Nozomi Ōhashi
Description
Nozomi Ōhashi is a Japanese former child actress and singer who provided voice work for several anime productions during her career in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Born in Tokyo on May 9, 1999, she was affiliated with the Central Kodomo Gekidan talent agency and began her entertainment career at the age of three.
Ōhashi's career is most famously associated with the 2008 Studio Ghibli film Ponyo. For this project, she performed the film's theme song, Gake no Ue no Ponyo, as a duet with the group Fujioka Fujimaki, and also voiced the character Karen in the movie. The theme song became a massive hit in Japan, reaching number three on the Oricon charts and remaining in the top ten for ten consecutive weeks, a record for an artist under the age of ten at that time. Her success with the song led to an invitation to perform at the 59th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen in 2008, where she became the youngest participant in the history of the program.
Her work in anime voice acting extended beyond her role in Ponyo. In 2009, she landed her first leading voice role as the title character in the television anime series Cheburasha Arere?, based on the beloved Russian character. The series aired on TV Tokyo, and she later reprised the role for a new film adaptation of Cheburashka in 2010. The following year, she voiced the character Satoshi Kawaguchi in the 2010 anime film Detective Conan: The Lost Ship in the Sky. At a public dubbing event for the film, she expressed her joy at being able to appear in a series she loved.
In addition to her voice acting, Ōhashi appeared in numerous live-action television dramas, including Shiroi Haru, The Quiz Show, and Hagane no Onna. She also released a second single in 2011 titled Panda no Yume, which was officially adopted as the Panda Welcoming Song for Ueno Zoo.
At the end of March 2012, Nozomi Ōhashi retired from the entertainment industry to focus on her junior high school studies. According to a 2023 interview with her former collaborator Fujimaki Naoya, she graduated from university in the spring of 2022 and is employed in a field related to welfare. She remains retired from public life.
Ōhashi's career is most famously associated with the 2008 Studio Ghibli film Ponyo. For this project, she performed the film's theme song, Gake no Ue no Ponyo, as a duet with the group Fujioka Fujimaki, and also voiced the character Karen in the movie. The theme song became a massive hit in Japan, reaching number three on the Oricon charts and remaining in the top ten for ten consecutive weeks, a record for an artist under the age of ten at that time. Her success with the song led to an invitation to perform at the 59th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen in 2008, where she became the youngest participant in the history of the program.
Her work in anime voice acting extended beyond her role in Ponyo. In 2009, she landed her first leading voice role as the title character in the television anime series Cheburasha Arere?, based on the beloved Russian character. The series aired on TV Tokyo, and she later reprised the role for a new film adaptation of Cheburashka in 2010. The following year, she voiced the character Satoshi Kawaguchi in the 2010 anime film Detective Conan: The Lost Ship in the Sky. At a public dubbing event for the film, she expressed her joy at being able to appear in a series she loved.
In addition to her voice acting, Ōhashi appeared in numerous live-action television dramas, including Shiroi Haru, The Quiz Show, and Hagane no Onna. She also released a second single in 2011 titled Panda no Yume, which was officially adopted as the Panda Welcoming Song for Ueno Zoo.
At the end of March 2012, Nozomi Ōhashi retired from the entertainment industry to focus on her junior high school studies. According to a 2023 interview with her former collaborator Fujimaki Naoya, she graduated from university in the spring of 2022 and is employed in a field related to welfare. She remains retired from public life.
All Characters
- JapaneseAnime overview: Cheburashka Arere?