This interview has been revised and edited for clarity. It was first conducted on September 2, 2023 before the release of the movie Firefighter Daigo: Rescuer in Orange.
Anime sound director Takeshi Takadera made an exciting return to Anime Toronto 2023 over the Labor Day weekend of September 1-3, 2023. This was his first visit to Toronto since joining attended the 2019 convention, then known as the International Fan Festival, and featured Fate/Stay Night voice actors Noriaki Sugiyama, Ayako Kawasumi, Kana Ueda, and Noriko Shitaya.
Besides snacking on Canadian ketchup fries and enjoying eggs Benedict for breakfast, Takadera met many anime fans at his three conventions and discussed his role as music director. bar, the series he made, and participated in fun Q&A sessions with conference attendee Atsushi Abe.
Today is Day 2!
We will see you soon!#animetoronto pic.twitter.com/Gy403rK6tm— 高寺たけし/Takeshi Takadera(音響監督/Sound Director) (@TakeshiTakadera) September 2, 2023
Anime Toronto attendees were also treated to an early premiere of the first episode of Firefighter Daigo: Rescuer in Orange, now airing as of September 30, 2023. The first 100 people to attend the panel were also made available the records are clearly based on the anime series. Wearing a bright orange anime-inspired jacket, Takadera was receptive to the audience’s appreciation for his work in the series, and he didn’t hesitate to practice his English as he answered questions from the audience. fake.
© William Moo
Anime Trending had the opportunity to speak with Takadera about his return to Toronto, his work on Firefighter Daigo: Rescuer in Orange and OSHI NO KO, as well as his overall experiences as a sound director. professional bar in anime animation industry.
Welcome back to Toronto, Takadera-san! You premiered the first episode of Firefighter Daigo: Rescuer in Orange, for which you served as sound director. What can you say to those who can’t make it here about this series?
Obviously it hasn’t aired yet but it’s a show about firefighters and it’s a real story. It’s a good balance between realism and drama, which I think many people will enjoy.
What is the general process like recording firefighting sounds and action scenes in Firefighter Daigo: Rescuer in Orange?
In terms of dialogue, the fire department in Japan is quite similar in style to the military. In episode one in particular, there’s a scene where the characters are going through training as new recruits, and there’s a lot of screaming, yelling, and actually singing their lines. It was a very tiring process for the actors.
Did you do any background research or real-life recording for the anime, such as visiting a fire station or recording a real-life fire?
I went to the fire department to interview actual firefighters, as well as see all the equipment they use. There’s a lot of special equipment they use that we don’t have samples of. We have no reference to the type of sound they make. We recorded them live to sample the sounds of the devices they use every day.
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In terms of sound production for anime, is there any particular type of sound that viewers should hear when watching the first episode?
Maybe not for the first episode that we aired at the premiere, but for the second episode onwards, there can be a lot of sounds that the device makes during preparation. It’s something most of the audience has never heard of before, so stay tuned and pay attention to those kinds of unique sounds.
Our team at Anime Trending previously interviewed you in 2021 when you were promoting To Your Eternity and you mentioned to us that you “commission the soundtrack” and “choose the music” as part of your job mine. What other responsibilities does an audio director have during production?
In terms of responsibility, it’s basically anything that makes a sound. These can be sound effects, actual dialogue, and music. Everything related to sound is within my scope.
Can you explain more about the relationship between the director, sound director and composer of a production?
For today’s animated television series, a session is 10 to 12 episodes long. For Firefighter Daigo, it’s 20 episodes. In the beginning, I basically had to list about 40 to 50 songs that I thought I would need in the entire series right from the start. So I’ll have to anticipate what I need later to make that request to the composer. This is usually for a drama. For theatrical films, it’s a little different.
As the sound director, what is your relationship with the voice cast and their performance in a scene?
The voice actors come in with their own understanding of their characters and how they believe the characters should say those lines. As the sound director, I have my own opinion on how each character should say those lines. Essentially, I have to understand everyone’s ideas and perspectives to get the right balance and output to help enhance the overall work.
You’ve worked regularly with Doga Kobo over the past few years. How did you first start working with them?
The first time I worked with Doga Kobo was actually the first time I worked with the director [Daisuke] Hiramaki for Wateten, who is also the director of OSHI NO KO. From there, I had the honor of working with them again and creating a relationship with them at that time. After that, I realized that I had good chemistry with director Hiramaki, so from then on, I regularly collaborated with Doga Kobo on many different projects, including OSHI NO KO.
One of your most famous collaborations with Hiramaki was OSHI NO KO. What was the most memorable or difficult scene in the series that you had to perform?
To be honest, it was the scene where Ai died. The reason I liked that scene so much is because there was something strange before that scene. Almost everything Ai says is a lie just to make those around her feel better or have a good impression of her. Nothing she said seemed truthful, but right at the last moment in her death scene, she was able to speak the truth from the heart to her children. And you basically found the sweet spot to tell something truthful after hearing all her lies. It was challenging and fun to do.
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Ironically, Abe-san also mentioned this in his seminar, but it was difficult for him to properly portray the role of a father because he had no children. The same thing happened to Rie Takahashi, who plays Ai in the movie. It was difficult for us to learn how she could play the role of a mother. Finally, I asked Takahashi how she played the role. She knew the source material before being cast as Ai and forced it roughly out of her love for practical work. I heard her acting and found it very good.
You have been involved in many genres of anime. Throughout your career, what shows or genres have proven to be the most challenging or require the most unorthodox approaches?
For the theatrical release of the film Yuru Camp, the original series had the source material, but the film needed to be set 10 years after the actual content of the source material. The film itself has no source material and is original content.
© A,H/YCC
How do you extrapolate those characters 10 years later, especially if they were based on the source material to begin with? It’s difficult to find the right acting strategy for a character with an already solid foundation but no direct source material. So that’s what’s challenging and unusual about my work.
It was certainly an unusual type of work. If a work has source material, I usually base it on that. If it’s original content then it’s a completely new work. If it’s original content but based on source material that takes place 10 years later for an existing character then that’s pretty difficult and unusual to me.
This is your second time coming to Toronto after your first visit in 2019. What message do you have for all the Canadian anime fans at Anime Toronto and fans around the world?
This is my second time in Toronto. Unfortunately, we had to pause activities here in 2020 due to the pandemic, but I know that this is a really big city with a huge population. I go to Vancouver a lot for conventions there, but I know that Anime Toronto has a lot of potential to grow.
Thank you for coming to today’s screening!
I’m glad you’re interested in my anime #め組の大吾 ???? ????????Tomorrow I will have 2 more pictures! I’ll be talking to Abe-san about some of the titles we worked on together and our relationship.
Come join me!#animetoronto pic.twitter.com/sGchoTP1Cc— 高寺たけし/Takeshi Takadera(音響監督/Sound Director) (@TakeshiTakadera) September 3, 2023
Good morning!
Today I will leave here✈️
This is part of my beautiful memories!#AnimeToronto pic.twitter.com/zpPXAS03uh— 高寺たけし/Takeshi Takadera(音響監督/Sound Director) (@TakeshiTakadera) September 5, 2023
So I’m really looking forward to being able to expand Anime Toronto. I really want to do my best to bring new work and share it with the fans here. I will try my best to come back and bring more interesting stories and works.
Translator: Andy Ichikawa
Special thanks to Anime Toronto for helping arrange this interview. You can follow Takeshi Takadera on Twitter @TakeshiTakadera.