Now, for the second topic. It’s about the voice recording for the first episode of the Feelings in Russian anime! If you’re a comic reader, and you read the bonus comics after the afterword, then you know what I’m talking about. Apparently, you’ll see something like this in the Feelings in Russian comics as well with illustrations by Tenamachi, so check it out! There, I’ve fulfilled my stealth advertisement quota…even though no one asked me to.
So, I was thinking of talking about things that Tenamachi couldn’t fully cover…but then, I got the draft for the comic. And, well—it’s way more detailed than I expected, leaving me with basically nothing to add. Also, uh…Tenamachi’s humanoid avatar is seriously creepy. Like, wow.
So, uh… Wh-what do I talk about now? Oh, hey! I actually met Momoco for the first time at the recording studio! Until then, we never even texted or anything. I only sent her a DM once saying hello, and that was it, but after three years of Feelings in Russian, I finally got to meet her in person. It was so exciting. Oh, this was my second time meeting Tenamachi. We met once before the comic serialization began as a kind of meet-and-greet. Since we’re the same age and Tenamachi is so outgoing, I felt like we were friends right away the second time we met.
So, the voice recording finally began…and wow, professional voice actors are amazing, huh? I know everyone says that, and Tenamachi’s comic depicting the events shows that, so I won’t say anything about the main characters’ actual recordings. Instead, what I want to talk about is the background noise and background character chatter. You know, those scenes in classrooms and cafeterias where a bunch of people are talking at once? That! That was incredible! Did you know that they don’t just use pre-recorded crowd noise? The voice actors actually improvise those sounds on the spot.
And they do it in groups of two or three together like they’re having an actual casual conversation. Plus, they recorded three different patterns: a mix of male and female voices, a group of female voice actors, and a group of male voice actors. The fact that they can improvise all that dialogue on command is truly amazing. I’m sure if someone suddenly asked me to do it, I’d be like “N-nice weather we’re having today, huh?” as my voice cracks.
Unfortunately, unlike Prince Shotoku or Masachika, I can’t understand ten conversations at once, so I couldn’t tell who was saying what…but what I could tell was that the cafeteria scene was hilarious, like something out of a comedy sketch. I can’t go into detail because I don’t want to spoil it for you, but if you have a chance, try to figure listen to what they’re saying. It was a masterpiece.
Anyway, after finishing the main character recordings and the background noise, we finished Part A. It took about two hours. I was told beforehand that the recording would take four to five hours, but contrary to my expectations, Part B ended in about an hour and a half, so I was like, “Wow, that was fast!” …And then, we started recording the extra parts and the Russian dialogue! Almost forgot about that!
We recorded each Russian line with the help of a Russian language teacher, and it was quite a process. Not only were they getting direction from the anime director and sound director (and me) about the acting, like “Be more friendly here” or “Hey, I don’t think that’s how you pronounce ‘nickel,’” but we also had to get feedback on our Russian pronunciation.
Even if the pronunciation was technically correct, if it didn’t match the mood during the scene, we had to redo it. On top of that, since the animation team had only made a rough estimate of how long the Russian dialogue would take, they sometimes found themselves saying, “Oh no, the Russian lines are longer than we expected! Can we extend this part of the animation a bit?” And in the midst of all this, I’d be thinking to myself, “I’m so sorry… I crammed all that Russian dialogue in without even really thinking about it, and now, everyone else has to suffer because of it…” But everyone was truly a pro about it. Of course, Sumire Uesaka, who can already speak Russian, was amazing, but the others had clearly practiced a lot beforehand. It wasn’t uncommon for them to get it right in one take, and we finished this part in about thirty minutes.
It took about four hours in total, which was longer than I expected for just one episode. I was truly amazed at how much work goes into it. Just when I was thinking about how demanding this job must be, Kouhei Amasaki, the voice actor for Masachika, came up to me and asked, “Was my Masachika okay?” He was so humble and a really nice guy. I mean, the whole thing was fantastic, to be honest.
By the time I started writing this afterword, the recording for the second episode has already finished, and I can say that all the voice actors, including Kouhei Amasaki, have done an amazing job. The animation is still in progress, but you can already see how beautiful the artwork is. I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished product. So, everyone, please be sure to watch the Feelings in Russian anime! All right, that’s the end of part two of my unsolicited advertising.
Oh, hey. Check it out. I’ve already written nine pages of afterword. Man, I talk too much. I just realized I had already written more than nine pages for the afterword. I got carried away because I was having so much fun writing. What should I do? I need to cut it down. All right, let’s see… If I cut a few parts from the beginning, I can probably save a page. I feel like I did a sloppy job of omitting parts, but whatever. The uncut version with all the parts I cut out won’t be published anywhere, so it doesn’t matter.
Now, on to the acknowledgements.
Once again, I was a little too slow writing this novel, causing quite a bit of trouble over the New Year holidays for my editor, Miyakawa, so thank you for your patience. Thank you for helping me out during our trip to Singapore and during the recording as well.
Next, I would like to thank Momoco for her wonderful illustrations again. I’m so sorry for asking you to draw more illustrations at the end of the year when you must have been busy. In addition to the amazing illustrations in this volume, she also drew an amazing cover for the artbook. Oh no! I forgot to mention the artbook! The first-ever Feelings in Russian artbook will be released in July 2024 along with the ninth volume of the novel. Please look forward to it! There will also be some exclusive illustrations, so don’t miss it! Oh no, I’m running out of space.
Uh… Next, I’d like to thank Tenamachi for her meticulous and high-quality comic adaptation. The comic adaptation has finally reached the second volume of the novels. I’m really looking forward to seeing Ayano, Sayaka, and Nonoa appear!
And last but not least, I would like to thank Suzuki, the editor in charge of the comic adaptation, Iwata, the editor in charge of the artbook, the promotion team, the staff at Doga Kobo, Inc., all the cast members, and all the readers of Feelings in Russian. Thank you so much! I hope to see you again in 2024! And let’s meet again in the afterwords for the next volume and the artbook, shall we? See ya!