Yuki’s Vocalists
This page lists the vocalists who have performed songs written by Yuki Kajiura.
Projects
Kalafina – A project started by Yuki Kajiura in 2007 for the main themes of the seven films in the Kara no Kyoukai series. The first two vocalists revealed were Keiko Kubota and Wakana Ootaki, both vocalists in the FictionJunction project. Later, Maya and Hikaru were identified as the third and fourth vocalists.
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FictionJunction Project – Yuki’s solo project which involves Kaori Oda, Yuuka Nanri, Asuka Kato, Yuriko Kaida, Wakana Ootaki and Keiko Kubota. Their music has been heard as OP/ED and insert themes of Tsubasa Chronicle, El Cazador, Elemental Gelade and other animes.
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See-Saw – Began in 1993 as a three-member group consisting of Yukiko Nishioka, Chiaki Ishikawa and our Yuki Kajiura. In April 1994, Yukiko left the group to continue her writing career. From 1995 until 2001, the group was separated. Officially, the group is still in activity but their last work is the single Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru (as the 4th ending theme of the anime Gundam Seed Destiny) released in August 2005. Since this date, Chiaki wrote 7 singles and 3 albums.
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Others
Saeko Chiba – Yuki Kajiura’s collaboration with the seiyuu/singer Chiba Saeko between 1999 and 2005, which released 7 singles and 2 albums.
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Individual Vocalists
Arisaka, Mika
有坂美香 Born June 28, 1974
Mika Arisaka is a Japanese-American Singer and vocalist. She is a member of Reggae Disco Rockers and also has a solo career. With Yuki, she performed the second ending theme of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny “Life Goes On” as well as “Toki no Sabaku”. The single Life Goes On was ranked top in Oricon daily single chart on first day of its release, and later ranked fourth in Oricon weekly single chart that same week.
Mika’s JVC Official Site
Bindiger, Emily
Born May 10, 1955
Yuki’s most prominent English vocalist. She lives in New York, and performs in an a-capella group known as The Accidentals. She has been heard in .hack//sign, on Fiction, in El Cazador and Pandora Hearts. A song (the ending theme) heard in the flash story ‘Xenosaga: a Missing Year’ published by Namco is thought to have been sung by Emily, but no soundtrack record exists. Emily performed with Yuki Kajiura on her visit to Anime Expo in 2003.
Official Site
Chiba, Saeko
千葉紗子. Born August 26, 1977
Originally a part of Tiaraway along with Nanri Yuuka. Yuki has been writing and producing Saeko’s albums for several years, and is most well known for her most recent single (2004), Sayonara Solitia, the ending theme for Chrno Crusade which can also be heard on her album, ‘Everything’.
Official Site
Cumberbatch, Tulivu-Donna Lynn
Birth date unknown
Tulivu is her African name, and her father, the baritone saxophone player Harold Cumberbatch named her Donna Lynn. She recieved a professional formation, sang in choirs in school and church. She sang in West Africa, Europe, Canada, Carribbean but mostly in New York. Donna Lynn sang Lullaby for Yuki in the japanese version of FICTION but also for another composer: Yoko Kanno. Now, Tulivu is working with the Harlem Renaissance Orchestra, the Ray Abrams Big Band, the Cliff Smalls Septet, the Brooklyn Repertory Ensemble, and her Magnificent Trio.
Curtis, Emily
Birth bate unknown
Emily Curtis, a New York City native singer and song writer, began studying music in early childhood and studied the piano at the High School of Performing Arts, where she also played cello and bass in student orchestras. Later, in college, she also learned playing guitar and composing songs. In 1999, Emily released her independent CD, “Radiate”, while in 2002 her second, self-titled album. Outside of United States, Emily Curtis collaborated with the japanese composer Yoko Kanno on the “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG” soundtrack, as well as with Yuki Kajiura by singing the ending theme, “maybe tomorrow~ending medley”, for the video game “Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra”.
Official site
Dorn, Margaret
Birth date unknown
Leader of The Accidentals, wherein Emily Bindiger belongs to, Margaret sings, writes and composes music. She does a lot of live performances with her group. She performed the background vocals for other artists notably in the album One Heart sung by Celine Dion. She is the choir director and a soloist for the Downtown Messiah. We can hear her voice in Xenosaga II Movie scene soundtrack.
