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Actress, Singer Sayaka Kanda Passes Away at 35
posted on by Egan Loo
Warning: this article contains statements about a possible suicide. If you or anyone you know is suicidal or having suicidal thoughts, please reach out to a suicide prevention organization in your country. In the United States, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available at 1-800-273-8255. In Japan, the TELL LifeLine service is available at 03-5774-0992, and an English counseling service is available at 03-4550-1146. In Canada, Crisis Services Canada is available at 1-833-456-4566.
Actress and singer Sayaka Kanda was discovered lying on the 14th floor patio of a hotel in Sapporo at about 12:55 p.m. on Saturday. According to The Yomiuri Shimbun paper's source, she was taken unconscious to a hospital, and pronounced dead there at 9:40 p.m. She was 35. The Hokkaido Prefectural Police are investigating the matter as a possible suicide.
Kanda was born on October 1, 1986 in Tokyo as the daughter of actor Masaki Kanda and singer Seiko Matsuda. She made her professional entertainment debut by appearing in a commercial in 2001. She then released the single "ever since" under her mononym Sayaka in 2002, and made her stage debut in the production Into the Woods in 2003.
Kanda dubbed Anna into Japanese in the 2014 Disney animated film Frozen, and continued the role in the followup projects and the Kingdom Hearts III game. In recent years, she has starred in stage musicals such as Dance of the Vampires, 1789: Les Amants de la Bastille, and Legally Blonde.
In anime, Kanda starred as Shioji in Air Bound, Miharu Mashiki in Convenience Store Boy Friends, Mana Nagase in Idoly Pride, Teresa in Star Blazers 2202, and Yuna in Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale and Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld Part 2.
Kanda also sang songs as the vocalist of the TRUSTRICK duo in Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School: Future Arc, My Love Story!!, Shōnen Maid,and Unlimited Fafnir, as well as in Star Blazers 2202 and Sword Art Online under her own name.
Kanda announced her marriage with her Danganronpa stage play co-star Mitsu Murata in April 2017. They announced their divorce in 2019.
Kanda was set to continue her starring role in the stage musical My Fairy Lady on Saturday in Sapporo. (The production's ticket seller reported on Saturday that Manato Asaka, who shared the headlining Eliza role with Kanda, would replace Kanda for that day's noon performance due to Kanda's poor health.) Kanda would have then starred as Maetel in Galaxy Express 999 the Musical next April.
Update: Typo fixed. Thanks, TheLaughingPanda.
Update 2: More information from NHK added.
Sources: Sayaka Kanda's website, Yomiuri, Oricon, Stage Natalie
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