Rie Kugimiya

Rie Kugimiya (born 1979) is a Japanese voice actress and singer, represented by the agency I'm Enterprise, and one of the few performers in the industry whose casting turned into a genre of its own. Fans call her the Queen of Tsundere, after a run that includes Shana in Shakugan no Shana, Louise in The Familiar of Zero, Nagi Sanzenin in Hayate the Combat Butler, Aria Holmes Kanzaki in Aria the Scarlet Ammo, Aguri Madoka in DokiDoki! PreCure and Taiga Aisaka in Toradora!. The archetype is a small, sharp-voiced girl whose affection arrives as aggression, and Kugimiya can make the switch inside a single line.

That would be a limiting reputation if the rest of the work were not so varied. She is Alphonse Elric in both Fullmetal Alchemist series, a boy whose soul is bound into a suit of armour and who has to sound gentle from inside it. She is Happy in Fairy Tail and Edens Zero, Kagura in Gintama, and Mametchi in the Tamagotchi films. In games she is Haruka Sawamura in the Yakuza series, Kiana Kaslana in Honkai Impact 3rd and Rise Kujikawa in Persona 4.

The Seiyu Awards arrived early. She was nominated at the first ceremony for Louise and for Kagura, shared the Best Supporting Actress prize with Mitsuki Saiga at the second, and won Best Actress at the third for Toradora! and Nabari no Ou. Alongside the leads there is a long list of supporting parts: Momo Nishimiya in Jujutsu Kaisen, Juuzou Suzuya in Tokyo Ghoul, Nora in Noragami, Tet in No Game No Life, Harley Quinn in Batman Ninja.