Hayashibara, Megumi
林原 めぐみ Born March 30, 1967
She’s a Japanese voice actress, singer and radio personality.
She is best known for her roles in Neon Genesis Evangelion (Rei Ayanami), Cowboy Bebop (Faye Valentine) and Slayers (Lina Inverse)
Her sole collaboration with Yuki is “Daikirai” from her 11th studio album “Center Color”.
Hikita, Kaori
引田香織. Born March 5, 1986
Japanese singer, she began her career with two singles composed by Yuki: Michiyuki (ending theme of Loveless) and Egao no Wake (opening theme of Shonen Onmyouji). She sings the ending themes of the OVA Tales of Symphonia and the anime Hatenkou Yuugi (Dazzle). Her most recent performance is the ending theme of the anime Amatsuki, Namae no Nai Michi composed by Yuki Kajiura.
Official Blog
Hisakawa, Aya
久川綾. Born November 12, 1968
Aya Hisakawa is a japanese seiyuu and singer.She is best known for dubbing Sailor Mercury in “Sailor Moon”.
Aya dubbed the characters of Chloe, Limelda Jorg and Jody Hayward from the anime Noir, Madlax and El Cazador de la Bruja , for which Yuki composed the music. She performed the Japanese version of “secret game”: Himitsu (included in the NOIR blanc dans NOIR album), composed by Yuki.
Inoue, Marina
井上麻里奈. Born January 20, 1985
Winner of Sony’s “Gonna be a Star” contest. The prize was a starring role in the OVA ‘Le Portrait de Petite Cossette’ and getting to sing the ending and insert songs ‘Houseki’ and ‘Ballad’, written by Yuki Kajiura. Since then she has voiced many minor roles in various animes.
Official Site
Ishikawa, Chiaki
石川智晶. Born March 29, 1969
Changed her name from 石川 知亜紀 (same pronunciation) in 2005. She is the singing half of the current See-Saw. Her voice has been heard extensively in the background music of the .hack// series, as well as two ending themes for Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny. Recently, she’s been working solo on singles such as ‘Uninstall’ from Bokurano, and has also written songs for other vocalists. She attended Anime Expo 2007 where she performed solo.
Official Site
Isono, Tarako
磯野鱈子. Born December 17, 1960
Not only seiyuu, but Tarako is also singer and songwriter. She was born in Ota (Gunma Prefecture) and is working in Troubadour Musique Office. In the anime NOIR, she dubbed Altena. Among all the songs composed by Yuki, only one is performed by Tarako : lullaby – japanese version in 2001 on NOIR blanc dans NOIR. She has released 10 albums and her last one was in 1995, entitled Wai.
Official Site: Troubadour Musique Office
Itoh, Eri
伊東恵里. Birth date unknown
First collaborated with Yuki on the Tsubasa Chronicle Soundtracks, and later heard in Xenosaga III. While working with Yuki, she tends to have a multi-layered choirlike voice. Her wailing solo voice can be heard in ‘Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu’ from Sega Saturn game Panzer Dragoon Saga, and ‘Anu Orta Veniya’ from Panzer Dragoon Orta for Xbox. Her website and blog formerly located at eri-itoh.com disappeared some time in 2006, and is now located on nifty.com.
Official Blog
Kaida, Yuriko
貝田由里子. Born November 1, 19xx
Trained at Kunitachi College of Music, after graduation, she became a studio/live musician, providing vocals and backing chorus to numerous artists in record studios and on tours. Yuriko Kaida is a long-time Kajiura vocalist, they first met on NOIR project in 2001. Indeed, she is the singer of the songs which made Yuki break into the anime world : Canta per Me, Lullaby and Salva Nos. Whether it be on the chorus or as a main vocal, it is not rare to hear Yuriko Kaida’s voice into Yuki’s works. She is also performing in Yuki Kajiura LIVE vol.#1, 2, 3 and will sing in the fourth one this summer. In addition, she has composed some of the theme songs of Medabots and Ojamajo Doremi. On FictionJunction’s latest release, Everlasting Songs, she performs lead vocals on “here we stand in the morning dew” (originally performed by Saeko Chiba in Everything ) and “Himitsu” (originally performed by Aya Hisakawa in NOIR blanc dans NOIR), as well as providing backing vocals throughout the album.
