Hoi, this is where I put all the interesting-to me, at least-Kalia trivia I manage to dig up.
The first is her name. Most people assume "Kalia" to have been derived from "Kali", the dark Hindu goddess of death and destruction, much as "Ifurita" was derived from "Ifreet". However, there is another possibility..."Kalia" was also the name of a Greco-Roman goddess (demigoddess?) of deceit, best known for pestering Odysseus/Ulysses at one point. So...both fit; maybe one, maybe the other, maybe both. I'd say it probably actually -was- "Kali", but the other one is interesting nonetheless.
Kalia's Japanese seiyuu is Yuka Imai, probably best known here as playing Otaru in Saber Marionette J, Inaho in Master of Mosquiton, and Wakaba (!) in Revolutionary Girl Utena. According to grandmaster of seiyuu Hitoshi Doi, Ms. Imai was born on September 19th, 1970, in Shizuoko, is 161 cm.tall, weighs 47 kg, and works for Gekidan Moonlight. More information can be found in the link, which is located in the links section (fancy that). There you'll find information about her appearances in oodles of magazines...if any of these were related to her role as Kalia, I'd appreciate it if someone could inform me as to which ones, and appreciate it even more if you were willing to sell/scan them. ^_^
Kalia's English seiyuu (who does a damn fine job, incidentally) is Melissa Williamson, who
also plays Nuriko (Fushigi Yuugi), Arshes Nei (Bastard!), Hilda/Rachell Sweet (Outlaw Star), Yuriko (Tokyo Revelation movie), Laurri (Battle Athletes OAVs), the second NAVI voice and other
incidental voices (Serial Experiments Lain), as well as roles in Red Hawk, Mobile Suit Gundam (the movie), and El Hazard: The Wanderers. I'm very interested in finding any photos or interviews which have been done with her, if anybody could provide some.
Another interesting piece of information is the lady to the left. Look unfamiliar? That's Ishiel Soel, the Priestess of Earth. She doesn't make an appearance in the El Hazard anime per se, but is in some of the radio dramas and plays a large role in the Sega Saturn game (which I now own, and can thus confirm that Ishiel is really, really cool. Screencaps and possibly her own shrine will follow). Interestingly, her character design appears to be the inspiration for Kalia's! Information about the dramas is naturally hard to come by here in the English-speaking world, but if anybody has scripts to some of the dramas where she appears, please let me know. Thanks to Erin for the heads-up on her and the original Ishiel pic, not to mention for linking to the Shrine. Now, if only she'd update her pages more often, or at least fix her e-mail. ;p
If anybody else knows any other nifty Kalia-related trivia, please
e-mail me and I'll gladly add it to the list with an accreditation.
Back to the Ruminations page, or just to the Shrine.