Biography
Masafumi Mima is one of the most prolific sound directors working in anime today, having made his sound director debut on the 1988 OVA Madonna: Honoo no Teacher [1]. Born on May 20, 1962 [1], he interned in radio drama production at a broadcasting station while a university student, then trained under his relative Susumu Akidagawa at the sound production company Magic Capsule [1]. After leaving Magic Capsule in 1996 and freelancing for a year, he joined Techno Sound in January 1997 and became the company's representative in 2004 [1]. His credits span an unusually wide swath of anime history: Satoshi Kon's films Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and Paprika, the Pokémon franchise, Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia, and THE FIRST SLAM DUNK [1][2]. In interview, Mima has described his job as that of an interpreter, translating a director's intent into voice performance, music, and effects, prioritizing an actor's performance and adding music and sound design only to support it [2]. He has also spoken of the intense pressure of working with Kon, recalling that he collapsed from exhaustion during the mixing of Paprika and felt unable to work at that level again, a regret that deepened after Kon's unexpected death [2].
I am like an 'interpreter'.