The moment we finish shooting, Aika Kobayashi beams at the staff and exclaims “that was so much fun!” She continues, “of course I’m glad to be on the cover of this magazine, but what made me even happier was that I got to try on so many outfits” - it’s clear that she’s a fashion-lover through and through.

I knew I had to wear that red off-shoulder outfit. The colour is just beautiful and the black and white dotted dress has this retro feel about it. I love it! But what I want people to notice the most is the shoes. They piqued my interest during the fitting session and I wanted them so badly that I bought them (laughs). Getting to wear cute shoes all the time is enough to get me hyped! The hat from the second outfit is so adorable too. There are eyes on my forehead! (laughs) There’s also this netting on the hat, which I think gives it an autumn-y feel. I have to say that the third outfit was very dressy. I hardly get a chance to wear clothes like those either for work or in my personal time, so it was a fresh experience for me. It has a girly vibe to it, but if you look closely, it has this playful American comic pattern on it. The gap between those aspects makes it so fascinating.

“Once I get started talking about fashion, I can’t stop”, she giggles. But it’s all too clear that there’s no falsehood in her words. As she picks out outfits for the shoot with her stylist, Kobayashi is asked what her trick is for choosing clothes. She answers simply: “intuition!”

Previously, I was really concerned about the price of clothes, so I stuck to the method of buying cheap and cute clothes at places like outlet malls. Nowadays, though, I don’t have much time to shop so I’ll buy the pieces I find that happen to speak to me: only the ones that I fall in love with at first sight. If I hesitate even slightly, I won’t buy it…. Or so I say, but end up telling myself that this is fate and just buy it anyway. (laughs dryly) Of course, some of them end up being misses, but depending on how I coordinate them with other clothes and accessories, I can try for a new look, or there are cases where my tastes change over time, so I don’t think that any of my purchases go to waste.

Fashion plays an integral part in Kobayashi’s life. Tracing her passion for fashion back in time, she reveals “I’ve been fascinated by it for as long as I can remember.”

I was the sort of kid who would mess around painting her nails. Sometimes I would sneakily put on my mother’s lipstick when she wasn’t looking. After that, I’d show it off to her shouting “Look at me! Look at me!” so it ended up not being sneaky at all (laughs). In elementary school, I loved inviting a bunch of friends to my house and putting on a fashion show: we would have so much fun dressing each other up. It was around that time I started to be so picky about fashion that I would pick my own clothes when I went shopping with my family. I would throw a bit of a tantrum every time I was forced to try on clothes my mother had bought that I didn’t fancy.

Naturally, her dream as a child was to be a designer or model… or perhaps something more?

Of course I did have those aspirations. But I also loved to sing and dance, so I also dreamed of being a singer. I enjoyed taking care of little children too, and was always the one looking after the younger kids around me ever since my kindergarten days. I hoped that one of those dreams would come true.

Kobayashi’s philosophy is to “have as many dreams as you can”. This has allowed her to always have multiple aspirations and come to terms with each of them.

I wanted to learn more about children, so I went to a technical college and earned my qualification as a kindergarten teacher. Even now, I hope to work with children sometime in some form or another. In terms of fashion, I’ve been given chances like this to wear so many different outfits, so I’m just overjoyed that I was able to make that dream come true.

As for song and dance, one needs look no further than her current work. This raises the question: what made her interested in song and dance in the first place?

I love Namie Amuro, who was one of my biggest influences as a child. I’d imitate her singing and choreography. Seeing me do that prompted my mother to put me through voice training and dance school. I learned dance for the first time at five years old: I still remember how to do the dance we performed at our recital and the basic techniques. Later, I started learning hip-hop dance when I was in third grade. I would have a blast singing and dancing with the friends I met there. I continued to attend dance classes in middle school. Looking back on it, that was when I danced the most. And seeing my friends get better than me ignited this burning rivalry inside me, which spurred me on to give my all. It was a place where people who shared the same dream could gather and encourage each other to improve. That’s why I didn’t give up half way through. I really count myself as blessed.

When asked about her personality as a child, she smiles wryly and answers “I couldn’t stand losing…” That hasn’t changed to this very day. But, her dislike of losing is what has enabled her to realise her dreams.

Definitely. I wanted to have my cake and eat it too, if I could! (laughs) To phrase it in the negative, there was never a time when I’d shrink back and think “this is impossible.” In elementary school, there were times in class where we’d write about our dreams for the future. I used to dream so big that I’d be embarrassed of what I wrote down. My friends would all write something down to earth, so I felt like I was the only one with my head in the clouds (laughs). Sure, becoming a singer or dancer was a realistic dream to me, but there was one time I wrote down something different. That was the one time I took my eyes off reality. At all other times, I’ve had a strong belief that I should never give up on my dreams.

