Tasuku Hatanaka × Yuto Uemura Interview
“He’s been an inspiring presence since the first time we met”
Published May 3 by Stream. See the original article here
The latest installment in the series, Be Forever Yamato REBEL 3199 Chapter 3: The Ultramarine Asteroid, is currently playing to positive reviews. We spoke with Yuto Uemura, who plays Takeshi Ageha, and Tasuku Hatanaka, who plays Ryusuke Domon, about their careers and their thoughts on the series after having known each other for over a decade.
Comrades who have been main cast members since early on
Interviewer: How long have you two known each other?
Hatanaka: We first met about ten years ago.
Uemura: I think I was 21 and Tasuku was 20. We’ve known each other for a long time.
Interviewer: Both of you started your careers at a young age, didn’t you?
Uemura: I started as a child actor at the age of 4, but I made my voice acting debut at around 8.
Hatanaka: That’s super early! That’s amazing. I was 10 when I started.
Uemura: We’re almost the same age!
Hatanaka: I also wanted to debut when I was still in single digits (laughs).
Interviewer: Hatanaka-san, both of your parents are actors, but what made you want to become a voice actor?
Hatanaka: I always wanted to be an actor, but at the time, I was a bit chubby, and I was worried that if I debuted as a child actor, I’d be typecast. While I was struggling with that, someone told me about voice acting as a form of expression, so I took a general audition that didn’t require agency affiliation and got in. That’s how I started.
Interviewer: Did you both feel a sense of fulfillment from voice acting from the start?
Uemura: Yes. I had been doing various jobs since I was a child actor, but most of my voice work was dubbing for foreign films, which was a lot of fun. However, at the time, I didn’t feel like I was acting in front of a microphone. I just did my best and enjoyed it, and then I was praised for my work.
Hatanaka: I wanted to be praised by adults. Also, I had the opportunity to be interviewed at a hotel with overseas actors who had come to Japan, and they treated me to delicious food. Rather than just being fun, it felt like I was experiencing a different world.
Uemura: However, the period when my voice was changing was difficult. My voice was unstable, so people couldn’t tell if I was a child or an adult, and I couldn’t do voice work anymore.
Hatanaka: I understand. You could tell from the staff that they were thinking, “His voice has changed…”
Uemura: Exactly. It’s like you can sense the atmosphere even as a child. That makes sense.
Hatanaka: Like, “A low voice is useless…”
Uemura: The foundation I had built up inside me was gone, so it was a huge shock. During that time, I desperately wanted to do voice acting, so when I became an adult and started taking it seriously, it gave me a lot of fulfillment.
Interviewer: Did you also face the challenge of a voice change, Hatanaka-san?
Hatanaka: It was really tough. My voice changed very obviously. But I wanted to continue as a child actor, so even though I knew I shouldn’t, I forced myself to speak in a higher voice, which just made it raspy. The voice change continued until I was around 16, but that’s when I finally landed my first regular role in an anime.
Uemura: That must have been tough.
Hatanaka: My voice wasn’t stable, so I strained it during the first part, and it ended up sounding raspy.
Interviewer: What were your first impressions of each other?
Hatanaka: I thought Uemura-san was skilled in a different way from the people who came from the training school. He was completely different from everyone else, and it was shocking to see someone like him.
Interviewer: What was different about him compared to others?
Hatanaka: It might be rude to say this about someone who’s been doing this since they were four, but…
Uemura: Let’s hear it. (Laughs)
Hatanaka: (Laughs) To put it another way, the others felt like finished model kits that had been neatly painted. But with you, it felt like you were still in the assembly phase, not overly polished. There was a subtle imbalance that wasn’t over-practiced, and that felt fresh.
Uemura: I see. It’s true that if there was a “correct answer” for acting in front of a microphone, like “this is how you do it,” everyone else goes for that. But I don’t. It’s not bad, though.
Hatanaka: Exactly. It’s like seeing an academic painting and then seeing an Impressionist painting. It’s like, “Oh, there’s this kind of painting too,” and your texture was different from everyone else’s.
Uemura: The first time I met him on set, Tasuku was playing the protagonist, and his role was to scream and run away no matter what. I’ve been watching senior voice actors perform since I was a child actor, so I had a fixed image of what voice actors were like. But Tasuku, even when performing in front of the microphone, had this sense of presence or immersion, like “It doesn’t matter!” Whether the microphone was close or far away, he spoke with the same volume, as if that’s exactly how he would speak. Until then, I had mostly been the youngest on set, so it was my first time seeing an actor who was one year younger than me struggling with his acting, and it was both inspiring and exciting.
Hatanaka: In anime today, it’s not very common for 20- and 21-year-old voice actors to be the main cast, is it?
Uemura: It might be rare.
Hatanaka: We were really young!
Uemura: We were definitely young. In that sense, we’re comrades.
At the voice recording studio, the characters finally connect
Interviewer: REBEL 3199 Chapter 3 is the latest installment in the seven-chapter (26-episode) series, reimagining the 1980 theatrical film Be Forever Yamato with a new interpretation. How did you feel when you received the offer?
Uemura: I was familiar with the theme song of Space Battleship Yamato, but I hadn’t actually watched the original. I never thought I’d have the opportunity to be involved in the series, and the idea of voicing a character from Yamato felt overwhelming. But being entrusted with this role made me think that perhaps my generation, which hasn’t fully experienced Yamato, is being asked to approach it with a fresh perspective. I accepted the offer with the mindset of diving in headfirst.
Hatanaka: I also only watched the beginning of the original Yamato before the audition, but when I saw the character overview I was given, it described the fate of Domon, the character I was going to play, so I decided not to watch any more. I wanted to approach it with my own interpretation, so I deliberately avoided watching it.
