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Megumi Ogata Voice Actress

Megumi Ogata is a Japanese voice actress, singer-songwriter, and radio host born on June 6, 1965, in Tokyo, Japan. At the 7th Seiyu Awards in 2013, she received the Kazue Takahashi Memorial Award, an honor bestowed upon a voice actress who engages in various types of performances other than voice acting. She currently works in Shinjuku, Tokyo, at Breathe Arts, an agency she founded in February 2019.

The early years

After graduating from Toho Girls' High School, Ogata began studying at Tokai University's School of Oceanography. However, she left Tokai to study at the music department of Tokyo Vocal Specialist School (now renamed and relocated to Showa University of Music). Shortly after, she joined a group called the "Neverland Musical Community." When this group disbanded, she tried her luck as a voice actress, which ultimately skyrocketed her popularity. Her voice has a distinctive deep tone that has made her easily cast to play younger boys and tomboys.

Dubbing

Ogata's first voice acting role was as Kurama in "Yu Yu Hakusho." The series' popularity and the important role she played helped her name become well-known, which led to other roles. While Ogata has voiced dozens of anime characters to date, some of her most notable roles include Sailor Uranus (Sailor Moon), Makoto Naegi and Nagito Komaeda (Danganronpa series), Yugi Mutou and Dark Yugi (Yu-Gi-Oh!), and Shinji Ikari (None Evangelion ). In 1995, her portrayal of Kurama earned her the Best Voice Actor/Actress and Best Male Character award at the 17th Anime Grand Prix, an annual poll created by Animage magazine that allows readers to vote for their favorite anime characters, episodes, voice actors/actresses, and anime-related songs.

Although she performs her voice acting roles with incredible passion and emotion, Ogata has mentioned that there were times when her acting caused her physical pain. She specifically mentions that her role as Shinji Ikari in Evangelion was causing her significant problems at the time, as the character is known for his rather high-pitched screams. After recording these screams, Ogata says she had such severe headaches that she had to sit down and rest before continuing the recording session.

Musical career

Just as fans appreciated Ogata's deeper, more masculine voice in her voice acting roles, many fans of her music appreciate her wide range of tones and pitches. She is capable of producing both deeper, soothing vocals and higher, more intense ones with a lot of power.

Ogata began her musical career with a preliminary album titled "HALF MOON," which was distributed by Tokuma Japan Communications in 1994. Several people worked on this 11-track album, but Ogata is credited with writing the lyrics for the last track, which shares the same name as the album itself. Her debut album, "Marine Legend," is also an 11-track album, but it was distributed by Sony Music Records. She is also credited with writing the lyrics for other songs. This trend of switching labels and becoming more involved in her music continued throughout her career. On her 2001 album "rain," she adopted the stage name "em:ou," which is a stylistic spelling of her initials (MO).

In addition to her original music albums, Ogata has also released two cover albums that include songs from various anime, including some in which she played a character. Both albums share the name "Animegu," but the second album was released to celebrate 25 years of Ogata's career. As such, the second album was called "Animegu. 25th" and was released in October 2017. Prior to the anniversary album's release, Ogata had received concerns from overseas fans who said they had no legitimate way to purchase her work other than imported albums and paying high shipping fees, which led to piracy and unauthorized downloads of her content online. In response, Ogata launched a crowdfunding campaign in May 2017 that allowed fans worldwide to purchase the "Animegu. 25th" album and have it shipped as a reward for support. This campaign was a great success, raising just over $32,000 (over $7,000 its initial goal).

In February 2019, she announced on her official blog that she had created Breathe Arts, a talent agency that will train people interested in music and voice acting, then connect them with people in the music, video game, and television industries to help them find work.