j1m0ne's blog

A short (and sweet) profile on Kitamura Eri, one of the up-and-coming seiyuu that people should keep an eye on & an ear out for. Like fellow young gun Inoue Marina, 2007’s proving to be a particularly good year for the teenager and she looks set to have a bright future in the industry.

Vital Statistics

Name: 喜多村英梨 (Kitamura Eri)
Real Name: 岡村英梨 (Okamura Eri)
Date of Birth: 16th August 1987
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Agency: Kaleidoscope (formerly Hirose Project)
Height: 157cm/5′1′
Blood Type: A
Hobbies & Skills: Illustration, manga, video games, darts
Key Roles: Tatiana in Last Exile, Saya in Blood+, Amuria in Simoun

History
Like Inoue Marina, Kitamura Eri is the winner of a public talent search – this time Pony Canyon’s VOICE & SINGER AUDITION 2003. Finalists in the competition included Chihara Minori, Kaji Yuki and Kataoka Azusa; plus one of the special judges’ prize (whatever that means) winners was Fujita Saki. You can watch her ‘winning speech’ at animate.tv (orange buttons at the bottom) – man, she looks so different now ^^;

The competition wasn’t Kitamura’s first foray into the entertainment world however – under her real name Okamura Eri (& as a child actor), she had already made brief appearances in various TV shows including an episode of Ultraman Dyna as well as Kayou Suspense Gekijou, a murder-mystery show that ran for 24 years on NTV.

In addition she’d already made her anime debut as the sullen and aloof Tatiana Wisla in GONZO’s 2003 anime Last Exile where she won an open audition despite having no voice acting training or experience beforehand. Apparently the people in charge had wanted to hire two actors whose ages were as close to their respective characters as possible (the other was Alvis Hamilton, voiced by the then 12-year old Shiraki Anna), which was why she got the role.

Being only 16 when she won the Pony Canyon audition (which came after her role in Last Exile), Kitamura did voice work on the side for the next 2 years whilst completing her education. She had a supporting role as Seira in Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure and also released two anime-related singles; Before the Moment (MMPPPP) and Tsuyogari (Gash Bell) in 2004. Then came her big break, and is probably what KitaEri remains best known for – she auditioned for, and got the lead role of Saya in Blood+.

Since then she’s had a steady stream of work, mainly playing supporting characters (Anna in Chevalier, Amuria in Simoun) and can currently be heard in Idolmaster XENOGLOSSIA (Makoto), Touka Gettan (also Makoto) and the soon-to-end Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny (Kakuen).

What’s up next?

I guess the biggest reason to keep Kitamura on your radar is the fact that she will be voicing Kokonoe Rin in the anime adaptation of the ‘controversial’ manga Kodomo no Jikan – it was slated to begin airing in the summer season but I’ve seen no news on when that’s supposed to be.

Quite a few people would prefer to have had Kugimiya Rie cast in the role, but I quite like the idea of KitaEri in the role based on perhaps her voicing the short, ‘baldy’ 15-year old assassin Cynthia Lo in the drama CD based on the CYNTHIA THE MISSION manga. The voice sample on her agency profile (see links list below) also shows the wide range of voices she can do, so I’m optimistic that Kitamura can pull off a good performance.

There’s also the Koharu Biyori OVA coming later this year, based on Mizuki Takehito’s manga that tells the story of a guy called Murase Takaya (voiced by Kondou Takayuki) who likes to (cos)play dress-up with with his robot maid Yui (voiced by KitaEri). I’m not sure if I should be excited about this show…..

But before that comes her first major ‘male’ role as Moriyama Sunao in the upcoming Potemayo. There’s also a ‘female seiyuu playing male characters’ drama CD Shiritsu Crear Gakuen (released 25th August) that Kitamura will be involved in along with Saiga Mitsuki, Ogata Megumi & Sanpei Yuko; who are all more or less veterans at doing guys’ voices.

Current Radio Shows:

Kitamura is a pretty entertaining, very lively radio personality and always much fun to listen to. She’s currently hosting three regular radio programs and the two listed below are the internet broadcast ones – the other is ChoAniRaji which airs on digital radio.

ChoAniRaji
-Started in March. Runs every weekday with a different host each day. Because KitaEri’s Monday show was the one that kicked off the week (other hosts include Kakihara Tetsuya, Iizuka Mayumi & Washizaki Takeshi) she was a little freaked out that if she didn’t do a good job on the first show that nobody would bother tuning in for the rest of the week ^^;
Radio Rondo
-Entertaining radio show hosted by KitaEri & Asumi Kana (Yuno from Hidamari Sketch) to promote Konami’s online ‘figure’ game Busou Shinki Battle Rondo. Some of the corners include radio-dramas, a ‘battle’ corner where they play silly games that listeners suggest (i.e. IQ quizzes & speed texting games) and the usual futsuota corner. This is one of the few shows that I make an effort to catch every week cos I enjoy the chemistry between KitaEri & Asumin.
Square Enix Presents Shuukan RadiMagi Henshuubu
-Co-hosts the information program with Shimono Hiro (Ken Robbins in Kaleido Star, Ikuto in Airantou). Only attempted to listen to it once, and never did again…. can’t have been too impressed then ^^; Despite that, it’s still going strong and has been running since October 2006.

Random images

clockwise from top left: overnight PSP gaming sessions at Maita’s, crystal ballgazing with Fukuen Misato, celebrating her birthday with Amisuke & Maita, guesting on Iizuka Mayumi’s radio show.

Trivia:
01*Yet another female seiyuu otaku who grew up dreaming of being a seiyuu (Washizaki Takeshi called her a kuso-otaku). Sometimes speaks using otaku/2channel terminology, much like power blogger Nakagawa Shoko-tan. Also often goes to Akihabara (animate and Toranoana stores especially) to check out the latest manga and goods.
02*The first anime KitaEri liked was Sailor Moon, and also mentions that she was a mega huge fan of Fushigi Yugi & often daydreamed/fantasized about the characters – maybe that explains why she did poorly in school ^^;;
03*Good at illustrations, there’s an archive of some of her drawings here.
04*She doesn’t have her own blog, but pops up regularly in those of her close seiyuu friends Koshimizu Ami & Kadowaki Mai.
05*Had a short stint co-presenting kids’ show Monsterdio alongside the irrepressible Shinohara Tomoe, and was involved on a few of the theme songs recorded for it.

Useful KitaEri links:
Agency profile
ChoRaji blog
ANN Profile

Omake Corner!
-I mentioned the CYNTHIA THE MISSION drama CD, which was released on 24th March 2006. If anyone wants to listen to it, I uploaded it here. Good if you’re a seiyuu fan, cos it features a cast packed with big names including Orikasa Fumiko, Kobayashi Sanae, Shiraishi Ryoko, Iwao Junko, Shintani Ryoko, Sugita Tomokazu & Aono Takeshi amongst others.

I’ve actually been struggling to finish this up for more nearly 2 months ^^;; Didn’t have much motivation or inspiration….. The next profile will come…when it does.