When
meeting with Japanese fans of the Prince of Tennis anime, one young
woman went up to Hidenobu Kiuchi, the voice of Oshitari Yuushi, and
told the bearded actor that "Oshitari does not grow a beard." His
response: "I told her, 'Of course, I'm not Oshitari.' That's how it
should be." That fan might have been confounded by Takumi Sato, the
clean-shaven performer whose face represents Oshitari in the Prince of
Tennis stage musicals. Kiuchi has handled Oshitari's animated voice, a
role that remains his biggest and favorite in his acting career. "When
we started the show, none of us thought it would be such a big show,"
Kiuchi told fans at SugoiCon. "We couldn't imagine that each character
would be so individually popular and have their own CD's. The cast
members were the most surprised it ended up becoming a milestone show."
Kiuchi considers Oshitari to be a male "moe" character, the sort of
attractive, innocent character that fans fall in love with, except that
most "moe" characters tend to be female, not male. "I'd played
characters before, but this was my first 'moe' character. It gave me
the opportunity to interact with a lot of fans." And those
opportunities have led to Kiuchi's meeting female fans who think he is
Oshitari and shares the character's personality. Kiuchi says that it's
not unusual for those fans to make marriage proposals, which he
declines, of course.
Kiuchi
started his career wanting to be a stage actor and took stage training,
but one of his sempais, an older, senior actor, "casually" recruited
him for a voice acting job. That's grown to a series of roles,
including parts in the recent Beck, One Piece and Nana series. "I'm not
familiar with how many professional voice actors there are in the
states - are there more than in Japan? (probably, the audience replies)
In Japan, there are a lot of voice actors and a lot of aspiring voice
actors. It's very tough to go through the auditions." As in the U.S., a
seiyuu may head to an audition with the intention of reading for one
role, but instead audition for another part. "If you're lucky, you get
the role - its a very tough line of work." Kiuchi thinks that Japanese
fans and American fans have a lot in common, and he was interested to
learn that many American fans prefer to hear Japanese voices in anime.
He's found the same to be true in other Asian countries where anime is
popular, such as China and Korea, but didn't expect to meet subtitle
fans in the U.S.
When
meeting with Japanese fans of the Prince of Tennis anime, one young
woman went up to Hidenobu Kiuchi, the voice of Oshitari Yuushi, and
told the bearded actor that "Oshitari does not grow a beard." His
response: "I told her, 'Of course, I'm not Oshitari.' That's how it
should be." That fan might have been confounded by Takumi Sato, the
clean-shaven performer whose face represents Oshitari in the Prince of
Tennis stage musicals. Kiuchi has handled Oshitari's animated voice, a
role that remains his biggest and favorite in his acting career. "When
we started the show, none of us thought it would be such a big show,"
Kiuchi told fans at SugoiCon. "We couldn't imagine that each character
would be so individually popular and have their own CD's. The cast
members were the most surprised it ended up becoming a milestone show."
Kiuchi considers Oshitari to be a male "moe" character, the sort of
attractive, innocent character that fans fall in love with, except that
most "moe" characters tend to be female, not male. "I'd played
characters before, but this was my first 'moe' character. It gave me
the opportunity to interact with a lot of fans." And those
opportunities have led to Kiuchi's meeting female fans who think he is
Oshitari and shares the character's personality. Kiuchi says that it's
not unusual for those fans to make marriage proposals, which he
declines, of course.
Kiuchi
started his career wanting to be a stage actor and took stage training,
but one of his sempais, an older, senior actor, "casually" recruited
him for a voice acting job. That's grown to a series of roles,
including parts in the recent Beck, One Piece and Nana series. "I'm not
familiar with how many professional voice actors there are in the
states - are there more than in Japan? (probably, the audience replies)
In Japan, there are a lot of voice actors and a lot of aspiring voice
actors. It's very tough to go through the auditions." As in the U.S., a
seiyuu may head to an audition with the intention of reading for one
role, but instead audition for another part. "If you're lucky, you get
the role - its a very tough line of work." Kiuchi thinks that Japanese
fans and American fans have a lot in common, and he was interested to
learn that many American fans prefer to hear Japanese voices in anime.
He's found the same to be true in other Asian countries where anime is
popular, such as China and Korea, but didn't expect to meet subtitle
fans in the U.S.
