"Wahahaha! Behold myself, The Great Voice-Actress, TARAKO-sama! For real, For real!"
TARAKO (December 17, 1960 - March 4, 2024) was a Japanese voice actress and singer born in Tokyo, but raised in Gunma Prefecture who was employed by the talent management firm Troubadour Musique Office.
TARAKO made her debut as a voice actor in 1981, playing a minor role as a kindergartener in the TV anime adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura note . During this time in her life, she was unable to make a living through voice acting alone, and had part-time jobs such as selling food samples at a supermarket, working as a convenience store clerk, and surveying traffic.
It wasn't until the premiere of the initial anime adaptation of Chibi Maruko-chan in 1990 where TARAKO had become a national phenomenon in Japan by voicing the lead character, Momoko "Maruko" Sakura, which would become her longest-running role when the series was revived in 1995. It was also later in 1990 that she would provide the voice of Taruruto in Magical Taruruto-kun, which co-starred Minami Takayama as Honmaru Edojo, its true lead character, and would also provide TARAKO with her earliest video game credit via the Licensed Game for the Sega Mega Drive.
Since then, TARAKO became known for her distinct raspy voice playing cutesy, light-hearted characters with moe traces, which has been compared to Canadian actor Howie Mandel's own raspy yet cute voice used for kid-friendly characters like Gizmo and Bobby. As such, she's also played at least more than one Team Pet, including Kirara of Inuyasha, which was more than likely how many westerners were introduced to her as it was the only role of hers to ever be kept for an English release. That doesn't mean she couldn't break through, however: she also voiced the very softspoken but VERY creepy Altena from Noir, and in 2015 was chosen to replace Nobuyo Oyama as Monokuma for the Danganronpa 3 anime series due to Oyama suffering from dementia.
Sadly, on March 8th of 2024, it was revealed that she passed away four days earlier at the age of 63, after battling with an illness since the beginning of 2024. And while her passing may have been globally overshadowed by the passing of manga artist Akira Toriyama, who's death just three days before hers would actually be announced on the same day, less than 24 hours beforehand, it didn't stop fans, colleagues, and news outlets alike from paying tribute to the legendary actress. Her final time as Maruko, was in the episode, "Maruko, Can You Taste Water?" which was the last segment broadcast in a one-hour time slot on March 24th, 2024.
Fun fact: While her real name is kept private, like many voice actors, her stage name was derived from when a classmate during her teen years noticed that her voice sounded similar to the toddler Tara-chan from Sazae-san, the nickname stuck and she used it as her stage name.
In another bit of trivia, the reason why TARAKO earned the role of Maruko in the first place was that she sounded exactly like the real Momoko Sakura, the original creator of the Chibi Maruko-chan manga, and had been told that she even looked like Sakura. She was such an integral part of the series that she even became a screenplay director for several episodes. Years before her own death, TARAKO had written a heartwarming eulogy for Sakura's passing in 2018, mentioning that when she joined her, they wanted to talk to each other in voices just like their own.
Some roles by TARAKO are:
- Alice in Wonderland: Alice (she also sings the theme songs.)
- Anpanman: Frankenrobo-kun (she also voiced one off character Cupidchan and main character Nosshi in the 1993 film "Nosshi the Dinosaur's Big Adventure" before becoming a regular actress.)
- Combat Mecha Xabungle: Chil (also including the Super Robot Wars games.)
- Chibi Maruko-chan: Momoko "Maruko" Sakura (her most well-known and longest-running role, also voiced herself in one instance.) (replaced by Kokoro Kikuchi note after her passing)
- Danganronpa: Monokuma (Danganronpa 3 onward)
- Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction: Debeko
- Fantastic Night Dreams Cotton: Cotton (PC Engine CD port)
- The Flintstones: Bamm-Bamm Rubble (Japanese dub, independent station version)
- Hunter × Hunter (1999 series): Senritsu/Melody
- Inuyasha: Kirara (Notably her only role to remain intact in an English dubbed series)
- Kimba the White Lion: Lulu (1989 series)
- The Kindaichi Case Files: Asuka Minatoya
- Magical Taruruto-kun: Taruruto (Sings the opening as herself and she also sang the 2nd ending in-character as Taruruto. Reprises her role for the Mega Drive game.)
- NG Knight Lamune & 40: (and its sequels): Hebimetako
- Noir: Altena
- The Noozles: Mark (she also sings the opening theme, though the ending was sung by Toshio Furukawa.)
- Patlabor: Tamiko Shinshi (Shinshi's wife) (OVA & TV Series, voiced by Shinobu Adachi in movie 2.)
- Tail Concerto: Panta
- Trigun Stampede: Zazie The Beast (replacing Hiroshi Kamiya.)
- They Were Eleven: Toto
- Urusei Yatsura: Sugar (also did a bit role as a preschooler prior to this which was her debut)
- Virtue's Last Reward: Zero III
