下で電話して (I’ll call you under the moon)

Kousaka Atsushi (K) and Nogami Sho (N)

K: We take the same train station, but go opposite directions.
N:As we go our opposite ways home, we wave at each other and smile.
K:The full moon I see out the train window, I wonder if you can see it too?
N: I’ll call you on my way home, thinking we haven’t talked enough.

Both:Ah, this phone call across the night sky connects us,
Even though the two of us are far away.
Ah, there’s nothing I really want to talk about,
This is enough for me, I just want to hear your voice.
(Whoa whoa,)
K: No matter when,
(Whoa whoa…)
(Whoa whoa,)
N: No matter where.
(Whoa whoa…)

statice

Masuyama Takeaki (M) and Chiba Shouya (C )

M:You don’t have to worry about those things,
So forget about it right now.
C:Watching you from behind, as you walk, I see you trip over the past we can’t turn back upon.
M: It won’t sway me,
C:I want you to believe me.
Both: I want to hold you close, so much that it hurts.

Passionate memories flow through my heart (flow through my heart)
Can you feel it? Our feelings are the same.
C: Let’s double our happiness,
M: And halve each other’s pain;
Both: Our future will definitely be sparkling.

@tasukubar0817: My humblest apologies for my selfish behaviour. I have many grateful emotions for all my fans. Thank you very much.
Also, information about my projects will now be on Hatanaka Tasuku’s official Twitter. Or they would be announced on KenPro’s official Twitter. I shall be in your care.
@tasuku_kenpro
@kenpro_official

As for the letter he screencaps here:

I was really conflicted about this, but I’ve decided.
Sorry for this all of a sudden, but from today on, Hatanaka Tasuku will be taking a break from Twitter. Honestly, I am very cowardly.

I mind the number of my followers, I mind the number of my retweets, I even do egosa (searching up his own name on Twitter), I remember having fun minding those things, and for me who has no confidence in myself, it has been a source of encouragement for me.

But if I keep constantly looking at my phone, I definitely might neglect the things I should be valuing -
I shouldn’t mind how other people think of me, but rather, notice how wide the world spreading in front of me is when I shut my phone off; so I think, won’t accepting various forms of stimuli touch my heart more?
For the sake of unbinding myself to the various things tying me down, I will do this one thing.

I’ve been able to be connected with fans like this for roughly two years now. It had truly been an irreplaceable time. For encouraging me in tough times, for sometimes sharing various emotions with me, thank you for being there with me. I really, really, feel nothing but gratitude.

I will never forget the things we’ve shared, these various emotions.

So I can properly do my work as an actor, I think I will straightforwardly concentrate on it. Of course, this is the same for my songs and performances, too.

Lastly, thank you for reading up until this point. When I start using Twitter again someday, let’s meet again!! Thank you very much!

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say this might be what he was agonizing about recently. But SNS detoxes are good for the soul so I wish him all the luck!!!

Update: I’m about to cry IT’S HIS MOM (actress Fukushima Keiko)

@keikoro1217: You’ve been worried, and worried, and worried about this, so you decided to do something about it. And I cheer you on this decision.

Whenever he’d come back home, Tasuku would always bring the letters he gets from his fans home, and would always be reading them.
I will be cheering him on as any fan would, to the point where I may get annoying.
From here on out, Tasuku shall be in your care.

Igarashi Takumi’s photoshoot for numan’s  沼落ち5秒前！インタビュー／声優編

Igarashi (nicknamed Iga-chan) is one of the members of seiyuu unit Claw Knights!

So what led to you entering this world?

When I was watching the anime my friend recommended me back in middle school, I was so deeply moved that I thought I wanted to become a seiyuu.

Please tell us the actors (seiyuu) you respect, and the reasons why you respect them.

Morishima Shuuta-san. He kindly taught the newbie me who didn’t know his left from his right, is kinder than anyone else, and takes his plays very seriously; he’s the kind of person one can respect on a personal level.

Who are the actors (seiyuus) you get along with well?

Morishima Shuuta-san, Amano Naru-kun, and Iwanaga Kennosuke-kun. As we work together as the seiyuu unit Claw Knights, which our characters from the game CARAVAN STORIES are part of, we go out to eat together and go on trips together, and even on our days off we end up hanging out a lot. 

Who are the seiyuu/actors who you want to have as a friend?

The actor Suda Masaki-san. I really like his work, and as a person he’s really charming, so I’d like to be his friend.

If you were to sum yourself up in one phrase it would be?

Cheerful. Or maybe a “reason freak”.

Your sales point (charm point) is?

The mole above my eye.

What is your hobby/talent?

