“Voice Actors and Night Play” Real Event History and Future – Producer Yamazaki Kenko talks about highlights and thoughts [Interview]

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“Voice Actors and Night Play” is ABEMA’s original obi program, in which popular voice actors team up to act as MCs every Monday to Saturday. On Sunday, March 9th, 2025, the “Voice Actors and Night Play Festival 2024” will be held at the Edogawa Ward Cultural Center.

This time, we interviewed Yamazaki Kenko from AbemaTV Co., Ltd., who is the producer of “Voice Actor and Night Play.” They talked about the highlights of this “Voice Actors and Night Play Festival 2024” and why they held an offline event, and their thoughts on how they thoughts.

■AbemaTV Yamazaki Kenko Interview

–Please tell us about the “Voice Actors and Night Play Festival” so far

Since I first started the program, I had a desire to make it a program that allows for events in real life, and since “Voice Actors and Night Play” itself is broadcasting every day, viewers were even thinking of planning to come and see it every day. Live broadcasts continued even during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as the COVID-19 calmed down, the team began to talk about “It’s about time for the program to be held a real event!”

Thanks to you, the program has been attracting love for voice actors, so we wanted to create a place where customers can feel this in person, so we held a real event at KT Zepp YOKOHAMA in January 2022, and since then we have been holding the “Voice Actors and Night Play Festival” event, which includes a major announcement, around March every year. In between, we hold real events with various concepts, such as “Voice Actors Night Play Halloween Meeting” and the live weekend broadcast “WEEKEND” to broadcast the show.

Even before our company (CyberAgent Group) focused on the show and events, we had been groping around the program “Voice Actors and Night Play.” The program’s first featured “Voice Actors and Summer Festival Festival Stage” was included in the 2018 TV Asahi Roppongi Hills Summer Festival SUMMER STASION, and in 2019 they held the program’s first live-recorded event, “Night Play Hero Show,” and in 2022 they made a live broadcast of the collaboration stage “Summer! Figure! Wonder Festival Special Stage from Voice Actors and Night Play” at Wonder Festival, and in 2022 they were conscious of events that are close to each other, such as having customers appear on stage. We are grateful to everyone for the voice actors and the audience united in creating a lively event.

–What are the reactions of visitors and viewers at the real event?

I can’t see the faces of the people watching on PPV (Pay-Per-View), but when I see the expressions of everyone at the venue, I also feel that they are happy. I think there’s a sense of participation compared to typical events, and some of the night-playing customers are used to watching online, so I think people from far away are enjoying it too. We have received requests for people to come to the countryside, but there are some parts of the program that have not yet been fulfilled.

Kochi Aniguri Festival 2024, which was held in Kochi Prefecture in 2024, was secretly attended by Morikubo Shotaro, who had connections with Kochi Prefecture, as well as Nakamura Sogo, Kaneda Tomoko, and Hatakenaka Yuu, who were involved in Kochi Prefecture (lol). In Fukuoka Prefecture, Morikubo and Nakamura both traveled on “WEEKEND,” and in the 2022 “Voice Actor 28 Hours TV” project, Kaneda Tomoko traveled “555km” to the studio where she was broadcasting live from Tsune City, Iwate Prefecture. There are various hurdles, but I would like to travel around and hold events.

–What do you think of the reactions of the voice actors participating?

Usually, people who don’t get involved are on the same stage because the days of the week are different, so interactions in such situations can sometimes lead to subsequent program planning. This year, the number of voice actors will be lined up with the largest number of times. Since everyone is professional, I think they will be doing a lot while keeping an eye on the balance, but I’m looking forward to seeing how things develop, as they appear and leave marks behind. Also, since the event is held in a real world, there may be some kind of trouble, but I am impressed by how flexible everyone, including the customers, is incredible every year.

–Please tell us what’s the highlights of this real event?

This time, the concept is “Voice Actors and Night Play: General Shareholders Meeting.” I think shareholders (viewers and visitors) will receive some kind of shareholder benefits.

Also, as a shareholder, you may be able to “say” something about the program “Voice Actor and Night Play.” The “Request for Comments” has already been closed, but we have been saying that we are “althing about strict opinions,” so we are excited to see what kind of message will come from our viewers. I think that 2025 will be an enjoyable event with participation in attendance and viewers.

–Please be sure to be enthusiastic about the future “Voice Actor and Night Play”

This year marks the seventh year of “Voice Actor and Night Play”. First of all, I would like to work hard to achieve 10 years. I would like to continue to be a place where the voice actors who appeared on the show will continue to be active in a variety of fields, and those who have graduated from MC will return again.

Of course, the performers may change“The parents’ homes of night play families and voice actors”I would like to be a program where people can stop by in a flash like this. At the same time, I would be happy if the voice actors could use it as a place to challenge new things that they couldn’t do anywhere else.

General tickets for “Voice Actors and Night Play Festival 2024” are available for sale only at[Night Session/General Reserved Seats]. Even if it is difficult to participate in the event, you can watch it in real time using ABEMA PPV.

■Purchase “Voice Actors and Night Play Festival 2024 Tickets” here
■Purchase “ABEMA PPV” here Daytime/Nighttime