Originally aired on February 27, 2017. Hosted by Tetsuya Yanagihara (Magnet Bomber) and Yoshiyuki Hirai (Golem Bomber). The guests are Keisuke Koumoto (White Bomber) and Minami Takahashi (Aqua Bomber).
WARNING: There’s a big spoiler for one of the characters once the seiyuu all start playing battle mode, so if you’re watching this and don’t want to be spoiled, run like hell once the video hits 31:11. This transcript will include said spoiler, so once you hit that same point in the transcript the same warning applies.
In order to get this out in a timely manner, we’ve refrained from doing a full transcription, instead focusing on parts that might be relevant or more interesting to bomberfans, particularly those who have been following SBR news closely already. Parts we left out include but are not limited to:
- Some things that seemed like more or less common knowledge about the game at this point in terms of features
- Some things that just didn’t seem too important in the entire scheme of things
- A fair amount of conversational filler, like some of the banter between Yanagihara and Hirai (which granted is pretty great; they’re not a long-running comedy team for nothing)
Depending on our own schedules and the flow of bombernews from this point on, we might go back to this in order to properly flesh it out, but for now it’s more of a paraphrased-ish highlights reel. Hopefully that’ll still work out for y’all.
(That being said, if anyone else out there is able to do a full transcript faster and better than we can, let us know and you can have this pay-less job.)
As always, muchos arigatous to Bomber D. Rufi for providing the translation. I might not always thank him on every translated bit, but always assume he’s lurking in the shadows of these posts like a creepy gorilla. As a reminder, he’s started doing regular recaps of episodes of the old Bomberman-but-not-really anime Bomberman B-Daman Bakugaiden IV, so be sure to check those out on his Twitter! Aside from summarizing the action and plot, he also takes a look at things like the animation credits and voice actors, pointing out where those people might be now…which just might possibly be in one of your more recent anime faves!
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SEGMENT #1 (0:00 - 5:21)
Yanagihara and Hirai introduce themselves and the opening cutscene from the game plays. They remark on the sibling dynamic displayed before moving on.
SEGMENT #2 (5:21 - 18:01)
The seiyuu for White Bomber and Aqua Bomber introduce themselves and talk about the characters they play. Also featured here are staff sketches of each seiyuu’s character as humans (technically “what [they] might look like on the inside”), which Yanagihara and accompanying video text are both quick to point out won’t actually be in the game at all.
(5:38) KOUMOTO: Hello, I am Keisuke Koumoto, playing the role of the oldest brother, White Bomber!
(5:49) TAKAHASHI: Hello! I’m Minami Takahashi, and I’m playing Aqua, the youngest sister!
(6:29) YANAGIHARA: So when you say “oldest brother,” does that mean he’s got an older sister, or younger?
(6:32) KOUMOTO: He’s got younger sisters.
(6:46) KOUMOTO: As you’d expect, having eight siblings with very strong and independent personalities is difficult to handle.
(6:56) YANAGIHARA: So you’re saying that none of ‘em can read the mood?
(7:00) KOUMOTO: Well, Aqua sort of gets it, she can read the mood.
(7:03) YANAGIHARA: But that doesn’t change the family dynamics much.
(7:07) KOUMOTO AND TAKAHASHI: Eeeeehhhh?!
(7:45) KOUMOTO: As the story progresses, you get to see more of the siblings.
(7:54) YANAGIHARA: Man, but with seven boke and one tsukkomi…it’s like hell. [NOTE: Referring to the roles in manzai comedy.]
(8:14) TAKAHASHI: So Aqua is the type of person who doesn’t like any conflict.
(8:20) TAKAHASHI: She just wants enemies and friends to get along.
(8:25) TAKAHASHI: But if you press her buttons, then it’s bombs away!
(9:15) YANAGIHARA: Well, the truth is that this time around…we’re not just hosting this, but also playing characters in the games. We’ll be playing boss characters.
(11:20) KOUMOTO: We’re voice actors, but a great voice isn’t something you can make, but something gained after making the characters your own.
(12:21) HIRAI: [Golem] looks like the type who won’t talk much, but…
(12:53) TAKAHASHI: Aww, but he looks so gentle, yet powerful.
(13:15) HIRAI: I’d also like to point out that he’s the strongest.
(13:17) YANAGIHARA: That’s what he hopes, anyway.
(13:22) YANAGIHARA: And with that, let’s move on. Now, these aren’t going to be in the game at all, but the staff wondered what Bomberman might look like on the inside.
(13:54) HIRAI: She’s, like, super “youngest sister”-like.
(14:00) KOUMOTO: [White] looks like a very gentle young man.
(14:15) YANAGIHARA: It’d be hard to know when her buttons are pushed, looking like that.
(14:23) KOUMOTO: In all honesty, he’s what I imagine when voice-acting White: a boy with gentle vibes.
