During this year’s Anime NYC, we had the privilege and opportunity to speak with veteran voice actress Chiwa Saito alongside other members of the press. Saito-san has had a variety of well known roles in anime and games, including Hitagi Senjougahara in the Monogatari series, Yona in Yona of the Dawn, Homura Akemi in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and Tamano-no-Mae in Fate/Grand Order. The conversation was lighthearted, fun, and full of laughter, everything you can want from an interview.
Starting Off in the Industry
Saito-san has had an impressive career in the voice acting industry, but the way it started was a bit unusual. At one point during the conversation with members of the press, she shared a story about how she first learned about and gained interest in the industry.
“I could share this story — this is how I started my career as a voice actress. So one day when I was little, my mom got me a magazine, and I asked her to get a fashion magazine, but she ended up getting a voice actor industry magazine. So that’s how I came to know this whole voice acting occupation. And yeah, so that’s how I started. Back then, they were focusing on an interview about a voice actor who voiced Harrison Ford. So, I thought ‘Oh my God, if I became a voice actress, then I would have the chance to co-act or co-perform with Harrison Ford.’ And that’s cool, and then that’s how it started. He just is amazing, Harrison Ford, in my opinion. I don’t really expect that I’m going to Hollywood. For me, it’s kind of just, you know, a dream. So back then, if I voiced any of the characters that were in his movie, then I could co-perform. To start.”
Saito-san’s fascination with Harrison Ford is a consistent thing she’s mentioned across interviews and press appearances. She admired his movies as she came up in the industry and has even described him as her ideal man in the past. Though, when asked if she would marry Harrison Ford given the chance, she stopped short of that major step.
“I have three kids — I have two year old kids. I wonder if he can play with my two year old child.”
Her early career was filled with ample numbers of early roles and plenty of admiration and respect for her voice acting senpai. Saito-san spoke about how one of her favorite catch phrases even comes from one of her first roles — Kokoro in Kokoro’s Library. Keroro Gunsou (also known as Sgt. Frog), in which Saito-san plays Natsumi Hinata, was another series she spoke fondly of, especially when it came to looking up to senior voice actors on the project and how being part of a series for a long time influences her relationship to it and its staff.
“Keroro Gunsou was one of the series that I was involved in right after I debuted. It was earlier on in my career. That’s the place where I could be as much a newbie as possible. All the senpais around me — like I said a bit ago, I really enjoy portraying comedic characters. It comes from here. Senpai actors and actresses were having so much fun during recording sessions. Yet, they’re respecting each other and having fun at the same time. They created this wonderful environment for newbies like me. Throughout the seven years, not even once did a day ever feel the same to me. I really admire all those senpais. Now, I have become the age of those senpai, back then when I was in Keroro Gunsou. I respect them so much still and admire them. One day, I’ll be like them. Nowadays, I try really hard for newbies in the recording session. If they’re feeling nervous, then I would go to them and talk things out. Then, they can relax. I try to create the fun environment for them just like the senpais did for me. I try my hardest to be like the senpais before.”
Mindset and Becoming Homura
A notable role from later in Saito-san’s career, and one for which she is quite well known, is Homura in the series Puella Magi Madoka Magica. This is a notable role and one members of the press wanted to know more about, especially from the standpoint of psychology and how Saito-san places herself in the right mindset for these roles. She explained that, in the case of Homura, that wasn’t even the character she originally auditioned for. Even more, the many layers and parts to the character made for an exceptionally challenging performance.
“So, I actually didn’t audition for Homura to start with. They asked me to audition for Kyubey. So, that’s how it started. But, during that audition, the original creator, Urobuchi-san, asked me to read Homura. So, that’s the very first time that I saw the character’s lines. And, I wasn’t really aware of the journey of this character when I started as this character.”
One of the unique aspects of Homura is how she oscillates between more heroic, protagonist roles to antagonist roles within a single work, specifically within the third Puella Magi Madoka Magica movie, Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part III: Rebellion. Without spoiling any finer details of the movie and its plot, Homura undergoes some major changes over the course of the movie with plot-rending effects. Saito-san explained that she wasn’t aware of these changes when she was first given the script.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen before I received the script. So, it caught me off guard. And, it was a good surprise for me. So, when I first received the script, it was divided in first half and the second half. So, when I was acting out the first half, I had no clue what was going to happen in the second half. I was so surprised.”
“There’s a Megane [glasses] Homura and a Devil Homura. and, especially when we were recording the game, I received three different Homura scripts. One that’s for Cool Homura, one that’s for Megane Homura and one that’s for Akuma [Devil] Homura. And then throughout the series and the movies, to me, it’s like one long gradation. It’s not like white and black. To me, this character is graduating, growing, and is just like us. We have a baby era, to going to school, to high school, and grad school, and we become adults. But we are still the same person. So it’s the matter of what parts of the era we focus on in terms of character. It seems quite different if you cut out this part of the character and then this part of the character. But to me, it’s all the same. So it was quite surprising when the game was released. The people and fans’ reaction was, ‘Oh my god, there are so many different Homuras in here.’ But to me, it’s the same character. And I’ve worked three times as much, because there are technically different ways of expressing this one character. So it’s not fair that I’m working three times as much (laughs).
