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hetalia2010-07-04 12:18 am
chibitalia-chan.livejournal.com) wrote in hetalia2010-07-04 12:18 am
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Summary of Konishi Katsuyuki's panel at AX
Konishi Katsuyuki (the voice actor for America) was at Anime Expo today for his first convention abroad. I missed the main Hetalia gathering waiting in line for the Konishi panel since there were people waiting HOURS in advance and the line stretched down multiple hallways. In turn though, I got to see America's seiyuu in person :D There were question and answers from the audience, but we weren't allowed to videotape or do audio recording. Though I did take this picture:
Alright so it was supposed to be a panel promoting his Gurren Lagann movie but somehow some Hetalia moments came up when a few APH fans lined up to ask questions. I'll just include the Hetalia bits. Keep in mind I'm doing this all by memory so I might miss a few details x_x
Beginning of the panel they show a video of Kamina clips and everyone cheers. Then they tell the audience that if they want Konishi to come on stage, they have to shout "ANIKIIII!!!!!" We say ANIKIII about three times super loudly. Konishi comes on the stage and they introduce him like, "Konishi Katsuyuki, the voice of Kamina from Gurren Lagann (cheer), something from something (cheer), something from something (cheer), and America from Axis Powers Hetalia! (THE LOUDEST AND BIGGEST CHEER OF ALL). Konishi gives a funny smile at that.
We settle down and it's Q&A time from the audience. Everyone rushes in line as fast as they can (I had no chance since I was sitting far away from the aisle where the line was at). There are a few Hetalia cosplayers in line. Mostly the people asking questions were Japanese speakers so we had to wait extra long for them to ask a question in both English AND Japanese, on top of waiting for Konishi's translator to repeat his answers. Here are a few of the questions I remember. This is purely paraphrasing and not really word-for-word.
Q: "How did you get into voice acting?"
A: "I didn't want a normal job but I liked anime so I went to voice acting school and learned to do that. Though when I was very young, I wanted to become Ultraman."
Q: "What was your favorite role?"
A: -blahblahblah eventually- "Kamina"
Q: "What do you think of America so far?"
A: "I just got off the plane and checked into the hotel room and I saw the whole lobby was full of cosplayers and it was very impressive. I like American enthusiasm" (cheer)
Q: "How are American fans different from the Japanese fans you're used to?"
A: "First of all I didn't expect so many Americans to even know who I am (awwww from the audience). The Japanese are really enthusiastic about their anime but not many adults like it so much as the younger fans. I see in this convention there are many adult anime fans in the audience and I think you fans here should convince the older Japanese fans to be just as enthusiastic about it as all of you (cheer). Also in terms of who is more passionate, so far I think the American fans win (LOUD CHEER)
Q: "I'm a Canadian fan (random cheering) and I was wondering what you think of Canada.
A: "I think Canada is interesting because I don't really know what you guys are (I can't think of another way to explain this. I didn't really get this part). The only experience that I have with Canada is when I do the voice for him in Hetalia. The directors told me to not speak so much and be very, very quiet. You can't really hear the whispering on the studio microphone so they have to edit the sound to be louder when they put it in the episode." ("Dare?" from the audience). (Canada voice) "Canada da yo~" (SUPER EAR-SPLITTINGLY LOUD CHEERING AND SQUEALING). (America voice) "Ahahahahaha~!!" (EVEN MORE LOUD CHEERING)
-America cosplayer walks next in line for questions-
Konishi: "America! Yo!"
Cosplayer: "-breathless- Thank you so much for that..." (referring to the Canada and America voices)
Q: "Was it hard for you to do the voice acting for America in Hetalia when you've never been to America before now?"
A: "Not at all! This con is making me like America more and more."
Q: "What character songs were the most fun for you to do? Also, if you want, can you please sing two lines from a character song for us now?"
-Konishi listens to his translator telling him the question and makes the most hilarious TTATT; face when he hears that he has to sing-
By the way, I can't remember his answer to this question but he did say a line from an unknown character song but it didn't even sound much like singing.
Q: "I've noticed you've done a lot of deep voiced characters but also some high pitched characters as well. When was it when you started taking up roles that involved more of a higher pitched voice?"
A: "Recently actually is when I've started doing more high pitched characters. For example, the character America is at the very limit of my high pitched range. When I was doing the character CD for him, it was my mistake for making it so difficult for myself by singing so squeaky-like. When I listen to those songs, I realize that since it was so hard for me to do in the studio, there's no way I can sing like that in front of an audience."
Q: "What is your favorite quote from any anime you've done?"
