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Voice Actress Megumi Nakajima Explains Why She Went on Hiatus After Macross Frontier
posted on by Kim Morrissy
Voice actress Megumi Nakajima appeared as a guest on the Nekojita Showroom online show on Tuesday, where she revealed why she went on a three-year hiatus from music after her iconic role as Ranka Lee on Macross Frontier.
"It was because I had no expectations of myself," she explained. "I had such little confidence in myself that I thought of quitting around the time the Macross Frontier TV series ended. Ranka Lee suited me, so I had fun playing as her, but people also equated me with her. I couldn't see myself casting that role aside and becoming 'Megumi Nakajima.'
"I was around 18 or 19, and I thought that I'd already hit my peak and there was nowhere to go except downhill. When the TV broadcast started, I thought that I had to move on from voice acting and live a different life. But around halfway through the broadcast, I was told that there would be a film, and that it would take two years. So I kept going, thinking I could hang on till then.
"When the films ended, I'd been active as a voice actor for three years, and even then, I still had no worth as a voice actor in my own right. When I reached 20, I realized that I had nowhere to go. All those songs I sang all those activities I did, none of it suited me. Knowing that was what broke my heart.
"For that final year I felt like I was steadily becoming more broken. But nobody told me that I wasn't good enough. In fact, I felt worse because everyone around me was so kind. It felt like everyone was standing on tiptoes around me, and I couldn't handle it. I was very negative about it. In the first place, I applied for Stardust Promotion without realizing what a big deal it is. The whole time I was wondering when I'd be told that I wasn't needed. I've been like that since middle school."
Macross Frontier (2008) was Nakajima's first major voice acting role, which she landed after winning a nationwide singing and acting audition. Since then, she has voiced a number of anime characters, including Cure Lovely from HappinessCharge PreCure!. In 2016, she returned from her musical hiatus. She has since sung the ending theme for the Fuuka television anime series and the second ending theme for Kakuriyo -Bed & Breakfast for Spirits-
Source: Nekojita Showroom (January 8, 2019) via Yara-on!
