Shion Wakayama

Shion Wakayama joined the Himawari Theatre Group at the age of three and worked as a child actor in Japanese television drama long before she was a voice on anyone's screen. The move into voice acting came later, and her first lead was Aoi Aioi in the 2019 film Her Blue Sky, a part that needs a teenager who is angry and articulate at once.

What she has become known for is a lower, slightly grainy voice that does not sound like the standard anime ingenue, and a very good ear for flatness. Takina Inoue in Lycoris Recoil works because Wakayama refuses to soften her: the character is terse, precise and unimpressed, and the comedy comes from the gap between her delivery and everyone else's energy. Yume Minami in SSSS.Dynazenon runs on similar restraint.

Then came Momo Ayase in Dandadan in 2024, which is the opposite assignment: loud, fast, physical, a lead who has to shout her way through a paranormal comedy and then be tender in the same scene. It is the role that carried her name outside Japan, alongside game work including Ellen Joe in Zenless Zone Zero and Yunli in Honkai: Star Rail, neither of which is among the credits listed here. Her workload since has been heavy, with leads and one-line parts arriving in the same season.