My Letter to Eli Jay
omgwaitwut
Greetings! My name is Mana I’m one of many who have watched Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL since the beginning when it first premiered in Japan. It has been quite a ride! I loved Tasuku Hatanaka’s Yuma and I looked forward to the dub since I was head over heels with the show.I heard you as Yuma and honestly I thought you captured the essence of the character incredibly well! Yuma is 13,full of drive,not afraid to challenge the norm and takes risks all the time. You took that journey with him and gave it your all. I love your youthful voice for him and the comedic timing was spot on. The dramatic ones too! YOU MADE ME CRY SO MUCH (in a good way of course )I swear I can quote you with my friends for hours on end!
ZEXAL has an incredibly special place in my heart that knows no bounds. Because of it, I have made some of the most amazing,talented,loving friendships I have ever made iny life! Yuma Tsukumo is LITERALLY everything I wish to be: fearless,amiable,inspiring to everyone he meets,and brave. Sometimes I feel like I’m none of those things. Whenever I was about to give up, I just told myself “If that 13 year old little boy can do it,then so can I !” I remember you said a line tha saved me “People are interesting BECAUSE they can fail!” Yuma taught me to not be afraid of making mistakes. If it wasn’t for him,Astral,The Numbers Club (and Nelson Andrews/Fuya Okudaira ,The Sparrow/ESPer Robin because he’ my other fave ! THESPIANS UNITE!) then I wouldn’t be here today
. Even after ZEXAL ends, I will continue to support it! (I have an abridged parody of it because I love it so much and I praise you guys a lot in it eheh )
And now if you don’t mind me taking up a bit more of your time (Im sorry ;u;) I also have 13 Questions for the 13 year old protagonist!*°^`·o.
1. What was your audition process for Yuma Tsukumo? Did you read for any other characters? If so which ones? And what do you do to prepare to voice Yuma every time you enter the booth? (Sorry I am a huge theatre/VA nerd/aspiring VA)
2. What is the best part about playing Yuma Tsukumo? Are there any downsides?
3.Were you a YuGiOh fan prior to getting the role? Do you own any of Yuma’s cards for fun? And what’s your favorite of his duel monsters?
4.Do you get along with Marc Thompson (Astral) in real life? Is he anything like Astral xD? (Also do you have a favorite ZEXAL morph form?) (and Take A Chance or Halfway To Forever?)
5. Do you share anything in common with Yuma? How are you two alike and different? :)
6. Do you do your Yuma voice in public? Or for little kids? If so, what reactions do you get? How do YOU react whenever you see anything ZEXAL related in public?
7. Aside from Yuma, what other ZEXAL characters do you like? If you Didn’t get Yuma, who else would you have liked to play and why?
8. Do you have any favorite episodes or moments in ZEXAL? You can separate it for comedic and dramatic if you like n.n/
9. Have you ever cried in the booth cuz a moment was so sad? Or laughed so hard cuz a line was so funny? (I’m curious cuz you’re awesome at improv/standup so I always wonder about bloopers or adlibs you did that maybe got kept in xD?)
10. If you got asked to be a guest at an anime convention or a YuGiOh National Duel Tournament, would you attend? (We’d love to meet you! :) )
11. If you met Tasuku Hatanaka (Japanese Yuma) what would you say to him? Did you get to watch the Japanese version too :)? Do you like it n.n? (Also can you believe he was in high school when he played him ^u^?)
12. How does it feel to have the series be over? Were you satisfied with the ending or is there something that didn’t happen & you wished it did? Did you predict anything early on & it came true?
13. What does Feeling the Flow/High Five the Sky mean to you?
Thanks Eli! Keep rockin! And Feeling the Flow/High Fiving the Sky/Kattobingu :) your the ABSOLUTE best! I hope you liked the pic I drew you! And if you do future Q&As please let us know! I proly have 39 or plus more ahaha xD my bad!
~*°^`·o. Lotta love from a huge admirer,
-Mana ~°^`·o.