Uemura: That’s true. If you watch it, you might be influenced by the actors who played the roles in the original.
Hatanaka: However, even just watching the beginning of the first film, I felt an incredible intensity. It’s not just a simple story of good versus evil; it depicts what is truly important through battle, and that weight is carried by the film. I believe that such sentiments have been faithfully carried over into this remake series. The core elements remain the same: human interaction, warmth, love, how aliens and humans can coexist, and issues of discrimination. The story has become more complex with the addition of modern themes, but I feel that the essence has been preserved.
Interviewer: Please tell us about the characters you play.
Hatanaka: Domon is the type of person who can’t see what’s going on around him and charges straight ahead with his own ideas. Once he believes in something, he sticks to his beliefs, and his complex feelings toward Captain Kodai are also based on that. In the third chapter, those feelings are shaken, and he’s under a lot of stress from various directions. As the actor playing him, I thought, “He should just take a deep breath,” but I didn’t do that. It was very difficult to act while feeling so irritated.
Uemura: You mentioned that at the screening event for the second chapter.
Hatanaka: The stress builds up even more in Chapter 3. (Laughs) The connection with Kodai is an important theme throughout the series, and because he taught us so much, there’s a feeling of, “I didn’t want him to abandon our Yamato” and “He was someone who would take responsibility.” How that develops going forward is a major highlight.
Interviewer: Can you understand Kodai’s feelings?
Hatanaka: I can understand them myself. He lost everything. But as Domon, I don’t really care. I feel like, “You were our guiding light,” so it was difficult to play the role because I can understand both sides.
Interviewer: Mr. Uemura, what about the character you play, Takeshi Ageha?
Uemura: When I first heard about him from the director, Harutoshi Fukui, he mentioned that this character has a tendency to be cynical due to a past event, which is revealed in the third chapter. That’s why he ended up having a strained relationship with Domon. As a result, he became someone who doesn’t express his true feelings. He’s highly capable and reliable, but when it comes to himself, he loses his cool.
He sees things clearly around him, but when it comes to the core of the matter, he wavers. He has a charismatic aura and is also the heir to a wealthy family, so he’s in a slightly different position from the other crew members. But as I played the role, I began to feel closer to him. In this story, there’s a scene where he finally understands Domon, which I found cute. I enjoyed playing that change within myself.
Interviewer: Were you both at the same voice recording studio?
Hatanaka: At first, we were separate, but it was great to be able to record the important scenes at the end together.
Uemura: In a sense, it felt like the characters finally connected in the voice recording studio. We hadn’t recorded together much until the second chapter, so I think we experienced the same changes as the characters.
Rather than teaching us important things, it’s a work that allows us to discover things for ourselves.
Interviewer: What stood out to you about Fukui-san’s direction?
Uemura: When I received the materials about Ageha, Fukui-san told me, “Yamato is a historical work with a heavy feel, but there will definitely be parts that resonate with you, so please feel free to act naturally.” Those words were a great support to me.
Interviewer: Were there parts that resonated with you?
Uemura: I guess it’s my clumsiness. I found that we’re similar in the way we speak to others and how we keep our distance. The awkwardness between Domon and Ageha started because I tried to be considerate when speaking to him, but in the end, he didn’t take it the way I intended. We both tried to compromise, but it didn’t work out, and we ended up not meshing well. I haven’t had that kind of experience myself, but I do feel that I’m clumsy in dealing with people like that, and playing Aghea allowed me to face myself.
Hatanaka: What Fukui-san told me beforehand was, “Domon is the youngest, so I want you to take on the role of spokesperson for the younger generation and be proactive.” During direction, I was often advised to “calm down” and “say more.” Being able to honestly express that frustration is something only Domon can do, and it’s the opposite of Ageha’s sensitivity.
However, the question “Why?” that viewers might have toward Ageha is something Domon can confront head-on, and that recklessness might make him the character closest to the audience’s perspective. Some viewers might watch Domon and think, “I understand how he feels,” while others might think, “He’s still so young.” I think the way people perceive it will vary depending on their generation. From the viewer’s perspective, Domon is like a mirror reflecting ourselves.
Interviewer: Finally, please tell us what you think are the highlights of REBEL 3199 Chapter 3.
Hatanaka: When the original Space Battleship Yamato was broadcast, Japan was just coming out of a period of rapid economic growth, and there was still a positive feeling about the future. Now, not just in Japan but globally, I feel a sense of confusion, and Yamato also seems to have lost some of its ability to push forward with such strength. This is evident in the actions of Kodai, but despite the advancements that have connected us in various ways, these connections feel superficial or even non-existent.
In a world where we can’t truly trust others, we’re faced with the question of “what should we believe in?” Yamato‘s journey is not something far away, but something that exists in our daily lives and is relevant to us, so I want people to focus on that. Rather than teaching us important things, this work may be something that allows us to discover things for ourselves.
Uemura: I think the younger generation is familiar with Yamato, but they probably have a vague impression that it’s difficult to understand. But as someone involved in the production, and after actually watching the footage, I feel that the essence lies in the human drama. There are people with various perspectives and various ways of thinking about how to face the future. Some issues can only be resolved through discussion or conflict. Such multifaceted perspectives are scattered throughout the production.
The character I play, Ageha, is fighting on the battlefield, but there are also the perspectives of those left behind. Not everything works out, but when one conflict is resolved, we can take another step forward. I think Yamato is a work that allows you to see things from various angles. I think it fits well with the diverse times we live in, and I’m personally interested in how different generations will perceive it. I hope people will give it a try.