Megami Magazine‘s September 2026 issue features an extended “Megami’s Voice” interview with Nana Kawaiishi, the voice actress behind Otsu Mari in the original anime Sayonara Lara (さよならララ), which airs every Sunday at 00:30 on TOKYO MX and other channels. The full interview — including material not printed in the magazine — is published online.

First Impressions of the Series

Kawaiishi recalls that at the audition she received only a character illustration and a few lines of Mari’s dialogue — no storyboards. “It seemed like a fantasy, but the setting is Shiga Prefecture, so I really couldn’t picture what kind of story it would be,” she says. It wasn’t until she read the Episode 1 script that she grasped the world and Lara’s goal, though the opening felt close to Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.

Mari: A Girl Who Doesn’t Know How to Show Her Feelings

Kawaiishi initially assumed Mari was simply a cool, emotionless character, but her view shifted as recording progressed. “She’s not someone who lacks feelings — she just doesn’t know how to express them,” she explains. Meeting Lara and spending time together gradually helps Mari discover her own emotions. Despite Mari’s composed, adult-seeming exterior, Kawaiishi sees her as fundamentally still a child — someone who tries to handle everything alone. Lara, whether intentionally or not, scoops up Mari’s uncertainties one by one, allowing her to grow.

Building the Performance: Unpacking Mari’s Motivations

“I’m the type who wears my heart on my sleeve, so I really struggled with how to portray someone as understated as Mari,” Kawaiishi says. “We might perceive things similarly, but the way we express them is completely different. Things I’d say out loud, Mari keeps to herself. I kept asking myself why — and built every line of her performance from those answers, one by one.” She also credits her senior cast members in the studio for teaching her the fundamentals of voice acting and broadening her expressive range.

The Shiga Dialect — Familiar but Tricky

A native of Shiga, Kawaiishi knows the local dialect well, yet found using it in the recording booth surprisingly difficult. Her voice-acting school had banned regional accents, so being told to use one felt disorienting. “Shiga dialect is closer to Kyoto speech than Osaka — it’s softer and more relaxed, not as punchy,” she explains. “I wanted Mari’s words to have that gentle sound.” She was largely trusted to handle the dialect herself, though she occasionally pushed back on director Takashi Koide’s preferences, suggesting more natural contemporary phrasing.

Training Her Body to Voice a Boxer

Mari is a member of the boxing club, which posed its own challenge for Kawaiishi, who freely admits she is not athletic. Sound director Yamada once told her that her breathing “sounded like someone with poor athletic ability.” In response, she started waking up at 5 a.m. to go jogging and eating the same foods as Mari, trying to physically close the gap between herself and the character.

Chemistry with Kana Hishikawa

Kawaiishi speaks glowingly of Kana Hishikawa, who voices Lara. “She performs with such intensity — I always wanted to make sure my acting was good enough to stand beside her without embarrassment.” She recalls moments when the performance that emerged in the studio was completely different from what she had rehearsed at home — a first for her. “Kana drew that out of me. She’s a truly remarkable performer.” The studio atmosphere was equally warm: senior cast members looked after her, and when she and Hishikawa were in the zone, everyone gave them space.

What to Look Forward To

Kawaiishi warns that while the early episodes focus on everyday life, the story takes sharp turns as it progresses. “Don’t miss a single episode,” she urges. Viewers can also look forward to learning more about Luka — a young man who closely resembles the prince Lara once loved — and the fate of Lara’s family. “There are no villains in Sayonara Lara. I think audiences will end up loving every single character.”

Megami Q&A

• Charm point: Her smile — a friend she made during a high-school exchange in Hungary told her, “You were always smiling, so I wanted to get to know you.”
• Nickname: Nana / Nana-chan — Hishikawa gave her the nickname “Nanapyon” but never actually used it. (laughs)
• Voice quality: Transparent — people often tell her she has a clear, pure voice, and she wants to be “transparent” in the sense of being able to take on any colour.
• Personality: Stubborn — once she decides something, she sees it through. During her exchange year she refused to speak Japanese at all; during voice-acting school she worked part-time jobs around overnight buses to save money for moving to Tokyo.
• Current obsession: Sticker trading — she already has more than ten sticker albums and is looking for trading partners.
• Series keyword: Love — “Sayonara Lara depicts many forms of love. I hope viewers feel all of them.”

About Sayonara Lara

Lara, a mermaid princess who fell in love with a human prince 200 years ago but dissolved into sea foam without finding true love, is reborn in Lake Biwa. She moves in with high-school student Otsu Mari and sets out to find real love this time.

Airs every Sunday at 00:30 on TOKYO MX and other channels | Official site: https://goodbyelara.com/

© Kinema Citrus / “Sayonara Lara” Production Committee