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The iMarine Project, a media mix content project by SANYO, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. It has recently kicked off a new chapter with “iMarine Project++” (read: “iMarine Project Plus”). Billboard JAPAN spoke with Aya Uchida, voice actress for iMarine, about what progress she feels the project has made over the past decade and her hopes for its future.

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The iMarine Project was launched in 2015, and then in 2020, Sanyo began iMarine Project (New Chapter). Now, in 2025, it is about to enter a new stage of its evolution, iMarine Project++. Looking back, what has your impression been of the past ten years?

The iMarine Project itself is celebrating its 10th anniversary, but I became a part of it with its third release, “Dive to Blue,” which was a full-length animated music video. It emphasized the concept that “iMarine is in your town, too,” which may be why I was chosen as the voice actress.

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From that point on, each year I’ve worked with a different creator, and the videos and aesthetic have kept on changing. The fourth release was an animated music video with characters from Umi Monogatari, who had their own lines, so it felt like the style had changed to one that was showing the world of Umi Monogatari through animation and lyrics.

“Deep Blue Town e Oide yo,” right? That was arranged like a story, starting out with an anime segment, then segueing into the song, and then ending with another anime segment.

Right. In the fifth release, we went with a more stylish, adult diva style. I feel like at that point the anime elements were completely gone, and the project had become more of a song-centered project.

Then 2020 saw the start of iMarine Project (New Chapter), whose concept was a “2.8-dimensional” idol.

This is where the story suddenly started getting much deeper. We were taking on a new challenge—expressing a story, a world, a scene, all through music.

There’s an online novel, and the Crystal Palace setting was reproduced in VRChat. It’s gone beyond just being a “media mix” to become a work that fuses all kinds of elements of all kinds of dimensions. The iMarine Project++ is the culmination of all that’s been done by the cast and directors to expand this one work.

Over the last five years, the project has fleshed out and defined the world and its aesthetics based on the story. This five year period has been a series of experiments, right?

The project is a media mix that combines not only physical spaces but also digital spaces, so every challenge has been a new one. This was also all being done while VTuber culture was growing, and it was so much fun being on the cutting-edge of the changing times.

As a performer, has the fusion of the digital and physical worlds made the project a difficult one?

Yes, a bit. As a voice actress, I’ve done a lot of work in the physical world, and I’m confident in that area, but when it comes to the digital world, I’m still feeling things out as I go along. For example, popular VTubers have their own defined characters, but they also speak really freely. [Laughs]

In the case of iMarine, the character is defined in a novel, so if I say the wrong thing, it could break that in-world feel. Like, if I wanted to say “I had some ramen today,” before I could even open my mouth, I’d start thinking “Wait, ramen might not exist in that world.” There’s a part of me that’s always operating with that actor’s mindset. [Laughs]

So because of the detailed setting, you’re in a different position than VTubers, who can act without thinking that deeply.

Yes, but lately, the way I’ve been thinking about it has started to change a little. There are things that Saeki has said as Ichika at VR events that just naturally became part of her character. For example, she said “I’m a big eater.” [Laughs] This thing she’d said became part of her virtual character, and when I realized that, I came to feel like I could speak more freely. The world and the aesthetic of the iMarine Project story is well-defined, but, surprisingly, the details about the characters themselves are a little vague. I think going forward, we’re going to be fleshing out the world of iMarine Project++ along with the members of the recently announced fan club, Musical Armored Division of Freedom.

In the new song, “M.A.D.,” which was recently debuted on-stage, you’ve taken on a new genre: hip-hop.

Idols have been performing some really cool hip-hop recently. I’m a big listener in my own personal life, so I was really happy that iMarine would finally take on the genre.

I think the presence of iMarine Project’s works goes beyond the bounds of anime and videos, so I’ve had this intense desire to perform using a really cool voice on a song that I felt really confident in.

So you feel like the quality of the music needs to be elevated beyond so-called “character songs” to better music-as-music. And also that the meanings of the songs are growing deeper as the story progresses.

This time, the music is going in a whole different direction. It’s darker, with more of a street vibe. It has this sense of a strong spirit that’s unbowed by everyday hard existence. Like a light in the middle of despair. I like that really down-to-earth feel in music.

In a strange way, even though the project is set in this digital world, the feeling of humanity really comes across. There’s this rebellious spirit in the face of daily struggles. It’s more human than human.

Exactly. The setting of the story is that iMarine and Ichika are both AIs, and the other members were originally humans, but they became AIs.

So I’m not human, but for precisely that reason, when I sing, it feels like in some way I’m almost being my natural self, the way I am now. I can express the passion in my heart. I love it, and in fact that may be the part that feels the most rewarding.

Everyone on the cast was overflowing with praise for a dance performance by one of the characters in the music video. I’m guessing that part made a big impression on you, too?

You’re talking about Isana’s breakdancing, aren’t you. [Laughs] I’ve done motion capture for characters on two songs before, and it really opened my eyes to how impressive and how hard motion capture is. That breakdancing was performed by using motion capture on an actual dancer. The level of technical skill needed to capture that kind of frenetic movement was just amazing! [Laughs]

There’s also the crowd of people wearing hoods. I liked how the concept of “we’re not alone” was highlighted through the whole video. Until now, we’ve been having people look at the world we created, but going forward, we’re going to make it so that people can get immersed from the perspective of the Musical Armored Division of Freedom.

This project is right on the bleeding edge, but it’s amazing how the end results always come out great. I’ve got to keep working hard to keep up so I don’t fall behind.

—This interview by Mio Komachi first appeared on Billboard Japan