Preliminaries
4:28 PM–just found out, sadly, there is no photography or video allowed, even for press. But liveblogging is allowed. Sheesh.
4:34 PM–still waiting for the guests to come out.
4:39 PM–the room seems to be packed. but as press, we are front row. Still stung a little by the no footage policy, but oh well. I’m going to be right in front of her…
4:43 PM–we have real deal Japanese press next to us. Even they can’t take pics. Only the manager of Horie Yui can, who presumably will then release official photos.
4:48 PM–they seem to be setting everything up now. But this is pretty late….almost 20 minutes actually.
4:50 PM–note, we are going to a press conference with both Horie Yui and Eri Kitamura tomorrow. Maybe they will allow footage then.
4:54 PM–MC is making announcements. Getting his battery replaced on his mic.
4:55 PM–we can take pictures, as long as we take pictures of all the panelists. (IE, no zoom.) Here we go!
4:57 PM–looks like they want to show the first episode of Toradora! before the actual panel begins. We will be back in about 25 minutes.
Actual Panel
5:22 PM–Horie Yui says she’s 17 years old too!
5:23 PM–Producer of Toradora! is next to Horie Yui.
5:24 PM—Q: why did you become a voice actress? A: because of Dirty Pair. She even blew her hair up because of the character Yuri.
5:25 PM—Q: what’s the hardest part of being a VA? A: hmm….it’s hard to say. Capturing the feeling of the characters, the emotions of the scenes, and matching them with the lip flips.
5:27 PM—Q: which character you played resembles yourself most closely? A: Naru Narusegawa from Love Hina. (Japanese press calls out “tsundere!”) She says she has a tendency to hide the true intentions.
5;28 PM—Q: please do your favorite Minori line. A: (She does it, then to translator: “In English please! With super feeling!” Translator reply: “what do the subtitles say?”)
5:29 PM—Q: if you were Minori, how would you interact with Taiga and Ryuji? A: I don’t think I’d back down.
5:30 PM—Q: do you have any similarities between you and Minorin? A: Minori is a bright, cheerful character, and I have some of those characters. “A little” (in English).
5:31 PM—Q: could you sing your favorite song for us, please? A: (Sings the first few lines of the 1st ED of Toradora, “Vanilla Salt”. Now she’s taking requests. Somebody does the Minori “Yahou!” in the audience. She expects us all to spread the word about it!)
5:34 PM—Q: give us some advice about how to become a voice actress. A: Live healthy, observe things around you. See how they interacted in school in Toradora!. And don’t catch a cold.
5:35 PM—Q: how do you come up with all of your songs? A: get the feeling, then the tempo, then the magic happens.
5:36 PM–Producer says: thanks for coming. What did you think of Toradora! episode 1? (We cheer.)
5:37 PM–Horie Yui: I’m glad to meet everyone. It looks like the fan panel is over though–what a shame! (That’s what she’s saying.) “It’s going to be lonely leaving America behind like this.”
6:00 PM–It’s over.
I was actually there in front sitting with you peeps (Michael and Raymond I think?) I am at this site because I got a card directing me to this site. Looks great, with good coverage. Really sucks that they had to show Toradora episode 1 and subtract the limited time we already had with the Q&A panel with Yui Horie (45 minute panel time – the 20 minute episode they showed of episode 1 = Epic Fail). Regardless of the time lost though, Yui Horie was so cute with her answers that it made up for lost time!
“5:25 PM–Q: what’s the hardest part of being a VA? A: hmm….it’s hard to say. Capturing the feeling of the characters, the emotions of the scenes, and matching them with the lip flips.”
-You forgot to mention that she tried expressing this by saying “perfect fit” when referring to the lip matching aha.
I feel like this post is just gloating over the fact I couldn’t go… QQ