Saber Marionette Cast Crediting

Productions like R, J, MataMata, and J to X are composed of the talents of numerous individuals ranging from producers to seiyuu to composers to designers. For some of the more notable members, it's easy to track down information about them, others not so simplistic to do so.

And of course, I'm in my endless search to uncover all I can that is SM...

My challenge here is to create an informative thread on as many members of the production staff as we can. From voice actors of all released language editions to the coffee boy who looked after the animation studio when everyone went out to lunch.

Each post here in this thread should be devoted to a single individual's biography. Worm your way across the net to find out what you can, and if there's a wealth of info, feel free to link the good stuff as necessary.

Everything we amount here will be a building block towards a complete compendium of SM info.

Soooo....go!

 

Tsukasa Kotobuki

Closely following, would have to be Tsukasa Kotobuki, the character designer for Saber Marionette J starting with the novelization up to J to X.

Kotobuki is interviewed in extra features included on two volumes of the North American DVD release of J to X, where he talks about how he had declined manga in the past due to the involved work. But when he was asked to design for a novel, Saber Marionette J, he agreed since it was not as much trouble.

His other works include characters in Battle Arena Toshinden, and various doujinshi.

A Fan's View Interview Excerpts
April 24, 1999:
http://www.fansview.com/1999/042499b.htm
May 13, 2000:
http://www.fansview.com/2000b/051300c.htm
May 25, 2001:
http://www.fansview.com/2001/animazement/052501e.htm

Anime North 2000 Fan Coverage (Empress Katzy):
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Harbor/2472/an_kotopanel.html


Tidbit I found the most interesting from the above links:
"When Kotobuki spoke at Animazement on Friday, he said that disagreements between the creator of the Saber Marionette series and the series' director changed the way the series was presented. Kotobuki noted that the head writer and the director didn't get along, the writer left in the middle of producing the Saber Marionette J series, and that led to some odd twists in the way the first series ended."

Makes you wonder what presentation elements they were arguing over...

 

Hayashibara Megumi

No true anime fan has ever slipped past without hearing one of the hundreds of characters voiced by this famous seiyuu, who takes on the role of Lime in the saber series. With a wide range of vocal capabilities, Hayashibara can single-handedly characterize each and every role she undertakes, be it the annoyingly cute hyper girl, the cynic single older woman, or the drifter just looking to get by. She's also quite an accomplished vocalist, and a bulk of J-Pop and anime collectors have scores of music accompanied with her talents.

Though Megumi's dream job started as becoming a seiyuu after the shocking revelation that her favorite anime friends weren't real, she took up nursing simultaneously to fall back on as she began a seiyuu career. She landed a role in 1986 as a kindegarten kid in Maison Ikkoku and since then has grown in popularity and roles. She is a fully qualified and registered nurse.

For a fairly complete listing of Megumi's roles:
http://www.tcp.com/doi/seiyuu/hayashibara-megumi/roles.html

A nice little Megumi shrine:
http://www.megumihayashibara.com/

Born: March 30th, 1967

 

Shiratori Yuri

The voice behind Cherry, Yuri lends a very cute and kind blend to help characterize the marionette in a way I don't think any other seiyuu, Japanese or otherwise, could. And her gentle vocals are readily identifiable in any role or song she undertakes.

In the early eighties, Yuri left school to work for Arts Vision, now a large corporation whose major facets are managing and training seiyuu, as well as producing video games. This time period was the boom of seiyuu, and Yuri was one of many girls who took the path.

While dubbing Please Save My Earth, Yuri was introduced to Arai Akino who later proposed the idea of solo album with her help. Since then, Yuri has done over three full albums.

Yuri's biggest hobbies would have to be traveling and photography - and this is extremely evident within moments of arriving on her official site (linked below), where all kinds of amazing photos can be found of her in all sorts of environments.

For a fairly complete listing of Yuri's roles:
http://www.tcp.com/~doi/seiyuu/shiratori-yuri/roles.html

Shiratori Yuri's Official site, "YUricota", which features not only Yuri herself, but also her pet dog Cota:
http://www.yuricota.net/

Born: August 20th, 1968