Released: 2020/2/26
Features:
Saito Soma (Tama in Uchitama?! ~Uchi no Tama Shirimasenka?~)
Ono Kensho (Pochi in Uchitama?! ~Uchi no Tama Shirimasenka?~)
Mentioned:
Hanae Natsuki
Q: How would you two spend a day off together?
Kensho: I’d want to go to a refreshing hot spring!
Soma: Yes!
Kensho: I like to socialize in the nude *laughs* Well, saying that might lead to misunderstandings…
Soma: Yeah, that might be dangerous *laughs*
Kensho: Yeah *laughs* But I do like having long conversations without wearing anything. I often go to the sauna with Hanae-kun too.
Soma: I want to go too! I love saunas. Hot springs are good, but a bathhouse would work too. It sounds relaxing and satisfying.
Kensho: It’s a place you wouldn’t really go to alone, so I want to go together and be healed!
Soma: In Uchitama?!, my character Tama and Kensho-san’s character Pochi are usually in their anthropomorphized forms, but sometimes they’re in their animal forms instead, when human characters are in the same scene. During the audition, they didn’t tell me that there was going to be a cat/dog mode.
Kensho: I didn’t have to do the cat/dog mode at the audition either.
Soma: I heard that they originally considered having the cat/dog mode voiced by other voice actors, but…
Kensho: During the recording for episode 1, the staff said “Can you try it just once?” and when we did, they said “Oh, so you can do it!”
Soma: I thought the cat/dog mode would only be around at first, and then the rest of the show would be the human mode. But it turned out that the cat/dog mode showed up a lot *laughs*
Kensho: They didn’t speak human language, but simply going “woof” wasn’t good enough either…
Soma: Yeah, we weren’t allowed to say “meow” or “woof.” The voice director said that saying those would make it sound like a person talking. I haven’t had many opportunities to interact with cats and dogs in my life, so before the recording session, I researched videos online.
Kensho: I looked up dog sounds on YouTube too.
Soma: When I watched the videos, I found out that cats actually don’t say “meow.” But that said, it’s not 100% important for anime to conform to real life, so I had to think about where to draw the line. Having a sense of realism was more important than being true to reality, so…
Kensho: In episode 3, there’s a scene where Pochi makes a really weird sound. So, I searched “dog making weird sound” and practiced by looping the weirdest one I could find.
Soma: It was so weird *laughs*
Kensho: I was going “auauau” *laughs* The viewers only get to see the Pochi that’s on screen, so I always try to act my lines in a way I won’t regret.
Soma: Tama and Pochi are often together, so I had a lot of scenes in common with Kensho-san. What really made me glad that Pochi was Kensho-san was…
Kensho: I was glad that it was Soma-kun who had to go through the pain of producing high voices with me.
Soma: I was thinking the same thing! *laughs*
Kensho: Out of all of the male characters in this show, the ones responsible for being “cute” are Tama and Pochi, so they have high-pitched voices. But high voices are actually extremely delicate. It’s hard to maintain it every time. So, I’m always thinking “Soma-kun and I are in this together.”
Soma: Yeah, the two of us had to produce that cuteness together *laughs* I really love it when Kensho-san’s voice sounds like a bass overtone. Pochi’s high voice is so cute!
Kensho: I’d be tuning my voice before the recording session *laughs*
Soma: Kensho-san’s voice really suits Pochi, and he feels like the cutest character in Uchitama?! to me. When I asked him how he produced that high voice, his answer was… *laughs*
Kensho: Spirit! *laughs* I get fired up when I tell myself, “Cuteness can be created!” Also, for the dog mode, I usually imagine a small dog. They’re cute, after all.
Soma: The recording sessions usually start in the morning, so when I wake up I go “How high and cute can I make my voice today?” and check *laughs*
Kensho: Soma-kun’s Tama is “naturally cute.” How do I put this… it’s organic.
Soma: Organic! *laughs*
Kensho: Tama is cute, but also prone to getting into trouble like a reckless boy, making him truly cat-like. I’m the opposite of organic though; I’m processed food *laughs*
Soma: “Organic” is good! I want to start using “That was an organic performance” when complimenting people *laughs*
Bonus photo from Weekly TV Guide’s Twitter: