Translator: Dreamscribe
Dozens of Japanese voice actors gathered in the spacious booth. They were all watching the enormous monitor in front of them. Naturally, it was playing the first episode of the anime ‘Male Friend: Remake’. As they watched, the voice actors passionately performed their lines.
The interesting thing was that each voice actor had a different dubbing style.
Some alternated between looking at scripts filled with notes and the monitor. Others made exaggerated body movements. And some glanced at the other voice actors. All the voice actors participating in ‘Male Friend: Remake’ were veterans with high recognition. Therefore, each had their own recording style. Of course, this was true for the female lead Umi Natsumi and Asami Sayaka were no exception.
This was not unusual at all.
Probably, every voice actor does the same.
However, there was one person who particularly stood out in the spacious booth. It was Kang Woojin. To be precise, he could be described as ‘static’. Although he mimicked the actions of the male lead, Toru Sengoku, he was calm and didn’t even look at the script. Just the fact that he wasn’t looking at the script was a big shock to the voice actors.
‘W-What? Is he seriously going without a script till the end?’
‘At first I thought he was just showing off, but…’
‘But up to now, he hasn’t messed up a single word of his lines. How is that even possible?’
Yes, occasionally, there are geniuses who perform without looking at the script. Such extraordinary talents exist in any field, not just voice acting.
But.
‘Kang Woojin is an actor, isn’t he?!’
It was his first time doing voice dubbing recording today. Therefore, it was no surprise that the veteran voice actors were stunned. Of course, it wasn’t just the voice actors; most of those watching him from outside the booth were equally shocked. This included the overall director, the staff of ‘A10 Studio’, and the staff of the voice actors, among others. Particularly, Mahiro Sakuichi, a renowned director in the anime industry, couldn’t straighten his furrowed brow.
“…I noticed during the previous reading too. He doesn’t look at the script but still matches the lip movements and timing perfectly without a single mistake.”
One of the main reasons voice actors look at the script while recording is to perfectly sync their voices with the character’s movements in the anime. They need to know where to breathe, pause, take breaks, cough, and so on.
They record all these minute details in the script and voice accordingly.
But Kang Woojin was perfect without any of that.
And that was not all.
“Not looking at the script might be something he’s used to from acting, but……his dubbing is incredibly realistic.”
“Right?”
“Yes, I don’t know how to describe it exactly, but it’s like he’s brought ‘Toru Sengoku’ from the anime to life.”
“Exactly. Despite all that, he’s keeping the acting and emotions intact, and even adding vitality.”
The overall director murmured with a smile without realizing it.
“If only he wasn’t such a successful actor……I’d want to recruit him as a voice actor somehow.”
Inside the booth, Kang Woojin stood out among the numerous famous Japanese voice actors. A girl in a wheelchair watched him in a daze, Asami Yusako, whose future dream was to become a voice actor, thought. No, she imagined.
‘I’m… envious of Mom.’
She imagined the day she would become a professional voice actor and be in the same booth as Kang Woojin. And to her right, among the many waiting people, Choi Sung-gun crossed his arms and smirked.
‘I thought the anime quality was good. But-’
Even outside the booth, the monitor was displaying ‘Male Friend: Remake’ without sound, while the voice actors’ voices blared through the speakers. In other words, it was like Choi Sung-gun was getting a preview of episode 1 of ‘Male Friend: Remake’. In truth, Choi Sung-gun wasn’t much of an anime fan. He generally had no interest in it.
But even someone like Choi Sung-gun..
‘With Woojin and the voice actors’ voices added, this is insane?’
He was so engrossed in watching ‘Male Friend: Remake’ that he was deeply absorbed.
‘So what happens when the anime-obsessed Japanese people see this??’
Later.
Kang Woojin’s first dubbing recording finished late at night. It easily went past 10 PM. Although Woojin’s stiff expression didn’t change much after finishing his first recording,
‘Whew- as expected, it’s not easy. It’s a good thing I went back and forth to the void space during breaks.’
Inwardly, he stuck out his tongue in astonishment. Well, nothing is easy in any field, and voice acting was certainly tough. Honestly, without the cheat item that is the void space, it would have been nearly impossible. Anyway, they had completed up to episode 4 of ‘Male Friend: Remake’. Although it didn’t reach the expected episode 5 as the directorhad expected, there weren’t any major changes to the planned schedule.
At this rate, they could finish all the dubbing within 3 days.
After the meeting about tomorrow’s recording with the staff and the director of ‘Male Friend: Remake’, Kang Woojin got into the van at 11 PM. By the time he arrived at the hotel and finished preparing for bed, it easily passed midnight. And the call time for tomorrow’s dubbing recording was 9 AM. Considering the preparation time, it was still tight.
Still, Kang Woojin’s mood wasn’t bad.
‘Once I wrap up ‘Male Friend: Remake’, my Japan schedule is almost done, right?’
