A Tribute to Tsuru Hiromi (鶴 ひろみ) - A Little Love Story

It is a sad day today as we lost one of the most beloved voice actress in the anime industry- Tsuru Hiromi as she passed away on 16/11/2017 at the age of 57 years old. Tsuru was found inside her car unconscious and was later pronounced dead in the hospital. Cause of her death was diagnoses as Aortic dissection which is similar to a stroke or a heart attack.

Link to her death: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-11-16/voice-actress-hiromi-tsuru-passes-away-at-57/.124141

Bulma of Dragonball Series

Kiddy of Silent Mobius

Dokin Chan of Anpanman

Hotaru Mizuki of Albegas aka the unused Voltron series

Ukyo of Ranma 1/2

Asuna of Maison Ikkoku

When I heard the news, I felt a part of me was gone. Tsuru was iconic in many anime roles during her prime in the 80s and early 90s like Bulma of Dragonball series, Kiddy of Silent Mobius, Ukyo of Ranma 1/2 and her most famous role-Ayukawa Madoka of Kimagure Orange Road.

When I was still in my youth, I was more into the action genre of anime and didn't really get into the Romantic genre. But one night, I switched the channel and watch a show titled "Kimagure Orange Road" and hearing the male lead was Toru Furuya, I thought I give it a watch. What happened after that episode change my life forever. A change called Ayukawa Madoka who was voiced by Tsuru Hiromi.

 

Ayukawa Madoka was the perfect girl of my dreams. She was smart, beautiful, cool in her own way, funny and most of all a heart of gold. All because Tsuru was Ayukawa personified.  From that day on and till today, many female leads come and go in my life but Ayukawa Madoka will always be my first wife thanks to Tsuru Hiromi. So yeah, my first wife passed away. (Sad)

I don't know what to else to say while writing this post. While I was coming home today in my car, my playlist was playing "Kagami no Actress" which is the third opening of Orange Road which make it even more heartache to know that Tsuru Hiromi has left us.

Although I know that her agency is scrabbling to get a replacement for her role as Dokin Chan in Anpaman and more importantly, Bulma in Dragonball Super. So when you get your copy of Dragonball Fighterz next year, pay close attention to Tsuru's performances as Bulma as it will be the last time you hear from her.

No matter what happened, Tsuru Hiromi...may you rest in peace no matter where you are and to look over your family and fans. We will always remember you and thank you for bringing us these iconic characters to life.
 

Tribute to Mizutani Yuko (水谷 優子)

A Tribute to one of my favourite Female Seiyuu from the 90s and Early 2000s. Mizutani Yuko passed away on 17/05/2016 due to Breast Cancer. She was 51 years old.

Notable roles are Sakiko Sakura from Chibi Maruko Chan, Takenouchi Sora from Digimon Adventures , Pinoko from Black Jack and Excellen Browning of Super Robot Wars Original Generations Series.

She will always be remember like how Black Jack and Nanbu Kyosuke will always be by her side no matter what.

Song used: Saigo no Tabi by Misato Aki (The 2nd Ending Song of Super Robots Wars Original Generation Season 2)

Link to her death: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-05-19/chibi-maruko-chan-black-jack-voice-actress-yuko-mizutani-passes-away/.102272

A Tribute to Matsuki Miyu (松来 未祐 ) Video

I believe many of you knew that Japanese Voice Actress Matsuki Miyu passed away on 27/10/15 due to a long term sickness. Many fans including me were shocked by her passing. She has done many supportive roles in many animes and video games despite not being popular as some of her peers. However she has given her best in every role she played.

Here is my tribute to her with the message-she might be gone but will never be forgotten. Rest well, my Sweet Princess.

Seiyuu Honda Chieko passed away at the age of 50

It is sad to know that Seiyuu Honda Chieko passed away due to cancer at the age of 50. Gundam Fans will remember her as Elpeo 1 and 2 of Gundam ZZ and Ennil of Gundam X. She also played Haruka in the ToHeart2 series and Kaoru of Utena series.

 http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-02-22/voice-actress-chieko-honda-passes-away

Now she is with Kawakami Tomoko up there in the Big Seiyuu Heaven in the Sky. Rest in Peace!

