Seiyuu Profile #1: Inoue Marina
Partly out of boredom due to the dearth of even vaguely interesting seiyuu news these days I decided to write up some short profiles for seiyuu I’ve taken a liking to recently, or am remotely curious about. Probably won’t do any of the mega-popular ones (Mamiko, Hirano Aya, Mizuki Nana) cos there’s not much that people don’t already know about them is there?
So why Inoue Marina? For starters, I think (or hope, rather) that this year is her turn for a big breakout. Probably not in Hirano Aya-sized proportions, but hopefully big enough for people to not go ‘Who?’ when they see her name in the credits. As far as I know, Inoue’s got more regular roles in the upcoming spring anime season than any other seiyuu. A platform for lift-off maybe?
Vital Statistics
Name: 井上麻里奈 (Inoue Marina)
Date of Birth: 20th January 1985
Place of Birth: Tokyo, Japan
Agency: Voice & Heart
Height: 162cm/5.25 feet
Blood Type: AB
Hobbies & Skills: Basketball, Theatre, Karaoke etc.
Key Roles: Cossette in Petit Cossette, Kanmuri Shigeru in Yakitate!! Japan, Uehara Mutsuki in Manabi Straight!, Mina in Getsumen to Heiki Mina
Career so far
Inoue has mentioned that she often put on plays with friends during her high school days - where she liked to play the male characters. Which is how she warmed up to the idea of being a seiyuu - the perfect vehicle for being able to play a wide range of characters; male/female, children/adults, aliens/superhero girls with carrot-like rockets on their bums.
She got her break in Sony Music’s SD Group Seiyuu Auditions, being chosen out of 2,000 hopefuls to voice the lead character in the 2004 OVA Le Portrait de Petit Cossette. She then had a few supporting roles - Rosalie in Tactics, Kanmuri (everyone’s fave pink-haired bakerboy) in Yakitate!! Japan and Mitsuki (the one who can produce a doppelganger) in Gakuen Alice. The next 1 1/2 years were drier times, Inoue taking on less roles as she juggled her career and education (she attended Gakushuin University; whose alumni includes the current emperor Akihito, Crown Prince Naruhito, the former princess Sayako, Miyazaki Hayao and Yoko Ono).
Similarly, in 2006 her only major roles were as Minato (student council VP/Shima’s second-in-command) in Zegapain and 009-7 in 009-1 (anybody out there watched this?). As Inoue approached the end of her degree she landed the lead role in the Densha Otoko spin-off Getsumen to Heiki Mina, and another big part as Mutsuki/Mucchi in Manabi Straight!. Now that she’s graduated (just a few weeks ago, on 20th March 2007) Marina’s seiyuu career is hitting full throttle; she’s got herself a whopping 7 8 roles in the spring anime season.
What’s next?
Here’s a full list of the April shows she’ll be in:
*Bakugan Battle Brawlers - Akira
El Cazador - Ririo
Engage Planet Kiss Dum - Tohn Kirii
Hayate no Gotoku! - Wataru Tachibana
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS - Erio Mondial
Ookiku Furikabutte - Ruri Mihashi
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Yoko
Terra e… - Seki Leigh Shiroei
*update
Marina’s not showed up in Hayate/Nanoha yet, and isn’t in the first episode of Terra e… but has already made her bow in Gurren Lagann as the sexy, big-boobed heroine Yoko and in El Cazador as Ririo (though she’s restricted to just ad-libbing in episode 1). Looking forward to hearing her in the disaster-waiting-to-happen anime that is Kiss Dum which airs tonight, and obviously as Wataru (Nagi’s fiance) in Hayate and Erio in StrikerS. Can’t be bothered with Ookiku Furikabutte (baseball anime!!!) I don’t think.
Edit/Update: Marina is in another series this season, though I have no idea if she’ll turn out to be a regular in that - Bakugan Battle Brawlers!! I hated the first two episodes ^^; She plays the kid brother of some fat dude who keeps challenging the main character to stupid Bakugan battles… at least the seiyuu were all good, even Hoshi Soichiro ^_^ I might continue watching it just to get a few laughs…..
