Trash Taste Podcast - We Sat Down With A REAL Japanese Idol (ft. @sallyamakiofficial )| Trash Taste #167

Episode Date: September 1, 2023

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Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Trash Taste Podcast. I'm your host Joey and I'm with the boys as per usual and I have a special guest sitting next to me. Please introduce yourself. I've never been laughed at after asking that question. The way that Sally just looked over, you've been like, what?

I was like, what the hell did he just say? I'm sorry, I just got here three minutes ago. You're literally spawned. I'm so sorry. Today we're on a rather tight schedule and I appreciate you being so accommodating. Thank you so much for coming on by the way. Yeah, thank you for having me. Hi everyone, I'm Sally Omaki,

an idol and voice actor here in Japan. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for coming on because we've tried to get you on like so many times. I heard, we have mutual friends. Yeah, yeah. I hear from them. So I go talk to my manager about it

and she doesn't reply to me. So like so many times we missed Sally that I just thought she didn't exist for a while. Like I was just like, who is? You were very popular request. People were like, we'd love it about science experiences and get to hear about it. You have a unique perspective.

Oh, thank you. So do you wanna maybe just do a quick run through of like what you do for people who might not know who you are? I'm in a Japanese voice acting idol group called Nana-Bunni-2i. So we have like a character that's an idol, but we also, the voice actor is also work as an idol as well. And I don't know, I guess I also do a lot of emceeing.

Okay. Yeah. A lot of events. Not good at public speaking though, so. It's okay, nor am I, and I don't know how I found myself in this job either, because I've always been shit at public speaking until, kind of like trial by fire,

they put you on a stage and you're like, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm just going to pretend. Wait, but that makes more sense for you because you're a YouTube, all right? Like, you're an idol. Yeah, well. Like, isn't the main job to be on stage or?

I'm an idol by mistake though. Okay. Okay. Okay. How do you become an idol by mistake? Yeah, how did that happen? So I came to Japan to become a voice actor and I couldn't really read that much Japanese.

So for the audition for Nana Bun Dinijani-Di, I didn't really read like the information, but I saw characters, so I was like, okay, so it's a voice acting group. And then I got in and then they were like, well, you're gonna be an idol too. And I'm like, oh, okay. And then you go bait into being an idol.

Yeah, I'll roll with it. I'll roll with it. You basically went for a job interview and you're like, I don't know what the job is, but I see a cute anime girl, so I'm gonna apply it. I should have known though, because by the third round, like usually in voice acting auditions,

people would be doing like vocal warm-ups. Yeah, right. Everybody was fixing their makeup. So I'm like, I should, like, that's when I should have known. Wasn't you on dancing? Right. Yeah, no, there was a dancing part too. And I'm like, I don't know why you guys need to see me dance.

I'm like, okay, weird, but okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wanna go even further back and that's okay. So, where did you originally grow up And then how did that go from, because there's a big leap to be like, I wanna go to Japan and be a motion actress. Like that's a huge leap.

Oh yeah, I was born and raised in Los Angeles all my life up until like seven years ago. Okay, 2016, yeah. And I wasn't really into anime when I was really young, you know? But in middle school, I met Gintama. Yeah, let's go. You met Gintama?

I met the real Gintama. Yeah, I met Gintama. And like before then, um, I went to like a school where there weren't many Asian people around me. So like this is a really bad thing to say, but I was kind of ashamed of being Japanese, you know? I was like, why am I not like the other people, you know, like bringing, you know, it's like really typical story. But, you know, you bring your Japanese school lunch and everybody's like, ew, it is that. I feel that. Yeah.

So I was like, why am I not like other girls? And like, you know, I pretended like I couldn't speak Japanese in front of my parents. and stuff. So yeah, I was like shutting every Japanese aspect in my life, like out. But I met Gintama and I got into the anime culture. And it finally made me like really like who I was. Right. Like embrace the Japanese side. Yeah. Yeah. It's insane that you say that because, you know,

you're saying you grew up in L.A., which is now like, if I would think of a city that is like the biggest cultural melting pot I've been to in the world. It's probably LA. LA has so many different cultures. And has it changed over like the years where you've grown up in LA, where now it's like more accepted to be every kind of like different culture

and ethnicity? I heard with COVID and everything, like anime became pretty mainstream and- Very, very popular. Oh yeah, definitely had an explosion over COVID for sure. So yeah, I think like it changed a bit in that way. Yeah, because I actually like, I think I went through something similar

because I grew up in Brighton And I was also, I think like the only Asian kid in my school. Same. Yeah, same for you as well. Yeah. And now like Brighton is like the super progressive city with so many like different cultures. And I look at my city now and I'm like, I do not recognize the city that I grew up in that.

Yeah, what was like, because you know, you're from LA, what was like little Tokyo like when you were growing up? Was like, was that even like a thing at all? It was a thing while I was there. You know, people would have, a little meetup with their cosplay community and stuff. I was there too.

Oh, hell yeah. Dressing up as like attack and titan. Nice, nice. Yeah, and then like we would be all bloody and people would give us weird scares. Why are there bloody teenagers? Just like calling the cops. Just being like, I think there's been a crime.

You guys have been in Japan for around the same time, right? Seven years? Yeah, I moved about seven years ago as well. Oh, yeah, yeah, back in like 2016, something like that. Yeah. So I feel like, and weirdly enough, like, you know, with you, it's America, but for me, it's Australia.

Like, I feel like we, it sounds like we had very similar kind of upbringing in that sense because like, I also had like a period as well where like, you know, because being half Japanese and a predominantly, you know, white country like Australia,

even with all of like the different nationalities and everything, I definitely felt like a bit of like a weird cultural identity crisis almost where it's like, I was the only Asian kid in my school. I got bullied for it to an extent. And so I was kind of like,

not ashamed, but I guess like, I wasn't like up front as much. Yeah. about like being Japanese, which like, I think, you know, my mom didn't really take that all too well, you know, she was like, no, you should be proud to be Japanese, you know, and everything like that. And I don't think for me it was Gintama,

but it was like, it was something else, I'm some other anime, but yeah, Gin Tama is a great choice. Which is insane because, you know, when we went to visit Sydney, I was like, oh, it's a lot of Asian people here. There are so many Asians now. So many.

So many. Not to make, like Sydney especially has, I think it's like the biggest Japanese like, group in all Australia as well. There's a huge Japanese community in Australia now. But I feel, yeah, that definitely changed over time. I don't know what it was, maybe it was. Okay, here's a big test, right?

Was it easy for you guys to find, like, good Japanese food when you were, like, growing up in L.A. or Australia? Because now, you know, now us visiting there, I think it's pretty easy to find good Japanese food, especially in L.A. Was it, like, the same way when you guys were growing up? Well, because of my parents, were born and raised in Japan.

You wouldn't really go out to eat Japanese food. We know what that was like. We had the benefit of having Japanese parents like a cook. Yeah. I just thought that makes sense, right? Yeah. It's going for like a roast dinner.

Yeah, no, it's like the same. Yeah. It's like the same for me as well, except like, you know, if I wanted to show my friends like Thai food, they'd be like, oh, is there? I don't think like Thai food restaurants was like even really a concept because we got like one Thai restaurant that I knew of.

And it was mine. Or it was like my parents. So. But you could use that as the hook, right? Like to your friends, you'd be like, I know this bomb-ass Thai place and they just invite them to your house. Yeah, if you never told that story,

you could just lie to everyone and be like, and this is the best Thai restaurant in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was back in the day when, you know, you take your friends to try and you cuisine and like, what do you mean you eat rice with everything? Like you fancy motherfucker eating rice? Yeah, you're eating rice?

What is that shit? Okay, so I want to ask question. Gin Tama, why was it Gintama that got you on to anime? Well, it was just a moment in my life where I was just like hitting rock bottom. Yeah, and, you know, it was just a moment in my life when I wasn't really laughing at anything and I was in my room skipping a lot of like school days and stuff

just because I didn't want to go to school. And I was on Tumblr and this like Ging- Oh God. Yeah. Well, I think I know what the problem is now. I was on Twitter. And this like, Gintama collage,

like, just came around. And I was like, what is this? Like, it was like a really stupid joke that was like really funny, you know? And I feel like that kind of joke

was something that I needed in my life, you know? Like something I can kind of laugh at, like, like, what is this? You know? And I started watching it. And then I started listening to

Sugita Tomokazza's radio. Yeah. And I found out, like, And that's where it kind of got me to like, And you were just like, fuck it, I'm going on Japan. Yeah. I'm gonna figure it out.

Yeah, well, before I came to Japan, my cousin's friend who lived in Japan also wanted to become a voice actor. And so we went to a voice acting school over the summer for like one day, like a trial day. And I thought you could only pursue voice acting as an adult. Because every single time I would search like Wikipedia for a voice actor's name, they'd be like, oh, I started at 18 or I started at 18 or I started after. after college. So I thought it was like an adult thing. But when I went to the voice acting school in Japan, like the girls in that class were like, oh, sorry. Sorry about that.

So when I went to the voice acting school in Japan, the girls in that class were like 16, 17. They were like my age. So I was like, you could be that young and like start. And, you know, I felt kind of rushed. I was like, I'm already, you know, behind these girls. So I need to go. I was like, I gotta come here. Yeah, because I'm already late. So, yeah. So, like, what, was there like a specific point where you were like, okay,

I really, really want to pursue voice, I'd think, or was it just kind of like, hey, this seems like kind of like, a thing, a fun thing I can try to pursue? Yeah, was it something you always wanted to do as like a child, like from a young age? Oh, no, it was, I basically never really had a dream. Like, it's, I don't wanna make this a really dark story,

but. That's too, yeah. Oh, no. You know. Tell, if you'll come with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, if you're comfortable with it, please, yeah. You know, when you're just experiencing something, like, really bad, if when you know that there is an end to it, like, it just, you know, gets better.

Like, if you have the class presentation, you're like, it's okay, it'll be over in, like, an hour. So, you know, my nerves will be over. It's associated for a while. Yeah. So, like, somewhere in middle school, I was like, you know what? My life is going to end at 18. I was like, you know, I was like, this, whatever I'm feeling right now, like, it's okay. like I'm going to, it's all going to be over by 18. So I'm just, you know, going to live until 18. And then I never really had a dream or anything. But I met anime and when I was like 15, I was like, oh, maybe like voice acting is something that I want to do. And, you know, it really made me a better person. Like anime really made me into a more happy and like better person. So like, I kind of want to be somebody that can do that for people who are struggling as well. So it was the one and only dream. Like,

to this day that I have. So. That's so, you know. You almost made me, you almost like crying. Jeez. Now you've talked about Gintama five minutes ago. Yeah, yeah. Gintama saved my life.

Like, yeah. You know, everybody's like, what's the meaning of life, you know, like, why are we living? Yeah. My meaning of life is like, well, you know, I still haven't seen the last episode of One Piece or like, you know, like the manga that I started reading. Like, I haven't, it's not done yet.

So I gotta live until then. So yeah. Yeah, hell yeah. Hell yeah. I mean, that's an awesome story because I guess like, I mean, I mean, in the period I was growing up in the like on the internet, it's like, it was almost like frowned upon to be like, yo,

anime is like important to me and has done something important to me. But I think for like a lot of people out there, even though even if they don't like want to admit it, it I mean, for me personally, it's played like a huge influence my life and has definitely like helped me through some tough times as well.

