NOZAWA Masako

Born in Tokyo. She has been active since nearly the beginning of voice acting culture, and is one of the founding members of Aoni Production. She is currently the leader and director of the Gekidan Moonlight theater company. Her representative voice works include: Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro (as Kitaro in term I [1968-69] and term II [1971-72], Medama-Oyaji in term VI [2018-20]), Inakappe Taisho (The Funny Judo Champion, 1970-72, as KAZE Daizaemon), Dokonjo Gaeru (The Gutsy Frog, 1972-74, as Hiroshi), Galaxy Express 999 (1978-81, as HOSHINO Tetsuro), the Dragon Ball series (1986-, as SON Goku, SON Gohan, and SON Goten), and many others. She won the 26th Japan Movie Critics Award for voice acting. In 2018, she received the Culture Award for Children’s Welfare in the special category in recognition of her contributions to the improvement and popularization of children’s culture through her longtime voice acting. In 2020, she acted in Japan’s largest-class recitation drama, Symphonic Drama Phoenix: Dawn, and continues to pursue her career as a voice actor.

NOZAWA is a leading figure in the field of voice acting, which is an important element of animation culture. A grownup woman voicing a boy character had been rarely seen overseas, and she pioneered possibilities in expression. She has voiced different main boy characters in many hit animations, including Kitaro in Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro (1968-72), Tetsuro in Galaxy Express 999 (1978-81), and the three generations of SON Goku, Gohan, and Goten in the Dragon Ball series (1986-), and her skill is unparalleled. With her voice that goes beyond gender and age, she continues to attract fans in Japan and abroad as an active voice actor. Her contribution to animation culture has been enormous. (SUGAWA Akiko)