Movie designs for Kagura and Shinpachi (made by Sorachi-sensei). Note the pattern on Kagura’s skirt and the Toyako wooden sword on Shinpachi’s hip.
Apparently the movie story will be about “Yorozuya’s future”.
Got my hands on the second volume of Onepunch Man, so here’s one of the changes - Sonic’s “innocent smile” from chapter 13 (upper - web version, lower - tankobon version).
JOJOraDIO vol.14! Joseph’s VA Sugita Tomokazu is here again!
Ueda-san reads a message from a 22 year old listener who tells how JoJo anime and manga became a common interest between his younger brother and him and helped them rebuild friendly relationship.
Then after the introduction Sugita-san comes in saying “That narration sounded as if I was already dead or something”. They talk about “JoJo-passion”, then Sugita-san mentions the Araki x GUCCI campaign and tells how he once came to a Dress Camp clothing brand shop (he loves their tracksuits and usually buys them there), and there was a JoJo T-shirts line-up that included Josuke, Giorno and Silver Chariot prints. Wondering who could’ve come up with such a bizarre lineup, Sugita-san asked the shop assistant “Do you have one with Dio?”. The answer was “Huh? Dio? Who’s that?”. Fighting back the sudden urge to murder that assistant right then and there, Sugita-san replied “Oh, you don’t know? You should read the manga, it’s very interesting”. But in the end he bought all three T-shirts.
Then they talk about the recording process for episode 13. Even though there were only 5 people present (Sugita-san, Ueda-san, Okawa-san, Imaruoka-san and Nomura-san), they had to use a larger studio because of the unbelieveably high tension of the episode’s dialogue. Sugita-san also thanks Ueda-san for the throat drops he brought to the studio (“Speedwagon Foundation is really amazing - they got everything from throat drops to artificial limbs!”, he said). Then they talk about the difficulties of Joseph’s lines, about the peculiarities of each animator’s style and how the director managed to bring it all together so nicely. Then there’s also episode 19 where Joseph and Kars are falling from a cliff and still manage to talk a lot. Both Ueda-san and Sugita-san agreed that it was hillarious. Talking is a free action! :D Ueda-san mentions how Joseph’s role really brings forth some previously unseen sides of Sugita-san’s acting (well, he speaks based on the works where they acted together, I guess). Sugita-san says that Joseph is a character who has to pay attention to the surroundings and is influenced by them, and also has to come up with plans and schemes but be careful so that the opponent doesn’t realize. And because of that he himself as a seiyuu has to act in a way that is unpredictable to others.
After that they discuss the seiyuu of the enemy characters: Tobita Nobuo (Straits), Nomura Kenji (Santana), Ohtsuka Akio (Whamu) and Inoue Kazuhiko (Kars). Sugita-san really liked Tobita-san’s acting (he said it felt as if Straits was the last boss already) and was a bit surprised to learn about Santana’s and Kars’ seiyuu. Apparently, Inoue-san also wanted to voice the cat Joseph was playing with in episode 19 (he even did the test recordings). Then they talk about people who voiced mob characters (like nameless vampires or zombies and so on) and minor characters (like Messina or Wired Beck), how they had great time even with such small roles.
Sugita-san talks about the scenes that left the greatest impression on him: when Joseph loses his temper in the battle with Straits, then the battle with Santana (at home he tried some things as a rehearsal, like breathing with a paper cup in his mouth to imitate lack of oxygen, but ended just passing out). He then mentions the importance of keeping balance even if people around are barraging you with their own suggestions and interpretations. He also says that it’s important to understand the hidden meanings of what is said to you. After that they talk about the Famicom JoJo game, about JoJo-based jokes and homages in other media and about the influx of younger fans due to the recent anime. Then Sugita-san says how Joseph’s change in Part 3 and Part 4 and also the fact that Josuke was his son surprised him. He also says that those Ultra Jump CMs were great, and especially how amazingly spot-on was Okuyasu’s voice (provided by Takagi Wataru). And it turns on that he gave the Josuke T-shirt from Dress Camp to Josuke’s VA Hatano Wataru.
Then comes another listener’s message, from a 18 year old highschooler who wonders whether they will ever invite Araki-sensei as a guest. Ueda-san says that he would probably inevitably ask Araki-sensei about his real age. And then Sugita-san suggests going home on a plane :D
Next guest is Smokey Brown’s VA Hayashi Yuu.