Talents
Marina’s voice is slightly lower than your average female seiyuu’s; perfect for playing male characters she so wanted to. To me she sounds like a cross between Kobayashi Sanae and Itou Shizuka. She’s resigned herself to not being able to do high-pitched, hyper-genki ‘cute’ voices (think she mentioned this on Manabi radio). That’s not a big issue though, there’s lots of established seiyuu out there who ply their trade doing male voices and probably couldn’t do cute to save their lives (Saiga Mitsuki, Asano Mayumi etc). Of Marina’s upcoming seven spring roles (oh dear, that was a fairly lame pun), four of them are male characters (Nanoha StrikerS, Terra e…, Kiss Dum and Hayate). Wholesale cast changes means that she won’t reprise her role as Shu in the anime version of the Xbox 360 game Blue Dragon but it doesn’t really matter, she’s already in tons of stuff anyway.
Another of Marina’s strengths is her singing (she loves karaoke), and has released three singles which were all anime themes - her debut single Houseki was the Cossette theme written by Kajiura Yuki. She also did the ending theme energy for the rather forgettable figure skating anime Ginban Kaleidoscope - for the life of me I cannot recall anything about the character she voiced; the only memory I have of the show is the name Pete Pumps -_-; Back on track anyway, her newest single was the excellent Getsumen to Heiki Mina ending theme Beautiful Story where she got to work with capsule’s Nakata Yasutaka, the electro-pop producer extraordinaire. Go watch the PV if you haven’t already, it features wonderfully spastic dancing by Inoue.
5 Random Things You May Or May Not Know About Inoue Marina….
1*Is good at illustrations; has done some ending sketches for Zegapain.
2*Some of her close friends in the seiyuu business include Makino Yui (who she met while working on Zegapain) and Fujita Saki (Manabi Straight!), making frequent appearances in their respective blogs
- purikura with Makino seems to be a popular subject.
-On one Manabi radio show episode, Sakki and Marina (in the Taiketsu de Go!! corner) had to play this game where one of them picked out a random question (ie What’s your favourite animal) and wrote down the answer (cat) with the other person having to write what she thought the other’s answer would be. There were 6 questions in total and they got them all correct! (You can listen to that particular show here).
3*Marina’s often described as しっかり (shikkari: level-headed, steady, able to hold things together) and she has joked that one of her life’s aims is to become a dojikko (klutz, airhead, blur).
4*Appears to be hopeless at dealing with electronic goods - she broke her MD player (ppl still use these things?) and bought an iPod to replace it thinking Hey, gotta keep up with the times eh?. Unfortunately she had no idea how to use it (even asked her blog readers for help), blamed it on her computer being too ancient to handle hi-tech gizmos, and ended up buying another MD player. Incidentally, she also got her hands on a PSP recently (gift from her record company Sony maybe?) to try out the ever popular (amongst female seiyuu anyway) game Monster Hunter. Though she did wonder if she’d have a clue how to play it at all.
5*Her most frequent collaborator? Mizuki Nana - Marina’s has been/is in 5 different anime (as a regular) with Nana-chan; Tactics, Kiba, Yakitate, Nanoha StrikerS and Kiss Dum.
At Work And Play
Clockwise from top left: with Fujita Saki, purikura with Makino Yui, with Team Fate from the recent Nanoha event (l-r: Sanada Asami, Shimizu Kaori, Mizuki Nana, Yuzuki Ryoka, Marina), Miina radio with Nakao Eri, Gurren Lagann radio with Kakihara Tetsuya & Konishi Katsuyuki and V-signs with Nakagawa Shouko
So hopefully someone out there is enlightened by this hastily-put together piece (took me about 2 hours to write). I like looking at the other side of seiyuu, with more focus on the things they do away from anime (probably cos I don’t watch a lot of anime nowadays) to get a sense of their personalities and hey, doesn’t everyone just love random trivia?
Maybe I need to go for English lessons, funny how it’s deteriorated since I came to the UK - I can’t tell the difference between centre/center and practise/practice anymore. On the other hand my Cantonese and Japanese have improved tenfold, though I’m not sure that that’s of any practical use. And maybe I should start a seiyuu fansite or something. I highly doubt it though, I’m hopeless at HTML and the like.
Some Useful Marina-related Links
Official Website
Agency Site
Blog - Marinavi!
