Part 2 of the Da Vinci interview with Yagakimi’s main couple Takada Yūki (Yū) & Kotobuki Minako (Tōko). Read the translation of Part 1 here. I forgot to mention this in the previous part, but please BEWARE spoilers if you haven’t read the manga!
These feelings of ‘love’: where are they headed?
Tōko-san’s ‘Okay, I’ll be more careful’ was…100 times cuter than I’d imagined! (Takada)
Q: This question is directed at Takada-san – were there any of Tōko’s lines to Yū that took your breath away?
Takada: There’s one in episode 4… (looks at recording script) that I marked up with a heart ♥ (laughs)
Q: Oh, this is going to be amazing (laughs)
Kotobuki: (laughs) Oh yeah that’s right, I remember this!
Takada: It’s just a single word that doesn’t even seem all that significant – Tōko and Yū are on their way home from school and Yū tells Tōko, ‘You’re walking too close to me’. Tōko is unaware of this, and when Yū retorts ‘Stop invading my personal space’, Tōko’s response of ‘Okay…I’ll be more careful…’ was about a 100 times cuter in real life than I’d imagined it to be when I read the scripts!
All: (laughter)
Takada: It was super cute and it made me go ‘You gotta be joking!’. I know that as Yū, I shouldn’t let a smile creep onto my face but I just couldn’t help it and decided ‘Ah, there’s nothing wrong with smiling here!’ (laughs). Her words overflowed with cuteness, and I’m thinking that it might’ve made Yū go ‘Hmmph’ in feigned apathy – I just wanted to freeze that moment and preserve it for eternity. I’ll be paying extra attention when that scene goes on air in the anime.
Kotobuki: Yūki was so considerate, trying to keep it discreet – only once we’d finished recording that scene did she show me the ♥ heart-mark that she’d drawn on the script, telling me ‘I love this part so much’. I was super happy, saying ‘Wow, there’s a ♥ heart-mark there!’. We’re always going ‘Woah, she really did say that!’ or wondering ‘just how far will they go next time out!?’ during recordings. It’s mostly ladies in the studio with just the 1 or 2 guys, and you’ll find that the girls are all going ‘tee hee hee’ similar to how guys would wolf-whistle (laughs)
Takada: It’s the guys who are blushing instead!
Kotobuki: Personally, I’m really very appreciative of how all the actors involved with the show, even those who only appear in a single episode, are able to say ‘this is such a wonderful series’. I want to tell everyone, ‘do look forward to what lies ahead’ and to ‘please watch the show’.
Q: Kotobuki-san, have you drawn any heart marks on Yū’s lines in the script?
Kotobuki: My scripts are always plain (laughs)
Takada: (laughs)
Kotobuki: Yū talks a lot, doesn’t she? Especially in her monologues – she may be saying ‘Yes’ on the outside, but on the inside she’s thinking the opposite. That happens quite often, and I must say I love those monologues of hers. I think this will probably come up in episode 3, but there’s a part where Tōko gives Yū a souvenir that she bought on her trip.
Q: Ah, the scene where she comes to see Yū who’s working the cash register at the [family] bookstore.
Kotobuki: That’s right, she comes to see Yū and hands her a mini planetarium. Maybe it’s because I play Tōko, but I was glad to see that she did use it when she was at home. I thought, ‘Oh, so she really did open up my gift’. It’s a scene where Yū lights up the planetarium and goes ‘Wow it’s beautiful!’, thinking of Tōko while gazing at the stars on her ceiling. Yū then begins to wonder, ‘will I too, grow to have such feelings?’ and ‘will I be able to reach the stars someday?’ and it made me joyful to see that Yū’s thinking seriously about [her relationship with] Tōko. From my perspective, I interpreted that as meaning that ‘her chances aren’t zero’, and it made me feel just a little bit more encouraged…though you have to wonder what I’m getting so motivated for (laughs). It made me feel like it was alright for Tōko’s burning emotions to get carried away in that manner. I was trying to pretend that I couldn’t hear Yū’s monologue but when it’s written in the scripts and I get to hear [Yūki] saying those words during recording, I can’t help but think ‘Ah, I’m so happy’.
Q: That souvenir scene was certainly memorable. Yū’s ‘How much do you love me?’ line had quite the impact as well.
Kotobuki: Yeah, I was thinking ‘Woah she’s being so aggressive’. We were discussing whether we’d use such a line in real life as well, weren’t we?
