D'you Remember that Planetarium Event?

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Shiva Indis
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D'you Remember that Planetarium Event?

Post by Shiva Indis »

Quite by accident yesterday, I stumbled across a report of the planetarium drawing event for HoSS that was held back in January, and I’ve been working on a selected translation… from Girl's Paradise to you. 8-) http://www.garupara.jp/dengeki/?p=1928
Event Report wrote:This event, in which Mr. Akira Ishida, the voice actor for the main character of “Lunar” gave a reading under a planetarium’s full sky of stars, had the atmosphere of a premiere! It played out in a trendy meeting hall where 5 million stars were projected by planetarium equipment. About 30 guests, selected in a drawing, received invitations – a truly lucky group.

Mr. Ishida said that he seldom does performs at events like these, and when he came onto the stage he was a little surprised by how close the guests were. To start, he talked about his memories of “Lunar”, which he first recorded 14 years earlier.

Akira Ishida
It’s a work that I got a lead role in when I was still new in the business, so I have memories of thinking ‘I have to give it my all’. When it comes to games like this, after some time passes it gets ported to a new platform, and while I’m glad that people get to enjoy it again listening to my old work is really embarrassing. I listened to the drama CDs and so forth for the first time in a while, and… wow, I was trying awfully hard… (laugh)

...

The next reading was "Alex's Monologue/Where the Wind Goes", which was written for this event. Mr. Ishida's voice shifted into Alex's voice as he spoke with great emotion of Alex's feelings for the heroine Luna and dreams of new adventures. It lasted a few minutes, but the whole time, the atmosphere in the room took on the aspect of the world of "Lunar".

When the reading concluded there was an interview with Mr. Ishida.

--Now that today’s event is wrapping up, what are your impressions?

Akira Ishida:
I thoroughly enjoyed it. I put all the ability into it that I have now. Alex as I performed him today is the way I imagine him now, just as the "Constellation Story" is the whole of my ability as a presenter today. So I'd be honored if you'd think of think of it as "my version".

--Mr. Ishida, I understand that you are interested in the night sky and outer space?

Akira Ishida:
I used to be afraid of the night sky. I come from the countryside, so when I was a kid I could look up and see all the stars in the sky. But once I got a little older learned about how the stars and outer space worked, the endlessness of space and the fact that stars are constantly being born and dying off started to scare me. It was sort of like I had been saved once I started going to the finite spaces of planetariums. From the myths of the constellations I learned that stars have stories to tell, and the knowledge that the "circle of life", let's say, applies to outer space too, took root in me. That's when I started to like stars.

--How do you feel about Alex, the main character of Lunar?

Akira Ishida:
He's lucky. It's been 14 years since I first encountered him. To get the chance to have people from the next generation enjoy his story is the best fortune a character can get, I think. Also, because I received the opportunity to portray a character like this again I was able to look back at the way I was 14 years ago. When I hear my own voice from back then I think, 'I sound so young!' When I act, I'm not a pitcher who can throw fastballs, but Alex has a sense that he's throwing fastballs as hard as he can. These days that makes me think 'put more urgency into it!' or 'throw a changeup!' I remember he was a challenging character for me.

At this point Mr. Ishida stepped out for a moment and there was an interview with Lunar's development producer, Mr. Masato Dobashi, and Mr. Kei Shigema, who worked on the script. They both seemed to be touched that this sort of event could be held for the venerable work that is Lunar and pleased with Mr. Ishida's live Alex. Mr. Shigema told an inside stories about picking Mr. Ishida for the role of Alex and the recording process, and Mr. Dobashi revealed how the movies were prepared for the PSP version.

Kei Shigema
At the time there was a drama from overseas called "Star Trek Generation" [Missed a couple words...] in which Mr. Ishida played the role of the young officer Wesley, and Mr. Akio Ohtsuka played a senior officer, Commander Riker. This dynamic matched Alex and his predecessor Dragonmaster Dyne very well, and Mr. Shigema was sure to request them.

For games these days there aren't many opportunities for the actors to record together, but at the time most of the cast got together and did the scenes rapid-fire. Many of the voice actors involved were young, and Akio Ohtsuka seemed like a seasoned veteran in their midst. Seeing him casually guide his younger colleagues as they recorded was interesting in how it paralleled the characters they were playing.

Masato Dobashi
While working on the transition to PSP this time, for the movie sequences we turned to the original anime production company, got hold of the master tapes, and re-digitized them. Normally, a team would reuse the data from the Sega Saturn version, but we knew that would mean lower quality. Since the PSP has great playback capabilities and we didn’t want the reproduction of Alex’s voice to suffer, we were concerned about quality of the movies.

With the interview segment done, it was time for the event to come to a close. Mr. Ishida made a second appearance and the prize drawing went underway. Prizes included autograph boards and posters signed by Mr. Ishida; all valuable treasures! As the number of attendees at the event was low, the chances of winning were rather good.
Does it seem rather seiyuu-centric? No mention of prizes that don't have the star's name on them... :P
「まあいいけど。」

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Silver Phoenix
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Re: D'you Remember that Planetarium Event?

Post by Silver Phoenix »

Those damn lucky bastards! Could you imagine an event with fans like us? We'd be Lunar craving zombies. It seemed like the event was more for Ishida than Lunar itself. :P It's still interesting that after nearly 3 months of the games release they decided to hold an event.

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Re: D'you Remember that Planetarium Event?

Post by LuNaRtIc »

How wonderful! Sounds like it was a nice evening. I love how voice actors in Japan have more of a celebrity status than voice actors here in North America. I sometimes wish our voice over artists received the same kind of recognition. Thank you so much for translating all that and sharing it with us. :)
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Re: D'you Remember that Planetarium Event?

Post by Lunar3coming »

Silver Phoenix wrote:Those damn lucky bastards! Could you imagine an event with fans like us? We'd be Lunar craving zombies. It seemed like the event was more for Ishida than Lunar itself. :P It's still interesting that after nearly 3 months of the games release they decided to hold an event.
Holy cow, I would have donated my left lung to go to that event! Definitely lucky, that's for sure.

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