So I think, you know, that's an awesome and inspiring story for like a lot of people to hear that it's not fucking, you know, it is, it is just fiction, but it can have a real tangible, real life effect on people. Definitely. Yeah. It makes me curious, though, because you, you talked about your childhood and like, you kind of like, kind of always like pushed away the Japanese side of you to kind of like fit in better. Yeah. Yeah. How, like, how much were you in touch with your Japanese side when it was like not around friends when you were just like at home with your parents? Um, I would talk like half in English and half in Japanese and I would always call my grandma. We have a really good relationship with my grandma. So that, those were the only times I usually spoke in Japanese. Like my brother and I would always speak in English. So, um, still to this day, my brother has like an American accent when he speaks in Japanese. Right. So it wasn't all that much. It was. It wasn't all that much. was like 20% of my day was Japanese. Right.

Was it kind of hard to adjust and then be like, all right, now everything's gonna be Japanese and I have to fully change everything, my lifestyle. When I first came here especially, because well, you know, my parents are Japanese, so I look Japanese. So people expect me to speak perfect Japanese. But I'm here with like kind of broken Japanese.

You guys are in like a very similar yet opposite situation because Joey is obviously very, very, very good at Japanese. Yeah, but obviously, Hafu, so I think you both have very, like, interesting parallel stories. Yeah, definitely, yeah. There's a lot of aspects of your story that I very much relate to, but almost in like,

yeah, it's kind of said, like, an opposite perspective, or I guess like an opposite upbringing almost, but, you know, I think like one thing that's really interesting is like, you know, you watch Gintama and, you know, you saw like, oh, you know, this is something that I finally want to do. And then the fact that you went and fucking achieve that, is like insane.

You know, that's like, that's so fucking awesome. And like, you know, I guess like, now that you are kind of, you know, in this like dream position that you put yourself in now, like, do you now have like a brand new goal that you want to achieve in terms of like, like, you know, I'm sure as any Gintama fan would relate, you know, meeting Suita Tomu Kazu one day would be,

that's a dream of mine. I met him. Oh, you met him? Let's go! He gave me a birthday present. Oh shit! Oh, no! today.

Oh shit. Wait, I don't know where my man. It was in my little makeup bag. It's like my good luck charm now. Such a wholesome ending. Yeah, hell yeah. We got the good ending guys. I mean, how was meeting Suyz

and Tomal Khazir like? It was amazing. Well, first of all, you know when people go into the entertainment industry, they expect so much, like they expect glamour. So, oh, thank you so much. I'm sorry, I don't need any of this. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. It's like a little keychain. Oh cute. Yeah. So I use it as like a good luck charm, but yeah. What is it like a tie? I think it's like a necktie, but yeah. He gave it to me this year from my birthday.

So whenever I go into auditions, I have this, but it makes so much sound the last time I was in the studio. Like the goat is overlooking me. I got him with me. They're like, please stop making noise. Yeah, no, I was in the studio doing a tape recording. And my manager was like, that's making too much noise. Like you need to.

I wanted to take that off because I was having it right here. Like, no, you don't understand what this is. First time I did voice acting, I started looking at a button shirt. And they were like, can you not do that? Why? Like, it makes too much noise. Can you swap to a t-shirt? And I was like, oh, I don't even think about that.

Yeah, I didn't know how quiet it had to be. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. You really hear all those mouth noises you made. Yeah. You're like, can you drink water, please? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Do you want to? Oh, do you want to put it away? Oh. This stays. We'll just, that stays right there. This stays. Have this in focus. Blur me out.

How was the process of kind of, like you mentioned that your, you said your Japanese wasn't as good? How is it kind of almost relearning all of that and getting it to a point where you had to be like kind of native? Oh, well, I fully memorized like two episodes of Gingthama. Like every single word? Yeah, for the first two episodes, like I wrote it down. And that's impressive, considering how dialogue, heavy Ginzama is, especially, you should re-watch the same movie over and over again.

Actually, I did that. Yeah, I've heard it's great. And Gintam is actually a really good textbook. Because there's so many, like, ways of speaking, you know, like, Oret, Watashi, Uchi. So, and like the characters are really distinct. So it's like, okay, so people who act like this, like they say whatashi, and people who act like this,

they say ORE. Like, it's really, like, it really helped me a lot. And I would also, watch the news programs and because, you know, their intonation and their pronunciation is like perfect. Yeah. Yeah. So I would basically just listen and like say what they were saying. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I think like input is like one of the most important things when it comes to Japanese learning. Yeah, when like how I got my listening skills up was like very similar. I turned out to be like dress up darling. That I chose for some reason just because I wonder why. Okay, wait, wait, hold on, let me, let me, let me go for a second. Just because like I thought, in terms like the genre of anime, I think like high school romance is kind of like at a level

where it's like much more comprehensible for someone just starting to like get to learn Japanese. Because I look at, I list, I try listening to fucking Isakai or light novel adaptations, impossible. I cannot even comprehend half the stuff. Yeah, because like half the Isakai is just, like make up words. It's true. Japanese people won't even know.

Yeah, yeah. Japanese people are like, so why is it written in kanji, but it's like a German word? Like, how does that make any sense? Yeah. So I was like, huh, uh, I think like going for like a high school kind of romance is the best way to go about it for something that's like beginner level for me. Yeah.

And dress up darling just happened to be airing at that time and I just like chose an episode and I watched, rewatch it like about 20 times. Damn. And like like honestly that really, really helped at least my listening skills. How did you get your listening skills up? I don't think it's dress up, darling. I don't know, really. I guess just existing around here.

You kind of be forced to like hear it all the time. Yeah. The way I view it is like it's like building a like a bridge made of Legos, but you can only put like one block down at your feet each time, right? You can only pick up and build the connections and use muscle memory. Yeah. I've still got a long way to go. And also I think when you learn a language in the way that I think we probably learned it,

I feel like you do a lot of lazy things where like sometimes I won't listen to the full sentence. I'm waiting for you to say keywords so I can like, this, this, this, this context, I understand what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is like a bad habit, which I need to get out of. Because sometimes I'll just listen to the sentence

and he'd be like, oh, he said it's hot. But he said like five, he said like a bunch of different things around it, which I didn't really pay much attention to it. I mean, I feel sometimes I do that as well. I think I do it too. Yeah. I think that's just like a natural progression you go through

where it's like, I can't be, like, you know, It helps you understand the surrounding words more, but it's all a slow process. I think consciously you're trying to listen to every single word that makes up the sentence, but subconsciously you're like, oh, he said hot and today, so he must be just talking about the weather.

It just feel like you're like a game show where you're listening to a question and you're just waiting for like some key part of the question to be answered. And so you're like, I got it. I got it. It's kind of like that. Yeah, yeah, that means.

Did you have to learn kanji at all? Yes, like I mean I still can't read that much kanji, which was, was a problem for me actually this year when I was hosting the Crunchy World Anime Award. I saw that. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. But did you read people's names?

People's names, but also the script was really long, but I got the script like a day or like two days before, but usually for like AOF 2020, like for this year, like every year we would have the script read in front of us. So I could write like how to read the kanjis. Yeah, but, For Country Bowl, they wanted to make it like an American award show. So you couldn't have the script in front of you.

Like there was a prompter in front of you. So I couldn't write like what the kanji like meant or like how to read it. But I literally got the script last night. So I'm like, I don't know how to read that. And also I'm like my eyesight is really bad. Right. So like usually the words would be like this small but I had to like have them. Expanded.

Like that's 70. Yeah. I don't know for telephrom to. Yeah, like the sentences were like all broken into lines because I had to make it that big. Just imagine it's like, and the award goes to. Yeah, I can't read that. There was a moment where it was like,

Kimets no Yaiibaba got, unseekened must or something like that. It was like, you know, it was like really popular all over the world. But I just remembered that, you know, like the kin part while reading the script, but like during the actual award show, I didn't know how to read it.

So I said, Kimets No Yeyeba got discovered. You're not wrong. To be fair. Yeah. But yeah, so people who already knew the script was like, oh my gosh. All the staff of the back, just like, yeah. I saw there was a moment on the award show where your contact lens or something fell out as well. Just just to add like insult on like,

in view of like everything you had to like juggle at the same time. Yeah, I couldn't sleep for like two weeks after that. after that. Oh no. Because during the stream, you guys can't hear it, but people, the second my contacts fell out and I looked like behind me to fix it. Yeah.

You can hear the crowd being like, Nanny, gany, gna, nanny, don't, oh, shit. And that voice haunted me. That's what I hear in my nightmares. Yeah, yes, it haunted me. And, you know, I was like, I'm probably never gonna be invited back.

So like, whatever. I'm just gonna like wing it. Excuse me, you handed it like a professional. Yeah, the way you hounder I was just like, now I'm all right, this is a professional, I should be taking notes. I don't think there's many other people they can ask.

Yeah. You're like a handful of people they could ask. Yeah, I went, I went backstage after that and I was crying into my management. Like I can't, but they were like, you need to go back in five minutes. And I'm like, shut up, go back out. I'm like, but I can't even read the script.

God damn. As long as people will, and that's all that really matters. It is always interesting whenever we have to do live promotion stuff with working on more of the Japanese side because they always want a script. And we're like, no, we don't. We don't do that yet.

Yeah, we just do it. And I'll be like, you can tell me what to say and I'll put it in naturally. They're like, what if you say something bad? I'm like, why don't say something bad? I know what I'm doing. It's like, I don't have Tourette's, I'm fine, like. Yeah, there's always just kind of that worry,

they're like, you just want to know exactly what you're going to say. Yeah. Oh, it's live, you know. But it's also that, you know, ironic thing of like, you know, they prepare like these like insanely long scripts. And then I've been in situations where it's like, you know, a five to 10 page script for something, right? And it's like, yeah, so we just finished

and we only actually read like three of these pages. So. Sometimes you'll give them, sometimes they've asked for a script or they want to the rough of what you'll say and you'll send it to them. And then on the day, just when you're reading it, you're like, ah, this isn't the vibe. I'm just gonna change it.

Yeah. Yeah. And normally everyone's always happy. It's like, you know, I think you as the MC, you normally do a good read of what it's all doing and you can be like, I think this is a better idea. Yeah, like, out of all like the live shows and like events I've known with Japanese companies,

the vibe I get is that they want everything to go on script, word for words, before the event happens. Yeah, and then the event happens, and you turn up and you're like, uh, so is it okay if I just get the gist of it? And everyone's like, yeah, yeah, sure, that's why. Because there's no way you can memorize. Because I feel bad for this script, right?

I'm gonna say first us to memorize like 10, like you've mentioned, like 10 pages. Yeah. If you gave me five years, I've got to memorize. Yeah, I can barely memorize my own birthday. I'm not gonna happen, I'll figure it out. But for me though, because I'm so bad at public speaking, that kind of helps me.

I don't know. I think there's a lot of that as well, when they don't know, they don't wanna assume that you're comfortable always being able to just be like, yeah, I'll do it. Yeah, I suppose it's your voice acting experience has played into that as well, because that's where you definitely have a script

that you have to read off of. That can't be changed. So you're a voice actor and an idol. Yeah. Is that like a percentage of which side you tend to do more or is it like, I'm maybe an idol who voice acts or am I a voice actor? Yeah, when people ask you what you do,

do you say voice actor or idol? I say voice actor just because I want to be a voice actor. Okay, okay, okay. But like sometimes when, like in situations, you know, when, you know, saying an idol would work better. You know, like if I screw you, I grew up so badly as a voice actor somewhere.

