{"id":43197,"date":"2025-03-02T12:53:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-02T20:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=43197"},"modified":"2026-03-09T15:10:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T22:10:28","slug":"mantan223","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/mantan223\/","title":{"rendered":"Voice actor Motoki Takagi interview"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div style='width:420px; margin-right: 0px; float: right'>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/mar26\/mantan223A.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Were we fooled by <em>2199?!<\/em> Toru Hoshina&#8217;s turning point<\/h2>\n<p><em>By Mitsuru Anima<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Published at Mantan Web, February 23, 2026.<br \/>\nSee the original post <a href='https:\/\/mantan-web.jp\/article\/20260219dog00m200084000a.html'>here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Toru Hoshina, a new character who appeared in <em>Yamato 2199<\/em>, is an intelligence professional who unites anti-Dezarium forces within the Defense Force. He lays the foundation for a resistance organization, and continues to operate underground, demonstrating unprecedented success. We spoke to Motoki Takagi, the voice actor who plays Toru Hoshina, about his thoughts on <em>Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> and his character.<\/p>\n<h3><em>2199<\/em>: &#8220;I don&#8217;t want you to think about anything.&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p><em>Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> is a hugely popular anime, first airing on TV in 1974 and now celebrating its 50th anniversary. Takagi isn&#8217;t part of the &#8220;<em>Yamato<\/em> generation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was made before I was born, so I&#8217;d never seen it. I had the impression it was an anime for adults, a complex work. My parents were incredibly happy when I was cast in <em>2199<\/em>.&#8221; They asked me, &#8216;What role are you playing?&#8217; I remember saying, &#8216;It&#8217;s a new character!? I hope (Hoshina) lives a long life.&#8217; I&#8217;m glad he did. I don&#8217;t know how much I&#8217;ll be involved, so I feel nervous every time I open a new script. When people in my hometown ask me, &#8216;What are you in?&#8217; and I say, <em>Yamato<\/em>, and they&#8217;re happy. It&#8217;s become like a calling card for me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The first remake series, <em>Yamato 2199,<\/em> began in 2012. Hoshina appears in <em>2199<\/em> as a good-looking, friendly young man, but his true identity is that of a spy watching the <em>Yamato<\/em> crew. He recalls that at the time, he was recording without being told how the story would unfold, saying, &#8220;I was deceived.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When I was acting, Director Yutaka Izubuchi told me, &#8216;I don&#8217;t want you to think about anything.&#8217; He said, &#8216;I want you to speak as you are now. I can tell you the plot developments if you really want to know, but for now, just act without knowing.&#8217; So, I think the viewers were surprised, and I was surprised too. I was fooled by the adults.  (Laughs) At the time, the <em>Yamato<\/em> crew gathered to record, and there were so many of us that we couldn&#8217;t all fit in the chairs in the studio. We lined up spare chairs, and it felt like the first bridge of <em>Yamato<\/em>. We all interacted with each other and felt the speed of the story as we recorded.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/mar26\/mantan223B.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Becoming an Adult in <em>2205<\/em><\/h3>\n<p>In <em>Yamato 2202<\/em>, Hoshina was involved in the construction of the Wave-Motion Experiment Ship <em>Ginga<\/em> and served as a crew member on the ship. In <em>Yamato 2205<\/em>, he appears as the head of <em>Yamato<\/em>&#8216;s security department, keeping an eye on Ryusuke Domon&#8217;s movements.<\/p>\n<p>In <em>REBEL 3199,<\/em> he becomes the head of the HQ Security Department, and after the HQ falls to the Dezarium invasion, he goes into hiding underground. He unites anti-Dezarium forces within the Defense Forces and establishes the foundations of a resistance organization. He devises a counter-attack using Van Gogh&#8217;s masterpiece <em>Starry Night<\/em> as a fuse, attempting to expose Dezarium&#8217;s deception, but the operation fails. He has now returned to the underground to prepare for his next move, and is acting as a core member of the partisans.<\/p>\n<p>Looking back, we can see that Hoshina has always been an important character who has operated in the shadows.