VD BD4 Booklet Interview TL

First draft. Unedited

Interview with Asakura Azumi and Oonishi Saori from BD4 Booklet

----To get a firm grasp on the difference on the acting between the two characters

--Please tell us about the characters you two voiced, Rain and Lady J

Oonishi (O): Rain-san is a blonde character with red highlight, she wear a rider suit and a fashionable sunglasses. She’s such unimaginably cool woman that I can’t believe someone like me were chosen to voice her. Also her boobies are quite amazing too [laugh]. I find it quite interesting that when she’s standing beside J-san, Rain-san’s oppai that are supposed to be quite big seems so much smaller. It really leaves quite an impression.

Asakura (A): When I first received J-san script and brief character description for the audition, the voice I use for her were far more feminine than the current one. So, on the first day of recording, I used the same voice for the audition but then I was told to act more expressionless and disinterested. So at the beginning, I had a hard time to fully grasp J-san’s character.

O: Both of us are playing adult women with high level of sexual appeal, and coincidentally, the voice we used for our characters sounds similar. So we received a direction that sound like this “let’s make sure to grasp the difference between the characters”. After that, Rain-san was decided to be cooler and manlier character.

A:  Certainly, when you line up Rain-san and J-san together, we started to think about the balance between the two of them. I think a disinterested J-san with Rain-san beside her, supporting her would make a very good picture that not only showcase their individuality but also make them look moe [laugh].

O: Wait is that your moe point, Azumi-san [laugh]. I actually thought that J-san is like a watchdog for Rain-san. Usually she doesn’t show a lot of emotions but I think it’s very cool how she’s able to stay quiet even when she’s angry.

A: Indeed, she also seems like a jealous person to me. Back in episode 4 when Rain-san kissed Mirei-chan, for a second I think I saw J-san pouting there. Well that is what make her cute though.

-----Lady Lady are each other perfect partner

-- Do you have a part that left a great impression when you’re voicing them?

A: I actually had a hard time thinking how to inform my family about this role [laugh]. Usually, I always told them right after the show was announced to public, but for Valkyrie Drive, it took quite some time before I was able to tell my family [laugh].

O: But you did tell them right?

A: My little sister found out before I was able to say anything. She told my family “Nee-chan apparently gonna appear in this show”. Only after that I was able to tell my parents about this role [laugh].

O: Well for me, because I still live in my parents’ house, there are few occasion where some of my family member saw me practicing for the role. Still, I tried to be careful so that they don’t see me practicing for sexy/lewd scene in Valkyrie Drive. Especially for Lady Lady Mini OVA in BD5. Those are so sexy/lewd that I always make sure that I am truly alone before practicing for it [laugh].

--Can you tell us your favorite characters from the show?

A: Mine is a character that I think have a lot of female fans, Akira-san.

O: Me too, I like Akira-san!

A: Yes, women usually get very happy when they were escorted by other women that act gentlemanly and took care really nice of them right. Add that to the fact that Akira-san also have feminine features, I think they were not looking at Akira-san as someone they want to have relationship with. She’s someone unattainable like the Takarazuka’s stars, just by looking at her, Akira-san can make the girls heart flutter.

O: And even then, I thought Akira-san is still very good [as boy] even if you acknowledge her as a boy, but then episode 7 came. And it was revealed that she’s actually a woman all along. My love for her grow even more after that

A: Things like “Akira-san is definitely the type of girl that girls fall for” definitely crossed my mind [laugh]

O: Both version of Akira-san hold their own charm, I think that she’s truly a delicious character with tons of flavor.

A: Also, Meifon is pretty interesting too. I can’t help but laugh when I saw her in episode 6 where she DRIVE with money alone.

O: She’s a failure in good way. When a show have a character like Meifon, I think it made the mood of the show to be more nuanced.

A: If Rain-san partner was Meifon instead of J-san, her bust would have looked much bigger than now [laugh]

O: But don’t you think it’s unthinkable to have Meifon as a partner [laugh]. In episode two, their exchange showed that Lady Lady and Meifon are just business partner. At first I thought that maybe they have pretty dry relationship. So that’s why I think that Rain-san partner can’t be anyone but J-san.

A: I don’t anyone else but Rain-san too [laugh]

O: I’m glad.

-----A character song made only for Lady Lady

--Please tell us the highlight of episode 7 and 8 that is included in this 4th volume

O: For me it’s that scene where Akira-san and Torino-san took a dip in the open air bath. I vividly remember one cut where you can see a beautiful sunset in between Akira-san floating oppai. [laugh]

A: The view of the sunset, the reflection of the sea surface and the oppais were quite divine weren’t they [laugh]

O: Guess there are scenery only available to those with really big breast [laugh]

A: Lady Lady got lots of screentime in episode 8, but among that I think you should definitely pay attention to their DRIVE scene.

