Raj Ramayya Talks With Anime Herald

• Interview Date: 3/30/2024

• Location: Anime Boston 2024

• Format: In-Person, One-On-One

Anime Herald: What inspired you to move from Saskatchewan to Japan? What attracted you to Japanese culture in the first place?

Raj Ramayya: I was doing my undergrad in university, and I started studying karate. And I got a black belt in karate, and then I wanted to do music and study martial arts, and I went to Japan. My friends are musicians over there, and they said, “Come over.”

And I was studying martial arts more, and I was teaching. And then I just got involved in the music scene in Japan. And then got involved with Victor entertainment that signed me. And then I started working in Japan, writing music for anime, games, a lot of TV commercials, things like that too.

Anime Herald: And what are some elements of culture shock that you experienced when you first moved there?

Raj Ramayya: Oh, you know it's like, it's like the opposite [of what you’d expect]. Like, Lotus Juice came here from Japan, and he said, “Wow, everything is so big,” right? And then I go to Japan, and everything's so small, right? Everything's so tiny. Everything is so controlled. Everything is so precise.

And, you know, the culture is, nothing is random. Everything is basically planned out, right? And you grew up in the West, in Canada and US, there's a lot of randomness to things. Anything can happen. In Japan, everything is very thought out, very precise. And I really like that part of it. It's interesting being in a culture that that has everything kind of under control.

So that was mine, much like martial arts, everything's controlled.

Anime Herald: And I have to ask: As someone who’s worked with advertisers in the past, who was your favorite client? For example, Sony, Honda, Nissan, Sapporo Beer?

Raj Ramayya: I don't know if any of them are my favorite. I've worked lots and lots and lots of them. I still do a lot of TV commercials and stuff like that. Maybe, I'd say Toyota is my favorite.

Yeah, the best paying. (laughs)

Anime Herald: That’s fair. (chuckles) And what led you to found Strawberry Hill Music?

Raj Ramayya: You know, I moved over from Japan and came to the US, and I wanted to sort of bring some of my clients here. So, I figured the best way to do that was to start my own company. And then, I found that there's a lot of interest.

I didn't know that there was such a big scene for anime and games here in the US. I didn't even realize that. So, when I moved here, I just found that there were a lot of people interested in that type of field. And it was a growing market, a growing community, so I started this production company just to take on my own clients. But a lot of other people got interested and wanted to get involved, so we started developing clients in the US too.

Anime Herald: And what challenges are you facing on this production side that you wouldn't on the creative side?

Raj Ramayya: We're working with a lot of people from different countries. So after this, I fly to China on Monday, and then I'm working on playing six shows in China, working with Chinese production companies. We’re doing a lot of game projects. We did two game projects this year with China. So, there’s cultural differences, and then there's language issues too, because everybody is speaking a different language. Sometimes the Chinese [clients] will only have a Japanese interpreter. So, I speak Japanese, so the Chinese interpreter will interpret from Mandarin, and then speak to me in Japanese, and then I have to translate to my team in English. So, there's a lot of cultural and language issues that come up, for sure.

Anime Herald: And actually, as we were talking [before this session], you mentioned that you started the Strawberry Hill Online service.

Raj Ramayya: Yes!

Anime Herald: What would you say was the biggest challenge in getting the service set up and running?f. Because, you know, if you just do a Facebook ad and you go “Interested In Anime,” well that doesn't really say much as to how to contact the people who are interested in voice acting and anime, right? And are interested in learning more and developing a career in that world.

Anime Herald: And where would you like to see Strawberry Hill and Strawberry Hill Online in five years?

Raj Ramayya: I’d like to see Strawberry Hill online in five years with 10,000 members. That's what I like to see, like a strong community. You see some of the Discord servers from some of the voice actors that we know, and they have strong Discord communities. And that's what we'd like to see, is a membership community where we're helping them reach the right people, so they can develop a career in voice acting, and transition from just a hobby into voice acting and singing and composing for anime as a career.

Anime Herald: And on the note of composing, you have worked with Yoko Kanno on, say, Cowboy Bebop and Wolf’s Rain. What would you say is the greatest lesson you learned while working under her?

Raj Ramayya: I think, just to be open minded about who you work with, and to just take what you've got and make the best of it. Because she was a kind of pioneer at that time. There weren't a lot of Japanese producers, composers working with foreigners, but she was just like, “You know, okay, let's have a team of foreigners.”

So, she hired a bunch of us to come and collaborate with her. But I'm seeing that a lot these days, because I get calls from different composers who want to collaborate in Japan. And there's this movement to globalize the anime world, so it's not just Japanese composers writing everything. I work with another guy named Kevin Penkin, and Kevin is doing lots of different anime projects. And another guy, a friend of mine, Will Roget, he just started working on Gundam, or he just finished Gundam.

So, there's this transition from all-Japanese composers and all-Japanese artists into a collaboration between Japanese artists and foreign artists. And I think that's where the future is. And I think that that's because the fandom is mainly outside Japan now, right? And so, if they don't have these foreign composers that people can relate to and they can communicate with, it's kind of hurts the industry.

