#saito soma

I got to attend the Haikyu Event: Karasuno vs Shiratorizawa on April 30. I decided to make this into a day trip so I went to Tokyo by bus and took the train to Maihama. The event was held in Maihama Amphitheater and I didn’t buy any goods this time. 

This is the visual for the event!

Seiyuu Cast who Attended:

Karasuno:Murase Ayumu (Hinata), Ishikawa Kaito (Kageyama), Uchiyama Koki (Tsukishima), Saito Soma (Yamaguchi)

Shiratorizawa:Takeuchi Ryota (Ushijima), Kimura Subaru (Tendo), Toyonaga Toshiyuki (Shirabu), Tsuchiya Shinba (Goshiki) 

Yes… I had to take a pic of my biases together. XD

The interesting thing about this event was that when you apply for tickets, you can apply for a Karasuno seat or a Shiratorizawa seat. From the audience’s point of view, half of the left side is all Karasuno seats and the right half is all Shiratorizawa seats. I had a Shiratorizawa seat.

The event started with a picture of chibi Shiratorizawa team talking followed by Karasuno. They basically say that we should cheer them on. It was nice to see the left side with a lot of orange penlights and the right side with a lot of purple penlights.

Then Burnout Syndrome came out and sang the third season opening: “Hikari Are.” Then they sang Fly High. I really love that song!! They were so cool!!!

After that, all of the seiyuu came out one by one in their respective team’s shirts (Karasuno wore bright orange and Shiratorizawa wore purple) that were sold at the venue. Karasuno seiyuu came out first. They were fairly normal. I remember Ishikai jumped when he came out. When Shiratorizawa came out, it was like bam! LOL Tosshi came out without glasses and did a pose with both his hands above his head, arms folded against one another (I believe this is Shirabu’s pose on the visual). He was wearing mustard yellow pants. When Subaru was coming out, he looked like he was about to come out but went past the entrance backstage. LOL

The order from left to right was Soma, Ucchi, Ishikai, Ayumu, Takeuchi, Subaru, Shinba and Tosshi.

Each of the seiyuu gave an introduction.

• For Soma’s introduction, he went “Tsukki!!!” Of course… he did that. xD Then he did a call and response. (Call and response is very common in self introductions). He said, “When I say ‘Gomen ne (Sorry)!!’ please say, “Tsukki!” And we did it. xDDD
• Ishikai stumbled over his introduction LOOOL. xD
• Karasuno sorta “bullied” Shiratorizawa by mentioning that they won a lot (referring to the Karasuno vs Shiratorizawa match). All of the Shiratorizawa seiyuu started throwing a tantrum by stomping their feet and looking frustrated. Hahaha. XD
• Subaru got shorts that came down to his knee and matched his T-shirt. Someone commented that he looked like a crayon. Subaru also did a call and response. I believe it’s his catchphrase. He said, “When I say this, say that!” He didn’t even say the lines because we should know it and we said something with “kokoro.”
• For Shinba’s self intro, it’s apparently his first time ever attending an official seiyuu event! He’s so cute! He did a call and response and went, “Hajimemashite! (Nice to meet you!)” And we said it back. Someone commented that Shinba can only say that once because it’s his first event ever. XD (And saying “Nice to meet you” would be strange.) Shinba wore the complete Shiratorizawa jersey (jacket and pants) and said that he wears it to his recordings too. <333 How cute is that? XD
• For Tosshi’s self intro, he said, “I am Shirabu Kenjiro.” LOOOL. XD Eventually he suddenly said, “When Ushijima (Takeuchi) says, “Right!” we turn right and when he says, “Left!” we turn left. LOL So Takeuchi started saying, “Right, left, front, and “wave” and the other Shiratorizawa members did it as if they were in the army with their backs straight and hands to their sides. XD This was when I thought, man… Shiratorizawa seiyuu are so crazy but so interesting and fun! They get along so well!

Then I think… it was this part but both teams chose a “leader.” Karasuno chose Ayumu and Shiratorizawa chose Takeuchi. They both went to the front and greeted us and put their hands in the air while saying their names and so on. Shiratorizawa had their hands over their hearts while this was happening.