Inoue Marina Fansite
Who’s No.2 going to be? I’m undecided but it will very likely be a male seiyuu. Maybe a young and good-looking one too ^_^
April 4th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
If you’re taking requests, can I suggest Itou Shizuka? I’d also like to suggest Nonaka Ai, but I think you’ve said on more than one occasion that you’re not very fond of her voice. ^^;;
April 4th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
My apologies, I forgot to say how much I also enjoyed your Inoue Marina post! (I was the one who posted the seiyuu suggestions just a moment ago). Random seiyuu information does interest me, and I really enjoyed reading about Inoue’s friendships with other seiyuu. The getting 6 questions right thing with Fujita Saki was especially nice to know. ^^ Thanks for your 2 hours of hard work.
April 5th, 2007 at 2:49 am
Thanks for the nice comments! Yeap, I’m open to suggestions - Shizuka-sama is definitely one I’ll do in the future, I’m a big fan of hers. I don’t mind Ai-pon really, she seems a nice person but it’s just the nightmares I’ve gotten from listening to her singing that puts me off sometimes ^^;;;
April 5th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
I actually like her for quite few years now not long after she started. Not trying to be superficial but I really don’t quite get why she’s not that big yet. She’s pretty nice looking and pretty good at the voice work unlike quite few of them in the young seiyuu lot(let’s pick on one…hehe. Kataoka Azusa! God she sucks… Matsumoto Kana is pretty bad too. Totally stands out in whatever they’re in.^^;)so really puzzle me why she isn’t that popular yet.
Not too many seiyuu has decent look to go with the voice.(well at least I thought anyway.^^; Even when I’m not trying to be critical but there is really something interestin about their photos seriously. Sometimes you’d see a really good one and the next one you see is horrible beyond words…^^;
Itou Shizuka and Nonaka Ai both probably don’t really need promotion now as they’re in now.^^ I wouldn’t mind see Kikuchi Mika and Yoshida Mayumi myself. Mizusawa Fumie would be nice too but she seems to be more theater related. She’s playing the lead in Romeo x Juliet this season. Speaking of which, guess Gankutsuou turned out decent for Gonzo so they’re doing classic novel remake again?^^;
April 6th, 2007 at 3:46 am
Oh, Matsumoto Kana is terrible. That’s what you get for hiring tarento instead of specialist seiyuu. Same goes for ppl like Yamada Yu, Shihono Ryo and Hara Fumina though Miyazaki Aoi wasn’t too bad IIRC.
I am very fond of Kikuchi Mika but she’s really more of an actress (Dekapink!) than a seiyuu. I like Yoshida Mayumi - her voice sample on the I’m site is pretty impressive. Unfortunately she’s not had a lot of roles in big-name anime - I’d wager her most well known character is Elysia Hughes in Fullmetal Alchemist ^^;;;;
There are a bunch of newer/younger seiyuu I’ve been keeping my eye on (Fujimura Ayumi, Hasegawa Shizuka, Takagaki Ayahi, Yahagi Sayuri, Kitamura Eri, Katou Emiri) but not a whole lot is known about them tbh.
I guess looks are something you naturally notice - for me it’s not too important or else I’d be put off by a lot of seiyuu! (Kamiya Hiroshi, Kawasumi Ayako, Sanada Asami etc)
April 6th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Can’t say I know much about Matsumoto Kana other than she sucks at voicing. Didn’t know she isn’t a newcomer or anything but an actress doing voicing. Yamada Yuu also sucks alot which is the main reason I didn’t bother watching Paradise Kiss. The gimmik of having a actual model/actress doing the lead isn’t really the grest idea at all I thought. Yukari sounded like an old lady in it.^^; The rest you mentioned I have no idea at all other than Miyazaki Aoi. She doesn’t really do much voicing other than Mahoutsuaki ni….. which was pretty good. She’s also a pretty decent actress from the looks of it compare to “that” lot.^^
Guess Kikuchi Mika is doing more of theater lately so haven’t seen much of her recently. As for Yoshida Mayumi, I’ve noticed her since Gunparade March.(The anime part since the original Nono-chan isn’t her.^^) She seems pretty versatile at least from the roles I’ve seen her doing. Can’t say much about the other young seiyuu you mentioned. Maybe I might of her of them but I usually check out the credit list for the cast when hearing some voice I like or when I can’t guess who.^^; Plus kinda hard to look them up with romanized name especially if they aren’t that well known yet.