I'm gonna be like, I'm sorry. I'm an idol. This isn't, you know, this is just a side-be actually. I'm sorry. So like sometimes I would pull the idol card. Like during like my, I also do have a YouTube channel. Yeah, right. Like for the title, like you know,

I use idol and voice actor depending on like, which one would be funnier in the context, you know. So you didn't know you're gonna be an idol. You passed the audition. and you're like, you're an idol and you're like, oh God, what do I, what happened? Was this the first audition that you did? No, I took a lot of voice acting auditions,

but I failed a lot of them because I usually make it to the final stage with my English, but during the final stage, they would usually give you a script and they're like, look at it for 30 seconds and read it. And I'm like, okay, well, I could look at it, but I can't read it. You can't read it. Yeah, like, you could give me an hour.

I wouldn't know how to read it. Yeah, but it was also a problem when I first went into voice acting school. Oh my gosh. This has never happened before. There's something wrong with our... I can snap. That's the click. I think it's overheating.

I think the fat man would you have or something. They should last the episode. We'll be able to keep doing it. Sorry about that. Yeah, when I, the voice acting school that I went to, for you to get in, there was a written test as well, which I didn't know. Oh, yeah.

What's on this written test? Like, it's just see if you could, if you know basic Japanese, you know. Oh, I see. You know, there's a lot of people who want to be voice actors, but they're like, you know, like, we need you to have like basic language stuff. I couldn't read a single thing. Just sweating.

Yes, I'm like, oh no, so I took out a red pen and I wrote, I'm sorry, I'm from America. That's such a palmer. And I circled it really. I can't imagine that went well. But like right after that, there was also like an acting test too. So my pronunciation was like okay.

So like, you know, even if I couldn't read or write, you know, I could like speak, you know, well. So. Go, that just sounds like every exam experience I've had. I'm just like, I can't do this section, but I'm gonna try and ace this section. Hopefully this section carries me for the section that I suck at.

How many schools did you go to? Because I actually did a video filming at one of the schools and it was, one of the most embarrassing experiences of my life because I had to voice acting Japanese in front of people who were doing this seriously. They were all there just to, they were all very kind about it

and they all came basically just to film this video that I was making. I felt so bad there to sit there and listen to me, just butcher the language. But like there was like, one thing I found really interesting is that it wasn't like you, it's not just one voice acting school. There's like, you'd have to work your way up

the different tiers of voice acting schools. Yeah, right. And the one that I filmed at was like an agent would select you to join it, and you were in like kind of like the upper echelon of the like trainees wanting to get into voice acting. It's like a weird like cast- Yeah, there's like, I was put in the beginner class.

Okay, okay, okay, right. Cause I had no acting skills, but also my Japanese suck. Okay. But I had every reason to be in the beginner class. Do a lot of people progress? That's one thing that I didn't really get to ask them or learn about is I didn't know the rate of like progression,

the rate of people who would drop out. I mean, I know by the time, I was only there at that school for like six months because I got into the, this group that I'm in, Napa, Nonubu Kini in like six months. So, but by those like months, already half the class was basically gone. Wow. Okay. Yeah. So a lot of dropouts or a lot of people that just. Yeah, a lot of people dropped out. I imagine it's just expensive as well, right?

Yeah, it's really expensive. But like, the one that I want to was like one of the cheaper ones. Okay, okay. Yeah, but I was, so I was put in the beginner class. But on day one, there was a girl that was fluent in French. I was like, damn, I was going to pull my English cards. Like, this is how I was going to get into this agency, but this girl who knows perfect Japanese, she's so pretty,

she has a beautiful voice, and she speaks perfect French. What an asshole. Yeah, I'm like, I can't do this right now. Pretty people would be like, I see this is a negative. But this is the beginner class and I'm like, you know, if I can't be the first in this beginner's class,

like there's no way I'm gonna get into the agency. It's so anime, you're like, I gotta be the best in the beginner class. Yeah, and it's like if I can't be like the best here, like even if some miracle happens and I get into an agency, there's no way I can compete against my seniors who are already so good at it.

So then I started going to a different like school who taught you privately. And that the principal at that teacher was the one who actually introduced me to Nana bin Lani Jan. He liked the audition. Okay. So he also thought this group was a voice acting group.

Nobody had a clue. Nobody had a clue. Are you sure they just didn't pivot last minute? Everyone is just really good at dancing and pretty. Maybe we should just pivot. No, the dancing part, oh my God, there was, the audition process was so stressful because for Nanavunani Jani Jani Jani.

Did you have a dance before? I did figure skating. Oh, oh, okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait. That's a whole lot of can of worms and just opened up in L.A. But, you know, figure skating and just ballet and there's like slow movement dance,

it's just so different from idol dancing. So, but like when I first got the callback to be in the third stage of this audition, it was two days before the third stage, and they were like, you need to memorize this dance, like this so-and-so groups dance, but they didn't have like a video, sent to me.

So they were like, just look for it online. So they gave you a transcript, be like, yeah. So the right leg goes up, right, slide, just the source, look it up. Yeah, but like they gave me the title, so I looked it up.

There's only, you know how they're really strict with copyright stuff? Yeah. So I see the music video, but first of all, it's the short version. Second of all, it's a music video, so there's barely any dancing. Like it's like lip sync of these pretty girls.

I'm like, what do you want me to learn? Yeah, so I went, to the audition, not knowing any of the choreography. Yeah, right. And the girl that sat next to me, luckily, she's my, you know, future member as well. Yeah. But she was like, do you wanna go practice the dance

in the hallway? I was like, yes please. Yeah, but I didn't wanna be like, because I didn't, I don't know the choreography because I don't wanna, you know, seem like. You stand in front. Yeah. So I'll let you take the lead.

Yeah, I was literally like, how about we watch each other dance and like give each other other constructive criticism. You go first. And so she would dance in front of me. And I'm like, how about you do like. No way that worked.

Yeah. But she was like, but I, you know, she knew that I was from America. And my cousin was a dancer. So I borrowed her clothes. So I looked like a dancer. I looked like I knew what I was talking about. So I was like, you should do the movements really slowly

because, you know, dance is just a lot of poses put together. So you should just like, do it more slowly, here I'll do it with you. So she's like, doing it really slowly, walking me through the steps. Can I film it? Can I replay it? You're just like violently stare,

just trying to remember everything is like, do that part again, just one more time please, yeah. Yeah, so then, but then once I memorize it, I'm like, I think we're good, we should go back. We're good. Don's great, downloaded, I will now ace this exam. And that work? And then it was, you know,

the time for the dance-all edition, you know, all these like different groups We were put in different groups. And while we were dancing, I saw that one of the judges had a video camera going around filming us. It was obvious he wasn't filming us dancing. It was like our face. So I was like, they don't care about the dance.

It's about the charisma. So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna wink at the judges. Oh shit! Oh shit! So yeah. Everybody else is like dancing really seriously. And you know, I just like,

I learned dance out halfway through, I forget it. I'm not one in this face on dance. Yeah, I don't have any like dance. You just like just, just, just, just, just fill me up here with that. Don't film any of my body, because I'm not moving at all. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing.

This sounds like an entire anime, you know. This literally sounds like the Naruto test they did where like the actual chast was the red herring. Yeah, the dancing was the red herring. They didn't care about the dance, you know. Did the plot armor kicked in for you. That's crazy. I watched it up animated no.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, I know your scheme. That's crazy. It somehow worked. It somehow worked. At which point did you find out that you were auditioning for an idol group? Well, once I got in and,

yeah, once I got in. You know, people who like enter like squid game and stuff, you're like, man, they just had no idea. It sounds so much more believable now. People will just audition for shit, they don't know what it is. Yeah.

They don't know, yeah, like once I got in and they started caring about, my weight and stuff. I was like, why would you care about my weight, you know? Like, you know. Wait, how does that conversation go? Are they like, hey, you're, what is that? Is that like a granola bar?

How many cups? So, you know, everybody, like, majority of the members were teenagers. So my parents had to come in for a meeting before, you know, signing the contract. And right then in there, they told me, they were like, you should probably lose like 10 kilograms. Jeez.

But the thing was, I wrote on my resume, oh, should I stop talking about. That's very loud. So many distractions. I'm very unfortunate. Yeah, so I lied on my resume saying like I was 10 kilograms lighter. Yeah. Do you feel that they were just arbitrarily picking a number

that they were like, this is thin? Yeah, because it's really different, you know, like muscle mouse and everything. So they're like, you don't know what you're talking about. So I would go up to me. So I'll have you know my BMI is perfectly normal actually. I do like that throughout this entire thing, you've been like pushing back in your own way

against every single like, like almost unnecessarily stereotypical thing they've been asking for. Yeah, I'm not gonna do that. You've somehow successfully Una Ravos-Kod every conversation you've had. So you lied and it worked? Yeah, it worked.

I mean, I mean, I guess it didn't work because they told me to lose 10. Yeah, right, right, right. But yeah, I mean, it worked during the resume part, but like, I guess they were like, you know, you're lying kind of thing, but yeah. Did you lose 10? No.

Okay. Did they can? Well, the thing was that meeting was during winter. And I was wearing like my mom's coat that was this big. Oh, like they can tell anything. Yeah, right? So during the summer next, like the next summer, like I, you know, I have like a fairly skinny waist because with like figure skating and everything.

So like I get a lot of fat on my face. So like during the summer, I would wear like a really tight clothes and be like, since last winter, I lost 10 kilograms. I just took the coat off. Like, damn, she did it. Oh my God, sorry. I don't know why that's the first one that's ever happened. Do you think it's overheating?

Yeah, it's most definitely. Do we have a fan in the office? It has a fan built in, I don't know why it's not. Okay, can we get some, do you have any ice or cold stuff that we can put it on? Yeah, maybe. All right, sorry about that.

This is never happened before. Of course the one day we're on it's crouched. Yeah, right. Okay, so you got in lost, okay. So how did they explain to you that you were gonna be part of an idol group. Was that part of the conversation when the contracts were being signed?

They never really like explained it, explained it. It was more like the more interviews you do with like all these magazines and the way the staff members would explain to you how you should explain the group. They always use the word like, idol group. And I'm like, where's the voice acting part of it? Kind of sounds to me like,

they didn't really say anything until you like, you got on stage and you kind of realized, what the hell am I doing here? It's like a new concept as well, like idols who are voice actors. Is this like a first of its kind? I mean, there was like, of course, Love Live and Idol Master and stuff,

but I think it was the first time, Akimoto Yasaysa, you know, a producer for a lot of idol groups. The godfather of idols. Yeah, it was the first time he produced an idol group, like voice actor and idol groups. So I think that's why the idol part is really strong. He's the guy who created like AKB 48.

Yeah, so he's considered like the godfather of the idol world, yeah, basically. Okay. What was the first gig you had when you, like, was it like a, it must have been a shock, just the first time actually having to do idle stuff. It was just a lot of dance lessons.

Like it was like two days of dance lessons and like two hours of voice acting lessons. Okay, that very much. Oh, no, the ratio seems a bit off. Like he's going, oh god. Did you strap my ice onto it? Yeah. Okay, okay, sorry.

Oh no, that sucks. Yeah, that's it. Do you read show like we swap so that, like when that switches off since it's over heating? I mean, it's still gonna look weird. Okay, okay. Just make a note of it that we just keep turning it on, I think. Your first concert.

Oh yeah. Yeah, so what was that like? Our first concert, um, oh gosh. I feel really bad for saying this. Like, we had a meeting with our boss and our boss was like, you're always gonna remember your first concert because like this is a life-changing experience. That sounds really threatening.

You'll remember this. But it's gonna be such a magical moment in life. Sure, sure. I was so nervous. I don't remember a single thing. So every single time, like every anniversary that our group has, we always have this interview where it's like, you know, you look back at your past and me like,

what do you remember you at your first concert? I'm like, I don't remember a single thing. That was so nervous. I just won, bro. I don't remember anything. But our first live actually sprained my ankle. Oh, shit. Yeah.