(14:40) HIRAI: Come to think of it, is he not wearing a shirt?
(14:46) TAKAHASHI: Maybe it’s a low-cut shirt, or an undershirt.
(14:53) HIRAI: A running shirt, then.
(14:59) TAKAHASHI: When they first finished the draft(???) she came out as a “mini character.” They said that I could have her look more human-like, so for a while I wondered what would be more “human-like.” And this is what we came up with in the end, and it was like “ah, that’s perfect!”
(15:25) YANAGIHARA: So we’re seeing these for the first time, and…and this is…very, uh…
(15:31) TAKAHASHI: They’re so hot! [NOTE: Literally ”ikemen.”]
KOUMOTO: So cooool!
(16:04) YANAGIHARA: He’s like a protagonist! This is totally a main character kinda visual!
(16:08) TAKAHASHI: Though if he were human…
(16:11) YANAGIHARA: No, no, I mean…nah…
(16:12) TAKAHASHI: You wouldn’t be voice-acting…
(16:13) YANAGIHARA: Naaaaah. No way.
(16:21) YANAGIHARA: Not with a visual like this. I mean, no way, he’s too good-looking.
(16:25) HIRAI: He looks like the sort who’d have a motorcycle and live on his own.
(16:29) YANAGIHARA: He’s a shrimp but he’d ride a huge badass motorcycle.
(16:42) Let’s say Bomberman R gets really popular…and all sorts of things get greenlit…like an anime…maybe this [the human designs] is how they’d look normally, and when they fight, then they’d look like that [the robot/canon designs].
(16:58) KOUMOTO: Oh, so they’d be like “Let’s go!” and transform?
(17:05) TAKAHASHI: That’s so awesome! I want to see it!
(17:10) YANAGIHARA: Though if they screw up, this [covering up Magnet’s canon form, showing only the human design] would be the only part that shows up in the film.
(17:15) HIRAI: They’d have to change the voice for him [pointing to Magnet].
(17:22) YANAGIHARA: Probably to Hanae-kun. [NOTE: Possibly referring to Natsuki Hanae.]
(17:28) YANAGIHARA: [pointing at Golem] And he’d probably be Eguchi. [NOTE: Possibly referring to Takuya Eguchi.]
(17:39) YANAGIHARA: Though let me just repeat, these will not be in the game. Behind-the-scenes stuff like this was just for the staff to have a little fun.
SEGMENT #3 (18:01 - 45:56)
The game-related portion of the video. Hirai gives a brief explanation of the gaming mechanics for anyone who isn’t familiar, and then the seiyuu discuss their previous experiences with the Bomberman series. Koumoto and Takahashi play through the first two stages of the first world, then skip ahead to facing Magnet Bomber. Afterwards, all four seiyuu decide to play versus, splitting up into Team Bombersiblings vs. Team Boss Characters.
(18:57) YANAGIHARA: How about you two? Have you ever played this before?
(18:59) KOUMOTO: For me, I was in elementary school, and I played Super Bomberman 2 the most.
(19:09) KOUMOTO: I often ended up with the skulls [ … ] and would just lay down bombs everywheeeeere. [ … ] And then I’d cross paths with the other players and pass it on to them.
(19:23) HIRAI: So you played it with friends?
(19:24) KOUMOTO: I did! I played with four friends.
(19:27) YANAGIHARA: And what about you, Takahashi-san?
(19:28) TAKAHASHI: I didn’t have an SNES at home, so I played it at other houses in my neighborhood. So sometimes when I was waiting for someone to come home, their mom would tell me “go on in” and that’s how I’d end up playing.
(19:49) HIRAI: So you played it on the SNES?
(19:50) TAKAHASHI: Yes, on the Souper NES.
(19:52) EVERYONE ELSE: “Souper” NES?
[NOTE: When Koumoto and Hirai referred to it earlier, they used the shorthand “SuuFami.” Takahashi ended up mispronouncing it as “SouFami,” leading to a short round of jokes/puns, something along the lines of “Sou, Famicom desu.”]
(21:13) HIRAI: [That was the time] when he was still known as “Bakudan Otoko.”
(21:16) KOUMOTO: Yeah, waaaay back in the beginning.
TAKAHASHI: In the beginning? Really?
(21:19) HIRAI: Oh, so you did your research?
(21:20) YANAGIHARA: There wasn’t any subtlety to it at all! It was just “Bakudan Otoko.”
(21:38) YANAGIHARA: [ … ] So with SBR, the intent was to appeal to people who are nostalgic for the old Bomberman, as well was people who have never played it old-school before.
(22:25) “Playing Story Mode!”
(22:29) [ON SCREEN: “World Map”, “World 1: Magumagu Star” (top), “Change Difficulty” (bottom)]
(23:07) AQUA: “Ah, is it my turn?”