About the looks, well obviously I don’t judge whether they’re good or not including that part but just curious how some nice looking one with talets not being well known yet like Inoue Marina. Also when I talk about looks in seiyuu I tend to lower the standard more to normal person since the voice is the main deal unlike actors/actress.^^ So you never find it weird seeing photos of same seiyuu could be so dramatically different from the last one. I guess it probably has alot to do with the phtorapers. Anyway, it kinda amaze me still.^^ Even for Nana-chan, I’ve seen some bad shots of her. There’s even a postcard of her came with an issue of Seiyuu Animedia where she looks awfully like Asano Masumi..^^; Well not saying Asano Masumi is bad looking or anything but it’s just not one of Nana-chan’s best photos.^^
April 6th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
By the way, you probably checked out Engage Planet Kissdum right? Damn it looks pretty high budget. Kinda surprise TWO-MIX did the ending song which is pretty nice. This season sure is alot better than the last one. Gonna be tough to keep up with the intersting ones I thought.^^;
Just thought of another new seiyuu I thought pretty decent. Asumi Kana who did Yuno in Hidamari Sketch(major debut too) last season. Same agency as Inoue Marina also. First when I watched it, her character sounded awfully like Mizuhashi Kaori’s typical kiddie voice but after Mizuhashi’s character appeared soon after so I know for sure it wasn’t her so had to check the cast list.^^; I personally like Hidamari Sketch more than Guaken Utopia Manabi Straight. Both have similar setting so I tend to compare them espeically when they were in the same season. Manabi Straight seems a bit too corny to me but aside from that it’s kinda entertaining still. Kinda hard to get use to the character design though since they are suppose to be high school girls when they look awfully like elementary school kids.^^
April 6th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
I do like Hidamari Sketch a lot too but I guess the fact that Manabi Straight had some sort of plot behind it made me like the show and the characters a little bit more than Hidamari’s random-gag-of-the-day approach. Asumi Kana was very good in that I agree.
Gunparade March seems so long ago that I can’t remember much eventhough I liked it a lot. I guess Nono was the little girl ^^; The things I can recall about it was one of the charas who broke her toothbrush and used her finger instead, and Mai borrowing a book called ‘The ABC of Human Relationships’ ^^;;;;
Yes I caught Kiss dum….& I had absolutely no idea what the heck was going on (Bugs! the sword of life!). Along with Touka Gettan it was completely random and seemed to lack any structure - though I guess for the latter it’s not so surprising given how similarly weird Yamibou was. Kissdums’ animation was OK - CG was good though charas sometimes looked a bit off.
OT: There is just way too many series this season - what I’ve checked out -
Liked, will continue watching
Darker than Black
RomeoXJuliet
Hayate
Seirei no Moribito
Liked, might continue watching
Gurren Lagann
Claymore
Nanoha StrikerS
Undecided
Kissdum
Touka Gettan
Idolmaster
Gigantic Formula
El Cazador
Polyphonica
Didn’t like, dropped
Nagasarete Airantou
Heroic Age
Konnyaku
Seto no hanayome
Wellber
Hitohira
Keitai Shoujo
Jeeg
Still to come (*-must watch)
Kamichama Karin(*)
Lucky Star
Terra e…
Sangokushi
sola
Bokurano(*)
Kaze no stigma
Emma 2(*)
Shining TearsXWind
Skullman
Still watching
Gintama
D-Gray man
OMG I am so screwed. I probably won’t finish more than 5 of them though, lol.
