was a Japanese

idol star A teen idol is a celebrity with a large teenage fan base. Teen idols are generally young but are not necessarily teenagers themselves. An idol's popularity may be limited to teens, or may extend to all age groups. By region Asia East ...

and

voice actress Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

born in

Funabashi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 644,668 in 309,238 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . It is the Greater Tokyo Area's 7th most populat ...

, Chiba,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. She is mostly known for her lead role as the voice of Yumi Hanazono, the main character of the 1980s anime ''

Pastel Yumi, the Magic Idol is a magical girl anime series by Studio Pierrot. It was simultaneously released as a manga by Kiyoko Arai. The fourth magical girl series created by Studio Pierrot, Pastel Yumi also appears in a feature-length OVA as well as the '' Majokko C ...

''. Shiga attended and graduated from Funabashi Municipal High School, before enrolling overseas in the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

in 1989. While on a trip to

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

in November of that same year, Shiga was killed in a car accident near Flagstaff, when she was thrown from the vehicle due to the car rolling, as it swerved to avoid hitting a deer that jumped out in front of the car she was riding in. She died thirty-one days before her 20th birthday.

Biography

Idol and voice actress career

Shiga had a starring role as one of the children answering questions in the

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

quiz show ''Donna Mondai Q TV'' from 1984 to 1985. She performed the song ''Yume no Naka no Rondo'', which was used as the theme song for the July 1985

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...

'' Magical Princess Minky Momo: La Ronde in My Dream''. In 1986, Shiga played the role of Yumi Hanazono, the main character in '' Magical Idol Pastel Yumi''. Her single, ''Freesia no Shōnen'', was used as a theme song for the same series, and this helped her gain in popularity. After playing the role of Yumi and performing the theme song for the series, she officially made her debut as an idol singer under

Warner Pioneer , is a Japanese multinational corporation based in Tokyo, that specializes in digital entertainment products. The company was founded by Nozomu Matsumoto on January 1, 1938 in Tokyo as a radio and speaker repair shop. Its current president is ...

. The actual debut song as a singer is the song "Dream Rondo -Rondo-" released in 1985 by Victor Music Industry (now JVC Kenwood Victor Entertainment). This song was used as the theme song for the OVA ''Magical Princess Kanojo no Minkyomomo Yume no Naka no Rondo'' released in July 1985. After that, in ''Magical Idol Pastel Yumi'' (1986), she voiced the main character Yumi Hanazono, and was in charge of the theme song "Freesia no Shounen". For this reason, "Yume no Naka no Rondo -Rondo-" is now considered a pre-debut song. Shiga's only song to be listed on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

Top 100 Weekly Rankings is ''Freesia'', which ranked as high as #48 during the week of March 31, 1987. During the promotion of her second single, she appeared as a guest on the radio program "Kenji and Yasuko's Omoshiro Land" (Nippon Cultural Broadcasting). She stated that she had a calm voice for a female idol at the time.

Retirement from the entertainment industry

In April 1988, when Shiga entered university, she faced the problem of balancing her studies and activities in the entertainment industry, and retired from the entertainment industry. In August 1989, she went to study abroad at the

, in order to learn languages and jazz, which was her favorite music genre. At the 10th anniversary event of the founding of Studio Pierrot held in July of the same year, she temporarily returned and acted as a moderator. This is due to the fact that the production studio of ''Pastel Yumi'', which was the voice actor for the main character, was "Studio Pierrot", and the relationship was deep.

Death

On November 23, 1989 (24th Japan time), while Shiga was on a short trip with four friends after studying abroad, a deer jumped out in front of the car they were riding in on a freeway near

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ), known locally as Flag, is the county seat of Coconino County, Arizona, in the southwestern United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 76,831. Flagstaff is the principal city of the Coconino Cou ...

