XS Ep III - Weekly Vol.I: Interview with Ai Maeda and Mariko Suzuki (2006)




The following is a translation of a short interview with the Japanese voice actresses of Shion Uzuki and KOS-MOS from Volume I of the 2006 Xenosaga III Weekly magazine.

They mainly talk about a podcast they were doing on the official website around the time Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra was released in Japan, but it is one of the few Xenosaga III era interviews that I have been able to find.




Translation by: Lugalbanda


"Furifuri Cast", a radio format podcast show, is now available!

The third feature for the Download Corner is "Furifuri Cast". This is audio content you can enjoy like a radio show, and it consists of freeform discussions and audience participation segments, between two personalities. If you download it, you can save it and take it home with you, too. We're still looking out for mail from all of our listeners!

  Release duration: May 8th - July 31st 2006 (Total 12 episodes)
  Show length: 20 minutes per episode
  Personalities: Ai Maeda and Mariko Suzuki
  *You can still listen to this show through music player software, even if you
  do not have RSS compatible feeder software.
  Please view website for details.

Exclusive interview right after the recording session!
Interview With Ai Maeda-san and Mariko Suzuki-san

We asked them questions after the first episode, while the iron's still hot! Keeping the energy they had on the show, they let us know their passionate thoughts about "Xenosaga".


Interviewer: First of all, good job to everyone on the recording. I heard the prep for this was short, but you guys did a good job giving people a little bit of what they were looking for, but also not too much!

Maeda: It was a little sudden, but we go way back with Xenosaga, and we're fans of Xenosaga ourselves, so there's a lot we wanted to talk about, both as actresses and as fans.

Suzuki: Yeah. We didn't have an opportunity until now, but since we were given this opportunity, I gave it my all and tackled it head-on!

Interviewer: Maeda-san, earlier you mentioned that you wanted to aim for a "temptress radio" [show]?

Maeda: When I said that, I meant we would be teasing information, not becoming temptresses ourselves!? Oh, but Shion might be someone who's a temptress without even realizing it. Especially to Allen, she's a Tsundere, as they're now calling it.

Interviewer: On the subject of Tsunderes, you could say KOS-MOS is just tsun (note: mean) to everybody.

Suzuki: Maybe not necessarily tsun, but the stoic and never-changing aspect of her is interesting. Maybe there's men out there who are like, "And that's why my heart is yours, KOS-MOS!"? (laughs)

Interviewer: Speaking about interesting characters, do the two of you have any characters you personally like? Shion and KOS-MOS are obvious choices, so let's exclude those.

Maeda: I like Jin. He's a very magnanimous person. He's got a lot swirling around in his mind as a big brother, but Shion doesn't recognize any of that, and it's a little sad. I'll be thinking "Shion, you're such a bad kid! Your brother is thinking about you earnestly!" While I'm acting [a scene out]. (laughs)

Suzuki: I really love Albedo. To me, it comes across like he's maintaining his sanity by hiding his weaknesses and becoming his "dark self". I just love that internal conflict. There's probably a really nice person in there, somewhere. And yet, that's the only way he knows how to live. That clumsiness he has is great.

Interviewer: Mhmm, I see that you've got very strong thoughts about this! Finally, please let us know your future hopes for the show, and appeal to any readers who haven't listened to the show just yet.

Maeda: We just started this, so we don't know how things are going to play out exactly. I hope you'll all help in getting this ball rolling. I'm sure we'll get into information that gets to the heart of things when we get very close to the release, and we plan to talk about stories from our recording sessions (note: I think she means for the game?) bit by bit too. We want to invite some guests as well, to have some conversations that would only be possible on this show.

Suzuki: The show devotes a lot of time to the audience message segments, so it's bidirectional in that sense. There's a segment where we ask the questions you're all wondering to the development staff too, so instead of getting overwrought trying to think about all of it on your own, try asking us instead. Everyone has their own world of Xenosaga that they envision, but I think it's also fun to share with others ours ideas about the world and other thoughts. I hope you'll join us in our show!



See the original Japanese interview here:

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