Kotono Mitsuishi Focus Panel, Animazement 2008
This panel took place nice and early at 10 in the morning on a bright, May Saturday. I arrived at the room only 10 minutes before starting, and was lucky enough to get a front-row seat. I guess this is just not that big of a con when it comes to the guest seeker track of programming.
After a brief intro we’re quickly treated to a just-awoke Mitsuishi fielding questions with her aptly knowing translator until the end of the panel. Here are my annotated notes for you (taken after the fact with a recording). What I write will be mostly paraphrased lines and not what’s actually spoken or translated. Stuff in <> are just lol paraphrased for short. Stuff in italics are my thoughts and descriptions of what was happening. Stuff not in either are just normal paraphrasing. I gave each person who was up to ask a question the same Q#. So If the 3rd person asked 3 questions, I’ll use Q3 three times.
MC: <blah intro stuff, thx for coming, here’s Ms. Kotono Mitsuishi> She worked as an elevator lady when she started! <more actual intro> <doesn’t ride anymore but still has a license> <has a blog> <show a couple video clips>
Good morning indeed.
KM: Last night you guys were partying pretty hard! I was pretty excited too. But you guys were still pretty loud even way after midnight, so it was a little worrying. You guys ok?
Crowd: <Oh that’s just business as usual.>
KM: <Well, let’s make this panel good!> よろしくお願いします.
MC: <Line up doods!>
People line up.
Q1: Any new projects? How do you think of this convention?
KM: I’m working on this show called Zenryoku Usagi. Nee-san is my character. She goes to a lot of go-cons and has this romantic aspect to her character. Her character is not good at communicating with guys so she doesn’t score.
KM: My first impression about this con is that you guys are uninhibited, and you have a lot of fun. People are happy and unreserved and it makes me happy to see that. In Japan people are shy and reserved at events like this, and I tend to hold back more. Seeing you guys genuinely having fun is envious <and I hope to be like you too.>
Crowd: <Yay.>
Q2: What is your favorite project that you’ve worked on? And how do you think of the English VAs?
KM: <LOL I will dodge the first question.> But I’ve just met some English VAs for the first time at this convention, so I’m not familiar with English dubs. I do think they are powerful and positive people that can do roles like Usagi and others that I’ve done very well. <And I’ll just be a good sport and say Sailor Moon and Misato are my favs.>
Q3: Good Morning. Was Excel difficult?
KM: I was so surprised that so many Americans like Excel Saga!
Crowd: <LOLs and cheers>
KM: Excel speaks so fast and so many lines, about five times more than the usual character. <The role was hard, everyone in the production knows it, but it also made the role memorable.>
Q4: Was there a project that you wish you could have worked on?
KM: Hmm. I don’t have anything that I know of. What do you think you would like to see me as?
Q4: … Chobits’ Chii?
OH MAI GAD SOMEONE SHOOT THIS FANGIRL.
Crowd: LOL.
KM: <Chii? Chii chii. Chiiiii?>
Crowd: <LOL YES LOL.>
KM: I feel sorry for Chii’s voice actress right about now.
Somewhere in Japan, Tanaka Rie sneezed and she doesn’t know why.
Crowd: <ROFL.>
Q5: Can you do a line from Utena’s Juri and Excel’s Heil Ilpalazzo for us?
KM: Hmmm Juri…I don’t remember any of her lines. Anyone knows?
Q5: “There are no such things as miracles”
KM: What’s that in Japanese?
Q5: <Ooops.>
KM: <Well, I guess I’ll do Excel since no one knows any Juri lines. I apologize ahead of time because it’s still early in the morning for me so it may not come out right.> [She prepares and takes a drink.]
KM: HEIIII ILPALAZZOO~
Crowd: YAY.
Isn’t it Ilpalazzo-sama?
KM: Woah, the memories just rushed back as I do the voice and I remember how it was.
Crowd: LOL.
Q6: Did you have any other possible career choices that you could have gone on to?
KM: At kindergarten I thought I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. But sometime in high school I decided that I wanted to be a voice actor. At first I was shy and wasn’t good at expressing my feelings, so my teachers and friends didn’t think I could make it.
Oshoot it’s my turn.
Q7: I know you really like Ebichu. But I’m curious as to what is your favorite joke in the show.
KM: Ok. So why do people in America know about Ebichu? [She said this on Friday too by the way.]
Crowd: <Jeers>
KM: I am so surprised. Why?
Q7: It’s really really funny?
She explains a bit of her role in the anime and how it involved her in the conception.
KM: So I approached the director (Hidaki Anno) and asked him to cast me in the lead role as I was a fan of the Ebichu manga. Ebichu is this cute but a little ecchi hamster. After hearing my performance on the show, some of my coworkers were wondering who was doing the voice and wanted to see who it was as the hamster spoke really fast and so obscene, and was yet shy at times. [The translator’s delivery was more lols, sorry to report for those of you who missed out.]
Uh, what about my question?
Q7: So is there a joke in the show that you liked?
KM: Ebichuman. It’s this superhero-like character who goes and give advice to girls who are having problems in their romantic and love life, and help them out.
Q7: It’s my favorite too.
KM: O RLY. <Recites the line from Ebichuman where Ebichu introduces herself.>
OMG LOLZ.
Translator: Oh by the way I’m not going to translate that…
Crowd: LOLOLOL.
Q8: Was working on Gundam Seed different than any other shows you’ve worked on? It’s such a famous show in Japan was it different at all?
