Inoue's vocal roles are usually female characters characterized as dignified, reserved, beautiful, kind, regal, mature or domestic. For example,
Belldandy, a goddess who is kind, compassionate and skilled at domestic tasks.
Kasumi Tendo is an older sister who has taken over domestic duties after the death of her mother, and who acts as a counterbalance to the more rambunctious members of her family. Notably, both Kasumi and Belldandy are almost parallels of each other due to their roles as domestics in a home which could explode into chaos at any moment. She also plays
Rune Venus in
El-Hazard, a princess and leader of her country; as well as Kazami Mizuho in
Please Teacher!, a sensible, strong-hearted alien agent in charge of observing humanity that ends up falling in love with an earthling. In the video game
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, she voices as Kirumi Tojo aka "The Ultimate Maid" A loyal and serious Ultimate who takes care of both chores and the students during the Killing School Semester, who goes by the saying "duty before self"; This role also exposes Kikuko's love of maids. When she thinks of maid characters, she always tends to imagine them as a lighthearted one, but Kirumi is definitely the type of an amazing perfectionist whose only cred is "selfless devotion". Inoue also said that she can be a little bit nervous playing as Kirumi in the official Artbook Character Profile. And on May 12, 2020, Kikuko cosplayed as Kirumi for Maid Day. She occasionally takes on roles which are more sultry, such as
Corvette in
Idol Project, a curvaceous dancer who flirts quite intensely with Mimu, the young heroine. In the
hentai OVA Ogenki Clinic she provides the voice of a sex-crazed nurse. She made a guest appearance at the 2007
Animazement anime convention in
Durham, North Carolina for an autograph and Q&A session. When asked her age, she often responds that she is only 17, which has become a
running gag at events as well as anime shows. At an
Otakon 2009 panel, she explained that the number 17 was an aesthetic choice. After voice acting Belldandy from the
Ah! My Goddess anime, subsequent chapters of the manga used Inoue's distinctive style as the basis for Belldandy's character. In 2016, at the
10th Seiyu Awards, she won the Kazue Takahashi Award for "the female performer who broadens the profession of voice acting in every form of media". Inoue is married, and has a daughter named
Honoka. Honoka uses Inoue as her stage "family" name and she is also a voice actress and singer. Inoue was good friends with fellow voice actress
Atsuko Tanaka, who died on August 20, 2024. ==Filmography==