It was like an open rehearsal where people could watch on the first number I fell. Oh, shit. I sprained my ankle. Oh, my God. That part I remember, but everything else I don't. Wait, so how many, did you have to continue with the rest of the rehearsal?

Yeah, I didn't even know how bad it was sprained, but like the next day I went to the doctors and they gave me crudges and I'm like, oh, so it's bad bad. Oh, god. But the adrenaline and everything got me going. Yeah, yeah. Like damaging it more.

Yeah. You're gonna like snap it. But it was my left like, but it was already kind of screwed up with figure skating for so long. Yeah, so that's one thing I wanted to get into. Like, how did you get into the figure skating thing?

Figure skating, there was this Japanese drama called Piraido. Okay. Ah. Yeah, there was a hockey drama called Padaido, and my dad was so into it. And he was like, do you want to go figure skating tomorrow? Like the next day he saw in it. Yeah. So we went and apparently I was really good.

Like I got scouted by the coach. So I started. But then again, the problem was I was so bad at like, you know, the public eye. It just wasn't my thing. So the reason I quit was because I had a panic attack after my short program in my last competition. I was like, this thing is just not for me.

So like because that happened still to this day, I don't know how I'm an idol still performing in people. Yeah, it sounds like this is the worst line of. Yeah. It's funny because it's like considering how nervous you are on stage and how, as you say, you're not good on stage, like you've managed to find yourself in situations where you have to perform on stage.

Yeah. You know? So I pretend that when I'm an idol, I just pretend that I'm an undercover spy. Wait, wait, so explain the thought process of that. So, you know, like, as somebody who wanted to be a voice, like a voice actor only. Yeah.

And, you know, who didn't really want to perform on stage, if you think that you're a spy, you know, and you're like, I'm only doing this. Like, this isn't my job. Like, I'm only here to know what happens behind closed doors, you know. Oh, I see. So I can experience what like other people can't see.

You know, even the documentaries won't show you. Right, right, right. I feel really cool while doing it. You are literally the definition of fake it to you make it. Yeah. That's crazy. That is impressive. How long between like you, you know,

you getting the audition was there between like doing your first live and performing for the first time? It was only like six months. It was even before we debuted, we had our first live. So yeah, it really wasn't that long. Okay. So after this first performance,

did you just like have fans right away? Um, yes, because the producer was, of course, I can almost a essay as a people, yeah, and, you know, Sony music and antiplex. How was that? It was overwhelming. I was like, people who like me,

that's the first. I'm not used to that. There's even like fans, uh, Japanese fans as well, right? It must be so bizarre thinking, like, damn, I just showed up here and I, You guys like me? Yeah, but like I felt really happy because again,

my goal was to be somebody like Sugita Tomokazu was to me. You know, so I felt really happy when people were like, you motivated me to pursue my dream as well. Or you know, like you make me really happy. That makes me really happy as well. Oh, yeah. I'm curious like what the training process for an idol is. You said there was like six months.

Like what is the process between you becoming the, you becoming an idol and, you know, doing your life? Well, because majority of our members were still in school and almost half weren't even from Tokyo. So we only had lessons during Saturday and Sunday. Okay. And it was like the full day we would have dance practice and also voice acting lessons as well and singing lessons. And we would have like acting tests on Christmas Day. Acting tests?

Yeah. Happy Christmas. Yeah, Merry Eam. Yeah, but it was. Have a drumstick, recite the entirety of Pulp Fiction right now. Yeah, but, but I mean, I guess because we had an upcoming anime coming up, and we also had characters, but those characters weren't really official yet. Right.

You know, so we had to have like a lot of acting tests to see like who would fit which character. So everybody was like really serious about it. And I was like, really on Christmas Day, don't you guys have families? Last Christmas isn't that big a thing, right? I guess, yeah, so. Especially in the Kepsy Corporation. Yeah. We would have really stressful acting tests

and they would give you like a report card. What does an acting test look like in Japan? So for our group it was reciting Lidoiti. It's like a tongue twister in Japan. Like a lot of voice actors do it in voice acting school. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw them all practicing tongue twisters.

It's like a 10 minute tongue twister. What that? It's really, really long. Yeah. I just wouldn't associate your quality to act with your ability to do a tongue twister. I just feel like that's. I feel like, especially in anime though,

like tongue twisters are really important. Yeah, right. Especially if you have to like speak fast and make the enunciation sound perfect and natural as well. Like I think tongue twisters is a great way of like kind of practicing enunciation especially. Yeah, I could see how it's practicing anunciation, but I wouldn't, in my mind, I wouldn't think that

I wouldn't want to be judged on my ability to act based on if I did like red truck, fucking blue truck fast. You don't know what I can't even say that. Do you mean red leather, yellow leather? But like whatever, this is like a bunch, you say like, just so, it's just so arbitrary. Yeah, kind of be like, no, you can't act. Why?

Well, he failed on the tongue. He didn't say Peter Piper properly. Yeah, you know. She sold she sells somewhere else, I don't know where. You know, I just feel like it'd be such an arbitrary decision, but I guess it makes sense as well. Yeah. Just can't imagine it.

It was based on like how loud your voice was as well while you did those. Really? So you had to like shout it? Yeah, because, you know, in Japanese, Hasse, yeah. Like how, you know, you know, how you say things.

It's really important, I guess, especially in the voice acting industry. So, Hase and your tongue twister, and those things were like just the basic things that you had to be perfect at. I feel like it's the opposite problem when I was doing voice sound. People were too loud.

And you get too into it. Stop. Less is more. Yeah, what do you mean? People sometimes get, they emote too much on lines, right? They get too loud. It's a shouting line,

but you're not trying to blow the mic out. You're trying to shout, not be vault. Like, there's a difference between shouting and just having a lot of volume. Yeah. And those two things are very different. It's like, the way I'd like describe it is like, you know, sometimes your dad would shout at you,

but it wasn't loud at you, but you knew you were in shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's kind of like that. It's like you're shouting and the- depends on the dad, right? Yeah, yeah. In my dad's case, the quieter he was, the more shit I was in.

Yeah, right. Conveying intensity without relying on volume. Yeah, yeah. A concept that you have to- I think there's, well, there's like an interesting, I guess, like cultural difference with like Japanese acting versus English acting,

Whereas like, you know, a lot of like, say like Hollywood movies, you know, there's a lot of like scenes where it's very quiet and very like, you know, expressive, but in a very like subtle way. You know, like, to the point where like you'd watch like a Matthew McConaughey movie and you'd be like, I actually can't make out what the fuck he's saying because he's so quiet and so mumbly. Whereas with a lot of like Japanese stuff, like not just anime, but like even live action stuff, it's all about like projecting.

It's more like a stage play than like how you were doing a movie, right? I mean, I guess that's just like what you described is basically just a lot of like anime voice acting, which is I guess more over the top animative than you would say get in a Hollywood film. Because it's so weird seeing live action Japanese actors, you know, in like a live action TV drama. Because sometimes I see the way they act

and I'm like they are not acting like people. They're acting like anime. Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. One thing that's why one of the most critically acclaimed films came out in Japan, most recent memory, was that one with the, where they were driving around a lot and the husband died or something.

It was, I forgot what it's called. Literally every J-Drop. I guess because it was way more of a subtle and way more, a lot more toned down. Yeah. I thought what it was called. I think it was nominated for an Oscar, I think. I can't remember.

Well, I guess like, like, you know, this is going completely off topic now, but on the topic of this, that's why I really enjoyed the voice acting of B-Stars. Yes. Because it felt way, more natural and way more, it was almost like live action, you know, they weren't speaking over the top,

even if there were some really intense scenes there. It felt way more like a Western Hollywood film in terms of like its approach to acting and its approach to like- And then I feel especially with B-stars, like when that got translated to the English dub as well, I feel like the dub voice actors just sounded so much more natural than a lot of other like dubs

that I've heard because it's like the nature of the show already with like, you know, the fact that the whole thing was mocapped and the actors were actually mocapped while doing the lines and everything. So it's like, it just felt more like, oh, I'm actually like listening to people talk rather than like anime characters in a weird way. I don't know.

Yeah. Like, other curiosity, when you were doing the voice acting school and voice acting training, was there any kind of like lessons or training in terms of like actually getting into a character as opposed to just kind of like emoting and saying lines? It was, there was actually

no acting at all for the first couple of months. Okay. Well then. I have actually a question. Did you have much for an acting background in the States before? Never. I took acting as an elective in middle school for one trimester.

Okay, so like nothing. Yeah, and I didn't have, I didn't get a single line. I was just there. Yeah. I was the Bunny C. Oh, yeah. So, yeah, I had no act. America go to Japan?

Is that the question? Wait, wait, wait. There was like absolutely no way for me to practice acting before I came here, so I would have to make up my own ways of practicing. Acting is very clicky in the West, at least when I was growing up, I wanted to try and do it. I remember I wanted to try and do it.

And it was already the theater kids, already well established who the theater kids were. And it was like, you cannot become a theater kid. Don't pretend you're one of us. You are in between a kid. You belong in the middle, you don't associate with a group. Stay where you are, right? Don't come in our group.

Yeah. I think that happens a lot, but at least you were able to make it work here. Somehow, luckily. So, like, you know, you joined the idol group. Were you, like, I guess, ever interested or had an interest in, like, the idol culture of Japan before you decided to get joined?

I always loved watching idols, you know, like, Vōna, Bediyskobo, and like, just the Hello Project groups and stuff. I loved them, but it was, like, really never a career option. I didn't even think I could be one, you know? So, like, I didn't think I could be one, so it was never a career option. So yeah.

What do you think the appeal of being an idol is? Appeal of being an idol. Eh, eh, it. Because I'm just trying to imagine, because obviously to our audience is very Western and I think that a lot of people struggle to really understand the appeal of idols in like kind of a Western like perspective.

And like we don't really get it, even though they very much have their own version of it in terms of the way they do it in Japan. I think a lot of people, they don't really get it. Yeah, I think when most, Most people in the West hear the word idle, they think of like Japan or Korea. You know, or like some kind of Asian country.

Whereas like, you know, not to say that, like, you know, we had fucking backstrap boys back in the day, but we definitely have it. It's like a different. It's a different. It's a different. It's a different. It's a different.

Even the K-pop and J-pop, like I feel like it's so different. Oh yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Like I feel like K-Pov. Yeah. And K-pop is more like when you debut, like you need to be perfect.

But in J-pop, it's more like, they want people that's not well as Talvest Town. And like they want to see the glow up. Yeah, they want to see the progression. Yeah, the more you look like a potato. Yeah, so that's why like a lot of people say, when you go into auditions, you should never dye your hair

because like it should, you know, be natural as natural as well. Because they just like want to see you go from like a normal girl to like. They want to see you in the purest form. They're like, done with you after you've crushed it. They're like, I'm done. I'm gonna find someone else who's.

I hope not. Yeah, that's nice. Okay. Like, I'm curious because, you know, especially in like idol culture, I guess marketability comes into a lot of plays, especially with the Japanese idol culture. Did you, were you ever like,

not like, were you ever kind of like, not pressured, but were you ever like, kind of like given a kind of like a niche or a character to fulfill as your like public stage? Um, well, I mean, they didn't really tell me to be like, you know, actively cute and stuff. But I mean, they would tell me to not cuss,

of course. Okay. Obviously. You know, they're like, you know, watch your language and those kind of things. But I feel like our group isn't really as strict as, you know, it's not like act like this certain way. That's very like, that's what you,

in a lot of like Western media, we get told a lot of time from like journalism, whatever. It's so tough. It's so strict. You know, you have to do this, you have to do an ex. And always seems like that, but I mean, that's great to hear. Yeah, I feel like, especially groups with Akimoto-Ase-San, like rather than him producing you,

it's more, because there's so many girls. Yeah. It's like how you can produce yourself, you know. Yeah, that makes sense. He's like, I'm not taking care of all you, my fuck, it's like, you do you. It's literally like we gave you the chance, you know, like, we gave you the stage.

