was a Japanese actress and singer. She was the only child of actor Masaki Kanda and pop singer

Seiko Matsuda , known professionally as , is a Japanese pop singer and songwriter, known for being one of the most popular Japanese idols of the 1980s. Since then, she is still actively releasing new singles and albums, doing annual summer concert tours, win ...

Early life

Kanda was born in

Chiyoda, Tokyo is a special ward located in central Tokyo, Japan. It is known as Chiyoda City in English.Profile< ...

. She was the only child of actor Masaki Kanda and

. Her paternal grandmother Teruko Asahi (1924–2001) was a former actress.

Career

In 1999, while a student at a Japanese school in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, she appeared in ''Bean Cake'', a

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

that won the Palme d'Or du court métrage at the

2001 Cannes Film Festival The 54th Cannes Film Festival started on 14 May and ran until 20 May 2001. Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullmann was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the Italian film ''The Son's Room'' by Nanni Moretti. The festival opened with ...

. She was quite active as an actress in movies and mostly on stage since her debut. She also wrote some lyrics for her mother Seiko Matsuda's songs. Kanda made her ''

Kōhaku Uta Gassen , more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK net ...

'' debut in December 2011 singing "

Ue o Muite Arukō , alternatively titled "Sukiyaki", is a song by Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto, first released in Japan in 1961. The song topped the charts in a number of countries, including the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1963. The song grew to become one o ...

" alongside her mother, Seiko Matsuda. In July 2012, Kanda debuted as a voice actress on TV animation ''

Good Luck Girl! ''Good Luck Girl!'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshiaki Sukeno. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Jump Square'' from June 2008 to July 2013, with its chapters co ...

'', which led her to be cast as

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...

in the Japanese language dub of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's animated film '' Frozen''. She won the Best Lead Actress award for the role in the

9th Seiyu Awards The 9th Seiyu Awards ceremony was held on March 7, 2015 at the JOQR Media Plus Hall in Minato, Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. For ...

. In 2019, she voiced as Anna once again for ''

Kingdom Hearts III is a 2019 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch. It is the twelfth installment in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series, and serves as a conclusion of the ...

''. In April 2014, she formed the duo Trustrick with guitarist Billy. They released their debut album, ''Eternity'', on June 25 of the same year. They disbanded on 17 December 2016. Kanda appeared as a special guest in the Alan Symphony Concert from December 20, 2014 alongside Tibetan Chinese diva

Alan Dawa Dolma Alan Dawa Dolma (; ; born on 25 July 1987), known professionally as Alan, is a Tibetan singer and she is known for her signature "Tibetan wail", often incorporated into her music. She is a graduate of the PLA Academy of Art, majoring in vocal m ...

, and together, they sang a music piece originally performed by Alan titled . Kanda released covers of

Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project led by Kenmochi Hideki at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, in 2000 and was not originally intended to b ...

songs on her

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel.

Personal life

In May 2017, Kanda married actor

Mitsu Murata is a Japanese actor, fashion model and DJ/music producer, best known for his roles as Douji in the 2005 tokusatsu series ''Kamen Rider Hibiki'' and Bishop in the 2008 series ''Kamen Rider Kiva''. As a DJ, Murata goes under the name "MITSUU", and ...

.Kanda Sayaka to marry actor Murata Mitsu , tokyohive.com
" ''Tokyohive''. 26 April 2017. Kanda announced their divorce in December 2019. Up until her death, Kanda was in a relationship with actor Takahisa Maeyama after co-starring in the stage adaptation of ''

Crest of the Royal Family is a shōjo manga by Chieko Hosokawa. It has run in the monthly magazine ''Princess'' since 1976. In 1991, it received the 36th Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo. As of 2015, the collected volumes had sold 40 million copies in Japan, making ...

'' in August 2021. Kanda and Maeyama had planned to marry.

Death

On December 18, 2021, Kanda was found unconscious in the outer garden on the fourteenth floor of a hotel in Chūō ward,

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The cause of death was determined to be traumatic shock by the Sapporo Central Police Station, which also said that she had fallen from her room in the upper floors of the hotel. Kanda's remains were cremated and her family kept her ashes at home. A report from ''

Shūkan Bunshun is a Japanese weekly news magazine (Shūkanshi) based in Tokyo, Japan, known for its investigative journalism and frequent clashes with the Japanese government. It is considered one of the most influential weekly magazines in the country. Histo ...

'' claimed she committed suicide following vocal cord issues as well as issues with her relationship with Maeyama.

Discography

Singles

* "Ever Since" (2002) * "Garden" (2003) * "Mizu Iro" (2004) * "Jōgen no Tsuki" (2005) with TRUSTRICK * "World's End Curtain Call -theme of DANGANRONPA THE STAGE-" (2014) * "FLYING FAFNIR" (2015) * "innocent promise" (2015) * "Recall THE END" (2016) * "DEAD OR LIE" (2016) duo with

Maon Kurosaki is a Japanese singer and songwriter signed to NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan. After being discovered while working as a performer in Akihabara, Tokyo, she made her major debut in 2010, performing ending themes to the anime television series ...

