Inoue Marina and Nazuka Kaori join Marimite Cast
Here’s an unexpected and happy piece of news (for me anyway). Inoue Marina and Nazuka Kaori have been confirmed as the latest to join the yuri lovefest that is Maria-sama ga miteru! The pair have been cast as the Naito sisters, with Marina taking on Shoko i.e. the one with the hots for Tsutako and Nazuka voicing elder sister Katsumi, who had some sort of rivalry with Rosa Foetida IIRC. The casting was revealed in the first episode of the revived Marimite radio show, hosted once again by Yumi.. I mean Ueda Kana.
In fact we already get to hear what Shoko & Katsumi might sound like in the anime as they featured in the drama segment. I’m actually quite surprised that Nazuka’s been cast in the ‘older sister’ role – she always struck me as the imouto type. I don’t think either role is that big anyway – in fact that drama bit alone probably contained more lines for the two of them than they’ll actually get in the anime (if they appear at all) ^^;
Anyway, the only thing that’s registering in my brain now is Sato Rina (Tsutako) X Inoue Marina (Shoko). Rina X Marina. Negi (Rina) X Kotaro (Marina). Negi X Kotaro… I just watched Ala Alba the other day >_<
Marimite drama cast
Edit: OK, so Animate.tv have now put up an interview with the drama cast (as seen above), so now I know that it was Shindo Kei (Atsuko) and Takagaki Ayahi (Miyuki)’s voices that were so generic I had no idea who they were. The line-up in the pic above is: [back row] Takagaki, Kaida Yuko (Minako), Shindo [front row] Nazuka Kaori, Inoue Marina, Sato Rina.
Holy fuck, Inoue Marina in MSGM? That is simply amazing. I eagerly await my proverbial tsundere.
[...] for fans I think that’s fair game. And just about everything is fair game for fans, I concede. But I don’t think everything is fair game in marketing and reviews. I’m [...]
omgsh! that’s awesome. and here I was afraid that they were going to cut out those characters completely. thanks for the info j1m0ne!
I was thinking a few days ago about Shōko and Tsutako (randomly). Now with Inoue Marina being cast, I really hope Shōko gets some good screen-time!
coolie, marina in marimite~ wai wai…
Awesome news!
Actually, I’m more excited about the fact that there’s actually *any* Marimite anime news than the new additions to the cast. It’s been a long time since I heard anything new about season 4. 
We still don’t know when the fourth season will be going on air though
Or even the official name – Maria-sama ga Miteru 4th Season is hardly the catchiest thing to call it… Neither do we know the length of the series – I do hope they don’t try to cram everything into 13 episodes or we might end up with a rushed/mangled Tsutako X Shoko storyline :/ And there’s still other characters (well, Arima Nana to be precise) that haven’t been cast yet.
On the bright side, maybe all this slow trickling out of info means they’re aiming for a spring air date (as opposed to the winter season) which could significantly up its chances of being expanded to a 26 episode run. Fingers crossed!
@j1m0ne:
I’m extremely concerned about it as well. I’m personally also additionally praying that there is a 26-episode run instead (Tsutako x Shoko, being one of the more intricate relationships in this series, isn’t one of those things you can try to cram into a tiny run, which reminds me of how they ended Ouran High School Host Club’s anime run with a small amount of information and storyline continuity removed that ended up leaving MANY questions unanswered). Great job breaking down that Satou Rina-Inoue Marina connection too… ~:-)
But, staying on point, I am DEFINITELY welcoming Inoue and Nazuka Kaori’s awesome voices to this show with open arms… Marina’s smooth/deep/sexy/romantic sound combined with Nazuka’s cuteness and sweet, soft timbre is unquestionably a great combination, IMO. ^_^
And, call me crazy, but I believe that Sakamoto Maaya would be a nice choice for the role of Arima Nana (she just doesn’t do enough roles nowadays, and why NOT have a young legend bless microphone with the other all-stars that perform on this show already?).
[...] then she is the girl who basically is ‘the one with the hots for Tsutako’ – as j1m0ne rightly puts it! LOL AHAHAHA DAMN IT!! Why can’t I read Japanese?!?! aaaah!! Anyway, the [...]
[...] like!?! The name does not ring a bell? Well let me remind you! She’s the one that’s “got the hot’s for Tsutako” – LOL!! Even Erica says they’re an “awesome pair”!! [...]