On the May 24 installment of TBS Network’s Weekly Sanma and Matsuko, renowned Japanese voice actress Kana Hanazawa shared the unconventional measures she took to portray Tohko Amano in the 2010 anime film Book Girl (source: Oricon News). To fully immerse herself in the character and step into the heroine’s mindset, she resorted to tearing up her audition script and consuming it—an extreme tactic that, she claims, secured her the role.
Adapted from the light novel series of the same title, Book Girl follows Konoha Inoue, a second-year high school student who joins the literature club upon learning that its president and only member, Tohko Amano, derives nourishment by eating the paper on which stories are printed. Inoue subsequently crafts numerous short tales for Tohko as “appetizers,” gradually uncovering deeper truths about his senior and himself along the way.
Hanazawa characterized Tohko Amano as a character she was “determined to portray.” Acknowledging the necessity of understanding the role to win it, she admitted her lack of experience with consuming paper. Consequently, she tore apart her audition script and ingested it: “It had a salty taste, so I immediately spat it out, but the sensation made me reflect, So this is what it’s like…to subsist on paper.”
Co-host Sanma Akashiya playfully labeled the action “authentic character development,” and Hanazawa affirmed that this peculiar approach was instrumental in securing her the part.
Mido