Anime Herald: And on that note, you mentioned that there’s been this movement to grow beyond the industry, and we have definitely see that, especially, with your work; you’ve contributed works to, say, Pokémon, The World of Golden Eggs, and Made In Abyss.

Raj Ramayya: And I’m working on Tower of God now, so that's a new one for Crunchyroll. We finished season one; we won for Best Anime [at the Anime Awards]. And then now, Season Two starting.

Anime Herald: And where would you like to see this trend continue? This growth in the use of global talent, how would you like to see this come together?

Raj Ramayya: I'd like to see the Japanese companies really dig into that. They're starting to, but, you know, they need to globalize. If you look at the Koreans, you see how well the Koreans have placed themselves. Like, they're just such good business people that they globalize Korean culture, like, quickly. Korean music, Korean food. Even my kids, they want to go to the Korean supermarket and pick up Korean food, right? And then they're watching Korean TV shows, rom coms and stuff like that.

The Japanese have got these big assets, the anime asset and the game asset, but they haven't been able to globalize it. It's just globalized on its own. They haven't been able to do it themselves. It's just because it's a phenomenon, right? People just love it, and they gravitate towards it.

But, you know, if you go to Japan, they're very insular. They're very siloed. They don't know what's going on in the rest of the world, and they don't know how big this is getting. They don't know how to exploit it. So, they're just sort of making it.

They're like chefs in the kitchen making a lot of food, and just “we're not sure who's eating it,” right? So, I think that being more focused, getting more foreign composers, more foreign singers, more foreigners involved, is good for them. And then, coming here to the conventions and becoming part of the scene is really important.

You know how it is, the Japanese are very insular, right? They just often don't get out of Japan. So, I think globalizing is definitely the future, if we're going to maintain this industry, maintain the quality. If they don't make enough money to keep making the anime, what's going to happen? There's going to be no more anime, because already they're struggling to make a profit. And if they don't make a profit, they don't make another anime. Simple as that.

I've seen anime studios close down. You've probably heard about this the past few years, anime studios and game companies closing down simply because they don't know how to exploit the audience or monetize it properly. And that's an issue. And you know, a lot of Japanese artists, the animators, as you know, don't make very much money, right? That's a big problem, too. The animators are making very little. And, you know, it's hard to maintain the industry if there's people who aren't being paid properly. Yeah, so that that's, that's why I think that there's an argument to globalize, right?

Anime Herald: And for your solo stuff, what would you say drives the sound that you bring, especially on your most recent album [Spice Age Adventures]?

Raj Ramayya: It's kind of like a mash-up of a lot of the anime influences. I've got a little electronic, rock, and then a lot of world music. And, yeah, it's, but it's an anime-inspired album. So, the album is, like, it's a story, but it's a concept album. And if you read the press release, you can see the whole story about a guy getting abducted by an alien. And the whole story is about him being abducted by an alien. It's basically a metaphor for life in general, right?

And the whole album is, it's kind of connected to Cowboy Bebop, in a way. It's kind of a similar kind of story, in some ways, but also a lot of connections to classic rock music, like David Bowie’s Space Oddity. So, I wanted to mix those influences. I know a lot of Japanese musicians, composers are really influenced by British rock. So, if you look at Final Fantasy, Nobuo Uematsu is very influenced by British rock, and so is Yoko Kano, influenced by British rock. And if you listen to Japanese music, you'll find that there's a lot of jazz influence from America, and there's a lot of British rock influence in the music.

Anime Herald: I can definitely concur. I know Uematsu loves Deep Purple.

Raj Ramayya: Yeah. He’s a big fan of… I met him one time, and we were talking, and I was kind of surprised! He was a big British rock fan. And I he goes, “That's where I get my influence.” I was like, “this is really interesting.” I don't think anybody thought of that. Most people didn't realize that a lot of Japanese music is very heavily British rock influenced. If you go to Japan, people listen to a lot of British rock, right? I mean, there's a lot of American influence, too, but that stuff in the UK really heavily influenced Japan. It started with the Beatles, and then from there, it was just, like if you listen in Japan, the programming on radio, the kind of stuff that people listen to, is different than what you listen to here; more European oriented.

Anime Herald: And I have two more questions. This first one is just one I like to ask people, in general. What would you say is the most unexpected thing that’s happened to you, whether it’s in recording on the musical end or voice acting?

Raj Ramayya: That's a really good question. I think that the most unexpected thing is always what actually will turn out. I mean, whatever people think that it's going to turn out and what actually turns out in the final run, because it's always different, right? It's never exactly what you want. But I mean, every time you record, it's a surprise. Something new comes out, everybody sort of has a new idea. So, I think it's just unpredictability. It’s “what’s consistent?” Does that make sense?

Anime Herald: Absolutely. And is there anything you’d like to say to our readers?

Raj Ramayya: Yeah, I'd say tune into my new album, the anime concept album. I'd love for people to hear it. You can follow me on Spotify, and also check out Strawberry Hill Studio online if you're an aspiring voice actor or singer or composer and see if we can help you out.

Anime Herald: Thank you.