Many thanks to Roo Garden for writing this up!

Background

Taniyama Kishou’s Carefree Walk is a travel variety series where seiyuu (ie. voice actor) and GRANRODEO frontman Taniyama Kishou (nickname Kiiyan) travels to unfamiliar locations with a seiyuu friend to explore and enjoy the local specialties. In this third installment, Kiiyan was joined by sempai seiyuu Morikubo Showtaro (nickname Show-chan). The DVD was released on 2019.07.26 and can be purchased from Animate and other distributors. 

In commemoration of the DVD release, there was a small greeting event held on 2019.10.22 with Kiiyan and this bigger talk show held on 2020.01.11 with both casts. At this event, fans were able to laugh along with the two as they reflect on their travels and chat in a ‘carefree’ environment. 

At this event, they released news of a fourth installment in the future (guest unconfirmed) and also a new project called Para Host starring both Kiiyan and Show-chan. 

Event Information

• Event type: Talk show
• Casts: Taniyama Kishou and Morikubo Showtaro
• Event Date: 2020.01.11
• Times: 1pm (Day Session) and 5pm(Night Session)
• Venue: Yuurakucho Yomiuri Hall
• Audience: About 550 per session
• Length of event: About 1.5 hour per session
• Ticket Price: 5,800 yen per session
• Event structure: Opening introduction talk; DVD digest commentary; gacha talk, present lottery and closing good-byes. 

Disclaimer

This is just a fan’s recollection of the events. No notes were taken so please treat all quotations in the summary as paraphrases. There are some similarities in the two sessions so the summary of conversations might be out of order. Forgive my boring sentence structures because I have no time to polish the writing in more interesting ways. Hope you use your imagination to the fullest and enjoy nevertheless! (Twitter: @RooGarden).   

Summary 

The talk show event was the first public event for Kiiyan in 2020 and as a fan, there was nothing better than seeing him in the flesh in a relaxed setting. Before the event, Twitter sources and the live broadcast Seiyuu to Yoasobi on 2020.01.09 revealed that Kiiyan spent his one week New Year’s break at home with influenza. When Kiiyan walked on the stage in a well-fitted black suit and pants attire, his dashing appearance was accompanied by a slightly subdued attitude. 

“Happy New Year and thank you for choosing to come to this event out of the other choices. This is my first stage for the year so I feel kind of nervous. How was everyone’s New Year holiday? I have no memory of mine. Caught influenza and before I knew it, I started work again. Give me back my holiday, damn it! To help me, we have a special guest – Morikubo Showtaro!” said Kiiyan.

“Hello everyone! I am seiyuu industry’s get-around, Morikubo Showtaro!” Show-chan was his usual energetic self and made the audience laugh by alluding to Kiiyan’s comments about him being friendly with too many people. 

Kiiyan was caught by surprise, “Hahaha, what’s this?!”

“I was searching for topics for this event and came across your comments about me. Hello everyone, I’m Morikuko Showtaro and I sleep with anyone.”

“Hahaha, you are always traveling with other people and being their guest.”

Kiiyan likes to tease people and has said on several occasions that Namikawa Daisuke, Shimono Hiro, and Morikubo Showtaro are the top get-arounds in the seiyuu industry. These comments are always made in jest and faux jealousy. 

Show-chan, not letting Kiiyan get the upper-hand, dropped another bombshell, “So you are not going to tell the audience that you are hung-over?”

“Wait! Don’t expose me like this!” Kiiyan in a slight panic. 

“You people think his low energy is because of influenza, right? No, he showed up today in t-shirt, shorts, sandals and half asleep. Rocked up like an old-time rock star. He even took a shower here before the event started.”  

This unexpected revelation took the audience by surprise and another wave of laughter broke out as Kiiyan tries to defend himself. 

