"I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher," says Kotono Mitsuishi. "But there were so few children during that period, even if I could get a national licence to be a teacher, I would have had to wait at least two to three years for a position." An alternative presented itself from an unexpected source - school radio.
"I liked to listen to the lunchtime broadcasts, so I signed up for them," she explains. "It was just an ordinary school broadcasting program, like introducing the tunes or selecting music to play on air. But the teacher in charge was really enthusiastic - he gave character roles for each student and asked us to act stories from books. It was done in a small broadcasting room of the school and students needed to share a microphone, but it was fun. I think that was the beginning of my interest in acting." Her hobby continued through high school, where she played a part in the Broadcast Club's activities. Years later at a recording studio she would meet a junior colleague from the club, working as a sound engineer.
After a short stint as a PR model for corporate ads, Mitsuishi joined the Katsuta Voice Acting Academy, where her classmates included Wataru Takagi, Toshiyuki Norikawa, Chisa Yokoyama and Michiko Neya. Her long list of credits include diverse roles like tough-chick Koume in Blue Seed, Satsuki in X: the Movie, firestarter Nanami in Phantom Quest Corps and the hyperactive Mink in Dragon Half. She also played terrorist Mai in Darkside Blues, a rare part, she admits, for her at the time. But then, that was the time when, as the voice of Sailor Moon, she was pressured to keep to parts that wouldn't tax her schoolgirl audience.
Mitsuishi's most complex characters to date have been in the two most popular anime of the Nineties, Evangelion and Utena (for which she played Misato and Juri).
"Hideaki Anno and the producer wanted to try a different side of us," she remarks about the casting-against-type for many of the cast of Evangelion. Currently playing the part of Excel in Shinichi Watanabe's hilarious Excel Saga, she's teamed up again with Koyasu "Badd Mint" Takehito, also from Eva and Utena. "He normally acts as a handsome or cool guy," Mitsuishi says, smiling, "but he's actually a very funny and deep person, always wanting to know the true nature of things."
With a hectic schedule that could include as many as four roles in different productions a day and scripts that sometimes arrive on the day of recording, she says that as a voice actor it's important to "be speedy and flexible". Absolutely charming, she was generous enough to grant this interview, her first for a foreign magazine. "Sometimes fan letters come from overseas," she says. "I don't understand them...but thank you!"

Kotono Mitsuishi: My first role in animation was a very small part in one scene in Aim For The Ace - Final Stage. When Hiromi, the heroine, visits her tennis coach in New York, he's already left his apartment. I played the woman who lived next door.
It was quite memorable because I needed to speak English! You know, I'm not good at English at all. I used to get really bad marks in it, so I was very nervous. Thankfully there was a coach to help me. Back then when we recorded the voices, the animation was not shown in full colour on a screen. It was only drawn as a pencil draft and we needed to watch the board that said "speak now" for our cues, instead of synching with an animated character's mouth. It was very difficult and I was surprised because I wasn't taught about that at all.

Manga Max: What are the steps in preparing for a new role, to help visualise and find the right voice for the character?

Kotono Mitsuishi: When voice actors have a character audition for new animation, we can familiarise ourselves with them from a few sketches and descriptions. However, when we're asked to act as a new character in an on-going series, sometimes we're not informed beforehand what kind of character we have to portray.
We might have nothing more than the script - I decide how to perform each character by watching the facial expressions they generate, from that I can find a voice for them. For radio drama, communication with the producer is essential as there's no footage.

Manga Max: Besides anime roles, are you involved with dubs of foreign films?

Kotono Mitsuishi: Voice acting on foreign movies is rare for me. But I did Cameron Diaz in A Life Less Ordinary and Winona Ryder in Great Balls of Fire when she was younger. Acting for animation or foreign films is basically the same, but of course the expression is very different in animated films. In Sailor Moon, I had to perform in a more exaggerated way. Acting in a foreign movie, I have to perform more subtly and pay a lot of attention to the facial expressions of the actress, so I can portray her feelings in detail.

Manga Max: Have there been any characters you would have liked to have played or any roles you turned down?

Kotono Mitsuishi: Voice actors aren't able to choose their roles; that's down to the producer. I ahve never declined to do any characters...so far. My policy is to do whatever I'm offered. I'm happy, but of course I prefer to do very beautiful, charming, or individual characters!

Manga Max: Your characters in more recent titles like Eva and Utena are much more dramatic roles with complex personalities.

Kotono Mitsuishi: I thought the individual character of the directors, Hideaki Anno and Kunihiko Ikuhara was reflected very much in both Eva and Utena. Every time, I was excited to know how the story would develop; we couldn't understand with the scripts alone. Then, when we went to the studio and watched the film, the director would surprise us. Usually there's an audio director and we'd follow his instructions. But with these two, they came to us in person to give suggestions, so it was much easier to understand their vision.