Yeah, so whoever can like blossom on their own, like, I mean, that makes way more sense than being like, you should be these characters we think that work. Yeah. Yeah. So that was actually one of the, of the reasons why I started Twitter as well.

Right, right. Our group, we weren't gonna have any social media at first, but I was like- Don't you mean X, actually? Come on now. I forgot, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah, so yeah, because like I was doing a little bit

of research on you and I saw that like, you know, now you have quite actually, you know, not only a large fan base in Japan, but also in a lot of English-speaking countries, well, obviously because now everyone knows you can speak English. And I heard that one of the big, reasons why you got a big English fan base is because you were meming a little bit on Twitter.

Yeah. You're a little meme star on Twitter. So I really, um, respected Sugita Toma Kama. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You literally looked up to the biggest memester in the voice acting community. So, you know, I just wanted people, I didn't want to use like social media as like advertisement. I wanted it to be something that would brighten somebody's day, you know? Like, I wanted it to, yeah. So, um, if only everyone four thousand. out to be an amazing decision. Because I think I discovered you through either your Twitter or your YouTube because there weren't like,

you know, back when you first became an idol, there weren't a lot of, I don't know if there are, like, any other idols that spoke English in a Japanese idol group. So kind of like, I think for you, you just bridge the gap, especially for Western audience to like, kind of like make it more approachable. Not to mention, you have,

that like almost personality gap as well of like, you know, in Nanabun Nani Jr., you had, you know, you were the idol girl, right? You know, playing the role in the group. And then meanwhile over on Twitter, you're like, memes, you know, and I think just like that almost like disparity between the two personalities was just like, oh, that's actually kind of dope.

That's like she can be an idol girl, but also be a memester. Ah, thank you so much. Yeah. I feel that's how it worked out, but like how did you like, I guess, you know, when you decided to start the Twitter, like, and you started

it to like, you know, post memes and, you know, just be you. Like, how did that reception, I guess, like, come about? Well, like I said, you know, a lot of idol groups from Akimoday-San, it's how you produce yourself. And when the first single came out, I was in the very third lane of the new single. And it was like, it was pretty obvious. I was not the favorite, like groups favorite. And so I, but.

There was politics on the song. Yeah. I mean, like, it would have been fine if it. It was just me, you know? Right. Because it's like, you know, like more people not seeing me, the better. But it was my character too. Like, if I was in the third line, that means my character was also in the very back.

And I didn't want that. Like, I wanted her to shine. So I took dancing lessons. And so, you know, to get better at dancing and then go to the front line. And then also I was like, how should I get more fans? And I knew I didn't, I couldn't really make. a lot of friends in person, but I had a lot of friends online in America. So I was like, you know what, I'm probably better on the internet. So, you know, so I was like, I don't think

I can get a lot of fans during the lives. So can I just like have my own like internet section? Just get a little followers. Yeah. So yeah, that was one of the reasons why I started. I was like, you know, I can't really show my personality in person because I get so nervous. But online, it's like total different. Yeah, yeah. It's like it's easy. to talk and everything. Right. You said they like kind of mentioned, you know, don't cast or anything like that.

How much freedom do you get with like the online stuff and the online content that you do? For Twitter, it's literally you can post anything you want. I mean, unless, you know, it's like really political and stuff. But for my YouTube videos. Be the first idol politics. Yeah, but for my YouTube videos,

I have to show my like staff members first. Right, okay. That was one of the reasons why my YouTube video right now, my subtitles have nothing to do with what I'm saying. Yeah. Like for instance, if I'm saying, khani-khazenzywa, minasan, and like, you know, like, hi everyone,

my subtitles would be like, today's the worst day of my life. Wait, wait, wait, way, way, way, way, way, you, you've got to me. On purpose. Wait, do you put the subtitles on? I put, oh, my God, why do you do that? You're such a villain, I love it.

I just really like dark humor, you know, and it's just like self-deprecating jokes is how I cope with my life. That's very American of you. But when I do it in Japanese, like my manager stops me, like my whole entire management team stops me, being like stop.

That's so big a brain that you can keep the Western audience to like amuse of what they love. Yeah, so the only way I can, the only way I can like go past, is if I write it in English. Right. Cause like how are they gonna check?

What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? How are you gonna know what I'm saying? You are like absolutely like limit testing, like the idol industry. This is like five head right now. That's so Giga-bering. Everything you've done sounds like a subversion of every expectation.

I wanna start doing that but with Japanese sometimes. Just me like, hey guys, we're here right now doing this video and the Japanese just like, Koroistikoude. Like, that's such a good thing. That's such a good idea. Yeah. Hell yeah.

You do these for your tweets as well. Yeah, for my tweets as well. Oh wait, so you tweet out both in Japanese and English? Yeah, so for the Japanese part, be like, like, ha'a-say-same-as, like a hard emoji. The English part would be like, why did I wake up today? Like the nightmare starts after I wake up. Do they not see the translation?

There's a translate tweet button. It's right now. Don't tell them that. They do. It's like Google translation, so it's a mistranslation. They do, but then when they're like, why are you treating this? I'm like, that's a mistranslation.

You know, like why are you believing the AI? It's like a part. It's hard in English. Yeah. Yeah, I'm like, the joke's really hard to say in Japanese, like don't believe that. Holy fuck, you're like the Kiro of the idol industry, dude, just like subboating everyone's expectations.

That's crazy. What the heck? That's so funny. Okay, now that I'm hearing that, I can totally see why all the English speakers are like this chick's hilarious. If Oceanoco had this story, I'd be way more interesting. I was saying, okay?

This is so interesting. This is so fascinating. That's so cool. Every single chance you've had to push it or nudge it, you're like, yeah, I'll try it. That's good. Have you seen Oshinoco? Oh, you know, yeah, yeah.

I thought you said ocean something. Oh shit, sorry. Like what is that? Oh, that's not. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you feel like it's, uh, how accurate? Um, I mean, the part where, like, the very first episode, you know, where the producers like, oh, because they're a big, like, you know, from this group, like, I don't even know

who there. I kind of relate to that, you know, I feel like a lot of people are like, oh, like, welcome, welcome because of like the big agency. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I kind of feel that as well, so I relate to it and I get scared. Do you? I get scared. I didn't see the second off of this.

Well, like, do you feel like, okay, this is going on O'Shenoka and you can like stop me if I'm getting too intrusive, but like, do you feel like you have like a public and stage persona versus like your personal life and how'd you balance that? Definitely, but that also I feel like that goes for anybody who's not even like in the entertainment industry,

you know, you have a face when you're with your boss. Like you're not gonna be like, hey, what's up? You know? So I feel like, like also I'm a people pleaser, you know. I've been a people please over my life. Yeah. So I feel like, you know, on stage, like I have to act a certain way that, like, people want me to, you know?

Like, I can't be like, I can't act sad just because I'm actually sad that day. You know, you have to be like, you know, I'm going to be everybody's way of sunshine and stuff, you know, so I definitely think that there is a gap between, you know, my personal life and how I am on camera. And usually that gap also kind of. is the reason I sometimes get sad and just kind of have a mental breakdown because people expect you to be this like because. Be positive all the time. Yeah.

Be positive and also be like super crazy because of like the way I tweet and like my Japanese fans think I'm a big deliquant because I'm going against the management so much. But like reality is like if like behind closed doors I'm not like, you know, telling my managers what to do. And like, you know, I'm more like, hi. I'm just existing shit posting on Twitter. You know how it is. Like do you shit posts on Twitter? You need a lot of trust from your management. Yeah.

Yeah. Like in order to be like, you know, super crazy. Like you need, like people need to trust you. Be like it's okay. Like she's a decent human being in front of the side. Did you ever get any trouble for maybe pushing it a little too far? No, never actually. I'm still, what's gonna change that?

I'm still trying to find the limit. Yeah, not that I remember. Yeah, not that I remember. That's good, that's good. Yeah. Do you feel, okay, do you feel like, you said there's a disparity and you know, you get a lot of stress from how you feel pressured to act?

Do you feel like the pressure to be a certain character or be like, I guess like a sort of like perfect person when you're like on stage and you know, you're presenting and everything? Yeah, do you feel that pressure? or you just kind of like more chill with it. I used to feel a lot of pressure, but then again, I don't know.

What was the question again? Do I feel pressure with China? Yeah, okay, so, so, you know, at least with my experience with like idols from like an outside perspective, there's a lot of like the image of an idol being like, perfect, I guess, like the perfect person. Do you feel like you have to act like that

as well. Oh, for me, I feel like a lot of people actually expect me to not be perfect. Okay, okay, that's good. With like the way I act. But the problem with me is sometimes people would think that I'm super outgoing, you know, based on my YouTube channel and everything. So whenever they meet me and they give me like a script for a variety show, they're like, can you do this crazy thing? And I'm like, not really. How much are you paying? So the thing is, you know, Uchiaget, how do you say Uchijer? Like, it's like an after party kind of.

Yeah, I actually never go to those because I don't want, like, people. You don't want to socialize? One, I don't want to socialize, but two, I don't want people realizing that I'm not as funny as I am when the cameras are, like, you know, like I'm a lot funnier when the cameras are rolling

and like when I'm online. Right, right. But if it's just like, you know, in the private area and I have to talk to them as a normal human being, like my normal self is going to come out. That's so funny. I feel like at least in like the more Western side,

that's what people actually like. They like it when they get to meet the other creators or celebrities or whatever. Yeah, who are like, oh, it's cool, nice to talk to you and you're the guards. Yeah, like I'm actually meeting the person. Yeah, rather than the personality. It kind of like humanizes that person to a point

where they're not on like a pedestal anymore and they, you know, you can, they see them as like more like vulnerable, I guess. It's like, oh, they're just, you know, they're just like another human being. like me, you know, with faults and, you know, good things. She just like me for real. Yeah, she just like me for real, yeah.

And then that's, that's like a much bigger appeal as opposed to, you know, being this perfect idol that has no flaws. And I think that's the, like, I think that's an interesting difference, at least from what I've seen from like a Western audience and a Japanese audience. I'm not sure of like the Korean audience

is different at all. I would assume it is because every K-pop idol group I've seen are fucking perfect in every way to show before. Yeah. So beautiful. Yeah, no, it's crazy. So fun. Yeah.

Um, I forgot what we were talking about. Uh, yeah, going back to idols. So what is like the normal schedule or like the idol side of things as opposed to like the voice acting side? What's your week looking like? Yeah. What's a normal week for you?

It's honestly different every week. And my schedule is also very different from my members because I'm one of the few members that art is like actually pursuing a career in voice acting right now. Right. So it would be, like in the morning I would go to like the anime,

like the studio and do some voice acting. And then in the afternoon, I would do rehearsals with my group and just like that every day. And then I'd have like radios. I have like two radios and one Nikonama. Yeah, I program and Yoniko Niko. Yeah, so I would film those and yeah, it's basically. Damn, you're doing everything.

Yeah. Ging it out. Yeah, grind is real, bro. Oh damn. Dude, do you get much of a say in what kind of projects you take on or is it kind of like, hey, this week you're doing this, see you there. As long as it's not really out of my comfort zone, you know, I'm like, I will do anything, especially if it's like voice acting things because, you know, that's what I want to do.

