Atsuko Tanaka

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Template:Short description Template:Western name order {{#invoke:Other people|otherPeople}} Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Template:Nihongo was a Japanese voice actress and narrator. Born in Maebashi, she became interested in acting during her youth, and while educated at Ferris University, worked as a background extra at Shochiku. After spending years working as an office lady for a Tokyo executive, she enrolled in the Template:Ill and joined the talent agency Mausu Promotion, with whom she was still affiliated at the time of her death.

She was best known for her portrayal of Motoko Kusanagi in the Ghost in the Shell film and franchise, and she also voiced Konan in Naruto, Caster in Fate/stay night, Lisa Lisa in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Chun-Li in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Claudette in Queen's Blade, Karura in Utawarerumono, Bayonetta in the Bayonetta franchise, Hanami in Jujutsu Kaisen, Kyrie Ushiromiya in Umineko no Naku Koro ni, and Rhinedottir in Genshin Impact.

Biography

Early life and career

Tanaka was born on November 14, 1962, in Maebashi, the capital city of Gunma Prefecture.<ref name="CN 20240820">Template:Cite news</ref> Her paternal great-uncle was Template:Ill, who was Template:Ill from 1941 until 1943.<ref name="asahi 20221007">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During her youth, she and her family often saw live Takarazuka Revue performances and went to the local cinema theatre Orion-za,<ref name="asahi 20221007" /><ref name="mebuku.city 7106" /> and she became interested in acting after seeing a stage play broadcast on live television.<ref name="originalnews.nico" /> Passionate about acting and dancing, she joined the drama club at Template:Ill and the dance club at Template:Ill, and while studying at Ferris University,<ref name="mebuku.city 7106" /> she was part of the university's drama club and had part-time jobs at Shiki Theatre Company and Shochiku Ofuna Studio, working as a background extra for the latter.<ref name="asahi 20221007" /><ref name="originalnews.nico">Template:Cite interview</ref>

After graduating from Ferris, she took a break from acting and relocated to Tokyo to become an office lady for a private company's male executive.<ref name="mebuku.city 7106"/><ref name="asahi 20221007"/> After finding it unreasonable to work as an office lady until retirement, she decided to change careers after about six years with her employer, later recalling in a 2022 interview: "Even if it's not stable, if I can get a job that I like, it's rewarding and I can do it for the rest of my life".<ref name="mebuku.city 7106">Template:Cite interview</ref> While she continued her dancing career during her office lady career, she decided to end it because "somewhere in my mind [she] felt like [she] had done everything [in dancing she] could".<ref name="originalnews.nico" />

After she chose acting over dancing, she became interested in voice acting after meeting a fellow dancer from her native Gunma Prefecture who was also a voice actor,<ref name="originalnews.nico" /> with another inspiration being voice actress Template:Ill.<ref name="CN 20240820"/> She subsequently joined the Template:Ill in order to study voice acting and get voice acting work, graduating in 1991.<ref name="originalnews.nico" /><ref name="mebuku.city 7106" /><ref name="resume 2024">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After failing to find a talent agency that would hire her, she was eventually invited to join Ezaki Production by manager Mitsue Ono.<ref name="originalnews.nico" /> She then joined the agency's training school and, despite her parents' objections, quit the company she worked at as an office lady after six years after getting enough voice acting work.<ref name="originalnews.nico" /><ref name="mebuku.city 7159">Template:Cite interview</ref><ref name="asahi 20221007"/>

Voice acting career

Template:See also After graduating from Tokyo Announcement Academy, she formally joined Ezaki Production (which would later become Mausu Promotion), where she remained until her death.<ref name="CN 20240820"/> At the encouragement of her Tokyo Announcement Academy teacher, sound director Template:Ill, she took on roles she herself thought were "unsuitable for her", such as heroine roles.<ref name="mebuku.city 7159" /> Her first lead role was as Karen Carr in the Japanese dub of the 1992 American film Unlawful Entry.<ref name="CN 20240820"/> Although her parents initially disapproved of her voice acting career, they reconsidered after starring as the guest heroine in the 1993 Lupin the 3rd television special "Voyage to Danger".<ref name="mebuku.city 7159" />

