Although he was dying of curiosity, Nakai Kazuya, as the newcomer with the lowest status and seniority at the moment, dared not and could not speak freely on such an occasion, so he could only keep his questions to himself for the time being.
Tanaka Mayumi, who was the oldest in both age and seniority, was much more composed.
She smiled generously and sighed, "I have to say, seeing how young every sensei here is, I really can't help but think, 'Could it be that I'm actually getting old?'"
It is not hard to understand why Tanaka Mayumi, who is now 44 and turning 45 soon, would have such a sentiment.
After all, among those present, besides her, the youngest was only 18, and the oldest had just reached 30.
However, hearing the other party say this, Akira couldn't help but think:
How could that be?
As the voice actor for Luffy, you still have at least twenty, or even thirty more years of your career ahead of you.
As soon as this thought arose from the bottom of his heart, he almost couldn't keep a straight face.
I am afraid that Tanaka Mayumi herself could not have imagined that this voice acting job for One Piece would turn out to be even more secure than an iron rice bowl, to the point where she would have to continue working hard even after reaching retirement age.
However, upon thinking about it, examples of voice actors in the Japanese industry working well into their sixties, seventies, or even eighties do not seem uncommon.
He could only marvel at how truly dedicated these voice actors are.
After the two parties briefly introduced themselves and exchanged pleasantries for a while, a backstage staff member jogged towards them and announced, "Senseis, the event is about to start!"
Hearing this, the three voice actors had to apologize, temporarily ending the conversation, and followed the staff member away to prepare to go on stage.
Eiichiro Oda enthusiastically invited the two, saying, "In that case, let's go to the side-stage area to watch."
There were black curtains on the left and right sides of the stage to block the audience's view; people inside the side-stage area could see the stage, making it an excellent viewing spot for them.
To this, the two naturally accepted the invitation gladly.
Akira smiled and said, "Let's go."
Soon, the program segment for One Piece began. Accompanied by the host's introduction, the three voice actors went on stage together and began interacting with the host.
At the beginning, the three voice actors shared some behind-the-scenes stories of the animation production, including how the three of them were selected, interesting anecdotes from the recording studio, and so on.
While telling these stories, the three also performed some lines for their characters live.
These were all things the fans loved to see, so the reaction from the audience was quite enthusiastic, especially during the live line performance, where every line was followed by a round of applause and cheers.
Actually, it wasn't just the audience; even Rin couldn't help but let out a small gasp, exclaiming, "The voice actors are really amazing!"
"Indeed." Akira and Eiichiro Oda nodded in agreement.
The voice used during dubbing was almost completely different from their normal speaking voice, yet both distinct voices came from the same person.
Seeing the voice actors' performance with one's own eyes made one more deeply aware of this sense of disconnect, and even more impressed by their acting skills.
Besides that, the voice actors also talked about their first meeting with Eiichiro Oda and shared what kind of person Oda was in their minds.
And in this segment, it was obvious that it was all flowery praise for Eiichiro Oda.
"When I first met Oda-sensei, I was completely shocked. I didn't expect him to be so young, and to have created such an amazing manga at such a young age!"
Eiichiro Oda himself seemed not to have read the script and didn't know about this segment, so he was immediately taken aback.
Although the voice actors didn't actually say anything exaggerated, it was the first time Oda had experienced such a situation, and he suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.
Especially since he was not the only one in the side-stage area now; Akira and Rin were also there.
Noticing the gazes of the two, he became visibly awkward.
Seeing this, Akira teased, "I think what the senseis said is quite fair. What do you think, Oda-kun?"
"Well..." Eiichiro Oda scratched his head awkwardly and said, "Mochizuki-kun, please don't make fun of me..."
Seeing this, Akira couldn't help but smile, but he left it at that and let him off the hook for the time being.
Fortunately, this segment ended quickly, and next, it finally entered the main topic: the video broadcast of the author dialogue.
The moment they learned that Eiichiro Oda would appear in person, the venue erupted in huge cheers because this was Eiichiro Oda's first live appearance.
And upon learning that Akira was also a guest in the video, there was another round of cheers, but it was clearly smaller in volume than the previous one.
These people were obviously readers of both works.
"Anyway, please watch the dialogue between Oda-sensei and Mochizuki-sensei!"
Soon, the host and voice actors temporarily withdrew, the screen on the main stage lit up, and the figures and self-introductions of the two reached the eyes and ears of the audience almost simultaneously.
"Hello everyone, I am the author of One Piece, Eiichiro Oda."
"I am the author of Fate/stay night, Akira. Please treat me well."
Although it was said to be a live appearance, neither of them agreed to let their real faces be exposed.
Therefore, the faces of Eiichiro Oda and Akira on the screen were covered by their own manga self-portraits, which left many in the audience a bit disappointed.
However, their faces were not the main point; the point was the content of the dialogue—
『 Q: Since this is your first meeting, could you describe your first impression of each other? 』
Akira: "My first impression of Oda-kun was that he is young and handsome, right?"
"It doesn't feel like he's a Manga Artist at all (laughs)."
Eiichiro Oda: "No, no, no, that should be my line, right?"
"At the time, I thought some idol artist had taken the wrong path. Although it's a bit frustrating, in front of Mochizuki-kun, my looks are completely at the level of an ordinary person!"
Although to the audience off-stage, this statement seemed more like mutual flattery.
However, the three voice actors and the host who had stepped down and were standing with Akira and the others, subconsciously looked at the two, realizing that this conversation was not untrue.
After a simple opening greeting, the discussion quickly moved on to the content of the manga.
As the main guest of this dialogue, Eiichiro Oda was the focus of most topics, along with One Piece, while Akira acted more as an interviewer.
And for Akira, he indeed had quite a few questions he wanted to ask about One Piece.
So in the video, Akira said: "Speaking of One Piece, I actually have a point I'm very curious about, and that is the issue of power levels."
"As everyone knows, for the vast majority of shonen manga, the protagonist group encounters a strong enemy, then trains hard to become stronger, and defeats the enemy; this is a quite common and classic trope."
"Including my Fate/stay night, which also has such plot points."
"However, I noticed that One Piece has been serialized for two years now, but the main protagonist group, including Luffy, has not yet experienced parts involving training and increasing their power levels."
"So I'm a bit curious, how does Oda-kun think about this aspect?"