Anime NYC 2024: Chiwa Saito Talks With Anime Herald

Note: Due to the time-sensitive nature of our coverage, this article will debut on the main Anime Herald site on September 21. We apologize for the inconvenience.

• Interviewer: Seth Burn

• Interview Date: 8/24/2024

Manga Mavericks: How do you approach portraying characters like Homura Akemi or Hitagi Senjōgahara, who often hide their true feelings who often hide or suppress their true feelings by speaking in a cold or modular voice?

Chiwa Saitō: In order to deepen my character, I only bring in images from the original works. Those are the only materials I’ll bring into the set or recording booth. I’ll ask the director or other cast members. Hearing their performances and through their character I’ll gradually find my own way of creating my character. For example, maybe this character has an old voice, maybe this character has a cool essence. But I’ll just bring in the original images from the source material that I got inspiration from.

I personally feel it is very important… the character may speak in a fairly flat tone, but there’s definitely a moment that this character feels very emotional. A split second. I wouldn’t let go of that part. I would deepen that part of the character. The part they couldn’t hide. It will come in the regular tones. What’s important is what emotion was behind the tones. Those are the moments that are important not to miss. The juiciness of that part of the character.

ESR Gaming Network: Can you share your top three characters you’ve voiced?

Chiwa Saitō: Normally I don’t rank them. I love them equally.

(Editor’s note: She proceeded to do the voices of a few of her most popular and most well known characters.)

Natural Aristocrat: What has been your favorite part of visiting Anime NYC and New York City?

Chiwa Saitō: I arrived yesterday. I’m very excited to be here. I haven’t gone anywhere else yet. I just unpacked and got ready. I brought my son. Three minutes after we left the hotel, my son needed to go pee. We went back to the hotel. And then he was tired, so he took a nap. After that, he wanted to eat some meat, so we ordered Gyūdon. They forgot the silverware, so I made rice balls from it and we ate it with our hands. So those are my memories so far from New York City.

Natural Aristocrat: Does your son play games that feature you as a voice actress?

(Editor’s note: Her son was in the hallway playing on a Nintendo Switch)

Chiwa Saitō: Yes, he has played games I’ve been in. However, I haven’t told him about my occupation. He doesn’t know I’ve played certain characters in the games he has played. I’m waiting for the right moment to tell him.

Mostly, he doesn’t like my characters. (Laughs) He likes really cool, heroic characters.

Anime Herald: Normally I would ask “what were the anime or manga that you loved as a child that inspired you to want to join the anime industry?” However, in your case I will ask “What were the Harrison Ford movies that you loved growing up?”

Chiwa Saitō: Oh man, I love Harrison Ford so much. I watched Indiana Jones on the way here. Air Force One, I really love. I think he’s the best person to become president of the United States. That’s my personal opinion. (Laughs)

Weekly Shogakukan: As a Shogakukan outlet, one of our favorite roles of yours is Tenko from Law of Ueki. Are there any Shogakukan series you enjoy being in, or would like to be in?

Chiwa Saitō: Kōsuke!

In Japan, we, the voice actors and actresses, don’t know the productions by the publishers. We know them by the production companies. If you can name some of them, I can pick it from them.

“Kōsuke! Kōsuke! Kōsuke”

Towards the end, that was the only line I had.

Weekly Shogakukan: Do you remember your role in Gintama?

Chiwa Saitō: If I remember correctly my character (Kuriko Matsudaira) appeared twice-ish. Sorry!

(Editor’s note: Episodes 35, 114.)

Anime Corner: You’ve spoken in the past of having a drawer of different voices suitable for different characters and different projects. Do you feel like the kind of voices or projects the industry wants has shifted over time?

Chiwa Saitō: I’m not really sure the passing of time has changed what they want or what they are seeking out from my acting. Definitely, what people have asked from me has changed throughout my career, from the beginning to now.

When I started my career, I mostly played main characters. Girls who would grow throughout the series. Nowadays, I play mothers, or masters, or a last boss. That’s completely changed what they want from me. I used to play characters that saved the world. Now I play characters that destroy the world. I’ve become stronger! (Laughs)

Manga Mavericks: Speaking of characters that save the world, Homura made a shocking character turn in Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion. How did you approach Homura’s mindset for portraying her in that film?

Chiwa Saitō: I actually didn’t audition for Homura to start with. They asked me to audition for Kyubey. During that audition, the original creator, [Gen] Urobuchi-san, asked me to read for Homura. That’s the first time I saw the character’s lines. I wasn’t aware of the journey Homura would go on.

For the movie, I didn’t know what would happen before I saw the script. It caught me off guard. When I first received the script, it was divided into two halves. The first half and the second half. When I was acting on the first half, I had no idea what would happen in the second half. I was surprised!

