#The part where the seiyuu says hop knows what he wants to do etc just makes the part in game where he doubts himself even more painful ouch

[peipapicoz]

Translation for these articles about Hop and Leon 🎉 source provided by @carefreejules and translated with permission. Thank you so much for always providing them QwQ

Leon (VA : Ono Daisuke)

-King of Kings that is praised to be undefeated in official battle, an entertainer that fascinates all his viewers. An easygoing person, with an extreme lack of sense of direction. Hop’s older brother. (TN: the word used for ‘extreme’ is like, extreme x100, super ultra extreme. They roasting Leon huh 😂)

Hop (VA: Yoshinaga Takuto)

-Leon’s younger brother. A boy who aims to be a Pokemon trainer that surpasses his older brother. Born in Postwick, Galar. His partner Pokemon is Wooloo.

・The Brotherhood between Leon and Hop

-Not just looking alike to each other, these two brothers also have a similar strong-willed personality! Although he respects his older brother, who isn’t just a Galarian Star, but at the same time reigns as the Absolute King, Hop declares that he will one day defeat that brother of his. Aside from admiration, Hop’s bold declaration also gives the viewer a glimpse of the future top trainer. (TN : The original word used here is ‘King’. Ok pokemon give us a game where Hop is the champion)

Pic Caption :

・Hop is a super Onii-chan-ko. (Onii-chan means big brother. Adding a ‘-ko’ at the back gives the meaning that Hop loves his brother a lot. Like a younger sibling that wants to follow the older siblings everywhere, wanting to use and do the same thing as them etc.)

・He challenges Ash to a battle with his partner Wooloo!

-He shows up dashingly in front of Ash, who is competing in the Master Eight. How good will Hop’s battle skill be?

・His mischievous personality makes him stand upfront to everything!

Interview with Yoshinaga Takuto (Hop’s VA) :

Q : What is your first impression of Hop?

A : Hop is a pure and innocent kid! He is super energetic! The voice recording for Anipoke is done in the morning. I thought “ I have to wake up early to be able to portray this level of energy, don’t I” , so I woke up early and screamed inside my house, before heading to the studio.

Q : What is your impression of Leon, Hop’s older brother?

A : In a nutshell, the strongest Pokemon Trainer. Hop is proud to have an older brother like him. The fact that he has a Charizard as his partner Pokemon is also great. While just like trainers, Charizard has their own charm point, but Leon’s charizard is just outstandingly cool!

Although it is great to have such a cool big brother and partner Pokemon, if I had a brother like Leon...... while of course I will be respectful towards him, but I would also feel bitter, like “I have to become someone great too, don’t I?” . I would probably be feeling such negativity. However, for Hop, he just thinks “ I can do it” , and sets surpassing Leon as his goal. His respect towards Leon is pure and simple. He will only allow himself to be the one defeating his own self , not other trainer (this part is talking about mentally, not winning or losing in battle). I feel like this type of seriousness Hop carries is the only big difference between him and me.

Q : If that’s the only difference, does this mean that you feel like you share lots of similarity with Hop?

A : I didn’t mean to be rude,but that is indeed the case. Especially that level of excitement, it is just like me when I was about 18~19 years old (laugh). I felt like I could do anything, and was filled with confidence that I had no idea where it came from. I can feel that strong mind and mental energy of adolescent time in Hop. It is kind of stupid, but very cute! Hop really is a great guy that knows what he wants to do.

—-Skipped some parts where the VA is talking about voice recording and his favourite pokemon and trainer etc—---

Q : Please tell us your most recommended scene regarding Hop’s arrival!

A : Definitely the scene where Hop first shows up! Not only because it’s an exciting scene where Hop was being serious, please also look forward to the surprising story development (laugh)! His partner Wooloo is also very cute!

—-Last part is the VA asking the viewer to look forwards to the show etc—--

That's all!! Again thank you carefreejules for these source material!!

#Pokemon #pokemon journeys #Anipoke #Champion leon #Hop #The part where the seiyuu says hop knows what he wants to do etc just makes the part in game where he doubts himself even more painful ouch #If anyone spots any spelling or grammar error please do let me know!

[eng-hypnosismic]

[INTERVIEW] Kimura Subaru for MyNavi News

You can check the original interview here 

Twelve male seiyuu take on the roles of rappers in the rap song project “Hypnosis Mic”. Top-of-the-line instrumentalists and composers come together to create original music, and call attention. To celebrate the release of all 4 original CDs, MyNavi News is conducting a cast interview with each of the 4 Division Leaders. Part 1 is an interview with Ikebukuro’s leader: Subaru Kimura!

