Sakura-Con 2011 Kotono Mitsuishi Report and Photos by Michelle Tymon
Kotono Mitsuishi is a name known by most anime fans and at this year’s Sakura-Con, attendees had the chance to meet the anime icon. Â A talented voice actress with a very wide range, a few of her notable roles include Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon from “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon”, Misato Katsuragi from “Neon Genesis Evangelion”, and Excel from “Excel Saga”.
Kotono Mitsuishi was born in Tokyo in 1967.  After she graduated high school, she entered the Katsuta Voice Actor’s Academy. In 1988, she debuted as a seiyuu as Tomoyo in “Ace wo Nerae! 2”. A few year later, her popularity will sky rocket because of a certain role in a show about super hero sailor scouts. Mitsuishi-san’s most famous role would probably have to be Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon from the “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon” series. That role propelled her into stardom. The role of Usagi/Sailor Moon called for her to be silly as well as serious (mostly silly). Usagi was usually very ditsy, happy and silly which would also carry over when she turned into Sailor Moon, however there are some very serious and dark moments in where Sailor Moon would showed her serious side and Mitsuishi-san pulled this off flawlessly.
The next notable role she played was Misato Katsuragi from “Neon Genesis Evangelion”. Though Misato does have a silly side to her, it was very much a contrast from Usagi’s character. With this role, Mitsuishi-san was able to show off her range even more since this character was much older, and there was many more serious scenes in this series than in “Sailor Moon”.
Since then, she has an impressive resume of roles including Mink from “Dragon Half”, Kagura Sohma from “Fruits Basket”, Murrue Ramias from “Gundam SEED/Gundam SEED Destiny”, Mireille Bouquet from “Noir”, Ebichu from “Oruchuban Ebichu” and most recently Boa Hancock from “One Piece”. Another role that stands out when your hear Mitsuishi-san’s name is the role of Excel from “Excel Saga”. Playing that role, Mitsuishi-san would have ridiculously long lines that she would have to say really fast and at the end of every episode for the preview of the next episode, she would have to speak even faster as if she was saying a tongue twister. The role is so hard that the first American voice actress to voice Excel had to step down because of the strain it put on her voice. With such a range of characters from super cute to serious, it’s not wonder that she has so many fans all over the world.
At this year’s Sakura-Con, her schedule of events included two Q&A sessions, two autograph signings, a live performance with Team Dreamcatchers, and an appearance at the Charity Auction. Fans lined up to go to each of her events and were eager at the chance of meeting her. At both of her autograph signings, the lines were very long but she stayed and signed everyone’s items were signed even though it meant she had to stay a little after the allotted time.
At her Q&A sessions, she answered various questions from fans and at the end of the sessions, she held an anime quiz and gave prizes to the winners. All of the prizes were items she personally brought from Japan. At her autograph signings, she was very kind to every fan in line both times and thanked everyone individually. At the second signing, despite going over the allotted time, she stayed until everyone got their autograph. Also at her signings, she had a container out to collect donations to help with relief efforts for those affected by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. At her Q&A’s she answered various questions that people had about her roles and even acted out Boa Hancock’s voice live. At the Team Dreamcatchers’ performance, she performed the song “Moonlight Densetsu” with Team Dreamcatchers and did some live voice acting to show how voice acting is done in Japan.
With such talent and kindness, fans were definitely very grateful that Mitsuishi-san came to the convention and we’re all looking forward to her future endeavors.