Haruhi Suzumiya’s voice actor, Aya Hirano, says she has received death threats from the anime community for over 10 years.
Initially reported by Anime News Network, members of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya fanbase started targeting Hirano back in 2010 after a scandal revolving around her relationships with the male members of her band. The anime community also attacked Hirano after she spoke openly about a personal dating preference for Japanese television stars. These threats persisted even after Hirano largely abandoned voice acting in favor of stage productions, and ultimately resulted in an arrest of one individual in May 2011.
While Hirano no longer makes voice acting a career priority, she still does take occasional anime jobs. Her more recent roles include Okachimachi from the action/comedy series Akiba Maid War, Dende from the film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Imai Nobume from Gintama: the Final and Popuko in episodes 1 and 12 of Pop Team Epic Season 2. Hirano recently took to Twitter to address the anime community’s continuous violent threats, assuring her fans that she remains unharmed, and that she is fearful but also determined to continue taking on anime roles.
“It makes me afraid and not want to be involved in that kind of world,” Hirano said, “but I push through because I simply want to focus my energy on doing a good performance with my roles. With that in mind, would you still say, ‘it’s your fault for pandering to otaku?’ I could resolve this issue by quitting anime altogether, but I think that’s just turning a blind eye to the problem. That’s why I decided to make this post.”
Aya Hirano’s voice acting career began in 2001 with her role as Saru no Momo from the romantic-comedy series Angel Tales. Since then, she has played several iconic characters besides Haruhi, including Konata Izumi from Lucky Star, Lucy Heartfilla from Fairy Tail and Imai Nobume from Gintama. In Kyoto Animation’s The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya,” Hirano plays the titular character, an eccentric high school girl who wants to inhabit a world filled with aliens, time travelers and espers. Hoping to make her world more exciting, Haruhi creates a club called the S.O.S Brigade with the help of her reluctant classmate, Kyon. However, unbeknownst to Haruhi, an alien, esper and time traveler end up joining the club, informing Kyon that they have been sent to monitor Haruhi because she may actually have the powers of a God.
Source: Anime News Network