Source | May 12, 2018 (18:00)
| Kaji and Okamoto are “different, hence fun”
The “3 moments of Boys in the Spotlight!” series which features voice actors or actors active in games, anime, stage performances at random, issuing their “3 XX moments,” has called for Kaji Yuki-san & Okamoto Nobuhiko-san ♪
Okamoto-san, a fellow voice actor to Kaji Yuki, visits Kaji-san’s radio program “Kaji Yuki no Hitorigoto” from time to time as guest, on top of that, he has even joined Kaji in going to Hawaii as part of the program last year.
Together, they’ve climbed Mt. Fuji, and they also often go out for walks and meals in private. Although the two of them get along so well, their personalities are actually polar opposites.
This time round, we’ve asked Kaji-san and Okamoto-san to tell us about moments where they found each other “amazing”!
| Kaji-san’s “muscles” are amazing!
| Okamoto-san’s “dynamism” is amazing!
Okamoto: Speaking of Kaji-kun, I have an impression of him doing body workouts. But among all his muscles, his sinews are especially amazing!
Kaji: I don’t work out that much now though.
Okamoto: I believe there’s the muscleman-macho type and the skinny-macho type but, Kaji-kun is the skinny macho type. Even though Kaji-kun may not look like it, he eats a lot. We went to Hawaii for a trip for “Kaji Yuki no Hitorigoto”‘s DJCD recording but, I remember how he was eating quite a lot. It’s amazing how his body figure doesn’t change even with that.
Kaji: Was I eating that much?
Okamoto: There was a huge pancake that we had at Kona, but he ate it with ease. Also, what surprised me was back in “Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san”‘s recording session, when we talked about doing pull-ups!
Kaji: Aah!
Okamoto: Hearing that Kaji-kun could do 10 pull-ups consecutively, both me and (Uchida) Yuuma-kun were shocked and went “Eh!?” I’ve never been able to do it 10 times after all. I bet you got stronger when you started screaming so much at work when you act.
Kaji: I could do 10 times even before I started screaming like this (laughs)
Okamoto: And so, hearing that, I bought a “pull-up bar.“
Kaji: That’s what’s amazing about you (laughs)
Okamoto: Now at home, I have my own pull-up bar (laughs)
Kaji: If you were just going to try some pull-ups, wouldn’t the tall bars in the park suffice!?
Okamoto: I know right? Recently, it has become a bath towel hanger (laughs)
Kaji: Ahaha! Nuisance~! (laughs)
Okamoto: After practicing with that pull-up bar, I could still only do it once with a palms-forward position, and finally 3 times with a palms-backward position.
Kaji: It’s tough for me too if it’s not palms-backward.
Okamoto: I’m sure the secret behind Kaji-kun’s well-projected voice lies behind pull-ups, doesn’t it? Even in recording studios, our conversations got heated up discussing how “Kaji-kun’s amazing after all,” “It must be thanks to those remarkable back muscles that he can scream like that~“. Then, when I brought it up to (Shimazaki) Nobunaga-kun, he started rambling about how “Kaji-san’s seriously awesome!!” (laughs)
Kaji: That’s very “Nobunaga-like” (laughs)
Okamoto: After that, Nobunaga-kun kept going on and on about what’s amazing about Kaji-kun (laughs)
Kaji: To respond to a discussion with more discussions, as expected of Nobunaga-kun. Wait, were we meant to talk about Nobunaga-kun (laughs)?
| It’s interesting because our personalities are different!
Kaji: Okamoto-kun is the type of person that, once a heated topic is brought up, he’ll think “I’ll have to try that out myself too!” and he takes up the challenge seriously. I find that part of him amazing. I mean, just because we had fun talking about pull-ups, he went out of his way to buy his own pull-up bar (laughs)! Did you even consider what to do with it after buying it, or what to do with the space you’re using to keep it?
Okamoto: I ended up buying it…… I got really curious about how much I myself can do. For the time being, I still technically do the exercise of hanging myself up for about 1 minute. This was unexpectedly difficult! I watched someone doing it live for 45 seconds on TV the other day, and it made me wonder if it’s possible to do it longer. And when I tried it, I managed 1 minute! Thanks to that, my smashes in badminton got faster.