JOJOraDIO vol.13! This week’s guest is Sugita Tomokazu, Joseph’s VA!
A listener’s message first, as usual (Ueda-san gets a bit embarrassed from all the praise in it). Then, along with the music from Part 2 OST, comes Sugita-san with a present - Cola bottles! Ueda-san and Sugita-san open them and imitate the sound of cola gushing out.
Another detail - not only the background music has changed, but the jingles as well! Now they use Oldwagon’s phrases from Battle Tendency (nice touch!).
First Ueda-san and Sugita-san talk about the characters they voiced. Sugita-san wonders what would young Speedwagon and young Joseph get along, to which Ueda-san replies that they will definitely clash at first, but then, seeing how Joseph carries the same Joestar blood as Jonathan, Speedwagon will probably develop good relationship with Joseph. Then Sugita-san wonders how old Speedwagon and old Joseph would interact. He says they’ll probably be having fun together, and Ueda-san remarks that they would be awfully noisy. He also adds that if he worried about Speedwagon being old he wouldn’t be able to put up a good acting of the character. Sugita-san mentions how he had troubles overcoming the contradiction of using his breath for hamon and having to speak properly when the character runs out of breath. Keeping that balance was quite a difficult task. He also says that there are always several variants of the same line but he has to choose only one that would be best, so he kind of analyses all the variants and chooses one which is more likely to be the closest to what the majority of viewers expect. But here is also a balance between that method and just declaring “Here’s my variant, it’s the only right one, end of story.”, and Sugita-san keeps this balance without ever giving up, because otherwise he cannot play properly. Main protagonists in his opinion are the characters who support everyone from below, accepting all the good and bad aimed at them. Such point of view clashed with those who considered Jpseph a charismatic protagonist who should lead the way, taking everyone with him. Sugita-san says that sound director Iwanami-san maintained a neutral position in this regard. He also praises how Tsuda Naokatsu, the director, managed to keep his faithfulness and sanity through all the creation process without giving up. Sugita-san compares him to a rope-walker high above the laughing crowd that waits for him to fall and makes bets on whether he dies or not after the fall. But Tsuda-san wasn’t fased by any of that and kept his composure to the end, and that’s what helped to make this JoJo anime what it is. Ueda-san then recalls how the staff never imposed their own interpretations of characters on the cast members but rather came up with the suggestions to make the show better. And despite everyone was free to act as they see fit, the cast still worked as one.(dem new jingles, I swear XD)
Then topic changes to the rest of the cast. Sugita-san says that many of them are very nice and kind people despite voicing bad guys or pretty strict and cold characters (he mentions LisaLisa’s VA Tanaka Atsuko and Stroheim’s VA Imaruoka Atsushi as an example). He also says that Caesar’s VA Satou Takuya is really close to Caesar in terms of personality. After that Sugita-san talks about how he came to know about JoJo manga. When he was in grade school he read an issue of Shounen Jump at his cousin’s place, and there was a chapter from Stardust Crusaders (first one in Yellow Temperance arc, where Joseph uses Hermit Purple on a TV set). And the thing that got him hooked was this frame with “Nekodora-kun”. He got interested in the manga and started buying the volumes, which was quite a task considering an average grade schooler’s allowance. Moreover, he didn’t even have said allowance because parents didn’t give him any. So he had to help his grandfather in the paddy field to earn some money. It was extremely hard, but he didn’t want to give up because that’s what JoJo taught him - never give up. Sugita-san also talks about Joseph, how he’s very charismatic and skillful, blessed with great friends and comrades, and also very cunning and a master of schemes and feints because his enemies can’t be defeated through sheer raw power alone.
When Sugita-san learnt about the upcoming JoJo anime he was surprised and excited. When he heard about being invited to an audition, he went “An audition? What? For Polnareff?” (by the way, his favourite characters are Hol Horse and Nijimura Keicho). He went on auditions for Jonathan and Joseph, although he thought that those characters didn’t fit him, and was finally chosen to voice Joseph. He didn’t believe it at first, but then decided that he will go through with it and won’t disapoint or betray everyone’s expectations, and for that he’ll have to keep the balance and forget his love for JoJo to be able to act impartially. But then, he says, he’ll buy all the blu-rays and return to enjoying JoJo as before.
