Haruko Momoi

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Haruko Momoi
桃井はるこ
Haruko Momoi at Anime Expo 2007
Haruko Momoi at Anime Expo 2007
Background information
Birth name Haruko Momoi
Also known as Halko, momo-i
Born December 14, 1977 (1977-12-14) (age 30)
Tokyo, Flag of Japan Japan
Occupation(s) Musician, Songwriter, Seiyū
Instrument(s) Vocals, Keytar
Label(s) avex mode
Website momoi.com

Haruko Momoi (桃井はるこ Momoi Haruko?, born December 14, 1977) is a Japanese voice actress (seiyū) and singer/songwriter. She was born in Tokyo, Japan and is affectionately referred to as 'Halko' by her fans, a nickname she gave herself which is inspired by HAL 9000, the onboard computer of the Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Her blood type is O and she is 160 cm (5'3") tall.

Contents

[edit] Summary

[edit] Career

Haruko took interest in personal computers from a young age and studied personal computer communications during her high school years. After she graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan Yoyogi High School, her articles and writing on her online blog caught the attention of the chief editor of the Weekly ASCII magazine. Eventually she was offered a job as a writer for the magazine.[1]

During the late nineties, Haruko began singing and doing live performances on the streets of Harajuku and Akihabara. She then debuted her single "Mail Me," a cover version of which appears in the movie Suicide Circle in 2000. Soon after, she debuted as a seiyū for her role as Komugi Nakahara in The SoulTaker. In 2002, she paired with Masaya Koike to form the duo UNDER17 and together performed songs for various video games, adult games and anime. After their last album "Best Album 3 ~Soshite Densetsu e...~" and a live tour of the same name, UNDER17 separated in 2004 citing creative differences, and the two musicians have since gone their separate ways. She continued on with her solo singing career and in 2006, was signed under avex mode as a music composer and singer.

In 2007, Halko published an autobiography entitled "Akihaba-LOVE", in which she tells of the major experiences that shaped her life, mainly those that were important in constructing her career as a musician and voice actress, but it also includes anecdotes from her childhood and stories of friendship, as well as personal opinions on different aspects of anime fandom.[2] She also performed in two cons the same year: Anime Expo 2007 in Long Beach, California from June 29 to July 2[3] and Connichi in Kassel, Germany from September 7th through the 9th[4] with each time being her first visit to the United States and Germany respectively. Her latest con performance was at Anime North 2008 in Toronto, Canada from May 23rd to May 25th which was also her first time in Canada.[5][6]

[edit] Personal

  • Masumi Asano and Sakura Nogawa often voice roles in the same anime series as Haruko and also feature one another in their songs.
  • She enjoys watching baseball and has been a fan of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows since her youth. Recently, however, she has become a fan of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles since their first year of debut in 2004 and is also part of their fan club.
  • Her favorite food is curry-flavored udon.
  • She favors playing the Roland AX-1 keytar during her live performances and often models with it for album covers, photos, and in her PVs. Alternatively, she also uses the Yamaha KX5 for its light weight.
  • One of her hobbies include collecting t-shirts, especially from the MARS SIXTEEN brand. She has also collaborated with the company to produce the shirts sold on her tour.
  • Since her elementary school years, she has had to commute to Akihabara and has also held part-time jobs there while growing up. She has claimed on her radio programs that her exposure to Akihabara has led her to become a self-proclaimed otaku.
  • Fellow seiyū Saeko Chiba attended high school with Haruko, but the two were never formally acquainted. Haruko admitted she would've liked to gotten to know Saeko better since she knew Saeko had already begun her career in entertainment.

[edit] Performance

Leading roles in bold.

[edit] Anime

2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008

[edit] OVA

[edit] Anime Movie

[edit] Games

[edit] Miscellaneous

[edit] Radio

[edit] Drama CD

  • Ai Yori Aoshi series (Chika Minazuki)
  • Tales of the Abyss series (Anise Tatlin)
  • Prism Ark Special Sound Package (Filia)
  • Prism Ark Drama CD: Sister Hell Prism Variation (Filia)
  • Ragnarok The Animation Ver.1-Ver.3 (Maya)

[edit] Television

[edit] Discography

[edit] Singles

Date Released Single Name
May 24, 2000 Mail Me
July 27, 2005 Ton Dol Baby (トンドルベイビー?)
October 19, 2005 WONDER MOMO-i〜New recording〜
November 8, 2006 Saigo no Rock (さいごのろっく?)
December 6, 2006 Yume no Baton (ゆめのばとん?)
December 27, 2006 Enter!
March 28, 2007 21 Seiki (21世紀?)
October 10, 2007 Party!
October 25, 2007 Yuuen no Amulet/Opera Fantasia (悠遠のアミュレット/オペラファンタジア?)
October 25, 2007 R・G・B…
November 14, 2007 Lumica (ルミカ?)

[edit] Albums

Date Released Album Name
August 9, 2006 momo-i quality
February 21, 2007 Haruko☆UP DATE SONGS BEST (はるこ☆UP DATE SONGS BEST?)
March 21, 2007 Famison 8BIT (ファミソン8BIT?)
June 8, 2007 Famison 8BIT STAGE2 (ファミソン8BIT STAGE2?)
June 20, 2007 COVER BEST - Cover Densha (COVER BEST カバー電車?)
March 5, 2008 Sunday early morning

[edit] Anime Singles

Date Released Single Name
November 1, 2006 LoveLoveLove no Sei na no yo! (LoveLoveLoveのせいなのよ!?)
April 25, 2007 Romantic Summer
May 23, 2007 your gravitation
August 22, 2007 Dan Dan Dan

[edit] DVD

  • momo-i Live DVD (avex mode)
  • Haruko☆UP DATE (Pony Canyon)
  • CLIP BEST (avex mode)
Simultaneous release with the album Sunday early morning on March 5, 2008 with the making-of of her PVs and image collection.

[edit] Book

  • Akihaba LOVE ~Akihabara to issho ni otona ni natta~

[edit] References

  1. ^ 桃井はるこのほめぱげ Profile Page
  2. ^ Paranda.net: Momoi CD, Otakon loot, and other things
  3. ^ Halko Momoi Concert - Anime Expo 2007 - Anime News Network
  4. ^ Voice Actor Halko Momoi Live at Connichi 2007
  5. ^ Anime North to Host Voice Actress/Singer Halko Momoi - Anime News Network
  6. ^ Anime North - Halko Momoi's Personal Blog (Japanese Only)
  7. ^ The title of the show is literally "Akiba" spelled differently three times in hiragana, English, and katakana respectively.

[edit] External links