Around middle school, Kimura became fascinated by the rise of hip-hop and Eminem, and in high school, he spent all his time going head to head against his classmates in freestyle rap battles. Currently, Kimura performs live as a member of the hip hop group NEW JAPP HEROZ. Hypnosis Mic brings together rap and voice acting, and Kimura talks about the struggles of the work, as well as the charm behind the rap.

- What did you think when you first got to know about the “Hypnosis Mic” project?

Kimura: I felt like “This finally happened! I’ve been waiting for this!”. I used to rap before but I couldn’t find much opportunities to do it. I used to rap in clubs, or do lives during the night, but as expected, the image we get from it is not very good. Besides, in the end, I still identify myself as a voice actor first and foremost. But when I heard about the project, I thought “Eh? Can I rap as a voice actor? Can I extend my wings in front of everyone?” (laughs). I was really happy because I wanted to do this.

- Kimura-san, what made you get into hip hop?

Kimura: I was born in Germany in 1990 and I came to Japan in 1997. Back then, my mother bought an album compilation of popular 97’ songs. Moving from Germany to Japan was a major turning point for the family and there was a variety of kind of music playing around the world, my parents said “Let’s preserve our memories with music” and bought the cd for me. There were songs by artists like M.C. Hammer, Run D.M.C, eminem, etc.

- So the CD your mom bought was your first contact (with hip-hop), right?

Kimura: There were a variety of songs in the CD, but there was a great amount of hip-hop in it.  I said “What a strange feeling, I’m addicted!”. My father is an opera singer, my mother is a solo singer, I’m part of a classic family, because of that I’ve been playing violin since I was three years old. So it was a shock when I found out about hip-hop. “I never heard of it in Germany” (laughs).

- That must’ve been a huge shock.

Kimura: “Oh wow!” And then I got addicted. After this, I started reading books related to the subject, while listening to the CD. Those songs have a lot of messages in it, I wanted to know more about the deep part of it. From then on, I got really into it. During elementary and junior high school, my friends would make my friends listen to the songs I like and it used to make me feel a great sense of superiority over the face they used to make (laughs). It was a good feeling.

- “The face the friends used to make” (laugh). What kind of songs were those?

Kimura: I think it was a song called “Parteechecka (Bright Light Mix)” in ZEEBRA’s album, “The Rhyme Animal”.

- Hip-hop is a culture formed by people who seek to build peace

Where does Kimura-san think is the charm of hip-hop?

Kimura: In a general way, it’s a way of living, a lifestyle. It has this “violent” image, but it is made of people trying to escape from it. It all began with youth fighting against the violence. It seemed too violent for me at first, but I got overwhelmed by the fact the roots are people trying to build peace. Not all rappers are necessarily gangsters. Hip-hop is a lifestyle in which people try to enrich their lives.

- The “Hypnosis Mic” world is also born from those roots. During your high school times, Kimura-san used to freestyle and have a lot of rap battles, but when you talked in the radio, you said you began to feel attracted to the lyrics more precisely rather than improvisation.

Kimura: That’s also the power of Japanese language, when I realized that one word has a lot of meanings, I thought it was interesting. “The person is saying this, but the meaning is this”, and those kind of implications are contained in rap, that’s how I thought. Of course, there are people who can do this in freestyle, for example, R-shitei-san will use and reuse phrases against opponents in rap battles.

- When you understand the context, you understand the meaning put in it.

Kimura : When I listened to those people (rappers), I thought it would be wonderful to see the link between the word and the meaning, it was an amazing thing to understand. I’m a bit obsessed with Eminem, he’s really poetic genius when it comes to his lyrics. In the first verse of “Lose Yourself,” he uses words like “him” and “his,” but he’s really talking about himself.

- It was a famous song that from the movie “Eight Mile” released in 2002, starring Eminem himself.

Kimura : Eminem has “Slim Shady” and other famous songs, I was struck by some words he said in an interview, it was something along the lines “I didn’t say it, it was Slim Shady who did”. He represents through his lyrics what’s inside of him, describing himself and portraying himself by using “he”. So I felt the aesthetichs there. I was struck by the greatness of the meaning put in such lyrics. It’s a good sense of gain and excitement when you realize it later. It makes you want to listen to more songs and pay more attention to the details.

- You write lyrics yourself, right? In Yamada Ichiro’s song, “Ore ga Ichiro”, you went under the name Koura Bintaro(2).

Kimura: Even in this song, there are a lot of wordplays. Specially in the second part. It is inspired by the Anime “Neon Genesis Evangelion” the “There are still some things you haven’t seen, Our motive power ends the darkness” part, or also the “Even if it rains tomorrow I believe in my friends” part. You can’t notice just by listening, when you look at the lyrics paper, you will go “Really?” and you will think “Rap is really awesome”.

