Mari Shimizu

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Mari Shimizu
清水マリ
Born (1936-07-06) 6 July 1936 (age 88)
Urawa, Saitama, Empire of Japan
OccupationVoice actress
Years active1963–present
Employer 81 Produce
Notable work

Mari Shimizu (Japanese: 清水 マリ, Hepburn: Shimizu Mari, born 7 June 1936) is a Japanese voice actress affiliated with 81 Produce. [1] She is known for voicing the titular protagonist of the 1963 Astro Boy television series and its 1980 colour remake, Belo in Humanoid Monster Bem , and the titular protagonist of Jetter Mars .

Contents

Biography

Early life

Shimizu, the daughter of actor Gen Shimizu  [ ja ] and a Mitsukoshi seamstress, was born on 7 June 1936 in Motobuto  [ ja ], an area in Urawa-ku, Saitama. [2] [3] During World War II, her family lived in poverty. [4] Shimizu was educated at Urawa Nishi High School, where she was part of their theater club, and afterwards the Haiyuza Theatre Company's school. [4] [5]

Originally, she was a pitcher for her junior high school's softball team. [2] However, when her father's theater troupe had no child actors to play the titular character of their stage adaptation of The Adventures of Pinocchio , Shimizu was selected for the role, inspiring her to become an actor. [5] She later became part of Gekidan Shinjinkai. [3] In addition to working as an actress, Shimizu worked as actress Misako Watanabe's apprentice and as a production assistant. [5]

Astro Boy

In 1962, Osamu Tezuka introduced Shimizu to his manga series, Astro Boy , [6] after Kaoru Anami, a childhood acquaintance of Shimizu's and future Mushi Production executive, recommended her to Tezuka due to a conversation in which they noted Pinocchio's inspiration of Astro Boy and Shimizu's previous role as Pinocchio. [7] Although she had not read manga and was even unaware of Astro Boy's existence, [8] she was later cast as the titular character in the anime's original pilot episode and the subsequent anime series. [5] During production, she became pregnant, and after a doctor advised against working during her pregnancy, she took an eight-episode break from the role with Kazue Tagami  [ ja ] as her substitute, resulting in several children complaining to the show's broadcasting network, Fuji TV. [9] [8]

Tezuka originally wanted Atom's voice actress to remain unchanged, [10] and Shimizu reprised her role as Astro Boy in the show's 1980 colour remake and in the 2000 film The Last Mystery of the 20th Century. [11] However, Tezuka died in 1989, [10] and on 6 April 2003, she retired from voicing Astro Boy, later saying in a 2013 interview with Seiyū Grand Prix that she wanted a younger voice actor to succeed her. [12]

Later career and life

In 1968, Shimizu starred in Humanoid Monster Bem as Belo, [11] a character she later recalled struggling with by having to convey "a dark image because he was a child crawling under the ground". [13] In 1977, Shimizu was cast as the titular character of Jetter Mars ; [11] she later recalled that during the series' production, she felt a lack of patience over voicing the only child character and rising tensions. [13] In 1978, she voiced Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island , later recalling that the character "left an impression on [her]". [9] Other characters Shimizu voiced include Mame-tan in Detective Brat Pack, Kanbō in Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae, Tomiko Shimamoto in Attack No. 1 , Ken in Hitori Bocchi, Inspy in Marine Boy , Tetsuji in Ikkyū-san , Gorō Makino in Uchu Enban Daisenso , Mirun in Gaiking , Kira in Galaxy Express 999 , Yusuf in Animation Kikō: Marco Polo no Bōken, Patty in Triton of the Sea, Adam in Undersea Super Train: Marine Express , Prince Alor in Beast King GoLion , Peko in Doraemon: Nobita and the Haunts of Evil , Tezuka's mother in The Tezuka Osamu Story: I Am Son-goku, and Ricky in the 2004–2006 anime adaptation of Black Jack . [11]

Shimizu wanted to focus on Shinjinkai after Astro Boy's final episode, but she had a child while the series was still airing, making it difficult to participate in stage acting, and moved to the same office as Nobuyo Oyama, her friend from the Haiyuza school. [9] Shimizu later worked for Aoni Production and Production Baobab, [14] before moving to 81 Produce. [1]

