Animazement 2006 Spectacular (Q & A Highlights and Convention Report)

Interviewee Photo
  • Interview with: Rica Matsumoto
  • Interviewed by: Tsukasa on May 27th, 2006
  • Location: Animazement 2006: Durham, North Carolina
  • Publication Date: January 1st, 2007

Tags:

Animazement
Text Size: smaller text normal text size bigger text

It's funny how time flies. I still remember my first con experience, back at the wee age of twelve. That was Animazement '98, the first year the con was held, back when it was still held in March and in Raleigh. This year, I found myself attending for my ninth year in a row. Now ten years older and wiser, does Animazement still hold all the magic it did years ago? You bet it does.

The nature of press work at Animazement has undergone a shift in the past couple of years, with the end of the interview sessions being between the press and guests. And thus, in adapting to these changes, I'm bringing you highlights from the guests' Q&A sessions that I attended, in adition to the lowdown on my experiences at the con this year.

I wasn't able to attend any of the Q & A sessions on the first day, due to some unfortunate scheduling conflicts -- the con lacking as many specific guest-oriented panels around their experiences and careers as I would've liked to have been able to attend. As usual, though, there was a fantastic array of panels to attend, from fan panels about web comics, film noir in anime, popular works like Inuyasha and Sailor Moon, to more traditional culture-oriented subjects like geisha and ball-jointed dolls.

As per my usual con habits, I spent much of the day with friends, and watched some of the karaoke. As usual, I couldn't miss Anime Hell, the con's yearly display of the weirdest things to be found in that vast and horrifying plain known as the internet. This year's event contained the all-important Halcali music video and Japanese pop-culture appearance by the one, the only, the great Bob Sapp, along with an assortment of old commercials and creepy educational videos from the '60s and '70s, some quirky foreign cartoons, trippy American animated propaganda from the '70s, and even a number of clips of children's cartoons from North Korea (of all places), which succeed in being equal parts badass and genuinely disturbing. Apparently Kim Jong Il is raising the children of North Korea to be Chuck Norrises, which doesn't bode well for the world of internet memes. People will be numb to roundhouse kicks before they know it, and then where will they turn? Hasselhoff?

Unfortunately, this year's Anime Hell lacked a particular reoccurring feature from year to year: the token music video by Heino, a German pop artist who's become an icon of camp outside of Deutschland, whose music frequently turns up at Animazement both to the joy and chagrin of the congoers. Somehow, Anime Hell just isn't the same without him. I'd heard that his music did ambush the audience at this year's musical, though. It being quite late after Anime Hell concluded, I returned home for the night, so concluding the first long, exhausting, and thoroughly enjoyable first day of the con.

I returned to Animazement in the early afternoon on Saturday, with plans to attend a couple of panels that day. With those not occurring until later, I spent the earlier hours of the afternoon with friends. Then I attended the Rica Matsumoto panel and Q & A session.at 4 PM. Ms. Matsumoto is one of Japan's best-known voice actresses, paticularly known for voicing Satoshi from Pokemon and Aoi Futaba from You're Under Arrest!, as well as singing most of Pokemon's songs.

Editor's note (04/07/08):

The following segment originally appeared after the interview Q/A portion, but we have changed formats, and now feature our interview experiences above the transcript. The Q/A is preserved as it was, but simply appears in a different location now.

After the last question, Ms. Matsumoto did her impressions of a dog, a frog, and even Donald Duck, taking voice requests for the last few minutes of the panel, before it was wrapped up.

Following Ms. Matsumoto's panel, I attended Anime Nation's industry panel, run by John Oppliger (Of "Ask John" fame) and a couple other higher-ups from the company, where we couldn't view anything due to some technical difficulties. The panel was hardly a bust, however, after wrapping up the company and news-discussion portion of the panel in roughly five minutes, a thoroughly enjoyable dialogue about the industry and its inner workings, current state, and future, was opened up, which I participated in fairly actively myself. It was a highly insightful panel, though sparsely attended by the usual congoers, such discussions going unappreciated by the typical teenage fanbase. Then, the panel concluded with trivia for the first volume of Hare + Guu. I stuck around for a bit after the panel to talk with the guys from Anime Nation a bit longer, not getting to enjoy that kind of conversation nearly as often as I'd like, then spent the remainder of the evening with friends.