KM: I was surprised that I got selected for the show because it was a big production. But I was more worried that I had to play a female captain of a ship, and I wondered what kind of character she was going to be. But I didn’t play this role any different than any other, and I did my thing the same.
I think someone misunderstood the question.
Q9: I was surprised that you played the role of Aozaki Aoko in Melty Blood, being a doujin game. How does it compare to voice acting in anime?
Oh, hay it’s that Mexican fanboy I ran into the day before. And man is he my kind of fanboy.
KM: <Gives the usual game dub stuff we all know.> In anime dubbing, the voice actors work together for a scene. However for a game I just read out of a huge book of lines and I do the takes by myself.
Oh only if he had followed my guide to ask questions at con panels!
Q9: Was there a casting process for Haro?
KM: Hmm, no. [She voices the pink Haro.]
Q10: What was it like working with Hideaki Anno? And is there anything you can tell us about the new movies that will surprise us?
KM: [The translator was being quiet at a few places and the recording had some background noise going on so I might have missed a couple key bits.] As you know I worked with Anno over the course of several shows, from the original Eva, Ebichu, and now with the new movies. I last met him at the premiere of the film and I thought, and maybe I should not say this, but he seemed to be more interesting and he seems to be growing in terms of his personality.
KM: And I’m sorry I can’t tell you about what will happen in the new movie.
Figures.
Q11: If they are going to remake Sailor Moon 5 years from now, would you reprise the role?
KM: Yes, I would like to be Sailor Moon again. But I’m not sure in 5 years if the audience would want me to.
Q12: How was it working with Shinichi Watanabe (Nabeshin)? Is he as crazy as everyone seems [to say] that he is? And if you have seen the English version of Excel Saga, did the English voice acting match your expectation?
KM: Hmm, yeah, he is crazy. It’s not your everyday director who want to voice his own self-insert. We in the studio would go “oh he’s just showing off again.” But we do think he is one of our beloved and pure-hearted directors.
KM: Unfortuantely I did not see the English language version of Excel Saga so I can’t answer your question.
Q12: That is okay, I am sure Jessica and Larissa appreciate your work and send their love to you.
She acknowledges.
KM: Well, Japanese dub actors do American cartoons as well, and they really do it freely. Freely. So even if I do see a Japanese anime being dubbed in a way I didn’t like, <I probably won’t say anything anyways.>
Q13: Did you play Misato in the new movie? And what was your favorite episode from Excel Saga?
KM: Yes, I like Misato and wouldn’t let someone else to play her. We’re releasing one movie a year. The cast has to be careful about not getting sick and cause delays.
KM: Not sure about episode. I do like how Excel is poor and tries to eat Menchi. I think that is really funny. And by the way I like your deep voice.
Crowd: Aww.
Q14: <Can you do your Sailor Moon line?>
KM: Again, it’s early, so no guarantee, but here goes. <Insert MOON PRISON POWER MAKEUP> <Insert reverb> <AND THE MOON WILL PUNISH BAD CON QUESTIONS. Not that this is a bad one at all.>
She stands up to do this one. Says something about that’s how they do it at work.
Q15: Are you doing any more signing after this?
KON KON KON KON SOMEONE HAND ME MY CLUE BY FOUR. Good question in a way, though.
KM: <Sorry but no.>
Q16: You performed with Megumi Ogata in Eva and Sailor Moon, in very opposite relationships. How was it like to do these different roles in characters of different relationships with the same actor?
Do I smell a PAIRING?
KM: Yes the roles are different, you are right. But when I was doing Sailor Moon, I focus 100% on Usagi and when I do Eva, I focus 100% on Misato. <I didn’t really think about the other show in this context.>
The girl who asked the question spent some time trying to explain the pairing aspect to the translator, and it took a while. FYI, Ogata is Sailor Uranus. Ok, I see why she’s got PAIRING in mind thar.
KM: <The translator paraphrased her answer, but I get the feeling it’s off a bit. Generally the answer to the question is still that the voice actors just stick to what they’re assigned and don’t go out of the box.>
Q17: What was your favorite Sailor Moon song that you had to sing? And does singing come natural to you or do you have to work on it?
KM: I like the ending song and I like Moonlight Densetsu that I had to sing with the other voice actors. Singing with my role is not a problem. However when I sing for my original release, I had to work a lot on my singing. In Japan a lot of voice actors have original albums and I too have one. To make that, it was a lot of hard work and practice.
Q18: <Did you watch the live action Sailor Moon? Wasn’t it kind of different?>
She got asked this yesterday too, not exactly but…
KM: I did watch it, but I thought it was pretty similar to the anime. Usually it goes from the original manga, to the anime, then to the live action. It should be pretty close?
MC: Ok, this next question is the last question! Sorry to the rest of you in line.
OH SHOOT why is it me…I don’t even have a good question the second time.
Hm. I originally wanted to ask what kind of anime character archetype she would be, but I didn’t want to mess with the Lost-In-Translation risk. Well, clearly she is not a notenki.
KM: Hmm, would would it be?
KM: I see a bit of myself in every character…Ebichu. (なんちゃって.)
And that’s what makes a great guest! Nice parry.
And that’s it for this panel. Next up: the Friday panel on voice acting for Keiko Han and Kotono Mitsuishi.
Hey man! It’s Squid! This was really good, especially with your comic inserts. My Japanese is still a little shaky, and it was hard for me to hear on the video, but she sounded like she was really enjoying herself… she must have been jet-lagged to bejeezus and back…
Hey there, glad you enjoyed the stuff!
That video with her doing the Ebichu bit is awesome. Thanks for sharing.
wish you could’ve been there dude~