Then they had us do the cheer that the fans do in the bleachers in the anime. Ishikai led the Karasuno side of the audience. Fans had to say, “Go go Karasuno, Push push Karasuno!” That side did a practice round and because Ishikai is a strict teacher, he went,” That was only 20 points,” and had them do it again XD Subaru led the Shiratorizawa side. (I couldn’t remember how the chant went for Shiratorizawa but eventually got the hang of it). Shiratorizawa fans go, “Shiii, ratorizawa!” And clap three times, then once, and then twice. XD It was really fun doing the chant.

After that, they left the stage for the staff members to set up the stage.

For the Haikyuu!! event, there were five sets, as if they were playing a volleyball match in the finals (think Karasuno vs Shiratorizawa match). The MC said that there will be a chance to make a comeback in the end, Someone went, “Is it really okay to say that already?” And another commented, “So even if we are in the lead, the opponent in the fifth set can suddenly make a comeback?” Basically implying that all their hard work from the first to the fourth seat won’t even make a difference. XD This is really common though. xD The winning team wins high-quality and expensive meat tickets (not exactly coupons…but you get what I mean)!

First Set: Best Scene

Each character had a best scene. The results were based on the fans votes for the best scene for each character. This was actually an online survey that fan could vote on. Then the seiyuu who voiced that character talks about it. 1^st place gets 3 points for their team and the top 2 to 5 get 1 point for their team.

The MC announced the top five, from number five to number 1.

• 5. Ushijima scene where he goes, “Like Tendo always says, “Nottekita.”
• 4. Hinata scene where it looks like he grew a pair of wings.
• 3. Shirabu scene where he’s focused on giving his all for Ushijima.
• 2. Kageyama scene where he failed to get the ball and Tendo tried to provoke him but it didn’t work.
  
• 1. The obvious number 1 was, of course, the Tsukki scene where he yells. During this scene, Soma screamed, “Tsukki!!!!” It was super adorable. XD

The MC asked the seiyuu/characters that weren’t in the top five about their thoughts. Shinba was so cute when he said, “Oh, I was shocked that I wasn’t up there…” He said it all genuinely and like a kicked puppy, all disappointed. Asldk XD Ishikai said Tendo was basically in every best scene shown and had the most lines in there too! At one point, he imitated Tendo’s moves. Subaru also talked about how he was a test recording or something (they kept saying test.. not sure what that means) and he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to sing his signature little song with heart breaking in the lyrics. He had read the manga and everything but he wasn’t given any direction as to how to do it. Apparently the director just left the song up to him. He could do it however he wanted. And this was how it ended up. Subaru wondered if how he did the song fit the character and we clapped (meaning it really did!).

At this point, Karasuno was in the lead, 5-2.

Second Set: Ball Control

Each team chooses one member to represent them. That person has to hold 4 volleyballs (the balls are HUGE) first and the other members add a ball and hold all of them for five seconds (the au before another ball is added. If the person drops the ball, then it’s over. The person gets the number of points equal to the number of balls he manages to hold.

• Karasuno went up first and Ishikai got chosen. Ishikai only got to a total of 6 or 7 before a ball slipped from his arms. Ayumu apologized to him saying it was his fault. When he placed an additional ball, that was when Ishikai dropped the balls.
• Shiratorizawa team took off their jackets to prove that they were serious about winning. Takeuchi was chosen for Shiratorizawa and he suddenly laid down!!! Karasuno went, “Wait, is that even allowed??” And the MC said it was okay as long as the balls don’t touch the ground. Takeuchi managed to get to a total of 12 balls!!! It was really amusing seeing the balls on his body.

Someone suggested that Ishikai do it again except laying down this time and the MC said that was fine but he would get no points for doing it. Ishikai reluctantly did it and held 15!! Ishikai said that he couldn’t even keep track of how many balls were being placed on him and Takeuchi said that once they put a ball on your face, then all is lost (like you can’t think anymore). XD

Third Set: Quiz

They show a scene and then ask a question relating to the scene. Karasuno and Shiratorizawa has to write down the answer on the sketchbook provided. Both teams were given one sketchbook so each team had to work together to come up with an answer. Let me tell you, Shiratorizawa team was overall very interesting to watch. XDD

1. What is the kanji for Reon?

• This question took a lot of time for both teams to answer. xD Shiratorizawa tried to cheat by asking the audience and looking over at Karasuno’s table… Karasuno tried to do the same thing too. XD At one point, Tosshi tried peeking and a few fans pointed him out. Then Tosshi said, “ You’re not supposed to rat me out! Because I’m supposed to be plain and not noticeable (reference to Shirabu’s character where he doesn’t stand out).
• Both teams ended up getting the answer right.
  

