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Voice Actress Yukie Maeda Retires from Voice Acting Due to Illness

Voice actress Yukie Maeda announced on her X (formerly Twitter) account on Wednesday that she is retiring from voice acting after 30 years by the end of the month, due to her health condition, which no longer allows her to be able to go to the studio. Maeda expressed her gratitude to everyone she has worked with. 

Maeda announced last October that she has been suffering from malignant sarcoma — a rare, aggressive type of cancer that originates in connective tissues such as fat, muscle, nerve or blood vessels — and has moved to the Kansai region. She stated that despite her last surgery in spring 2025, she has had recurrence for the umpteenth time, and is currently undergoing life-prolonging measures. Maeda added that during her last surgery, nerves in her left leg were slightly affected, and this makes it hard for her to change trains frequently or walk to the studio if it is far from the station. With this, and the possibility that her health may suddenly deteriorate, Maeda decided to work with her current characters at a fixed studio in Kyoto. Before her announcement of her illness in October, Maeda had been posting on her X/Twitter account about her hospital visits, medications, and treatments since August 2020. 

Maeda voiced Sōsō (Cao Cao) / Mōtoku / Karin in the Shin Koihime Musō series, Carlos in Transformers: Armada, and Ino in Kamichu!. She also voiced a character named Megumi in an educational animation video about bullying by Japan's Ministry of Justice Human Rights Defense Bureau, titled Present. Maeda also voiced Trudy in the Japanese dub of the 2007 Bee Movie.

Under the name Kana Nojima, she voiced characters in OVA episodes such as Persepone in Angelium, Kisumi Takane in Dirty Thoughts, Mafuyu Orifushi in Kanojo x Kanojo x Kanojo - San Shimai to no DokiDoki Kyōdō Seikatsu, and Emito in Mahō Shōjo Sae.

In video games, Maeda voiced Ferri in the Puyo Puyo game series, Tsubutaki in Phantom Dust, Tama-Chan in Love Hina Advance, Aphelion in the Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction games, and Cassiopeia in Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, among others.

Source: Yukie Maeda's X/Twitter account