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Yuu Asakawa (voice of Megurine Luka)

Yuu Asakawa (born March 20, 1975) is a Japanese freelance voice actress. She was born in Tokyo.

Career

She was a member of the "Dorikan Club" formed during the multimedia countdown "SOMETHING DREAMS." She is fluent in English and was entrusted with the English announcements for the hip-hop group RIP SLYME's concert at the Nippon Budokan. She is also extremely skilled in martial arts, particularly judo.

On February 22, 2007, it was announced that she had married voice actor Shotaro Morikubo, but on January 14, 2009, they divorced.

On January 30, 2009, Megurine Luka was released. Luka is part of the Vocaloid speech synthesis software franchise and has been well received. Asakawa provided her voice samples for the software.

On October 1, 2014, she announced that she would be leaving Arts Vision, where she had been since her early days as a voice actress, and would now work as a freelancer.

Asakawa's Twitter account is @Julia320 . 320 is a reference to her birthday as she explained that she has always loved the name Julia and wanted to be referred to by it at different stages of her life.

Yuu and Megurine Luka

Crypton Future Media had arranged for Asakawa to voice Megurine Luka before the idea for Hatsune Miku was even created. She was chosen due to her ability to speak both Japanese and English, but the software was always intended for the Japanese market. Due to scheduling conflicts and the scope of the software itself, Hatsune Miku was released before Megurine Luka's software was completed. As a result, Megurine Luka was the fourth of the Vocaloid 2 characters to be released. The software was also ranked as the 3rd most popular Vocaloid product that Crypton Future Media had sold.
For fans, however, who already knew Asakawa from her voice acting career, the delay in Megurine Luka 's software caused no real concern. Almost immediately, music tracks featuring her voice appeared on the video platform Nico Nico Douga , and Asakawa was initially stunned but grateful.
At many previous concerts, Asakawa joined other Vocaloid voice providers on stage and performed a question and answer segment with them, as well as a cappella versions of Megurine Luka songs. With a natural talent for singing, her covers were well-received by the audience.

Yuu and the Anime

At the age of 22, Asakawa made her debut in the voice acting world by providing the voices for two anime series, Elf Hunters 2 as Rena, and Super Mashin Hero Wataru as Mario (not affiliated with the Nintendo character). But it wasn't until the following year, when she lent her voice to the title character for three separate anime series, that Asakawa became a household name for anime fans. Over the course of her 23-year career, she has appeared in over 80 anime series, over 10 theatrical animated films, and over 20 web anime series.
Asakawa will often be invited as a special guest to anime conventions overseas where she will hold panels in English and sometimes perform songs or speak in character voices for them.
From 2010 to 2012, Asakawa co-hosted the YouTube series OtakuVerseZero with Patric Macias, who currently works for Crunchyroll. The program, sponsored by the Japanese internet radio station Station K'z , explored anime and other Japanese subcultures in and around Tokyo. The series achieved moderate success (around tens of thousands of views per episode) and was ultimately not renewed after its third season. In the final episode , Asakawa discusses Itasha , cars with anime stickers, and approaches a group dressing up as Vocaloid characters.

Yuu and the Games

Asakawa is a huge gaming fan. She has stated on several occasions that she loved Final Fantasy XI . In addition to playing games regularly, she has lent her voice to no fewer than 100 different game franchises, including maimai rhythm games, None, Azur Lane , None, Final Fantasy XIII , and Granblue Fantasy. None
On February 9, 2018, she created her YouTube channel , which focuses on Let's Play-style gaming videos. In her live streams, Asakawa plays a game, often chatting with her fans or responding to their comments. Due to this style of informal conversations, she has gained a lot of attention from overseas fans as well as other voice actors. The channel has accumulated 15,000 subscribers, and she has streamed over 30 games. Although Asakawa has a busy schedule, she almost always streams for at least a few hours in the evenings in Japan to allow her fans around the world to enjoy her content.