Unfortunately, I missed this year's musical comedy event (Following last year's Evangelion! the musical, which was a real event to remember), "It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time," a musical comedy about convention running, which - like last year's musical - was written, directed, and performed by members of the Carolina Otaku Uprising. It went on at the same time as the Anime Nation panel, and I'm personally hoping that if there's another musical next year, I'll be able to attend it without shirking any of my duties to Anime Dream.

As enjoyable as Animazement has always been, it always seems to go by far too quickly. As they say, time flies when you're having fun, and Animazement is just that, a thoroughly enjoyable family-friendly con with a light, relaxing atmosphere. My last few hours that afternoon were spent between the Dealer's Room, Game Room, and overflow showings from the anime music video competition before I left the Sheraton and bid Animazement 2006 a fond farewell. Though I didn't get as much done this year as I meant to (Having opted to take a more casual approach and pretty much wing it, rather than overpreparing and stressing myself out as much as I have in the past), it was by no means a less enjoyable convention than previous years. Admittedly, I was a little bit disturbed by the oversaturation of several series' products in the Dealer's Room (Haven't you otaku had enough of Fullmetal Alchemist, Inuyasha, Bleach, Naruto, and Final Fantasy VII yet? There are better things out there.), and disappointed by the lack of A Different Drum's presence this year, having always enjoyed their low priced high-quality electronic music offerings over the past couple of years. After the number of gaps in the Dealer's Room last year, though, it was nice seeing the place full. In the end, the convention on the whole was a real blast. I'm looking forward to attending once again next year.

As always, on the behalf of all of us here at Anime Dream, I'd like to extend my thanks to the guests at the con, the interpreters who worked with all of us, and the rest of the convention staff in its entirety. Animazement wouldn't be what it is without their hard work and dedication, and it shows through in the wonderful con it's continued to be year after year. (The average attendee just doesn't have enough appreciation for these fantastic people.) So once again, bravo, and encore! I can't thank you all enough for everything you've done to make it such a fun convention to attend, and working hard to keep things under control, despite some of the rowdier con-goers. (Having been around a number of them myself, you guys really have my sympathy, haha.) And to you, the readers, I ask - why haven't you gone to Animazement yet? Go get a room for next year already! I personally guarantee you won't regret it.

Anime Dream:

What was it that first prompted you to get into voice acting? And what do you enjoy about it most?

Rica Matsumoto:

Well, it all goes back to my family upbringing. My father was the troupe master for a small acting troupe. And he always believed that skills will help you in life, so I got to take a lot of lessons for everything. But I pretty much grew up watching my father be able to entertain people with infectious skills. And that's what I see then. So I got my start in theater as a regular stage actor, but one time I got very sick, I got tuberculosis, and if my treatment were late by one week, I would've been dead. And it was that bad, and I was in the hospital for quite a while, and when I got discharged, my colleagues and friends told me that there are ways that not just on the stage, but in other places such as in front of the microphone.

So that's when I decided that I wanted to try acting, for radio, and voice acting. So I auditioned for this Japanese show called Osomatsu-kun, and I'm wondering if anyone in the audience knows this show. It's an anime show about sextuplets - there's six kids - and this was eighteen years ago, and one other voice actor, such as Megumi Hayashibara, was one of the sextuplets along with me; she was Totomatsu, I played Charomatsu. Since a lot of you are probably not familiar with Osomatsu-kun, it's a little tough to talk about this show, perhaps. What's fun about this line of work, what I enjoy about it is that I get to meet a lot of people, and that includes every one of you here today at Animazement as well. It's wonderful.

Anime Dream:

What is your favorite Pokemon episode so far, and why is it your favorite?

Rica Matsumoto:

I love all episodes where Satoshi gets to be the hero. Among those episodes, my favorite would probably be the very first episode, where Pikachu refuses to enter the Pokeball, and then they get to fight the Onisuzume Pokemon. And my other favorite episode is Pikachu's Forest, that one always gets shown on the Pokemon Jet all the time, so I've seen it multiple times.

Anime Dream:

What do you think of the new opening theme song (Pokemon) since it became Advance Generation?

