Kikuko
Inoue will be playing the role of one of the most noted female characters
in anime history this year, but the actor will remain best known for an
older role - Belldandy in Oh My Goddess. After Belldandy, Inoue will play Emeraldas in Cosmos Warrior Zeko, the latest
anime from the works of Leiji Matsumoto. Inoue is beloved by even English-speaking
fans for her Belldandy role in Japanese, and she received a warm welcome at Anime
Expo, something that surprised her. "Since I live in Japan, I thought the
U.S. fans would not know me," said Inoue. "I'm truly, really happy and
surpassed that, coming to this convention, I got that much applause and
recognition. I think I am where I am because I work on great shows. It's
not just me - it's the cast and the production staff. I'd like to say thank
you very much to the film staff."
How
did Inoue become Belldandy? She got that role on experience and reputation.
"There was no audition for that role," she said. "The original creator,
the director and producer discussed the role among themselves and looked
at the roles I had done before, and chose me for the job." Is Belldandy
really Inoue, or is it just a role? "It's a very difficult question," she
laughed. "My regular voice is just like I'm talking right now," said Inoue,
who tends to sound like Belldandy in her regular voice. "Since Belldandy
is not human - she's a goddess - I try to bring out of my acting my kindest
part, the most sacred parts to the voice."
Inoue
and her gentle voice nearly were placed in the service of Japanese school
children. "I really wanted to become a middle school teacher," she said.
That goal ended when she actually tried to teach a class as a student teacher,
and found that students ignored her and played games in class. "I gave
up," she recalled. Later, she saw a rerun of the Attack Number One show
that she had liked as a child, and Inoue decided that she really wanted
to become a voice actor. "When i saw [Attack Number One] again, I felt
that something came down from heaven - maybe God came down and said `You
will become a voice actress.' I thought I wanted a job where I could give
excitement and happiness to other people so I decided to enter the voice
acting school." What about the fish? Well, Inoue feels she was once a fish in a previous life and reincarnated as a human, so she has the word "fish" in some of her album titles. That reincarnation belief led some convention staffers asking if they should serve Inoue fish for dinner, she said.
Kikuko
Inoue will be playing the role of one of the most noted female characters
in anime history this year, but the actor will remain best known for an
older role - Belldandy in Oh My Goddess. After Belldandy, Inoue will play Emeraldas in Cosmos Warrior Zeko, the latest
anime from the works of Leiji Matsumoto. Inoue is beloved by even English-speaking
fans for her Belldandy role in Japanese, and she received a warm welcome at Anime
Expo, something that surprised her. "Since I live in Japan, I thought the
U.S. fans would not know me," said Inoue. "I'm truly, really happy and
surpassed that, coming to this convention, I got that much applause and
recognition. I think I am where I am because I work on great shows. It's
not just me - it's the cast and the production staff. I'd like to say thank
you very much to the film staff."
How
did Inoue become Belldandy? She got that role on experience and reputation.
"There was no audition for that role," she said. "The original creator,
the director and producer discussed the role among themselves and looked
at the roles I had done before, and chose me for the job." Is Belldandy
really Inoue, or is it just a role? "It's a very difficult question," she
laughed. "My regular voice is just like I'm talking right now," said Inoue,
who tends to sound like Belldandy in her regular voice. "Since Belldandy
is not human - she's a goddess - I try to bring out of my acting my kindest
part, the most sacred parts to the voice."
Inoue
and her gentle voice nearly were placed in the service of Japanese school
children. "I really wanted to become a middle school teacher," she said.
That goal ended when she actually tried to teach a class as a student teacher,
and found that students ignored her and played games in class. "I gave
up," she recalled. Later, she saw a rerun of the Attack Number One show
that she had liked as a child, and Inoue decided that she really wanted
to become a voice actor. "When i saw [Attack Number One] again, I felt
that something came down from heaven - maybe God came down and said `You
will become a voice actress.' I thought I wanted a job where I could give
excitement and happiness to other people so I decided to enter the voice
acting school." What about the fish? Well, Inoue feels she was once a fish in a previous life and reincarnated as a human, so she has the word "fish" in some of her album titles. That reincarnation belief led some convention staffers asking if they should serve Inoue fish for dinner, she said.