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, who is best known for his work with Shaft. Saito-san is frequently in works directed by Shinbo-san, and we asked whether this was something intentional or a coincidence across her years of voice acting. She explained more about their relationship and some funny interactions.
“When I first worked with him, it was for the work called Tsukuyomi. That was my first job with him. So during the audition, there was one other candidate, two candidates including myself. But Shinbo, the director, he wanted the other girl, not me. He doesn’t really like my voice or how I act. However, as we worked together, he liked how I work, which was that I don’t do the same thing twice. I bring every take in a different way and with a different approach. So he liked me working with him. The one thing that I’m kind of scared of when I’m working with Shinbo-san is that sometimes he would say, ‘Hmm, I’ve heard it before.’ It makes me kind of nervous.
I’ve never really requested to work directly with the director, but Madoka Magica included, and with these old other works that we had been working on together, every time i would show up to the recording booth he was like ‘Oh my god, you again.’ And the staff members around the director were like, ‘Well I think she fits the role perfectly.’ And he would be like, ‘Oh, well, maybe.’ So that’s kind of the dynamic that we have. Once we started doing all the recording sessions, he would say, ‘Oh, I knew it from the start that you were the best fit.’ And then I would say, ‘Oh, you’re such a liar.’ (laughs)”
Favorite Character Types and Challenges
One thing I wanted to know more about from Saito-san was whether the kinds of roles and voices that the industry has wanted have shifted over the years. She’s spoken in the past about having a “drawer” of voices that she pulls from; I asked if she feels like the kinds of voices the industry wants for projects has shifted over time.
“I’m not really sure the time passing would change what they want or what they are seeking out through my acting, but definitely what people ask of me has changed throughout my career. Like the beginning of my career and as of now. So, when i started out as a voice actor, when I started this career, I mostly played main characters in the girl age range. These are characters that are growing throughout the series. But nowadays I play mothers or masters or like a final boss, that sort of character. So that’s completely changed what they want from me. I used to play a character who saves the world but now I’ve been playing characters who are destroying the world (room laughs). I have become strong.”
Additionally, I wanted to know if she had a favorite type of character. Saito-san explained that she enjoys comedic characters and had the chance to fully architect a character from the ground up in the past.
“Nowadays, I play a lot of cool characters such as Hitagi [Hitagi Senjougahara in Monogatari] or Homura, but i personally really enjoy playing comedic characters. So as we speak right now, Tamamo from FGO [Tamamo-no-Mae in Fate/Grand Order], that’s the character I kind of enjoy playing. For example, Tamamo herself, she has so many characters within her and there’s a god monster called Kyubi no Kitsune, or the fox with nine tails. [ . . . ] Nasu Kinoko-san from Fate, he told me, ‘You do whatever you want [for this character] and that’s your call.’ So technically this Tamamo character is the very first character that I created from zero. I play it with a free mind and do whatever I want. And then if the director says, maybe not so much, then I’ll kind of take it back a notch. I do whatever I want until they say it’s too much. I found a very vague line that I go for”
Funnily enough, on the topic of game characters, Saito-san explained to the press that she hasn’t yet explained to her son what her career is. This has led to some funny scenarios where she actually voices characters in some of the games that he plays. But, unfortunately, her characters aren’t characters that he’s a big fan of.
“We’re waiting for the moment to tell him. Mostly, he doesn’t like my characters. He loves really cool characters, heroic ones.”
When it comes to characters she’s had a difficult time voicing, Saito-san pointed to one of her most well known roles as a particularly challenging one.
“It’s definitely Yona from Yona of the Dawn. As you already know, the characters besides Yona, most of them are male characters. This series — the whole thing is very Shonen Jump-like. Back then. Not nowadays, but back then. The adventures and all those obstacles and fighting scenes, and all the excitement included. But then, it’s a female main character. So, I will be the lead. I felt like I had to be the coolest character amongst all those cool male characters. That was kind of hard for me to portray. It’s not like heroine, but it’s the main character. I’ve played so many heroine characters, but to me, playing the heroine and playing the lead character are a little bit different. I had to be this lead character. So, it was kind of challenging for me to portray. However, at the same time, I had a great joy working and portraying this character.
There’s a side story that goes with this. I got pregnant with my first child. When we recorded episode one, I couldn’t go because I didn’t feel well because of the pregnancy. That’s how I started this series. And then I gave birth right before the last episode recording session. So, my pregnancy, this journey, is with Yona of the Dawn. It’s a really memorable series to me, in a way. Like I said, it was my first child — my daughter. So, that character is kind of the collaboration of myself and my daughter. I was feeling her energy from my belly. It’s a very memorable moment.”
We’d like to thank Chiwa Saito for taking the time to speak with us and other members of the press. The answers and insight she gave us were both quite valuable and the conversation wasn’t one we could have had with anyone else.
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