Kaji: See! He’s amazing, isn’t he? I feel that Okamoto-kun is greedy when it comes to the things he’s interested in. Also, he remembers all kinds of things in detail! It could just be that I forget really easily but, he remembers the things that’s happened in the past, and even the content of our conversations, I feel like he often says “You know how this happened?” ……but I never remember anything, do I?
Okamoto: That’s true (laughs) It was the same when we climbed Mt. Fuji together. Every time I talk to Hosoya (Yoshimasa)-san, he’ll often tell me “Did that actually happen!?” but, Kaji-kun’s forgetfulness is top-class too. Even among all the voice actors, these two might just be exceptional when it comes to forgetting, as expected.
Kaji: What do you mean by “as expected” (laughs)!? Also if I had to add another, Okamoto-kun and I are totally different kinds of humans! That’s exactly why it’s fun being with him! It makes me think that people hit it off better with either people who have really similar sensibilities, or people who are polar opposites.
Okamoto: For example, this is something that came to me when we were talking about the manga we like but, Kaji-kun is the type that likes the protagonist. Even though protagonists are popular too, they always end up getting overtaken by more quirky characters, don’t they? I find how Kaji-kun can still stand firm in saying that “I like the protagonist” really amazing.
Kaji: Our sensibilities are totally different, aren’t they? Like the things we prioritize, and our favourite colours.
Okamoto: Kaji-kun’s is Red after all!
Kaji: (laughs) If we’re talking about Rangers, that is. Rather than the colour, I like the role Red plays. It’s because we are both able to accept each other as “polar opposites,” that even if we may find the other interesting, we’ll never be put-off. Speaking of recent differences, it comes down to our opinions of “The Greatest Showman” and “La La Land.” I personally liked La La Land better. I just couldn’t bring myself to like the protagonist of The Greatest Showman that much……
Okamoto: I could empathize with that protagonist because we’re somewhat similar, but I do understand where Kaji-kun is coming from.
Kaji: You guys are similar!? Let’s take our time to talk more about it after this!
| Okamoto-san is the philosophical type?
Kaji: In our case, be it our lifestyles, our line of thoughts, or even as actors, we’re totally different, which is what makes things interesting.
Okamoto: Kaji-kun once recommended me a book titled “The Courage to be Disliked” (by Kimishi Icihro and Koga Fumitake | DIAMOND,Inc.). This book was written in an interactive format between a young man and a philosopher. In that sense, Kaji-kun would be the young man-type, and I would be the philosopher-type.
Kaji: That’s true (laughs) Not to say whether the young man or the philosopher was right, but rather their ways of thinking itself are different.
Okamoto: Even though we are different types, we don’t draw a line from each other’s opinions. Both Kaji-kun and I are not the type to force our own ideals on other people after all.
Kaji: Although we do clearly say “This is how I feel,” I don’t think we’ve tried to force it upon the other. ……Somehow, this is getting more and more philosophical but…… it’s precisely because we are polar opposites, that our relationship is just right.
| The shooting theme is “Chuunibyou”?
The shooting of this interview took place during the break of “Kaji Yuki no Hitorigoto”‘s public recording on the 22nd of April, 2018.
During the shooting, they played around with the Dakaremakura (※ it’s different to Dakimakura) of the program’s mascot character “Bocchi-kun”, took on comedian-like poses, and seemed to be enjoying themselves from the start till the end. However, the moment they put on Bocchi-kun’s hoodie, their “chuunibyou switch” was triggered……!?
Upon seeing Okamoto-san in black from head to toe after putting the hoodie on, Kaji-san blurted out “You look like a character from the dark side! That’s so cool!” The two of them then eagerly started showing off their “chuunibyou” poses!
“Kaji Yuki no Hitorigoto” Public Recording Session 2, which will be aired at 23:00 in the program’s broadcast on May 13th will include the two’s heated “chuunibyou” conversations, so please look forward to it!
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