Sayaka Kanda

Japanese media reports that Japanese actress, singer and voice actor Sayaka Kanda was discovered on the 14th floor patio of a hotel in Sapporo on Saturday Afternoon.

She was rushed to a hospital unconscious, but was pronounced dead at 09:40pm JST. She was 35. The Hokkaido Prefectural Police are currently investigating the matter, but the authorities are now treating the incident as an apparent suicide.

 

Kanda, the only child of actor Masaki Kanda and pop singer Seiko Matsuda, made her debut in the Japanese entertainment industry in 2001.

She had made her singing debut in 2002 with the release of her single “ever since”, as well as made her stage debut the following year in the play “Into the Woods”.

She also helped writing lyrics for some of her mother’s songs, eventually making her NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen debut, alongside with her mother, in 2011.

In 2014, Kanda formed the musical duo TRUSTRICK with guitarist Billy, performing theme songs for Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope’s Peak High School: Future Arc, My Love Story!!, Shonen Maid and Unlimited Fafnir. She also performed music for Star Blazers 2202 and Sword Art Online under her name.

 

©2016 Reki Kawahara / PUBLISHED BY KADOKAWA CORPORATION ASCII MEDIA WORKS / SAO MOVIE Project

Sayaka Kanda made her debut as a voice actress in the Japanese anime series, Good Luck Girl!, which was aired during the Summer 2012 season, which led her to be cast as “Anna” in the Japanese dubbed version of Disney’s popular animated movie Frozen in 2013. She won the Best Actress in a Leading Role on the 9th Seiyuu Awards for that performance.

Aside from that, she also starred as “Shioji” in Air Bound, “Miharu Mashiki” in Convenience Store Boy Friends, “Mana Nagase” in Idoly Pride and “Teresa” in Star Blazers 2202.

In 2017, Kanda portrayed the character “Yuna” in Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale, the first anime film adaptation of the popular franchise. She reprised her role in Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld, the second part of the television anime’s third season, in 2020.

 

In addition to her singing and voice acting career, Sayaka Kanda was also an active stage actress, who was also known for portraying “Mukuro Ikusaba” and “Junko Enoshima” in several stage play adaptations of the popular video game franchise Danganronpa. She also sung the stage play’s theme music.

She was set to star in a role in the stage musical “My Fair Lady” in Sapporo, but canceled due to “poor physical condition”.

She was then set to star as “Maetel” in the stage musical adaptation of Galaxy Express 999 in April next year.

 

Kanda announced her marriage with Mitsu Murata, who is also a co-star in the Danganronpa stage plays, in April 2017, but they announced their divorce in 2019.

 


If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal thoughts or having a mental health crisis, please contact the following numbers:

Department of Health’s National Mental Health Crisis Hotline at (+63) 917-899-8727, (+63) 966-351-4518, (+63) 908-639-2672 and 1553 (Luzon-wide Toll-Free Number)

Natasha Goulbourn Foundation’s Hopeline PH at (02) 8804-4673, (+63) 917-558-4673, (+63) 918-873-4673 and 2919 (Toll-Free Number for Globe and TM users)

If you are outside the Philippines, please visit Befrienders Worldwide to reach out to mental health crisis helplines in your country.