Chapter 277: Song Arrangement
As time passed, Gundam SEED's production gained momentum.
The artists collaborated to complete the image level required by Takumi. At first, the speed was very slow, but Tsuki Animation Company recruited a group of new artists. With the increase in staff, the speed gradually increased.
However, this increase was still very slow compared to the production speed of other companies. The Gundam series was a new, unprecedented animation. Every company had to figure out how to create quality anime scenes.
Takumi had very high demands. He spent more than a month "brainwashing" the team members of both companies, asking them to produce magnificent and attractive Gundam battle scenes.
During this period, the script and storyboard were gradually improved to the last detail, the soundtrack was also worked on one after another, and the voice actors for the characters were already practically decided.
The voice actors for "Gundam SEED" adopted the Osaka team, the best dubbing group in Japan. Today is different from the past. More than a year ago, Hinotori Publishing was not very optimistic and it was difficult to find voice actors. However, a year later, many voice actors are doing their best to enter Hinotori Publishing's voice actor agency.
The popularity of "Pokémon" and "Fate/Stay Night" has made the voice actors participating in them gradually stand out. Although the voice acting profession is still not very well known in the entertainment industry, Hinotori Publishing's voice actors have overcome difficulties and opened a new path of development.
During this period, there are more and more anime and galgame in various parts of Japan, and these new technologies require a lot of dubbing. The first choice is Hinotori Publishing's voice actors.
The agency accepts everyone, and voice actors practically no longer worry about work. They can live comfortably thanks to dubbing. Other frustrated artists feel envious.
"If you can't be a singer, it's okay to be a voice actor!"
The artists sent their resumes to Hinotori Publishing with this idea, and some artists with a unique vision were eager to exploit the potential of the dubbing industry.
Japanese anime and galgame are recent and still have a lot of potential. Thanks to strong government support, the demand for voice actors will continue to grow.
For this reason, Hinotori Publishing's voice actor agency has become an independent department with hundreds of employees, fully capable of meeting "Gundam SEED"'s dubbing needs.
To get the dubbing role for this animation, some voice actors rejected all extra work. They tried every means to get the opportunity.
"The fastest way to become famous is by dubbing Mirai-sensei's works!"
. This is the common idea of everyone in the agency.
The last six months have been a golden age. Many people have dubbed anime, but the most popular are the voice actors from "Pokémon" and "Fate/Stay Night". These voice actors sometimes receive interviews from television channels and vaguely resemble real idols.
There is a saying circulating within the company: Mirai-sensei values voice actors. He once stated in an informal chat that voice actors can become idols. In addition, the voice actor agency has faced the risk of being withdrawn several times, but Mirai-sensei's call stopped it.
It may just be a rumor, but it has sparked endless imagination in voice actors. Now that the plan for the new animation has been revealed, Shiori and Yumi have been selected as special voice actors. This imagination has been confirmed.
"In charge of singing, isn't that a singer's job?"
they asked. "I heard that Mirai-sensei prepared dozens of songs for this animation. He didn't choose singers, but voice actors. It's incredible!"
"Yumi and the others can be assigned more than a dozen songs... They could release singles in the future!"
At the agency, the voice actors were very excited. Mirai-sensei's actions obviously continued to increase the value of voice actors. The rumors within the company turned out to be true. They would have the opportunity to become singers in the future.
Singers, this is the dream of voice actors.
However, this dream is not easy to realize. Takumi chose very few.
Shiori, Riko, Masako Natsukawa, Masako Natsukawa: these four women worked hard and prevented others from replacing them.
Shiori and Riko only took a month to sing several new songs prepared by Takumi in the Japanese dialect, and they sang wonderfully. Takumi considered that it would be fine to assign them the job.
Everything went smoothly in anime production, except for a minor inconvenience.
Takumi has not yet assigned specific songs. There are many original songs in "Gundam SEED". Except for individual male voices and background music, most songs can be performed by four women. If distributed equally, each has more than ten or twenty songs.
Of course, songs cannot be distributed equally. To match their respective styles, Takumi believes it should be divided into two main singers, who include most of the songs. Two secondary singers are responsible for the rest.
How to specifically assign them has become a complex problem. Takumi first called the two singers from Japan to the company and prepared to spend a day reviewing them.
Takumi and Masako Natsukawa already knew each other, but he was busy with work. Since signing Masako Natsukawa, he has been observing the recording's progress. That day was the first time he met this fourteen-year-old girl.
After meeting her, Takumi was very surprised. Masako Natsukawa seemed cute, like a delicate and weak loli; of course, that wasn't the key, the key is that this girl was very introverted.
Introversion, that was Takumi's first impression upon seeing her. During the brief greeting, Masako Natsukawa had hidden behind her agent (her mother), clinging to her clothes, like a little girl who had never left.
When Takumi asked her questions, Masako Natsukawa was also very nervous, stammering in her replies, not artistic at all.
"Can a girl with this personality be a singer?"
Takumi asked curiously. After seeing mother and daughter go backstage to the audition room, he asked Eiji Takashima: "Has Masako Natsukawa always been like this?"
"Yes, she was like that when I met her."
Eiji Takashima replied: "She's a normal middle school student. Her mother was a singer and never wanted Miss Masako Natsukawa to debut until something happened in their family half a year ago."
Masako Natsukawa's grandfather fell seriously ill half a year ago. To earn money, her mother took her to debut. However, this girl is introverted, and her debut was not easy until Takumi discovered her. Her
introverted personality made Takumi a little ashamed. He admired Masako Natsukawa's voice, but she was too introverted and seemed unable to be entrusted with important tasks.
However, after listening to the two Natsukawa sing, Takumi had to admit that Masako Natsukawa had a natural talent for singing. Her delicate and ethereal voice, with a touch of sadness, fit the overall style of "Gundam SEED" better than others.
The other Natsukawa, Miss Masako, also had a good voice. She had good success in Japan's entertainment world last year, but in Takumi's opinion, her talent was not as good as Masako Natsukawa's.
"..."
After listening to the songs for a day, Takumi went home and pondered for a long time. Finally, he decided that Masako Natsukawa would be the main singer and put Masako Natsukawa in the background.
Personality can be cultivated, but talent cannot be changed. Of course, there's another reason... Masako Natsukawa is not a voice actress for Hinotori Publishing.
Takumi thought of her because he couldn't find a suitable fourth person. But she belongs to another company. Out of selfishness, Takumi preferred to train Masako Natsukawa, who is his own singer.
The two singers from Japan decided. Takumi classified the songs and finally gave Masako Natsukawa seven songs, while Masako Natsukawa had almost thirty, including "Dawn Car", "Deep Sea Loneliness", "Water Proof", etc.
There are dozens of songs handled by Shiori and Yumi. Takumi's idea is for Shiori to be the main singer. She is ideal for singing the main and secondary characters of the anime, and she can also be responsible for some of the exciting battle songs.
Yumi is quite special. The other three don't need to dub, but Yumi does dub the heroine. Lacus, the heroine of "Gundam SEED", is a singer and many of her songs appear in the animation.
Thus, the song distribution was completed: two main roles, and Masako Natsukawa and Shiori's songs accounted for 70% of the entire animation. Although Masako Natsukawa and Yumi's songs are not many, they are all classics.
"That's all..."
After Takumi finished this task, the last obstacle to "Gundam SEED" production disappeared, and the animation accelerated.
In April, in Japan, Manga Paradise's "The Strongest Mobile Suit" began broadcasting.
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