Kato, Asuka
加藤あすか. Bron August 28, 19xx
As a singer, she participated in the FictionJunction project, and performed everlasting song, an insert song of the anime Erementar Gerad. The only single of FictionJunction ASUKA, everlasting song was released in july 2005. Among the four versions of the song contained in the single, there is a Japanese version instead of the english one heard in the anime. As a songwriter and singer, she released a maxi single called Daisakusen! in August 2000 and another one a.i. in February 2001.
Official Site | myspace account
Kikuchi, Mika
菊地 美香 Born December 16, 1983
Mika Kikuchi is a Japanese actress and voice actress. She’s best know for her role as Mokona Modoki in Tsubasa Chronicles and xxxholic. She sang her own version of “Hoshi ga Kanaderu Monogatari”, composed by Yuki, from the anime Mai Otome.
Kondo, Mihoko
近籐未穂子, Born April 22 , 1990
Mihoko Kondo is a Japanese actress and singer, best known for playing the role of Kazumi Asakura in the live-action adaption of the manga and anime series Mahou Sensei Negima. Her only collaboration with Yuki is the song Endless Sky, which she sang together with her fellow co-star Sara Wakatsuki.
Koshimizu, Ami
小清水亜美. Born Febrary 15, 1986
Nina Wang is the character she dubbed in the anime My-Otome and Tenma Tsukamoto, the heroine of the anime School Rumble. Ami is mostly a seiyuu but she also performed Storm, the ending theme of My-Otome OAV and Hoshi ga kanaderu monogatari in My-Otome original sound track 2. She already released her first album, but there were no songs composed by Yuki.
Official Site
Kubota, Keiko
窪田啓子. Born December 5, 1985
Unlike most of Yuki’s vocalists, Keiko sings with a deep low voice in Yuki’s compositions. As FictionJunction KEIKO, she sang Kaze no Machi e, an insert song of the anime Tsubasa Chronicle, and lately, contributed to lead vocals on FictionJunction’s Everlasting Songs album. As Kalafina, she is part of the main vocals and performed the seven themes of Kara no Kyoukai. She was also present on Yuki Kajiura LIVE vol#1, 2, 3 and will perform on the fourth one this summer. She is a former member of Itokubo, a duo with Ito Ayaka.
Official Site: FictionJunction | Official Site: Kalafina | Official Blog
Kuwashima, Houko
桑島法子. Born December 12, 1975
A famous seiyuu, Kuwashima Houko dubbed Margaret in Madlax and Kirika in Noir, for which their OSTs were composed by Yuki. If you have seen Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, she played the role of Flay and Stella.In addition, she sang Shinkai no Kodoku, an insert song in Gundam Seed Destiny composed by Yuki. She also performed the Japanese version of Canta Per Me and well as the song Aime moi (included in the NOIR blanc dans NOIR album). She has also released some solo albums, one of them, Junsyoku brilliant also contains the 3 aforementioned songs composed by Yuki.
Official Site
Lyons, Deb
Birth date unknown
Deb Lyons has performed on Fiction, and her most well-known work with Yuki Kajiura is the Image Theme of Xenosaga II and all its various incarnations throughout the soundtrack of Episode II and III. She is friends with Emily Bindiger and they have also performed together.
Official Site
Maya
Birth date unknown
Maya was chosen along with Hikaru, from an audition of 30,000 participants held by Sony Music Japan and Yuki Kajiura, and in May 2008, were confirmed as the final members of Kalafina. Maya performed along with the 3 other Kalafina members in the song “sprinter” of the single “sprinter/ ARIA” that was released in July 30, 2008, and one day later, on July 31, Kalafina performed the Opening act of Yuki Kajiura LIVE Vol#2. Maya was absent from the two subsequent singles: fairytale and Lacrimosa. In May 2009, Sony officially announced that Maya will no longer be participating in Kalafina, which will continue as a group of three vocalists: Keiko, Wakana, and Hikaru.
Makino, Yui
牧野由依. Born January 19, 1986
The voice of Sakura from Tsubasa Chronicle. She is also an actress, and sang ’synchronicity’, the opening of Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations as well as Yume no Tsubasa, an insert song for the anime Tsubasa Chronicle, released in her first album Tenkyū no Ongaku. Both are composed by Yuki. She has also performed Amrita, from the Tsubasa Chronicle movie (not by Yuki), and Tsuki no Shijima.
