First, the original Japanese version of the interview can be found here.
http://www.cinematoday.jp/page/A0003661
This is an interview of Aoyama Gosho (creator of Detective Conan) and Shibasaki Kou (Actress, singer, and voice actress of a character in the new Detective Conan Movie)which was posted by Cinema Today.
The 17th installment of the Detective Conan movie series is called "Detective Conan: Private Eye in the Distant Sea" and the trailers can be seen here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJHSR2pPS7k
Data Collecting: Koyama Aki Photo: Takano Hiromi Translation: Richie Golden
With this film involving entire cooperation of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces things get really intense. There is a special guest performance this time by Shibasaki Kou who has read Conan since she was a student. As a mysterious female member of the defense force, Fuji Nanami is played as a cool character. Her magnificent performance which made it seem easy even after having not been a voice actress for about 7 years, was given the stamp of approval and said to be "very cool" by the original author Aoyama Gosho. The two of them are just meeting for the first time now, but have a connection through Conan. We talked about thoughts towards Conan distinctive of a reader, and the scrutinizing of particular points which is distinctive to an author.
■ A First Time Meeting, but an Association for Nearly 20 Years!
Q: This seems to be your first time meeting but what are your impressions of one an other?
Aoyama Gosho (hereafter referred to as Aoyama): I've seen her on TV, on things like "Galileo" and such.
Shibasaki Kou (hereafter referred to as Shibasaki): Well, I bought one of the special volumes of the manga, which has a portrait of Mr. Aoyama doesn't it?
Aoyama: The one where I'm always being killed right?
Shibasaki: Right! There's like blood pouring out or something (laughs). Anyway, it really looks like you. It's just as I expected.
Q: Around what time did you first start to read Conan, Ms. Shibasaki?
Shibasaki: It's a vague memory, but I read it in Shonen Sunday. I think when it started getting serialized I had to have been in middle school. I think I started reading from the first story, or maybe the second one.
Aoyama: Oh wow! There's actually some people who watched it as a kid, and they have now become fathers and they watch it together with their kid.
Q:As for Ms. Shibasaki, what would you say the charm of Conan is?
Shibasaki: Is it okay if I give my impressions completely as a fan (laughs). First of all, the pictures are very easy to get into and to follow. It's very characteristic and recognizable at a glance. But the mysteries to be solved are first-class. It deals with difficult cases that take time just as a TV drama would, so before you know it you're pulled into the world.
Aoyama: Such high praise. Thank you very much.
■Can kids really follow the extremely difficult historical subject matter of Conan!?
Q: This time in the world of Conan, you appear as the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Fuji Nanami right?
Shibasaki: As a fan, there's a somewhat selfish part to it isn't there? I interpreted it as it was convenient for me (wry smile) As the special guest this time, I got to participate as a character that only appears in this movie, so I thought I was lucky.
Aoyama: I also did the character design for Fuji Nanami. I drew it before I knew that Shibasaki would be playing the role, but they told me "we want her to be beautiful" and so I gave her thin eyebrows and sharp eyes like a soldier.
Shibasaki: Her eyebrows are cute aren't they! When I heard that her position was military personnel I worried a little about whether I could play the role properly, but I maintained a feeling of tension the whole time so I thought if I could expand on that then I could make it through somehow. And also, when I was recording, most of the other people had already recorded their lines so I could really use them as reference. I thought it would be difficult if it were a situation where no other voices had been recorded yet, but even Conan's voice was already added, so...
Aoyama: It was very well done. Nothing felt out of place!
Shibasaki: But we did a lot of redoing. Like the way the song was sung, or matching the lines going with the melody, or getting a satisfactory intonation. So when you hear it after that's done it's okay, but sometimes you'd think "is this really good like this" when there was a feeling that it just didn't match up with the melody, and it would leave a feeling that it was just out of place and strange and so we would have to redo it.
Aoyama: So at those times you'd say something like "could we record that again?" That's amazing. As for me, if it were ok as it was I'd just be like "alright, it's good like this right?" (laughs)
Shibasaki: By nature, I'm probably a little self-conscious about my voice. I felt some relief little by little. But when it's just my voice, I worry about if it came out clearly. So we would test out listening to it afterwards.
Aoyama: You've got a voice unlike other voice actresses so I thought it was very nice. Very cool.
Q: In this movie, Fuji Nanami's role left a very hard and dynamic impression different from the other movie versions of Conan so far.
Aoyama: For this movie, from the time that the setting was decided to be the Aegis ship, I requested to the scriptwriter "Sakurai Takeharu" that they try to make it very realistic. So it became very much directed towards adults. Because even for me too, when it's more directed toward kids I don't find it as interesting. Having said that, midway through I started to worry about whether or not kids could also enjoy this movie, whether they could be brought along to see it. But in the movie Conan explains in a way that's easy to understand what you should look for or what you should think about, and so I think that it's contents can be enjoyable for children as well.
Shibasaki: I was also thinking "man, this is difficult" as I was working on it.
■What a Shock!! The announcement of the secret rule of Conan!!
Q: As for Mr. Aoyama, do you have any rules for when you're drawing Conan?
Aoyama: There's one rule I have which is "Conan must never cry."
Shibasaki: Does he cry this time?
Aoyama: Well, I'm not saying he cries.... But, there are people who are planning on seeing the movie so I have to keep it a secret (laughs).
Q: You played an active role in the Detective gadget that will appear this time too. Can you tell us anything about that?
Aoyama: I kept the names absolutely simple. Because if I didn't then it would be embarrassing. Something like "Ball Shooter" isn't embarrassing is it. "Kick-Power Reinforcing Shoes" isn't an embarrassing name, and also it's easy to understand. But those rarely get used. The most recent thing to get used was the belt wasn't it? But it won't get used from here on out. If something strange suddenly shows up then it would be weird, so it always has to be something that Conan can wear. But we've already used so many things, there's not much left besides and backpack.
Shibasaki: What about his hair?
Aoyama: Well, he's not Kitaro (laughs). (Kitaro is a famous character from a comic called "Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro" created by Mizuki Shigeru. Kitaro is a ghost who has many gadgets at his disposal, some of which being his hair which can be used for various things.)
Q: Lastly, could you tell us a scene that you really liked?
Shibasaki: Well, I've only been able to seen it once, but when I did see it obviously I could here my voice in it so naturally that got my focus. If I were to watch it again I think there's a scene with Conan that would really move me. The sound in the movie is very strong and I thought it was amazing. For example, the scene where the Aegis ship is going to attack was really amazing.
Aoyama: I also drew some key-frames, and it's embarrassing to see them appear in the movie, which I think is like what you were saying right? The animators' style and mine are different so it's easily noticed. It wasn't so much that way this time, but... how was it? You couldn't you notice could you?
Shibasaki: No, quite the opposite... it was really cool!
Aoyama gave a signed and colored illustration of the rare combination of Conan, Haibara Ai, and (the seldom drawn) Phantom Thief Kid, as a present to the extremely happy Shibasaki. She seems to not have just been giving him a complement, but to truly love Conan. She said ecstatically "I'm going to definitely frame it and hang it in my room!" What's more, from the start and still now she excitedly said "I want to try doing a voice in the animation. Any small role is okay, and you don't have to pay me."
"Detective Conan Private Eye in the Distant Sea" opens April 20 nation-wide (In Japan).
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