2. What did Kiyoko say after Suga exclaimed, “Wait until we marry!” when she held Suga’s hands to calm him down.  

• Both teams tried peeking again. XDDD
• When they both revealed their answers, they were both VERY similar except Shiratorizawa team added in “because.” Ishikai said he has confidence because he loves Kiyoko and that’s why he remembers what she said. XD
• Answer: “No thank you. I don’t plan on getting married with you.” Although both of their answers weren’t written exactly as said, a point was given to Karasuno for giving the closest answer. XD

3. What did Semi (Terashii) say after Tendo sing-songed weirdly?

• Karasuno wrote, “Crow field.” I kid you not; Crow field was written in English props to Ayumu. XD Ayumu explained the answer as “Karasuno.”
• Subaru saved the day. He wrote, “Block,” which was the correct answer. XD

4. What did Yamaguchi say to Tsukki which got him mad?

• Answer: “Don’t lose to Hinata!”
• Both teams got it right. I was really surprised because Shiratorizawa wrote down the answer pretty fast.

5. What is Reon and Semi eating in the cafeteria scene?

• The food that they were eating was covered with a white fuzzy spots. But a slight hint was given because there was a salad on Semi’s plate and a huge bowl or rice on Reon’s plate. It was actually a difficult question. The MC gave them a hint, saying that the food on their plates were both different and Reon was eating something high in calories.
• Ishikai was drawing the answer to the question. His fellow members went, “What’s that!?” and laughing uncontrollably. At one point, Ishikai stomped off the stage out of anger and then came back after the Karasuno members told him to come back. Ishikai put the blame on Soma. XD At another point, Ucchi tried peeking at Shiratorizawa’s answer and Subaru blocked his view. XD And when Ucchi went back and looked at Ishikai’s drawing, he went, “Wait, what happened!? What’s this?” Hahaha. XDDD
• Ishikai finally showed his drawing. The drawing of their guess for Semi was a bit weird. Hahaha but it was a drawing of curry and rice. XDD They guessed that Reon was eating fried fish or something. Then Ayumu showed us Ishikai’s first original drawing and said that he improved greatly. When we looked at the first drawing, we were like, “Oh my god… what’s that??” And Ishikai got really embarrassed and sat under the super small table they were using, all huddled up with his knees up against his chest and looking sad. XDDD Dawww
• Shiratorizawa answered with “Semi” (actually I’m not sure why that was the answer) and oil (because the MC said it was something high in calories). XDDD
• Answer: Curry and karaage (chicken)

1 point went to Karasuno.

For one of the questions, someone on the Shiratorizawa team started to do the fan chant and had us (Shiratorizawa side) join in. Then there was a Shiratorizawa fans vs Karasuno fans chant face-off. XDDD

For one of the questions (don’t remember which one), Subaru tried acting confident that he knew the answer. The other seiyuu noticed that he was sweating a LOT and Soma kindly went to grab a towel, and gently wiped the sweat off Subaru’s face. And Subaru said, “KYUN <333333” (sfx for heart skipping a beat) A member of Karasuno went, “What’s with this lovey dovey atmosphere!?” LOOOL X

I believe they did a time-out after the third set so the seiyuu went off the stage while the MC gave us announcements. When the seiyuu came back, Shiratorizawa was acting all serious, cool and mature. XDDDD LOOOL And the Karasuno team said something like, “Wait, what happened? Isn’t that a totally different attitude than before??”

Fourth Set: Gesture Game (Charades)

Each team chooses a representative. That person has to do gestures and make his teammates guess the word. The person has to do as many in one minute and only can say “pass” twice.

