is a Japanese

voice actress Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

and singer affiliated with Early Wing. She debuted as a voice actress in 1999 and as singer in 2009 by releasing her first single "Day by Day / Shining Blue Rain" under the 5pb. Records label. She is also well known for giving voices to Chihaya Kisaragi in ''

THE IDOLM@STER is a Japanese media franchise that began in 2005 with a raising simulation and rhythm video game series created by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The series primarily centers on the career of a producer who works with a group of ...

'' (all related productions, except for '' IDOM@STER: Xenoglossia''), Kurisu Makise in ''

Steins;Gate ''Steins;Gate'' is a 2009 science fiction visual novel game developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus. It is the second game in the ''Science Adventure'' series, following ''Chaos;Head''. The story follows a group of students as they discover and develo ...

'', Tsubaki Yayoi in ''

BlazBlue ''BlazBlue'' is a fighting video game series developed and published in Japan by Arc System Works, and later localized in North America by Aksys Games and in Europe by Zen United. An anime adaptation aired in Autumn 2013. The series has sold 1.7 ...

'', and Ayumi Shinozaki in ''

Corpse Party is an adventure game, adventure, and dōjin soft video game series originally created by Makoto Kedōin and developed by Team GrisGris. The first game in the series was developed using the RPG Maker game development tool, software version RPG Tsu ...

''. She along with

Eri Kitamura is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She was previously affiliated with Early Wing, but is now a freelancer. She is known for voicing prominent roles in anime such as and Sayaka Miki in '' Puella Magi Madoka Magica'', Saya Otonashi in ''Bloo ...

formed the music unit Artery Vein which is also under the 5pb. label.

Biography

Early life

Born in Tokyo in 1977, Imai moved from Shibuya to Tokuyama City (currently Shūnan City) in

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). Y ...

, when she was eight years old. However, it is stated in her official profile that she was born in

. She has stated that she graduated from Tokuyama High School, was vagabond for around a year, before entering

Meiji University , abbreviated as Meiji (明治) or Meidai (明大'')'', is a private research university located in Chiyoda City, the heart of Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1881 as Meiji Law School (明治法律学校, ''Meiji Hōritsu Gakkō'') by three Meiji-er ...

's School of Arts and Letters, majoring in Drama and Theatre Arts. In late April 2020, she uploaded her Youtube channel.

Career

In 1998, Imai won the Grand Prize for the Voice Actress category at the ENIX Anime Awards (エニックスアニメ大賞) while she was still studying. Subsequently, she debuted in the following year in the drama CD ''Toki no Daichi〜Hana no Ōkoku no Majo〜''. In 2001, she was chosen as an assistant of the radio show, ''Tomokazu・Miki's Radio Big Bang''. At one point of time in 2006, Imai once thought of giving up her job as a voice actress, but could not bear to leave the voice acting of her role as Chihaya Kisaragi in ''

The Idolmaster is a Japanese media franchise that began in 2005 with a raising simulation and rhythm video game series created by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The series primarily centers on the career of a producer who works with a group of p ...

'' to others. Imai left her agency ArtsVision on April 5, 2007. She then free-lanced under the agency Kaleidoscope for 7 months. On April 22, 2009, Imai released her first major debut single, "Day by Day / Shining Blue Rain" under the 5pb. Records label. In the same year, she transferred to her current agency, Early Wing on December 1. She landed her first lead role as Kiiko Kawakami in the OVA '' Kuttsukiboshi'' in 2010. As she began expanding her singing career, she held her first solo live concert on December 25, 2010, and has since held concerts around the period of her birthday in May, as well as December. On April 18, 2012, Imai was awarded the Best Female Character Voice award at the

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

Awards in 2011. Imai is one of two members of the musical duo Artery Vein, along with

. The unit mainly performs theme songs for the ''

'' series. Imai's song "World-Line" is used as the second ending theme to the 2018 anime series '' Steins;Gate 0''. Her song "Believe in Sky" was used as the opening theme to the 2019 anime series ''

Pastel Memories was a Japanese role-playing video game developed by FuRyu. It was released in Japan on October 23, 2017 for Android and iOS devices. The game's service ended on August 6, 2019. An anime television series adaptation by Project No.9 aired ...

''.

Filmography

Animation

Film

Live action

*''

Ultraseven X is the 20th entry in the Tsuburaya Productions' long-running Ultra Series. It is a revival of the 1967 series ''Ultraseven'', and is the first in Tsuburaya Productions' ''Ultra'' hero series to be exclusively for an adult audience and in a wide s ...

'' (2007): Soul of Light (ep 6.)

Video games

Drama CD

Dubbing

*''

The Summit of the Gods is a manga series written and illustrated by Jiro Taniguchi. Based on a 1998 novel by Baku Yumemakura, it follows Fukamachi, a photographer who finds a camera supposedly belonging to George Mallory, a mountaineer who went missing on Mount E ...

'' (Ryoko Kishi)

Discography

Asami Imai

Solo Singles

* "Day by Day /Shining Blue Rain", released April 22, 2009 * "Strawberry 〜Amaku Setsunai Namida〜", released October 21, 2009 * "Horizon", released April 21, 2010 * "Shangri-La", released July 22, 2010 * "Frame Goshi no Koi", released February 23, 2011 * "Enrai", released May 25, 2011 * "Hana no Saku Basho", released August 3, 2011 * "Hasta La Vista", released April 25, 2012 * "Limited Love", released July 25, 2012 * "Dear Darling", released March 27, 2013 * "Hoshikuzu no Ring", released June 26, 2013 * "Shikkoku no Sustain", released March 26, 2014 * "Tsuioku no Itoguruma", released July 30, 2014 * "Venus no Harmonia", released August 27, 2014 * "Asayake no Starmine", released June 3, 2015 * "BABYLON 〜 before the daybreak", released July 22, 2015 * "Sabaku no Ame", released July 27, 2016 * "Reunion -Once Again-", released October 26, 2016 * "World-Line", released August 29, 2018 * "Niji", released September 9, 2018 (Fan-club single) * "Believe in Sky", releases January 30, 2019 * "Kimi no Koe no Kazu dake ~Can be strong~", released August 26, 2020 (Fan-club single)

Mini-Albums

* "Flow of Time", released November 27, 2019

Solo albums

* "COLOR SANCTUARY", released November 23, 2010 * "Aroma of happiness", released November 30, 2011 * "Precious Sounds", released November 28, 2012 * "Kono Kumo no Hate", released November 27, 2013 * "little legacy", released November 26, 2014 * "Words of GRACE", released February 24, 2016 * "rinascita", released May 16, 2017 * "Gene of the earth", released November 25, 2020 * "Balancing Journey", released December 22, 2021

ARTERY VEIN

Singles

* "Confutatis no Inori", released August 25, 2010 * "Last Judgement", released April 20, 2011 * "Pandora no Yoru", released August 24, 2011 * "Kagerou", released August 8, 2012

Albums

* "ARTERY VEIN", released March 7, 2012

References

External links

* at 5pb records. * at 5pb. records * {{DEFAULTSORT:Imai, Asami 1977 births Living people Anime singers Japanese video game actresses Japanese voice actresses Meiji University alumni Singers from Tokyo Voice actresses from Tokyo 21st-century Japanese actresses 21st-century Japanese singers 21st-century Japanese women singers Japanese female YouTubers Japanese YouTubers