Since the major projects ‘The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger’ and ‘Male Friend: Remake’ were coming to an end in Japan.
The next day, morning.
May had ended, and June had begun. On the morning of the 1st, naturally, Kang Woojin headed to ‘A10 Studio’ while having a simple breakfast in the van. It was a rice bowl from a famous restaurant around the hotel that Jang Su-hwan had bought.
‘What is this??! So damn good.’
The taste exploded in his mouth, but Woojin maintained his habitual stoic concept. Choi Sung-gun turned to the passenger seat where Woojin was eating the rice bowl.
“Woojin, after you finish your meal, check out the Japanese media. They’re going crazy over you right now.”
After finishing his meal, Woojin checked the issues on Japan’s portal sites. There were roughly three main topics. The first was ‘The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger’.
『“The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger” enters official post-production editing, aiming for a release in the second half of the year』
Originally they would have spaced out the marketing a bit, but since it was decided to expand Kang Woojin’s influence, the film company and distributor moved right away.
‘Wow- they’re really spreading the news everywhere?’
As a result, news about ‘The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger’ was circulating not only in articles but also on various social media platforms. For reference, Director Kyotaro officially started post-production editing as of yesterday, and some actors from ‘The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger’, except Woojin, had already started promotional schedules on Japanese variety shows and YouTube.
The second topic was ‘Male Friend: Remake’, which Woojin was currently traveling to.
[Hello, this is A10 Studio! Finally, the official dubbing recording for ‘Male Friend: Remake’ has started. We’re sharing photos of the reunion between Kang Woojin and Asami Sayaka!!]
[#MaleFriendRemake #KangWoojin #AsamiSayaka……]
Along with promoting on their official SNS, A10 Studio had also entered a full-scale promotional war for ‘Male Friend: Remake’. Although ‘Male Friend: Remake’ was already well-known due to various issues, fans quickly flocked as soon as the actual recording scene was revealed.
Additionally,
『Netflix ‘Male Friend’ original anime ‘Male Friend: Remake’ starts dubbing, Kang Woojin cast for OST and piano performance!』
One of the keyhighlights of this ‘Male Friend: Remake’ was Woojin’s involvement in the OST and piano recording, which became a hot topic. Given that Kang Woojin’s vocals and piano skills were already proven, the anticipation of the Japanese public naturally soared.
Of course, all of this was a first for Kang Woojin.
And the third remaining topic.
This one made the Japanese media even more excited on June 2nd, the day after Kang Woojin’s second recording for ‘Male Friend: Remake’.
『Kang Woojin’s first leading role film ‘Island of the Missing’ creates buzz by surpassing 10 million viewers in Korea』
It was about the film ‘Island of the Missing’. Although it was a matter of the Korean film industry rather than Japan, its rapid growth drew attention, and since the male lead of ‘The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger’ was Kang Woojin, the Japanese media also focused on it.
As of yesterday, June 1st, ‘Island of the Missing’ had surpassed 11 million viewers.
In the past few years, it was the most explosive momentum in the Korean film industry. Witnessing this, Japanese media outlets were less focused on the performance of ‘Island of the Missing’ and more on making comments like,
“Wow—Kang Woojin is on a roll in both Korea and Japan.”
“Yeah, honestly, I thought his success riding the Netflix wave was just temporary. But at this rate, he might surpass all the Korean actors who have made it big in Japan.”
“Although the atmosphere is good so far—hmm, what do you think about ‘The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger’?”
“Well, the anime still holds the ticket power in the theaters here, so it might be difficult, right?”
They were questioning whether Kang Woojin’s ticket power would explode in Japan as well. Most media outlets and magazines were pondering the same thing.
“Will ‘The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger’ surpass 10 million in Japan too?”
“10 million?? Well, with Director Kyotaro and the original work by Author Akari, it’ll have strong initial momentum from the original fans, but 10 million is tough. There haven’t been any pure films in Japan that have hit several million in recent years, right?”
“True. No matter how hot Kang Woojin is, ticket power in theaters is a different story.”
“But at this rate… 3 million? Should be easy.”
“I’d say 5 million.”
“The final numbers will depend on the content of ‘The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger’.”
Though the entire Japan was buzzing with various issues, Kang Woojin didn’t pay attention. Or rather, he didn’t have time to care.
“Cut, moving on to episode 10!!”
He was deeply immersed in the final stages of the dubbing recording for ‘Male Friend: Remake’. And today was the last schedule for the entire recording.
The final signal for the dubbing recording of episode 12, which was the last one, was given at
“Cut! Everyone, thank you for your hard work!”
over 11 PM.
Two days later, in Korea.
The date was June 4th. Late morning. The conference room of ‘BOX Movies’, one of the major domestic film companies, was crowded. About 30 people gathered, including executives and mostly the company’s senior staff.
The atmosphere in the conference room was somewhat heavy.
“……Hmm.”
