MARIYA ISE is a Japanese voice actress well-known for her role as 'Killua Zoldyck' in Hunter x Hunter. But with over 200 credits, she has solidified her place in voice casting. With her ability to jump into a character as intense as 'Midari Ikishima' from Kakegurui or as complicated as 'Himeno' from Chainsaw Man, she ensures that every audience is guaranteed a memorable character. She's also a STAY (Stray Kids' fandom) and recently attended their concert in Japan!
Before a small side quest of fan-girling over Stray Kids biases and concert outfits, the KpopWise team was able to chat with Mariya and learn a little more about how her voice acting career has impacted her. See some of her major credits in this fan-made video from FK-Studios' YouTube channel, below.
KpopWise: What is the most difficult challenge of being a voice actor and what part of the job do you find the easiest?
Mariya: Probably the hardest thing is [and still a great thing] as my job grows and I play many different characters, it gets very busy so in a week's span there is only so much time to prepare for the different roles so I may lose "me-time." Just the overall emotional, physical, and time-consuming/draining part of the art can be tough. And as far as the most-rewarding part, it would be seeing the reaction from fans once the show is on air. Another rewarding part is hearing from the director(s) and producer(s) who put everything they have into the particular series. I feel like as just one part of the project, it's nice hearing them say that they are so happy with the outcome and I feel grateful and happy hearing that.
KpopWise: Your list of credits is absolutely incredible. When recording for voice acting, do you prefer the long-term projects (i.e., series character) or the short-term projects (i.e., singular video game or one-time role)?
Mariya: Both! I love both.
KpopWise: Such an important part of working in a creative field is finding the things you enjoy and have a talent for so even the exhausting days and jobs are worth it. Outside of voicing for anime characters, you also dub for live-action media-- Do you have any fond memories to share of your time as 'Astrid' in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice or other live-action media you've voiced for?
Mariya: So many! First of all, it's completely different from anime because we are translating from the original English version and the live humans that are doing it; it's very hard but so much fun. One of the things I really have to study are the breathing and pacing because we have to match the lip-sync. I worked with Joey King for the Japanese dub of 'The Kissing Booth' and since then, I have done almost all of her other works as well.
KpopWise: Is there something you haven't done in the realm of creative media that you want to try?
Mariya: I used to do a lot of theatre and work with visual media. When I was in elementary school, I loved drawing and even had a tutor for oil paintings and other mediums but at the end of the day, I really love voice acting. Outside of my career, I love photography. I have one real camera but since they are so expensive it isn't something I do often right now.
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