Fumi Hirano

Fumi Hirano
Profile
Gender:	Female
Date of birth:	April 23, 1955
Place of birth:	Nishiogikubo, Suginami, Tokyo Metropolis
Location:	Tokyo, Japan
Voice of:	Rumi Wakasa

Fumi Hirano (平野 文 ,Hirano Fumi), born April 23, 1955 in the Nishiogikubo district of Suginami Ward (Tokyo), is a Japanese voice actress, actress and narrator affiliated with Aoni Production.

In Detective Conan, she voices Rumi Wakasa.

Biography

Lum Invader.

Born in Suginami's Nishiogikubo district, Fumi Hirano was first interested in ballet, after seeing her cousin perform, and aimed at being a professional ballet dancer,. She was enrolled in other extracurriculars, including piano and acting, which she started at age 3. She would often play with boys in her elementary school years and was bullied for that,. When she was 12, at the recommendation of her ballet teacher, she made her TV debut in NHK's children TV program "Meitantei Kacchin" (名探偵カッチン), and after her TV appearance, she decided to become an actress,. In 1972, aged 17, she was scouted by a theater company to audition for a radio host position and thus began as a host on NHK's Wakai Kodama (若いこだま) among others. After graduating in 1978 from Tamagawa University's faculty of letters while majoring in theater, she started a full-time career as a radio host for the late-night show Hashire! Kayōkyoku (走れ!歌謡曲) and soon gained a noticeable fanbase. During a broadcast segment where she answered requests from students taking their school entrance exams, she shouted "Good luck!" (がんばれ～! ,Ganbare!) to the students, and a listener later sent a postcard praising her for her performance and suggesting her to start voice acting. This kickstarted her career as a voice actress, starting in 1981 as Lum, the main character in Rumiko Takahashi's "Urusei Yatsura". She was an immediate success, and thus started as a professional voice actress.

In 1989, she married wholesaler Kōichi Ogawa (小川 貢一), and thus became Fumi Ogawa (小川 文 ,Ogawa Fumi). In late 2017, she was selected as the voice for Rumi Wakasa in Detective Conan. Rumi being one of the three candidates fitting the description of Rum (ラム ,Ramu), Hirano's choice as the voice for Rumi made even more sense, knowing that her first voice acting role was Lum (ラム ,Ramu) from "Urusei Yatsura". Lum was featured on a poster in episode 792, the episode where Rum's description was first mentioned. While voicing Lum in "Urusei Yatsura", Hirano also worked with Toshio Furukawa, who voiced the anime's protagonist Ataru Moroboshi. The two voice actors would meet again in "Detective Conan"'s episodes 1011-1012 more than 35 years later in 2021 as Rumi Wakasa and Misao Yamamura. A brief scene between Conan and the Detective Boys makes an allusion to Takahashi's manga.

Other roles in Detective Conan

• The Private Eyes' Requiem (movie 10): Reiko Shimizu

Other notable roles

Anime

• Urusei Yatsura (1981-1986): Lum
• Blue Comet SPT Layzner (1985-1986): Simone Reflann
• The Garden of Words (2013): Takao's mother
• Lapis Re:Lights (2020-2021): Various characters
• Urusei Yatsura (2022): Lum's mother
• Fly Me to the Moon (2023): Tokiko Tsukiyomi

References

1. Wikipedia - Fumi Hirano
2. Anime News Network
3. MyAnimeList
4. IMDB

See also

• Staff