During Anime Central this year, we had a chance to sit down with veteran voice actress Sora Tokui for a little bit to talk about her return to America as Guest of Honor. She has been voicing characters for over 10 years including Nico Yazawa in Love Live!, TM Opera O in Umamusume and Hook in Honkai Star Rail to name a few. Let’s get on with the talk!
KKS: As your first appearance in Chicago, how has your time in the city been?
Tokui: It was my first time in Chicago and I got to go around the city. I went to Willis Tower. I’m wearing a shirt right now that I bought there and I loved being able to see the whole city from there.
KKS: I was gonna say I really like your outfit today!
KKS: It’s been nearly 8 since the end of u’s as a performing group and almost 10 yrs since the Love Live Movie. Do you stay in touch with your fellow unit members and Do you have a favorite memory playing Nico Yazawa from Love Live?
Tokui: Seeing the story of Love Live come to life was very memorable. Also being able to say Nico’s catchphrase “Nico Nico Ni!” for the first time was really memorable. About the other members, whenever I get to see them at another dubbing session or event, it feels like nothing’s really changed. They feel like family to me. Recently the Love Live Movie was screened in theaters again lately so we had the chance to see that together again and it was a lot of fun!
KKS: Let’s talk about your role as T.M.Opera O in the upcoming Umamusume movie, you also voiced her in last year’s series Road to the Top. In contrast to Nico from Love Live and Nero from Milky Holmes, You play a very serious and cool character in T.M. Opera O. How do you prepare for her role?
Tokui: There’s nothing particularly different that I do to get into the role. I put all of myself into the role when I dub them.
KKS: You’ve had the chance to dip into being a vtuber for a bit, what’s the most rewarding and most challenging part of vtuber streaming?
Tokui: First for the most rewarding part, I get to look as cute as I’d like and that makes me very happy.And the fact that I’m able to connect to and interact with so many people all over the world. One hard part of when I’m performing is it gets very tiring
KKS:Out of your many voice acting roles, which one have you found most gratifying to do?
Tokui: Nero from Milky Holmes was my first big role and I feel I’ve grown a lot with the character and a lot of how I perform my other roles comes from Nero as the base of it and used as a jumping off point.
KKS: How do you balance your schedule of being an artist, Vtuber, performer and voice actor?
Tokui: Basically, I go into every day focused on doing the thing I’m supposed to be doing that day and not think about much about the future or anything else. Whatever my work is that day, I give my 100% attention to that.
KKS: Anything you’d like to say to your USA fans who’ve been waiting for your return to the states?
Tokui: It’s been so long so I’m happy to be back and I hope to be able to interact with everyone again as much as possible. I hope to have the opportunity to come back again very soon in the future. And while I’m here, I’d love to hear what roles that everyone knows me for!
Thank you to Anime Central for arranging the interview!
Sora Tokui
X: https://x.com/tokui_sorangley
Personal Blog (JP): https://ameblo.jp/tokui-sora-blog/
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