Kara Dennison
June 6, 2024 
On May 20, legendary voice actress Eiko Masuyama passed away at the age of 89. Prior to Miyuki Sawashiro taking up the role in 2011, Masuyama was the unmistakable voice of Fujiko Mine, the more-than-friendly rival of Lupin the 3rd. And while this is quite rightly the role for which she is best known to many anime fans, there are so many others that she brought her distinctive talent to.
From transforming heroines to magical girl villains to an iteration of a classic literary character, these are some of Masuyama’s other iconic voice acting roles.
Cutie Honey
Fujiko Mine wasn’t Eiko Masuyama’s only turn as a sexy 1970s heroine. She also gave voice to the godmother of modern magical girls! Cutie Honey, the creation of Go Nagai, wasn’t technically been a magical girl herself (at least not ’til the 1997 remake). She was, however, the first anime heroine to have a specific “battle form” she transformed into. Granted, she was an android using elemental manipulation to make it happen, but it kickstarted the trend.
Cutie Honey, a.k.a. Honey Kisaragi, had to be a lot of things: sweet and charming, but also tough and heroic. When she wasn’t going toe-to-toe with Panther Claw, she was getting in trouble at school. Masuyama set the standard for her portrayal in the show’s many iterations going forward.
Princess Snow Kaguya
From setting the standard for modern magical girls, Eiko Masuyama went on to battle them! In 1994’s Sailor Moon S the Movie, she took the role of the mysterious ice queen dubbed Princess Snow Kaguya. This alien entity aimed to freeze Earth, but needed to find a lost fragment of a comet to do so. Unfortunately for her, young astronomer Kakeru finds it first.
The voice actress gets to show off her more villainous side in this one-night-only performance. She proves to be a formidable match for the Sailor Guardians, putting up a fight while also putting Kakeru’s life in danger. Even if you’re a dub-enjoyer, switch over to the subtitled version to hear her in action.
Milady de Winter
The Spanish/Japanese co-production Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds will be a serious shot of nostalgia for some. Debuting in 1981, the series retold Alexandre Dumas’s classic tale with an all-animal cast. The Japanese voice cast was full of legendary names, including Tessho Genda and Kaneto Shiozawa. Eiko Masuyama appeared as a feline version of Milady de Winter, Richelieu’s mysterious and beautiful spy.
What’s especially interesting about this role is that Lupin the 3rd creator Monkey Punch cited the relationship between Lupin and Fujiko as being similar to that of D’Artagnan and Milady. So in a way, this is the second spin on this literary character that Masuyama voiced!
Meet some more recent heroines from the current anime season!
Related Posts