In 1995, she started voicing Motoko Kusanagi, the protagonist of the 1995 film Ghost in the Shell, a role she recalled was the first one "where [she] was rambling on about incomprehensible terms"; she reprised the role in the Ghost in the Shell franchise's media for 27 years thereafter.<ref name="mebuku.city 7159" /> Tanaka retrospectively cited this as one of the most memorable roles of her voice acting career.<ref name="mebuku.city 7159" /><ref name="mynavi 2825753" /> A year before her death, she reprised her role in the second season of Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045.<ref name="mynavi 2825753">Template:Cite news</ref>

Outside of Ghost in the Shell, among her other voice acting roles in anime were Coffee in Cowboy Bebop, Margot Langer in Monster, Caster in Fate/stay night, Harumi Kiyama in A Certain Scientific Railgun, Konan in Naruto: Shippuden, Yuri Nikaido in The World God Only Knows, Lisa Lisa in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Reina in Yakuza Kiwami, and Hanami in Jujutsu Kaisen.<ref name="ANN 20240820">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="CN 20240820"/>

Her video game roles included the titular protagonist of Bayonetta, Trish in Devil May Cry, Kainé in Nier, Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, Impa in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011), Gaby in Shin Megami Tensei IV (2013), Yennefer in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015), Jerri in Persona 5 Tactica (2023), and Rhinedottir in Genshin Impact (2023), as well as Layla Hassan in Assassin's Creed and Chun-Li and Poison in Street Fighter.<ref name="ANN 20240820"/><ref name="CN 20240820"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="gamedeveloper">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="genshintwitter">Template:Citation</ref> In 2020, she won the Foreign Movie/Drama Award at the 14th Seiyu Awards.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She then starred as Mary Sera in Case Closed, Flamme in Frieren, Rose in The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic, and Ōmurasaki no Omae in Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="ANN 20240820"/><ref name="CN 20240820"/>

Tanaka also worked in foreign works as a Japanese-language dub actress.<ref name="asahi 20221007"/> Among the actresses she dubbed, she had a particularly strong attachment to Nicole Kidman, feeling "a great chemistry" with her and describing herself as "the one person in Japan who understands her acting the best."<ref name="mebuku 7204">Template:Cite interview</ref> Other actresses she dubbed include Kate Beckinsale, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Julia Roberts.<ref name="mebuku 7204" /><ref name="tokyoweekender">Template:Cite news</ref> She also worked as a narrator.<ref name="asahi 20221007"/>

Personal life and death

Tanaka had a son, voice actor Hikaru Tanaka, who did not disclose his familial relationship before announcing her death,<ref name=" ANN 20240820"/> and a younger sister.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She considered Kikuko Inoue to be her best friend.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Outside of acting, she also had a side career of giving pandas names, including as a godparent of Adventure World's giant pandas Yuihin and Saihin, and at point appearing as the anonymous Template:Nihongo in Template:Ill's panda name prediction radio show Template:Ill.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was a fan of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters baseball team, and she and Rika Fukami would often go to the stadiums to attend games.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>

On August 20, 2024, Tanaka died at the age of 61, one year after being diagnosed with an undisclosed illness.<ref name="ANN 20240820"/> Fellow voice actress and friend Kikuko Inoue had visited Tanaka at the hospital prior to the latter's death.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Condolences came from many of the people, teams, and works she worked with, including her Fate/stay night co-star Jouji Nakata,<ref>https://x.com/joujinakata123/status/1825852358771028259</ref> Ghost in the Shell co-star Koichi Yamadera,<ref name="tokyoweekender"/> Bayonetta developer PlatinumGames,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the Frieren and Nier franchises.<ref name="gamedeveloper"/>

A memorial exhibition dedicated to her opened on November 14, 2024 at the Historia Maebashi.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

References

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