Creating the role of Shinobu Kochou's smiling face, Saori Hayami “has a strong competitive spirit…” Analyzing the character she puts all her effort into creating

The third episode of the new TV anime “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” “Hashira Training Arc” will be broadcast on Fuji TV today, the 26th. The second episode ended with a shocking scene in which Shinobu Kocho, the Insect Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps, tries to confess her secret feelings to her stepdaughter Kanao Tsuyuri, and Shinobu is also shown forcing a smile.

We asked Saori Hayami, who plays Shinobu, about what she paid attention to when creating the character in this scene that has become a hot topic online. (Photography: Ruka Ueno / Interview and Text: Masaki Endo / Editing: Takeaki Sakurai)

■ Recording the Hashira Meeting was “nervous because all the seniors were there”

The Pillar Meeting scene depicted in the first episode was recorded with all the cast members in person, and Hayami said, “I was very nervous (laughs).” Looking back on the recording, she said, “It had been a long time since we recorded with that many people at the same time, even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. We've recorded with this many people before, so it was nostalgic, but at the same time, I was quite nervous having all my seniors there.”

Despite this, once recording began, Hayami expressed her gratitude, saying, “I felt that the atmosphere of the Pillar Meeting was naturally created just by being on set and being able to rely on my seniors,” and expressed a sense of fulfillment, saying, “The content was serious, but the set was a peaceful and wonderful space.”

During breaks in dubbing, she said, “I talked about a lot of things with everyone,” and revealed a memorable episode, saying, “This time, (Kanroji) Mitsuri was using edgy movements (laughs). When the dubbing test was over, Seki (Tomokazu) said, 'It seems like Hanazawa (Kana) is the only one in a different work,' which was quite memorable. I really thought that was true (laughs).”

■ In the second episode, we made an effort to reveal Shinobu's hidden feelings. We also analyzed her character: “She has a strong competitive spirit…”

Shinobu is usually calm, but at the end of the second episode, she was seen trying her best to smile and say, “It's immature to be unable to control your emotions. That's what immature people do,” which made it clear that she was always trying to suppress her emotions. Hayami also explained that when acting, “I've always played the role without thinking that I'm a person who is always calm, gentle, kind, and full of love, deep down.”

“As can be seen from the past episodes of the Kocho sisters depicted in 'Tanjiro Kamado: Unwavering Resolve Arc,' Shinobu gets angry easily and is always a bit on the grumpy side (laughs). She has a strong competitive spirit and is strong enough to say something back if someone criticizes her. That's how sensitive she is to external stimuli, and I think she's someone who is emotionally unstable,” he analyzes Shinobu's character.

Hayami, who has thought of the character in this way, explained her intentions for creating the role, saying, “In the second episode (of this one), I kept in mind that Shinobu herself has probably been conscious of controlling her emotions, and for that part, where she secretly asks her sister for help, I performed in front of the microphone with the intention of giving a glimpse of the Shinobu of the past.”

■The core of Shinobu's character…Episode 2 is “How you express something changes how you see it”

The last scene of the second episode is when Shinobu tells Kanao about the demon that killed Kanae. Hayami explained, “We recorded many different versions of the final scene. We tried out a lot of different things, including where to put the punctuation marks, how strongly to say it, and the tension.”

“For each episode of Demon Slayer, the staff carefully directs me and conveys their image to me, but this time there is a scene where Shinobu gets to the heart of the matter, and I thought that the way the expression is expressed would change depending on how it is said,” he said, talking about the thoughts he put into the scene.

“Pillar Training” is broadcast every Sunday from 11:15 p.m. on Fuji TV, and every Saturday from midnight on TOKYO MX, BS11, Gunma TV, and Tochigi TV.