O: Rain-san and J-san actually can DRIVE without kissing, and yet they still do it. I think it reveal a lot about their bond with each other. Also when J-san started to fight in episode 8, she really let her emotions shows in her face. I think that part was amazing.

A: She is quite passionate isn’t she.

O: Its kinda make me think that even though its like Rain-san that usually look in charge, maybe J-san is the one that actually hold the rein in secret.

A: There are no scene like this in anime so sometime I’d like to imagine Rain-san going “Alright-alright J. It can’t be helped then” when J-san insist to keep it [her passionate personality] hidden and then I’d start giggling on my own. [laugh]

--Both of you also participate in this volume audio commentary right, how was it?

A: As a seiyuu, I have recorded quite a lot of commentary for disc releases, but this is the first time where I spend most of the commentary duration talking about certain body parts of the characters [laugh].

O: We looked at the screen while going “kya kya” and made quite a fuss [laugh].

A: Unlike the TV version, nothing is hidden for the disc version, I had lots of fun watching it. I did watched the TV version when the show aired on TV, but unless the BD&DVD were released I can’t see the unedited version. While watching I also thought of this “so this is how it looks like beyond that great light”.

O: You know in episode 8 there’s one scene where they all rode on a back of a truck right. While they were on the truck, every time they move through uneven road, J-san’s breast also jiggles along [laugh].

A: Well yes, with how much skin she show it must be easy for her to DRIVE at the drop of hat right. Though I wonder if it’s alright to wear something that can flap that much [laugh].

O: Rain-san’s suit also looks very easy to take off. I wonder if they’re made like that so they can DRIVE faster [laugh].

--For the 4th volume, you two also recorded a song for Lady Lady right

O: When I went for recording, the composer [鳥屋茶房] Karasuya Sahou-san actually said this to me “I’m sorry for making this difficult song” [laugh].

A: At first they asked how high can go without forcing myself, and then we recorded three different version with varying key notes. Among them we chose the one that we thought to be the closest to J-san’s normal voice to be used for the CD. With melody of Japanese-Rock, you can clear tell the difference between the first and second melody. I think it turned out to be a very cool song.

O: Azumi-san was the first to record the song, so when I heard her voce for the song I can’t help but think that “J is here”. That is why, I also tried my best to put out my “it’s Rain” voice for the song. Singing the song was very fun.

A: You can listen this song on a repeat without getting tired of it. And in the song lyrics there are line that sound like their names. Like “are you ready” for ‘Lady’ and “in the rain” for Rain. This song was made for Lady Lady, so please enjoy the song while paying attention to these little details!

-----Main story and fetishism, two ways to enjoy the show

--Besides that, what else do you find to be impressive from Valkyrie Drive

O: I heard that this show have quite a lot of female fans too, so I was pretty surprised.

A: I have received letter from viewers that know me and watched Valkyrie Drive. There’s also plenty of female fans among them. They’d said things like “I love Mirei-san and Mamori-chan combination” or “I love Lady Lady”.  No matter how you see it this show is definitely intended for male demographic, but in Valkyrie Drive, not only you can see a friendship between girls, they also depicted a romance between them. So perhaps female viewers found this approach to be refreshing and that’s what draws them to this show.

O: Other than that, Karasuya Sahou-san that was mentioned above said something that I can never forget in the after party. He said “I’m actually a DFC man” [laugh]

A: Yeah when I heard that I thought “hm, but you make song for the big titted couple….I see” [laugh]

O: On the after party, there was a person beside me that said “so there are people that like flat chest” seriously [laugh]. In the end, fetishism really is ‘to each to their own’ thing.

A: When you put it that way, then it could also mean anyone can enjoy Valkyrie Drive because it have many different types of girls.

O: Surely, the viewers must had watched this show while thinking about their own fetish [laugh].

--Lastly, please leave a message for the fans

O: Valkyrie Drive is a show made with many attention to detain and a passionate story. So for first watch you can focus on the fetish, and focus on the story for the second watch. That way I think you could enjoy Valkyrie Drive much more thoroughly. Also, in the next volume of BD/DVD, the 5th volume, there’s a special OVA about Lady Lady, so please make sure to check that one out too! The OVA turned out to be something amazing [laugh].

A: You can enjoy the sexy scene while going doki doki, you could also enjoy the serious main story and feel the suspense. It’s a show where you can do both. There’s still some way left before the last volume, so I hope that you can keep supporting us, and most importantly please have a good time.