Playing the guitar, doing handstands.

What do you usually do on your days off?

Hanging out with my friends. We play video games or go strolling or do karaoke!

What did you eat yesterday?

Curry rice. It was the curry I made the other day and I reheated it!

The thing you want the most right now is?

A fully automatic washing machine. Drying clothes is very hard, so I want one! I think I’ll come to love doing the laundry if I ever get it (lol)

Of all the things you’ve ever gotten up to now, what made you the happiest?

Letters. They make me very happy. And I think I’ll treasure each one I get from here on out.

Have you been working on anything lately?

Plays, and making my body more flexible. 

Your favorite karaoke party trick is?

SMAP’s “Orange”

How do you avoid stress?

By playing games or going to karaoke.

Please show us your favorite picture in your camera roll, or a picture you took recently.

A picture of sushi from when us Claw Knights members went to Osaka. It was really delicious, we had loads of fun, so it’s the picture I have my eyes on!

Please tell us your hangups (whether regarding plays or not)

I never throw out the bubble wrap my stuff comes in. I keep thinking I can play with it or use it again somehow (lol)

What have you sunken into (what is your obsession lately)?

Body building. I’d like to have a body which can accomodate to any situation.

Up to now, what’s the thing you’ve worked the hardest on?

I guess it was the time I ran all summer when I was in middle school? I was in the baseball club, so I ran a lot.

Up to now, what are you most useless at?

I’ve been run over by a car twice. I want to tell me from my childhood not to play games while crossing the street (lol)

Please tell us your favorite phrase, or verbal tic.

Recently I’ve been saying “For example…” a lot. It’s been a habit of mine to compare things to other things when I’m talking, but…it’s just so I can compare things to things I can easily understand…

• my translation index
  
• “ What have you sunken into “ there is supposed to be “so what swamp are you in?” or sth like that, a reference to the interview series’ title!! ,,,but this sounded ok to me so i used that instead
  
• thanks for reading!!! please do not redistribute this translation!a note on “reason freak”-  he uses 理屈っぽい, which is “argumentative” but doesn’t rlly convey in English what he wants to convey in JP. So I went with this - refer to this link  
  

• thanks for reading!!! please do not redistribute this translation!

Nogami Sho’s photoshoot for numan’s  沼落ち5秒前！インタビュー／声優編

The translation of the interview connected to these pictures can be found under the cut!

So what led to you entering this world?

During my summer break in 2nd year middle school, I’d noticed that other people’s names were lined up beside the characters’ names in the ending credits, and while I had always known that the reality behind that was that “these are the people whose voices appeared in this show,” it was then that I saw them in a new light. At that time I had to quit my club activities due to my injuries, and was worried about having a future without anything to work towards, so I was very happy and surprised when I found out about voice acting as a profession.

Please tell us the actors (seiyuu) you respect, and the reasons why you respect them.

Seiyuu:

Yamaguchi Kappei - I’d just become a regular cast member for a year (with him), but just by being there he’d make his surroundings become lively, his presence is really like the sun. He was very approachable even though we were newbies, and I’d always look forward to every time I’d get to see him at work.

Shimono Hiro - I met Shimono-san in the same show I got to costar with Kappei-san in. He’s a guy who thinks about his kouhai a lot, and he advised me in many things, from work to private matters. Up to now we still exchange emails sometimes and get along well. Of course he’s my esteemed senpai but he’s the kind of guy I’d wanna call “aniki” instead of “senpai”…

Fujiwara Takahiro - Ever since my debut, he would take me out to eat during the times when I barely had enough money for transportation expenses, and he’d given me advice after I got reprimanded very bad at work…he’d always been looking out for me, and now I’ve been thinking that “this is the kind of senpai I want to become.” Just like Shimono-san, he’s the kind of guy I wanna call “aniki”.

Enoki Junya - He debuted the same year as me, but from how nonchalant he is when he’s at work, to how he does adlibs during dubbing…no matter where he goes I always see his face in a refreshing smile, but he’s actually a guy who’s passionate about his work and I think there are a lot of things he has that I don’t have, myself…I’ll never tell him this to his face, though (lol) And I’m simply just a fan of his Spiderman.

Actors:

TEAM-NACS (Morisaki Hiroyuki, Yasuda Ken, Ooizumi You, Totsugi Shigeyuki, Otoo Takuma) - TEAM-NACS, who met in their theatre research club in college, and up to now are still actively participating in plays as well as various other genres. Their variety shows and stage work saved me from the homesickness and other troubles I went through after first moving to Tokyo. If I could become the catalyst for someone else through my characters, just like NACS had been for me during those times, I would be happy.

