In anticipation of the coming 8th Seiyuu Awards, we continue to bring you more articles featuring last year’s winners. Our last installment focused on the men, so this time, we will be introducing 2013 winners of the Best Supporting Actress Award.
7th Seiyuu Awards Winners – Women: (clockwise from left) Asumi Kana, Sayaka Ohara, Haruka Tomatsu, Rumi Okubo, Kaori Ishihara
2013 Seiyuu Awards – Best Supporting Actress, Sayaka Ōhara
Sayaka Ohara, for xxxHOLiC (from en.anoword.com)
Ōhara had a strong love for musicals and theatre since young, and only knew of seiyuu as a profession in high school, when introduced to drama CDs by her younger brother. In her 3rd year of university, she became part of Haikyō Voice Actors Studio, and eventually joined agency Haikyō following graduation, despite parental objections. After her debut, she continued part-time acting at a theatre to supplement her income while taking on auditions for seiyuu work. She did mainly narration work until her anime lead debut in 2003, when she played Ai in Popotan, a visual novel adaptation.
Some of her early famous roles include Alicia (ARIA) and Layla Hamilton (Kaleido Star). In recent years, she often plays the roles of mature women, and often motherly characters, in anime. More recent notable roles include Irisviel von Einzbern (Fate/zero), Erza Scarlet (Fairy Tail), Sofia Velmer (Jormungand) and Rokka Shimao (Natsuyuki Rendezvous). Most fans would have at least known her from the CLAMP series xxxHolic and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, in which she steals the show as “The Dimension Witch” Yuuko Ichihara, with her mysterious allure and charming, free-spirited childishness.
Ōhara has a highly respectable list of works as a narrator, including narrations for countless TV shows and commercials. She is also the specified voice for Japanese major mobile phone company au, train announcements along private railways lines Keikyu and Keio, as well as other forms of media. By 2010, her voice has been used in at least 5% of all railroad and train announcements in the Kanto area. She has also been the DJ of bayfm radio show “NOW HITS STREET” since 1999, on top of her commitments in anime radio shows.
Known as “Saaya”, “Sayasaya” or “Saya-nee”, she first met overseas fans at the 2012 annual Taiwan Comic Exhibition as a guest for the Fairy Tail stage event, in her first trip out of the country. In the short interview and autograph session, she spoke of how she was drawn to the profession. According to her, a seiyuu could portray various characters by voice alone regardless of appearance; aptly summing up the main reason why fans continue to love this industry.
2013 Seiyuu Awards – Best Supporting Actress, Haruka Tomatsu
Given the massive popularity Tomatsu enjoys, it is rather unfathomable that she has only been active since 2007. She entered the industry as a seiyuu when she passed the “Music Ray’n Super Seiyu Auditions” organised from 2005 to 2006, together with the other members from Sphere (Aki Toyosaki, Minako Kotobuki, and Ayahi Takagaki). She immediately caught audiences’ attention with her role as Corticarte Apa Lagranges in Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica, and her portfolio exploded soon after, followed by her meteoric rise to super-stardom.
Showing amazing dedication and tenacity, she spent most of her last two years in high school travelling between her hometown and Tokyo on weekends, juggling school and recordings. Upon graduating from high school, she started living by herself in Tokyo, while continuing her seiyuu, singing and acting work, whilst attending university. Even early in her career, she already had a string of iconic characters under her belt, which includes Nagi (Kannagi), Shiho Sannomiya (Zettai Karen Children), Megumi Shimizu (Shiki), ‘Annaru’ Naruko Anjou (Anohana), Shizuku Mizutani (Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun), Saki Rukino (Valvrave), showing off unparalleled versatility. You can also catch her this season as Morigiana in Magi, Mari Maya in Samurai Flamenco, and Karina in Wake Up, Girls.
Haruka Tomatsu, Sphere (from planet-sphere.jp)
Armed with immense talent, a unique singing voice, fantastic stage presence and good looks, she has been unstoppable since her debut, earning herself legions of adoring fans. She’s known for her quirky and unassuming personality, which to this writer, is one of her most endearing charms. By injecting a little of her own quirkiness into her roles, she each one uniquely hers. Also a previous recipient of the Best Female Newcomer Award at the 3rd Seiyuu Awards, she continues to outshine her peers in every domain. Enjoying phenomenal success both as part of Sphere and as a solo artiste, her singles, albums and live performances often becoming best sellers, with her last album Sunny Side Story reaching 5th on the Weekly Oricon Rankings.
Look forward to our next installment:
Up next: 2013′s Best Newcomers
Image credit © ボイスニュータイプ , from Voice Newtype Issue 47 : 7th Seiyuu Awards feature article unless otherwise stated
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