Her ambition bore fruit and Kobayashi fulfilled her dream, debuting as a singer during her high school years. It was thanks to her meeting with the CEO of her current agency.

He approached me at a competition that I entered during middle school. That led to me making my debut as an artist. I was over the moon. My family was so happy for me too. I couldn’t stop thinking about how one of my dreams had come true. During my first recording, I felt more enjoyment than pressure. I’ve never felt very nervous when it comes to singing, and that time, I was completely fearless. (laughs) I think the recording staff tried to be considerate of me and let me do my own thing, but that day I just emptied my mind and sang. Now, having experienced so much as an adult means that the experience is a good deal more frightening than it used to be. It’s kind of unfair to the people around you when you’re the only one who knows nothing! (laughs)

There was another source of joy for Kobayashi upon making her debut as an artist: being able to receive feedback directly from her fans.

The 2011 Touhoku earthquake and tsunami happened not long after I made my debut. That was when I received tweets from people saying that listening to my song gave them courage. I felt like having someone say that to me was the reason I’d gone through all that effort. Of course, there was also the joy that I felt from experiencing my first recording and seeing my CD on store shelves and thinking “I’ve really made it.” Those things are all well and good, but I never had the opportunity to hear what people thought of my singing: it was just a one way street. So reading those tweets was the first time I realised that my singing was able to encourage someone. The happiness of knowing that left a lasting impression on me, so even now, I take care to read the letters I receive from my fans.

While continuing her work as a singer, Kobayashi encountered another unexpected turning point: that was beginning her journey as a voice actress.

The CEO of my agency recommended that I give it a try, but I was reluctant at first. I did watch a lot of anime but I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about it. I also didn’t have any acting experience and wasn’t confident in my voice. That was why I turned down the opportunity a number of times at first. But one day, I experienced a shift in my mindset that made me think that I should give it a try. Although I was still singing, I hadn’t made any major breakthroughs, which caused me to go through a lot of anxiety at the time. At the root of it was this hunger for an opportunity to change myself. In the midst of that, I took the audition which ended up giving me the role of Yoshiko Tsushima. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that I’d scored a role in Love Live! Sunshine!!, a franchise that I loved so much.

It so happened that her time as a voice actress would be full of surprises.

Firstly, it felt odd to me to be in the world of anime. I’d been involved with anime in other ways, like singing an ending theme for a series, but I didn’t think the day would come when I would be playing a role in an anime. (laughs) There was a moment when I felt all of the possibilities in my life open up before me and I thought to myself “I didn’t know I could be involved with an anime like this.” (laughs) In that sense, I do hope that my experiences will be a source of courage for people out there who are thinking of pursuing something new. And, well, since I’ve started to receive letters from my fans, I’ve found that many of them are requests for advice along the lines of “I’m not sure if it’s OK to follow my dreams now that I’ve started my career.” My personal opinion is that it’s definitely never too late to start something new. I mean, I am where I am now because I had the unexpected opportunity to pursue voice acting. What’s most important is not time or experience, but how badly you want to follow your dreams. That’s the message that I want to send.

Of course, not everything went smoothly for her.

Acting and singing are the same in the sense that you use both to express something. But, when you consider the technical aspects and all, acting really is a completely different beast. Tweaking the tiniest nuance can change the personality of the character you play. For example, there are times where you might try to add some individuality to your character by giving her an accent, but you overthink things so that everything she says ends up sounding the same. You learn something new every time. Watching anime or dubbed movies, I’ve never felt that the voice acting was unnatural, but I suppose that’s testament to how naturally professional voice actors and actresses can perform. When it came time for me to be the one doing the acting, I found out what a difficult and amazing feat it is.

Kobayashi says that “now, I prioritise feeling more than technique in my acting.”

When you try to get into your character’s head and empathise with their feelings, there are things you can learn about the way they think.

We learn that she has always had an active imagination.

I have a habit of letting my imagination go wild. (laughs) I like to imagine how particular characters would sound like when they laugh, or how they would express themselves if they were angry. I started to notice that if I can imagine that, my voice will change naturally. At first, I only paid attention to the vocal aspect of voice acting work: I would record myself acting and listen to the recording, reflecting on what I did well and what I did poorly. But nowadays, once I get a script I’ll read it and let my imagination go wild. I’ll make a bunch of notes in the script about the characters’ emotions, or write comments like “my character is sweating bullets in this scene”. (laughs) I’ll tend to do that even when I read the manga or novel. The characters will keep on acting out their lines inside my head - and all in my voice. (laughs) As I read, I’ll ponder on the meaning of the illustration pages in novels or the individual panels of manga, so it takes me ages to get through it. (laughs)

Kobayashi never imagined that she would be a voice actress, but she says that it’s now among the most enjoyable work she’s done. She exudes that enthusiasm through every sentence she speaks, explaining the joy of acting.

