I’m dumping most of the site and starting again with an almost clean slate. Will update with what’s to come.

Today is August 4th and it is Nabatame Hitomi’s birthday, which gives me the perfect chance to highlight another amazing seiyuu. Since her debut as Arcueid Brunstud in Tsukihime, Naban-chi has been very busy. The serious-sounding head of the student council in Gokujo Seitokai, Strawberry Panic and Maria-sama ga Miteru, down-to-earth in Ichigo Mashimaro and School Rumble, grown-up and adult in Shakugan no Shana or crazy and weird in Noodle Fighter Miki. There is practically no season without her in at least one anime.

Singing her character song from School Rumble

Interview with two other MariMite seiyuu

Arcueid from Tsukihime

Mikoto from School Rumble

Kiri from Canvas2

Nobue from Ichigo Mashimaro

Notable Roles

2003 Tsukihime (Arcueid Brunestud)
2003 Maburaho (Miyami Yuuna)
2004 Maria-sama ga Miteru (Torii Eriko)
2004 School Rumble (Suou Mikoto)
2004 Gantz (Kishimoto Kei)
2005 Gokujo Seitokai (Jinguji Kanade)
2005 Canvas 2 (Kikyou Kiri)
2005 Ichigo Mashimaro (Itoh Nobue)
2005 To Heart 2 (Tonami Yuma)
2005 Shakugan no Shana (Margery Daw)
2006 Magipoka (Liru)
2006 Girl’s High (Takahashi Eriko)
2006 Strawberry Panic (Hanazono Shizuma)
2006 Muteki Kanban Musume (Onimaru Miki)

Links

Artist Page at Ken Productions (I blame them for the lack of good photos)
Naban-chi’s Homepage

Mitsuhashi Kanako has got to be one of the rising stars of voice actresses. Her soft sound makes her instantly lovable and I can’t get enough of it. Her two big anime of 2005 are still ongoing and should bring her to the attention of loads of fans.

Having never watched any Hunter x Hunter, I can’t comment on that one. I should have noticed her in Gunslinger Girl as Rico, but the show is light on dialogue and she has to share the screen with several other girls. Rico is younger than her later roles and maybe that’s why her voice sounds a little to high, but she is still recognizable.

Rico from Gunslinger Girl

Her first big anime of 2005 is Zettai Shonen. Her character, Miyama Miku, is very important for the first half of the 26 episodes. Due to the nature of the show she can only be heard on the phone in the second half, but she may yet make a return. Her voice perfectly fits the peaceful atmosphere and unique visuals.

Miku from Zettai Shonen

In Suzuka she has the role of Asahina Suzuka. On first glance a sports anime, it’s really a love-story and from the title it should be apparent, that Suzuka is one of the two love interests of the main character. She gets lots of screen time and I can’t complain about any lack of her beautiful voice. It also sounds very much like her Miku from Zettai Shonen. Still, Suzuka is a more complex character and it’s going to be very interesting to watch and listen, once the story reaches its climax.

(Voice Sample) Suzuka

Notable Roles

• 1999 Hunter x Hunter
• 2003 Gunslinger Girl
• 2005 Zettai Shonen
• 2005 Suzuka

Links

• Artist page at Sunmusic
• Encyclopedia entry at Anime News Network
• A japanese fanpage (Images from a Suzuka event)

Kobayashi Sanae was the first seiyuu I became actively interested in, starting with her schizophrenic performance in Elfen Lied. She only makes cute sounds as Nyu and hardly ever speaks as Lucy until very far into the series, yet I was instantly attracted to her voice. She just does such a convincing job of conveying the guilt and desperation that plague the character.

Long before Elfen Lied, I had actually heard her voice a lot in Hikaru no Go. But at that time, I just was not as into seiyuu as I am now. The character, Touya Akira, is also male and it always sounds weird to watch a boy talking with the voice of a woman, especially when you know how she looks like.

She voices the titular character in Madlax. While I can’t say anything at all about the anime itself, I thought her voice sounds rather bland and don’t regret having skipped this show.

In Mai-Hime, she only has a small part as the cross-dressing Hime Okuzaki Akira. While the show is good, her character does not get a lot of screen-time, and reminded me too much of Touya Akira in Hikaru no Go. Maybe it’s just the similar names.

Her role as Eleanor Campbell in Victorian Romance Emma is not much bigger. Touma Yumi gives a solid performance as the heroine, but I can’t imagine her to be one of my favorites, not when Kobayashi Sanae makes Eleanor sound so cute, that I couldn’t help myself not to root for her.

She was cast again as a boyish character in Ichigo 100%, where she lends her voice to the very sexy Kitaouji Satsuki. The art and story leaves a lot to be desired, but it features fantastic voices and Kobayashi Sanae fits right in.

Satsuki from Ichigo 100%

Right now, she can still be heard in Glass Mask, either a remake or a second adaption of an old shoujo manga. She voices the main character Kitajima Maya, and it runs for a full year or 52 episodes. I have not yet had the chance to find out, if it is a worthy use of her talents, but I don’t want to loose such a big performance and I’m hoping for the best.

Notable roles

2001 Hikaru no Go
2004 Elfen Lied
2004 Madlax
2004 Mai-Hime
2005 Victorian Romance Emma
2005 Ichigo 100%
2005 Glass Mask

Links

Official Homepage of Kobayashi Sanae
Artist Page at her Agency
Encyclopedia entry at Anime News Network