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INTEREST: Macross Singer Mari Iijima Discusses Regrets Over Quitting Piano Career




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Psajdak





PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2020 1:17 pm Reply with quote
I have some beautiful memories about 2009 (first Macross series happens in 2009, btw) when I watched Macross everything, and Mari Iijima, as well as her songs, and Lynn Minmay.

I do think it would have been best if she just remained seiyu, though, but well, it's her life.
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LinkTSwordmaster



Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 534
Location: PA / USA
PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2020 2:43 pm Reply with quote
I actually met her IRL once.... ages ago now. Was a very.... interesting experience. I could instantly pick up that she was conflicted on some level - I hadn't seen ANY Macross up to that point in my life, but it was clear that 1) everyone at the venue desperately wanted to hear all of her Macross classics in spite of the fact that she had newer non-anime stuff to play/sing, and 2) the newer stuff was not nearly of the level of quality that her Macross stuff was.

The vibe I got from her when I met her was that she was legitimately a sweet person that fell somewhere between suffering from a bit of 'Imposter Syndrome' and/or 'creatively frustrated' -that the success she'd gained was not the success she chose. Her comments/this article popping up now is more-or-less only further confirming that experience from back then.

At the end of the day, you either gotta take success where & when you can find it, or just plug away at the thing that makes you happiest and hope the fun you're having with it reaches out and touches people.
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BlueAlf



Joined: 02 Jan 2017
Posts: 1548
PostPosted: Sun Sep 27, 2020 1:12 am Reply with quote
LinkTSwordmaster wrote:
I actually met her IRL once.... ages ago now. Was a very.... interesting experience. I could instantly pick up that she was conflicted on some level - I hadn't seen ANY Macross up to that point in my life, but it was clear that 1) everyone at the venue desperately wanted to hear all of her Macross classics in spite of the fact that she had newer non-anime stuff to play/sing, and 2) the newer stuff was not nearly of the level of quality that her Macross stuff was.

The vibe I got from her when I met her was that she was legitimately a sweet person that fell somewhere between suffering from a bit of 'Imposter Syndrome' and/or 'creatively frustrated' -that the success she'd gained was not the success she chose. Her comments/this article popping up now is more-or-less only further confirming that experience from back then.

At the end of the day, you either gotta take success where & when you can find it, or just plug away at the thing that makes you happiest and hope the fun you're having with it reaches out and touches people.


This is some good insight. Thanks for sharing, man.

I've always felt there was something 'different' regarding her compared to later Macross vocalists. I wondered whether it was just because of the 80's bubble vibe. But I think what you just explained pretty much nailed it.

Man, I've always been in the Misa camp, but even I feel regrets every time I listen to her songs.
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ChrissyC



Joined: 17 Jun 2015
Posts: 551
PostPosted: Sun Sep 27, 2020 8:51 pm Reply with quote
Her story has always made me feel emotional. Her success was in Japan, but she got married and moved to America. It's still rare to see Asians have success in Western countries, imagine in the 1980s. I try to support her whenever she releases new music on Spotify.
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Cardcaptor Takato



Joined: 27 Jan 2018
Posts: 5162
PostPosted: Sun Sep 27, 2020 10:24 pm Reply with quote
As someone who grew up with Robotech and later Macross and always loved Minmay’s character, it’s sad to me Mari Iijima has so much conflicted feelings about her role as I always loved her voice and found her songs to be inspiring and touching. But this seems to be a common occurrence with a lot of celebrities who later feel regrets about their breakout roles and feeling like they’ve been typecasted. This reminds me that Megumi Nakajima, who is the voice actress of Ranka Lee in Macross Frontier, also seemed to struggle with her career after Frontier. animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2019-01-12/voice-actress-megumi-nakajima-explains-why-she-went-on-hiatus-after-macross-frontier/.141841
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AkumaChef



Joined: 10 Jan 2019
Posts: 821
PostPosted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:28 am Reply with quote
LinkTSwordmaster wrote:
I actually met her IRL once.... ages ago now. Was a very.... interesting experience. I could instantly pick up that she was conflicted on some level - I hadn't seen ANY Macross up to that point in my life, but it was clear that 1) everyone at the venue desperately wanted to hear all of her Macross classics in spite of the fact that she had newer non-anime stuff to play/sing, and 2) the newer stuff was not nearly of the level of quality that her Macross stuff was.

The vibe I got from her when I met her was that she was legitimately a sweet person that fell somewhere between suffering from a bit of 'Imposter Syndrome' and/or 'creatively frustrated' -that the success she'd gained was not the success she chose. Her comments/this article popping up now is more-or-less only further confirming that experience from back then.


Was this Anime Expo 1999 by any chance? I saw her there and had the exact same impressions that you just described.
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LinkTSwordmaster



Joined: 23 Dec 2005
Posts: 534
Location: PA / USA
PostPosted: Sat Oct 03, 2020 3:13 pm Reply with quote
AkumaChef wrote:

Was this Anime Expo 1999 by any chance? I saw her there and had the exact same impressions that you just described.


Was actually a few years later, not at Anime Expo - towards the early/mid 2000's. It's hard sometimes not to let that sort of weight carry into your writing, especially when it's songwriting I guess. Is unfortunate she's still got some laments even after all this time, as it doesn't seem like its a feeling that only just now popped up recently.
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