The impression of Abe no Seimei, the main character who is manipulated by the monsters, is that he is “noisy”!? Interview with Osaka Ryota, Suzuki Ryota, and Tanie Reon from “I Became a Teacher at a Monster School!” | What is the secret to producing Seimei’s “cool strange voice”?The timid and crybaby new teacher Abe no Seimei is assigned to a school for monsters, run by monsters, and only for monsters, called “Hyakki Gakuen”!

Mai Tanaka’s “I’ve Started Being a Teacher at a Yokai School!” (currently serialized in the monthly G Fantasy magazine) is a school comedy about a quirky human teacher, Seimei, and his quirky students.

The TV anime series will begin broadcasting on October 8, 2024.

This time at Animate Times, we interviewed Osaka Ryota, who plays Abe no Seimei, Suzuki Ryota, who plays the “plague god” student Sano Mikoto, and Tanie Reon, who plays the “Mametanuki” student Tanukizuka Mamekichi!

They spoke at length about what they kept in mind when playing such unique characters, their impressions of each other’s acting, and the appeal of this film, which has many comedic scenes but is not limited to just that.

–Please tell us your impressions of the work and what you found appealing about it.

Ryota Osaka (hereafter, Osaka): There are many works about “monsters,” but I thought the setting in which the main character is a human and is assigned to a school for monsters was quite novel. If I had to describe this work in one word, it would be “it has a great early Heisei feel” (laughs). The atmosphere was nostalgic, and it reminded me of my own childhood.

When I act, I do it with the feeling that “we debuted in the Heisei era.” I feel like I’m doing something “classic” in a good way, and it’s nostalgic, but I think it might be fresh for young people today.

Ryota Suzuki (hereinafter, Suzuki): As this work began serialization in 2014, I think it is a work packed with things that Mai Tanaka has seen and liked, so I can feel the love in it. The characters are also unique and each has their own good points, and it goes from comedy that makes you chuckle to serious and brings you to tears, so I felt it was a work with a lot of depth.

Tanie Reon (hereinafter Tanie): I was very excited to be able to participate in this production because it had the vibe I was familiar with. It had the atmosphere of the stories I’ve read since I was young, where you can laugh, cry, and feel like everyone is in a lively atmosphere. As I acted in this world, I felt like I was back in my school days, and I acted thinking, “I really love this work!”

–Please tell us how you felt when you auditioned and when you got the role.

Osaka: At first, I only auditioned for the role of Amaaki, Seimei’s twin brother, but after passing the tape audition and going to the studio audition, I was told, “The person who remains as Amaaki will also play Seimei.” I think it’s probably because we’re twins, but I wanted to play Amaaki. Of course, I auditioned for both Seimei and Amaaki with all my heart. Seimei is a role that I sometimes played when I was younger, where I get pushed around by everyone, and I don’t get many opportunities to play it now, so I felt nostalgic, but I thought I probably wouldn’t get the role. But then I got the role of Seimei, to my surprise.

After the recording started, when Amami appeared in the episode, I thought, “Will someone older than me be there?”, but it turned out to be someone younger than me, and I remember being surprised, thinking, “It’s that person!?” But when I acted it out, I think it fit in well.

–Mr. Osaka, did you think that the role of Seimei would be played by a younger person?

Osaka: I think that if the role had been a student role, it would have been played by someone younger, but I think that maybe because it was a teacher, someone around our age was given the role. In fact, Suzuki-kun and the others only got student roles.

Suzuki: When I first heard about the audition, I was asked to take the role of an adult named Yamazaki. When I looked at the audition materials, there were so many characters, so I thought that I would be better suited to the student role, so I recorded the student roles of Sano and Hijita and sent them in.

僕自身としては、佐野は全然手応えがなくて、泥田のほうが手応えがありました。というのも、佐野のようにクールで地声を使えるキャラは、アニメではほとんど演じていなかったですし、泥田はどちらかといえばコメディ色が強いキャラで手応えがあったんですが、結果、佐野役で受かってビックリしました。

谷江：初めてキャラ名を見たときは「まいづか」と読めずに「たぬきづか」と読んでいました（笑）。この作品が声優として受ける最初のオーディションだったので、何もかも手探り状態でしたが、「結局は原作と自分の中にしか答えはないぞ」と思って、豆吉を見た印象で「こういう子でいてほしい」という想いで向き合えたことが良かったのかなと。豆吉はデフォルメされた、かわいいキャラなので、自分の声の高いところ上限ギリギリを使って、少しでもかわいくしたいという気持ちでオーディションを受けました。

幸運にも豆吉役に選んでいただきましたが「どうしよう!?」という不安もあって（笑）。収録が朝だったこともあって、早起きしてコンディションを整えながら頑張りました。