All the Announcements from Otakon 2024

Aya Uchida Didn't Want to Be a Voice Actor, She Wanted to Be Sailor Moon

Aya Uchida made her Otakon debut with her own Saturday morning Q&A panel. The Love Live! seiyū is no stranger to performing in front of large crowds, but even she was amazed by Otakon's huge draws. “I didn't expect to see so many people, so I'm surprised,” Uchida beamed. “This is a BIG convention!”

After a brief overview of some of her previous roles, Uchida went into detail about how she got into anime. “As a child, I loved Sailor Moon,” she said. "I had a sister, and we played out the roles together. That was a lot of fun. I loved Usagi-chan, but my sister loved Sailor Mercury.”

Uchida then unveiled her origins in the business: “I was always interested in a job, but it's not that I wanted to be a voice actor. I wanted to be Sailor Moon!” Uchida and the audience giggled for a bit at that. “When I was in middle school, I came across a magazine that specialized in voice acting: Seiyū Grand Prix! In that magazine, I found a lot about auditions for voice actor roles. So I realized, wow, being a voice actress is something I can actually be!”

She continued. “The first audition I did was in middle school. I read in Animage there was a contest where you audition for a role, and if you win, you could enter this voice acting school for free. I won a special award, not the Grand Prix. So I was allowed into the school, but I didn't get the tuition.” After a wistful "d'aww" from the audience, Uchida stated that she reverted to being a regular high schooler. “But after graduation,” she said, “I tried one more time, and I decided to go to the voice acting school! But…on my own dime.”

When the time came for Love Live! discussion, a fan asked which Love Live! character she would love to perform with. The twist: it wasn't Kotori. Uchida's ultimate music partner? “Nico Nico nii-chan!” she said as she pantomimed her tsundere bandmate's hand motions.

But the craziest question asked? It's also one of the best questions I've heard at any panel ever. “If all the u's members fell into a river, who would you save?” A dazed and confused yet ultimately amused Uchida had to think for a moment before coming up with her answer: “Hanayo-chan. She seems like a good swimmer, so I would save her!”

Going into her non-anime roles eventually gave way to talk of her role in the dub of the new Sex and the City spin-off series And Just Like That. Playing Charlotte's adoptive daughter, Lily, Uchida reflected on seeing the first Sex and the City film back in the day, commenting how she thought she'd never get a role like that. But it ultimately benefited her as it fueled her love for playing with children. “I love playing the roles of little boys,” Uchida said. “So one of my favorite ones was the one brother in Kyoto Animation's Munto. One of the motivators of being a voice actress is that you can be anything you want to be. A boy, a girl, an animal!”