• Ayumu was chosen for the Karasuno team. When Ishikai said it can only be Ayumu, he started imitated how Ayumu danced and moved his body, showing that he was the best one for doing the gestures.
• I don’t remember all that he did but he did radio calisthenics (exercises), rolling thunder (Noya’s move!!), serve, monkey (a few members said “baka” (idiot) at first LOL) and the last one was “Oikawa Toru.” LOOOL Many fangirls screamed when they saw the name. Ayumu tried to do Oikawa’s signature serve and failed but none of his teammates could guess the answer and then time was up. When the answer was revealed, Ishikai… well more like “Kageyama” got “angry” and went something along of the lines of, “That’s supposed to be Oikawa!?” Then they had Ayumu repeatedly do “Oikawa.” Hahaha he tried to do the serve but it was just really cute to me. XDDD The Karasuno members told Ayumu, “Good job.” I also remember Soma was really good at guessing the answers! I was really surprised!
• For Shiratorizawa, Shinba was chosen! He showed us a wonderful one-handed cartwheel! He was asked to do it again and he did it! He was so amazing!!! XD He did, brushing your teeth, receive, passed on Reon, tried to do “guess attack,” and passed on that one too. For the last one before time was up, he did “Synchro Attack!” Shiratorizawa team knew what he was doing but couldn’t remember the word for the special move. XDD

At this point, Shiratorizawa was in the lead, 24-22. It was a really close match!

Last Set: Collaboration with an Enormous Ball (I don’t even know how to translate this one to sound natural. LOL)

The audience has a chance to participate in this set! It’s up to the audience and the winner gets 50 points! XD The staff brought out two HUGE orange balloons and two HUGE pink balloons. XD Shiratorizawa commented, “Wait, is this supposed to be purple!?” when they were handed the pink balloons XDD LOOOL Anyway, the teams will pass the balloons to the audience and the audience has to move the balloons all the way to the back and then back to the front. Just imagine a rectangular U shape. The winner is determined when ONE of the balloons goes back on the stage.

You know how half of the venue was supposed to be Karasuno fans and the other half was supposed to be Shiratorizawa fans? Well actually part of the section of the back was full of Karasuno fans. XDDD Subaru pointed it out and jokingly said, “Since they’re rooting for Karasuno, they might try to pop the balloon!” Then Ishikai kindly said to that section, “Please help them,” and was all nice about it. He had this really nice pleading voice. XDDD Those fans were very kind and even changed their penlights from orange to purple!

• It was overall pretty exciting although I didn’t have a chance to touch the balloon. xD And Shiratorizawa won! Actually both of the balloons got back to the stage while the orange balloons didn’t even go halfway up. It stayed around the front. XD

So that meant the ultimate winner was Shiratorizawa!!! :3 Shiratorizawa team had us do the Shiratorizawa fan chant and even the Karasuno side joined! LOL

For the awarding ceremony, they chose the MVP of the day! And Ishikai was chosen!! A member of Burnout Syndrome handed him a trophy. (Ishikai balancing the volleyballs part was seriously hilarious XD) Another member gave the trophy to Takeuchi, representative of Shiratorizawa team and Shinba accepted the high-end meat prize! XD

Then all the seiyuu gave their closing comments.

• Subaru started “crying” and saying that he was proud of Shinba. XDDD
• Takeuchi had green/blue hair and one of them said that he should explain to the audience why it’s that color. So Takeuchi explained that before, he dyed it pink and he actually wanted to dye it to purple for the event, so he went for blue hair dye, thinking that if you mix blue and pink together, you would get purple… but actually his hair just turned blue! LOOOL. XD
• Ishikai and Ayumu said that it was fun doing this kind of event and it was their first time doing something like this: one team vs another team. XD

Ayumu requested us to yell out, “Otsukaresama (Good work!!!) and we did so and streamers shot out.

As they were leaving the stage, both teams high-fived each other as they passed by one another and said goodbye.