Rica Matsumoto:

Well, we have new friends, new characters, and even if it's a line that's supposed to be spoken by Satoshi, in order to give the spotlight to the other characters - and get them introduced - the line gets split across the character characters, and I find that a little frustrating.

Anime Dream:

Are you just here for these conventions when you come here for them, or do you sightsee too?

Rica Matsumoto:

The other guests seem to have plenty of time to do sightseeing, but all thanks to Pokemon, I just arrived here today and I have to go back to work as soon as possible, unfortunately, it's not possible. It's for the summer Pokemon movie, that's coming out this summer.

Anime Dream:

It was mentioned in your biography that one of your hobbies is javelin throwing. How did you pick that up?

Rica Matsumoto:

It's not quite a hobby, but when I was in school, I belonged to the handball team. And a coach saw me throw the ball, and I got recruited into javelin throwing. And when I did my trial throw, it was a very clean throw, which is very unusual for a beginner, and if I had thrown two more centimeters more, I would have made it onto the inter-high school competition. So, I'm just recalling my glorious past. When I practiced javelin throwing, this was always next to the rugby team's practice, and I would always see the backs of all the rugby players, so I would always try to aim for one of those rugby backs when I threw.

Anime Dream:

Do you like being Satoshi's voice, and do you sometimes have problems?

Rica Matsumoto:

I love it when I tell kids that I play Satoshi on TV, and I do Satoshi's voice and say "Getto da ze!" and the kids would say "You sound just like Satoshi," I love that. And one time I was at an amusement park in line with my friends for the jet coaster, and the boy that was waiting in front of me and turned around and said "You sound just like Satoshi!" And since this was on my private time, I didn't want to blow my cover, so I responded saying "A lot of people say that to me." Other things about playing Satoshi, I have a friend who's a father, and he has a kid who doesn't like to eat his vegetables - he doesn't like to eat bell peppers - so he asked me to call up his child in the voice of Satoshi and tell him to eat his vegetables. And I called up the child saying, "Hey, I'm Satoshi. I hear that you don't like to eat bell peppers. Well bell peppers are my favorite vegetable, you should eat them too." And apparently since that very day, that child has always been eating his vegetables, and never leaves any of his bell peppers untouched ever since then. And it makes me feel very glad, and it feels like I'm contributing to society. And sometimes I would get a fan letter from a fan, he has bad legs and he's going into surgery, and I would reply to him and give him encouragement. These are the kinds of stories that make me feel that I do have a social responsibility, playing a popular character.

Anime Dream:

Is it true that you have played as many male characters as female characters?

Rica Matsumoto:

Very true. Well, I am female. But in You're Under Arrest, a transexual character, so not only do I play male and female characters, I play in-between characters as well.

Anime Dream:

How do you go back and forth between character genders with your voice?

Rica Matsumoto:

It's not really the voice itself that I change, but the mindset that I change in order to go between the character genders. When I do boy characters, I recall my childhood when I was more of a tomboy -- being the gang leader with a strong sense of leadership and justice -- that's the kind of mindset I put myself in when playing boys. And when I would be doing female characters, I would put myself into my more feminine mindset and go about in my roles that way, so it's more the mindset than voice. And that just naturally changes my acting. And in other types of girls, who become suddenly squeaky cute in front of boys they like, and in front of other guys she would just suddenly go up an octave and go prep on them, that's probably the kind of acting I do.

Anime Dream:

Who's your favorite Pokemon?

Rica Matsumoto:

Personally as Rica Matsumoto, that would be Usoki, but as Satoshi it has to be Pikachu. My cell phone strap has four Pikachus on it.

Anime Dream:

What do you think about Pokemon's english dub?

Rica Matsumoto:

I've seen the English dub; Ash sounds just like me, and some friends are impressed I speak so well in English.

Anime Dream:

In Japan, are the voice actors on the same level as live-action actors, or is there sort of a hierarchy?

