Tomoko Kawakami
Career. Kawakami debuted in 1994 as a role of a boy in "Metal Fighter Miku". Her first regular performance was in 1995 as Chiriko in "Fushigi Yuugi". Two years after, she landed her first starring voice role as Utena Tenjou in Revolutionary Girl Utena. Aside from Chiriko and Utena, her famous roles are in "Air" (Misuzu Kamio), "Bleach" (Soifon), "Chrono Crusade" (Rosette Christopher), "Hikaru no Go" (Hikaru Shindo), "Sgt. Frog" (Fuyuki Hinata), "Ape Escape" (Natsumi),Yukiko Kawasaki (Dear Boys), Sugar (A Little Snow Fairy Sugar) & Aria (Athena Glory). Kawakami provided voices for young boys, girls and comical characters. The  best-known genre of her roles are tomboyish characters (Soifon, Utena Tenjou). With such a powerful voice, she was often affiliated in paranormal and yuri-themed anime. She also made her name voicing the heroine in the Harukanaru Toki no Naka de series, based from the Neoromance game with the same title produced by Koei in 2000. Illness and death. In August 2008, Kawakami was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which required surgery. During a three-year battle with cancer, most of her ongoing roles were replaced by other voice actresses, although the latter was able to do some voice work  until her retirement in the start of the 2010s decade. She died on June 9, 2011 at the age of 41. Her death was met with an outpouring of grief. Kumiko Watanabe, a particular voice actress and a close friend of hers prior to her passing whom worked alongside Kawakami for works such as the "Klonoa" video game series and "Sgt. Frog" anime, responded on her web diary with condolences just two days after her death.