Amin Abbas

DUBAI: Mariya Ise, the veteran Japanese voice actress of Killua Zoldyck in Hunter × Hunter, was a special guest at a meet and greet event on Feb. 22-23 at Dubai’s Times Square Center in her first visit to the UAE.

The event was organized by Speedy Comics Middle East and Popcon Middle East.

Fans of anime in the UAE were able to get autographs and take pictures with the Japanese voice actress.

Ise said told Arab News Japan about her beginnings as a voice actress, explaining that she was inspired by Ghibli Studio’s movie Princess Mononoke (1997) at a young age.

“I wanted to be a director for animations at the beginning, but I wanted to be a part of animation industry, and I became a voice actress since then,” she said.

Ise’s first official role as a voice actress was Renzu Ioroi in Mushishi (2005) at the age of 16.

Ise said she was chosen for the role of Killua Zoldyck in the Hunter × Hunter series through an audition.

“I was a big fan of the original Hunter x Hunter (1999) anime series and Killua was my favorite character and I fell in love with him. When the remake series was announced and the whole cast was changed, I was excited to be part of it and took the audition for it and got the role, which was a true honor for me to voice the character that I’m in deep love with for a long time,” Ise said.

Ise was also the voice actress of Eureka/Bonnie in Pokémon the Series: XY

“The first game that I bought was Pokémon on the original Game Boy system and I have been a fan of the series since then,” she told Arab News Japan. “Pokémon became a big phenomenon around the world especially in Japan and when Pokémon the Series: XY was announced, I was chosen to do the voice of the little girl Eureka/Bonnie, which was a little hard for me, but I really wanted to do her voice in the series.”

Ise said that this was her first time in the UAE and she was very pleased to meet with the fans and visiting different places. “I was very pleased to visit Dubai for the first time as it’s an amazing city especially in this time of the year and meeting the people here. I was really moved by the culture, food and people here as they have been treating me here as family and I’m truly grateful for that,” Ise said.

The event had a special opening ceremony for Speedy Comics’ new store at Times Square Center on Saturday, Feb. 22. The opening ceremony was attended by Consul-General of Japan in Dubai, IMANISHI Jun and other guests.