Kumiko Takizawa was a Japanese voice actress born on August 21, 1952, in Tokyo, Japan. She passed away on June 11, 2022, at the age of 69. Her career in the anime industry spanned over four decades, from the late 1970s until 2022.

Takizawa's filmography is extensive, featuring a wide range of roles in anime television series, films, and OVAs throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Some of her earliest known roles from 1977 included the title character Temple Farmer, also known as Temple-chan, in the series Fuusen Shoujo Temple-chan. In 1979, she provided the voice for Sakura in the series Zenderman. During the early 1980s, she took on prominent roles such as Rui in Six God Combination Godmars (1981), and Elena Fubuki in the film Techno Police 21C (1982). A significant role from this period was voicing Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, in the 1982 anime film The Wizard of Oz. She also voiced Shaia Tove in The Super Dimension Century Orguss (1983) and Lucchina Pleshette in Ginga Hyōryū Vifam (1983).

Throughout the mid-to-late 1980s, Takizawa continued to build her career with diverse characters. She played Lotta Kuusela in Katri, the Cow Girl (1984), Madoka Nagasaki in Miss Machiko (1981-1983), and Betty Valentine in Itoshi no Betty Mamonogatari (1986). She was also the voice of Minako Tamura and the narrator for the series Idol Densetsu Eriko (1989). Her roles extended to darker material, appearing in the Chōjin Densetsu Urotsukidōji series as Asura and Pedro. She also voiced a mother character in Ore wa Chokkaku (1981), Shige Kitabatake in Raiyantsūrii no Uta (1994), and Omokagedayuu in Shinshū Sudamahen (1988).

In the 1990s, she landed one of her most celebrated roles as Grandis Granva in the beloved series Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990-1991). She also voiced Akemi Tamano in Wedding Peach (1995) and Sawako Sawanoguchi in the Magic User's Club series (1996-1997). Her work in the new millennium included roles in Ghost Stories as Hajime's Mother (2000) and as Yuiko Komi in Komi Can't Communicate (2021), one of her final roles.

Beyond anime, Takizawa was highly active in voice dubbing for foreign films and television series. She was the Japanese voice for iconic characters such as Gizmo in Gremlins and Newt in the 1988 Japanese dub of Aliens. She also provided the voice for Frigga in the Japanese dubs of several Marvel Cinematic Universe films, including Thor and Avengers: Endgame. Other notable dubbing roles included Nora Carpenter in Final Destination 2 and Ellis Grey in Grey's Anatomy.

Kumiko Takizawa left behind a substantial legacy of work, with over 200 roles credited across her long and productive career, making her a familiar and respected presence in the world of Japanese voice acting.