How to raise a random guy's wife

Page 490

"Okay," Yin Du replied, composing himself and beginning preparations.

Kasumigaoka Utaha's gaze shifted slightly. When Kobayashi Sora was mentioned earlier, the producers all had different reactions.

Others might not notice, but according to Kasumigaoka Utaha, an author who is good at observing emotions, the reaction of the advertiser Soejima was relatively obvious.

"I'm Asami Tomizo from the Kumamoto office, auditioning for the role of Hannya. Nice to meet you." She introduced herself first, then began reciting the character's lines as instructed by the sound director. "I'm not doing this for some pointless emotion, I'm just who I am... Look at me more! What is this...?"

The transitions between various emotions were very smooth, but there was a noticeable feeling of overdoing it.

Eriri was excited at first, but she got more and more bored as time went on.

until......

"I am Takahiro Sakurai from INTENTION agency. I am auditioning for the role of the Medicine Seller. Nice to meet you."

Chapter 698 Voice Actor Conference

Eriri slapped Kasumigaoka Utaha's plump thighs repeatedly with her little hands, "It's Sakurai Takahiro!"

"So?" Kasumigaoka Utaha brushed Eriri's hand away. "What's wrong?"

"Digimon, Pokémon, New Snow White Legend, Hikaru no Go, GetBackers, Kyo, Tsukihime, Kuroneko, D.Gray-man, Zero no Tsukaima..." Eriri rattled off a menu, "My favorite is Suzaku from Code Geass, that annoying, chuunibyou vibe is amazing! And Sasori from the Red Sand..."

Kasumigaoka Utaha wasn't a hardcore otaku like Eriri and had no interest in voice actors. "Go get an autograph when we're done," she said.

I really wanted to have a fun discussion with Eriri about going out to sea, but considering that I'm the director now, I had to force myself to stay calm.

"Forget it then. A character is a character, and a voice actor is a voice actor." Eriri stretched out her two hands and waved them like chicken claws. "You guys should stop trying to connect characters and voice actors!"

I love the character...

Kasumigaoka Utaha raised an eyebrow. "Where did this door come from?"

"It's a meme, it's just..." Eriri waved her hand, "Never mind, there's nothing more boring than explaining memes."

During the conversation, Takahiro Sakurai's audition had already begun.

"What... exactly did you do?" Sakurai Takahiro's voice was calm and soothing. "Oh? Forgot? Good, good, good, good, congratulations, congratulations. What is your true nature? Therefore... I want to know everyone's truth and reason. Hmph, I'm just an ordinary medicine seller."

Although she doesn't know much about voice actors and character auditions, after listening to quite a few voice actor auditions, Kasumigaoka Utaha is gradually able to distinguish between good and bad voice actor performances.

Especially when the gap is very significant.

The exorcist in "Mononoke"—the Medicine Seller—is a mysterious type in the setting of sailing off the island of Po. With his almost bewitching appearance and special identity, his voice is difficult to grasp.

The character's emotional fluctuations are too great, making him seem less mysterious.

Without variation in pitch, the voice actor's skill cannot be fully displayed.

Takahiro Sakurai clearly noticed this, and in selecting the lines, he chose the few that needed to express emotions, and then adjusted the order to make the initial calm and subsequent emotional fluctuations more obvious.

Even without using such tricks, its own strength is considerable.

The emotion, immersed in tranquility, precisely captures a delicate balance, perfectly presenting a feeling that is neither human nor demon, detached from the mortal world.

As expected of a top-tier voice actor.

It seems there's no doubt that the voice actor for the main character will be chosen.

Although there were a few other players who performed quite well afterward, they paled in comparison to the amazing performance of Takahiro Sakurai.

We took a short break at noon and continued in the afternoon.

"Rie Tanaka! Daisuke Namikawa! Toshiko Fujita?! Haruna Ikezawa! Tomokazu Seki!"

After a day of auditions, Eriri met many familiar voice actors and was quite satisfied.

But when I looked at Kasumigaoka Utaha, I noticed that her brows were furrowed.

Kasumigaoka Utaha doesn't have it as easy as Eriri.

After the audition session, the audition meeting will begin.

The next day, all the producers who had participated in the audition were present in the RER conference room.

Music company producer, game company producer, offline event producer, and advertiser Soejima.

On RER's side are the sound director and the assistant in charge of meeting minutes, Kasumigaoka Utaha and Hashima Izumi.

Normally, advertisers should sit with them, but now...

The stance is already quite clear.

Kasumigaoka Utaha knew today wouldn't be easy.

"These are the voting results." After noting down the vote count on the whiteboard, Kasumigaoka Utaha composed herself. "These numbers can be used as a reference, but there's no need to follow them exactly. Everyone, please feel free to speak your mind."

There was silence on the other side. Kasumigaoka Utaha glanced to the side and gestured for Hashima Ikkai to speak first, "Let's start with the protagonist."

“Um…” Hashima Izumi flipped through the voice actor resume, “I applied for Sakurai Takahiro. I feel his voice is perfect for the Medicine Seller, that mysterious yet playful and indifferent feeling…”

"Hmm—" The game producer drew out his voice, interrupting Hashima's departure. Only when everyone's eyes were on him did he speak formally, "Well... how should I put it... judging from the number of votes, Sakurai Takahiro does have more, but from the perspective of the work itself, should we really choose him?"