Overall, this was a wonderful 2.5 hour event!!! I managed to catch the last Shinkansen that would take me back and get to the last train going to my area although I was exhausted over work the next day! XD

It was my first time seeing Ucchi, Soma, Ishikai, Subaru, Takeuchi, and Shinba… now that I think about it, that’s like most of the cast! LOOOL

• Ucchi seemed pretty laid-back and chill about everything but that doesn’t mean he’s super quiet either. XD
• Soma was just adorableeee going “Tsukki! Tsukki!” all the time. LOOOL XD And he blew me away with guessing during the gestures game.
• I had this image of Subaru being all cool and everything… appearance-wise but he’s really the mood-maker!! He was really funny and livened up the atmosphere. He’s a bit of a goofball. XD
• I feel that Ishikai was the one that people liked to tease… what with the balancing balls and drawing incidents. XDDD
• Takeuchi was very cool and seemed respected by everyone but I think he knows how to have a good time as well. XD
• Shinba was just cuuuuute. He’s like a cinnamon roll and his voice is really nice too. XD
• Ayumu never fails to make me think he’s so freaking adorableeee. His gestures were freaking cute especially when he was doing “Oikawa Toru” XD
• Tosshi… he said that he was Shirabu Kenjiro again. XD And I can’t help but notice that’s considerably shorter than the others. XDDD But that’s what makes him cute. And he’s not the type to be teased either. XD I felt like he was like a senpai towards the others.. well he is! XD And he was part of what made Shiratorizawa team fun. XDDD

It was just so interesting seeing Shiratorizawa team interactions and Karasuno team interactions. It’s like the Shiratorizawa team is more childish although Karasuno team has younger members. LOLOLOL XD Karasuno was pretty much calm but I can tell they have a good relationship with each other. XD

It was super fun especially doing the actual fan chants!! XD I hope that there will be another event like this in the future!

Thanks for reading!! Until next time! :3

2 days left~

yes finally new season!
This post is episode 1 & 2 with Eguchi Takuya as guest

note:

• this is not my own record i just share it to everyone who can’t download from miomio.tv :)
  
• do not ask for better quality
• i will update every 2 episodes (since 1 guest will appears in 2 episodes)
• i put the download link in guest name so you don’t need to ask me

ENJOY~~!

Please support spoon 2Di !! You might be able to find them on Amazon.jp (international credit cards accepted) and CD Japan. Please show Hypmic that international fans also contribute to the sales!!  This article is from vol. 41.

Shibuya Division’s trickster Yumeno Gentaro has a character difficult to grasp, and toys with people with his irregular rap. His voice actor Saito Soma will tell us everything from his philosophy in rapping, to what happens behind the scenes during secret talks regarding recording!

——What do you think about the current boom of popularity?

“Personally I have always liked rap music, but I am very surprised and thankful that there’s such a huge response. Various people I’ve ran into told me that “Your rap is pretty solid, great job”; these comments were made not as a fellow actor but as a listener, and that made me overjoyed.”

——I’ve seen you performing freestyle rap in other project’s Niconama [live stream] before, but had you ever actually been rapping other than listening to it?

“Sometimes my friends and I would gather at their place, and rap freestyle together. For the Niconama, it was probably Samatoki-sama (he meant the VA Asanuma Shintaro-san) who randomly asked me to do a freestyle as part of the show, right? (laughs) At that time I didn’t know about this project [Hypmic] yet, and to think that now I am actually rapping with Asanuma-san in the same production, I feel that it’s an amazing serendipity.”

——So, when you first saw Yumeno Gentaro, which part of him did you find the coolest?

“How everything is a lie. In the world of Hypnosis Mic, the lyrics that were sung through a hypnosis mic has to be nothing but your true thoughts, but in the case of Gentaro his opponents would still be confused by him like, “was that actually true though?”. I think that is especially interesting.  In actual freestyle [battle], he might purposely say things to disrupt the flow of his opponents’ lyrics, basically jabbing at their true nature; that’s why I think Gentaro’s style is tricky.”

——Gentaro at times alternates between different first-person pronouns and voices. Since he’s so ungraspable, how did you build up the character?

“Beginning from the drama track of Fling Posse -F.P.S.M.-, I’ve done a lot of ad-lib voice changes. But at that time I was told not to improvise too much since it was still the very beginning, so I stopped myself from doing it too much. However after that I was told to just do whatever I want, so I was like ‘Yay!’ and improvised a lot. Changing my voice like that was not decided by me though. In the script, it wrote ‘Maro…’, so I thought it’d be nice to do a voice that sounds like a ‘Maro’(1). He was also saying that he was a princess in his past life, and I felt using a female voice there would be fitting. I was just following the script truthfully and faithfully! From now on I might do even more voices, and I would be very glad if you’re aware that the change was instructed by the script (laughs). With that being said, there are also many parts that are done by my own discretion (laughs).”

