Writer: Kaji Yuuki
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: Kawade
Pages: 188
Published Year: 2018
Language: Japanese
It feels so nostalgic when I see this book in my own bookshelf. I bought it nearly three years ago with the help of my friend who was staying in Japan back then. It took a quite long time for this book to be in my hands. But it’s worthy enough for me to wait and burn my money for a book which is only available in Japan (well, everyone can buy it in e-commerce tho).
Who’s Kaji Yuuki
Who’s Kaji Yuuki
So, before I proceed, I will tell you who is Kaji Yuuki; the writer of this book (in case you don’t know).
Kaji Yuuki is a Japanese voice actor who’s famous for his main role for several anime series (Attack on Titan’s Eren Jaeger, Seven Deadly Sins’ Meliodas etc.). I personally like Kaji for the first time since I watched his role in the shoujo anime, Aoharide. I just love his deep low voice; and he instantly became my first seiyuu crush, lol.
About the Book
About the Book
This book is actually part of Kawade Publisher’s 14 Sai no Yo Watari Machi (Worldly Wisdom for 14 Years old)’s series, and Kaji is the only seiyuu who collaborated on this project. To be honest, actually my age is double 14 but I still insisted on reading the book because I want to know his journey until he became one of top tier seiyuus.
The first time Kaji wanted to become a seiyuu was when he was 14 years old. It was because he was so interested in the anime and video games he has been playing. During that time (when Kaji was 14 years old, then it was 1999) there was little information to get to become a seiyuu while now, we can read the information easily from a magazine or from a guidebook just like this book itself.
One day, Kaji found a supplementary school which sells a DVD to become a seiyuu. He used all his pocket money to buy the DVD. The DVD itself cost about 20.000 JPY which is a huge amount of money for a 14-years old child like him.
I feel so moved to see that a 14-years old kid could be that determined, while I was still Mommy’s child when I was that age. I know there’s a huge difference between the culture of his country and mine, but still I can’t stop being impressed.
Kaji tells me a lot about his past in this book. Especially during his hardest time when he entered the industry as a newcomer. He
There is one story, where I think it was a turning point for Kaji at that time. He passed the audition until the final round, where he had to compete with Yonaga Tsubasa. At that time they both auditioned for the main character in an anime (I forgot the title) and the one who got the role was Yonaga. Kaji wrote that he cried on the way home and thought about quitting being a voice actor. Fortunately, he wasn’t. His struggle paid off until he got to where he is now
Review
Review
I have learned a lot from this book. And what impressed me the most was when Kaji said:
自分自身にも他人にも"赦す"ことを覚える
Means, learning how to accept yourself as well as you accepting others.
Human is a house of a thousand subjective thoughts. In fact, if we think more objectively, I:m sure the problem will look less complicated. Likewise when we think "How come there are people like that?" We can change to, "We can try to act like that. Maybe the results can be better."
Well, I know that’s not something that can be practiced easily. But at least, we can try.
And last, I just want to say this book is great. And I'm lucky to be one of the people who can have it, apart from the reason I bought this book because Kaji wrote it. My first seiyuu crush.
And as the very last, I want to share my favorite quote from this book. Here it is:
夢を持っている人の世界は広い。そして、みんな輝いている。
The world of every dreamer is wide. And all of them are shining.
That's all for today. Thank you for dropping by.
