Voice Actress Mizutani Yuuko passed away
On Thursday May 19th Aoni Production announced that voice actress Mizutani Yuuko passed away on Tuesday May 17th from breast cancer, at the age of 51 years old.
The official website of Chibi Maruko-chan, an anime where Mizutani Yuuko gave her voice to the protagonist’s sister, also posted a message about her death.
«Chibi Maruko-chan’s elder sister’s voice actress, Mizutani Yuuko passed away on May 17th at the age of 51 years old. She has voiced the elder sister (Sakiko Sakura) in Chibi Maruko-chan since the show's first broadcast in 1990, and she certainly brought life to the show. We mourn her loss».
Fuji Television has stated that Mizutani Yuuko has recorded the next two episodes of Chibi Maruko-chan that will air on May 22nd and May 29th and that at a later day there will be an announcement about selecting her replacement for the role.
Mizutani debuted as a seiyuu in 1985, voicing an unnamed announcer character in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Later she gave her voice to Sarah Zabiarov, a character of the same anime. Her first lead role was Leina Stohl from Machine Robo: Chronos no Dai Gyakushuu. Mizutani gained prominence as a seiyuu with her role as Apple from Akai Koudan Zillion, where she also met her husband, director Mizuho Nishikubo .
Her most well-known role to the greek audience is Takenouchi Sora (or else Sara) from Digimon Adventure. She also voiced over Yagami Yuuko – Yagami Taichi and Hikari’s mother- and Izumi Yoshie – Izumi Koushiro’s mother- from the same anime as well as Matt and Sora’s daughter in Digimon Adventure 02. Moreover, she was Tsukino Ikuko’s voice from Sailor Moon Crystal.
Furthermore, she was the original Japanese voice of Disney’s Minnie Mouse selected from 1991 and participated in Disney’s Hercules as one of the Muses, Terpsichore.
Last but not least, she has voiced over some characters in games such as Minnie Mouse in every Kingdom Hearts game and Iris from Mega Man X4 and Project X Zone.
Mizutani joined Aoni Production in 2012, having left Production Baobab a year earlier.
All of our members would also like to express our condolences on her loss and wish for her to have a safe trip to heaven.
Sources: aoni.co.jp, chibimaru.tv , kotaku.com, myanimelist.com, animenewsnetwork.com