April 6th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
It’s true Manabi Straight kinda has a plot but pretty thin I thought especially the later episodes which kinda of drag…well at least I thought so anyway. Other than I’m not being a big fan of corny stuff(man, Manabi Straight really has some corny parts…^^; Emtional scenes I don’t dis but those are just corny…), I personally rated Hidamari Sketch better is the op&ed. I know both are by Hayashibara Megumi but have to say I don’t really like either.^^;
I thought Kissdum at least get your attention even though indeed they haven’t gotten into detail much on the setting and all yet but at least it’s flashy.^^ I later on checked out the site for more background info so helps alot. The same goes for Heroic Age.(Is it just me or Age’s Eiyuu no Shuzoku form looks awfully like Utawarerumono’s Hakuoro true form.^^;)
Can’t say I’m into Touka Gettan at all though.^^; It feels a bit like Yamibou probably has alot due to the original games both from ROOT so obviously has the say writer and character design. While it may feel that way but in reality it’s suppose to be the squeal of their previous game, Kao no nai Tsuki. Since I haven’t played any ROOT game before so don’t know much about the link. Also this time the game is actually coming out later so the anime is alot more like a big promo. Also I thought it(anime) kinda try too hard but fail catching attention. What’s stupid is there’s word eyecatch in the eyecatch which I find pretty retarded.^^; Pretty sure I won’t bother checking out more of it later.
Is Seirei no Moribito’s setting is like Korea or the original or whatever is Korean? I checked out the official site but didn’t see much.
Gurren Lagann I thought was ok. The setting is kinda unique but the monster/mecha feels awfully like the old mecha anime, Madouou Grandzort with the big head/face base.^^
Haven’t watched Imas Xenoglossia yet but I am curious how they can combine Idol Mast and Xenosaga in one…^^
Wellber looks kinda flat but it was sorta neat to see Takeuchi Junko doing female character. Totally threw me off as I first guess it was someone like Takayama Minami.^^ It also seems abit like El Cazador(or the other way..doesn’t matter to me.^^; The whole two girls traveling together for something or whatever.) which I can’t say I care about it much either even though Itou Shizuka plays the lead.
Nagasarete Airantou is obviously aim for guys so it’s pretty understanble you don’t like it at all. I thought it was kinda entertaining so will keep checking it out. I also find Seto no Hanayome pretty entertaining too despite I’m not a big fan of Momoi myself and thought her playing San is kinda miscast.^^; Later checked out more info about it and read the CD drama has totally different cast. Tanaka Rie plays San I can dig.^^
Koutetsujin Jeeg is another one I can see you don’t like it much.^^ I totally dig the nekketsu super robot series myself so to me it’s nice to see new super robot stuff from Nagai Go since it’s been quite a while.(there’s A LOT of Getter Robo variations…and the not so great looking Majin Kaiaer…no new stuff.) Plus his girls are pretty nice looking too.^^ When I started watching the first episode, was hoping maybe Itou Shizuka is in this one but she ain’t or at least not yet. Even if she will, it’s not going to be a major character for her to fulfil her dream appearing in a Super Robot Taisen game. This series really has the potential appearing in the upcoming SRT game. That’s too bad.^^;
I thought Konnyaku looks pretty promising for a renai game based series. Also from the looks of it, they’re going heroine by heroine story format which I think is the perfect way to do any renai game based series because this way we won’t see the protagonist being a damn playboy. Again this is also a sorta game promo deal but for a console versioin.(original pc already came out unlike Touka Gettan)
Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica(PC non 18 kin and PS2’s chapter0-2 is coming out) is kinda interesting since the original game is releasing by chapters. The later chapter 3&4 isn’t out til late May but the series shouldn’t have problem accessing the later material for content. The original is suppose to be pretty good so the series should be decent at least.
Watched about the same new ones like you. Other than those ones I won’t keep watching. Probably will keep up the rest. Haven’t watched Hitohira, Keitai Shoujo(heard it’s pretty bad anyway.) and the new Nanoha which I haven’t watched the previous series at all. Probably gonna pass Nanoha too since feels like a chore having to find those two and watch all.^^; Not like I’m running out of stuff to watch especially this season is really packed along with more not aired yet. Will definetely watch Emma for sure since I have no idea why I really like the first season.^^ Lucky star might be pretty entertaining since I already listened to the CD drama already. Even though think you menioned anime has different cast.
By the way, looks like Nana-chan is taking a break from music or something this season. Sure appeared in alot more series this time compare to recent years. Also is she going for the more mature female roles? At least her roles in Kissdum and Darker than Black are like that which is kinda new I thought. God…sure blabbed alot.^^;
April 7th, 2007 at 5:16 am
I guess you’re right, harem/dating sim anime have never really appealed to me, nor mecha/super robo shows ^^;
Seirei no Moribito - it’s just so amazingly pretty and well animated… those clouds!!! The setting sure looks like it’s based on ancient Korea, tho according to the Japanese wiki the setting is a fictional place with two worlds, one visible (Sagu) and the other invisible (Nayugu).