Commercial corner and another listener’s message round up the episode, as usual. There will be an event on June 23, “JOJOraDIO Event Special”, where a live recording of another JOJOraDIO episode will be held. Guests include Ueda Youji, Okitsu Kazuyuki, Kawasumi Ayako, Sugita Tomokazu, Satou Takuya and Tominaga TOMMY Hiroaki.
Next week it’s Sugitan again!
The goal is simple - we thank Hussie for everything he’s done for us. For all the updates, all the people he’s met, everything he’s had to deal with - for making Homestuck. He made something far bigger than he could have imagined. I think it’s time we thanked him.
Everyone who reblogs this will have their URL added to a text file. At the end of April it will be emailed to him along explaining that these are all the people who want to personally thank him for what he does.
JOJOraDIO vol.12!
After a slightly weird (but really funny) lead-in Ueda-san reads a listener’s message from a 27 year old female who works as a mangaka’s assistant (with Koyasu-san muttering something in the background all the while). She writes how she and her colleagues discuss JoJo (and particularly seiyuus’ performance) at their workplace.
This time Koyasu-san seems A LOT more relaxed, energetic and enthusiastic (and silly XD). He says that he felt pretty tired after all that seriousness last week and so decided to go with a more light-hearted approach. He also says that he doesn’t care much for any characters besides Dio, but he does care about the actors and their performance.
Then they talk about the loudness and high tension of JoJo characters, especially Speedwagon, and how it made the cast act better and better. They mention episode 2 and how a young VA who did the boxing match announcer tried his best despite being under great pressure and having to do several retakes. Koyasu-san also complains about Speedwagon always being such an annoyingly loud character and Inada-san having a naturally loud voice. They say that Tsuda Kenjiro (Bruford’s VA), who mainly speaks in a soft voice, was completely worn out after the recording, but at the same time really content and happy. Then they discuss how during recordings actors tend to get carried away by the flow of the show and thus use such intonations that would’ve been rejected in any other show.
Then topic changes to written SFX (Koyasu-san was surprised when he first saw them) and what kind of sound should “zugyuuuun” be in real life. Also Koyasu-san was amazed by the first opening (both the song and the video). They talk about Tanaka Kouhei, the composer who wrote “Sono Chi no Sadame” and who also does the music for One Piece (where Koyasu-san voices admiral Aokiji).
Talking about the staff, Koyasu-san says that after the recording of the first episode Kawasumi Ayako (Erina’s VA), famous for being an avid JoJo fan, told him how great he was as Dio, and he thought “Alright, now I can manage through all nine episodes!”. Then they discuss how cast and staff all worked together, and it was really pleasant and maybe this was the thing that made JoJo anime so great. Koyasu-san mentions Iwanami-san, the sound director, his ability to explain the requirements in an amazingly comprehensive way (and even managing to stick in a joke or two) and how he doesn’t force his own vision on anyone, but still manages to create something that amazes everyone. And the recording process itself goes surprisingly fast - around 2-2.5 hours per episode.
Koyasu-san talks about his impression of voicing Dio. He was really happy to get and perform this role, and considers this the best villain role in his career. He even feels that it was a fated encounter, that he was chosen by Dio to voice him. And then adds that if he hadn’t got the role, he would’ve just said “Oh well, can’t be helped. What can I do, it’s the company’s choice after all”. And Ueda-san replies “Oh you just HAVE to ruin every nice and serious thing you say, don’t you!”.
After the commercial corner and the song Ueda-san shares some impressions and praise about Koyasu-san, and you can hear Koyasu-san whispering “Stop, it’s embarrassing!” in the background XD And then another listener’s message, admiring the masterfully crafted openings.
Heh, another long one. OH WELL!
And next week I’ll have to try REALLY HARD so that my summary doesn’t turn into a huge messy mass of incoherent spazzing and squealing, because next week’s guest is none other than Joseph’s seiyuu SUGITA TOMOKAZU!
My hype levels are OFF THE CHARTSSSSS
P.S. They also have plans of inviting Zeppeli’s VA Shioya Yoku sometime in the future.
JOJOraDIO vol.11!
This week’s guest is Koyasu Takehito, the voice of Dio Brando himself!
Ueda-san starts off with a listener’s message from a 30 year old male who became a JoJo fan back when Part 4 was still being published, and his wife got hooked by the new anime.
