Suzaki Aya Interview: Famitsu Weekly May 28th, 2020

Suzaki Aya

Born on December 25 in the Ishikawa prefecture.
Has lent her voice to countless works, including Idolmaster Cinderella Girls (as Nitta Minami).
Voices the 7 ship girls Akatsuki, Hibiki, Ikazuchi, Inazuma, Mogami, Hōshō, Aoba in KanColle.

Q1: The cover of the special Weekly Famitsū issue celebrating KanColle 's 7th Anniversary is featuring both Mikuma and Mogami. What was your reaction to that?

A1: I totally didn't expect Mogami to be on the cover as well! I was surprised, and honestly really happy. It also reminded me of when I met Nakajima Megumi, who voices Mikuma, at the Naval Review in 2017 and we did a photo shoot together. Good times. I'd love to record some dialogues between the two sometime.

Q2: What was your first impression of Mogami?

A2: Based on Shibafu's artwork, I thought she was an honest, simple, natural cutie. She also seemed like a klutz to me.

Q3: What did you pay attention to when playing Mogami?

A3: I still remember that since I had a lot of roles I came up with an individual tone and mood for each of them before going to the recording studio in order to better distinguish the ship girls from each other. My plan was greenlit, so the recordings themselves went pretty smoothly. Among the girls I voiced Mogami stood out as the boyish one, so I focused on that during the recordings while still trying to portray her cute side.

Q4: With Mogami you're voicing a total of 7 ship girl. What do you pay attention to in order to distinguish them?

A4: For each character I take one or more voice lines that I think represent them and their quirks the best and work from there by coming up with their personalities and way they speak. For example, if you look only at the stature or overall character design of Akatsuki and Ikazuchi, they're not really that different. However, Akatsuki talks like a precocious kid, yet I changed the tone of her voice to make her sound like a spoiled child because I figured it was cute. Ikazuchi seemed strong-willed and reliable, yet I felt like she was lacking some sort of open-mindedness, so I added that as well. I feel like the real fun of voice acting lies within trying to figure out how to flesh out the lines beyond the paper they're written on.

Q5: Is there anyone among the girls you've voiced that's left a particularly lasting impression?

A5: I love all of them equally, so they all have. But if I had to choose, I'd say the four DesDiv 6 girls. The anime had an episode that focused on them trying to make curry, for which they wanted me to ad-lib a lot of lines, which was super tough to get right *laughs*. My performance of "Morning at the Naval Base" at the Naval Review also left quite an impression. The intervals are already set in stone while singing, so getting the voices of these four right on top of that is quite the Herculean task. I have to express them via small nuances or the volume of my breath after all. So many things I hadn't done before, but I somehow managed to struggle through anyway. I really don't know whether that's because of my skills as a voice actress or just dumb luck, but either way I had lots of fun.

Q6: Any particularly memorable events that are related to KanColle?

A6: One thing that's still fresh in my mind is that "Grand Abyssal Circus" where I had to perform in a Mogami costume. First we got figure skating, now a circus show. The scale of KanColle collaboration events never ceases to impress me. It gets me excited every single time! I was nervous, but still a very precious experience for me.

Q7: Now would you be so kind as to give us a comment about the 7th Anniversary and your hopes for the 8th year.

A7: Congratulations on your 7th anniversary, KanColle! To think that we're already in year 8. I think it's all thanks to all the admirals out there who continuously and steadily keep on expanding the world of KanColle. We've made so many friends on the way. I'd love to see everyone gather for another Naval Review! I hope you guys continue to enjoy KanColle!