Who are the actors (seiyuus) you get along with well?

Kumagai Kentarou-san and Takeuchi Shunsuke-san

Who are the seiyuu/actors who you want to have as a friend?

Ooizumi You-san. He’s been involved in a lot of projects as a seiyuu so I’d be happy if I get to record from the microphone beside his someday.

What is your hobby/talent?

Shopping

What do you usually do on your days off?

I go strolling, which is okay even when I don’t have much time. Or I’d go gossip about recent events with my favorite clothes shop’s staff, while drinking coffee.

What did you eat yesterday?

Curry rice

The thing you want the most right now is?

Self-confidence

Of all the things you’ve ever gotten up to now, what made you the happiest?

The wallet my father bought me at around the time of my debut. I still use it now.

Your favorite karaoke party trick is?

Kimi no machi made (To your town) by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION

Please tell us your hangups (whether regarding plays or not)

The character’s feelings are important. Never forget that.

What have you sunken into (what is your obsession lately)?

Clothes…probably, right? In the beginning I’d scared myself into being aware about it by saying “If I don’t present myself properly I’ll never become a seiyuu!”, but as time passed, bit by bit, I begun to just like it.

Up to now, what’s the thing you’ve worked the hardest on?

The hardest…I can’t decide on one, but I think it would be my audition for the agency I’m attached to, where everything started.

Up to now, what are you most useless at?

Normally there are very few things I am not useless at, so I can’t think of what should come first; but I have an extremely horrible sense of direction, and recently it took me 40 minutes to go to a studio that’s 10 minutes on foot away from the station, and in the end my manager still had to meet me halfway…I’m always very sorry.

• my translation index
  
• fun fact: numan comes with its own auto-translation function!!!…and i only realized this function right after i was already finished with this…interesting (hmu whenever, guys, i can help…but at a pric
  
• “ What have you sunken into “ there is supposed to be “so what swamp are you in?” or sth like that, a reference to the interview series’ title!! ,,,but this sounded ok to me so i used that instead
  
• thanks for reading!!! please do not redistribute this translation!

Expanded version of this intro thread to 8P channel’s MONSTER CAFE!

Purchase links for the songs mentioned in this ppt:

iTunes Japan|Amazon Japan |Animelo Mix| Mora |Google Play Music Japan

As mentioned above, the full translated lyrics for both Come on a my cafeandMYSTIC SECRET can be found under the cut!

Come on a my cafe

Ghost (CV. Hatanaka Tasuku), Skeleton (CV. Yashiro Taku), Mummy (CV. Enoki Junya), Frankenstein’s Monster (CV. Lounsbery Arthur)

All: Welcome, customer!
(Oh yeah!)

Hatanaka: When lunch was about to end,
Enoki: An unfamiliar lady came in
Lounsbery: We whisper amongst each other, exchange glances -
Yashiro: Have your menu, and a blanket

Hatanaka/Lounsbery: So the coat you were using as an umbrella fluttered and flew away
Yashiro/Enoki: And right before our eyes, your water glass drops down on you

All: Come on at my cafe more, I want to make you smile
And make you forget the bad things in daily life
It’s okay to be selfish right now,
Anything you wish for, I’ll make it come true somehow.

Lounsbery: You watch curiously, marveling at the
Enoki: Poisonous mushrooms standing on top of your pasta.
Hatanaka: Looks fresh, isn’t it? That’s today’s recommended – WHOOPS!!
Yashiro: A waiter’s bone gets added in.

Hatanaka/Yashiro: The apprentice’s fingers are transparent and he can’t pick up the bone,
Enoki/Lounsbery: The chef covered in bandages is smiling, the one covered in scars stands quietly

All: Come on at my heart, I faithfully promise
That I’ll definitely take care of you
I have faith in my service, this place is rated 3 stars
My heart overflows when I see such happy smiles

Hatanaka: You seem nervous, looking around so much,
Lounsbery: Hey, what’s the matter?
Yashiro: Approaching you slowly, looking at you intensely,
Enoki: I wonder if your stomach’s already full?

Yashiro: I’m glad I got to meet you,
I want to serve you more, though

All: As an apology for messing around,
We’ll make you a cake next time, ok?

Come on at my cafe more, I want to make you smile
I made you forget the bad things in daily life, didn’t I?
You say “I’ll come again,” and smile,
I wave goodbye until your figure disappears - let’s meet again!

