Ryōgi Shiki and Kokutō Mikiya got hitched for REAL!

Breaking News! Sakamoto Maaya & Suzumura Kenichi just got married. Rejoice~!

Doesn’t your heart go aflutter when you hear a heartwarming romantic story IRL? Well, recently, I’ve been bombarded with a few and have actually been one of the people who played a part in honing it to the 50% mark (which is marriage in my books). My best friend recently got married and being the best (wo)man for the occasion was just the cherry on top because the constant counseling since last three years, I’ve seen them shape things up to something brilliant. As I’m I’m delighted for them all hitched and happy, this news of Maaya and Kenichi hooking up came as a surprise, which turned into a wave of total fangasm. I mean, the seiyuu voicing my all time favourite pair (Shiki and Mikiya) got married for real, how else I’m supposed to feel? I can’t express in proper words but truckloads of congratulations are due for these two awesome people.

Interestingly, they are not just your off the line voice actors, but pretty popular in what they do. Both of them sing as well and have released popular singles/albums. They announced their marriage with some very emotional words, which I’ve translated with the help of google translation, along with rephrasing and corrected grammar to make more sense of it.

I, Maaya Sakamoto, was married to Kenichi Suzumura on August 8. In my life so far I have been reasonably happy but I feel as per my priority actions, I’ve always connected more to the future. So for marriage, the feelings just flowed and I would simply like to sincerely follow this path. Being together with the kind person that Mr. Suzumura is, has brought me a very peaceful feeling. I think everyone needs a reliable partner to survive, who is warm and soothing. Just to clarify, I will continue to sing, play, and voice act. My heart warms with all the best wishes received and we promise to be even more diligent in our future work. Thank you. Sakamoto Maaya.

Today I borrowed this place to report to you that Kenichi Suzumura married Ms. Sakamoto Maaya on August 08, a person who is simply beautiful, brilliant and full of energy. I laugh better now, almost like a drunkard with extreme happiness. How precious is the time for this deliverance as I’m about to complete seventeen years as a voice actor. This job requires a lot of emotion with complete understanding of instantaneous movement of daily life; it needs to be relevant for better portrayal with ever changing representation. Usually, the more we are hard on ourselves for personal goals, it leads to an even better and happy future. I guess, it’s just hard to express myself as overloaded with happiness as I am. I’m looking forward to the future to bring great fortune in my life with this event. We will be even more devoted towards what we do now. Yoroshiku. Sincerely, Kenichi Suzumura.

Some interesting personal info:

• Kenichi (37) is six years older to Maaya (31), but even being the younger one, Maaya will be finished two decades of career as a voice actress next year, while Kenichi is just reaching the seventeen year mark this year.
• Their first major work together was in Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny, voicing the main roles of Shinn and Lunamaria.
• Maaya has been singing since ’96, while Kenichi recently started in ’08.
• Since her debut, Maaya is among the more popular voice actresses who have also branched into singing, performing songs in both English and Japanese. Her Singles and albums have always sold modestly but her newest album, You Can’t Catch Me, became the first to reach #1 on Oricon.
• Kenichi has won two major awards: “Synergy Award” (Kamen Rider Den-O, together with Toshihiko Seki, Koji Yusa and Masaki Terasoma) in the 1st Seiyu Awards and “Best Radio Personality” in 2nd Seiyu Awards. In addition to performing many different character songs, he signed under the Lantis label in 2008 becoming a solo artist, writing all the lyrics himself. He has released six singles and five albums till now.

Joint Voice Acting Roles in chronological order:

• Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny – Shinn Asuka (Main) and Lunamaria Hawke (Main) [2004-2005]
• Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children – Zack Fair (Supporting) and Aerith Gainsborough (Supporting) [2005]
• Ouran High School Host Club – Hikaru Hitachiin  (Main) and Haruhi Fujioka  (Main) [2006]
• D.Gray-man – Lavi (Main) and Lou Fa (Supporting) [2006-2008]
• Kara no Kyoukai – Mikiya Kokutou (Main) and Shiki Ryougi (Main)  [2007-2011]
• Tetsuwan Birdy Decode – Satyajit Shyamalan (Supporting) and Sayaka Nakasugi (Main) [2008]
• Soul Eater – Kilik Lunge (Supporting) and Crona (Supporting) [2008-2009]
• Naruto – Utakata (Supporting) and Matsuri (Supporting) – One off roles
• Kuroshitsuji – the Canterbury triplets (of the Trancy household) and Ciel Phantomhive(Main) [2010-2011]
• Star Driver – Tsukihiko Bou (Supporting) and Sarina Endou (Supporting) [2010-2011]

Again, many congratulations to these two! They definitely deserve it and may they live happily ever after together. While I was fangasming on twitter while compiling the above list, @lvlln from Borderline Hikikimori put up an interesting question of there being more VA couples? Well, I don’t have the resources to find that out but Hashihime has written an interesting article about it. Read this with a grain of salt of though because they are supposedly rumours except for SuzuKen and Maaya, who are wonderfully and officially committed! So, what are your thoughts on this breaking news? Are there any seiyuu pairs that you hope would hook up? Let’s hear it.

About Kyokai

The Boss lady of Metanorn, who makes it all happen. An animanga enthusiast, who watches/reads almost anything that strikes her fancy. Just beware of her Death Perception and always keep her happy. Regularly found at @KyokaiTM & #[email protected].