All of my roles are very stimulating for me. I mean, it’s fantastic that I get to become someone or something other than myself just by using my voice. I could change my appearance or age, my gender, or I could even become something other than a human being. Every time I act I get to step into someone else’s shoes for a while and because of that, I’ve learned to see things from a variety of perspectives. My own life has been pretty packed with experiences up until this point, and to think that I could get to experience even more makes me excited at the prospect of what the future holds. (laughs) Also, it’s not like I’m in the business of making anime by myself: it’s a collaborative work with my fellow cast members and staff. That makes it so much fun. Before, I used to feel pressured not to be a burden on the people around me, but one day a sound director gave me this advice: “voice acting is something that you neither learn nor study: you just have to experience it.” Since then, I’ve made it a point to absorb all sorts of things from the people around me. Even so, I’ve still only just begun. For me right now, the words that make me the happiest are when the sound director says “alright, that’s a wrap!” (laughs) I’ll do my best to get the director’s approval in as few takes as possible.

This year marks three years since Aika Kobayashi debuted as a voice actress. It is still only September, but we took an early look back on what kind of year 2018 was for her.

Every month, week and day felt so long, yet it’s all gone by so quickly. It’s weird. I have no idea what happened. (laughs) I’ve never felt like this before. But, what I can say for sure is that it’s been fulfilling. I think the most fitting word to describe the way time went by is “youth”. When I’m with my friends and workmates, I laugh so loudly that it makes me wonder if the people around me think I’m a nuisance. But at the same time, I also feel like that’s what being young is all about. (laughs) I think in essence, it’s about having a lot to learn, a lot of things to absorb and experience for the first time and taking on the challenge with everything you’ve got. Lately, I have a lot of fun even just sleeping! (laughs)

Amusing… but what does that mean?

For example, five years ago I used to feel a sense of impatience about so many different things when I went to bed, but now I can go to sleep with a sense of confidence. Every day is so jam packed and fulfilling and sleep is there for me to recover from the tiredness built up from that day. That makes me so happy.

It’s been a busy 2018 for Kobayashi indeed. But among the busyness, one of her long held dreams came true: working in fashion.

I produced my own parka and was able to get it manufactured. I was of course happy that they made it the way I wanted, but I know there were also a lot of people who were looking forward to wearing it, and I’m sure that it brings joy to a lot of people when they wear it now. It allowed me to experience the emotions that creators feel in a new way. The ways that I approach singing, dancing, acting and designing clothes are all different, but you can see a certain Aika Kobayashi-ness in all of them. It made me happy that I was able to give that to people.

It’s still some ways off, but we ask her about her resolutions for 2019…

I’ll be 25! Wow. Just, wow. The way I used to imagine life at 25 is so different to how my life looks now – I’m at a loss for words. (laughs) I mean I thought I would have settled down, gotten married and maybe even had a child. I never thought I’d be laughing so loudly with friends and thinking to myself “this is what youth is like!” (laughs dryly) When I said “wow” earlier, I didn’t mean it in a negative way: I don’t think that this kind of life as a 25 year old is bad at all. When people get older, I feel like they start to step on the brakes a little: they’ll give up on things and taking a new step forward becomes that much harder. But I want to keep taking on new challenges no matter how old I get. In that sense, I suppose I am still a little bit childish.

When asked about her ambitions outside of voice acting, Kobayashi answers that she’d like to start a fashion brand.

I want to start a brand that caters to a variety of fashion styles: not just parkas. I’m studying design bit by bit in order to achieve that. I’ll do things like researching how to use colour, or taking down notes immediately when I find something cute. I think that I might even want to try making clothes myself, not just designing them. But I’m not too handy so I think I might actually pass on that. (laughs dryly) Before I made a puppet to be the mascot for my Nico Nico Douga livestream (Aika Kobayashi’s Open Rehearsal) – I’m good at making little things like that. But clothes tend to come out a little bit rough around the edges, so I leave that to someone who’s an expert in sewing. (laughs)

Kobayashi is making her dreams come true, while still setting new goals and progressing towards them as well. This resonates with her words from the beginning of this interview: “have as many dreams as you can.”

I have a lot of small dreams. As I fulfil those bit by bit, the bigger dreams change. So I think it’s a never-ending process. But making even the small dreams come true is a confidence booster. I feel that always having that confidence will lead to a positive life.

We can’t help but be interested in the life she’ll be living after she turns 25.

I don’t think I’ll be any different! (laughs) I’ll probably find some new dreams and take them on as well. It’d be awesome if I could say to myself “I’ve never felt younger in my life!”

Thanks to Picup (@eiyuupicup) for proof reading this translation.

The scans in this article are my own. Please do not repost or reproduce without permission.