Minori Chihara (茅原実里)

Overview

Minori Chihara (born November 18, 1980) is a Japanese voice actress and singer, born in Utsunomiya, Tochigi and raised in Saitama. She is best known as Yuki Nagato in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and for roles such as Minami Iwasaki in Lucky Star, Chiaki Minami in Minami-ke, Kagura Tsuchimiya in Ga-Rei: Zero, Mitsuki Nase in Beyond the Boundary, Miku Izayoi in Date A Live, Kaori Nakaseko in Sound! Euphonium and Leon in The iDOLM@STER. Her signature songs include "Paradise Lost," "Terminated," "Yasashii Bōkyaku," "Self Producer," "Kyōkai no Kanata," "Michishirube" and "Amy." She won the Singing Award at the 2010 Seiyu Awards for "Yasashii Bōkyaku."

Career

Early years

Chihara once dreamed of becoming a manga artist, but gave it up after a submission was rejected in her last year of junior high. Her path to singing began when she won a karaoke contest at her high school festival. After graduating she kept auditioning, then entered a training school, where she sang the ending theme of the game Idol Janshi R. When a voice-actor talent course opened there, she switched to it to study acting.

From April to September 2003 she was an assistant on Mariko Kōda's radio program Kōda Mariko no GM, chosen by audition, which earned her lessons at the avex artist academy and led her to join the agency Axiv. In October 2003 she reached the final four of Pony Canyon's Voice Artist & Singer Audition but missed the grand prize.

2004-2006

She debuted as a voice actress in 2004 as Aya Natsume in Tenjho Tenge. In December she started her blog "minorhythm" and made her singing debut with the album Heroine on King Records on December 22. In 2005 she released her debut single and began radio programs, and held her first street live in Akihabara in October. Because her releases were one-offs, her singing career effectively paused; she learned guitar, played street lives and worked hard to find jobs.

In March 2006 her blog book minorhythm was published. In April she first voiced Yuki Nagato, which sent her popularity soaring. "Hare Hare Yukai," sung with Aya Hirano and Yūko Gotō, went gold and won the Theme Song Award (Radio Kansai Award) at Anime Kobe. On November 18 she announced her return to singing under Lantis.

2007-2009

On January 24, 2007, she released "Junpaku Sanctuary," resuming her solo career after a two-year hiatus. "Kimi ga Kureta Anohi" (June) debuted at No. 20 on Oricon and her first album Contact (October 24) at No. 11. She made her first solo appearance at Animelo Summer Live in 2007 and performed there every year through 2019 except 2016. In August she teased a major announcement at 115 stores nationwide, then held a press conference announcing the album, a PV collection and live shows. She also appeared at Anime Expo 2007 in Long Beach as a guest of honor, and released the PV DVD Message 01 in December.

In 2008 she held her first live tour, Contact (February-March), and her official fan club m.s.s. (Minori Smile Seasons) opened in April. On November 5 she released "Paradise Lost," the opening of Ga-Rei: Zero, in which she also starred; it was her first anime theme as a solo artist. Her second album Parade (November 26) set a personal record for first-week sales. In December she performed the Dream Stage concert in Taipei with Yui Sakakibara.

In 2009 "Keikenchi Sokujōjō," sung with Rina Satō and Marina Inoue for Minami-ke Okaeri, reached No. 10 on the Oricon weekly singles chart. She joined Lantis's new label GloryHeaven with the June single "Tomorrow's Chance," performed at Lucky Star in Budokan, the Symphony of Haruhi Suzumiya, her first Southeast Asian concert in Malaysia, her first outdoor live (Summer Camp) and released her first photo book, Crescendo, in October. The single "Precious One" followed in December.

2010-2015

She released the album Sing All Love (February 2010) and the single "Yasashii Bōkyaku," followed by "Freedom Dreamer," "Defection," "Key for Life," "Planet Patrol," "Terminated," the album D-Formation (February 2012), "Celestial Diva," "Zone//Alone" and "Self Producer." She voiced Mitsuki Nase in Beyond the Boundary (2013), Miku Izayoi in Date A Live II (2014) and Kaori Nakaseko in Sound! Euphonium (2015). Her contract with Avex Planning & Development expired at the end of March 2013, after which she moved to her own agency, M-Peace. In December 2012 she joined classical ensemble Crustacea on Crustacea Unification 3 Melody, whose closing track "Karenai Hana" she wrote and composed herself. In March 2015 she released the orchestral album Reincarnation and held a symphonic concert at NHK Hall in May.

2015-2021

She released the single "Koi" (November 2015), the album Innocent Age (April 2016), "SIXTH SENSE ADVENTURE" (December 2016), the album Minori with Strings Quartet (December 2017), "Michishirube" (January 2018), "Remained dream" (June 2018) along with the soundtrack to Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory, the album SPIRAL (September 2018), "Amy" and "Christmas Night" (2019), and the best album SANCTUARY II (February 2020). She went freelance in 2017.

On April 2, 2021, after the pandemic halted her work, she announced that she would pause singing at the end of the year while continuing as a voice actress, again going freelance. The single "Re:Contact" came out in November 2021.

2022 onward

In April 2022 she launched a YouTube channel, with a company founded by a former fan club staff member handling promotion and planning. The soundtrack to Merry's Strange Dream was released in December 2022.

On May 19, 2023 she announced her return to singing, starting with a free live at the Fujikawaguchiko 20th anniversary fireworks event on August 4, citing her bond with song and several strong offers. She stated that activity would be occasional rather than continuous. In March 2025 she released "Message," her first new song in four years, followed by "Kono Hoshi wa" in August 2025. New songs are distributed independently without a label, while video releases continue through Lantis.

Musical style

After returning to Lantis she initially performed many original, non-tie-up songs, and after "Paradise Lost" increasingly sang anime themes for her own roles. Her catalog includes string quartet and orchestral arrangements and collaborations with a classical ensemble, giving her work an acoustic and classical side. A guitar enthusiast, she calls her acoustic guitar "Go-kun." Her genres are anime music and J-pop.