Q: This is Shirona's first appearance in quite a while. How did you react when you first learned it was happening?
Sakurai: The thing is, I play Koharu's mother Yoshino in the Pocket Monsters TV series, so I learned it from a staff member one day after the dubbing session had concluded. I had abolutely no idea she was going to appear in the show, so I practically screamed with surprise (laughs). Shirona is calm and collected, inquisitive, cultured and good looking... She's pretty much my exact opposite, but she's still a woman I really love and admire. I'm so happy I'm playing her again.
Q: What was your impression of Shirona the way she's portrayed in this return appearance?
Sakurai: It's the exact same as it was of the way she was portrayed in Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl and Pocket Monsters Best Wishes! Both her choice of words and her delivery are those of the old Shirona we know and love. She's always calm and collected and never gets agitated no matter what, though I think of her as someone that has a burning passion in her heart that she never reveals.
Q: Is there something you were especially conscious of when you played Shirona this time around?
Sakurai: I showed up to the dubbing session having reviewed earlier appearances of the character, but when I acted the first line and felt it sounded the way it should, the sound director corrected my delivery. "Shirona sounds younger than that", he said, "This is Shirona the Champion! Try playing her as more composed." This made me realize how excited I was to be young again, or in other words, to get to be reunited with Shirona. From that point on I was very conscious of playing her as more composed. I especially found the scenes where Shirona, who's an archeologist, explains something about Pokémon based in her deep knowledge to be a bit difficult to do, since they required me to play her as sounding educated (laughs).
Q: Were there any scenes that truly made you feel that THIS is Shirona?
Sakurai: That definitely has to be when Shirona sent out her Partner Pokémon Gablias. She called out moves, going "Scale Shot!", "Sandstorm!", and then following it up by shouting "Tenku ni mae, Gablias!" in a really cool manner. It made me really excited, truly sensing that Shirona was fighting alongside Gablias. And then the sound director called for a retake, telling me to deliver the lines a bit calmer this time around (laughs).
Q: It's been a while since your last battle scene, what did you think of this one?
Sakurai: There was no battle between Trainers in this episode, but the battle that was there truly made me feel that Gablias is Shirona's most dependable partner. Shirona also observes her opponent very closely and uses clever fighting styles that she varies according to who she's fighting; She has a very strong desire to research and learn about all kinds of Pokémon, but this desire is also filled with a deep love. While she may not look that way at first because of her composed and collected demeanor, there's all kinds of scenes that made me realize that she approaches absolutely every single Pokémon with love.
Q: Who did you have your dubbing session with?
Sakurai: With (Daiki) Yamashita-san, who plays Go. Satoshi's voice actress Rica Matsumoto-san was there as well, though not in the same booth as us, so I got to perform my lines while listening to Satoshi's voice. It's really been ages since I last saw Matsumoto-san, so I went over to her booth to say hi, and she gave me the biggest smile as she thought back to our shared history. That smile made me so happy and truly made me feel like I had come to "Pokémon", so I really felt at ease throughout the session. The story Shirona appeared in this time was a wonderful tale depicting the bond between people and Pokémon, so I was able to put this sense of hearing the cast's sobbing and beating hearts into my delivery!