The world of child actors is constantly producing new talent, and recently the spotlight has been on Kurumi Inagaki. Appearing in such TV series as "Toto Nechan" (Big sister Toto) and "Scarlet," she's become a welcome presence in people's living rooms with her innocent, shimmering eyes.
Just 9 years old, Kurumi already has an impressive list of achievements -- films like "'Ningyo no Nemuru le" (The House Where the Mermaid Sleeps) and TV shows such as, "Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni" (In This Corner of the World). Now with a guest voice role in the animated film "Pretty Cure Miracle Leap the Movie," Kurumi told us about her aspirations as a voice actor.
When she was 2 to 3 years old, she was driven by a love of clothes and a childlike envy of her sister, who is four years older and was modeling. So Kurumi would stand in front of a large mirror and practice poses. She began working as a model and an actor herself at age 4, making her dreams a reality.
Kurumi said she didn't really know how to act at that time, but her mother's constant reassurance was very helpful.
"My mother often told me, 'If you have fun, I'm sure everything will work out.' And when I did, all kinds of people said nice things to me!" she said.
Kurumi couldn't even read hiragana at the time, let alone kanji. "My mother would tell me to close my eyes and she would read my lines out to me." This was probably how she learned what emotion or image to convey.
One of Kurumi's goals for this year is "to challenge myself as a voice actor." When it comes to anime, she loves the "Pretty Cure," or Precure, series. Her favorite character is apparently Cure Yell, the lead character of the series "Hug! Pretty Cure," which aired two years ago, and the first movie she ever saw in a theater was a "Pretty Cure" film.
"I'm so happy that my dream came true of performing in the 'Pretty Cure' series that I love so much," she said with a glowing smile.
Kurumi plays Miraclen, a fairy that governs over tomorrow. The villain, Refrain, wants to make a world where tomorrow never comes and sets his sights on Miraclen. The magical girl teams from the current and recent seasons, "Healin' Good Pretty Cure," "Star Twinkle Pretty Cure" and "Hug! Pretty Cure" band together to protect her.
Most of Kurumi's lines were just the word "mira," which she had to say in a variety of ways depending on the situation. It's a difficult role, but "the explanations are written in the script in a way that's really easy to understand, so it was easy to get the feelings across."
Kurumi can skillfully shift between emotions like joy, sorrow and loneliness.
"The good thing about Pretty Cure is that they believe in their friends, stay brave and work to beat the enemy, no matter how strong that enemy is," she said with apparent pride in being a member of this world.
Outside her acting, she's a typical elementary school student. "I'm the best at science. I can do math, too, but I don't really like it," Kurumi admitted.
She added that "acting is really fun," so her eyes may be set on a future in showbiz. Kurumi said she'd like to play a role in a mystery, "The kind where you think there's no way this kid is the one who did it, but it turns out she did." Or even "a role where I have a dark side," she said, stretching a little taller.
The theater premiere date for the animated film "Pretty Cure Miracle Leap the Movie," originally scheduled for March 20, has been postponed to a future date due to the current coronavirus outbreak.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
