She also played Chun-Li and Major from Ghost in the Shell
- by Liam Doolan
There's some incredibly sad news coming out of Japan this week about the passing of Atsuko Tanaka - the voice actor behind many major video game and anime roles. This was revealed by her son Hikaru Tanaka on social media - with Oricon News noting how she died on 20th August 2024 at 61 years of age.
Some of her most notable roles included the voice of Bayonetta in the Japanese version of the game, Chun-Li from the Street Fighter series, Lara Croft and Motoko "The Major" Kusanagi - the protagonist of the famous anime series Ghost in the Shell. In addition to this, she played characters from games and anime like NieR Replicant (Kaine), Devil May Cry (Trish) and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Lisa Lisa).
PlatinumGames, the development team behind the Bayonetta series, has also issued an English statement on social media in response to Tanaka's passing:
PlatinumGames: "We are incredibly saddened to hear of the passing of Atsuko Tanaka, who provided the Japanese voice of the titular character in the Bayonetta series. We are extremely grateful to her for breathing life into the character of Bayonetta, and offer our deepest condolences to her loved ones at this difficult time."
On behalf of the community and team here at Nintendo Life, our thoughts go out to Atsuko Tanaka's family and friends during this difficult time.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
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About Liam Doolan
Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief. He's also got a soft spot for Sonic the Hedgehog.
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Comments 32
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- DoubleDate
For a second there i thought it would be about a new Bayonetta game when i saw Bayonetta's picture. Unfortunately we got sad news from Japan. Rest in peace Atsuko, thank you for voicing Bayonetta in Japan. Fly high, the Umbra Witch salutes you.
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- Yosher
Geez, another great talent lost. RIP.
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- Coolmusic
Rest in peace miss Tanaka.❤️ You will be forever missed by your fans, myself included, and the world of voice actors.😭
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- SillyG
Aww... I love Chun-Li's sweet voice. 😢
Rest in peace.
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- nessisonett
@Hyrulewarrior Imagine thinking that was remotely funny. There’s not even a joke there, all you’ve done is correlated a horrible disease that is ravaging parts of the world with an unrelated tragic death. There is no way that anybody would ever laugh at such an inane comment.
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- Tayrailbridge
@Hyrulewarrior nice save
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- Pastellioli
I never played the Bayonetta games, but I was a bit familiar with her name, as I remember that I would randomly watch clips of an anime called JoJo years ago when I was obsessed with it, and she was in that, plus a fighting video game that was based on it that I played a bit on the Xbox. She did some splendid voice work from the clips I saw. May she rest in peace.
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- Vyacheslav333
Rest in Peace, Tanaka-san. 😭
I'm looking forward to hear her in Medea's role in Fate/stay night REMASTERED.
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- Ade117
Rest in peace to an amazing voice actress in videogames and anime. She voiced Flamme just recently in Frieren. Such a sad loss.
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- EVIL-C
@Hyrulewarrior Find better friends that aren't 💩 heads.
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- Altaria_97
So many losses, recently. You will be missed, rest in peace. 😭
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- Samalik
@Pastellioli Was that Anarchy Reigns?
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- Pastellioli
@Samalik Regarding the game, it was JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R, I maybe should have clarified that part.
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- Ryu_Niiyama
RIP, Tanaka-san. Been a fan of her work for decades and I am so sorry that the world has lost her. My condolences to her family and friends.
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- Joriss
Dang 61 is still way too young.
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- martynstuff
Very sad news. Thoughts are with family, friends and colleagues.
IIRC, she got the got the role of Bayonetta due to popular fancast choice which lead to her being chosen for the role in the anime movie. This later led to her being cast in the games and finally giving the original game its own JP dub thanks to Nintendo funding the Wii U port of the game
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- Yalloo
I love how Bayonetta is stealing the spotlight here, but looking at her wikipedia page, that woman has voiced soooo many popular characters in games and anime. Amazing to be so talented, and for so many years. How sad to go so early. May she rest in peace and may her legacy keep on inspiring us all.
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- Snatcher
I actually only heard Japanese Bayonetta voice for the first time just the other day and thought she sounded amazing! Thanks for giving a voice to this unbelievable bada##, may she rest in peace.
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- HugoGED
Played all Bayonetta games with Japanese voices. Thank you for giving life to one of gaming's most iconic characters and a beloved series.
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- JohnnyMind
So sad to hear and even more so since she was still relatively young, rest in peace Tanaka-san and condolences to her family!
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- Hee-ho-master
she died way too young... life truely is worth cherishing.
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- countzero
Very sad news. I always preferred Bayonetta's Japanese voice, even if the English voice is technically the "original" (AFAIK, the first release of Bayonetta 1 didn't have Japanese voice acting). The first Ghost in the Shell movie is iny top 10 favorite movies.
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- RubyCarbuncle
Terribly sad news and so young too. May she R.I.P and my condolences to her family 😢
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- Ravenmaster
RIP you will be missed
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- bert0503
What a gaming legend. She will be missed.
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- switchscreenshots
Loved her in Frieren too!
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- MeloMan
Another voice from my childhood gone. RIP, and thank you.
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- John_Deacon
Such a great talent! Rest in peace!
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- Daggot
Way too young. LOVED her as Kusanagi. That was a fascinating character to bring to life. It is painfully true that life is just too short. RIP
Be sure and hug your loved ones today, and call your mom.
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- Coalescence
Definitive voice for Bayo and so many other great characters not limited to but especially Kusunagi. Big loss of one of the few consistently amazing VOs to lend their talents to games.
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- shonenjump86
Very sad to hear. Chun Li is my main in so many fighting games too. May she rest in peace.
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- Axelay71
Very sad news 😢 rest in peace 🙏
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