Official Site
Masai, Hikaru
政井光 Born July 2, 1987
She is one of the member of Kalafina and was chosen by Yuki from among 30,000 people who tried out for Sony Music’s audition in 2007. Hikaru was born in Toyama (Toyama prefecture). Contrary to Wakana or Keiko, Kalafina is the first project in which she collaborated with Yuki. She made her debut on sprinter and did perform the Kalafina opening acts on Yuki Kajiura LIVE Vol.#2, as well as the Kalafina Kick Off Greeting Vol.0. She is going to perform at Kalafina Premium Live and also on Anime Boston in May!
Official Site: Kalafina | Official Blog
Minami, Omi
南央美. Born July 13, 1968
Wife of the seiyuu Yuji Ueda, Minami Omi aka Mari Akutsu is a long-time seiyuu as well. Lately, she dubbed Euphemia Li Britannia on Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. In 2002, on the anime Aquarian Age, she has dubbed Asumi Hogetsu and Kafuko Kakugeiin. But doing the seiyuu for two characters on the same anime was not enough for Minami, on Aquarian Age ~ Sign for Evolution SPHERE.4 Influential E.G.O. she sang Fuyu no Seiza and Gin no Hashi from which was, afterwards, recorded a second time with Wakana, Keiko and Kaori as vocals on Everlasting Songs Album.
Official Site
Miyamura, Yuko
宮村優子. Born December 4, 1972
Known as the dubber of Asuka Langley Soryu in Neon Genesis Evangelion and Alyssa Searrs in My-HiME, Miyamura is more than a simple seiyuu, she’s also actress, singer and director of auriography. She was born in Kobe (Hyōgo Prefecture) as Seki Yuko (関優子) and graduated from the theater division of the Tōhō Gakuen College of Drama and Music. As a seiyuu, she is working with Techno Sound, and as a sound director, she is affiliated with Japan Action Enterprises. She sang It’s only the fairy tale in Mai-HiME ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK Vol.1 HiME in 2004, it is the only song composed by Yuki where we can hear Yuko’s voice.
Nanri, Yuuka
南里侑香. Born March 13, 1984
Main vocalist in the FictionJunction YUUKA project. She was originally a member of the South Aoyama Female Opera Group, and sang in musicals and stage performances, where she was said to have been first discovered by Yuki. In 2001, she began professional voice acting and has been heard in several animes including Gunslinger Girl and Mai-HiME. She was also part of Tiaraway along with Chiba Saeko. FictionJunction YUUKA is arguably one of Yuki’s most well-known collaborations.
Official Site: FictionJunction | Official Site: FictionJunction YUUKA
Nishina, Kaori
仁科かおり (alternatively: 仁科薫理 ). Birth date unknown
Especially singing on choruses, Nishina accompanies Yuki along her compositions. She can be heard on FICTION (2003), Destination (2005), circus (2007), or in soundtracks. She also writes songs and sang dream of love from Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA2. Kaori Nishina collaborated with various artists such as Ayumi Hamasaki, Anna Tsuchiya, AKB48, Miki Imai, Tomoyasu Hotei, Yuki Koyanagi, Hitomi Shimatani, Nanase Aikawa, sayaka, nao, AAA, and more.
Oda, Kaori
織田かおり. Born May 11, 1988
Kaori Oda is a member of Sound Horizon, CHIX CHICKS (the former group BJ Girls), and collaborated with Yuki in the FictionJunction KAORI project. She sang two insert songs Tsubasa and Dream Scape composed by Yuki in the anime Tsubasa Chronicle. The single Calling she released, is the ending theme of the anime Baccano! composed by Yuki as well. We can also hear her voice in Bj Girls/CHIX CHICKS releases, in the album Roman by Sound Horizon’s or the opening of Luminus Arc a nintendo DS game.
Official Site: FictionJunction | Official Site: Sound Horizon | Official Blog
Ogawa, Noriko
小川範子. Born July 20, 1973.
At the age of 14, she released her first single and began her long J-pop career. She is also an actress and played in two films. Noriko produced 23 singles and 15 albums. She tells the story of The Velveteen Rabbit, a children’s novel written by Margery Williams in the first CD of the album Fantasy Sound & Reading: The Velveteen Rabbit. Yuki participated to the elaboration of the background music in the first CD while in the second, she composed all tracks. Noriko performed the song “Velvet no Inori” in the end of the first CD.