A: "Listen up, Simon. Don't believe in anyone else! Believe in me, who believes in me- Ahh I mean believe in you who believes in you! Sorry I messed up, it's been a while" (laughing from the audience)
.....And that's about all the Hetalia and random other stuff I remember from the panel. There were more people in line for the Q&A including more Hetalia cosplayers, but they cut the line short since they ran out of time. If you were there at the panel please let me know any other detail you remember and I'll add it. Better yet, if you've got it secretly recorded on audio or videotape, please share! Thank you for reading. Also if you were at the official Hetalia gathering instead of at the Konishi panel, you missed out a lot harharhar but I'm still very sad I couldn't make it. Though I was at a small little facebook planned gathering afterwards. The organizer will have those pictures up eventually :)
Alright so it was supposed to be a panel promoting his Gurren Lagann movie but somehow some Hetalia moments came up when a few APH fans lined up to ask questions. I'll just include the Hetalia bits. Keep in mind I'm doing this all by memory so I might miss a few details x_x
Beginning of the panel they show a video of Kamina clips and everyone cheers. Then they tell the audience that if they want Konishi to come on stage, they have to shout "ANIKIIII!!!!!" We say ANIKIII about three times super loudly. Konishi comes on the stage and they introduce him like, "Konishi Katsuyuki, the voice of Kamina from Gurren Lagann (cheer), something from something (cheer), something from something (cheer), and America from Axis Powers Hetalia! (THE LOUDEST AND BIGGEST CHEER OF ALL). Konishi gives a funny smile at that.
We settle down and it's Q&A time from the audience. Everyone rushes in line as fast as they can (I had no chance since I was sitting far away from the aisle where the line was at). There are a few Hetalia cosplayers in line. Mostly the people asking questions were Japanese speakers so we had to wait extra long for them to ask a question in both English AND Japanese, on top of waiting for Konishi's translator to repeat his answers. Here are a few of the questions I remember. This is purely paraphrasing and not really word-for-word.
Q: "How did you get into voice acting?"
A: "I didn't want a normal job but I liked anime so I went to voice acting school and learned to do that. Though when I was very young, I wanted to become Ultraman."
Q: "What was your favorite role?"
A: -blahblahblah eventually- "Kamina"
Q: "What do you think of America so far?"
A: "I just got off the plane and checked into the hotel room and I saw the whole lobby was full of cosplayers and it was very impressive. I like American enthusiasm" (cheer)
Q: "How are American fans different from the Japanese fans you're used to?"
A: "First of all I didn't expect so many Americans to even know who I am (awwww from the audience). The Japanese are really enthusiastic about their anime but not many adults like it so much as the younger fans. I see in this convention there are many adult anime fans in the audience and I think you fans here should convince the older Japanese fans to be just as enthusiastic about it as all of you (cheer). Also in terms of who is more passionate, so far I think the American fans win (LOUD CHEER)
Q: "I'm a Canadian fan (random cheering) and I was wondering what you think of Canada.
A: "I think Canada is interesting because I don't really know what you guys are (I can't think of another way to explain this. I didn't really get this part). The only experience that I have with Canada is when I do the voice for him in Hetalia. The directors told me to not speak so much and be very, very quiet. You can't really hear the whispering on the studio microphone so they have to edit the sound to be louder when they put it in the episode." ("Dare?" from the audience). (Canada voice) "Canada da yo~" (SUPER EAR-SPLITTINGLY LOUD CHEERING AND SQUEALING). (America voice) "Ahahahahaha~!!" (EVEN MORE LOUD CHEERING)
-America cosplayer walks next in line for questions-
Konishi: "America! Yo!"
Cosplayer: "-breathless- Thank you so much for that..." (referring to the Canada and America voices)
Q: "Was it hard for you to do the voice acting for America in Hetalia when you've never been to America before now?"
A: "Not at all! This con is making me like America more and more."
Q: "What character songs were the most fun for you to do? Also, if you want, can you please sing two lines from a character song for us now?"
-Konishi listens to his translator telling him the question and makes the most hilarious TTATT; face when he hears that he has to sing-
By the way, I can't remember his answer to this question but he did say a line from an unknown character song but it didn't even sound much like singing.
Q: "I've noticed you've done a lot of deep voiced characters but also some high pitched characters as well. When was it when you started taking up roles that involved more of a higher pitched voice?"
A: "Recently actually is when I've started doing more high pitched characters. For example, the character America is at the very limit of my high pitched range. When I was doing the character CD for him, it was my mistake for making it so difficult for myself by singing so squeaky-like. When I listen to those songs, I realize that since it was so hard for me to do in the studio, there's no way I can sing like that in front of an audience."
Q: "What is your favorite quote from any anime you've done?"
A: "Listen up, Simon. Don't believe in anyone else! Believe in me, who believes in me- Ahh I mean believe in you who believes in you! Sorry I messed up, it's been a while" (laughing from the audience)
.....And that's about all the Hetalia and random other stuff I remember from the panel. There were more people in line for the Q&A including more Hetalia cosplayers, but they cut the line short since they ran out of time. If you were there at the panel please let me know any other detail you remember and I'll add it. Better yet, if you've got it secretly recorded on audio or videotape, please share! Thank you for reading. Also if you were at the official Hetalia gathering instead of at the Konishi panel, you missed out a lot harharhar but I'm still very sad I couldn't make it. Though I was at a small little facebook planned gathering afterwards. The organizer will have those pictures up eventually :)
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