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Creator / Kikuko Inoue

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Good morning, Troper-san. Please describe a 17-year old seiyuu named Kikuko Inoue, if you would, please?

Oi oi... Anyway, Kikuko Inoue note (born September 25, 1964) is a Japanese voice actress born in Yokosuka. She was a member of the Goddess Family Club singing club, and like Megumi Hayashibara, was also part of the singing club DoCo.

Making her debut in 1988, Inoue's known for her dignified, angelic voice, which lends well for her to get picked to play Yamato Nadeshiko, Team Mom, or Onee-sama roles. However, she's also well known for playing mega-bitches like I-No from Guilty Gear, Grace from Macross Frontier, among others.

Inoue always refers to herself in public as "17-years old + XXXX days" despite being born in 1964 and no longer looking anywhere close to 17. This has led to numerous Shout Outs in anime, such as My-HiMEnote , by Maria from Hayate the Combat Butlernote , by Virgilia from Umineko: When They Crynote , by Shizuka Nekonome from Rosario + Vampire, and by Shuuko Komi from Komi Can't Communicatenote . Some voice actresses, such as Yukari Tamura (who voices Midori) have also picked up this habit for laughs.

Inoue is also very fond of cosplay and often does so herself.

As of 2022, according to Anime News Network, she's the most prolific Japanese voice actress with 500+ roles.

Actress Honoka Inoue, who voices Xiaomei in EDENS ZERO and Kotone in RPG Real Estate, is Inoue's only child.

Despite her very common surname, she is not related to voice actors who share the same last name, including the late Makio Inoue, the late You Inoue, Kazuhiko Inoue and Marina Inoue.

Her personal website can be found here and her Twitter account can be found here.


These notable roles are all 17 years old!note 


Kikuko Inoue's works provide examples of:

  • Contralto of Strength: Whenever she's voicing a villainess or a bitch, she adjusts her cadence to this effect, moreso if they happen to be intimidating and powerful.
  • Cool Old Lady: Regardless of her 17-years old Running Gag, it's telling that she's born in 1964 and is one of the older female seiyuus in the business. Yet despite her longevity, she's still capable of doing all those maternal/sisterly roles.
  • Creator Backlash: Before Kasumi Tendo and Belldandy propelled her to fame and respectability, she was known for her role as a "naughty nurse" in the erotic OVA Ogenki Clinic. Inoue regretted the role so much she managed to take down the Japanese dubbing of the Original Video Animation when it was being distributed outside Japan.
  • The Danza: Played Inoue in Code Geass, and Kikuko in Miss Monochrome.
  • Follow the Leader: Her "17-years old" shtick started when she hosted a radio show and her co-host was known for declaring herself "16-years old!", so she followed and evolved when said co-host is 17-years old. Later, as her 17-years old cult began growing, other similar movements such as "Forever 23" (spearheaded by Chiaki Takahashi) and "Forever 29" (spearheaded by Yūko Gotō) started to sprout.
  • Produced by Cast Member: Beginning with Symphogear GX, she earned her first animation staff role as an assistant designer for the Alca-Noise seen from that point on for the series.
  • Running Gag: "I'm 17-years old", which is usually followed by her and/or someone else replying "Oi, oi!"note .

Inoue-san as a fine 17-year-old GPS systemnote 

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