——As the person behind Gentaro, is that how you pin down his ungraspable character ?

I got to sing the solo song “Scenario Liar,” and that song itself is written in a way that you can’t tell whether it’s the truth or a lie, so if you use it as a reference for Yumeno Gentaro’s character, his character settings start to collapse.”

—— Scenario Liar started with “let me tell you about my past”, and finished up with a “well, but that’s all a lie” in the end; it really is a confusing song.

“That’s right. First, his birthday on the profile is April 1st, so one would think “it’s absolutely a lie isn’t it!” (laughs). Then in the beginning of Scenario Liar he said he’s born on a cold day in a snowy country far far away, and it just becomes “I knew it was a lie!” (laughs). Even his MC name is “Phantom”; with a character this intangible, as an actor, it’s hard to interpret him. But it’s also interesting. I think acting without thoroughly understanding the role, and instead having your character take the lead is a really interesting acting method. Of course, I have a clear image of Yumeno Gentaro in mind, but I feel like discussing that here is a little tactless.”

—— What kind of team do you think Shibuya Division’s Fling Posse is?

“Since Shibuya Division is a team of members gathered by Ramuda in order to win the territory battle, they don’t have any previous relations or bonds. However, even though they started off like that, I think they became very good friends. Especially in the drama track of Fling Posse VS Matenrou, the friendship between Gentaro and Dice really deepened. Amongst the 4 Divisions, Fling Posse is the most juvenile and pop. They’ve got a sense of mischief, and for better or worse there’s zero “seriousness”. You can really feel the intensity of Shinjuku’s seriousness, but with Shibuya it seems like they’re not concerned by the results. They’re just there to rap as they please, I really feel they cherish the fact that they make each other feel comfortable. I think that makes me feel warm and welcomed too.”

——On the other hand, as the plot thickens, there’s some sort of unsettling atmosphere within Shibuya Division.

“That’s right. Especially now that we know Ramuda is holding some secrets, it makes you wonder like, is he planning something behind our backs…? Please look forward to how that’s going to change the story from now on. I don’t know if Dice has any secrets… but I want him to stay the way he is!”

——So, what’s your impression on Shibuya’s leader Ramuda?

“It was amazing to me that Shirai (Yusuke) kun voices Ramuda with a high-pitched voice, but after listening to Fling Posse VD Matenrou, I see why this character can’t be voiced by anyone but Shirai Yusuke. I think Shirai-kun did a spectacular job in portraying the duality of Ramuda. And Ramuda’s solo song is superb! Although I already liked the song as a rough demo, on the day of release I messaged Shirai-kun, saying “It’s a great song!” Then he replied with a bunny sticker and I thought, “he totally gets it!” (laughs). Even though Ramuda is not necessarily the most leader-like, since he’s clever and is the person who shapes Shibuya’s appeal and enigmatic image, having him as center is very reassuring, His rap flow is also called ‘bratty rap’, so I think his style is about snapping and poking fun at everything. It’s nice to have him in a group with Gentaro and Dice whose styles are different. Ramuda is also similar to Gentaro, in the way that they make people think they might not be talking in their real voice. Including the fact that they’re figuring each other out, I’d say their relationship is pretty good.”  

——Then how about Arisugawa Dice?

“I think no one could be a better Dice than Nozuyama-kun (Nozuyama Yoshihiro san), he really gives off the vibes of Dice. Nozuyama kun often goes drinking, he’s the one who has been persistently asking us to have Fling Posse gatherings (laughs). Moreover, his level of “kouhai skill”(2) is high. When we’re having the Posse gathering, he said that he will invite us no matter how many times it takes (laughs). This part of him that is straightforward and pleasant really clicks with Dice’s character I think. What’s more, his rap is super duper cool! And even though Dice lives a sketchy, all-or-nothing lifestyle because he’s a gambler, in reality he shares the same emotions and feelings as everyone; in my opinion that’s how he is. In the drama part of Fling Posse VS Matenrou, Hifumi made fun of Gentaro’s clothings. Before Gentaro even got angry, Dice got angry on behalf of him, and chided Hifumi, “Everyone has a thing or two that they don’t want to be talked about!” That line really hits home. “

—— Gentaro usually just jokes and gets around things, it’s rare to see him angry.  

