Maki Saitō

Description
Maki Saitō is a Japanese voice actress born on January 28, 1979, in Tokyo, Japan. She is known for a career that began in the late 1990s, with her most prominent and enduring role being that of Anzu Masaki, the character known as Téa Gardner in some international versions, from the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. She is a freelancer and is also affiliated with the theatre company Alter Ego.

Saitō was discovered by talent scout Mitsuya Yuji while she was a student at the Yoyogi Animation School. She was previously represented by the agency Bring-up. Her first regular voice role, and the one that would define her career, came in the year 2000 when she was cast as Anzu Masaki in the long-running television anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. She continued to voice this character throughout the series, which ran for 224 episodes. Beyond the television series, Saitō reprised the role of Anzu in several other projects. These include the 2004 theatrical film Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie, the 2016 film Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Dark Side of Dimensions, and various video games based on the franchise as recently as 2022. Her connection to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise remains a significant part of her professional identity.

Outside of her work in the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe, Saitō has performed a variety of supporting roles in other anime series and original video animations (OVAs) during the early 2000s. She voiced the character Marina Konno in the 2001 OVA Good Morning Call. Her other television anime credits include the role of Aki Kagami in the 2004 series Aishiteruze Baby. That same year, she also played Elaine in the series Meine Liebe and provided voices for the series Gin'yuu Mokushiroku Meine Liebe wieder. Her other notable roles include Noriko Hata in the 2006 series Capeta, a High School Girl in an episode of Onegai My Melody from 2005, and a female student in the 2004 film The Place Promised in Our Early Days. Her work on stage includes a performance in the theatre company Alter Ego's third public presentation.

After 2006, Saitō's appearances in new television anime series became less frequent. However, her ongoing association with the character Anzu Masaki has continued to bring her work, primarily through reprising this signature role in new Yu-Gi-Oh! related projects and video games.
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