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Recovery of an MMO Junkie Voice Actors Discuss Meaning of Anime's Title at Radio Show Live Recording
posted on by Kim Morrissy
The Japanese title of Recovery of an MMO Junkie is called Netjuu no Susume (lit. “Recommendation of the Wonderful Virtual Life”). In a radio show on January 20th, the Japanese voice actors of Hayashi (Ryouta Suzuki), Lily (Reina Ueda), Koiwai (Tomoaki Maeno), and Lilac (Yuka Aisaka) discussed the meaning of the Japanese title and the gap between people's online and real-life personas.
The actors of Hayashi and Lily both mentioned how difficult it was to keep the real-life personas in mind as they act as the game characters. Suzuki pointed out that the character of Moriko is very different from her online persona. However, Ueda said that when Suzuki screams and gets excited in the game, she could sense that the two characters were “in synch.” She also said that she had difficulty acting as Sakurai, but that she developed a greater sense of the character as the recording progressed.
The discussion then moved on to the meaning of the word netjuu in the title of the anime.
Maeno described the people who play MMORPGs as “pure.” He also said, “I wonder if the people are just as cute as the characters they play. What if the person who plays a cute girl like Lily is an old man in real life?”
Aisaka responded: “I think netjuu comes from the word riajuu. Riajuu means having a lot of friends and being satisfied with real life, while netjuu is the same thing but for the online life. You're happy and satisfied with your life online.”
The Recovery of an MMO Junkie radio show (called “Raji-juu no Susume”) has been streaming online every week since September 26th. The final session was recorded with a live audience at the Science Museum in Tokyo. Suzuki and Ueda make regular appearances in the show, while other voice actors join as guests from time to time. The participants talk about their impressions of Recovery of an MMO Junkie, take questions from the audience, and play a quiz game with each other.
In this session, Ueda's twenty-fourth birthday was also celebrated, where she shared her birthday wish with the audience.
“I'd like to make more people smile,” she said. “As I grow older, that desire in me becomes stronger.”