; in order to avoid hitting the deer, the driver suddenly turned the steering wheel while driving at a high speed, causing a traffic accident in which the car overturned. The four friends who were in the car were seriously injured, but survived. However, Shiga died instantly from bruises all over her body when she was thrown out of the car; she was 19 years old at the time of her death. Shiga was scheduled to return to Japan for the first time after her studies on December 3, one month before her 20th birthday. Shiga's body was cremated locally and the remains were returned to Japan in 1990.

Voice roles

* ''

'' series (Yumi Hanazono)

Music

Singles

;''Yume no Naka no Rondo'' :( EP)

Victor Entertainment is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Entertainment operates the RC ...

, KV-3068 ;''Freesia no Shōnen'' / ''Kane no Ribon de Rock-shite'' :(EP)

, L-1730 ;''Aoi Namida'' / ''Hishochi no Yakusoku'' :(EP) Warner Pioneer, L-1736 ;''Hikōki Kumo'' / ''Ame ni Nurete Ponytail'' :(EP) Warner Pioneer, L-1766 ;''Rainy Day Hello'' / ''Time for Love'' :(EP) Warner Pioneer, L-1819

Albums

;mariko (Warner Pioneer) :( LP) L-12579,

Cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

LKF-8129, released 1986-06-25 :( CD) 32XL-157, released 1986-07-25 :(CD) WPC6-8202, released 1996-04-25 :# ''Natsu yori Tōku made Suki'' :# ''Canvas'' :# ''Twilight Brooch'' :# ''Girl Friend'' :# ''Wonder in My Heart'' :# ''Shiokaze Station'' :# ''Taiyō ni Naritai'' :# ''Ame ni Nurete Ponytail'' :# ''Hishochi no Yakusoku'' :# ''Hikōki Kumo'' ;mariko+3 (Warner Pioneer) :(CD) WPC6-8202, released 1996-04-25 :# ''Natsu yori Tōku made Suki'' :# ''Canvas'' :# ''Twilight Brooch'' :# ''Girl Friend'' :# ''Wonder in My Heart'' :# ''Shiokaze Station'' :# ''Taiyō ni Naritai'' :# ''Ame ni Nurete Ponytail'' :# ''Hishochi no Yakusoku'' :# ''Hikōki Kumo'' :# ''Freesia no Shōnen'' :# ''Kane no Ribon de Rock-shite'' :# ''Aoi Namida''

Compilations

;''Haha to Ko no Dōyō no Kuni'' :(CD) 25L2-76 :All songs by Fusako Amachi except 3-4, which are by Mariko Shiga. :# ''Gomen Gomen no Uta'' :# ''Sasuke to Tomodachi'' :# ''Fumikiri de'' :# ''Yūhi no Uta'' :# ''Kumo no Mokumoku'' :# '' Halley Suisei'' :# ''Tabetemitai na'' :# ''Akai Pīman'' :# ''Kamisamatte Nannano'' :# ''Boku no Tōsan'' :# ''Yūyake ga Mieru kara'' :# ''Supermarket Blues'' ;Oshiete Idol Warner Music-hen ''Sono Ki ni Sasete'' :(CD) Warner Pioneer, PCD-1368/WQCL-78 :# ''Sentimental Mini Romance'' (Atsumi Kurasawa) :# ''Bye-bye Boy ni Shite Ageru'' (

Naomi Hosokawa Naomi Hosokawa (細川直美 ''Hosokawa Naomi''; real name: Chiho Katsurayama (葛山知保 ''Katsurayama Chiho''; born 18 June 1974 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese actress and singer. Filmography Films *''Shigure no Ki ...

) :# ''Futari wa Magic'' (Asuka Suita) :# ''Koi no Magnitude'' (Yoshimi Yokosuka) :# ''Sono Ki ni Sasete'' (Rie Hatada) :# ''My Boy'' (

Kumiko Takeda is a Japanese gravure model and actress. In the 1980s and 1990s she gained significant popularity with her topless and nude picture books, during which time she also performed in movies where she would do body revealing and sex scenes. Persona ...

