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Thursday, January 5, 2017

Ai Kakuma:

Ai Kakuma has an impressive range of voices, from high and peppy to low and morose.  As Isuzu Sento, she acts cool and mature while administering a fantasy theme park, while as Hanabi Ayase, she acts like a 12 year old who blushes a lot.  As Hikari Karibuchi, she prides herself on being a 'break witch,' but most importantly to me, as Chino, she's the last survivor of the Chinoike clan.  Her voice in this role is mesmerizing.  It feels to me like it contains all the sadness of the entire world, raw and fresh, just pouring off of her every step she takes.  Sadness doesn't just make you want to crumple up and cry and die, though there's plenty of that in her voice, it's also full of feelings of guilt, doubt, regret, confusion, anger and hate for how things ever came to be this way.  And Ai Kakuma captures all of that in her performance, and probably more!

After such a tour de force, it's impossible to leave Ai Kakuma out of my great voices hall of fame list.  It reminds me of Rina Hidaka's amazing performance in Gate Season 2.  Let's hope her upcoming role in Clockwork Planet is equally brilliant.

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