Voice actress and singer Tomo Sakurai announced on her official website on Thursday that she is retiring from voice acting. She stated in her announcement that it has become more difficult for her to use her voice, and she decided to retire for that reason. She noted that she has been working in the entertainment industry for three decades, and will stop updating her homepage.

Sakurai has voiced such roles in anime as Mylene Flare Jenius in the various Macross 7 anime projects, Misao Makimachi in Rurouni Kenshin , Shayla-Shayla in El Hazard - The Magnificent World , Meimi Haneoka in Saint Tail , and Hinowa in Gintama .

She has also voiced roles in such anime as Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture (Sulia Gaudeamus), Lil' Red Riding Hood Cha-Cha (Marin), Shakugan no Shana (Chigusa Sakai), and Gall Force: The Revolution (Patty). Her most recent roles include Koushi in Ushio & Tora , and Mumei's mother in Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress .

She has also had a career in music, performing theme songs for such anime as Lemon Angel , Super Doll Licca-chan , My-Otome , and The World God Only Knows . She sang some of the Macross songs in the persona of Mylene Flare Jenius. Over the course of her career, she has released four singles and 16 albums.

Thanks to Christian Kaw and Gwyn Campbell for the news tip

[Via Buzzap]