- It’s the kind of lyrics that make you want to pay attention to it

Kimura: Even a simple “That’s cool” is ok. It’s also ok if you shake your head because you dislike it. Immerse yourself in the lyrics a little, and you’ll be fascinated. There are a lot of professional rappers and attractive lyrics in it, so it would be nice if you could check “Hypnosis Mic” out.

- This time, there is the mix of two-dimensional content for women and Japanese rap, it’s a combination never done before, but in “Hypnosis Mic”. What does Kimura-san, who is familiar with rap, think of it?  

Kimura: It’s not a story that happens in our era. It’s set somewhere more like in “TOKYO TRIBE” and “HiGH&LOW” (1). However, it is a new attempt, expressed only by pictures, aimed for women. We were worried, “will they (women) be as excited by this as we hope?”. As expected, there’s this “Hip hop = something that burns” image.

- As the project progressed, has the worry vanished?

Kimura: Yes, the project is made by professionals, so I decided to not worry about it and go for it. Eventually I thought about how worrying wouldn’t help much. I will just do the best rap. I’m not lying, I thought that if I did a good rap, people would listen to it. There are so many easy and understandable rap songs in the world. But this time the mindset was “Let’s make it an easy rap, but a serious one”.

- The staff also has the desire to make real rap for the female audience?

Kimura: There was this case. Because of this, we discussed a lot about the lyrics. For example, when singing the “Hypnosis Mic - Division Rap Battle-”, I thought some word choices were hard to understand as a rap when I looked at it for the first time. In Ichiro’s “Given Anima (life), that’s Karma” I saw no “vision”. I was wondering how to express it, like “is this really interesting?” for the staff’s stories and all.

- How did that discussion go?

Kimura: The staff told me "Regarding All Stars, they want to make a song that get people hooked first time they listen to it, therefore they want to produce an intriguing/mysterious awesomeness”. “I don’t fully understand but it is amazing” I said jokingly. After hearing that, I thought I was rather shallow (laughs). Of course people in major projects work in a different way. I want to create something with the emphasises on how realistic it can be, therefore I was just thinking to impress (lit. to pierce) one person. On the contrary, the staff’s thought  “let’s make something that everyone would think is sick”. We were working with totally different vision - I kept thinking that, undoubtedly, these people are amazing.

- Actually “Hypnosis Mic - Division Rap Battle -” is the type of song that the more you listen, the more addicted you get.

Kimura: Exactly. When I notice, the song is in my head and I’m mumbling the lyrics. That’s how powerful this song is.

- Kimura-san, you always tell your fans “listen to rap” during interviews for your other works. Why do you recommend rap to them?

Kimura: In general, because I wanted to change the “rap is scary”, “It’s a dangerous world” image. That kind of image still persists and stands out, and this was one of the reasons I couldn’t just say “I’m doing rap”. Of course there is the other side, but I want to say that Japanese rap now is pretty clean, “Rap is not that bad”. Even if you don’t like it “Just listen to it once, it’s absolutely amusing”.

- If you listen to it, you will know the charm. Do you have a favorite piece to recommend?

Kimura: There’s this recent, “Modern Times” by Punpee was released this year. The first song “2057”, is a song about you from 40 years later talking to the you in 2017, “Me who’ve become an old man”; voice actor Asou Tomohisa is in it. When the rapper himself does it, lacks a bit of reality; that’s why it’s super good when the reality is able to be portrayed by a professional voice actor.

- Then, if the reader is interested in rap, they have to check it. Now, tell us about the charm of the unique rap done by the voice actors that we can listen through “Hypnosis Microphone”.

Kimura: Professional rappers rap about their reality, right? But “Hypnosis Microphone” is made of voice actors representing characters. By that, you can understand the characters through the feeling the voice actor plays on the rap. In that case, on top of voice actors’ natural “power to utter words”, along with emotions of the characters, I think piercing through a person [‘s soul] by singing is possible. I think voice actors are as strong as legendary rappers in their ability to express the intensity of a message. I am serious.

- The emotions of the characters enhances the strength of words.

Kimura: At the live stage in AGF, Cypress Ueno-san and UZI san said that “The feelings and power that the voice actors put behind their words are amazing”, my heart stopped for a second (laughs). It was amazing to hear something like this from professionals, I guess that’s the strength of voice actors.

1.  These are movies in which the setting is an “alternate Japan” rife with street gangs.

2. Thank you Kaoarika for the correction!

© Jp-Eng: Eng hypnosismic

© MyNavi News

#hypnosis mic #hypnosis microphone #hypmic #buster bros!!! #yamada ichiro #kimura subaru #t:interview