| Mari Iijima brought with her to Anime Expo two children, a carload
of CD's and a world of hope. On her way to the event in Anaheim, Iijima
stopped at a disc factory and picked up the first pressing of her "No Limit"
album, the first she has produced and written on her own. "It's independent.
It's all out of my pocket," Iijima said. The album, finished only three
weeks earlier, went on sale right after Iijima's Friday night concert at
Anime Expo (and on Iijima's site on
the World-Wide Web). |
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| Iijima's goal is to use "No Limit" as her path toward an American record
contract. That would fill the gap left after her Japanese record contract
was not renewed a few months ago. Sales of that record depend on the enthusiasm
of fans at events such as Anime Expo. "They are kind of cool. Maybe it's
a L.A. thing," she said about people attending the event at Anaheim. |
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| One development, which happened the previous day, that delighted Iijima
is her pending role in an episode of the "Pacific Blue" TV show. "I'm going
to be the troublemaker for that episode," she said. The role came after
years of trying to get a TV or film role. The audition was unnerving. "I
got so nervous. I made a few mistakes and I asked to do it over again.
I went to my manager, crying, and then I got a call saying I got it (the
part)."
Ironically, it will be the first acting role in which Iijima has been
seen on film (of course, a celluloid character was seen when Iijima was
Minmay in Macross). |
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| Two weeks earlier at Otakon, Iijima had made a passing comment about
her "soon to be ex-husband." At Anime Expo, she spoke more openly about
her pending divorce from Jim Studer. Iijima's marriage to Studer ago led
her to move from Japan to Los Angeles, where she lived for around 10 years
with little contact with American anime fandom. Listen closely to the "Us"
song on "No Limit" and there's a story about that relationship, she said.
"It took so long for me to be okay about it," she said about the breakup.
While Iijima won't be married to Studer, he will still assist her music
career, she said. |
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