And build up the experience, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And, you know, as a person that's just like starting out, you know. Like yes to everything. Yeah, I don't really want to like choose. And I also want to be like the type of person that is able to, you know, act as anything, you know. True, be flexible, right?

It's always better to be that person. You can give me a box and I will be. be that box. Have you ever done any, you know, you've done voice sighting, have you ever done any live action, like TV acting? Never TV acting, like I did one musical. Yeah.

Did a musical? For Aku No Musume, the vocaloid song, Ake no music. Oh shit, yeah, okay, okay. I played Mikaeda, which is like, Hatsune Miku. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. It was the most nerve acting.

Really? Yeah, there's so, like, real people right in front of me while I was acting. I'm like, hmm. And also, So I feel like the stage play, like the actors, like the community over there is also very different in the voice acting and the idol industry.

It's like you gotta get to know each other so we can create something amazing, you know. Yeah, it's all communication based, right, yeah. Like my communication skills is like terrible. Terrible. It's like I don't have a script. Yeah, it is terrible. So every single time during rehearsals,

I would, I already have a script in my head, but I would pretend that I was like looking at my script. So like, you know, to make sure, you know, be like, sorry I'm not talking to you. Not because I'm shy, but because I'm focusing on my script. I'm so sorry. Like I have to act all the time so that people won't feel uncomfortable around me.

I'm so sorry. The script is so important, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm very professional, I'm sorry. It's very awesome that you've, there's a lot of social anxiety there. You still haven't let it stop you at any point. You're like, I'm gonna do it,

but I'm just gonna work around everything. I'm gonna find a way to make everything work. Yeah, has there been, I guess, ever a point where like, I guess your social anxiety kind of got like the best of you in like your position? Yes, during the, you know, idols have handshake events. Oh my gosh.

That seems like, yeah. Like a nightmare difficulty level of social interaction. Do you wanna explain handshaking events for people that don't know? Yeah, so handshaking events is like basically something that comes with, a CD, so you buy a CD and you get 10 seconds with your favorite idol, you know?

Right. Which is like, okay. That crazy trade. You say 10 seconds, how strict is the timing? Is it just like one handshake? Well, aren't there people with like stopwatch? Yeah, there are stopwatches and there are people that are like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Are you serious? You've not seen videos of like, dudes like not letting go and then like five guys dragging them? I've seen that, but. Yeah, there's literally a dude at the back, like with a stopwatch being like, all right, your time starts now. Tell the story.

I'm sure. So, yeah. So my social anxiety started way before I became an idol. You know, as I said, the reason why I quit figure skating, competitive figure skating was from my social anxiety. So like, but I hit it from my management team, like during the audition too. Of course. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I never told them. So during the handshake events, I was really thankful for people coming, you know, and I loved them, but my brain and my heart was just like telling me different things. Like I would get rashes on my body. And I couldn't, like, breathe. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it was, it was, you know, a lot of things were happening to me. So then I had to stop.

And, but my management team was, like, really, really nice about it. You know, we decided whether we should inform the public that I wasn't going to do any more handshake events because of my social anxiety. Or should we just say she's just not going to do it for personal reasons? Right. At first, my manager was like, I think we should hide it because, you know, just these things. things, and especially in Japan, it's not, you know, really a good thing to say publicly, you know, like, you might not get many, like, job opportunities. So she was really worried for me. She was concerned for me. But the reason why I decided to say that I had social anxiety,

and that was the reason I stopped the handshake event, was to let people know that, you know, people with social anxiety can still work, you know. Like, I feel like a lot of people hide it. And that just makes it a lot harder. You know, once you just come, you know, come out with it, it's a lot easier to have people help you. You know, like when you're about to have an anxiety attack, if you're hiding it, you're going to be like, oh, my God, oh, my God, like, I can't let it show. And they won't be able to help you out with that, right? Because if you already tell people, you can be like, today's not the day.

Right, right, right. Yeah, so now it's not the time. And like, I feel like by me saying it and, you know, proving to people that I can still work in the entertainment industry while still having social anxiety, I feel like I can be, you know. You're just breaking every stereotype of idol. You're just like, hey, I'm too anxious to do handshaking events. Okay, that's that you can still make it work.

Yeah, honestly. Anything that happened during any of these events that gave you particular anxiety towards them or was it just the idea of it? It was just the idea of it. And I don't, I don't know, it was just so many different people coming in. It's a lot.

Yeah, it's not like I, there was like somebody that did anything to me. Like I really, as a person, like every single one of them, I loved all of them, but it was just like a thing as a whole. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I get it. There's a lot of people and there's a lot of interaction in the short amount of time. Yeah.

There's a common conception in Japan that, I guess, mental health stuff isn't really taken as seriously as it should. Yeah. How has your experience been with that here? Well, once I came out with it, everybody was really supportive of it. That's good. And the people around me are like, you know, like I didn't, I didn't really have an understanding with social anxiety. And I also didn't think like somebody as outgoing as you on camera could have social anxiety.

You know, like I didn't think that was a thing. You know, but so I feel like with me saying it, you know, well, five people about a better understanding. Yeah. I mean, it's better than zero. Yeah, it's better than zero. And honestly, it's like massive. You're a good spy. Yeah.

Yeah. They start for it. No, honestly, it's like massive props because, you know, as you were saying, like, I feel Japan is still very much behind when it comes to like the awareness of mental health, especially compared to like America, right? And you know, I think there's a lot of jobs

that'll be like, oh, you have anxiety? Yeah. No work? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely Japan. I'm guessing a lot of people in Japan, especially have social things. Oh my God, you kidding? Just a guess, guys.

Are you kidding me? Just a guess. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. Yeah. So honestly, like, yeah, like, I think it was really brave of you to say that publicly because I'm sure, like, you know, you are by far not the only one. Even I reckon like in the idol industry in itself that, you know, suffers from that

kind of, you know, anxiety like you do, right? So I think just the fact that you were even being like, you know what, no. Like, I'm just not going to like run around the fact. Like, I'm just going to tell it how it is and, you know, it is what it is kind of deal. Right. So, yeah, I think the other thing I was really. How was the response to the announcement, I suppose? The people that supported me were also really nice

and it just made life so much easier after that. Yeah, because you stop needing to feel like you could, you had to pretend. Yeah, definitely. Just be like, hey, I got this. Please understand if I'm not acting the way that you think I should act and people move on. Would you say that you like,

out of like your fellow members that you deal with the most social anxiety? Don't, I feel like everybody experiences things differently, but I feel like not many girls have, like, panic attacks as much as I do. So yeah, maybe. Or they're really good at hiding it. Yeah, so.

Everyone is a spy. Everyone is a spy, yeah. Just lie a game. Everyone is lying to each other. So I guess go into your voice acting, I saw that you got to roll in Toma Chan recently, where I think it might be a first where you voice both the Japanese character

and the English and the English dub character as well. Yeah. It was like somebody did it beforehand, but it was the first where the English dub and the Japanese version were streams on the same day. Oh wow. Yeah. Usually there's a gap like several months, you know. That must have fun getting to do the language.

Oh, it was really fun. I didn't get to do that with when I was on Paul Team Mab. That's because licensing stuff is really complicated. I'm just like, what the fuck, Funimation? You could have just called me, bro. Like, I would've been down to do it. I think it actually takes way more work to be able to hire you to do it again.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a whole thing. Yeah. Did you have to audition for both the English dub and the Japanese stuff? Really? They sent me both the scripts. Oh, wow.

But you know how a lot of people don't know that acting in a different language is so different. Just because you can act in Japanese. Doesn't mean you can act in English. Oh, yeah. So that was my problem. I was like, I've never acted in English before.

Oh, okay. I don't know if I can do it. But I'm gonna send in my audition anyway. We'll see how they like it. And I somehow got the part. Hell yeah. Did you want to voice out in English? Or was it something that like your agency was just like,

hey, you should try dubbing in English as well. That'll be an awesome experience. Well, my agency really didn't say anything. I think just the production team of Tomochan as a girl was like, it would be cool if, you know, Carol, the character that I voiced. was voiced by the same person. That's a good.

Yeah, that's a flex. That's a flex. Yeah, it was so fun. Which one did you record first? Was it the Japanese or the English? The Japanese version. Oh, okay, okay. So you got like a sense,

you sound to the English session. Like, I already know, I know. I know guys, I know the character. Hey, my first time. I don't know if you know, but I voiced this character actually. It was actually really easy to do in English. At first, they were like, we need two weeks. Like you need to, we recorded in Texas.

We told me I need to, to be there for two weeks because- You went all the way to Texas for? Yeah, after country rule, yeah, building. And they were like, this is your first time dubbing in English, so you probably need two weeks because you don't know the process. But I finished it in less than four days.

What a flex. So you just had like a week off in Texas. Oh, no, so it was just one week I was there. Oh, all right, so you flew back right. Was there a reason why they didn't wanna do the dub here in Japan remotely? They said it was because it was my first time and they wanted to like really like have me experience. Yeah. So how was how was the like I guess difference between like you know a Japanese voice acting session versus an English voice acting session?

It was so different. First of all like the Japanese voice acting studio you're there with majority of the classroom. Yeah. And well once COVID hit it's more like three to four people per session. But still I was there with the four main cast members. So we would just, you know, act it out all together. But in the English dub, it was just me in one studio. It was also really small too. Right. Yeah. So and the lines, you have to say the lines after this like three beeping noise. Yeah.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's like a curse to my nightmare. So the Japanese version, there's like a 30 minute anime. There's an A part and a B part and like one is like 15 minutes. and you would test the A part without stopping. And then you would have like the real thing.

Right, right. It's just like two takes, you know? Yeah. But the English is like line by line. Line by line. Yeah, yeah. So that was really interesting. Yeah, because with the Japanese, like,

with the Japanese side, did you have to worry about matching the lip flaps or was it just kind of just say the lines and we'll animate the lip flaps for you? It was like say the lines, but in this timing. Okay. Yeah. They normally don't care about lip flaps as much Japanese. Yeah.

Yeah, I've noticed sometimes, You watch Japanese like anime and now, yeah, it just doesn't match at all. Yeah, there's like a half a second extra lip flap after they start, finish talking, and I'm just like, what was that? Yeah, English was very, very strict. Yeah, the English, they have to match the syllables.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So that was interesting. Very tough, because you're like, this sounds unnatural and they're like, well, there's no other shirt. Welcome the dubbed enemy, hey. They decided to use this word in Japanese,

it was 15 solibles long, and find a replacement. Did you get the script beforehand for the English dub as well? I got it like a week before, but they told me not to look at it that much because it's gonna change on the spot. Yeah, yeah. So I kinda like flap through it. Japan being like we can know.

I had my first like voice acting experience in a anime role as well recently and I just kind like turned up on the day. I didn't even know. That's normal, they normally don't give you the script before. Yeah, yeah, I like I didn't know this because I turned up on the day, right? ready to like film like a vlog, right? And I'm like, so what are we doing today? Who my voice acting?

Cause I thought I was just gonna be like voice acting as like background characters or something like that. And so they get me in the booth. They showed me the script and I'm like, so I'm a named character? What the fuck? I die in this scene. His name is Giga, okay.

I gotta do some acting acting and they're like, yeah, here's the script, here's your lines. I'm like, I did not get, Any prep for this. That's terrifying. What's the web. Were they just like, we've seen Eva Bridge, we know you can voice say.

Come on, don't lie, don't lie to us. They saw Hong guy star. Oh, they saw a Hong guy star. They were like, this guy, this guy can. They were like, this vagrant right here. This is the guy. We were in a Gatcha game and it was, we had like very funny lines.

And Gant just sounded exactly like, I just sounded myself. Everyone was like, oh, it's God. Like immediately recognized his voice, yeah. But yeah. It was the first time that I had to like not use my YouTube voice and I actually had to like, I guess. Well, what kind of voice did you do?

Oh yeah, I'm so interested. Yeah, I can't wait to see this one. Yeah, because like every time like, you know, even like with your older bridge stuff, right? Yeah. I know immediately I'm like, oh, that's gone. Oh, it's still me, right? It's still definitely me, but it's not like,

Hey guys, it's a good guy, coming a vlog, you know. It's like, I remember, okay, so I've seen like the first draft my vlog, which is not out, By the way, it should be out by the time this episode is out. Yeah, I voice a character at Mashel. Oh, crap. Oh, hell yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I voice character at Mashel. I get like, kill. I'm one of the characters that got killed. Spoilers. Yeah, yeah. I understand. And I remember like, I'm watching this vlog back and I do like, okay, so we're gonna try

the first take of the line and I didn't even know that we're just gonna like just jump right into it. Yeah. Didn't really find my voice at all. So I just started reading in my usual like, You got voice? Which, looking at the vlog, I'm just like, this sounds so fucking bad.

And then they're like, okay, let's take it like three octaves lower. Right. And I'm like, oh, I've never done a voice like this. Something like that. And somehow I had like excellent like directing and I somehow like stumbled through it and I'm pretty proud of it. It doesn't sound like anything I've done before. Good direction helps a lot. Yeah, good direction.

direction does help a lot. So I kind of like realize the power of like good directing. Did you ever have to with any of your roles, like maybe be asked to do like a different voice or like a different tone or anything like that? Yeah, there was a place I went with really high pitched voice. But they were like, no, we need an adult lady.

And I was like, oh no, like I practice all my lines in this like kitty like, khani-jana. Yeah. Suddenly I had to be like, kohenitia. I'm like, I didn't practice for that. And then, yeah, that was a hard day. I went home crying. You got way too much pressure on yourself.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Minor life inconvenience, I will die. I'm literally gonna die. Guess I'll die. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So how many other like voice acting roles have you been able to get more now

since you've kind of like opened the door? Yeah, slowly but surely. Right now I'm doing this character called Katerina from World Dye Star. We have a game that's a rhythm game that's already out. You haven't downloaded it yet. But yeah, but a lot of the times the characters I voice are people who speak another language as well.

You know, they're bilingual. And it's really hard because sometimes people would be like, oh, she only got that role because she can speak English, you know. You mad, bro? Sometimes I need to English. What do you do? Yeah, and we've all seen Krokeno Basket when they go to America. It sounds awful.

Yeah, they should have got English people. Someone should have got the role in this week. Sure, sure. I mean, you know, I think that's just, so what? It's like, oh, you were qualified for the job. It's like, oh wow, like, woe is me that you have a skill that I don't have. Yeah, it's like, wow, it's crazy.

Like I used to get really down about that being like, like I guess, you know, it's not really my skill, it's just my English. But then- No, it is a skill. Yeah, but my best friend was like, well, you see, that girl, like she got in because of her singing, that girl got in because of her appearance, And you got in because of your English, like what's the difference?

Yeah, yeah, no, take it with stride. Yeah, wow, you should be. Right. You're not your fault, you're qualified. Yeah, you know, like, you should be prideful of that. Yeah, hell yeah. Yeah, you have a skill set that not a lot of people have,

especially in Japan, and also you can act on top of that as well. If anything, you have a skill that I think a very large proportion of Japanese people wish they had. Yeah. You know, which is the just being fluent in English. So it's like, you know, I mean, I certainly take that with Stry

whenever I'm here, you know, just being like, oh wow, you can speak Japanese and English, that's insane. And I'm like, and in my head, I'm like, yeah, I mean, it's not, I'm not the only one who has that skill. But then when you think about it, it's like, no, that is a skill

that not everybody can achieve to, you know, at a certain level. So like, yeah, I think you should be very proud of the fact that you can speak both languages. Yeah, we have generally no skills. We're having to take anything. Yeah, I'm taking anything. Yeah, I'm like, hey, so what, that's the game.

Yeah. I'm gonna be paid. I know how to edit a video and speaking English. That's my two skills sets, yeah. You kind of just have to, I mean, I think a lot of entertainment, what personally I find is you'll never have the perfect skill set or what you need

to always be the best at everything, but it's like how can I currently take what I have, learn more whilst also applying the current skills that I have into the situation to the most useful they can be. So it's always just a battle, right, of trying to figure that out. But you're in a way more

intense environment. You sit here and chat shit on the podcast. Yeah. This is, we just look at a camera for two hours a day. No, but like that's so hard though, because I just want to announce right now, I have never held a two hour conversation with anybody before.

Wait, wait, way, way, way, way. Like, like, like, off camera as well? Off camera as well, like I've never, like, you know, I've been in a situation where people are talking for several hours, but I was never part of it, you know, like I was just there. Your manager is crying.

What about the conversations we've had? Yeah. You're not the best spy. I will not tell, I don't know. Yeah, I was so nervous today because I was like looking at your podcast and it's like, everything's almost two hours. Now I feel even more bad that was like,

okay, literally today, Sally just like came in and we're like, all right, we're starting guys, sit down. Don't even like, we say hi and that's just, yeah. And we're like, all right, we're starting podcast. Yeah, normally we have like, you know, 30, 40 minute like just kind of chat off camera to get to know each other, but we're just like, sit down.

Right now, we're talking. Yeah, it's like I'm so used to the Japanese, like work environment. I thought I was sitting down to have like rehearsals or something. Oh no, no, no. Like suddenly, you were like, hi everybody. And I'm like, oh, hi. That's why you are laughing.

Yeah, like so we're starting, starting. Were you laughing or was that just a, oh shit, we are? No, that, oh shit, we're starting. I thought my intro was just really weird. I'm like, I was getting self-conscious. I'm like, oh, that's hilarious. Thank you. I got to.

I called the taxi. Oh, okay, okay, no worries. So are you okay staying for a little bit longer? Of course. Okay, I wanna be part of this show forever. Are you having five seconds? Oh yeah. So, well, you have to know.

All right, Connor, you can fuck off. We're replacing Connor with Saturday. Yeah, I wanna sit there because that's my good side action. All right, all right. I gotta leave five minutes, I gotta go to the airport because that's how tight we had to schedule today, to make sure it all worked. Yeah, I don't know if this,

did we say this on camera that? We tried to get on three times before in the podcast. It's taken over a year to try and get you on. It's taken over a year and every time we try to schedule her on, either her schedule has been mismatched or our schedule has been mismatched. So we booked this day in and then like literally a week ago,

Connor's like, actually I got a chess tournament. I need to like, no, no, so if I win, I got to go to LA and I thought we're gonna cancel, but I was like, wait, no, hold on, let me cook. I can make this work. So the moment I gotta do press stuff. Gotta flee the country. I got to get out.

Meanwhile, I was like, Connor's gonna throw. Connor Connor's definitely gonna throw one of these chess games. I thought I would lose. And then he just kept playing well. I was like, what the fuck? First time Connor won and I was just like, damn it. I am, I have, I joke a lot when it matters the most,

it's my thing. I feel you. I feel you. I'm super competitive and I can't like willingly throw something. I just cannot not perform. I just, there's something in my brain that won't allow me to not me to not try.

I will not be a failure. I feel you so hard because like I said, you know, in the idol group, like I don't mind being in the back, you know. Yeah, yeah. But thinking about the rehearsal time, you know, like where all the members are there for the same time.

Like if I'm gonna do it, I'd rather be where, like, you know. Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah, I'll be like, and then literally when I get home, I'll be like, I'm gonna try my fucking better. Yeah, me too. No more playing games. I'll not like maybe.

That's what I'm doing, that's my day. This is in a whirlwind of a day. Yeah, so yeah, anyway, it's not about me. It's about you, okay? What were we talking about before? I completely forgot. My taxi is four minutes away, so I'll probably just say my goodbyes now. All right, I'll let you continue.

You can have the good chat. Do you wanna come here? Oh, well, I can take this chair. All right, let's do it. I mean, it's fine, yeah. We'll go back in the normal position. We're operating this year. All right.

from guests who now host. All right. This is a real trash taste first right here. I don't think we've ever switched seats mid-episode. You know, since Sally is giving us just her first two-hour conversation, we must do our first on trash taste as well. You can take my cut of this episode.

Thank you. It's all right. I have the spirit of Suggetta Tomocaza, right? So now that you have corner seats, I've got to ask, what's your hottest food take? So we're known on trash taste for, shut up, shut up,

oh my God, so, okay, so we're known on trash taste for having some controversial food takes. Do you have any, like, food takes that you think are like a little bit weird or? A little weird. So why don't we give some examples from the past? Okay.

So Connor, for example, hates oranges. Like with a passion. Like he doesn't just dislike oranges, he despises oranges. Yeah. You leave. Yeah. I famously said on the podcast once

that all bread tastes the same. They do though. Oh my God. Yes. Oh my God. This is amazing. Oh, I can't believe this. You really are just a female corner.

Like that's. Do they not? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I've been like. Okay. Sally, you can not tell

You can not like legitimately tell me. You came to the right side. That wonder bread and pretzels taste the same. It's like it's just different seasoning. You know? Like it's like, you know, cheese or not cheese. I've never been more happy in my life. Oh my God, this is amazing.

I'm gonna get cancer. Am I gonna get canceled for this? No. Your idol career is over now. Yeah. But no more bad commercials for me. All right, all right, I gotta ask, do you eat the pizza crust?

I don't. Yes, yes! Oh my God, this is one of my favorite moments on trash days. You know what, I'm glad you're not seeing this day now because. That's where you hold it. It's a handle.

Okay, but Americans figured out that, oh, we can add dipping sauce, like ranch or something so that if you have just the crust left, then you can just dip it in some ranch and you can eat it deliciously, right? She's bread in it. Yeah. Pizza's better.

Bed with different seasoning. Why are you so successful season? Wait, wait, she's on to something? No, she's not. Hold up. She's not onto something. God damn, bro. What is your least favorite,

least favorite? I don't really have like a least favorite. My just like no, no two food. Like no food is egg whites, uncooked egg whites. Uncooked egg whites. Oh damn. The texture is really weird. Yeah.

It's a little plasticy, isn't it? Yeah, it's like, it's like, it's like, when I was really little, I thought it looked like a snail and ever since then I just couldn't eat it. That kinda looks like a snail. And then suddenly, you know. Yeah, because it's like very slimy, isn't it? Do you eat nato then?

I love natto. Oh, yeah. Okay. Finally a good food take, let's go. Thank God. I was about to revoke your shoes, I think you said, no. That was a test and you passed.

No one in Japan cares about bread. No, we've seen you guys as sandwiches. No one here cares about bread. Sure, sure. But the Nato? The Nato, you don't fuck with the Napa. That's facts. How often do you get back to go back to America?

I haven't gone back for four years. Four years. 2019 was the last year. What was it like, I guess, like once you, the first time you went back to L.A. after being here for how the many years you did? I forgot like how friendly and, um, unfriendly people in customer service can be.

