The latest Pash! Magazine came with a deluxe GBF spread, and while we can’t share that, we can at least translate the interviews with the voices of the Dragon Knights: Inoue Kazuhiko (Siegfried) Ono Yuuki (Lancelot), Eguchi Takuya (Vane), and Oosaka Ryouta (Percival). First up: the interview with Inoue Kazuhiko!
Inoue Kazuhiko (Siegfried)
“I would like him to stay awkward forever.”
Pash: What does Granblue Fantasy mean to you?
Inoue Kazuhiko: The story of Granblue Fantasy has a really epic scale. The Dragon Knights’ tale is one of many countless branches splitting off from the game’s story. It’s hard to get a handle on all of them, but because you can experience so many characters and their stories, it never gets stale.
Pash: What kind of character does Siegfried strike you as?
Inoue: At first, I thought he was a mysterious character, whose motives and emotions were beyond my understanding. I didn’t know what he was hiding or what laid in his past, so I played him as a character who was hiding a few secrets without knowing exactly what they were. It’s been five years since I first played him, and some of those mysteries have been revealed by time. He’s worn a yukata, done some cooking… (laughs). The most recent story event “SIEGFRIED” shone the spotlight on him too, and revealed part of his past for the first time. I understand that first impression of him now. His experiences have shaped him and given him that alluring aura.
Pash: What was recording SIEGFRIED like?
Inoue: It was the most that Siegfried has ever been featured, and that made it the most work I’ve done in GBF. The toughest part was acting through his dragon transformation. The recording for that scene was basically me screaming for what seemed like hours.
Pash: Was any part of the performance especially difficult for you?
Inoue: The most difficult part was that there was no simple “then” and “now” for Siegfried – as time passed in the story, his way of thinking gradually changed, and that made it very difficult for me. I had to be very careful to show Siegfried’s slow transition from untamed lone wolf to his current state, and make it sound natural.
Pash: What did you think of the story? This tale covered both friendship and romance.
Inoue: Siegfried sure is dense sometimes (laughs). Kriemhild most likely loved Siegfried, and I thought “She didn’t have to go and marry Gunther, did she?” That made me kind of sad.
Pash: The conversation in the bar was especially sad.
Inoue: That’s how Siegfried’s friendship with Gunther was, though. Siegfried probably said stupid things like “Gunther, you feel pretty strongly about this” (laughs). Why did you get sucked into playing matchmaker! Are you a high school kid or something? (laughs)
Pash: And in the end, Siegfried respected his old friend Gunther’s wishes and took it upon himself to kill him…
Inoue: I think that scene was the most that Siegfried has ever suffered. As an actor, that was really fun to portray, but it pained me to think about what the character was going through.
Pash: In “SIEGFRIED”, we finally got to see Siegfried asking others for help.
Inoue: I think Siegfried’s long experience helped him realize that he’d found a problem he couldn’t solve without help. It’s hard for him to judge other people’s worth, you know? And I think being able to trust in others means he’s starting to soften up a little.
Pash: What do you think of Lancelot, Percival, and Vane?
Inoue: I think Vane is cute, and really easy to get along with. Lancelot is cool – he strikes me as earnest and a little mellow. Percival is just as earnest, but he comes across as so arrogant (laughs). He’s such a tsundere (laughs)
Pash: What would you like to see from Siegfried after this event?
Inoue: I’m kind of interested in seeing where the dragon blood story goes, but I don’t want them to draw out too much of his past. I don’t want him to mellow out too much, either. I would like him to stay a bit awkward forever. Acting friendly is great and all, but I don’t think it should go too far. Even when he’s being serious, there are fun things to take from that. He never jokes around, but he’s so pure in some ways that it’s funny. I hope there are more events that accentuate that side of him.
Pash: Please leave one last message for the skyfarers out there.
Inoue: I’m really happy that Siegfried has a lot of male and female fans. I hope I never let any of you down, as long as you love Sieg!
Continued with Ono Yuuki (Lancelot)!