Ootaki, Wakana
大滝若菜. Born December 10, 1984
As Keiko Kubota, Wakana participates in FictionJunction and Kalafina projects. She sang Hikari no Yukue and Where the lights are in Shin Kyuuseishu Densetsu Hokuto no Ken Raoh Den Junai no Shou / Yuria Den ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK I as FictionJunction WAKANA. As the prominent vocal of Kalafina, she performed the seven themes of Kara no Kyoukai. She also sang paradise regained in El Cazador OST 2. Wakana was present at Yuki LIVE vol.#1, 2, 3 and will perform on the fourth one this summer. Official Site: FictionJunction | Official Site: Kalafina | Official Blog
Seki, Tomokazu
関智一. Born September 8, 1972
“Shoot” from Gundam Seed is the sole song composed by Yuki which is performed entirely by a male vocalist : Tomokazu. He is mostly known as a seiyuu and dubbed Sagara Sousuke in Full Metal Panic or Yzak in Gundam Seed series. He also played in live action movies like Cosmos X. As a singer, he produced three albums but they didn’t contain any songs composed by Yuki. Tomokazu Seki Shrine
Shinada, Yuri (Formerly Yuri Kasahara)
新南田ゆり, formerly 笠原由里. Born April 17, 19xx
The Queen of the Night in “Die Zauberflöte” (an opera composed by Mozart) or Violetta Valery from “La traviata” (an opera by Giuseppe Verdi), Yuri played both of them. So you get it, she is an opera singer ; and we all know that Yuki love opera voices. We also hear her voice in .hack//Liminality, Noir, My-HiME, My-Otome, or in Yuki’s solo Album : FICTION. She has sung over 100 songs and she wrote lyrics and scenarios for several musical-plays.
Official Site
Tanaka, Rie
田中理恵. Born January 3, 1979
Everyone knows her as Chii/Freya, Lacus/Meer, Suigintou, Yomi, etc etc etc. She is famous for singing a lot of things but with Yuki, her most popular single has been Fields of Hope from Gundam SEED Destiny.
Official Site
Tokyo Konsei Gashodan
東京混声合唱団 (Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus)
The Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus, founded in 1956, is a choir of professional vocalists, which was formed by Tanaka Nobuaki and some twenty graduates of the vocal course at Tokyo University of the Arts. Its predecessor was “Ensemble Society“, of which Tanaka was a member. Currently TPC is is run by Association for Promoting Choral Music, and is based in Dai-ichi Seimei Hall in Tokyo and Izumi Hall in Osaka. It performs 200 concerts a year, including regular concerts.
In addition, it engages in various musical activities such as teaching at elementary/junior high schools, commercial messages and TV programs, overseas performances, and commissions to compose choral songs as well as their first performances. Some of their most notable works are “Symphonic Poem “Himeji”/“Sumidagawa,” “Suite “Kisetsu e no Manazashi,” “Watashi no Negai”/ “Musei Doukoku,” and “Shinano no Minwa ni yoru Mittsu no Ballad”. With Yuki they performed chorus from various soundtracks like Xenosaga Episode II and III, Tsubasa Chronicle, El Cazador de la Bruja, Shin Hokuto on Ken, Kara no Kyoukai, Pandora Hearts and in Yuki’s solo album “Fiction”.
Official Site | Choir Members
Tomaru, Hanae
戸丸華江. Birth Date unknown
Hanae Tomaru is a soprano singer and member of the a capella group, Ensemble Planeta. With Yuki, she sang Himeboshi, Mezame and Duran Shoukan from Mai HiME as well as most vocal tracks from the Kara no Kyoukai series. Hanae Tomaru also did vocals in 4 track of the soundtrack for the documentary TV series Rekishi Hiwa Historia, composed by Yuki Kajiura.
Wakatsuki, Sara
若月さら. Born November 24, 1989
The youngest vocalist who collaborated with Yuki, Sara sings with Mihoko Kondo Endless Sky, the 6th ending theme of the TV live-action drama Negima! Magister Negi Magi composed by Yuki, wherein she played the role of Asuna Kagurazaka.
Official Blog