“I honestly didn’t plan any of it! Yesterday, I was thinking about you and planned to rest early for the event. But you know, I just recovered from influenza and wanted to go out a bit. Of course, I only intended to have one or two drinks at a familiar place before heading home. So just when I was about to leave, some friends showed up all rowdy. They just came back from One OK Rock’s concert and all hyped up. I missed my timing to leave and then things got weird. After a few more drinks, we ended up going to a karaoke bar and I sang the night away. I didn’t know any One OK Rock’s songs so sang King Gnu instead.”

“You are really one of a kind…” Show-chan shook his head.

“I felt secure knowing you would be here. Senpai is so dependable and I knew I would be in good hands. Of course, I didn’t plan it but there’s a sense of security having you as a guest. I am sorry,” Kiiyan explained further. 

“Excuses, excuses. I am the guest, not the host you know. Anyway, maybe we should proceed to the title call?”

The two finally looked at their flashcards and with the famous Morikubo intonation read out the title of the event together. 

The event proceeded to the Commentary segment where they reacted to a digest of the DVD with the audience. They commented how the opening with Kiiyan hung-over was like dejavu. Kiiyan’s best Morikubo Copycat ranking being Yashiro Taku, Kondo Takayuki and Show-chan the real deal being 3rd. Show-chan repeated that if people are going to copy him, he would like them to not give up and forget about him later. 

Both were laughing about how their reactions were so similar to their comments on the DVD. For example, when they saw the boob towel merchandise in the shopping alley. They also couldn’t remember the details because they filmed the DVD a year ago. They commented on how Show-chan has such a distinct voice. Even when he tried to show different styles, it’s still him. 

When watching the shine part, they commented on how a lot of people got married with reference to Kiiyan’s kouhai Hatanaka Tasuku who made his announcement recently. Also how it was good that Shizuoka got out of a tourism slump with local efforts.

They revealed that when they went to film at the retro game center, the old shop keeper yelled at them for entering the shop too loud. 

Kiiyan re-enacted the scene, “The retro game shop was separate to the candy store and looked after by the owner’s dad. We coordinated with them before filming but when we entered the shop all excited and loud for the camera, the grandpa shouted, ‘Be quiet!’ at us. The grandpa seemed to have forgotten what his son told him.”

“That’s why Kiiyan is quiet in these shots,” Show-chan explained.

“Sorry, you were trying so hard to get back into the right mood but I was still in shock. My emotions show on my face right away.” 

They ended the Commentary segment with talks about other locations for Kiiyan that don’t involve flying. Chichibu in Saitama seemed like a good choice and because Kiiyan said he has few seiyuu friends, there’s a chance for Show-chan to be guest again. 

Gacha Talk

The next segment was a talk segment where they opened gacha balls containing talk topics from an actual gacha machine. 

1. Lie about your life.

“What kind of topic is this? Hahaha, err…This has never been talked about but my father’s brother, who is my uncle, was living overseas…in…Sweden, he was a Swedish count,” Kiiyan was baffled by the question. 

“I want to share a story from before I became a seiyuu. When I was young, I traveled the world and was in Scandinavia. I met an African lady and passionately fell in love with her.” Show-chan’s story sounded slightly possible to Kiiyan. 

2. Tell us a recent regret.  

Kiiyan confessed, “Hum…drinking the whole night and getting home at 7 am this morning. Only managed to wake up when I heard someone at my door. It was my manager picking me up. I am glad he came because I might not be here right now if he hadn’t fetched me. Got here in a daze and only just woke up before the event.” 

“And I regretted agreeing to this event when I saw you this morning,” laughed Show-chan.

3. If you are to form a music duo together, what would be the name and your special phrase (“kime serifu”)?

They began reflected on silly band names they had in the past. 

“When I was in high school, my friends and I took parts from our surnames to form the name. There was Fujii, me Taniyama, Ueda, and Hashimoto so we ended up with FujiTani Wafers,” said Kiiyan.

“I was in several bands and looked for cool English words in the dictionary. Banana in the Skin was one and also Mad Gaia,” said Show-chan.

“Mad Gaia is cool! Let’s go with Mad Gaia!” Kiiyan suddenly got excited and started acting all cool. In Crow’s voice and rock band frontman swag, he said, “Our reason for singing? The Earth is calling us.” 

