Inami Anju Interview ③ My own life serves as inspiration for my acting

In the second entry of our “Cover Girl” series, we are featuring Inami Anju-san who is known for her role as Takami Chika in “Love Live! Sunshine!!”. In the third part of our interview today, we asked about her private life.



Other parts

Part 1

Part 2

Part 4



There are many things I want to try challenging

Inami-san once said, “I want to be sincere to my characters”. In addition to understanding her characters by facing them head-on, there are also times when she compares them with her own experiences and likes. So, exactly what kind of things does she like?

What are your hobbies?

It’s hard to answer questions like this all of a sudden…I really like swimming, and I’m especially confident in my underwater diving. I had lessons in it for 6 years when I was young, and so even till now, swimming in the pool has become my own method of stress relief. I think that as a result of my experience in swimming, I’ve become stronger in many aspects, including my physical strength and my vocal volume.

It seems that you really like doing things that involve physical activity, isn’t it?

My karate experience really left a lasting influence on me, I guess? Even now, I still train my roundhouse kick from karate regularly, in order to prevent myself from getting rusty at it (laughs). But powerful physical manoeuvres like these often come up in stage plays, you know. When I was acting as Yamanaka Ino in the first showing of the stage musical “Live Spectacle Naruto”, I was able to show off my roundhouse kick as part of a fight scene!

Well then, is there anything that you would like to challenge in the future?

There are many things I’d like to try, and because I’m the type to often think “I want to try this!” for so many things, I could even consider myself to be a natural challenger? Recently, I’ve been wanting to try doing SilkSuspension. It’s the kind of thing that’s been used in shows like Cirque du Soleil, and is also sometimes referred to as “antigravity yoga”. Other than that, I also want to try bungee jumping, or skydiving, or bouldering and other things; I’m really brimming with curiousity!

I want to continue learning lots of things, even on off-days

Inami-san is currently living a busy life, but with her active personality and her passion for physical activities, we wonder, how does she spend her off-days?

It seems you’re really an outdoors person, but is there anything you’d like to challenge yourself at other than sports?

Umm…I want to try getting a pie smashed onto my face (laughs). I really like watching overseas comedy dramas, and I admire the way the comedians do these reaction scenes. I’m no good at eating hot food though, so I dislike piping hot oden [1] (laughs), but I’d like to do something else, like shows where they drop the basins onto your head [2].

[1]: Gag by comedy trio Dachou Club, featuring scenes likes this where they feed piping hot Oden to a member to elicit comedic reactions.

[2]: Common gag or punishment in Japanese comedies, such as here.

Specifically, how do you spend your off-days?

I really enjoy singing, so I often play music at home and sing along with it. Other than that, I also often meet up with people, or attend stage plays by performers that I’m acquainted with. Even though it’s an off-day, I still want to continue learning lots of things. The way I live my life, and the way I manage my lifestyle, all these can become inspiration for my acting, that’s how I think of it. Because of this, when I attend stage plays, not only would I be able to watch my close actor friends perform, I would also be able to come across new actors, and talk about the latest topics about acting, absorbing all this new information as I encounter them…that’s usually how I spend my off-days, doing things like that.

My boyish tastes were due to my father’s influence

Inami-san first became aware of the seiyuu profession due to her encounter with late-night anime during her middle school days. She spoke about whether she came into contact with anime and games in her daily life, and also her “boyish” and retro tastes.

You spoke previously about “CLANNAD” being the trigger that made you aware of the seiyuu profession, but when did you first come into contact with anime?

I’ve been watching Disney works since I was young, and even now, I still really like works by Disney and Pixar. Amongst their movies, I especially like “The Little Mermaid”, and I had a dream where I became a mermaid or something right after I watched the movie (laughs). After that, I also liked the “Ojamajo Doremi” series. It’s interesting even when I watch it now! I also followed the Pokemon anime as well as the game.

What kind of games do you like to play?

Speaking about Pokemon, I started playing it from the Gameboy era, so I’ve been playing since the early days of the series. I also somewhat like retro games, so I’ve also played games on the Famicom and the Super Famicom (SNES) as well.

The Famicom and the SNES were both released before you were born, weren’t they?

It was really due to my father’s influence (laughs). Because he really liked games and manga, it was natural that I also came into contact with them from a young age. I guess my boyish tastes were probably also because of him as well. Almost all the manga I read are shounen manga like “Fairy Tail” and “One Piece”, and I almost never read shoujo manga. In fact, on my bookshelf, the only shoujo manga you’d find are probably the “Kaichou wa Maid-sama” and the “Kimi ni Todoke” series! (laughs)

Inami-san is someone who is constantly active, both in her work and in her private life. From the way she thinks about her acting and takes inspiration from her experiences even on her off-days, we can see the serious and diligent side of her. On the other hand, despite her stoic attitude to everything she faces, the way she spoke about having “a dream where I became a mermaid” also showed off her cute side. In our fourth and last part in this series, we interviewed her about this photoshoot – the various expressions that she showed, and the deepest parts of her heart.

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Text and interview: 佐藤響子

Photograph: 山本絢子

Hairdo: 清水有希子

Stylist: 望月めぐ