Makiko Ohmoto (大本 眞基子, Ōmoto Makiko; born February 1, 1973) is a freelance Japanese voice actress from Okayama Prefecture.
She is best known for her roles as the titular character Kirby in the Kirby video game series, Inahime in the Samurai Warriors series, Yui Kasuga in Corrector Yui, Micchi Hatogaya in Crayon Shin-chan, Lyn in the Fire Emblem series, Fiona Elisi Linette in Zoids: Chaotic Century, Makino in One Piece, Matatabi in Cyborg Kuro-chan, Sayaka Maizono in the Danganronpa series, Nero Stella Boruzoi in Bakusō Kyōdai Let's & Go!! MAX, Viridi in Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Ness from the EarthBound series in the Super Smash Bros. series.
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Biography
Ohmoto was born on February 1, 1973 in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Japan.
Having loved expressing the inexpressible since her childhood, she spent her spare moments drawing. However, upon discovering the profession of voice acting during her second year of junior high school, something clicked. She was drawn to the field because voice work transcends the boundaries of age and gender, allowing for a vast range of expressions. At times, it offers an even greater variety of simulated experiences than on-camera acting, pushing the boundaries of psychological expression. Sensing this immense potential, Ohmoto decided to pursue a career as a voice actress.
After graduating from Shujitsu High School, she entered Saga Art College, formerly known as Saga Art Junior College, and upon graduating, she moved to Tokyo in order to pursue a voice acting career. She enrolled at Aoni Juku and after finishing, joined Aoni Production, where she was affiliated with until departing in 2008. She made her voice acting debut in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie as the Voice on Phone and landed her first regular television anime role in Cutie Honey Flash as Aki Natsuko.
In 1999, she debuted in the role of Kirby in the Nintendo 64 video game Super Smash Bros..
Starting in 2004, she ran her own website "HORSE & HATOOK!!" until her computer broke down on July 24, 2008, causing her to lose her Homepage Builder software, which caused the site to cease updating. She launched a blog titled "Horse & Hatook ∞ -Mugendai-" in September of 2008. In 2009, she published a picture book entitled "Boku no Tabi".
In late 2017, she was appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture. In February of the following year, Ohmoto joined Atomic Monkey.
On March 15, 2020, Ohmoto had her appendix removed. Sometime in that same year, she started enrolling at Kokugakuin University.
On June 1, 2022, it was announced that Ohmoto had left Atomic Monkey as of May 31 of that year and started working as a freelancer.
Personal life
Her personal hobbies are drawing, visiting art museums, meditating, and singing, and her special talents are calligraphy (8th-degree black belt level) and reciting the Heart Sutra from memory.
Her personal favorite materials include the "Sherlock Holmes" series, Ryotaro Shiba's novel "Kunitori Monogatari", the literary of Chūya Nakahara, Shuntaro Tanikawa, and Kenji Miyazawa, and the music of ZABADAK and Fumio Miyashita. Her favorite colors are pink, greenish-brown (uguisu-iro), and plain blue. She dislikes prejudice and preconceptions.
Ohmoto listed Kōtarō Satomi, Tetsurō Tamba, Jeremy Brett, Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, and Haley Joel Osment as some of her favorite actors.
She can produce a voice with the "1/f fluctuation" wavelength, a soothing acoustic trait famously shared by legendary singers such as Misia, Hibari Misora, and Hikaru Utada, as well as actor and narrator Leo Morimoto.
Episodes
Kirby, the main character of the video game series and its anime adaptation Kirby of the Stars, has been voiced by Ohmoto across all versions worldwide, including international releases. She shares a close relationship with Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of the Kirby franchise and a fellow game designer, as she is occasionally invited to attend events hosted by him.
Ohmoto has cited Kirby as the highest pitch role she has voiced and Matatabi from Cyborg Kuro-chan as the deepest pitch role she has voiced.
In the television anime Kirby of the Stars, Kirby is portrayed as a character who barely speaks, a decision based on the idea of "not imposing a fixed image on Kirby, whose appearance varies depending on the player." However, while recording the final episode, during in a scene where Kirby is chasing after Fūmu after she had been snatched by Nightmare, Ohmoto ad-libbed Kirby shouting, "Fūmu!" This ad-lib was cut because "calling out her name would have given it too much significance in terms of the direction".
Matatabi from Cyborg Kuro-chan was a role she had difficulty voicing, as she performed while receiving guidance from the show's audio director Noriyoshi Matsuura, who told her she "had potential for a deeper voice".
When voicing Queen Sectonia in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, Ohmoto focused on portraying her as "noble and sublime, yet filled with a touch of madness and melancholy".
Filmography
Television animation
Unknown date
Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo
