Daisuke Ono X Makoto Furukawa

The latest installment in the Space Battleship Yamato series is a reinterpretation and reimagining of the third theatrical film, Be Forever Yamato, released in 1980. The final chapter of the seven part series will soon be released in theaters nationwide. We spoke with Daisuke Ono, who plays Kodai, and Makoto Furukawa, who plays Alphon, about their thoughts on the final chapter.

Text by Rina Tanaka, photos by Kei Masuda

Interviewer: The two of you hadn’t had the opportunity to do voice recording together until chapter 6. I had the impression that Harutoshi Fukui was intentionally keeping you apart, but it seems you finally did voice recording together in the final chapter.

Furukawa: apparently it wasn’t intentional, it was just a coincidence. It really just happened that way because of scheduling. We were just joking around.

Ono: that’s right. (Laughs) As for Yamato, there are so many people involved that we have to record in separate groups. If you go back farther, even for 2199, the Earth side and the Garmillas side were recorded separately. That’s why I missed opportunities to work with Koichi Yamadera, who played Dessler back then, too.

Furukawa: So, you’re in a position where you’re just passing each other by, right?

Ono: That’s how we recorded it. So it didn’t feel strange. But Houko Kuwashima was also on Furukawa’s team. Yuki is with Alphon and they’re talking, so if we were going to record together, it would naturally be on Alphon‘s side, but when I left the recording studio after Kodai and Sasha had finished recording, Furukawa and Kuwashima were there in the next group. That happened three or four times, so I thought, “Are they doing this on purpose?” I thought, “If they just tried a little harder, we could record together!” But in the end, I think it was good that we were able to build that kind of relationship.

In Yamato, there are some roles that you can’t do unless you know what’s going to happen during the recording, but I deliberately tried not to know what would happen next in the story. For example, in the previous series, when we were fighting together with Garmillas, Keyman, played by Hiroshi Kamiya, was a role that you couldn’t do unless you knew what was going to happen next, so Mr. Kamiya knew far into the future. But we Yamato crew didn’t know anything. That’s the kind of setup we’ve been using for the recording up until now. This time, Furukawa was in that position.

Furukawa: That’s right. I had heard a lot of things even before the voice recording session.

Ono: When I think about all that, I think it probably would have been a bad idea for us to record together. We take on the challenge because we don’t know what the future holds, while Alphon‘s sadness arises precisely because he knows what’s going to happen. Kodai, Who initially clashed with Alphon, and even tried to kill him, believed that they could understand each other and pressed on. But in this final chapter, he has to confront the meaning of life, so considering all of that, I think it was good that they didn’t meet until the final chapter.

Furukawa: I think there might have been some tweaking regarding the order of the voice recording sessions. I can’t deny the possibility that Fukui egged on Ono in that regard. Certainly, I’m glad that I was able to do the voice recording without knowing the circumstances from Kodai’s side. It was good that I understood it only after seeing the finished product. But during the voice recording for the final chapter, I also had the feeling that I finally got to meet Mr. Ono! The feelings that Alphon wanted to express were conveyed to Kodai by Yuki, and I was happiest to hear that conversation right in front of me! It was like, “is that the transcendence and brilliance that underlines what Dezarium has lost and what humans possess?” I was happy to hear that.

Ono: That’s true. Being able to feel things through voice recording, even in parts where you don’t have any lines, is the ultimate reward for an actor.

Interviewer: During an interview for chapter 1, Furukawa’s first words were, “With Mr. Ono as my rival, there’s no way I can win!” What are your thoughts now that you’ve come this far?

Furukawa: I’ve come to realize that the word “rival” was too much of a reference to the original series. Back then, I didn’t know the end of Rebel 3199, so I imagined that there might be some kind of rivalry stemming from jealousy. But when I looked into it, Susumu Kodai was an object of interest for Alphon to learn about humanity, and the person he wanted to understand the most, Yuki, loved Kodai the most. Because Kodai was the farthest thing from Alphon’s understanding as a Dezarian, he wanted to know more about Kodai to deepen his understanding of humanity. In the end, Alphon’s position is that of someone who skillfully assists the ball that comes his way and finishes the match.