“In that scene where they were arguing back and forth with Hifumi, at first I thought it’s a funny scene since Gentaro changed his first-person pronoun frequently. But here I was given the directions to show actual anger, and I was like, “oh really!” So the reason why that happened, it was because…oops, I can’t say anything more about it (laughs).”  

——So regarding the music, I assume there must be a different approach to recording rap than recording usual songs. Please tell us your thoughts on recording.

“For my solo song Scenario Liar, people who’re not familiar with rap might wonder, “is this rap?” This is rap which is performed in the manner of poetry reading. It’s a song that’s extremely marvelous, but at the same time difficult. In Division Battle Anthem I was given an even more difficult rapping part, and was told “this time yours is the hardest!” (laughs). Gentaro has this style that doesn’t follow the beat closely and tends to go off beat. Therefore, in the second half of the verse after “hmm…yea you got it right”, he plunged back into rhythm. I voiced my concern that this style may sounds off to people who don’t usually listen to rap, and they said “it will be fine”, so I thought, “this project will be even better for sure!!” From this we see, what’s great about Hypnosis Mic is that the musical expectation does not get lower just to attract the mass audience. I thought it’s remarkable how they were making the songs without compromising for a hybrid between a rap and a character song since the beginning.”    

——What do you think about BATTLE BATTLE BATTLE, the battle song with Shinjuku Division?

“Again, Gentaro got a totally different flow from others…I think you’ll hear it when you listen to the song; it’s really difficult. This is a battle song, so Shibuya who attacks the second always switch in very sharply, and everyone is rapping intensely. Then there’s only Gentaro, who goes ‘oh, I see, you have a point. Certainly you’re real’ and I was like, ‘are you serious!?’ (laughs). However, I think this is what Gentaro would do, to be totally unfazed by Hifumi’s dis, ignoring and mocking his seriousness.”

——It feels like a lot of different voices are used in Gentaro’s song.

“Gentaro is not the type to rap with much highs and lows, if he doesn’t delicately build up his voice, he could lack punch power. Therefore I use different kinds of voices. That being said, there might be more ‘Maro rap’ in the future (laughs).”

——I want to listen to that (laugh). With Shibuya especially, it’s fun to listen to the various calls.

“In Shibuya Marble Texture -PCCS-, Dice yelled ‘Ramuda—!!’ before Ramuda’s rap (laughs). He also yelled ‘Gentaro—‘ before Gentaro’s rap too; but he was so hyped, I was like - Eh!? Did he just say ‘Guitar!!’? (laughs)”

——Alongside with the part where Ramuda calls ‘Dice~’ to pass the mic, you can really see that the three are good friends with each other; it’s wonderful. For the next question, how did you feel about singing Shibuya Marcle Texture -PCCS- ?

“This song is awesome! I think Avec Avec-san made the song very Shibuya for us. Between Shirai-kun, Nozuyama-kun and I, my voice is absolutely the highest; however within the characters, Ramuda’s voice is the highest. Ramuda is high, Dice is Mid and Gentaro is low, it brings out the unique tonality of Shibuya. I was the first one to record so I sang while having fun. As the song plays, imageries of Fling Posse’s Shibuya, a marble-like town with a mix of good and bad came to mind. And yet, it also gives off trippiness like a  daydream; it’s super awesome.”

——Gentaro’s usual flow is irregular.

I think it’ll be a shock if Gentaro raps like everyone else. Dice and Gentaro did a fast-flow duo rap in the drama track of Fling Posse VS Matenro CD. For people who listened, didn’t it catch you off guard like, "oh he can rap like a regular rapper, too!?” (Laughs) Nozuyama-kun and I recorded it almost at the same time, but it worked like a magic from the first take. I actually like the fast flow style personally, so that was fun to do, too. The rap part in the drama tracks are written by Cola Bintaro Sensei (aka Kimura Subaru), so I was telling him, “Gentaro’s flow is always really careful, I wish I can try something more rough and fast maybe” and then he delivered (Laughs). Bintaro Sensei always brings demos that he recorded for our reference, but they are so perfect, to the point that we can probably just publish them as they are.”

——At our last interview with Bintaro-sensei, he told us that he really likes Scenario Liar, and praised your rap.

