AWanderingSorcererFor this week's #SeiyuuSaturday, we're going to be looking at #AiKakuma (b. 1988), who began voice acting in 2011.
The first role of Kakuma's we'll look at is Hanabi from 2016's 12-sai. A 12-year-old girl on the cusp of a chance she doesn't fully comprehend, Hanabi deals with blossoming crushes, her deep friendships, and the frustrating, wonderful feelings that come from that age. Kakuma's voice is typically and appropriately youthful, demonstrating Hanabi's slight immaturity but also her deep sense of care and love.
In 2020, Kakuma got to smash things up a bit as one of the Hammer Twins, May, in #bofuri. Part of Maple Tree's general insanity, Kakuma provided a softer voice to May that only hid her brutal strength.
Jumping to 2023, Kakuma experienced another fantasy world as Ilia in #magirevo. Anis' maid, snarky companion, and loving big sister figure, Kakuma took a different type of character than usual and showed her vocal abilities in presenting a mature, wise character who could still provide warmth (and the occasional slap upside the head) to those around her.
Also in 2023, Kakuma voiced another girl involved with games as Runa in the romcom #lovingyamadalv999. The younger sister of Eita and friend of Yamada, Runa initially sees Akane as a existential threat to the only friend group she has before taking on a younger sister role to Akane. Kakuma gets to be more bitchy than usual when Runa starts off as a kind-of antagonist before moving back into her usual kawaii performance.
Jumping to this year, in an anime that just ended, Kakuma got to be the lead as Neema in the isekai #fluffyparadise. An overworked woman who died and got reincarnated as a young noble girl, Neema is tasked with trying to build bridges between humans and non-human species while enjoying all the fluffy time she can get. Even as the series fell apart due to its poor writing, you could always count on Kakuma's performance making things just a bit cuter.
Finally, also from this winter, Kakuma voiced the fairy Lavender in the second season of #banishedfromtheherosparty. A ride-or-die companion of the Hero Van who's also a complete bitch, Lavender turns out to have both a deeper sense of love than expected and a dark power residing within her. One of the few times Kakuma has gotten a chance to be this antagonistic, she makes the most of it with a catty performance that makes Lavender both almost inhuman and yet still capable of love.
#SeiyuuSaturday will once again be on hiatus for a few weeks.
Arcadiagt5@AWanderingSorcerer Lavender was a fun character this season.
@arcadiagt5 Such a bitch, but so much fun at the same time.