j1m0ne’s blog

I’ve been wondering what’s up with Maeno Tomoaki’s sudden rise to prominence. After 2-3 years as a bit of an odd-jobber, doing bit-part roles in dead-end anime, Maeno’s finally gotten his break with a trio of lead roles this year. The role that brought him to the attention of the general anime-watching public is that sexy beast Dojo Atsushi (above) from Toshokan Senso, which is sadly coming to an end soon. But I didn’t know that much about him, so I’ve been doing some digging over the last few months.


A bit more background info on Maeno:
-born on 26th May 1982 in Ibaraki, blood type A.
-attended the same voice acting school (NichiNare) as his Toshokan Senso compatriot Suzuki Tatsuhisa. Confusingly, Maeno also attended Amusement Media Sougou Gakuin (another voice training school) with Kakihara Tetsuya - he graduated in 2003.
-wanted to be a seiyuu since he was a kid. His older sister (5 years age difference) was a Tanaka Mayumi/Dragonball fan and wanted to be a seiyuu herself, and this influenced the young Maeno. Unfortunately, said sister is now a married housewife, leaving him to pursue the dream himself.
-His first date with a girl was when he was in second year senior high, and they went to Jusco. Or specifically, to the roof of Jusco. Nothing untoward happened apparently.

Maeno is signed to ARTSVISION, which is of course that scandle-ridden agency that Horie Yui used to call home. Despite the continued exodus of its biggest female names, the guys have largely remained unscathed (Hiyama Nobuyuki, Suzumura Kenichi, Hoshi Soichiro etc). I’ve no idea why Maeno’s career has suddenly burst into life - while Kakihara and Suzuki have been winning awards and building up their female fanbases, he’d been restricted to voicing ‘Cameraman’ in Peach Girl and ‘Passerby’ in La Corda D’Oro. No wonder he describes getting the role of Dojo Atsushi as 運 (luck). I’m sure hard work has played some part, but just compare Maeno and some of his Arts colleagues like Toriumi Kousuke or Suzuki Chihiro, whose careers just seem to be meandering along aimlessly.

Getting to host the Toshokan Senso radio show has increased Maeno’s profile a bit more too, and although he’s still getting a lot of small roles in stuff like Nabari no O, Druaga and Monochrome Factor; at least the work is pouring in. He’s got a good rapport with Suzuki Tatsuhisa as well, I always enjoy their er… ‘manly’ banter - they both have a thing for Inoue Marina(’s legs), don’t they?

Voice wise, I don’t really think Maeno is that different or distinctive compared like 95% of the male seiyuu population - I could barely tell his and Tatsu’s voice apart at first >_> Dojo is the only work of his that I (and everyone else) have heard, but we’ll be hearing plenty more of him throughout the rest of 2008, with further lead roles in summer anime Mahou no Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora (as Midorikawa Gota) and in Ga-Rei-Zero- (as Kanze Tooru), an asread production slated for October, to come.

I guess the only thing that bothers me is Maeno’s gloomy/brooding/’I-can’t-be-arsed’ face, lol. That pic above is an ancient one that his agency profile is still using - replace it for god’s sake, the hairstyle is shit. He tends to look bored to tears in photoshoots and interviews too - I wish he’d be more goofy like he is below.

Anyway, now that Maeno’s finally ‘arrived’ on the scene, I’ll be keeping up with his career in earnest. I think he’s got a pretty interesting personality and I look forward to hearing more of him. My wish is to have a Ga-Rei radio show featuring Maeno and co-star Kitamura Eri - now that’d be explosive. By the way, the anime will not be a straight adaptation of the Ga-Rei manga, but instead features a whole new cast of characters.

Posted on June 25th, 2008 under 前野智昭 • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback