Wasabi Mizuta

Early life

Mizuta was born in Aoyama, Mie^[9][10] on August 4, 1974.^[6][7]

As a child, she grew up a fan of mainstream anime, being an especially huge fan of Ninja Hattori-kun and Obake no Q-Taro during her elementary school years.^[11]

Her desire to enter the entertainment industry came about from when she used to read aloud at her elementary school. Many children were hesitant to volunteer, but Mizuta loved to show off by reading aloud in standard Japanese in her classroom, though it winded up happening so many times that the boys viewed her as an embarrassment. After discovering the joys of reading, she wanted to act using the natural extension of reading and aspired to become an actress.^[12]

Her dream to become a voice actress arose during her third year in junior high when the Dragon Ball television anime had become a popular series. She became a huge fan of the work, particularly admiring the performances of Masako Nozawa and Mayumi Tanaka, who voiced Goku and Krillin. When a friend of Mizuta's showed her a photograph of Nozawa, she was shocked to see that Goku was voiced by a woman, but quickly realized with the reveal how wonderful the profession of voice acting was and wanted to become a voice actress.^[2][13]

After graduating high school, she planned to move to Tokyo in order to pursue a voice acting career, but her parents were vehemently opposed to it. However her uncle who lived in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture supported her. After promising her parents that she would give up if four years passed without accomplishment and graduating from Mie Prefectural Nabari Seihou High School,^[8] Mizuta moved to Tokyo.^[2]

Career

Mizuta saw a play by theater company Gekidan Sugoroku. Afterwards she was interviewed at the after-party's izakaya and was asked numerous questions. She passed the interview and joined the theater company, beginning her career as a stage actress.^[2][11]

Initially, she started off working as a support staff member behind the scenes, but made her acting debut portraying a courtesan as a substitute for an actor who ended up having to drop out of the role. At the time Mizuta had a fair complexion at the time, and thought, "Since this kid is here every day, they probably understand how the actors move." However, if it hadn't occurred, she likely would have stayed backstage for an indefinite period of time.^[2]

Since her debut was decided without much time until the actual performance was held, she entered the rehearsals feeling that she "just had to do it". Because she was portraying a courtesan, there were scenes where the partner of her scenes would place their hand down on the front of her dress. Likely because she was only around 20 years old at the time, she found it embarrassing and often thought to herself, "Ugh, I hate this..." Her anxieties disappeared once she got on-stage and she thought "This is so fun!! Acting out a single character is such an amazing feeling", acting so boldly that staff would warn out to her, "Hey, your chest is going to show!!"^[2]

She continued to perform as an actress while still getting backstage work done. It got to the point where she would even set up for other theater companies and get to watch their own plays for free. By around that time, Mizuta found acting to be fascinating and grow more immersed into it.^[2]

While performing in a stage play, voice actor and manager Kazuya Tatekabe happened to be in the show's audience and called out to her. Because she was performing as the horse in the play and had her face painted brown, he didn't recall her real name at first and referred to her as "horse", a nickname that even others would call her. One day, someone told her, "There's an audition for the role of a chubby boy—why don't you give it a try?", so she went in to audition, even despite being told that she would fail as she entered. Her lack of skill at the time ended up working in her favor and she passed the audition. In 1996, she made her voice acting debut as Daisuke Ueokayama in Hanako-san.^[2][11][14]

She was initially lost at first because she was not familiar with voice acting. Because she would "be in trouble" if she were too good, she would stay exactly how she was in skill, being handed the script and going to the recording studio without rehearsing. She'd often worry about making it safe to the recording studio and used to think that acting in front of a microphone was really difficult. She was taught how to perform by Kenichi Ogata and learned while being taught by senior voice actors despite not going to a training school.^[2][14]

Mizuta utilized her highly distinctive voice to appear in television anime like Hikaru no Go and Hamtaro.^[11]

When she was a newcomer, Mizuta juggled three jobs at once, a part-time job, stage actress, and voice actress. After the birth of her first child, she juggled four, now also parenting. She became more relaxed after becoming a mother and performs with ease.^[15]

She had been previously represented by Production Baobab^[16] and Kenji Utsumi's Ken Production.^[17]

Current activity

In 2010, Mizuta received the Kids/Family Award at the 4th Seiyu Awards.^[18]

