Suzuka Morita talks about her days on Shinkenger as well as her new focus in life as a voice actress.
An old photo from your Shinkenger days was shared on social media the other day.
When filming began, I was still a high school student. I also went to filming while continuing group activities with Idoling!!! (Morita’s former idol group). And there are things I just don’t remember at all.
Do you still look back on the show?
Not on the show itself, but I do have a LINE group (a social media app popular in Japan) with the other five members. We all shared “Happy 14 Years” on the show’s 13thanniversary. We then shared photos we took during filming. Seeing those photos make me realize that I’ll never forget the memories we shared.
Like you all grew up in a neighborhood?
Just like that. When filming wrapped up we had dinner together and even went to the arcades. We spent film days together. I’ve never been that close to people before that I think it’s special. It felt like our very own “school days”.
So not only were the you little sister-type character on Shinkenger but you’re also the youngest of the cast as well.
That’s why, to me, everyone gave me older brother and older sister vibes. I’d call the guys names like To-nii (Tori Matsuzka) and Hiro-nii (Hiroki Aiba), and Rin-chan (Rin Takanishi) wanted to be addressed as if we were equal so I got to call her Rin-chan.
What a nice relationship. Tell me a scene that stuck with you.
There was a scene where Kotoha slaps Takeru. I kept asking him “are you really okay with me slapping you?” for every take we took (laughs).
Do you still get called Kotoha?
They call me “Kotoha-chan”. It makes me really happy. Ever since I became a Sentai heroine, I’ve gotten letters from children. They would tell me “Do your best. I’ll do my best too!” in letters I receive from them. It was such a cute letter that they worked hard writing!
After you graduated from being an idol, I heard that in addition to acting, you joined a voice acting agency in 2020.
I’ve had voice acting work since last year voicing characters in game apps and narration. There’s still a lot i have to learn but I’m enjoying studying everything.
What made you get into voice acting in the first place?
My voice is actually what I’m most self-concious about. Even in my idol days, I really hated hearing it. But when I appeared in stage plays, people actually told me they love my voice and I was really happy about that. Some people suggested I give voice acting a try. I really wanted to know how far I get in despite my complex relationship with my voice.
What’s the hardest parts about your work?
When actors say their lines, their emotions are conveyed with their appearance but with voice work, you have to channel much more intensity in your voice to get the emotions across. I think it is a deep and interesting world, where the same role can be performed in completely different ways.
What are your goals a voice actress?
I want to be super famous (laughs). I want to be a voice actor whose name is in every season of an anime, and whose work fills up all year round. But first I want to be cast as a regular in an anime. I also wanted to be in a series that’s loved for many years. I did voice recording every week when we filmed for Shinkenger, but I haven’t done any voice related jobs since then. Since I lack in experience, I want to do film dubs and narration and everything else.
Source: Weekly Playboy NO 14 4/4
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