No Seiyuu No Life: Ai Kayano

Posted on the 07 April 2015 by Kaminomi @OrganizationASG

I AM WRITING THIS FROM JAPAN MWAHAHAHA. I’m in Akihabara actually. This is beyond awesome.

Anyway, let’s go back to our column that talks about seiyuu (did I mention I saw a look-alike of Ono Daisuke while I was taking the train?!). Today, let’s talk about Ai Kayano!

Known for: Menma (Anohana), Mei Tachibana (Say I love you)

My favorite role: Lucy Yamagami (Servant x Service)

This is strange because usually I don’t like the type of characters Ai Kayano voices, and it’s true because I absolutely hated the two roles of Menma and Mei. It wasn’t because of the seiyuu though, mostly because I usually hate this type of character, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a certain talent for voice acting.

As strange as it may seem she has also starred in Senyuu, which is a comedy, a completely different kind of anime than what she usually acts in and, while she voiced the soft-spoken and pink haired princess, it also happens that this princess was the demon lord.

If that isn’t a proof that she has some kind of talent for voice acting then I don’t know what does.

Before moving on to my favorite character of hers, I should move to my second favorite, my second favorite who happens to be from the same anime that brought on the title of this column, yes I’m talking about No Game no Life (still no news about a second season by the way and I’m really sad about this).

Well, coming back to No Game no Life, I think you have guessed by now that she voiced the soft-spoken and really cute Shiro. Again, that’s the kind of character I usually don’t like but somehow Shiro was fine. Thing is, I can’t like this type of character if the seiyuu voicing them doesn’t have a little something that makes said character bearable, no matter how good the rest of the anime is. I can’t really explain what it was in No Game no Life that made me bear Shiro, she was definitely well written and I think Ai Kayano‘s voice really helped putting that out. It helped that everyone else was awesome in this anime too.

And, last but not least, I have to talk about Lucy from Servant x Service. Lucy is a bit different from the other characters Ai Kayano voiced in the aspect that she has wonderful anger moments that, somehow, she managed to deliver well. She delivered all the comedy in this anime very well.

In short, I might not like everything Ai Kayano does but I definitely don’t hate her and even like her a lot when she gets different roles than usual.