Digital Singles

* "LUVORATORRRRRY!" (2018) * "Good Morning, Polar Night" (2019) * "Roki" (2019) with TRUSTRICK * "On your marks!" (2014) as Yuna from "Sword Art Online" * "Ubiquitous dB" (2017) * "delete" (2017) * "Break Beat Bark!" (2017) * "longing" (2017) * "smile for you" (2017)

Albums

* ''Doll'' (2005) * ''Liberty'' (2011) with TRUSTRICK * ''Eternity'' (2014) * ''TRUST'' (2015) * ''TRICK'' (2016)

Mini-Albums

with TRUSTRICK *''未来系Answer E.P.'' (2015) *''beloved E.P.'' (2016)

Cover Albums

*MUSICALOID #38 (2018) *MUSICALOID #38 Act.2 (2019) *MUSICALOID #38 Act.3 (2021)

Compilation Albums

as Yuna from "Sword Art Online" *Sword Art Online the Movie : Ordinal Scale (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2017)

Filmography

Film

* ''Bean Cake'' (1999) * ''

Dragon Head is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Minetaro Mochizuki. It was published by Kodansha in ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from 1994 and 1999 and collected in ten ''tankōbon'' volumes. It was licensed in English by Tokyopop, wi ...

'' (2003) – Ako Seto * '' School Wars: Hero'' (2004) – Mitiyo Wada * ''Imadoki Japanese yo'' (2008) – Kyouko * '' Farewell, Kamen Rider Den-O: Final Countdown'' (2008) – Sora * ''Amazing Grace'' (2011) – Shizuku Asamizu * Geki×Cine ''Bara to Samurai'' (2011) – Pony de Bribon * ''

Real Girl ''Real Girl'' is the debut and only album by British singer Mutya Buena. It was released on 4 June 2007 via Universal Records, following her departure from UK girl group the Sugababes in December 2005. Singles "Real Girl", the album's lead s ...

'' (2018) – Ezomichi (voice)

Television drama

* ''Yankee Bokō ni Kaeru / Drop-out Teacher Returns to School'' ( TBS, 2003) – Nanae Koga * ''四分の一の絆'' (TBS, 2004) – Maiko Nisio * ''

Mito Kōmon is a Japanese ''jidaigeki'' or period drama that was on prime-time television from 1969 to 2011, making it the longest-running ''jidaigeki'' in Japanese television history. The title character is the historic Tokugawa Mitsukuni, former vice-''sh ...

'' (TBS, 2004, 2007) – Kozue, Osaki * ''たった一度の雪〜SAPPORO・1972年〜'' ( HBC, 2007) – Chiho Shimomura * ''Omotesando Koukou Gasshoubu!'' (TBS, 2015) – Emiri Seyama

Theater Performances

* ''

Into the Woods ''Into the Woods'' is a 1987 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story ...

'' (2004) –

Little Red Ridinghood "Little Red Riding Hood" is a European fairy tale about a young girl and a sly wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th century European folk tales. The two best known versions were written by Charles Perrault and the Broth ...

(credited as SAYAKA) * ''

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court in the Heian period. She is best known as the author of '' The Tale of Genji,'' widely considered to be one of the world's first novels, written in Japanese between abou ...

Story'' (2006, 2008) –

Empress Shōshi , also known as , the eldest daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga, was Empress of Japan from c. 1000 to c. 1011. Her father sent her to live in the Emperor Ichijō's harem at age 12. Because of his power, influence and political machinations she qui ...

* '' The Woman in White'' (2007) – Laura Fairlie * ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'' (2007-2009) – Peaseblossom * ''

'' (2008) – Hermia * ''

Love Letters A love letter is an expression of love in written form. However delivered, the letter may be anything from a short and simple message of love to a lengthy explanation and description of feelings. History One of the oldest references to a l ...

'' (2008–2010) – Melissa * '' Grease'' (2008) – Sandy * ''

She Loves Me ''She Loves Me'' is a musical with a book by Joe Masteroff, music by Jerry Bock, and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. The musical is the third adaptation of the 1937 play '' Parfumerie'' by Hungarian playwright Miklós László, following the 1940 fil ...

'' (2009–2010) – Amalia Balash * ''Bara to Samurai〜Goemon Rock OverDrive'' (2010) – Pony de Bribon * '' Les Miserables'' (2009–2011) –

Cosette Cosette () is a fictional character in the 1862 novel ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo and in the many adaptations of the story for stage, film, and television. Her birth name, Euphrasie, is only mentioned briefly. As the orphaned child of an u ...

* ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...

'' (2009–2011, 2017) –

Wendy Darling Wendy Moira Angela Darling is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists of the 1904 play and 1911 novel ''Peter and Wendy'' by J. M. Barrie, as well as in most adaptations in other media. Her exact age is not specified in the origina ...

