hotmtlnovel Page 114
Page 114
"Hello, this is Aoyama Nanami."
"Hello, Ms. Aoyama, I'm Yamamoto, SKI's production assistant. Congratulations! After careful discussion by our production committee, we have decided that you will be the voice actress for the character 'Tsukuyomi' in 'Echoes of the Oracle'."
In that instant, Nanami felt the whole world go silent.
The cicadas chirping outside the window and the cars driving downstairs all disappeared; she could only hear the pounding of her own heart.
"Hello? Miss Aoyama? Are you still listening?"
"Yes! I'm listening!" Nanami snapped out of her daze, her voice shrill with excitement. "Thank you! Thank you so much! I'll definitely do my best!"
After hanging up the phone, she could no longer contain herself and jumped up from the sofa, bouncing and shouting in the small room.
She picked up the pillow "Tiger Jiro" and gave it a big kiss on its furry face.
"Torajiro! I did it! I got the role!"
Tears of joy welled up in her eyes.
She rushed to her desk and immediately opened that familiar email address.
She had so much to say to "Mr. X".
[Mr. X, I did it! I got the voice acting job for the SKI game! It's a very important role! Thank you so much, without your encouragement I definitely wouldn't be where I am today.]
[I...I really don't know how to thank you. I will do my best to live up to your expectations and this role! I will strive to become that one-of-a-kind star!]
The moment she pressed the send button, she felt that an invisible connection had been added between her and that mysterious benefactor.
This victory belongs to her alone, and it also belongs to both of them.
……
Two weeks later, the voice-over work for "Echoes of the Oracle" officially began.
When Aoyama Nanami stepped into the professional recording studio again, her mindset was completely different.
She is no longer "Citizen B" who doesn't dare to breathe loudly for fear of being kicked out for saying the wrong thing, but a "voice actress" recognized by the production team and with her own exclusive role.
In the recording studio, she met the voice actors for the other main characters, all of whom were well-known and respected seniors in the industry.
They were all somewhat surprised to see Nanami, a completely new face, but that surprise quickly turned into friendliness after learning that she was the voice actress for "Tsukuyomi".
Nanami greeted each of her seniors politely, with a humble yet respectful attitude.
When it was her turn to record, she threw herself into it completely.
The requirements for the game's sound supervisor are very meticulous. Sometimes, to capture the emotion of a single interjection, she would be asked to record it more than a dozen times.
But Nanami had no complaints.
She treated each re-recording as a new learning experience.
Her amazing learning ability and deep understanding of the character quickly won the recognition of the sound director and the senior actors present.
"This newcomer is got something," a veteran voice actor who voices the male lead whispered to his friend during a break.
The recording process lasted for a week.
As Nanami finished her last line and walked out of the recording studio, the sound supervisor gave her a special nod: "Ms. Aoyama, it was a pleasure working with you. You breathed life into 'Tsukuyomi,' and I'm really looking forward to the final product."
This affirmation from a professional made Nanami feel more satisfied than any reward.
One month later, "Echoes of the Oracle" was officially launched.
Thanks to SKI's powerful marketing campaign and the game's high quality, it quickly topped the download charts on major app stores.
Among them, the character "Tsukuyomi," voiced by Nanami Aoyama, unexpectedly became the most popular character.
The game company created a series of promotional advertisements for the main character and placed them on major video websites and social media platforms.
The "Tsukuyomi" advertisement, with its cool dialogue, gorgeous battle scenes, and the highly recognizable line "Where the moonlight reaches, all is annihilation," quickly went viral.
Nanami's clean, cool, yet slightly fragile voice perfectly captured the hearts of countless players.
Online, discussions and derivative works about "Tsukuyomi" are emerging in large numbers.
"This character named Tsukuyomi is so cool! And her voice is incredibly beautiful! Who is the voice actress?"
"The voice actress is Nanami Aoyama? Never heard of her before, is she a newcomer? Her skills are amazing!"
"I downloaded the game specifically because of that 'noise, be gone' line! My ears are pregnant!"
Nanami's name appeared in the public eye on a large scale for the first time.
Her social media accounts gained tens of thousands of followers overnight.
The calls from the agency started coming in more frequently, mostly invitations for small business events and magazine interviews.
Nanami felt a little unreal about all of this, as if she were walking on clouds.
She was just glad that she hadn't let down the role of "Tsukuyomi" or the expectations of "Mr. X".
She continued her routine of going between school, working, and her apartment, only occasionally seeing posters or billboards for "Tsukuyomi" on the street, which made her both shy and secretly delighted.
……
……
Asuka Film, Sound Supervisor's Office.
Shinsuke Takahashi was rubbing his temples in frustration.
In front of him lay a proposal and character design drawings for a brand-new original animated theatrical film, "Beyond the Stars".
This is a key project for Asuka Pictures in the second half of the year. The producer hopes that he can personally serve as the sound director and take this opportunity to promote one or two promising newcomers.
"These newcomers all have voices that sound exactly the same, sickeningly sweet, with no unique characteristics whatsoever." He made his scathing critique while flipping through the profiles of the new voice actors his assistant handed him.
