Ayako Kawasumi - Anime Convention Personality of the Week - September 17, 2006
She
was a crybaby child who liked watching Dragon Ball on TV and loved
listening to the shows' theme songs. Now, Ayako Kawasumi plays those
crybaby characters as an actor and gets to sing the themes, too. "If a
particular show is based on a manga, I'd read the manga," Kawasumi said
at Otakon when she was asked how she prepared for a role. "If I get too
entranced with my own ideas and the director wants something else, that
would make it difficult. I try to come up with a general outline for
the character and not to build anything up. Other than little
characters, I try to use my own voice. If it sounds different, it's
because of the character and not the voice." And what an amazing range
of characters - Unagi the ferret in Popotan, Mahoro the battle android
maid in Mahoromatic, the eternally searching Fuu in Samurai Champloo
and Melfina in Outlaw Star are just a few of her roles. When it's
time to sing, "I've gotten to write the lyrics for the character songs
three times, I've been given the chance because I play the characters
and know the characters best...I liked it when I was a young girl when
the actors would sing the songs, and I'm glad to have the chance to do
the same thing."
She
was a crybaby child who liked watching Dragon Ball on TV and loved
listening to the shows' theme songs. Now, Ayako Kawasumi plays those
crybaby characters as an actor and gets to sing the themes, too. "If a
particular show is based on a manga, I'd read the manga," Kawasumi said
at Otakon when she was asked how she prepared for a role. "If I get too
entranced with my own ideas and the director wants something else, that
would make it difficult. I try to come up with a general outline for
the character and not to build anything up. Other than little
characters, I try to use my own voice. If it sounds different, it's
because of the character and not the voice." And what an amazing range
of characters - Unagi the ferret in Popotan, Mahoro the battle android
maid in Mahoromatic, the eternally searching Fuu in Samurai Champloo
and Melfina in Outlaw Star are just a few of her roles. When it's
time to sing, "I've gotten to write the lyrics for the character songs
three times, I've been given the chance because I play the characters
and know the characters best...I liked it when I was a young girl when
the actors would sing the songs, and I'm glad to have the chance to do
the same thing."