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s not at the forefront, but he&#8217;s always working in the background. I think he&#8217;s a capable worker, but I think it&#8217;s amazing that he somehow doesn&#8217;t get noticed. It&#8217;s the same in <em>3199<\/em>. He carries out important missions without attracting attention and without causing any discomfort.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hoshina was 18 years old when he first appeared, and by <em>3199<\/em>, he&#8217;s 26. The turning point was <em>2205<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Even now, I&#8217;m still an extension of Director Izubuchi&#8217;s words from <em>2199<\/em>, &#8216;Just be yourself,&#8217; but there have been some changes. Hoshina has gotten older, and he&#8217;s gradually become more conscious of being an adult rather than a boyish character. Since <em>2205<\/em>, the next generation of crew members has appeared, and although Hoshina is young, he&#8217;s now part of the older generation. I assisted Domon in welcoming him to the <em>Yamato<\/em> crew, and that was a turning point for him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/mar26\/mantan223C.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Hoshina&#8217;s first &#8220;defeat&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>In <em>3199<\/em>, he devises a rebellion plan to burn down Van Gogh&#8217;s masterpiece, <em>Starry Night.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think Hoshina has the most lines in <em>3199<\/em> so far. I have the image of him constantly talking. He works hard to come up with strategies, but nothing ever goes as planned. (Laughs) Before we started filming <em>3199<\/em>, Director Fukui told me, &#8216;Hoshina has been a superhuman up until now, but I want to portray him as human as well.&#8217; That was something that really stuck with me. Up until now, he&#8217;s been active out of the public eye, always smiling and doing great things, but from now on, I think there will be scenes where he loses his nerve like a human being.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hoshina is talented, but not a superhuman. In <em>3199<\/em>, he seems more three-dimensional.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe&#8217;s still the same character, so there&#8217;s a core focus on protecting that character. But when expressing him, I&#8217;m trying to act flexibly, keeping in mind his growth and change, without locking down the range of his reactions. This is the first time we&#8217;ve seen a \u2018defeated Hoshina\u2019 like this, and I&#8217;m performing with the mindset that it can&#8217;t be the same as before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hoshina is not a superhuman, so he struggles but tries to move forward. Takagi says he sees Hoshina in some ways like Alphon, another character in <em>3199<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The person I&#8217;m most interested in is Alphon. Even within the highly controlled Dezarium, he acts independently. I wonder how much Mother Dezarium knows, but I imagine she does. That&#8217;s why he fights alone. I feel like he has some similarities with Hoshina. I think of Alphon as a guest hero in <em>3199.<\/em>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div style='width:420px; margin-right: 0px; float: right'>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault-images\/mar26\/mantan223D.JPG\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>The Shock of the &#8220;Last Minute&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p><em>3199<\/em>&#8221; consists of seven chapters, with the fifth chapter, <em>The Incandescent Galactic War,<\/em> premiering on February 20th. The main visual for Chapter 5, accompanied by the tagline <em>Everything changes in the last minute<\/em>, has also been generating buzz.<\/p>\n<p>While he can&#8217;t give away any spoilers, Takagi hints, &#8220;I think everyone will be shocked by the last minute, but I was even more shocked after that. I was surprised by the ending theme, and the preview for the next chapter really stirred my heart.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re also curious to see what Hoshina does next, and he says, &#8220;I&#8217;m still struggling with it. There are times when I get discouraged. But please look forward to it!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>We hope you&#8217;ll look forward to the shocking fifth chapter and Hoshina&#8217;s subsequent exploits.<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p><a href='http:\/\/ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/116b'>Return to <em>3199<\/em> report<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href='http:\/\/ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/113b'>Return to interview index<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43197"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43314,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43197\/revisions\/43314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}