Shindo Kei’s (Not So) Dark Cosplay Days
Hikaru no Go
Inoue Marina’s not the only person with a cosplay history - Shindo Kei (真堂圭), formerly Saito Kei (齋藤圭 and later 斉藤圭), was also a cosplayer in her teenage years using the pseudonym Hisato (央登). Like Marina, there are rich pickings of images from her cosplay days. She/her agency have done their best to bury them but they’re still floating around the Internet, guys! Try harder!
Kei as she is now
And like Marina, Shindo also got into the seiyuu world by winning an open audition for the lead role of Tennozu Kagura in Gonzo’s 2005 production SPEED GRAPHER. That remains her only headliner to date, with only supporting roles in Kodomo no Jikan (Kagami Kuro) and Gundam 00 (Wang Liu Mei) sticking out on her CV since then. Well, Kurookano Shijima/Shiratama (Miharu’s cat) in Nabari too, if you want to count that…Kei’s career certainly hasn’t taken off the way Marina’s has.
Makubex from Getbackers
Shindo used to run a site with her sister featuring cosplay photos and fujoshi-like blog entries around the 2003-2005 period, but it was pulled down shortly before the announcement of her winning the open audition. The blog apparently once featured the legendary line 朝までネットでテニスのホモ同人を読んでいた (I read homo tennis dojinshi on the net all night long).
Well known for being flippant about everything, Shindo was rumoured to have uttered “I’ll never work in a Gonzo production ever again” after her ‘less than satisfactory’ experience working on SPEED GRAPHER. True to her word, she’s not appeared in a single Gonzo show since then… well, actually she’s not appeared in much of anything animated by any studio so it’d be hard to tell if she were ever to track back on that statement.
taiyaki uguu
Gundam and Kojika are the only things going for Kei at the moment, and I doubt she’ll ever break into the ‘big time’. Her voice doesn’t have seem to have any special characteristics about it either, just another generic female seiyuu - what I’ve heard of it so far anyway. But you never know, she may end up voicing some hot, busty gun-toting female and capture the hearts of a million otaku one day. I wouldn’t put money on it though.
Who ya callin a bean?
I’m no cosplay expert, but I think she looks decent enough in these pics…certainly better than Marina did in hers anyway ^^; Anyway, a selection from her catalogue of cosplay pics below:
Lunamaria Hawke
Narutard alert
Ritsuka from Loveless
One Piece
Kyoyama Anna of Shaman King
Syaoran from CCS
as Yoshino with a frickin ugly Rosa Foetida
Kotaro from Papuwa
And some normal, more up-to-date pics:
with Matsuoka Yuki
Shindo K & Marina + dude @ Kite Liberator premiere
Sadly, these days Kei (and Marina) are more into dressing up and nail art and all that jazz. So how did both of them go from being hardcore cosplayers and fujoshi to boring seiyuu who list volleyball amongst their hobbies? In denial, are they? ^^;;
August 28th, 2008 at 1:08 am
She probably fakes her hobbies now that she’s a supposed celebrity. I wonder why they bother covering up, when it’s obvious their target demographic prefer them the way they were?
August 28th, 2008 at 8:35 am
Why would they wanna hide it? Huhu I think its cool haha…
August 28th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Am I wrong in thinking that she looks good in cosplay?
August 29th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I have volleyball as my hobby xD
And yea, she’s good with the cosplays, the hair features blend well with her face! Whether its short or slightly longer, she still look puuurrffect! xDD Most cosplays I’ve seen made me puke blood, so I guess she’s fine..! x)(yea like that Rosa one) dx_xb
August 30th, 2008 at 11:32 am
I don’t understand why they would want to cover this stuff up - is cosplaying like, a taboo for seiyuu or something? O_o Considering seiyuu-ing and cosplaying are both a pretty big part of anime as an industry- I thought having cosplaying seiyuu would be a good thing? Her cosplays are great, too.
August 30th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
@Emily:
I absolutely have to agree with you. It definitely makes no sense for me either. Personally, the way I’ve always viewed working as a seiyuu is that it’s a musical/emotional lifestyle which possesses four elements, much like hip-hop: Acting, singing, performing on stage and cosplaying, which would be the equivalents of MC’ing, DJ’ing, graffiti artistry and B-boying (breakdancing). If that’s the case, then Inoue Marina and Shindo Kei have unquestionably/inarguably/undeniably been keeping the spirit of TRUE/REAL seiyuuing immensely/extremely alive/kicking, and I’d welcome them back to cosplay’s realm with open arms.
August 30th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
“I’d welcome them back to cosplay’s realm with open arms.” ? lol ur into cosplay? >< if so any pics? xD
August 30th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
@extratax:
Nope, ‘cuz eye’ve gawt ay lyfe. But I’ve got to extend slight applause, at least, if someone can pull it off even moderately well (and Inoue/Shindo went FAR and beyond the call of duty back when they were still interested participants).
And, no, I don’t have any pictures, either. I’m just another one of those stupid-arse leechers who doesn’t contribute anything new to the community (NOT REALLY; the truth is that I do not currently possess a scanner, nor magazines; I’ve only hugely been interested in the vocalizational/thespianistic side of this equation).
September 5th, 2008 at 10:03 am
I wonder how was her experience about working on SPEED GRAPHER, if that kind of rumor got spread…anyway I did enjoy that show, I’m not one of those “if it’s gonzo, it’s s**t”