(23:12) WHITE: “Let’s give this all we’ve got!”
(23:24) [ON SCREEN: “Defeat all enemies.”]
(23:28) [ON SCREEN: “Defeat all the henchmen and the goal will open. Block their paths with explosives and bring them down!”]
(24:59) HIRAI: Aqua sucks at this.
(25:43) YANAGIHARA: So, normally you’d have to clear eight stages in order to fight the boss, but for this we’ll just take you straight to the boss fight.
(25:59) KOUMOTO: You say that, but are we really ready for the boss fight?
(26:01) TAKAHASHI: Let’s do it!
(26:04) KOUMOTO: She’s brimming with confidence!
(26:49) TAKAHASHI: Whoa, he’s just raring to go, isn’t he?
(27:11) HIRAI: As expected of the oldest son!
(27:23) [ON SCREEN: “Crush the Iron Gauss”]
(27:33) HIRAI: Yanagihara, you’re one cowardly guy.
(19:36) TAKAHASHI: I’m sorry, onii-chan…
(30:52) HIRAI: So how’s about a team battle?
(30:54) KOUMOTO: Of course it’ll be us two – the bombersiblings versus American Crab…
(30:59) HIRAI: Or the “boss character” team.
(31:11) “Playing Battle Mode!”
[NOTE: If you’re concerned about character spoilers, now would be the time to close this post.]
(31:17) YANAGIHARA: So we’ll start off with a little practice in classic mode by picking a classic stage.
(31:40) KOUMOTO: Lots of stages to choose from, huh? [ON SCREEN: “Full of Holes.”]
(32:05) HIRAI: Golem Bomber is cute!
TAKAHASHI: He’s so little!
(32:16) AQUA: “Why must we fight?”
MAGNET: “I’m the best!”
(32:26) WHITE: “Just leave it to me!”
(32:30) HIRAI: It was just noise!
(32:38) WHITE: “I’m definitely going to win!”
(33:20) HIRAI: Takahashi-san, cut me some slack, will ya?
(33:22) TAKAHASHI: That’s my line!
(33:24) HIRAI: You’re sticking to me like glue!
(33:25) TAKAHASHI: We just keep ending up in the same place, that’s all!
(33:58) HIRAI: White Bomber…I’ll never forgive you.
(34:10) [ON SCREEN: “I…am big and strong. I cannot be defeated.”]
(34:14) YANAGIHARA: Wait a second, this – he just came out from inside himself?
(34:20) TAKAHASHI: He’s come out as a player character for the first time…
(34:26) HIRAI: So Golem was actually like this all along, huh…
(34:32) YANAGIHARA: It was that sort of set-up?
(34:34) HIRAI: This is the first time he’s come out.
(34:43) HIRAI: So he’s more like “Golem Driver,” yeah?
(36:21) [ON SCREEN: “If the same floor tile is blown up twice, a hole opens up.”]
(36:34) GOLEM: “I will win.”
(38:11) GOLEM: “Urgh…were you hurt? I used too much power…”
(38:58) HIRAI: So what should we do next?
(38:59) YANAGIHARA: Labyrinth!
(40:33) WHITE: “Thank goodness I won! Training sure is important, huh?”
(42:18) TAKAHASHI: Onii-chan took me out!
(43:06) KOUMOTO: I won? But why?! I don’t know what happened!
SEGMENT #4 (45:46 - 48:26)
Wrapping up the video.
(45:57) KOUMOTO: I know that fans watching might comment “You guys need to take this seriously,” but I feel like it’s still a fun product, whether or not you’re good at this.
(46:21) YANAGIHARA: I think that the glory of the old days has been preserved and conveyed pretty well with this, and it’s even evolved.
(46:30) TAKAHASHI: With story mode, it’s fun to see the siblings in action, as well as the bosses, but being able to play with up to eight people is amazing!
(46:47) KOUMOTO: Yeah! Even with just four people, I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen.
(47:14) YANAGIHARA: And now to end things, a few final remarks from you two?
(47:19) KOUMOTO: The game we played just now was Super Bomberman R, which will be out March 3, 2017, the same time as the Nintendo Switch. Please give it a whirl.
(47:29) TAKAHASHI: This new Bomberman is launching with the new console, the Nintendo Switch, so enjoy it with your friends and family.
(48:10) YANAGIHARA: And with that, we’d like to thank you for watching the first episode of Bomberman TV!
FREE-FLOATING NOTES
- Yanagihara remarks at some point that Takahashi and Koumoto are basically acting like siblings IRL.
- Hirai briefly mentions being on BMJ; Yanagihara chides him with “Don’t keep living in the past, man.”
- The casting director pretty much said that Yanagihara had to be Magnet Bomber.
- During the story mode playthrough, Hirai jokes about Takahashi having just come back from overseas since she’s been saying “ouch!” in English as opposed to something like “itai/ite.”
