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Character is at the heart ofAssassin’s Creed Shadows.
GamesRadar+: Are we right in thinking this is your first video game role?
How did that come to be, and what was the experience like?
Check out ourAssassin’s Creed Shadows On The Radar coverage hubfor even more exclusive access!
Masumi: Yes, this is my first video game, my first voice over all of that.
How it came to be?
I think I’ll talk about the audition process.
It came to me quite a while ago almost three and a half years ago?
It was a while back!
When I got the material, I connected to this character right away.
I understand this character so much!'
At the time, I felt very happy with what I turned in the first time.
So I didn’t do the second audition.
Then the callback was with a whole lot of people in the room.
It was over a Zoom obviously, but there were maybe 12 or 13 people in total.
I have never had that many people in a room.
The whole audition was about an hour and a half.
It was also one of the longest auditions I’ve had.
They really had me do [the performance] all kinds of ways.
And I was just after that praying that, you know, it went well.
I have this moment where I hear that I got the audition on my Instagram.
[…] Yeah, it was a dream come true really.
GR+: So you said you always wanted to play a video game character?
Masumi: I think I was very attracted to that.
I don’t play video games, however.
[Games are] a very different medium.
That was really my innocent curiosity.
GR+: Yeah, games as a medium there’s so much to it.
How did you approach Naoe dealing with thatvolumeof character?
Masumi: That’s a really great question.
I think a movie takes sometimes like three months, right?
But I would say it was challenging and rewarding at the same time.
Naoe is living through the Sengoku period, which is already a hefty period [with] intense emotions.
But it was also rewarding, because I got to really explore this character.
GR+: How did you find going from acting in live action to a digital performance?
How was it tackling motion capture?
Masumi: The cinematic scenes were all motion capture.
[…] But I really approached it like it was a movie.
How did you approach playing her across such a span of years in the story?
I hope that you guys will be able to spot that it was some finessing to do.
Masumi: Well, there’s so many emotionally big moments in this game.
I would say that’s something that I really like to immerse myself in as an actor in general.
I really like to go deep into the emotions and play these kinds of intense scenes.
Masumi: It was amazing.
It was really amazing.
I mean, Tongayi is an amazing human being, an amazing actor.
It was really fun to spend time with him and to shoot together.
I wish there were more.
But it was honestly a gift to be able to work with him.
I can’t say enough how amazing it was to be able to work with him.
How did you find balancing those two modes?
Masumi: I mean those light moments are a gift in such a tumultuous story.
It felt very easy, because we are really good friends.
It just makes everything so much easier when you have a great connection with your acting partner.
For Naoe, where do you think that comes from with those choices?
Whywasshe a great assassin?
All these ‘whys’ that fueled her action.
There was always a reason that fueled these choices and to really reflect on her ‘whys’.
Naoe’s ‘whys’ made it more tangible for me.
We said the game has “best-in-class combat for the series” in ourAssassin’s Creed Shadows review.
GR+: With the historical aspect, how did you approach being in the Sengoku era?
Masumi: The writing helped so much.
GR+: Naoe acts against a lot of historical figures in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Did you know much about them going in?
GR+: Now you actually do know Oda Nobunaga personally!
Masumi: I do know!
That was a contrasted experience of, like, ‘you know Assassin’s Creed?’
It was like, ‘Yeah, I know Assassin’s Creed!’
Okay…' Yeah, finding out about it was really cool.
I’m really proud that I got to do that.
I put so much of my soul in her.
