Interest
His and Her Circumstances Voice Actress Wins Prestigious Literary Award
posted on by Eric Stimson
Yukiko Motoya is most known to anime fans for her role at age 19 as Aya in His and Her Circumstances, although she also appears as the model in the ending theme to FLCL. Since those roles, however, she has drifted away from the anime industry and pursued a different passion — the theater, where she has achieved renown as both a playwright and an actress. She is also an accomplished novelist, appropriately given the role she played in His and Her Circumstances. Her latest work, Irui Kon'intan ("A Tale of Inter-species Marriage"), has received the prestigious Ryūnosuke Akutagawa Prize, given to budding writers in Japan biannually.
When asked at the press conference on January 19 whether she was interested in returning to voice acting, Motoya replied with a bitter smile, "When I watched that anime on air I was discouraged by my somewhat monotone voice, so I don't think [I'll return]."
Here Motoya poses with the other winners, Bunpei Aoyama (the Naoki Prize) and Yūshō Takiguchi.
Motoya has won several other awards, including the Mishima Yukio Prize in 2014 for Jibun wo Suki ni Naru Hōhō ("Ways to Love Yourself") and the Kishida Prize for Drama in 2009 for Shiawase Saikō Arigatō Maji de! ("I'm Perfectly Happy, Thank You, Really!"). She claimed that she did not expect to win the Akutagawa Prize at all, which explains why she appeared at the press conference in colorful, mismatched socks.
[Via Oricon Style]
