Atsuko Tanaka

Atsuko Tanaka died in 2024 after a screen career that spanned more than four decades. Born in 1962 in Maebashi, she worked as a Japanese voice actress and radio narrator active since 1980.

Tanaka's most iconic role was Motoko Kusanagi, the cyborg lead of the Ghost in the Shell movies and TV series. She also voiced Chun-Li in the Street Fighter III fighting games, Konan in Naruto, and Hanami, the special grade cursed spirit antagonist, in Jujutsu Kaisen.

Atsuko Tanaka voices Bayonetta in the Japanese version of her own game franchise. The role sits among a resume of iconic anime and game characters that also includes Lisa Lisa in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Karura in Utawarerumono.

Tanaka voiced Hanami, a plant-based special grade cursed spirit who serves as an antagonist during the Shibuya Incident arc, in the Japanese version of Jujutsu Kaisen. The performance came during the later years of her more than four-decade screen career, adding a monstrous, otherworldly role to a resume already filled with iconic villains.

Before turning to voice acting full time, Tanaka worked as an office employee in Tokyo and took extra roles at the Shochiku film studio. She studied at Ferris University near her hometown of Maebashi and later trained at a Tokyo announcing school before spending the rest of her career with the Mausu Promotion agency.