• Report version 0.8 by Hitoshi Doi, 1996.03.04

In the Picture and Image Accessories Show '96, which was a show where camera accessories makers showed off lots of various goods, there was a Popular Seiyuu Paradise Show on the 4th floor stage. There were other various shows and events at the stage during the three days of the event (3/1 - 3/3, 1996). The 4th floor stage had about 100 chairs, and there was room for a few rows of standees. There was a bigger stage on the 3rd floor, where the real idol singers and girls in swimsuits came as guests. Those were probably much more crowded than the seiyuu event.

The seiyuu event took place at 12:00 on March 1. At 10:00 (as the door opened for the show), there were already 30 or so people waiting for the event, but I got a decent aisle seat in the 3rd row, in the left-center area. The main guest for the seiyuu event was Sakurai Tomo!

This was one of the few events where pictures were allowed, and 99% of the people in the audience had cameras.. many of them with camera equipment costing over 500,000 yen. (EOS1 with LARGE white lenses or F4 with a large lens)

They quickly introduced Sakurai Tomo, and the Saint Tail image song started playing in the background. Tomo came out wearing a shiny red jacket, a short, shiny red skirt, a red and black shirt with a big heart mark on it, black high socks, and black shoes.

MC guy: There are a lot of cameras today, but I don't think I'm in any of the pictures.
Tomo: I love getting my picture taken. Please send me the pictures that you take today.

MC girl: The first question is for Marin.
Then Tomo went off the stage, "to call Marin-chan", and came back.
MC girl: Who does Marin-chan like?
Tomo (in Marin's voice): Of course, Riiya-kun!
MC girl: The next question, who does Milane like?
Tomo (in Milane's voice): I'm a little worried about Basara. But Sakurai Tomo says that she liked Gamlin.
MC girl: The third question is, who does Sheraa Sheraa like?
Tomo: Do you mean Shera Shera?
Tomo (in Shera Shera's voice): Do you think I can say such a thing here!

Then they quickly moved onto Tomo's songs.

"It's show time!" Tomo said (very loudly). Then Tomo sang "Koi Mitaina Kanji", which was the Saint Tail image song.

Tomo's second song was "Baby Baby" and her third song was "ACTRESS".

After her songs..

MC guy: How do you like singing in front of all of these people?
Tomo: It's fun. It feels good with all of the cheers. Also the flashes of the cameras is coming at me a lot.
MC guy: The flash doesn't come in my direction at all.

MC guy: Why did you want to become a seiyuu?
Tomo: I started from singing. Then I did stage plays. Then the producer told me about anime voice auditions and I tried it and started doing seiyuu work.
MC guy: Was there any difficulties?
Tomo: When I first started, I couldn't match the voice to the mouth on the screen. I always finished my lines too early.

MC guy: What kind of things will you be doing in the near future?
Tomo: I will be releasing a CD in February, March, and April. The one in February is on sale already. It's called ACTRESS, and it's made up of the songs from various plays that my production had put on. In March, there will be one called LA Early Sakurai Tomo, and it will contain songs from my idol days. In April my second album will come out, and I will write the lyrics for all of the songs.
Tomo: Also all of these CDs will come with a ticket, and if you send them all in, one might win a CD made up of my old songs that I sang before I used the stage name Sakurai Tomo.
Tomo: Also I'll be doing a play in April at the Theater Sun Mall in Shinjuku.
Tomo: I'm doing a voice in Saint Tail which is on TV now. Also there is a musical for it, and this summer we'll go all over Japan for it.

Then Tomo left the stage.

The next portion of the event was the Anime Cosplay Contest. There were four contestants who would dance or sing with their various costumes on. The judges for this contest was Sakurai Tomo, ?? Miru, and Agami ??.

?? Miru (19 years old) and Agami ?? (20 years old) were new seiyuu. Miru had done a voice in the game Power Doll, and ?? had done some voices in Tenchi Muyou.

The cosplay were: some girl bad guy from Fighting Viper, Cammy from Super Street Fighter II, some girl from some game (?), and Super Sailor Chibi Moon.

When the girl dressed as Cammy danced in front of Tomo, and Tomo was asked to comment later..

Tomo: When she turned her hips toward me, I couldn't decide where to look. I wanted to touch it.
MC guy: Are you a lez?
Tomo: I like girls too.

After all of the performances, Sakurai Tomo announced the winner. It was the third girl.