Shiori Izawa

The voice nobody could figure out

Shiori Izawa doesn't have a standard voice. Her delivery moves away from the classic sweetness of anime in favor of a nasal, slightly raspy texture that makes her recognizable the moment she opens her mouth.

She debuted in 2007 with minor roles. It took her time to find a real foothold because her tone didn't fit the mold of the perfect leading heroine of the era. Yet that very oddity is what ultimately secured her professional career.

In 2010, she appeared in Sound of the Sky as Kanata. It was her first real taste of massive media exposure. Sound directors began to notice that Izawa worked best when her character had a strange edge or a not entirely human nature.

And then Nanachi appeared.

The phenomenon of non-human celebrities

In 2017, her career took a turn thanks to Made in Abyss. Playing a being with such a heavy emotional burden and an animal design required a fragility that only her voice could convey, with that mix of exhaustion and tenderness.

That role earned her unanimous acclaim from critics and genre fans. Rather than being typecast in drama, however, she pursued absurd comedy and pure action to avoid professional stagnation.

In 2022, she voiced Pochita in Chainsaw Man. It was a minimalist job in which expressiveness depended on guttural sounds and metallic barks. Even so, she made a small chainsaw devil feel like the emotional heart of the entire series.

The Japanese industry now considers her a specialist in the impossible.

The technique behind the strange voice

Izawa isn't limited to traditional animation dubbing. Her work on radio programs and live events shows a professional who commands the airwaves and silences like few others in her generation.

Her real strength, however, lies in her ability to sound vulnerable while keeping that distinctive metallic tone. Because Shiori Izawa knows that vocal imperfection is what creates genuine empathy in viewers looking for something more than a pretty face.

In 2023, she voiced Pi-chan in KamiKatsu. She continues to build up credits in big-budget productions without giving up the independent projects that let her experiment with darker registers.

Betting on being different paid off.

In 2024, she renewed her contract with the agency Office Osawa after years with Early Wing. Her schedule for 2025 already includes three confirmed fantasy productions before the end of the first quarter of the year. In 2023 alone, she took part in more than fifteen different animation projects across series and films.