An Extravagant Prize Unveiled
Recently I attended a wrap-up party for “Rahxephon”, a series that finished its broadcast run the other day. As you know, this animation features my song “Hemisphere” as its opening theme. Also, on the voice acting side, I played a character named Reika.
The party was held in a stylish venue in Omotesandō. The cast and staff—around 200 people altogether—gathered in one place to congratulate and thank each other for a job well done. Creating an animation takes not only people who stand out, such as the director, voice talent, and composer, but also those who pour themselves into drawing backgrounds, those whose work appears only in the opening, and others whose play precisely defined roles. Beyond these there are network representatives and those whose job it is to cheer on everyone else. I bet you’d be surprised if you could see how unimaginably large is this group of people gathered to complete a single series.
The cast was replete with wonderful people. While there were many veteran actors, the main character’s voice came from a new actor making his debut with this series. My role in this production helped me form friendships with people like Ichiko Hashimoto, who handled the music, and Hōko Kuwashima, a fellow singer who has also released CDs with Victor.
As it so happened, there was one hugely exciting event for yours truly that day. Amazingly, the first-place prize for the bingo tournament held at the party was an LCD TV! Can you say extravagant?! An LCD TV is one of the things I most want right now. After all, I don’t have a TV in my room to begin with. I hardly watch TV, but sometimes I need one for work purposes and so I was thinking of buying one. I thought I might as well get an LCD, since it wouldn’t take up much space, but spending that much on something I won’t use often is kind of wasteful… And then this! This may just be fate. I really thought so. I put everything I had into sending out TV beams (?), but it was no use. I didn’t win anything, to say nothing of the TV. sigh… I really wanted that TV… How disappointing.
maaya