Like, you know, like it's both a good and bad thing. Because in Japan, everybody's like, en-sha-a-so-da-me, and like, they're so polite. In America, it's more like, what do you want? Take it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, you know, I know why this is,

but it's like, is this customer, does this customer service position have a chance to tip? If the answer is yes, you have, you'll probably have good customer service. If you, if the answer is no, you will have the most, dog shit customer service of all time. Yeah, but like what frustrates me more is like, you know, the few who are like,

oh yeah, you know, I really want the tips. I'm gonna try and be like a nice, you know, waiter or waitress, right? But then, you know, when you give them like a lower tip than they expect, they turn around being like, what do you mean you didn't give me 18%? I filled up your water three times. That's great service and I'm like, well, you know,

it is how it is. Yeah, I just wanna say this isn't like a dig at people who work customer service. Oh, no, no, no. They don't get paid enough. You guys are getting fucked over by the system. Yeah, yeah, it's totally fine. Because, yeah, I've noticed that, you know,

when there's not a chance to tip, people don't care about the customer service shop because why would they? Yeah, but, yeah, I mean, going back to America this time because I just came back from America, the tipping culture has gotten, like, even more insane. So I'm awful tips, right?

But you go to like a coffee shop or a Starbucks and you order a coffee and the only interaction you get is, Hey, can I have like a latte please, venti or fucking, no, it's not venty. It's a medium size. Yeah. And they like turn around the tablet and the 20% tip is like there by default. And I like, it's just like a choice right?

It's like 20, 10, 5 or no tip. Yeah. And it's just like I don't want to be an asshole and say no tip. But also I kind of feel like it's kind of like a. move to have it just like default on like 20%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that is true. So did you find any experiences when you last went to America that had like

changed when you had grown up there? So when I was there, I would only go out with my parents as a teenager. So I never had to pay for anything. I actually didn't really know the tip system. That's that privilege. That's that parent card. Yeah. Yeah, so I don't know.

I don't. almost never really went out, so I can't really speak for like the kujo difference. What's something you wish that Japan had that has that LA has? Japan has that LA has. Yeah. That Japan should maybe implement perhaps. Oh gosh. I feel like there are many things, but it's like it's going to say nothing.

Yeah. You can say nothing. You don't think of anything. Well, I mean, oh, the no honor or a fix part, the no keog, everything's like so. Like, everything's casual. Yeah, yeah. I'm so bad at memorizing names, you know,

so, but in Japan, you can't be like, an anata to some, like a boss, you know. In English, you could be like you, you can be like, hey, how are you doing? I never thought about that because it's the same way in like when I'm in Thailand and I'm that, I'm that motherfucker who someone introduces themselves and I make a mental note to like not forget that name.

In the three sentence, I've forgotten that. Yeah, me too. I actually do this thing where every time I meet someone or I meet like a large group of people, I'm like, I always have my phone in my hand and or in my pocket. And what I do is like I sneakily, I sneakily write the name down,

like a general description of where I met them and a general description of what they do. Right. And so when I get their phone number, I kind of write it down as like, it's like Jacob and then in brackets it's like, the guy I met at this place, And so every time like, you know, I'm messaging it. Because like, you know, after you meet so many people,

you know, doing what we do, right? Yeah. There's only so many Satu-san that you can meet where until you're like, wait, which Sato-san was it? Or like, is it a Katha-Kha-Song? Is it a Suzuki-san? Like, I don't know, like, because, you know, you learn not on a first-name basis

in a lot of ways in Japan, but on a surname basis, right? Yeah. So it just gets even more confusing when you're like, wait, so you talked about, you know, me meeting a Sat-o-san the other day. I'm pretty sure I met like four of them. last week and I don't remember which one was which, you know.

God, I had a moment from my nightmares in the recent trip I had, which is related to this. So the reason I flew back to America was to go to my wife's family reunion. So I've met her family a bunch of times, but also she has a massive family. Like it's a big Midwestern family, so many cousins, so many uncles.

And I remember meeting like one of her cousins, right? And I'll be honest, she has a lot of cousins. I don't remember all of their names. I know it's, I know like, there's like a pool of names. Mm-hmm. I don't know he's like one of those names, you know what I mean? It's either like a Tommy or a Ryan or a Tim or something. It's like in the pool of like names.

So I go in and I've met him like a few times before. I shake his hand and he goes, hey, God, nice to see you again. I'm like, hey man, nice to meet you. Dead ass, he like shakes my hand, looks me in the eye and he goes, what's my name? Worst nightmare ever. I literally just like blue screened. You're nasty.

Oh no. I like literally, I just, I literally, I blue screened as a human, I'm like, uh, and then he's like, ah, don't worry, man, don't worry about it, it's Ryan. And I, I've realized now why he did that. What if he was like, just kidding, it's Tommy. I told you.

I realized because we had, we had like a party afterwards. and some other like friends came over and he was there. And when they met Ryan, they're like, oh hey Ryan, I remember it this time. I actually remember it this time. So I think he says that to everyone, so nobody forgets his name.

And it fucking worked because that like, I think he's instilled PTSD into me. But I will now never forget his name when I see him. I mean, it's a bit of a double-ed sword because now everyone who is a sort with Ryan knows who Ryan is. But at the same time, I feel a lot of people are gonna be like, what an asshole.

I can't believe you just put me on the spot like that. I mean, yeah, yeah, that's like, that's the thing you see in your nightmare. That actually happened, I'm like, oh no, oh no. But luckily, luckily we got like the good ending. That's good, that's good. Just gonna put me through like personal trauma for that. God damn.

Yeah, my manager calls everybody since it. Yeah, that's small. Even like in like an honorable way and also like a frank way being like, like hey boss or like, hey boss, you know. She uses it for everybody. She uses it for me too. I'm like, you don't know my name. Damn, we pull out.

I do the equivalent in English where I just call everyone dude. Like it doesn't matter like, it doesn't matter like how many times I've met you, what gender you are, what age you are, like I'll call a 90 year old grandma dude. I'm just like just so I can get out of the situation to be like, I apologize, I don't remember your name, but I wanna be friendly with you. So I'll just throw it, I'll throw it. It's the magical word to just be like,

oh yeah, no, he's cool with me. Does he know my name though? I don't know, probably not. Have you ever met someone and you're like, you know, they refer to you as like dude or someone or you like you just know that they do not know your name at all. Oh yeah, definitely. And I don't wanna be an asshole about it

because I've been in that situation so many times, But sometimes there's a look in their eye, you know, where there's like the slight panic where I'm like, I hope he doesn't ask me. I'm actually really sympathetic for people who do that because I'm exactly the same, right? So like, you know, any chance I can get like, I'll maybe like throw in my name

or like clues to my name like in the conversation. I do that as well. You know, like sometimes like I'd be telling a story about like, you know, an anecdote about something that happened to me and then I'll switch to like third person being like, Joey you fucked up. To be like, quick, I said my name, remember it.

And like, you see like that light ball pops up, right? And they're like, that's his name. Oh, that's so smart. Yeah. So that's like a little thing I like to do, because you know, I get it. I wish people did that more for me. Sometimes I do like the alley-oop. Yeah, okay, so there's been times when I know

my wife can't remember a name and I do like the alley-up, I just like call to them or something like that or I'm like, yo, yo, Rob, how are you doing? you're doing and you know, I know Sidney's listening in that point so, you know, if sometimes, sometimes people do that to me as well and it's just like, all right, everyone gets it. Yeah, but we're so bad.

You have a very memorable name. I have a very, I've met a lot of Sally's in my life, I've met a lot of joys in my life. You are the one and only Gantt I have met in my life. My biggest problem is making sure people actually can pronounce my name. Once they get the pronunciation, then, Most of the time they remember it.

Yeah, true, true. Do you have a technique of like when you're in the industry and you don't know someone's name, do you use the sensei technique or? I run past as fast as I could. As if I'm in a hurry. Like I'm like checking my phone and like, I'm like, I'm gonna be rude.

So I usually like pretend I'm only running because I'm late to something. Yeah. I would talk to you if I had the time, but I can't. Sally, I gotta ask. Kind of personal question, but not really. social anxiety, have you ever pretended to be on the phone? Yes.

Okay, you do that as well? And also, life hack, if you're left with somebody that you feel really uncomfortable with or you're really nervous, I put my timer for like two minutes and then I like leave it on the table and then it rings and I'm like, oh, I got a phone call. I got to go. I'm just, I got to go. That's so smart. That's so good. I got to take this. I'm sorry.

I'm still in that too. It works. It works all the time. This is just social anxiety life act. Like how do you, how do you fake it until you make it? Dude, like, I'm like giving all these like tips and tricks to like get out of the situation.

Sally's just like, I'm a fucking dick. Like I'm not even in this right now. I'm just gonna go. That's so funny. Well, I guess, yeah, like, you know, none of them are news you need. Like what's your guys's next steps? Like what do you have going up?

We have a second album coming out in November 22nd. Oh yeah. And we have an online talk event as well. Yeah. So if you guys are interested, please come up by. Yeah. Hell yeah.

Do you have anything else you want? I mean, it seems like you've done so much already. Is there anything else you want to do or like a role in voice I think or like a project that you like dream of getting? Oh, a jump anime. A jump animal. Yeah, I love Shonen Jump so much. So what if it was a jump, Shonen Jump anime?

And you get to voice act with Sugita Tomokoza. Would you just explode at that point? I mean, there would have to be like an ambulance there every week. You know what? I would probably believe that to. To be fair. So Sally, are there any like future events we can see you at or your fans can see you at? I'm actually going to be the MC for AOF 2023.

Another MC role. Yeah, public speaking. But yeah, Anuplex Online Fest, 2020. It's happening on September 9th. September 9. 9. 9. Now I won't ever forget it. Yeah, yeah.

September 9. September 9. Oh, God, oh my God. Yeah, from 8 p.m. PDT. Yes. PDT. B.T. You look like, you look like someone just like,

It's pointing a gun at Yatch off camera. Like say the line. Say the line. September 9th. Yes. We're gonna be announcing a lot of new antiplex titles. Yeah, a lot of new information. Link twice if you are okay.

Yeah. If I'm okay. Yeah. Okay, actually go blink twice. Blink twice if you're not okay. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. But you know, with that event as well,

I think there might be even like a little secret like trash taste appearance, maybe. I don't know. Do you know how long of the event's gonna be? Last year was like five hours. This is the fourth time this year. I've been the MC for four consecutive years. So.

You're gonna be the MCA- Is that all scripted or do you get to like go off-scrifts? Like 500 pages. It's really like. I get to go off script a little bit, but yeah, it's like really on time. And we have a lot of artists coming to. Awesome.

Yeah. Right on, yeah. Wish you the best of luck. Yeah, best of luck with that. I hope your contact lens, there's no more. I will go in my glasses. And they're still gonna fall off and crack, knowing me.

Yeah, thank you very much for coming onto the show. We appreciate you again. You're welcome. Thank you for staying the entire two hours and not running off after it. Wouldn't it be funny if she's like, actually guys, I got a phone call. Sorry.

Oh, that's my alarm, gotta go. Yeah, gotta go. Got to go. Sorry, the girls are cool, and I just like, it's a family emergency actually. You know how, yeah. But hey, look at all these patrons on screen right now. Do you see all the patrons flying up on screen, Sally?

Point to your favorite patron right now. Just point to anyone. Just point to it. This line. Oh, you lucky bastard. If you got pointed to, God damn. But hey, if you wanna support us and like the show enough, then head on over to our Patreon.

Patreon.com slash Tash Tastes. Also follow us on Twitter. Send us some memes on the subreddit. And if you hate our face, listen to us on Spotify. Is there any socials you wanna shout out? I do Twitter, I do Instagram. Tech talk is like, I mean I'm on it, but like I just do English, daily business English lessons.

If you wanna see some pre-in-shy-shed posting. No, it's more like, it's past five, I gotta go. Or it's like to cure myself. I teach English. I teach business English, like I would like a raise. I don't politely say fuck you to your body. But yeah, and I also have a YouTube channel, so. Yeah, thanks to that is all down in the description.

But hopefully you guys enjoy this episode of Trash Tastes and we will see you all next week. Bye.