Houko Kuwashima

Houko Kuwashima (桑島 法子, Kuwashima Hōko, born 12 December 1975) is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is capable of playing a variety of roles, ranging from young boys to feminine women. She is affiliated with Aoni Production.^[2] Her first major role was as Yurika Misumaru in Martian Successor Nadesico and she has had lead or major roles in a number of others.

She has voiced characters in several video games. On film, she has had voice roles as the title character in Princess Arete and in Space Battleship Yamato 2199, Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa and Doraemon: Nobita in the Robot Kingdom.

She has performed songs for anime, such as "Tokihanate!" (解き放て), which was used as the opening theme to Blue Gender.^[3]

Although a shy child, she was interested in acting as an escape from her real self, especially when she saw the musical and television dramas at the Shiki Theatre Company.^[4]

While in elementary school, Kuwashima watched Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind while dreaming of becoming a voice actress. She wrote in a graduation collection, "I want to make the child's voices in the anime project of Hayao Miyazaki." She learned that there was no drama club or stage plays at the cultural festival at junior high school. At Iwate Prefectural Kurosawajiri North High School, she attended a correspondence course at Katsuta Voice Academy.The voice was recorded to cassette tape and corrected by the voice actor Hisashi Katsuta who was a director.^[4] However, attendance at the time of advancement was insufficient, and from the third year it was transferred to Iwate Prefectural Forest Mausoleum High School.^{[citation needed]}

After graduating, she moved to Tokyo. She entered Aoiso^{[further explanation needed]} in 1994. In auditions after graduation, about 20 out of 71 people passed the examination and joined Aoni Production.^[4] She made her debut in the 1995 anime series Sailor Moon S and voiced Necrokaizer in the OVA series adaptation Technōs/SNK's Neo Geo fighting game Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer. In 1996, in the anime series Martian Successor Nadesico, she had the role of the heroine Yurika Misumaru and gained popularity. She played Shiro Bonn in Bomberman B-Daman Bakugaiden and Maron Kusakabe in Phantom Thief Jeanne. In 1999, she sang the songs "Tokihanate!" and "Ai ga Oshiete Kureta", which were used as the opening and ending themes respectively to the anime series Blue Gender. She was appointed a cultural ambassador of Iwate Prefecture.^[5]