Ono: I also thought we were rivals competing to win or lose. But we fought together, and beyond that there was understanding and empathy. Normally, one would think that aliens could never understand each other, but Kodai was able to last against both the Garmillas and Gatlantis, so we were able to cooperate this time as well. What’s always at the heart of Susumu Kodai is “understanding each other.” I think this is a universal theme of Yamato.

Interviewer: You said that you were surprised at the time, thinking, “Furukawa is being cast in this position!

Ono: Up until now, my opponents have been too strong. Dessler is voiced by Koichi Yamadera, and Zordar is voiced by Hideaki Tezuka. All the enemies are strong! At first, I thought Furukawa would be the enemy, so I thought, “A young generation has arrived!” Right now, I’m in the middle generation of the industry. There are more and more juniors coming up, and there are also many seniors, so I feel like I’m right in the middle. And in the midst of all that, Furukawa was chosen as Alphon from among the young voice actors who are shaping the current era. At the time, I thought it was amazing. Because out of the actors who were shaping the industry today, Yamato chose Furukawa. So I felt intimidated. I thought, “I can’t lose to him.” But when all was said and done, people were excited, saying, “Your voices are similar.” (Laughs) I also thought, “Maybe there’s meaning in that. Maybe that’s why Yuki is attracted to him.”

Interviewer: Even before you started working together, people were saying that your voices sounded similar, right?

Ono: That’s right. We’ve played brothers in several roles, too.

Furukawa: I got to do a lot of different things.

Ono: the sound Director of an anime once told me that I sounded like Furukawa. I was like, “really? I don’t think I sound that much like him,” but then Furukawa was cast in Yamato 3199 Houko Kuwashima told me the same thing on the Yamato site. (Laughs)

Furukawa: Right. Since she said so, I thought we must sound alike.

Ono: Maybe that’s why you were cast, and we got to work together. So I’m glad. All is well that ends well.

Interviewer: You’ve also mentioned that you have a similar level of passion for acting.

Ono: in this work, our positions are quite different, so there aren’t many similarities in our acting styles, but Furukawa is also someone who can project his voice really well. He can really belt it out.

Furukawa: I suppose that’s a good thing, huh?

Ono: He’s the kind of person who can be tense even in situations where it’s not necessary, because it makes things interesting. I remember hearing from Jun Fukuyama when we were on the site together before, “Furukawa is amazing, he’s incredible.”

Furukawa: Oh! Is that so?

Ono: He said that your voice is really powerful, especially when you’re making witty remarks. Jun has built up his physique to produce a stable voice. For Jun to praise you, it must mean that you also have considerable power.

Furukawa: (Laughs)

Ono: in that sense, I also really value and enjoy the fun of raising my voice in acting. I just think you’re someone who does the kind of acting I like.

Furukawa: Thank you. In the end, I think it was just as I said at the beginning. In a sense, there were areas where I was clearly at a disadvantage when it came to the relationship surrounding Yuki. The people of Dezarium, including Alphon, are trying to invade Earth based on a fabricated past, but even so, what the people of Earth have woven together is incredibly long and unshakable.

There is an incredibly long history of various people going through invasions and wars from aliens to somehow get to where they are now, finally achieving a brief period of peace. And it is Daisuke Ono who has been leading that history from the very first installment of this remake series. Not only in his acting, but also after having this conversation with him, I realize once again that there is no way I can surpass Daisuke Ono‘s history and the history of Be Forever. In that respect, I am absolutely right about what I said in the past. I think this was the time when I was able to feel the greatness and weight of my senior, Daisuke Ono, while overlapping it with Susumu Kodai, who has woven the history of Yamato.

Ono: Thank you.

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