First Impressions: Sankarea Ep 1, Sengoku Collection Ep 1 and Natsuiro Kiseki Ep 1

Before we wait patiently for Fate Zero Season 2 Episode 1 to be out, let's see what other new shows that was on the last two days.

Sankarea Ep 1: Chihiro has a serious obsession with zombies and wish to have a zombie girl as his girlfriend. But when his pet cat was killed in an road accident, he decided to bring it back to life by using a book of spells. He saw an unhappy rich girl, Sanka Rae who has family problems and they share the secret together. Until Rae asked if Chirhiro can bring her back to life if she died...

She is coming to get you, Chihiro (Remember that line from Night of the Living Dead?)

I read the first volume of the manga and the fun only start when Rae was really brought back to life as a zombie. Not the flesh eating kind of zombie but rather something similar to Ayumu from Zombie Desu Ka. Currently the pacing is slow at the moment and the next episode showed Rae's possessive father who did something on her which he regret it. I will take another look at it before making any decisions.

Do you have Balls, Brother!?

Sengoku Collection Ep 1: So instead of a girl from our time going to the Sengoku Era (See Sengoku Paradox), we have warriors coming to our world instead. Oda Nobunaga who is supposed to die fell into a time slip and landed on a guy, Ota and he is struck with her tagging along. After stopping an armed robber by arguing with the robber and calling him a guy with no balls (Really!) Ota brought her back home and slowly learned about our world. When she found out from three spiritual beings who told her that she must claimed magical spheres from warriors who have also landed in our world, her ambition raised away and began her conquest to find the spheres and returned home...

Seriously, we went from One Dimension Tokugawa from Brave 10 to this little girl?

An interesting first episode, thought it fell under the fish out of water story but Oda is not spoilt and maintain her composure even in this world. Her nickname is "Sweet Little Devil" and not the "Sixth Day Devil King" like most Sengoku series like to refer him or her to. Next episode it focus on Tokugawa Ieyasu who has also landed in our world.

Natsuiro Kiseki Ep 1: Or Summer Miracle is about four girls, Natsumi, Saki, Yuka and Rinko who are childhood friends and used to wish on a wishing stone that is suppose to make their dream come true. However Natsumi and Saki had an argument over tennis practice which Saki finally confess that she is moving to Tokyo with her family. Yuka and Rinko tricked the other two into coming to the wishing stone and when they all looked at the sky, the wishing stone send the four girls flying in the air and for a moment, they felt a sense of togetherness. But Saki refuse to change her mind about leaving and left them..

First, we have the Seiyu group Sphere doing the four girls. Kotobuki Minako as Tomboy Natsumi, Takagaki Ayahi as Proud Saki, Tomatsu Haruka as Hyper Yuka and Toyosaki Aki as Subtle Rinko. I  thought Kotobuki will be more suitable as Saki as she did arrogant roles like Blue Rose from Tiger and Bunny and Takagaki should play Natsumi as she is used to playing boyish roles. Tomatsu and Toyosaki are fine as I love them doing when they perform characters that I like.

The story itself is not really 100% slice of life but a bit of 10% of supernatural origin in it. I didn't expect the wishing stone really make them fly up but it does what it can to tighten the bonds between the girls. So with Saki leaving them, can the other girls able to treasure their friendship during the start of their summer holidays? I guess you have to watch the remaining 11 or 12 episodes to find out...

So we have quite a number of new titles already but I know a lot of people are still waiting to find out more about Fate Zero Season 2 so hopefully by tomorrow or Monday, I get a review to talk about. Until then, See you!

Singapore Toys, Game & Comics Convention 2011-An Afternoon with Itou Shizuka

The last two days I was at Suntec City where the Singapore Toys, Game & Comics Convention (STGC for short) was held. It was pretty all right with the local media promoting their toys, games and locally made comics. The displays for some of the new toys were pretty good and the cos players were good. (Some of them actually.) The photos for the cosplay are from the first day.