Then Ueda-san invites Koyasu-san (mentioning how he himself is nervous and excited). Koyasu-san says that many of his fans mentioned JOJOraDIO, how interesting it was and how they wanted him to be one of the guests. Then they have some laughs about how this radio always gets funny when you try to talk seriously. Koyasu-san says that he’s known JoJo for a long time, he started reading it even before becoming a seiyuu, but wasn’t much of a fan. He attended auditions for the new anime and he decided for himself that if he gets a role, it has to be Dio. He also mentions how as a child he thought that JoJo manga was more of a horror kind (the stone mask scared him quite a bit), but when he reread it as a grown-up he understood that it’s absolutely different. He also wondered what Araki-sensei (as an adult) thought while creating the manga and whether he wanted children to read it. Then Koyasu-san talks about reading works from the point of view of a character he’s going to voice (Dio in this case) and how it brings new colours to the setting. He says that for JoJo he only scims through the anime scripts without reading them thoroughly, because after reading the manga it’s enough for him. He just takes notes of short/long phrases, and then goes all out at the recording because the atmosphere in the studio demands just that - raw hotblooded action.
Koyasu-san says that working on JoJo anime was a pleasant and fun experience for him, mostly thanks to Okitsu Kazuyuki and his acting as the main protagonist. Initially Koyasu-san intended to give Dio the leading role but ended up having to keep up with Okitsu’s Jonathan, and it was really refreshing for him. He even thanked Okitsu-san for that after the recording.
Then Koyasu-san talks about the cast, how all the cast and staff members were “looking in the same direction” and aiming for the same goal (and this is what made working on JoJo anime different from his previous works where everyone seemed to work separately), and how tiring it was despite being interesting and pleasant. Then they discuss the recording process, differences in interpretation of character roles, Iwanami-san’s requests concerning certain lines and such. Koyasu-san also mentions how at first he thought that Dio was more cool and composed, but it turned out he was about as hotblooded as Jonathan (and even his inner monologues had to be loud and obnoxious).
Episode 3 gets brought up again (no surprise here, really), Koyasu-san says that it felt as if studio itself was on fire during the recording, he even had kind of a hallucination that they were really surrounded by flames, and felt like he himself was not Koyasu Takehito voicing Dio, but he WAS Dio and he WAS fighting there (a thing he’d never before experienced during 26 years of his career). Probably, the pacing and tempo of the anime itself helped build up the tension and gave them some kind of adrenalin rush, he says. It was also the most fun episode for him to work on, other ones didn’t bring that much joy and satisfaction, and Dio from episode 4 onwards was like a new and different character for him, one closer to Stardust Crusaders DIO (he even pronounced it as an acronym - dee-ai-oh).
Then they discuss Dio, how he doesn’t learn from his mistakes and remains too arrogant for his own good even through all of the Part 3, and how Jonathan always stands in Dio’s way and wastes his life interfering with his evil plans of world domination XD Also Koyasu-san said to Okitsu-san “You became so great all thanks to Dio. Be grateful to him! Be grateful that he made your life so fun and florid! And die feeling that gratitude!” (テラ子安www). Well, he does understand feelings of villains, after having voiced so many of them. “Do those heroes of justice have nothing else to do but mess with my villanous schemes? They really should get a life!”
Also, usually Ueda-san finishes the talk with “Next time <guest name> will speak about even deeper JoJo love”, but this time he changed it to “Dio love”. Nice touch.
Next week it’s still Koyasu Takehito.
Wow, this one turned out MUCH more detailed than usual O_o Can’t be helped, though, ‘cause I adore Koyasu and I absolutely loved him as Dio.
JOJOraDIO vol.10!
This week it’s still Okawa Tooru. They discuss how every cast member read the manga, how they have the volumes in the studio, and how bunkobon edition is smaller that the regular one and thus difficult to read sometimes. Then they talk about famous lines, narration of Wham’s Kamizuna Arashi in episode 15 (Okawa-san himself didn’t quite understand the explanation he was reading), then some aspects of believable acting, how funny was that scene with Joseph playing dead and Wham not noticing. Okawa-san also praises Iwanami-san because he’s very easy to work with. Then they discuss soundtrack and opening themes, some aspects of narration, staff and cast’s love towards JJBA and how they welcomed the “newcomers” who hadn’t read the manga before. Also, turns out that Okawa-san and Araki-sensei are peers, and Okawa-san is amazed at sensei’s youthful looks.
Next week’s guest is (I kid you not!) KOYASU TAKEHITO, the DIO!
I’m hyped beyond belief.