“Eh—I’m so glad! Bintaro-sensei said that!? Thank you so much! When I asked Bintaro-sensei whose rap was good, he said with rap there isn’t one way to measure who’s good and who’s bad, but the one whose style was complete from the beginning was Jakurai-sensei. Hayami (Show) san only did two takes. In fact, his first take was already good, but did the second take just in case. That’s how much he practiced before the recording, so I heard.”

——As expected from him! And now, please tell us songs and characters that you like.

“There are songs I like in each division; for Ikebukuro, I really like Jiro’s song “Sensenfukoku”. It has the Mixture Rock vibe and very high quality as a character song, too, because Ishiya (Haruki)-kun expressed Jiro’s adoration towards Ichiro by pursuing Subaru-san’s rap style. It’s pure awesome. I like all the songs of Yokohama, but Samatoki-sama is just the cutest. Family and friends are of great importance to him. The sentiment of “we’re a team”, which is often seen in gang culture, is very much Yokohama’s style. Oh, and I also got the impression that Riou is Kamio-san’s calling (laughs). Kamio-san’s stare in the MV is the best, please by all means watch it again!”  

——What about Shinjuku Division?

“I like Doppo. I can sing the whole Tigridia! Everytime I see ItoKen-kun (Ito Kento san) I talk about how good the song is. The line “When not writing poems I’m but a corpse” is the coolest, and Doppo saying it makes it even better.”  

——What do you like about Doppo?

“A 29-year-old downer salaryman, he’s not young anymore; such setting is awful good (laughs). In the drama there was a part where Dice said to Doppo, who was apologizing to him, “An apology is meaningless if you apologize at everything. And I thought, “I see how that is~” Dice-kun is a gambler so he probably doesn’t understand, but that’s what a working adult is like… something like that (laughs).Therefore, if Doppo is ever going to have a solo song again, I want it to be the intense outburst of his anger and stress.”

——What type of songs would you like to try out as Gentaro in the future?

“Gentaro seems to have a reputation of being variable, so if he does rap normally, people would think, ‘Is he actually doing it normally? It could be fake’ and that would be interesting I think. Each character has their own rapping style, while Gentaro just does whatever. If he’s a Pokemon he would be something like Ditto…it’s Ditto rap (laughs)!”

——Who would be fun for Shibuya Division to have a battle with?  

“In Division Battle Anthem Gentaro’s part is after Juto’s, so it’s really loud…because Komada Wataru (laughs)! But that being said, with Juto’s volume and the contrasting off beat of Gentaro, it makes me want to have a battle with Yokohama. Having Gentaro to pay homage to Juto’s style sounds fun (laughs). And I am interested in how a battle between Riou and Dice would go. Also, it seems like Juto’s sharp high tone goes well [with Gentaro’s].”  

——Thank you very much. Last but not least, please say something to fans.

“When I was told about Hypnosis Mic, I thought it’d for sure be an interesting project. Even though I sort of wondered if it can be well-received, I’m very grateful that it was developed to become the talk of the town. Rap battle is about fellow rappers being respectful and dissing each other in the field of rap, as the backbone of hip-hop culture. “Dissing” is not talking down to someone or attacking their character; instead, it is a showdown of fighting styles on the battlefield of the culture.  As you get to know rap you also get to know the culture, and as the way to listen to rap takes root in you, you’ll enjoy it even more. You probably each have your own favourite division, but please save the battles only for when mics are held; please by all means enjoy Hypnosis Mic while being nice to each other. We’ll also try to create an even better  space for everyone to have fun together. It’ll make me very glad if you could please continue to enjoy Hypnosis Mic in the future.”

Translation notes

1. Means “I”, was used as a first-person pronoun regardless of age, class and gender since the Heian Period. In recent works, it’s usually used by males in court nobles from the Heian period. It’s rarely used as oppose to ‘watashi’.  
   
2. Original text is “後輩スキル”, reads “kouhai skill”. I’m sure most of you would know, but for those who don’t, “kouhai” is a person who’s less experienced than others, i.e. a junior. Since hierarchical etiquette is a large part of Japanese culture, the skills to be able to strive and behave suitably as your status is very important.
   
3. His last name in Hiragana is actually 「のづやま」and not 「のずやま」like the most common spelling (and he is particular about it).