To Your Eternity Sound Director at Crunchyroll Expo 2021 (Interview)

Virtual Crunchyroll Expo 2021 will feature To Your Eternity sound director Takeshi Takadera as he dives into the sound and voices of the anime with the voice of Fushi, Reiji Kawashima. We had the chance to briefly talk to Takedera as he explains how sound and music are used in To Your Eternity.

What were your key responsibilities and something you wanted to focus on as the sound director of To Your Eternity? 

As a sound director, my role is to cast, record dialogue, order soundtracks, select music, edit, and so on. In the end, my job is to create the finished sound product (a mix of dialogue, music, and sound effects).

Were you able to work with Ryo Kawasaki on the composition of the soundtrack, or did you only incorporate his songs after they were finished?

I did not compose the music. After discussing with Oima-sensei his ideas and images, I created a list of the necessary types of music. Then, after meeting with Kawasaki-san, he composed the music.

The first episode doesn’t feature many spoken lines, aside from Fushi and the narrator. What elements of sound design do you focus on in the absence of dialogue?

The music Kawasaki-san created was very impressive and had a lot of development. I tried to match the mood of the scenes with the development of the soundtrack, and to make the part of the soundtrack we used last longer.

Sound is incredibly important to the establishment of the world To Your Eternity takes place in — especially since many of the arcs span across different continents and environments. How did you prepare the direction of sounds in different environments?

Since the world is not modern, no electrical sounds or effects were added. We tried to differentiate the sound of each scene (village, town, city, prison, etc.) to make it easy for the audience to understand and feel the realism. We were also careful to create a sense of space and distance.

Are you involved with the voice acting recording process, and if so, what do you do when working with the voice acting integration with other sounds?

Recording dialogue is one of my jobs. When I record dialogue, there are no other sounds yet, so I take into consideration the space the characters are in and the feel of distance in the scene.

Is it a noisy place? A quiet place? Are the voices echoing in this place? Where is the person you are talking to? What is the character doing? …and so on.

The FROM SOUND TO VOICES: TO YOUR ETERNITY PANEL will be scheduled for 2:00 PM PT on Friday, August 6 at Virtual Crunchyroll Expo.