I received three different scripts for each of the different Homuras, including devil Homura. Throughout the series and the movies, to me, there’s different gradations of color. It’s not like white and black. This character graduates and grows, even though they are still the same person. Regardless of which era we focus on for the character, to me it's all the same character. I’ve worked three times as hard to express the different sides of the same character. It’s not fair! (Laughs)

ESR Gaming Network: What are your favorite catch phrases for the characters you voiced?

(Editor’s note: Chiwa Saitō proceeded to do voices from Kokoro from Kokoro Library, Tamamo-no-Mae from Fate/Grand Carnival, and Changli from Wuthering Waves

Anime Herald: You’ve mentioned you have many incredible stories you’d like to share. Can you please share one of your choices here?

Chiwa Saitō: I can share the story of how I started my career as a voice actress. When I was little, I asked my mom to get me a fashion magazine. She ended up getting me a voice actor industry magazine. That’s how I knew about voice acting as an occupation.

They were focusing on an interview with a voice actor who voiced Harrison Ford. I thought, “If I become a voice actress, I could be a co-performer with Harrison Ford.”

I don’t really expect that I’m going to Hollywood. (Laughs) But it’s been a nice dream. Back then, if I voiced any of the characters that appeared in one of his movies, then I could have a co-performing credit.

I was young!

The Natural Aristocrat: Would you marry Harrison Ford?

Chiwa Saitō: I have three kids. Is that a thing? I have a two-year old child.

I wonder if he could play with my two-year-old child. (Laughs)

Weekly Shogakukan: You are often in works with Akiyuki Shinbo. Do you request to work with him? Does he request to work with you? Or is it just coincidence?

Chiwa Saitō: When I first worked with him, during the audition, we were down to two candidates. One other girl and me. Director Shinbo wanted the other girl, not me. I thought “maybe he doesn’t like my voice, or how I act.”

However, as we worked together, he liked how I work. I don’t do the same thing twice. I do every take in a different way. He liked that. The one thing I am kind of scared of when working with Director Shinbo is he’d say, “Hmm, I’ve heard that before.”

It makes me kind of nervous.

I’ve never requested a specific director. Every time I show up to the recording booth, he was like, “Oh my god, you again!”

His staff members would say “she fits the role perfectly.”

He would say, “Maybe… if you say so.”

Once we started the recording sessions, he’d say “I knew it from the start, you were the best fit.” I would say “Oh, you’re such a liar!” (Laughs)

Anime Corner: Do you have a favorite type of character to voice?

Chiwa Saitō: Nowadays I play a lot of cool characters, such as Homura. I personally really enjoy playing comedic characters. Tamamo-no-Mae from Fate/Grand Order is an example of such a character.

Tamamo has so many characters within her. There’s the nine-tailed fox god (yōkai). Kinoko Nasu-san has the authority. He said “Do whatever you want. That’s your own call.”

Technically, this Tamamo character is the very first character I’ve created from zero. I play it with a free mind and do whatever I want. If the director says “Maybe that’s too much. Not so much,” then I’ll take it back a bit. I do whatever I want until they say “It’s too much.”

Manga Mavericks: Natsumi Hinata from Sgt. Frog is one of your longest running roles. How does the length of time you spend playing a character in a series influence your performance relationship with them?

Chiwa Saitō: That was a series I joined shortly after my debut. It was early on in my career. That was a place where I could be as “newbie” as possible. All the senpais around me. I said a bit ago I really enjoy playing comedic characters. It comes from here. The senpai actors and actresses were having so much fun during the recording sessions, yet respecting each other.

They created a wonderful environment for the newbies like me. Throughout the seven years, not once was it ever the same, to me. I really admire those senpai’s. Now I have become the age of the senpais from when I joined Sgt. Frog. I respect them so much, still. Nowadays I try really hard for newbies in the recording session. If they’re feeling nervous I try to go over to them and help them relax. I try to create the fun environment for them that the senpais did for me.

Manga Mavericks: That’s wonderful.

Chiwa Saitō: I try my hardest to be like the senpais were back then. This is it’s 20th anniversary, so it’s a big year.

Natural Aristocrat: What do you feel has been your most challenging role throughout your career to perform vocally?

Chiwa Saitō: I would say it’s definitely Yona from Yona of the Dawn. Most of the characters in the show are male. Back then, the series was very Shonen Jump-like. The adventures, the obstacles, the fighting scenes, all the excitement. But then, there’s a female main character. I was the lead. I felt like I had to be the coolest character within all those cool male characters. That was hard for me to portray.

It’s not like she’s the heroine, but she’s the main character. I’ve played so many heroines. To me, there’s a difference between a heroine and the lead character. I had to be the lead character. It was quite challenging for me to portray. But at the same time, I had great joy working to portray this character.

There’s a side story. I was pregnant with my first child during episode one. When we recorded, I couldn’t go because I didn’t feel well. That’s how I started the series. I gave birth right before the recording of the last episode. My pregnancy was a journey with Yona of the Dawn. It was a really memorable series to me in this way.

It was my first child, my daughter. That character was kind of a collaboration between myself and my daughter. (Laughs)