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Steel Jeeg Anime Voice Actress Narrates Italian Film's Manners Video
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The 2015 Italian live-action film They Call Me Jeeg will open in theaters in Japan on May 20. The film is a tribute of sorts to Gō Nagai and Tatsuya Yasuda's 1975 Steel Jeeg (Kotetsu Zieg) manga and its anime adaptation. In honor of the Italian film's Japanese debut, the original anime's voice actress Rihoko Yoshida (voice of Miwa Uzuki) narrated a theater manners video with footage from the film.
In the video, Yoshida reminds theatergoers to turn off their cell phones, not make noise, not kick the seats in front of them, not "dive," and not make recordings inside theaters.
Yoshida is retired and had not voice acted in about 20 years. However, she readily accepted the offer to narrate the video. She described the experience as unexpectedly nostalgic and said it brought back memories.
The anime's theme song performer Ichirō Mizuki also created an Italian ballad version of his "Kotetsu Zieg no Uta" song to celebrate the film. He performed the beginning of the song at a concert in Tokyo on Sunday. He said it was the first time that he has performed in Italian at a concert, and he is happy that the love of anime and theme songs crosses national borders.
They Call Me Jeeg debuted in Italy in 2016 and opened for a limited release in the United States on March 17.
Theaters in Japan screen many versions of manners videos, and anime or live-action films often get their own versions. Works that have inspired theater manners videos include Gundam Thunderbolt, Terraformars, K-ON!, Hōkago no Pleiades, Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie Part 3: Rebellion, and Monogatari Series Second Season.
Source: Anime! Anime! (Katsunori Takahashi)