Shimizu is nicknamed as the "Mother of Voice Actors" (声優の母, Seiyū no haha). [15] In 2006, she won a Special Achievement Award at the 5th Tokyo International Anime Fair. [16] She was one of the three winners of the Synergy Award at the 3rd Seiyu Awards in 2009. [17] In 2017, she won the Merit Award at the 11th Seiyu Awards. [18] She was a guest at the 2016 Nara International Film Festival's Astro Boy screening [15] and at the 2023 Grand Rapids Comic-Con. [19] She has also served as the secretary of Urawa Nishi High School's alumni association. [2]

In 2015, Shimizu's autobiography, Tetsuwan atomu to tomo ni ikite: seiyū ga kataru anime no sekai (鉄腕アトムと共に生きて－声優が語るアニメの世界, lit. "Living With Astro Boy: The Anime World As Told By A Voice Actor"), was published by Sakitama Publishing. [4] Shimizu said that she wrote the book because she "wanted to leave her past that way". [4]

Shimizu later became a voice acting teacher, [2] [10] teaching at the Institute of Sound Arts  [ ja ]. [14]

Filmography

Television

Film

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References

  1. 1 2 "清水 マリ". 81 Produce . Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "初代・鉄腕アトム声優 清水マリ青春回顧上梓". Urawa Asahi. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 Uno, Mitsuhiro (5 January 2016). "清水マリ（７９）＝声優＝妊娠９カ月まで「鉄腕アトム」 代役に「声が違う」と子供たちから電話が…（8/8ページ）". Sankei Shimbun . Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Uno, Mitsuhiro (8 July 2015). "浦和から飛んだ「鉄腕アトム」 声優・清水マリさんが自伝出版". Sankei Shimbun . Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Shimizu, Mari (2 November 2013). "みんなでひとつの舞台を作っていくという感覚が好きだった". Seiyū Grand Prix (Interview). Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  6. ↑ Shimizu, Mari (5 January 2016). "清水マリ（７９）＝声優＝妊娠９カ月まで「鉄腕アトム」 代役に「声が違う」と子供たちから電話が…（1/8ページ）". Sankei Shimbun (Interview). Interviewed by Mitsuhiro Uno. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  7. ↑ Shimizu, Mari (5 January 2016). "清水マリ（７９）＝声優＝妊娠９カ月まで「鉄腕アトム」 代役に「声が違う」と子供たちから電話が…（2/8ページ）". Sankei Shimbun (Interview). Interviewed by Mitsuhiro Uno. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  8. 1 2 Shimizu, Mari (5 January 2016). "清水マリ（７９）＝声優＝妊娠９カ月まで「鉄腕アトム」 代役に「声が違う」と子供たちから電話が…（5/8ページ）". Sankei Shimbun (Interview). Interviewed by Mitsuhiro Uno. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 Shimizu, Mari (16 November 2013). "不思議なご縁でさまざまな素晴らしい作品に巡り会えた". Seiyū Grand Prix (Interview). Archived from the original on 21 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 Shimizu, Mari (5 January 2016). "清水マリ（７９）＝声優＝妊娠９カ月まで「鉄腕アトム」 代役に「声が違う」と子供たちから電話が…（7/8ページ）". Sankei Shimbun (Interview). Interviewed by Mitsuhiro Uno. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 "清水マリ". GamePlaza Haruka. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  12. ↑ Shimizu, Mari (30 November 2013). "感情を表現するにはたくさんの経験を積まないといけない". Seiyū Grand Prix (Interview). Archived from the original on 21 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  13. 1 2 Shimizu, Mari (5 January 2016). "清水マリ（７９）＝声優＝妊娠９カ月まで「鉄腕アトム」 代役に「声が違う」と子供たちから電話が…（6/8ページ）". Sankei Shimbun (Interview). Interviewed by Mitsuhiro Uno. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  14. 1 2 "主な講師". Institute of Sound Arts. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  15. 1 2 "手塚治虫の語ったことが現実に…元祖アトム声優、メッセージを今に届ける". Cinema Today. 25 September 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  16. ↑ "東京国際アニメフェア 功労賞に井上ひさし氏ら（3/28）". Anime! Anime!. 28 March 2006. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  17. ↑ Loo, Egan. "3rd Annual Seiyū Award Winners Officially Announced (Updated)". Anime News Network. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  18. ↑ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (21 February 2017). "Some of the 11th Annual Seiyū Awards Winners Announced". Anime News Network . Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  19. ↑ Hazra, Adriana (30 January 2023). "Grand Rapids Comic-Con Spring Fling Event Hosts Yuji Kaida, Mari Shimizu". Anime News Network . Retrieved 20 April 2023.
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