MYSTIC SECRET

Grim Reaper/Death (CV. Nogami Sho), Wizard (CV. Kousaka Atsushi), Werewolf (CV. Masuyama Takeaki), Vampire (CV. Chiba Shouya)

Chiba: To the midnight feast,
Masuyama: I welcome you, my lady.
Nogami: Where might you be going?
Kousaka: There’s nothing to be afraid of.

Nogami/Kousaka: The screams of the dead are BGM
As the spirits play “trick or treat”
Masuyama/Chiba: If you’re lost, we’ll give you snacks
As the tables sway suspiciously

All: Mystic secret, come, come, hurry up
You’ll get bewitched if you won’t eat up, don'tcha know?
What kind of intentions lie within these deep red lips?
The curiosity in your eyes is brighter than fear.

Masuyama: Curses or poisons or magic,
Nogami: There’s none of that in there.
Kousaka: Doesn’t it look delicious? Won’t you have a taste,
Chiba: And put it in your mouth?

Masuyama/Chiba: The moment you gulp it all down, your entire body
Screams out “trick or treat”.
Nogami/Kousaka: It’s better if you don’t know,
Because once you open the door of secrets, you can never go back.

All: Mystic secret, hurry up if you want it,
The secret behind your return gift
What kind of emotions lie in front of those trembling eyelashes?
The moon peeks down on us, from between the clouds coiling around it

Chiba: Won’t you give me some of your secrets?
Masuyama: One, two, or three would suffice
Nogami: Won’t you give me some of your troubles?
Kousaka: Every last one of them–

All: Mystic secret, let’s talk it out, and I’ll solve it for you
So give thanks for this solving magic

Mystic secret, come, come, hurry up,
In that moment before your tears fell,
What kind of intentions lay within those deep red lips?
There’s no need to worry tonight, just sleep deeply,
Fall asleep, good night.

???: “Good night.”

• my translation index
  
• AHHHH HAAHAHAHAAHAH THANK GOD IT’S FINISHED WHEW
  
• i normally wouldn’t mix my shitposts (the ppt) to my more, uhh, serious TLs (the song lyrics), but they’re about the same thing so i figured, ehh, why not do it this way instead
  
• actually before this i! was supposed!!! to do my actual intro TO 8P AS A SEIYUU SHOW PPT FIRST, so…yeah. yeah, for now this is just relating to their characters within the skit
  
• i bought the tracks through amazon japan so on the off chance anyone is interested and wants to buy from there, hmu on twitter!
  
• AS USUAL, these aren’t 100% accurate, i went more for substance over form so yeah this ain’t word for word guys
  
• i kept translating “Come on a my cafe” as “Come on at my cafe” cuz i srsly believe that’s what it was supposed to be and no, frontier works, no amount of atsuko leggy can make me change my mind
• thanks for reading!!! please do not redistribute these translations anywhere!!!!
  

Kousaka Atsushi official profile, AIR AGENCY 5/1/2018 [x]

Birthday: February 22, 1985
Hometown: Nara prefecture
Known dialect: Kansaiben
Height/Weight: 171cm/55kg
Bloodtype: O
Hobbies: Film-watching, [reading] American comics, [doing] activities where you can scream (trapezing,skydiving, etc.)
Talents: [Making] nigirizushi, image-editing
Alma mater: Amusement Media Academy - Osaka

Come on a my cafe by Ghost (Hatanaka Tasuku), Skeleton (Yashiro Taku), Mummy Man (Enoki Junya) and Frankenstein’s Monster (Lounsbery Arthur)

Welcome, customer!
(Oh yeah!)

Hatanaka: Moments before lunchtime’s about to end,
Enoki: An unfamiliar lady comes in
Lounsbery: We murmur to each other and exchange glances
Yashiro: Here, have the menu, and a blanket

So the umbrella you were using fluttered and flew away
And the water glass in front of you clattered down?

Come on at (yeah!) my cafe more,
I want to give you smiles
And make you forget (whoo!) the bad things everyday
I’ve give you this, (yeah!) today (say!) it’s okay to be selfish

No matter what you wish for, I’ll make it come true

MYSTIC SECRET by Death (Nogami Sho), Wizard (Kousaka Atsushi), Werewolf (Masuyama Takeaki) and Vampire (Chiba Shouya)

Masuyama: *werewolf howl*

Chiba: To the midnight feast,
Masuyama: I welcome you, my lady.
Nogami: Where might you be going?
Kousaka: There’s nothing to be afraid of.

The screams of the dead are BGM
Echoing “trick or treat”
If you’re lost, we’ll give you snacks
While the tables sway suspiciously

Mystic secret, come, come, hurry up
If you won’t eat, you’ll be bewitched
What kind of intentions lie within these deep red lips?
The curiosity in your eyes is brighter than fear.