Produced a fictional 90's anime and sang the theme song!　Long interview with Mamiya Okamoto, voice actress who is gaining attention for her first CD release in 19 years

Maya Okamoto, a voice actress and actress, has announced the "Raijin Yakei - ZANAM - Femme Fatale: Woman of Destiny" ("Femme Fatale") project, which she is producing as her first independent project.
Ms. Okamoto is a popular voice actress who has played popular characters in many anime works, such as Emma Sheen in "Mobile Suit Z Gundam," Yuki Ayaaki in "Silent Mobius," and Soretta Orihime in "Sakura Wars. This "Femme Fatale" is a "fictional" robot anime with the setting of "an anime series that was broadcast in the 90's and became a big hit with Maya Okamoto as the lead voice actress and theme song singer".
⇒The theme song was sung by Maya Okamoto, the voice actress, for the first time in 19 years! Fictitious 90's anime theme song & insert song CD release! The jacket illustration was drawn by Kia Asamiya!

As the first step in this very unique project, a concept CD containing the theme song & insert song sung by Ms. Okamoto, as well as a short story, will be released in advance at the doujin music event "M3" to be held on April 30, 2017. The jacket illustration is by Kia Asamiya, the author of "Silent Mobius" in which Ms. Okamoto appeared. The lyrics for the theme song were written by RUCCA, who has provided lyrics for many voice actors and artists, and the insert song was written by Okamoto-san himself.

Akiba Research Institute interviewed Ms. Okamoto, who is about to release the CD. She spoke to us about everything from how the project came about to the appeal of the songs, and gave us her thoughts on the project.

I am the wind!　A project I came across after following my own path

-- This is your first CD release in 19 years since the album "Pure," so there has been quite a gap between releases.

Maya Okamoto (hereinafter referred to as "Okamoto"): It's been a while. I am like ....... The motif of this project is the wind god, but I am like Snufkin in the Moomin Valley or Tora-san in Shibamata. That's why I'm a little bit unsteady, going to the stage, to the movies, to the U.S., and so on.
It may sound like I'm sore loser when I say this, but I've been trying not to get hit by long-lived programs.

-- So you have been doing this in order to concentrate on your stage work and study theater in the U.S.?

Okamoto: Yes, I think so. If I appeared regularly in long-running productions, I would not be able to move freely in terms of my schedule, and especially when I was young, I did not like the idea of having a big name as a voice actor that would become established.

It wasn't that I didn't like being a voice actor, but I didn't like the idea of being defined as "the Okamoto of voice acting. I wanted to be recognized as an expressive person in general, as a stage performer, visual artist, and voice actor.

-- You were still in your third year of high school when you made your debut, weren't you? As a viewer of anime, I genuinely thought she had a lovely voice and was a wonderful character, but was there ever any talk of you going in the direction of what we now call "voice-over idols," singing or appearing in public more and more?

Okamoto: I think the people around me were trying to sell me in that way. Even when I went to ...... to ask them to hold concerts and create a fan club, I refused, saying I didn't want to. I may have looked cocky, but I had a strong feeling that "No, I want to be recognized as an actor as soon as possible.

Maybe I wasn't in Japan at the right time, but I think I was very lucky that my debut (in TV animation) was "Z Gundam". Even after the series finished airing, it was later turned into a game and a new Gundam series was created, and it continues to this day.

Another important thing was that I was able to work on dubbing for foreign films. Even within the same voice work, there used to be a strong separation between animation and foreign film work, but unusually, I was told that I was suited for both. When I think about it now, I really feel that I was protected by the industry and my seniors. Thanks to that, I have managed to survive as a voice actor even when I have had to leave the field due to overseas activities or marriage.

However, these days, there are not many opportunities for women my age to voice-act in anime, except for characters of mothers and aunts. In the past, even as I got older, I could still play young roles at the forefront, but for better or worse, the industry has changed, and the number of voice actors has increased as more and more young people join the industry. ...... There are a lot of people who have not deteriorated at all with age and give wonderful performances, but many of them have been buried in the background.

-- It is a very competitive world, isn't it?

Okamoto: At that time, my manager "Dragon" said to me, "Maya-san, let's work together. He was an unusual person who wanted to sell older actors, and he said, "It would be a waste if we are left buried in the background, so let's take the plunge.