Takada: We did. And we were thinking, ‘you probably wouldn’t dare to say that for real’.
Kotobuki: I really love that scene.
Q: As the two of you record together, what do you feel are the aspects that you find ‘amazing’ about each other?
Kotobuki: I think Yūki-chan was like Yū at the beginning, struggling a little with the number of monologues that would also increase in their intensity – she would express her views and her honest thoughts [about certain scenes] and there was tendency for the mood to turn fairly serious. The Director would say, ‘try to lighten it up a little bit’ but as we’d been told ‘not to make it too heavy nor too light’ when were were recording the PVs earlier on, I was thinking to myself ‘that’s just too hard to do’ as I was listening to what he said (laughs)
But Yūki-chan would find all sorts of ways to deal with the circumstances; she’s always bringing up her own suggestions, going ‘How about this? Or maybe this?’. I think it’s brilliant how she manages to understand the situation at hand and instantly come up with a solution. She’s capable of responding promptly to everything. It’s up to the individual as to how they handle things – there are some who’ll say ‘let me have some time to think first’ and then they’ll come up with an answer. There aren’t many people though, who can respond as quickly to a problem the way Yūki can and it makes me feel like I have a Yū of my own beside me all the time…it’s amazing. I’m always watching you, you know? (laughs)
Takada: Thank you.
Q: Your senior’s really singing your praises there.
Takada: I feel so humbled to hear that. As to what I think is amazing about Minako-san, I’ll start by saying that she’s a very attractive as a person. She’s so very innocent and her smile is incredibly dazzling; she’s always looking out for those around her yet she’s forthright in the way she articulates her thoughts and expresses herself. It’s because Minako-san is playing the role that Tōko-san scores 100%, no, 120% on the charm scale for me – that’s what is on my mind as I’m acting alongside her. I think back to the time when I was first reading the manga and wondering, ‘maybe this is what Tōko-san sounds like’….ahhh, back then….back then…(laughs)
Kotobuki: (laughs) Yeah, way back when.
Takada: From there, and now that we’re working together, I believe even more strongly that ‘Tōko-san is truly by my side right now; she’s a lot more like Tōko-san than I had ever imagined would be possible’…it’s so hard for me to explain, but she’s so wonderful and I can’t help but think of her that way. The differences in how Tōko speaks to Sayaka, someone whom she’s opened herself up to, compared to the way she speaks to those around her, and the distance in Tōko’s heart as she speaks to Yū, the person she holds special feelings for – the acting [Minako] displays in each of those situations is so very exquisite. That is why I, when I’m acting as Yū, can hold a conversation with Tōko-san without any hesitation whatsoever. From the very 1st episode I was able to grasp exactly what kind of person Tōko-san is and that I feel, is something truly amazing.
Q: Does working on this series allow you to show a new side of yourself?
Kotobuki: Tōko’s naturally too perfect and her facial expressions tend to tell you ‘this is where I am’. There are times when I look at the situation and surprisingly, I find that I’m able to predict how Tōko might feel, or what kind of expression she would have on her face. That makes me believe that perhaps, our thought processes and personalities are more similar than I expected. She gets close to others without any sense of awkwardness and always feels so natural that you’d never think that she’d be able to become overly passionate about any one thing.
Takada: I too, try to voice the role as naturally as I can. There was a point where I thought ‘Maybe I was a little too enthusiastic there, especially when it comes to someone like Yū’, but my lines were accepted as they were and that made me think, ‘So doing something like that is fine too’ – that’s the kind of studio we’re working in, a place that allows us to believe [in what we’re doing]. In the past I would have my own views on my characters and come up with all sorts of ideas to build the role up, only to go to the studio and find that it would have to be revised [to meet certain specifications].
Q: Do you gain peace of mind by preparing for a role in advance?
Takada: Yes I do. As an actress, the most important thing I have to remember is that I am playing a character and not myself, so I do feel more secure when I’ve constructed and prepared for something ahead of time. However, Yagate Kimi ni Naru is the type of show that gives me the room to think that maybe, I should try to be less deliberate in my approach.
When I was reading the manga, I found that I could really relate to Yū; there were so many instances where I was nodding my head along thinking ‘Yeah yeah, I get what she means’. And it made me think that Yū would cease to be Yū if I tried too hard to ‘design’ her character so I used my natural voice as much as possible, with acting as natural as I could produce. It proved to be an adventure for me.