“Whew—”
The expressions of the executives sitting around the ㄷ-shaped table were similar. The conference room of ‘BOX Movies’ was slightly dim, and various information and data were displayed on the front PPT screen. Naturally, the presentation was being conducted by a team leader-level employee.
Interestingly,
“This chart shows the 16th-day performance of ‘Sea Battle’.”
the movie displayed on the screen was ‘Sea Battle’, which had held the ‘highest audience number in Korean history’ throne for years. The reason was simple. The major film company ‘BOX Movies’ was the one that made ‘Sea Battle’. The team leader oprated the remote to continue the presentation.
-Swish.
Then, the movie displayed on the front screen switched from ‘Sea Battle’ to another film.
“Next is ‘Island of the Missing’”
It was ‘Island of the Missing’, which was breaking numerous records in the Korean film industry since its release. Soon, the remote was pressed again, and the screen displayed the latest performance of ‘Island of the Missing’.
[Audience Count as of June 3, 2021]
[Daily Domestic Box Office]
1. Island of the Missing / Release Date: May 19 / Audience Count: 550,215 / Screens: 1159 / Cumulative Audience Count: 12,592,969
The figures had surpassed 12 million and were relentlessly heading towards 13 million. The team leader who was presenting murmured.
“These are the results for the 16th day, as of yesterday, the 3rd.”
Soon, the executives gathered in the ‘BOX Movies’ conference room began to murmur. Most of their tones were mixed with discomfort, and the team leader who was operating the remote continued with the presentation.
“As of this week, the momentum of ‘Island of the Missing’ has slightly weakened. The weekday audience count, which was over 700,000, has dropped to 400,000 to 500,000, and the weekend count has similarly declined.”
However, this was a natural phenomenon, and for ‘Sea Battle’ it could only be a cause for distress.
“Even though it’s lost a bit of steam, ‘Island of the Missing’ is still progressing quickly. Compared to the past data of ‘Sea Battle’, ‘Island of the Missing’ is still two days ahead.”
One of the director-level executives interjected.
“If, if ‘Island of the Missing’ continues like this… when do you think it will surpass us?”
“…At the earliest, next week. At the latest, the week after next, ‘Island of the Missing’ will surpass 16.7 million and be looking at 17 million.”
In other words, the analysis showed that ‘Sea Battle’ would soon have to relinquish its crown and step down from the throne. Therefore, most of the executives were quite taken aback. Frankly, they were surprised by the overwhelming initial impact of ‘Island of the Missing’ upon its release, but they didn’t expect it to cause such an excessive sensation. Moreover, they had not anticipated a performance exceeding 16 million.
The reason was simple.
Many things had changed when comparing the past when ‘Sea Battle’ was released and the present. If anything, the theater industry was more prosperous when ‘Sea Battle’ was released. There were not as many competing films, and there were fewer content options like Netflix back then.
Still, there was hope for ‘Sea Battle’.
“What, what are the highly anticipated tentpole films opening next week?”
“Right! If we subtly boost the promotion for those films?”
“It’s not a bad idea, but if we do it too overtly, it could cause unnecessary noise.”
“Is that really the issue now?? History is about to change!”
The fact that the domestic theater market was in its peak season. Therefore, new domestic and international tentpole films were opening every week. In other words, they could support a competing film to reduce the momentum of ‘Island of the Missing’.
Additionally,
“Looking at how the performance of ‘Island of the Missing’ is gradually declining, isn’t that a sign that interest is waning?”
“That’s right. If a strong film jumps in mid-way, the reservation rate could flip drastically.”
“How does this week look? How many new releases are there?”
“There are three anticipated films. ‘Island of the Missing’ is still number one, but the crucial period is from today until the weekend.”
Although it was a natural phenomenon, it indicated that the buzz around ‘Island of the Missing’ was deflating.
The decreased performance was clear evidence.
“It means the bubble is starting to burst, so there’s a possibility that the audience numbers will drop sharply.”
“Hmm, they’ve done all the promotion, marketing, and word-of-mouth they could, so there’s not much left to stand out, right? Other new tentpole movies will also be promoting heavily.”
“Hollywood films that are about to release will likely make a strong impact as well.”
Gradually, a light of hope was brightening for ‘Sea Battle’. Some director-level executives even smiled, which they hadn’t done before. The favorable conditions for other new movies were also favorable for them. However, there was one person in this conference room – the team leader in charge of the presentation – who still had a stiff face.
“There’s something we shouldn’t overlook.”
“Hmm?”
“…Despite the current success of ‘Island of the Missing’, it has been missing a key component in its promotions and other aspects.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Kang Woojin.”
Suddenly, it felt like a splash of icy water had been thrown across the conference room. Exclamation points appeared in most people’s eyes.
“!!!”
“Ah!”
Then the team leader, delivering the presentation, dropped a fact that crushed the hope for ‘Sea Battle’.
“Kang Woojin returned to Korea today.”
*****
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