“Hahaha, nailed it!” Show-chan said it for the audience. Gaia as in the Earth goddess in Greek mythology so the phrase before singing had to relate to the land somehow. 

“We channel the land’s power.” 

4. Think up a new traffic rule and draw a sign for it.

“Errr……”

“Let’s pass.”

They had no idea what to put and didn’t want to end the segment on a low note. 

5. Play shiritori using manly phrases.

The two threw around phrases that were not manly at all and Kiiyan was adding auxiliary words so he didn’t end with ‘n’. It was pretty chaotic and the audience was just laughing at the randomness of it all. 

For the present lottery, they picked ticket cuttings from a box and gave signed cookie jar, signed can badges and signed boob towel which they bought in Shizuoka. 

At the end of the event, Show-chan talked about his national tour this year and also announced for the first time a new project called Para Host which has both of them. They then said their hopes for the Carefree series and their good-byes. The staff gave out Para Host flyers to the audience at the exits after the event. 

Night Session

Kiiyan opened the event with a similar talk as the Day Session about his influenza. Show-chan entered the stage dragging his feet and coughing as a joke. 

Kiiyan teased Show-chan about his tanned complexion to which Show-chan responded that he was in Australia helping firefighters with the bushfires. Show-chan told the audience about the fire and that he is very worried. Even though he went to unaffected areas, he could see the smoke from the plane. 

(As an Aussie, I was touched that he raised awareness about the fires. The fires are still burning at a severity never seen before. I hope people can donate what they can: https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/bushfire-relief-how-you-can-help-those-in-need/news-story/a0476ac3538b8c373f281ea6be204421) 

They then moved onto other topics such as Kiiyan’s recent tarot card reading which told him to watch out for his health. 

“The fan letters I receive these days often tell me to look after my health. I feel old,” said Kiiyan.

“That’s like letters for grandpas,” laughed Show-chan.

Then they mentioned how the Shizuoka trip bonded them and they were talking non-stop during the break between the sessions.

The Commentary segment continued from the Day Session and started with them eating local seafood at a restaurant. Mambo fish (sunfish) was the highlight and they recalled how delicious the food was. After the filming, Kiiyan got curious about Show-chan’s early days and fell asleep watching youtube videos of Show-chan. But he dreamt about Mamo as Miyabi Mamoru’s outfit! 

On the second day of filming, they started at a beach in Shizuoka. Show-chan said that last year, he passed the beach when he was doing a fan club bus trip. He pointed to the beach and told his fan club fans that that’s the beach where he and Kiiyan proclaimed their love for each other. 

The DVD digest showed Show-chan driving Kiiyan in a sports car to their next location. That’s the only part where the two were completely by themselves and they said they enjoyed having the intimate discussions about performing and their philosophies. Kiiyan reiterated his intention to perform for as long as possible focusing on voice acting and singing only. He said he is impressed by the multi-talented seiyuus like Show-chan but recognizes that’s not for him. Show-chan also praised Kiiyan on his powerful performances and GRANRODEO’s success. 

When the digest showed them reaching the Sealife Park in Numazu. Kiiyan forgot Love Live’s name when trying to introduce the place. He was pretty embarrassed to have forgotten the name of such a popular content. Show-chan and the audience had a fun time watching Kiiyan being terrified of the wildlife. Even on stage watching the footage, Kiiyan was nervous. 

“There is a part of me who wants to go to the Okinawa Aquarium or the Osaka one but I might wet myself seeing the massive sharks,” said Kiiyan. “What aquariums do we have in Tokyo? Sunshine City in Ikebukuro…” 

“There is also one in Shinagawa,” said Show-chan. 

“Yes, near where we did the first Utapri show,” Kiiyan said off-handedly. 

“Err…I wasn’t in it,” Show-chan in an awkward grin. 

“Arh! Sorry, I can’t believe I said that!” Kiiyan embarrassed and ashamed of his mistake.