"This one has good technique, but no emotion. This one has a lot of emotion, but unfortunately, he has a lisp."
The assistant stood silently by, too terrified to utter a word.
Takahashi impatiently pushed the documents aside and casually opened a video website on his computer, wanting to relax.
The website was automatically playing an advertisement for the currently popular game, "Echoes of the Oracle."
"Where the moonlight reaches, all is annihilation."
A cold female voice sounded.
Takahashi stopped moving.
This voice... sounds familiar.
It's very clean, without that sticky feeling that's popular these days; it's like a piece of polished ice.
He frowned, searching his memory.
Soon, a timid and submissive figure appeared in his mind.
He was the newcomer who re-recorded a line three times in his recording studio, and finally mustered up the courage to ask to try again.
The girl who was paired with "Citizen B".
What was his name again... Green Mountain?
"Get me the voice actor information for the character 'Tsukuyomi' from 'Echoes of the Oracle,'" he told his assistant.
The assistant quickly presented the documents.
Name: Aoyama Nanami.
The girl in the photo, with her ponytail and bright eyes, was exactly the person he remembered.
"That's interesting," Takahashi said thoughtfully.
How long did it take for "Citizen B" to go from being unable to speak his lines properly to being able to perfectly handle the complex role of "Tsukuyomi"?
This little girl's growth rate is quite astonishing.
He opened Aoyama Nanami's demo and put on his monitoring headphones.
In the headphones, the girl's voice sometimes sounded like a frightened fawn, sometimes like a resilient weed, and sometimes, like now, it transformed into a sharp blade tempered with ice.
Although his skills are still a bit raw, his consistent sincerity and high recognizability have forced even this "newcomer crusher" to admit that he is a rough gem.
He picked up his pen and found a character on the character design illustrations for "Beyond the Stars".
She was a girl who also used a longsword, with long silver-white hair and a haughty look in her eyes. Her character was described as "a cold-looking but soft-hearted female swordsman".
This character doesn't have many lines, but every time he speaks, it's a key turning point in the plot, requiring a very high level of emotional depth from the voice actor.
Takahashi pointed to the character with the tip of his pen and said to his assistant, "Contact the Tokyo ABC Voice Acting School and her agency. Tell them that I would like to invite Ms. Nanami Aoyama to participate in a closed audition for the role of 'Isla' in 'Beyond the Stars'."
The assistant was stunned.
The auditions were not held in public, and the supervisor personally selected the candidates.
For a newcomer, this is practically tantamount to being pre-selected.
"Director Takahashi, are you sure? This role is quite important. Shouldn't we look at other candidates?"
“No need.” Takahashi leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “I just want to see how I can polish this rough gem into something.”
He was looking forward to it.
I wonder what kind of expression this newcomer named Aoyama Nanami will have when he stands in front of me again.
……
At this time, Aoyama Nanami was completely unaware of this.
She had just finished a day's work and was humming a song as she walked home.
Her agent called her.
"Nanami, are you free right now? I have something very urgent to tell you."
“I’m free, Ms. Yamamoto. What’s up?” Nanami asked, somewhat puzzled, after finding a quiet corner.
"Asuka Pictures! It's an invitation from Asuka Pictures!"
Upon hearing this name, Nanami's heart skipped a beat.
Asuka Pictures, the top animation company in the industry, the place where she tasted the bitter defeat of her life for the first time.
"What...what's wrong with them?" Her voice was unconsciously a little dry.
“It’s an audition invitation! No, it’s even more impressive than that!” Manager Yamamoto took a deep breath to calm herself down.
"Asuka Pictures' key project for the second half of the year is the theatrical anime film 'Beyond the Stars'! Sound director Shinsuke Takahashi personally invited you to participate in a closed audition for one of the heroines, 'Isla'!"
"……Eh?"
Coach Takahashi? He personally named himself?
"Miss Yamamoto... are you sure you're not mistaken? It's... it's me, Aoyama Nanami?" she stammered to confirm.
"It's absolutely true! The production assistant from Asuka Films just called me personally! He specifically asked for you, Aoyama Nanami!"
"A closed audition! Nanami, do you know what this means? It's practically a pre-selection! Director Takahashi... he really thinks highly of you!"
After hanging up the phone, Nanami remained rooted to the spot, the phone pressed tightly against her burning ear, unable to come to her senses for a long time.
Is it because of Tsukuyomi?
He heard his own voice, so he gave it a chance?
No, that's not right.
Nanami recalled that day in the recording studio, and Takahashi Shinsuke's sharp eyes that seemed to see right through her.
He is not the kind of person who would easily change his judgment because of a popular game.
He is a craftsman who truly pursues the "truth" in sound.
Therefore, this invitation is a test.
He wanted to see how much "Citizen B," who couldn't even deliver a single line properly in front of him, had grown after all that he had gone through.
An indescribable emotion welled up from the bottom of Qi Haiyue-Yi Jiuqi ji〡u印IIIk紦6's heart.
It's a feeling of excitement and trepidation at being targeted by a strong person and acknowledged by an opponent.
She clenched her fists.
Last time at Bird Cinema, she was like a soldier who had mistakenly entered a battlefield, panicked and utterly defeated.