Rica Matsumoto:

That's a very difficult question. It really depends, because everyone has a different career path, doing different things, so it's difficult to make a generic comparison. But in general, voice actors tend to be closer to the production side, and tend to be more the unsung heroes involved in the production of a show, but that kind of thing seems to be decreasing these days. And also compared to stage actors, they also do dubs, so we do find them as competition. And some fans seem to be disappointed to see the actual face behind the voice for their character, so there might be some tendencies for voice actors to not fully come out to the public. Sometimes it might be a really old voice actor that's voicing a very young character or child, kids get really surprised when they see that. But these days a lot of voice actors are cute, starting with me. But since I do play Satoshi, I do want to be a good role model so as to not disappoint children.

Anime Dream:

How do you feel about Team Rocket?

Rica Matsumoto:

I think they're good, but they live in their own world.

Anime Dream:

Which is your favorite non-Pokemon role that you've done?

Rica Matsumoto:

I've been voice acting for seventeen, eighteen years - not that I want to reveal my age, but many - so it's hard to rank the characters. I love them all. Having said that, I am fond of the character Fusuke from Ninku, though that may not ring a bell with you. If any of Ninku is out on video, if any of you have a chance, I encourage you to watch the show.

Anime Dream:

Do you know how many characters you've played?

Rica Matsumoto:

Too many to be able to count. And I've played animals as well, and ghosts, and monsters.

Anime Dream:

Have you ever had a character made specifically for your voice?

Rica Matsumoto:

There's been quite a few examples of that, one time there was a Gundam character - I forgot which character this was - but this character was supposed to be a bit old, but I was a cast member on Gundam doing voices for things such as Haro, and this was an episode where there was no Haro, and there was just supposed to be this big role. And they deemed that my acting was so fit for this character that this character got three more episodes. And they say that Rica Matsumoto is about the only voice actor who can do fourteen different voices, so there was this one show where I was cast to fourteen different characters, along with the male voice actor - Koichi Yamadera - who also did fourteen different roles, and so this show was billed as having only two voice actors.

Anime Dream:

You are already a veteran in voice acting...are there still times when a director might check you in a way that your character might sound too much like a girl even though your character is a boy? If there is one, can you tell us an example of what was too girly about that acting?

Rica Matsumoto:

That still happens to me, quite a few times, especially when I play a boy character -- when the boy character shows his kindness or gentleness, it might get a little feminine or the end of my sentences might get a little feminine. And also when I'm with good friends I go into dialect so sometimes that creeps over into my roles, and so you might end up with Sony who speaks a dialect once in a while, and/or if I go into dialect as well, sometimes they suspect that I'm going out with someone from another part of the country. Even if that may not be the truth.

Anime Dream:

During these Q & As, have you ever wanted to be on the other side asking questions?

Rica Matsumoto:

If lucky, I would like to take every one of you individually into a small room and interrogate you, every one of you. But such a small group might be mistaken for a confessional. And I'm going to digress, but here I am at a convention and I was at an American convention three years ago - I think it was in Baltimore - and from back then and today, I feel that even though I may be here in a different country, all the fan reactions are still the same, and that a lot of human characteristics are still the same despite the differences in backgrounds. And when I'm dubbing over a live action movie, the words "I love you" - which would be "Aishiteru" in Japanese - match exactly. Words in either language seem to naturally match their thoughts. And it seems to indicate that words as well are very similar. What I wanted to say is that it makes me think that a lot of people - including you and me - probably feel and think the same way, in a lot of ways, so that instead of wanting to turn questions, it makes me think that you might be thinking the same thing that I am.

Anime Dream:

What's the strangest question you've ever been asked?

Rica Matsumoto:

Why do you like to pick on me so? Would I risk being stabbed by that person if I identified the question that was weirdest? I find it very encouraging and wonderful that people are here very much able to verbalize their thoughts and feelings, and I think it's a practice that a lot of Japanese people can learn from, so I'm going to go home and teach my dog to verbalize his feelings. And then he can spread that practice around as well. It feels like I'm conversing with longtime friends.

Anime Dream:

What kind of dog do you have?

Rica Matsumoto:

A miniature dachshund and maltese crossbreed. I tend to name my dogs after the characters I've played in anime and live action films, so the previous dog that I had was a Shetland Sheepdog, I named her after the character I played on Beverly Hills 90210, Kelly. And right now my two dogs are named after Haro and Horo, and I do believe I find myself as a reincarnation of dogs, and so I'd like to demonstrate that.