Manga Max: With the incredible popularity of Sailor Moon, was it a challenge to break free from typecasting and take on different roles?

Kotono Mitsuishi: Luckily, I voiced several popular characters, not just one. Sailor Moon did indeed become an icon of sorts because of the character's image, but there are merits and demerits for me. If fans believe that I'm really the same as the character I play, it means I did a really good job. But that can backfire, of course, because the character onscreen is also the person that the producers will see. I think it's the same with live actors - sometimes producers give them similar roles to their previous film because of their strong image. However, some producers also want to give them totally different roles to break their previous image and create new ones. It's really been a great experience playing different kinds of roles, I have the opportunity to find out about different aspects of myself.

Manga Max: How do voice actors balance their celebrity status with the need for privacy from fans and press? Are you recognised by many people on the streets?

Kotono Mitsuishi: I use my real name, unlike many other voice actors who are using a screen name, so sometimes there are problems. It's a sort of tradition to use stage-names for good fortune. Sometimes fans recognise me when I'm walking on the street or reading in the bookstore. I'm so surprised because I switch off my actor side while I'm away from the job. Sometimes I'll admit it if they ask me. But if they're a..."deep" fan I'll tell then they're mistaken.
It happened a lot especially when I was in Sailor Moon. Typically voice actors don't get that much media coverage, but when Sailor Moon was popular, I had a lot of exposure.

Manga Max: How immersed into the characters do you become, especially the ones in long-running series? Do you feel particularly close to any of the characters?

Kotono Mitsuishi: I can switch in and out of work modes quite easily. I think if I become too absorbed in one role, my work can't go smoothly as I need to do several roles simultaneously. Each character does exist inside of me, but they're not synchronised with me. they only come out when the producer says: "You're up next!"

Manga Max: In Utena and many moments of Evangelion, you give a very emotional and powerful performance. How many takes does it require to hit that perfect performance and how do you achieve it?

Kotono Mitsuishi: We do rehearse and discuss before an actual recording. Sometimes during the emotional scenes I had several re-takes but other times only one. I was so pleased when the producer said "That was a good one!"
In Evangelion, as Misato was a commander, she had to say many technical words. It was sometimes difficult for me since I didn't know their meaning and mispronounced them. I didn't even know what NERV was at first! The complexity may make Evangelion interesting for fans, but sometimes actors don't really understand what they're saying [laughs].

Manga Max: Evangelion came to such a shocking end in the movie, were you surprised when you read the script? [Spoiler warning: skip this answer if you haven't seen the Evangelion movie -Ed.].

Kotono Mitsuishi: Mr Anno had talked with me about what we should do with Misato at the end of the story. I think he's the kind of person who still works on the story while making it. Of course I didn't want my character to die and I said so to him. However... as you know, she died despite my wish. But the way and the meaning of her death, as well as the influence it had on the main character... I believe Mr Anno was right. In Misato's last scene with Shinji, she still smiled and sent him off with cheers. It was a long scene, but I remember there was only one take.

Manga Max: What are some of the projects you're working on at the moment and what kind of characters are you portraying?

Kotono Mitsuishi: I'm now playing the main character of Excel Saga. The director Shinichi Watanabe has a huge afro and dresses like Lupin III! It's a very funny story, a gag comedy. Every week I'm challenging myself [laughs]. You really have to see and experience my character on television, it's too difficult to explain what she's like! And you should look carefully as Mr Watanabe acts as himself in it too, also dressed like Lupin. He's called Nabeshin. I'd prefer him to be involved just a little bit in the story like Hitchcock did in his films, rather than appearing so often [laughs].
Besides that, I'm playing Pixy in Monster Rancher and Miss Ageo in Crayon Shin-chan.

Manga Max: What are your plans for the future?

Kotono Mitsuishi: I love all the characters I've done and I was always trying to act them with care. This is my policy and it will continue for all of the characters I'll portray in the future. I also recently finished a play in October and I hope my work as a stage actor will be satisfactory too. I play a wife in Paris who is having an affair while her husband is having one too. Both their lovers turn up at the house and there's a lot of lying and trouble.

Manga Max: Finally, how did you manage to sing the closing theme of Dragon Half without suffocating?

Kotono Mitsuishi: Voice actors can sing these kinds of songs. I'm good at expressing emotion so it's not so much a matter of key or rhythm. It's more like acting - once I catch the emotion, I can manage it. For fast talking, you must watch Excel Saga. I speak even faster... and for longer!