Rica
Matsumoto takes Pokemon very seriously, because she makes a living
voicing Satoshi, the character known as Ash in the English-language
version. Matsumoto arrived at Animazement on the convention's Saturday,
barely in time to meet fans, because she's buy voicing the latest
summer Pokemon movie and needed to spend as much time as possible
recording her role before leaving for North Carolina. She has a cell
phone strap with four Pikachus but she also feels the need to portray
Satoshi as a responsible person. This story told my Matsumoto sounds
like something out of 1950's U.S. kids' TV, but it speaks volumes: "I
have a friend who's father, who has a kid who doesn't like to eat bell
peppers," Matsumoto said. "So, he asked he to call his child in the
voice of Satoshi and tell him to eat his veggies. And, apparently that
very day, his child started eating his veggies and hasn't left his bell
peppers untouched. These are the kind of stories that make me feel as
if I have a social responsibility as an actor."
Satoshi
isn't the only male character that Matsumoto plays; as many of her
anime roles are as boys as girls. "It's not really the voice that I
change, but the mindset that I change to go between the genders," she
explained. "When I do boy characters, I go back to my childhood when I
was a tomboy and a gang leader. When I do female characters, I put
myself into more of a feminine state of mind - that just naturally
changes my acting. You know the type of girl who becomes extremely
cutesy in front of guys she likes, and then whose voice drops an octave
when she's with her friends? That's the kind of acting I do." Matsumoto
was enough of a tomboy that, when she was in high school, she was a
handball player who was converted to a javelin thrower who nearly made
the area championships with her first throws. While her career was
slowed by tuberculosis years ago, she's more than recovered and enjoys
the presence of straight-speaking American fans. "A lot of people,
including you and me, think in the same way. It makes me think that you
might be thinking the same things that I am."
Rica
Matsumoto takes Pokemon very seriously, because she makes a living
voicing Satoshi, the character known as Ash in the English-language
version. Matsumoto arrived at Animazement on the convention's Saturday,
barely in time to meet fans, because she's buy voicing the latest
summer Pokemon movie and needed to spend as much time as possible
recording her role before leaving for North Carolina. She has a cell
phone strap with four Pikachus but she also feels the need to portray
Satoshi as a responsible person. This story told my Matsumoto sounds
like something out of 1950's U.S. kids' TV, but it speaks volumes: "I
have a friend who's father, who has a kid who doesn't like to eat bell
peppers," Matsumoto said. "So, he asked he to call his child in the
voice of Satoshi and tell him to eat his veggies. And, apparently that
very day, his child started eating his veggies and hasn't left his bell
peppers untouched. These are the kind of stories that make me feel as
if I have a social responsibility as an actor."
Satoshi
isn't the only male character that Matsumoto plays; as many of her
anime roles are as boys as girls. "It's not really the voice that I
change, but the mindset that I change to go between the genders," she
explained. "When I do boy characters, I go back to my childhood when I
was a tomboy and a gang leader. When I do female characters, I put
myself into more of a feminine state of mind - that just naturally
changes my acting. You know the type of girl who becomes extremely
cutesy in front of guys she likes, and then whose voice drops an octave
when she's with her friends? That's the kind of acting I do." Matsumoto
was enough of a tomboy that, when she was in high school, she was a
handball player who was converted to a javelin thrower who nearly made
the area championships with her first throws. While her career was
slowed by tuberculosis years ago, she's more than recovered and enjoys
the presence of straight-speaking American fans. "A lot of people,
including you and me, think in the same way. It makes me think that you
might be thinking the same things that I am."