Yeah, it looks like Nana will be spending more time on anime for now - it’s already been a good year for her musically with the best of album & the Yokohama live. It’s good that she’s taking on more serious roles - a nice change from the usual genki-type characters she plays.
April 7th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Checked out more new series like Koutetsu Sangokushi, Kamichama Karin, Shining Tears X Wind, Gegege no Kitarou, Overdrive and Ooedo Rocket.
Looks like Koutetsu Sangokushi is more for female viewers from the looks of it. A bit BL oriented plus Koyasu is playing one of the main character which is kinda rare lately I think. Plus it really has very little to do with Sangokushi at all(other than the countries and the names they used that’s all.) even less than Ikkitousen.^^;
Kamichama Karin is pretty fun even though the beginning is kinda confusing. I’m not quite if it’s going flashback just going back to past.^^; Shining Tear X Wind looks so so. Pretty typical fantasy plot beginning and kinda flat. Sure has quite a decent cast though. Plus Hoshi Souichirou is doing both OP&ED so I guess fans would appreciate that.(I like him ok. About the same to most of the male seiyuu like most guys would.^^)
Gegege no Kitarou is pretty fun to watch since it being sorta a classic and all. Don’t why I kinda like those old series remake like Youkai Ningen Bem from not long ago. Too bad it wasn’t that popular outside of Japan so kinda hard to get hold of. Only checked out few episodes that’s all. Ooedo Rocket is quite different than typical series. Not bad but just too many to keep up so probably will pass it. Plus the other rocket related series, Rocket Girl has Sendai Eri(haven’t seen her for quite a while now so it’s nice.) plus Nabatame Hitomi is playing a different type character than her standard ones which is pretty cute too.^^
Overdrive so far looks ok for a sports theme series. The first episode actually sorta reminded me of Beck for some reason.^^; Might check out more to decide later if I get hooked as much like Capeta and Hajime no Ippo.^^
April 8th, 2007 at 3:07 am
Caught some more of those anime that aired over the last few days. Shining Tears was boring, Blue Dragon was even more boring, Terra e was OK but I doubt I’ll keep up with it. sola was pretty good; I like a lot of the seiyuu, plus it’s only 13 episodes so I’ll keep watching.
Sangokushi……oh Lord. The best thing about it was the ED song. I like both Koyasu and Mamo, but I’m not sure I cant stomach any BL they throw in. Guess I’m not your typical female viewer ^^;;;;
Kamichama Karin was OK, the 2nd half of the episode made up for the first few rubbish minutes. Again, loved the ED song by Nakahara Mai - it was written by the members of marble, the ppl who did the Hidamari Sketch ED.
Haven’t catched Oh-Edo Rocket, Gegege or OverDrive yet; nor Bakugan Battle Brawlers (yeah, I know it’s a kids’ show but I’ll try anything). Made a belated attempt to watch Moonlight Mile & while I enjoyed it I don’t think I’ve got room for it in my schedule…
April 8th, 2007 at 9:42 am
I guess I was quite bored with Koutestus Sangokushi so I didn’t really even bother watching it with the ED.^^; Already trashed it. Speaking of song, is it just me or that op song Ali Project did sound kinda weird and awkward? I mean I quite like their songs used in Code Geass, ./hack roots(that’s about the only good thing it had…god, what a waste of time watchinig it.^^;) and of course Rozen Maiden but that feels just…off.^^;
Blue dragon is pretty meh so far but might be more fun than Shining Tears X Wind later on if you are looking for adventure genre. One thing kinda interesting I notice about it is the cast. Don’t quite understand why they changed the entire cast from the game version. http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLUE_DRAGON At least Neya Keiko gets more exposure and so is Nakajim Saki as an original character.^^
March 12th, 2008 at 4:04 am
This is an old post, I know, but I was wondering what degree Inoue Marina got from University. Her major, or whatever… It’s great that she graduated though, instead of dropping out (like some seiyuus we won’t mention)