In 2025, it was announced that Mizuta assumed the role of Danganronpa series antagonist Monokuma for Danganronpa 2x2. She succeeded the role from Tarako, who in turn had originally succeeded the role from Nobuyo Ōyama in 2016 and died the previous year.^[19][20]

Features

Her voice range is mezzo-soprano,^[24] with her dialect being the Kansai dialect.^[3][17]

Hobbies and interests

Her personal hobbies are watching baseball and listening to Japanese rock, with her having special skill in singing.^[3]

She is a big fan of kimonos, often wearing one at events like press conferences. The reason why is because her grandmother had used to wear them until she died. After taking private kimono lessons, she wears a kimono once or twice a week.^[25]

Influenced by her father, she is a fan of the baseball team Hiroshima Toyo Carp.^[26][27]

Doraemon

In 2005, Mizuta replaced long-time voice actress Nobuyo Ōyama as the voice of Doraemon, starting with the Doraemon television series that began airing in April that year.^[28]

She was encouraged to audition for the role by Kazuya Tatekabe, her mentor and the voice of Gian in the Doraemon series from 1979 to 2005. When she was officially chosen to voice Doraemon, she was so overwhelmed that she burst into tears.^[29]

At the time, without even realizing that she had taken an audition, she was suddenly the only one called into the studio, where she was given a Doraemon script copy and simply told, "Could you read this for a bit?" Because she had previously appeared in the previous Doraemon series voicing minor roles, she casually approached the request while thinking, "Should I do this just in case something happens?" After having thought it was just a test, she later found out that it was her official audition for Doraemon, causing her to wish that she tried harder then, though despite being alone recording her lines, the solitary environment ultimately helped calm any nerves and allowed her to use her natural voice rather than impersonating Ōyama's voice.^[30]

Before she got the role, Mizuta had already been a TV Asahi voice actress, voicing Kawashima in Atashin'chi. One day while recording for Atashin'chi, she was asked to arrive 30 minutes early at the studio. When she arrived, she was suddenly asked, "Can you do the Doraemon voice for us one more time?", with the recording serving as her second audition for the Doraemon." She then advanced to the third and fourth rounds, where she even performed scene partner work. Sometime after, she was called in for her final audition, where I performed and was interviewed. While she was in the audition waiting room, other voice actors were called to another room one by one, leaving her alone, causing her to believe she had failed. In a surprise, the door then suddenly opened with a camera crew, who announced, "You're the one!!", with the footage being shown on the evening news.^[11][30]

The audition was also a result of her performing as a stage actress, with the director of Doraemon having requested her to audition, saying, "There was this eccentric girl in the Gekidan Sugoroku theater company, right? I want to hear her voice." The director noted to her that he did not expect her to stay, with Mizuta herself expressing surprise at the decision.^[30]

After being cast in the role of Doraemon, she didn't feel much pressure. She quickly realized the pressure of the role, reading all 45 volumes of the Doraemon manga and learning all about the franchise through reading many Doraemon-related books for interviews. She also had to re-dub Doraemon's voice for toys and commercials to reflect the switch in voice actor. She ended up being so busy that she ended up not having time to feel the pressure.^[30]

When she started voicing the role of Doraemon, she faced significant backlash, as viewers had grown to accept Ōyama's portrayal of Doraemon over the course of 26 years and longtime fans were left confused by the sudden change in voice.^[29] The reality of her position didn't sink in yet and during the stressful time period, her mindset was, "I might get fired from playing Doraemon. Let's just try to keep going for half a year. If I get fired after six months, I'll just accept that I wasn't cut out for it."^[29][30] Her husband, who is a huge Fujiko F. Fujio fan, told her, "You aren't up to the task. If you're going to quit, do it now". Those words made her realize just how massive a character in such a cherished work she had been chosen to voice.^[31] She and the other main Doraemon cast members Megumi Ōhara (Nobita), Yumi Kakazu (Shizuka), Tomokazu Seki (Suneo), and Subaru Kimura (Gian) shared the following sentiment: "Since it's a show that ran for 25 years, it's probably going to get a lot of backlash. I’d just be happy if we can keep it going for half a year."^[29][30] When it was decided to make Nobita's Dinosaur 2006, the first Doraemon feature film to feature her voicing Doraemon, Mizuta felt a great sense of relief, thinking, "They are going to let me continue as Doraemon," and "Yes!! I am truly getting to play Doraemon."^[29][30]

Television animation

Film

Video games

Dubbing

Live-action