) :# ''Chotto Henshin'' (Yasuko Obara) :# ''Honey Moon'' (A-cha) :# ''Ōenshiteru kara ne'' (

Miki Fujitani is a Japanese actress and former Idol Singer. In addition to her many live-action film and television roles, she had a prominent voice role as Kamiya Kaoru in the ''Rurouni Kenshin'' anime series, and as Chun-Li in '' Street Fighter II The M ...

) :# ''Cinderella Liberty mo Hecchara'' (

Youki Kudoh is a Japanese actress and singer. She won the award for best newcomer at the 6th Yokohama Film Festival for ''The Crazy Family (1984 film), The Crazy Family''. She also won the awards for best actress at the 16th Hochi Film Award and at the 199 ...

) :# ''

Sukeban Deka is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shinji Wada. It was serialized in ''Hana to Yume'' from 1975 to 1982 and collected into 22 volumes. has been adapted into three live-action television series, an original video ...

III Theme Song Medley'' (

Yui Asaka is a Japanese singer, idol and actress. She debuted with the single "Natsu Shojo" in 1985 under Warner Music Japan, and made her acting debut with main role in the third series of '' Sukeban Deka'' in 1987. Biography Yui was born in Miyazaki, ...

) :# ''Honmoku Rainy Blues'' (Kyōko Katō) :# ''Koibito-tachi no Nagai Yoru'' (Yuki Hoshino) :# ''Rainy Day Hello'' (Mariko Shiga) :# ''Jamaican Affair'' (Yuki Okazaki) :# ''Yūgure Bon Voyage'' (Mikako Hashimoto) :# ''Hana no yō ni'' (Miyuki Sugiura) ;''Emotion 20th Anniversary Theme Collection - OVA & Movie'' :(CD) Victor Entertainment, VICL-60938 ::Disc 1 :# ''Dallos no Theme'' (Horn Spectrum, from ''

Dallos is a science fiction OVA series released in 1983. It was conceptualized by Hisayuki Toriumi, who also wrote the script and directed it with Mamoru Oshii. It is widely considered not only the first OVA released but also the first animated dir ...

'') :# ''Yume no Naka no Rondo'' (Mariko Shiga, from '' Magical Princess Minky Momo: La Ronde in My Dream'') :# ''Active Heart'' (

Noriko Sakai is a Japanese singer and actress. Under her former stage name , Sakai released her first single, on February 5, 1987, nine days short of her sixteenth birthday. Over 40,000 copies of the single were sold. She is particularly popular in Hong Kong ...

, from ''

Gunbuster ''Gunbuster'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese original video animation (OVA) series produced by Bandai Visual, Victor Entertainment, and Gainax and released from October 1988 to July 1989. It was the directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, b ...

'') :# ''Try Again...'' (Noriko Sakai, from ''Gunbuster'') :# ''The Winner'' (

Miki Matsubara was a Japanese singer, songwriter, and television personality from Kishiwada, Osaka. She participated in the opening and ending theme songs of the TV anime '' Gu-Gu Ganmo'' under the name "Suzie Matsubara". Her 1979 debut song " Mayonaka no D ...

, from '' Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory'') :# ''Magic'' (Jacob Wheeler, from ''Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory'') :# ''Just Fallin' Love: Ikustu mo no Setsunai Yoru no Naka de'' (Ayako Udagawa, from ''

Dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

'') :# ''Kaze no Tsubasa'' (

Hitomi Mieno is a Japanese singer and screenwriter. She has released 17 singles and 11 albums since her debut in 1994. Several of her songs have been used as openings and endings of anime and radio dramas. She has also written the screenplays of various anim ...

, from '' Haou Taikei Ryuu Knight: Adeu's Legend'') :# ''Point 1'' (

Yumiko Takahashi is a Japanese actress and singer. She is nicknamed "Good-P" short for Good Personality. She has had prominent roles in a number of television series, feature films and stage productions. As a singer she has released ten albums. She has been repr ...