Before I go any further, let me tell you something about a discussion with my friends. Last year's AFA (Anime Festival Asia), Japanese Seiyu Hanazawa Kana came to Singapore and I didn't went cause she wasn't really my favourite and I just make a claim that if Nana Mizuki or Itou Shizuka were to come, I will go! Then about a week ago, I read the papers and found out that Itou Shizuka is coming to STGC! Oh Crap! I had to go and see her! But the VIP tickets were all sold out so I had to be very early to get a spot behind the VIP seatings.

Yeah, this is the only proof that I was there.

So I went down at 2 p.m and immediately found a spot just behind the VIP seatings and it is next to the main camera stand. The cameraman didn't mind me and with my friend, Mike who was holding a better camera, we patiently waited. We also heard an announcement that there was no photo-taking or video recordings during the performance. (Buzz kill!)

Then finally around 3.05 p.m, a female MC came on stage and announced the arrival of Itou Shizuka. Shizuka came in, wearing a white Yukata and tied her hair with a flower. She was really pleasant looking though Mike commented she need to put on some weight.

So, the MC and Shizuka asked questions about Singapore and how she find the fans here. She has done some sight-seeing the night before and love how the locals were full of life! She was worried that no one will attend her performance but she was surprised to see so many fans. I yelled to her "Daijufu desu" (It's okay!) and she thank me! (I was so in heaven!)

Then Shizuka performed a scene from Hayate no Gotoku Season 2 which she performed as Hinagiku and the scene was the birthday scene with Hayate. I watched both screens to see her reaction and performance and she did it like a real pro!

Then the MC asked some questions which are posted online for her to answer. One of the questions was how she prepare for a character for a new show? Shizuka explained that she will be given an explanation of the characters from the staff which she will project that character in her head and perform it out. Another question was asked of what characters will she like to do beside Tsurude characters? She want to do strong women and sweet female characters which I hope to see her do so.

She also did some lines of some characters like Amagami SS's Haruka, Saki's Hisa Takei, Okami Ryoko and another line from Hinagiku. The winners actually got an autograph panel from her. Man, I wish it was me...(I want her to perform Wilhelmina from Shakuga no Shana and she like fishing which I find it interesting)

Anyway, she was only here for a hour and she bid farewell to the fans and hope to see her again! I yelled "Shizuka Chan, Daisuki!" which I hoped no one noticed. She went down the stage and waved goodbye to the fans.

So an Afternoon with Itou Shizuka ended. I knew her from Negima's Misa and from there, she done many characters which are my favourites-Hinagiku, Wilhelmina, Tamaki (To Heart 2), Kanzaki Kaori (A Certain Magical Index). Through most of it are supporting characters but I like her for her strong and sweet performances. Maybe I will catch Amagami SS to see her as Haruka. (She did the Nyan voice as Haruka which I will find out where did it come from.)

I hope Shizuka will go back and tell her colleagues in Japan about Singapore. Maybe her best friends, Hitomi Natabane and Shirashi Ryoko will come next year. Anyway the best to her and hope we can see her again.

This is taken from her blog-http://ameblo.jp/beerlover-shizuka/ and yes, she was wearing the same Yukata on stage.

P.S: Thanks to the cos players who pose with me. The rest of the photos will be up probably next week once I got the photos from Mike who took with his camera. (Thank, Mike!)

Update: New photos which Mike took for me!

Seiyuu Kawakami Tomoko passed away at age 41

I just read this sad news of Seiyuu Kawakami Tomoko passed away yesterday due to ovarian cancer
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-06-10/utena-voice-actress-tomoko-kawakami-passes-away

I first listen to her as Rosette Christopher of Chrono Crusade. At first, I thought her voice was a bit generic but then when she voiced Soi Fong of Bleach, she is bad-ass and cute at certain time. She also did Hinata Fuyuki of Keroro Gusou which is a total male character. Some of you might know her as Utena of Revolutionary Girl Utena which is her most famous role up to date.

She was suffering a few months back and went for treatment which explain her absence in Bleach. (Kuwashima Houko was doing her role as Soi Fong during this period). However she has a relapse and passed away in the hospital on 09/06/11.

RIP, Kawakami Tomoko-1971-2011

Like Rosette, she is now with Chrono together, living in the stars...