I treated the recording session as if I going for a karaoke session with Yū, and ended up really enjoying it (lol) (Kotobuki)
Q: Reading the author’s notes in the manga, it’s plain to see that author Nakatani Nio-san places great trust in Director Katō Makoto-san – how are things coming along in the studio?
Kotobuki: We can see that the Director is taking great care in the making of this series. When he saw us on the day we came to record for the first PV, he took one look at us and remarked ‘gee, the two of you really are Tōko-san and Yū-san in the flesh’, with this massive smile on his face. I think it was partly because our hairstyles and appearances happened to match our respective characters as well. On one hand I was going ‘Oh what a relief, we’re almost alike’ and on the other hand I was thinking, ‘Eh? I haven’t even said a single word yet!’ (laughs)
Takada: Oh yes I remember that very well.
Kotobuki: Most directors are the unflappable types who’d go ‘just leave the animation up to us’, but here we have Director Katō who maintains a good relationship with the actors and is always cheerful when we see him in the studio. On the other hand we’ve never seen his ‘monologues’ so I don’t know what he’s like then (laughs)
Takada: That’s right. After the end of recording every week the Director will leave us messages. ‘It was X or Y or Z today…or that scene will be coming up for Yū next week so do your best’, things like that.
Kotobuki: Instead of just saying goodbye and going home, all of us wish to know more about the series and naturally, want to talk about it as well. So before we’ve even gotten hold of the scripts he’ll tell us ‘these are the scenes that we’ll be covering next week’.
Q: The two of you perform the ending theme ‘hectopascal’ in character – it’s a really good song.
Kotobuki: It is indeed good, a very nice pop song.
Takada: It is. I’d imagined that we might get a more gentle song, so for us two to get a really poppy tune with lyrics that reflect the world of Yagakimi closely as well as putting the thoughts of Yū and Tōko-san into words, made it easy to get into the song’s groove; it was a lot of fun.
Kotobuki: Yūki-chan sang first, so I was recording my part while listening to Yū’s voice. Visualizing it from Tōko’s point of view, it was as if I was going for a karaoke session with Yū, just the two of us, so I really enjoyed the recording session that way (laughs). I was like, ‘ah it makes me so happy to think that she’s singing this cutely for me’ and I also loved the way our lines played off each other.
Takada: There is also a coupling track and that was the reverse, with Tōko-san going first. Likewise I had the chance to record while listening to Tōko-san singing and that did indeed make my spirits soar. Again, I felt I was maybe getting a little too excited if I was looking at it from Yū’s point of view (laughs). But I thought: since we’re having these two go for a karaoke session together, it’d be nice to let Yū have a bit of fun singing, wouldn’t it?
Q: Recording is still in progress at the moment – from your respective viewpoints, what do you see as the appeal of the Yagate Kimi ni Naru series?
Kotobuki: From Tōko’s view, it is thanks to Yū that she gradually starts to recognize ‘what this feeling of love is all about’, and I myself am able to learn of the depth of what it means to be human. You can see, in various places, indicators of where the personal relationships within the show are headed towards; where ‘like = LOVE’ in some situations and in others, it may just mean positive feelings. Each individual is completely different from the next, yet the relationships between them are drawn so clearly and there is not a single character in the show whom you could think of as being dispensable – it’s amazing when you consider how the series has been written in such a way. Even if the character is just Student A, you would think ‘that line of hers still carries so much weight’. That applies to the people around Yū such as Koyomi-chan and Akari-chan, as well the other characters that come into play – each one of their personalities stands out on its own, and I think it’s getting more and more intriguing as the dynamics between certain characters become visible. It might also be interesting to look at the overall picture and try to determine ‘which one of these characters you resemble the most’. I do feel that the point that appeals most [about Yagakimi] is its ‘humanness’.
Takada: ‘Just when I thought I could draw closer to you, you leave me behind’ – I thought long and hard about how frustrating emotional distance can be , and how precious those feelings are. This is a series that delicately illustrates how people’s emotions can be shaken to their very core. I confess that I myself have spent time thinking about what ‘love’ truly is; I believe viewers too, can use this show as an opportunity to explore and try to define ‘what it means to be in love with someone’ and I’d feel happy if you came to feel that ‘being in love with someone with something truly special’. It may feel frustrating watching our main couple’s diverging feelings but there is so much charm in that – their love is such a wonderful story that makes me wish that I could follow the anime and the manga for eternity.
Interview & text: Shimizu Daisuke
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