, from ''Haou Taikei Ryuu Knight: Adeu's Legend'') :# ''Toketeiku Yume no Hate ni'' (Yayoi Gotō, from '' Iria: Zeiram the Animation'') :# ''100mph no Yūki'' (

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and

Akiko Hiramatsu is a Japanese voice actress affiliated with Ken Production.Doi, Hitoshi.Hiramatsu Akiko. ''Seiyuu Database''. June 11, 2010. Accessed June 28, 2010. Filmography Anime OVA Films Video games Dubbing *'' Bootmen'' (Linda ( Sophie Lee)) *' ...

, from '' You're Under Arrest'') :# ''Arittake no Jōnetsu de'' (Sakiko Tamagawa and Akiko Hiramatsu, from ''You're Under Arrest'') :# ''After, in the Dark: Torch Song'' (

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and

Gabriela Robin is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer of soundtracks for anime series, video games, television dramas and movies. She has written scores for ''Cowboy Bebop'', ''Terror in Resonance'', '' Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' ...

, from ''

Macross Plus is a four-episode anime Original video animation, OVA and theatrical movie in the ''The Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Macross'' series. It was the first sequel to the original ''Macross'' television series that took place in the official ...

'') :# ''Inori no Asa'' (Miwako Saitō, from ''

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'') :# ''Omoide no Mori'' (Miwako Saitō, from ''Shamanic Princess'') :# ''Future Shock'' (cherry, from ''

Birdy the Mighty is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Yuki. His initial attempt with the story ran in Shogakukan's ''Shōnen Sunday Zōkan'' from 1985 to 1988, but it was eventually abandoned. Over a decade later, Yuki began a re ...

'') ::Disc 2 :# ''Ai, Oboete Imasu ka'' (long version) (

Mari Iijima is a Japanese actress and singer. She writes and produces most of her own music, and plays the piano and other instruments. After being signed to JVC Victor in 1982, Mari first became known for her voice-acting role as Lynn Minmay in the anime ...

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, from ''

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Soundtracks

;''Magical Princess Minky Momo: Yume no Naka no Rondo Ongakuhen'' :(LP) Victor Entertainment, JBX-25066 :(CD) Victor Entertainment, VDR-1073 ;''Magical Princess Minky Momo: Fenarinarsa Song Festival'' :(CD) Victor Entertainment, VDR-1085 ;Dendō Twin Series ''Magical Princess Minky Momo'' TV-ban OVA-ban :(CD) Victor Entertainment, VICL-60419/20 ;''Magical Idol Pastel Yumi Ongakuhen Vol.1'' :(LP) Warner Pioneer, K-10037 :(CD) Warner Pioneer, 30XL-149 ;''Magical Idol Pastel Yumi Ongakuhen Sōshūhen'' :(LP) Warner Pioneer, K-10038 :(CD) Warner Pioneer, 30XL-164 ;Natsukashi no Music Clip 42 ''Magical Idol Pastel Yumi'' :(CD)

Toshiba EMI , formerly , was one of Japan's leading music companies. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of British music company EMI Group Ltd. on June 30, 2007, after Toshiba sold off its previous 45% stake. Its CEO and president was Kazuhiko Koike. When ...

, TOCT-10402

Awards

In 2001, Shiga was

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award, an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication, publishing of creative work after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1 ...

awarded the "Natsukashi no Ongaku Daishō" at the 17th Annual OGUmen Awards for her song ''Rainy Day Hello''.

References

External links

Fansite dedicated to Mariko Shiga

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shiga Mariko 1969 births 1989 deaths Japanese women pop singers Japanese female idols Voice actors from Funabashi Voice actresses from Chiba Prefecture University of California, Riverside alumni Japanese Christians Road incident deaths in Arizona Japanese women television personalities Singers from Funabashi 20th-century Japanese actresses 20th-century Japanese women singers 20th-century Japanese singers