The Netflix Original Anime Series “The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.: Reawakened” that was due to be exclusively broadcast worldwide on Dec. 30, launched its World Premiere in Tokyo’s Iino Hall on Dec. 15.
Kamiya Hiroshi (voiced the main character Saiki Kusuo), Ono Daisuke (voiced Nendo Riki), Shimazaki Nobunaga (voiced Kaido Shun), Matsukaze Masaya (voiced Saiko Metori), Nojima Kenji (voiced Saiki Kusuke), and Iwato Mitsuo (voiced Saiki Kuniharu) made a formidable extravagant voice actor line up. Joining the voice actors line up to take the stage for speeches was Director Sakurai Hiroaki; resulting in deafening cheers from the entire venue.
In the event, to express the “Ψ” in the title, a dice (also known as “Ψ (Sai)”koro in Japanese, a play on words) with various topics about the anime was introduced. The talk was held in a format where guests had to roll the dice and answer questions according to what they rolled.
The first topic was “Reawakened’s Highlights”. In relation to that, the “speedy after-recordings” were the highlight of the “The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.” anime series. However, it wasrevealed that the new work contained drastically increased in tempo, rhythm and speed, earning an all round agreement from the voice actors cast that it was really difficult to pull off.
Especially the lead actor Kamiya Hiroshi, whilst reminiscing the difficulty during the after-recording that time commented, “Saiki Kusuo had a lot of terribly fast lines too but from the second season onward, the amount of times each character talked severely increased as well. After that, everyone else commented saying; “Kamiya-san, it must’ve been immensely difficult for you during season 1….” which made me realize exactly how much work it was. This time, each character gets an equal number of lines so it was hard on everyone as well, haha.”.
As shown in “The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.: Reawakened”‘s second episode, the apperance of the characters from the manga “Our Hero Lessons” by the same author Asou Shuuichi, has become a topic of interest as well.
In regards to the topic of “Thoughts on having seen ‘Our Hero Lessons'”, Kamiya commented that “It was difficult. But that difficulties was also the most rewarding for me. During that time, the script contained writing about the production and all that and looking back now, I recall thinking to myself, how on earth was this script checked and with what rules? I even had notes that I didn’t fully understand myself written down.”
Shimazaki, who voices Kaido Shun, also commented: “I’ve read the original work during its manga serialization and when the offer came, I thought: “Oh! It’s from Our Hero Lessons!”. To me, it felt like it was a return to the original work. That is why I think it is possible to do a lot more with a “Our Hero Lessons” anime!” as he shared his expectations for an anime adaptation of “Our Hero Lessons”.
Continuing on, the next topic was “What was the thing you did recently that made you go “Oh dear” or “Offu!”?”
Matsukaze, who rolled that topic commented: “During the recording session, I say “Offu” but it also unexpectedly comes out easily during my daily life as well. For example, when I went to the venue’s toilet earlier, I was using the automatic soap machine that I feel always produces too much in general but it produced just the right amount this time and it was an “Offu” moment, hahaha!” as he unveiled his newest and latest “Offu” episode.
Ono shared as well: “That’s truly an Oh dear! Actually, to match today’s event, I requested for the make up artist to give me a Mohican hairstyle and jaw splitting look (similar to Nendo) but….. they turned me down by saying that it wasn’t that kind of event today. I had them come in 30 minutes earlier than usual just for that request too……”
In addition, due to the increase in opportunities for Netflix to be streamed on both smartphones and tablets, there were comments and questions received from fans such as: “I want to be able to view this on a wide screen!” and “I want to listen to this with my earphones! What should I do in this case?”
In response to this, Director Sakurai commented, saying “In the classroom scene, there are many characters’ lines being said behind the main character so please listen to them with earphones. In regards to voice balancing, we are still researching on that. It might not be up to par when you watch it initially.”. It was revealed that this topic received inquiries not only from the voice actors but also from members of the staff as well.
Nojima commented, touching upon the benefits of broadcasting, “I think its great that Netflix is broadcasting it because its easy to watch it whenever you feel like it, especially when you’re feeling down so you can laugh whenever!”. This once again gives us a sneak peak into the excitement that “The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.: Reawakened” has in store.
During the middle segment of the event, a surprise special comment was made by Kaji Yuki who voiced Akechi Toma, the mysterious transfer student that identified Kusuo’s special powers.
Kaji expressed his regret at not being able to appear on stage by commenting: “It must be really exciting and it looked so fun! I really wanted to go!” and commented on his role in the work: “Akechi will still be spending time together with everyone….. Wait, actually I really enjoyed being able to perform with that awkward tension!”, thus expressing his joy.
In addition to that, Kamiya was asked “How would you approach a full episode of just Saiki Kusuo talking continuously if such an episode were to be made?”. Even Kamiya with the most experience in “speedy after-recording” among the entire cast replied with: “Actually in the first season, there was an episode like that but it was so difficult that I don’t remember anything about it.”, recalling just how challenging the first season was to the point where it made him lose his memory of it.
Director Sakurai’s comment of “Personally, the scene with everyone chit-chatting was way more fun and I like it!” met with a resounding agreement from the voice actors. There were also questions aimed towards the voice actors and staff about what they each enjoyed from the production as well.
Additionally, for today’s event, an actual used script was revealed to the audience by Kamiya, who commented whilst showing the thickness of the script, “This is the amount of line for the episode when Akechi made his appearance. Even the thickness of one script is different from the other!”, further reiterating the severity of the after-recording.
As a surprise, there was also a birthday cake for Director Sakurai, who had just turned 61 years old. The unsuspecting Director Sakurai was caught off guard and commented with a big smile on his face: “I really did not plan to hold the event on this very day but I am happy!”. Kamiya joked: “You’re 61 years old, Director!? You supposed to be at that age where you aren’t doing stupid things with us! Hahaha!”, causing the entire venue to laugh harder than they already were, giving the fans smiles.
At the end of the event, Kamiya announced that “When I first heard that “The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.” was to be broadcast on Netflix, I was shocked. To make “Final Arc” as well as “Reawakened”, I think, is just a work of happiness. To make an anime series from the original manga work comes with responsibility. Even so, over this long period, to spare nothing and to transform majority of the episodes into anime makes me really happy. The after-recording was difficult but when considering how Japan’s pride original manga’s animation series is being broadcast in 190 or so countries as well as the fact that at the present and continuing forward, Japanese animation is so well received globally, I think, is really great. To have animation breathe life into “pictures” that don’t really move is interesting. This is the result of the director, staff and the original artist, Mr Asou with their powers combined. I would be happy to work together with all of them again!”
The world premiere soon came to a close with a recap of the staff’s happiness about the worldwide broadcast, how the original work allowed them to meet and form bonds of friendship, thus coming to a close with warm laughter all round that was reminiscent of the original work itself.
(C)Asou Shuuichi／Shueisha・PKGakuenR
