Seiyuu (voice actor) Discussion

[Dop]

Such sad news, RIP Miyu Matsuki, 38 was far too soon.

[Lord of Fire]

Isumi, Kuuko, Yoshinoya, Anna. Too many characters I loved. To me, this is by far the most prominent seiyuu death since I became an anime fan. And to die to something I suffered from last year (and made a full recovery from) makes it all the harder to accept.

She will definitely be missed.

[Ithekro]

She was only a day or so older than I am.

[GDiddy]

Originally Posted by andyjay729

On the one hand I think it's a good thing that the Japanese still consider cocaine use a social no-no, compared with Hollywood stars, where a drug bust seems to help people's credibility.

On the other I think it's lousy that her professional life has to be almost completely destroyed because of this, to the point where her name is apparently being edited out of credits. I certainly would not advocate cocaine use, but as the old saying goes, she didn't kill or hurt anyone (as far as I know; hopefully she didn't try driving under the influence). As seems to be a refrain in seiyuu threads, seiyuu are still human. Even with Japan's more conservative attitude toward drugs, I'd imagine she isn't the only seiyuu who's tried something illicit at least once. (And yes; she, like most seiyuu over age 20, is probably not a virgin, heh.)

That's one aspect of Japanese culture that I really don't get: this whole thing about seiyuu staying 'pure'. Even with the idols...like that poor girl who had to shave her head because she got caught dating someone. Most seiyuu are probably married or have partners.

As in this case, I don't think it's really fair to erase this girl's work history completely...she fucked up, not the producing team, animators or the other seiyuu...but I also find it refreshing that Japan doesn't take shit from their celebrities; if this was in America, this girl would be the new Kardashian.

As for Miyu Matsuki.....RIP. 38 is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too young to die from something like pneumonia. She seemed like she was well-liked by fans and those in the industry too.

[serenade_beta]

Hears the news:

!? WTF?
*checks age*
!?!?
She was voicing characters last season! Seriously? Ugh...

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by GDiddy

That's one aspect of Japanese culture that I really don't get: this whole thing about seiyuu staying 'pure'. Even with the idols...like that poor girl who had to shave her head because she got caught dating someone. Most seiyuu are probably married or have partners.

Most seiyuu seem to keep it a secret that they're married until something comes up in their lives that makes them feel more comfortable revealing it (like say a pregnancy for female seiyuu) or they're old enough that they probably won't be viewed as an idol seiyuu by fans. You never hear about them dating before that probably in part because of the "pure" and "marketable idol" thing.

Though I don't think there's a contract against dating for seiyuu like most idols have unless they're also an idol like, say, Nana Mizuki or part of an idol group.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

*snip*

Happen to be up for translating what Kana Ueda said?

https://twitter.com/uedakana/status/661030488472076289

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by GDB

Happen to be up for translating what Kana Ueda said?

https://twitter.com/uedakana/status/661030488472076289

"I won't be able to pull tsukomi on Isumi (from Hayate no Gotoku), nor will I be scolded by Sapphire (Prisma Illya) anymore"

Incidentally, Taketatsu Ayana was one of the most shocked among seiyuu active on twitter, to the point she was questioning the reason why she was left in the dark during the Tamayura event where Miyu was supposed to attend along with her and other seiyuu.
Ogata Megumi had to intervene, while Iguchi Yuuka discussed about that matter during a radio event.

[andyjay729]

Originally Posted by GDiddy

As for Miyu Matsuki.....RIP. 38 is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too young to die from something like pneumonia. She seemed like she was well-liked by fans and those in the industry too.

Pneumonia is a bitch. I got double pneumonia when I was 4 (after some surgery that turned out to be unnecessary), and my mom tells me it could've been fatal. We always think we're one step ahead of "minor" diseases in the First World in the 21st century, but Ma Nature still stacks the decks in the end. That said, maybe she should've considered an extended break back in the spring to try and recover.

I can understand why they'd want to wait till after the private funeral, but I think Ayana should've been notified at the same time as everyone else. Her manager or whoever could easily have told her to wait until after the official announcement before tweeting her reaction. It wasn't fair to leave Ayanyan in the dark about this for so long.

[DorkingtonPugsly]

Another reminder of the fragility of human life. Very sad news. Rest In Piece and thanks for all the entertainment you've provided viewers throughout these years.

[JokerD]

Originally Posted by RRW

Her last blog post
'If I can get better, I want to get married'

:<

Goddamit, that's just sad.