The DVD digest then showed them at a Snack Karaoke Bar for the night. The two commented how seiyuu don’t really go out to karaoke together although Kiiyan said he went to karaoke with Uchida Yuma and Yashiro last year. Also, Miyano Mamoru and Suzumura Kenichi celebrate with their crew after their one-man concerts. 

Kiiyan was embarrassed seeing himself singing so passionately but then sang a few lines with the footage. The two were really surprised that the DVD had so much of the singing footage. 

The gacha machine was broken for the Night Session so they were pulling out the balls from the container directly. 

1. What message would you say to your 10 years older self to cheer him up?

It was a difficult question and Kiiyan responded with, “To me in 10 years? I can’t imagine what the world will be like…Hum…I want to say to myself that although there might be difficulties, you will be alright. Somehow, you will be alright. Somehow.” 

“We were talking about this backstage in between the sessions. You know, AI technology is very impressive. In the future, there are probably ways to detect the audience’s reactions for the AI to select the best recorded dialogues. Like for a live show, the CG will say, ‘Are you all having fun?’ then if the audience’s cheer is soft, AI will detect that and the CG will say, ‘You’re too quiet, louder everyone!’ We might be out of jobs,” said Show-chan. But he then said in Reiji’s voice, “We are not going to be beaten by AI!”

2. If you are to play a role for a classic, golden time anime (this is referring to anime like Doraemon, Lupin III, Sasae san) what character would it be?

The two talked about how there are more classic revivals and how Namikawa managed to get into Lupin III. Show-chan said he would like to be in Ashita no Joe. Kiiyan said he would like to be Ataru in Urusei Yatsura. Kiiyan mentioned how he is a huge fan of Furukawa Toshio who played Ataru in the original and that Furukawa-san will come to Namikawa and his live stream. To Kiiyan’s jealousy, Show-chan revealed that he played Ataru for a pachinko game in the past. Kiiyan was very jealous and shocked. 

3. Talk as Inagawa Junji for the next topic pulled out.

Inagawa Junji is an actor/comedian known for telling scary stories in a deep, intense, husky whisper. On the DVD, the two had fun talking in that voice. 

4. Something you did during the New Year that wasn’t New Year-like.

Of course, Kiiyan talked about his influenza. The voice was hilarious! 

5. Someone who is surprisingly interesting when drunk.

Kiiyan said he would like to drink with Uchiyama Kouki because he suspects it would be interesting. Show-chan said there are many interesting people in the industry. The two then alluded that Suzuki Tatsuhisa gets pretty wild when drunk without going into the specifics. Also how Yamadera Kouichi-san is so caring and would try to entertain and include everyone at drinking parties. Both reflected on how the seiyuus in their 30s right now like Maeno Tomoaki, Terashima Takuma, and Mamo don’t seem to drink much. So Show-chan seems to ask the younger ones out instead. Show-chan told the audience about how when he goes drinking with Kiiyan, Kiiyan would gradually lead people closer and closer to his home so they end up drinking at Kiiyan’s place. 

6. Something that made you angry recently.

Kiiyan said his new year resolution is to think when he senses himself getting angry. He wants to control his emotions more which is something he also mentioned in Yo asobi live stream. Show-chan commented that sometimes it is good not to bottle up too much. 

Present lottery. The special prize for the Night Session was a miniature car of the sports car they were in for the filming. 

During the Ending talk, the staff played an instrumental version of an old song called “Until we meet again” by Kiyohiki Ozaki and the two started singing to the BGM. It was very unexpected and the audience loved the ad-lib surprise. When promoting the Para Host project, Show-chan also did a quick dance of Ono Daisuke’s More Super Love because the style is similar to ParaPara (line dancing) which is a part of Para Host. 

The event contained a lot of laughs and with the new Para Host project, there are bound to be more events featuring the two seiyuu. For those who are interested in Kiiyan traveling and having fun, please check out the Carefree Walk series, Ki Sanpo in Asakusa, and Taniyama Kishou’s Rock Holiday series.