* ''

The Fantasticks ''The Fantasticks'' is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the 1894 play ''The Romancers'' (''Les Romanesques'') by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neigh ...

'' (2010) – Luisa * '' Endless SHOCK'' (2012) – Rika * ''

Anne of Green Gables ''Anne of Green Gables'' is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery (published as L. M. Montgomery). Written for all ages, it has been considered a classic children's novel since the mid-20th century. Set in the late 19th century, t ...

'' (2012) –

Anne Shirley Anne Shirley is a fictional character introduced in the 1908 novel '' Anne of Green Gables'' by L. M. Montgomery. Shirley is featured throughout the classic book series, which revolve around her life and family in 19th and 20th-century Prince Edw ...

* '' Himeyuri'' (2012–2014) – Kimi * '' Dance of the Vampires'' (2015–2020) – Sarah * '' Danganronpa The Stage'' (2014–2016) – Mukuro Ikusaba and

Junko Enoshima is a fictional character and the primary overarching antagonist of Spike Chunsoft's '' Danganronpa'' series. Junko is featured as the main antagonist and mastermind in the first two games of the series as the true identity of the robotic teddy ...

* '' Super Danganronpa 2 The Stage'' (2015–2017) –

* '' 1789: Les Amants de la Bastille'' (2016–2018) – Olympe * ''

Legally Blonde ''Legally Blonde'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic in his List of directorial debuts, feature-length directorial debut, and scripted by Karen McCullah, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith (writer), Kirsten Smith from ...

'' (2017–2019) –

Elle Woods Elle Woods is the protagonist of Amanda Brown's 2001 novel ''Legally Blonde'' and the 2001 film of the same name as well as the 2003 sequel, '' Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde''. Woods is also the protagonist of the 2007 Broadway adapt ...

* ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the ...

'' (2017) – Hodel * ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons f ...

'' (2018-2021) –

Eliza Doolittle Eliza Doolittle is a fictional character and the protagonist in George Bernard Shaw's play ''Pygmalion'' (1913) and its 1956 musical adaptation, ''My Fair Lady''. Eliza (from Lisson Grove, London) is a Cockney flower woman, who comes to Profe ...

* ''SHOW BOY'' (2019) * ''

Rose's Dilemma ''Rose's Dilemma'' is the final play written by Neil Simon. It ran in Los Angeles and off-Broadway in 2003. Productions The play was produced off-Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center's Stage 1. It ran from November 20, 2003 unti ...

'' (2021) – Arlene * ''

'' (2021) – Carol Reed

Japanese dub

* '' Frozen'' (2013) –

* ''

Ralph Breaks the Internet ''Ralph Breaks the Internet'' is a 2018 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 57th animated film produced by the studio and the sequel to ...

'' (2018) – Anna * ''

Frozen II ''Frozen 2'' (stylized as ''Frozen II'') is a 2019 American computer-animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 58th animated film produced by the st ...

'' (2019) – Anna

Theatrical animation

* ''

GAMBA Gamba or Gambas may refer to: Geography *Gamba, Gabon, a port **Gamba Airport in Gamba, Gabon *Gamba, Chad, a town *Gamba County, Tibet People *Gamba (surname) *Gamba (footballer) (Carlos Alberto Gambarotta; 1893–1944), Brazilian footballer Ot ...

'' (2015) – Shioji * '' Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale'' (2017) – Yuna * '' Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love'' (2017)

Television animation

* ''

'' (2012) – Nadeshiko Adenokouji * ''

Unlimited Fafnir ''Unlimited Fafnir'', originally titled is a Japanese light novel series written by Tsukasa and illustrated by Riko Korie. Kodansha has published fifteen volumes from July 2013 to November 2017 under their Kodansha Ranobe Bunko imprint. A ...

'' (2015) – Miyako Shinomiya * '' Convenience Store Boy Friends'' (2017) – Miharu Mashiki * ''

'' (2018) – Ezomichi * '' Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld'' (2020) – Yuna * '' Idoly Pride'' (2021) – Mana Nagase

Video games

* '' Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony'' (2017) – Kaede Akamatsu * '' Let It Die'' (2017) – Kiwako Seto * ''

'' (2019) – Anna * '' Accel World vs. Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight'' (2017) - Yuna * '' Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet'' (2018) - Yuna

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kanda, Sayaka 1986 births 2021 deaths 2021 suicides 20th-century Japanese actresses 21st-century Japanese actresses 21st-century Japanese women singers 21st-century Japanese singers Deaths from falls Japanese female YouTubers Japanese YouTubers Japanese film actresses Japanese idols Japanese television actresses Japanese television personalities Japanese video game actresses Japanese voice actresses Japanese women pop singers Musicians from Setagaya Music YouTubers Singers from Tokyo Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists Voice actresses from Setagaya Voice actresses from Tokyo Metropolis Suicides by jumping in Japan Female suicides