"Huh?" Poshima asked, puzzled. "Shouldn't it be like this?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha pressed further, "From the perspective of the work itself?"

"We'll be developing a game after that, and the game will need voice acting too." The game producer tapped the table. "That's a top-tier voice actor. Have you thought about how much money you'll need? To be honest, I don't even know why he came to the audition."

"About this..." Kasumigaoka Utaha explained, "He came because he liked the storyline of the anime."

Bo Island's eyes lit up when he went out to sea. "Could we discuss lowering the fee a little?"

"Are you a child? Ah, you are a child." The game producer waved his hand. "If you lower the fee because you like the game, what about future events? Does not lowering the fee mean you don't like that game? If you like everything, how do you make money?"

Bo Island went out to sea and remained silent.

"So isn't second place, Yamano, pretty good?" the game producer pointed out. "I happen to have some connections with his studio, so I can lower the fee a bit..."

"Wait a minute!" the music producer protested. "That guy Shanye just won't work if he can't sing! I don't remember him being able to sing at all!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha raised an eyebrow. "Since when has singing become a prerequisite?"

"Character songs! What anime doesn't produce character songs these days?" The music producer held up his resume. "Looking at it this way, Kazuhiko is definitely the most suitable! He can produce as many character songs as he wants!"

As Hashima sailed out to sea, he looked at Kasumigaoka Utaha and asked, "Are you going to release another character theme song?"

"Of course we're going to release it!" The music producer leaned forward excitedly. "They're releasing it everywhere else. What kind of voice actor can't sing these days?!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha reminded, "A voice actor is a voice actor, and a singer is a singer."

"Wow~" The music producer sat down with an expression of utter disbelief. "So young, yet with such outdated ideas! It's because of inflexible people like you that the animation industry keeps declining!"

Chapter 699 Hui's Reminder

Kasumigaoka Utaha's lips curled up slightly, her narrowed red eyes filled with icy coldness.

How dare this guy say that...?

“We can’t just consider the songs, can we?” the event producer on the other end said earnestly. “We should also take the live event into account, and analyze these factors calmly.”

He held up the resume in his hand, "Without a doubt, we should choose Kenta!" He looked longingly at him, "Look at that physique, look at those muscles, ah~~~ indescribable! You guys should take a look too, you definitely won't be able to resist!"

Kasumigaoka Utaha suppressed her anger, "It has nothing to do with body shape, right?"

"Of course it matters! A physique like that can attract more people to offline events! If we take some photos and put them in the first-print purchase bonus, sales will definitely skyrocket!" He paused, "Of course, I know that a voice actor's job is to do voice acting, but look at his physique, such a strong body will naturally produce a very good voice! And now it's an era that pays more attention to the appearance of voice actors! Singing can wait, what else is there to worry about if it can be solved by tuning?"

"You rascal," the music producer grumbled, "don't underestimate music!"

Bo Island Sailing: "..." Don't underestimate animation, okay?

“Even if we don’t use top-tier voice actors, we should at least hire some well-known voice actors,” said Soejima, the advertiser. “After all, it’s an original anime without a source material, and it’s directed by a new director. Relying on the popularity of the voice actors to attract viewers will greatly help with the subsequent viewership.”

“Fame can be built up slowly! Besides, popular voice actors are all cheap!” The music producer suggested a new idea. “Why not just use one of our company’s signed singers? Although they don’t have voice acting experience, we should use newcomers to try out for the new work! If we don’t dare to use newcomers in the new work, what are we going to do with them!”

"If a newbie messes it up, who's going to take responsibility?!" the game producer demanded. "You?"

"Are you saying you can take responsibility for the choice you make?"

"Of course that's not what I meant..."

"Everyone," the music director leaned back in his chair, "if we're going to choose based on popularity, singing ability, and looks, then there's no point in making anime, right?"

The event producer scoffed, "Without these elements, no one would watch it!"

“If it’s just these things,” Yin Du said bluntly, “everyone who sees this will criticize it.”

The game producer shrugged. "Isn't that even better? More noise means more popularity!"

Soundmaster sighed and gave Kasumigaoka Utaha a helpless look.

"Alright then," the advertiser, Soejima, tapped the table. "Everyone, go back and study this carefully. How about we continue the meeting another day?"

It's not exactly a solution, but it's the only option we have right now.

In the office, Kasumigaoka Utaha sat in her office chair, flipping through meeting minutes while pondering countermeasures.

The art director for the animation production hasn't been found yet, the production committee has investment issues, and the voice actors can't be confirmed either... The longer it's delayed, the more difficult the animation production will become.

But with so many problems piled up, there's simply no way to start solving them.

Kasumigaoka Utaha recalled the wail she had heard before.

“This is…” Kasumigaoka Utaha sighed, “Wait… no.”

She shook her head.

There will definitely be a solution.

It's not time to despair yet...

Boom, boom, boom.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

“Kasumigaoka P,” Aoi Miyamori said with a worried look, “two production staff have resigned.”

Kasumigaoka Utaha: "...I see."

“I’ve spoken with other departments, but everyone’s busy right now, so…” Miyamori Aoi pointed out, “we’re short-handed.”