Nana!!! (If it’s not already obvious, I’m alternating between P5 and FFXIV stuff in an attempt to get both of them done w)
Persona Magazine 2018 Interview Navigation
P3D/P5D (Kazuhisa Wada, Nobuyoshi Miwa, Ryota Kozuka)
P3D/P5D Artwork (Shigenori Soejima, Akane Kabayashi, Azusa Shimada)
P5A Part 1 (Masashi Ishihama, Shin’ichi Inotsume, Jun Fukuyama)
P5A Part 2 (Mamoru Miyano)
P5A Part 3 (Nana Mizuki) (You are here)
P5A Part 4 (Ikue Otani)
P5A Part 5 (Kazuki Adachi)
P5A Part 6 (Lyn)
P5A Part 7 (Shoji Meguro)
Nana Mizuki – Voice of Ann Takamaki
Affiliated with Sigma Seven. She works in a wide variety of fields as a voice actress, singer, and narrator. She has performed many major roles, including Hinata Hyuuga from Naruto.
Q: After the game, the series progressed through various forms of media and now it’s become a TV anime. Have there been any changes to your feelings from a voice acting perspective?
Mizuki: After voicing Ann in so many forms in such a short period of time, I really feel like I’ve gotten to know more about her as a character. Ideas for how a line should be spoken come to me more naturally than they did when I voiced the original game. That makes it really fun to voice her.
Q: You’ve had many opportunities to voice her aside from the anime, like P5D and Persona Q2.
Mizuki: Even though those take place in parallel worlds, they provide supplementary insights on characters and their backgrounds that wasn’t in the original game, so we came to love the characters even more. Of course, we had a good grasp on the characters from the start, but now we’re more flexible with our acting. I’m happy that the game got an anime adaptation in just 2 short years.
Q: Do you feel like voice acting for the anime has changed anything about you?
Mizuki: For the anime we do group recordings with everyone talking together, so it feels a lot more dynamic! There’s a certain mood and passion that arises from group recordings, and it really strengthens my attachment to Ann. The motivation from everyone else helps me perform at ease every week!
Q: When you first voiced Ann, did you expect the series to spread this far?
Mizuki: I didn’t. I knew that the previous games had gotten anime adaptations, so in the back of my mind I was hoping that P5 would get one too, but I didn’t expect there to be this many works in such a short time span *laughs*.
Q: At AnimeJapan, all of the cast members came on stage together for the first time, but it felt like you were already an established team.
Mizuki: Our team’s synergy is amazing! I’m so grateful to the staff who considered me for the role! Even though we all have different perspectives, we come together as a unified team… It’s phenomenal. If someone steps out of line, someone else will stop them or get involved… and everyone is dancing to the same beat; we know when to pass, receive, and attack. It’s mystifying. For the game we recorded individually, and it hasn’t been that long since we started recording for the anime, but our teamwork feels as though we’ve been working together for many years already. Is this a casting miracle?
Q: Now that the broadcast has begun, was there anything that stood out to you from the fan reactions?
Mizuki: The other day I was on the P5A radio program, and we received many fan letters! I was so happy to hear so much positive feedback for the scenes that were added to appeal to those who already played the game. People picked up on the anime-original scenes and lines, as well as finer details like how things were drawn. It was touching to see how closely everyone was paying attention!
Q: During recording, was there anything that the director requested or that you proposed yourself?
Mizuki: Ann’s character was already established in the game, so there wasn’t anything in particular that had to be changed. The one request was at the opening scene in episode 1, at the casino. I was told to “express her individuality more.” In that scene, everyone except for Joker is off-screen. We do have to preserve the nerve-wracking atmosphere, but the director also wanted us to use those short phrases to show what kind of teammates Joker has. So for episode 1, everyone acted with a little bit more of their characters’ quirks.
Q: Which scenes (up to Yusuke’s episode) left an impression on you?
Mizuki: It’d have to be the scene where Ann awakens her persona and confronts Kamoshida. Ann is the type of girl who’s too considerate to say what she really thinks, but she stood up for her friend and cast off her outer shell, facing her emotions for the first time… I put a lot of love into acting that scene.
Q: The scene where she interrupts Kamoshida’s confession at school was also memorable.
Mizuki: She was so cool. I thought she was so badass for saying all of that for her best friend’s sake, not caring about what others might think. At that age, kids are always concerned about what their peers think about them, so it really struck me how she acted according to her own beliefs despite that. I think that’s Ann’s greatest strength. And of course, it’s because Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana were with her that she could be honest with herself. I love this scene because it depicts her taking a step forward in her new life.
Q: What was voicing the fake Ann like?
Mizuki: I exaggerated the way she spoke, thinking that Kamoshida must like that kind of girl *laughs*. I figured he would be happy to have an energetic cheerleader rooting for him, since he was a volleyball player. It was pretty excessive *laughs*.
Q: Lastly, a message for the fans!
Mizuki: P5’s story is fun to watch, regardless of if you’ve played the game before or not. There’s a lot of foreshadowing going on, so try not to miss anything! If watching the anime makes you want to play the game, I’m sure you’ll find a lot more content there. Please immerse yourself in the world of P5!