[Nachtwandler]

Last time I was so sad about seiyuu's death was than Tomoko Kawakami died back in 2011.

Ironically I'm... mm... involved with Shichinin no Nana for last 3 years. And Hitomi (MCs best friend) was her first major anime role.

[andyjay729]

We just lost another one, Haruko Kato, voice of Madame in Kiki's Delivery Service and Madam Suliman in Howl's Moving Castle.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...es-away/.95024

She was 92, but still. Talk about a long, fruitful career, from 1939 up till 2010.

And not a seiyuu but still with some anime connections, just yesterday we lost Melissa Matheson, writer of the scripts for Ponyo's English dub and, much more notably, ET. Unfortunately, she was only 65 (just a year older than my mom).

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...es-away/.95019

Both these stories appeared on today's edition of ANN. I think that makes three...oh wait, Melissa Matheson wasn't a voice actress...

[RJ TAYLER]

My condolences to their families, friends and fans.

This year is fast shaping up to do to anime what 2003 did to my record collection (CD & Vinyl), it made it the echoes of the deceased for me to listen to just about any song I had, with so many lost.

[justpassingby]

An hour early, but happy birthday to Komatsu Mikako-shi and Omigawa Chiaki.
Happy Pocky Day too.

My rule of thumb: Girl/boy voiced by Mikako-shi is the best girl/boy in the series :P

[Pen3]

It is still very sad to see Matsuki gone, she was one of my favorite.

To lighten things up i will leave Wakamoto here.

[andyjay729]

Ai Takabe (the cokehead)'s story gets more interesting.

http://myanimelist.net/people/8375/Ai_Takabe

She may be pregnant, and "doesn't know who the father is". And she had the white stuff in her system... I dunno, do you think that link looks suspicious or legit?

(And I never would've guessed my anime fandom would eventually turn me into Perez Hilton.)

[andyjay729]

The plot thickens.

Ai Takabe, 27, whose real name is Ai Nakayama, was arrested on the morning of Oct 15 after a small amount of cocaine was found in her apartment in Shibuya Ward, Sankei Shimbun quoted police as saying. Takabe was home alone at the time of her arrest, police said.

According to a tabloid, her fall started in 2010 when she met a certain person. This person is the former Morning Musume idol Ai Kago (27), who has been involved in her fair share of scandals.

Some mails found on Takabe's phone seem to point at drug related conversations such as "Mistook the quantity last time" or "Let's lose our heads together again."

The idol unit Girls Beat has announced on November 2 that they would resume their activities, but Ai Kago isn't scheduled anymore for the November live. She will only attend to the December live in Taiwan.

It was also revealed that Takabe is pregnant, and the father is apparently the son of a wealthy family owning a company listed on Tokyo Stock exchange, who is attending a famous university. Takabe had a relation with him before being arrested. She got the cocaine from him. He is currently abroad.

http://yaraon-blog.com/archives/73178

Maybe it's the creative writing major in me, but I feel tempted to say something about how the industry (the MAN) indirectly killed Miyu (felt pressured to not take time off when she first noticed troubling symptoms) and pushed Takabe and Kaga into cocaine just to keep up their energy...but it seems rather facetitious, and I don't have any actual proof, so I won't. Still makes for a good doujin, though.

(Have I been spending too much time on /a/?)

[GDiddy]

You know, I think this is probably the most juiciest thing I've heard in years about a VA....this is making Aya Hirano's diva shit look like nothing

[SeijiSensei]

As far as I know, Hirano never was pronounced pregnant, at least publicly. Why is an unmarried woman of 27 who is sexually active not using birth control? While I don't think cocaine use necessarily indicates a life out-of-control, getting pregnant does raise the question. I would hope Takabe might get some form of psychological help, but it sounds like the powers-that-be have decided to make an example of her.

For instance, ANN ran a second story about her being charged for drug use: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...rug-use/.94991 While this headline left the impression she had been arrested again, in fact she was being charged simply for using the cocaine she had in her possession. While this charge doesn't constitute "double jeopardy," it certainly constitutes "piling on."

A deeper and more ominous question is why did the police come to her house in the first place. Who blew the whistle? Perhaps she was trying to get the baby's father to marry her or at least contribute to the child's support, and he or his family turned her in while he was safely out of the country. I realize that Japan is much stricter about drug usage than we here in the US, but even so, what led them to her doorstep?