Japan, Where Puppet Shows Air, Is Healthy

I portrayed Milady's villainy with the motto "cool and unapologetic." She employed every tactic, sometimes sweet-talking, sometimes forceful. Each time I received the script and read Milady's lines, I aimed for a boldly uninhibited performance. At the script-reading stage, the puppets' movements were not yet determined. Therefore, I had to imagine and anticipate many things: How would the puppets move? How much space would they occupy? What would be their distance from other characters? This is the difficulty, and also the joy, of puppet shows. To me, this felt like the true essence of puppetry. After such meticulous preparation, watching the broadcast with the puppets' movements synchronized was an even greater pleasure.

For me, who usually dubs over moving images in foreign films and animations, this was the reverse scenario: the puppets moved to the voices I had recorded beforehand. It was incredibly fresh, and as I watched the broadcast, I began to imagine Milady's movements. It felt as if we were one soul? (laughs)



And "The New Three Musketeers" featured so many characters. In fact, we performed with only seven people, meaning each of us played multiple roles. This is also something unique to voice acting. I myself voiced Kitty, a cat who is Milady's alter ego, but the performances of the three musketeers (Koichi Yamadera, Masashi Ebara, and Wataru Takagi) were particularly outstanding. They showed us professional work. The newcomers in voice acting (Sosuke Ikematsu, Shiori Kutsuna, and Catherine Seto) also showed remarkable growth, mirroring the characters' development throughout the story.
The seven of us were like a small theater troupe. It was truly fun. I hope to encounter such work again. Adieu!!