Yui Horie

Yui Horie, born Yoshiko Horie (堀江 由子) on September 20, 1976, in Katsushika, Tokyo, is a Japanese voice actress and J-pop singer associated with anime and game music. Japanese fans often call her "Hocchan." She hosts the radio show "Horie Yui no Tenshi no Tamago," is the founding member of the singing group Aice⁵, and also performs in the band Kurobara Hozonkai under the name Yuiel. Her hobbies include shoulder massage, reading, and cooking. As a child, she was a devoted fan of the anime series Dirty Pair and later said it was her first inspiration to become a voice artist. She debuted in 1997 in the video game Voice Fantasia and spent several years in minor anime roles before landing her first leading role as Haruka in Kurogane Communication. Her breakthrough came in 2000 with Narusegawa Naru in Love Hina, followed by Honda Tooru in Fruits Basket in 2001. That same period also brought her first music album, Mizutamari ni Utsuru Sekai, released in 2000. In 2001, Horie formed the temporary unit Yamato Nadeshiko with Tamura Yukari, and the duo released the singles Mou Hitori no Watashi and Merry Merrily, with the latter used as an insert song in Love Hina Christmas Special: Silent Eve. In October 2005, she founded Aice⁵, a J-pop group made up of four other seiyuu, to help launch their careers; the group officially disbanded on September 20, 2007. She also collaborated with Unscandal in 2005 and Kurobara Hozonkai, a Japanese goth band, in 2007. After leaving Arts Vision in mid-2007, she became a freelance seiyuu and continued releasing music under Starchild, the King Records label. She has released six independent albums, and nearly all of them include at least one track from an anime she has worked on. In June 2026, she was announced as Maria in Hell Mode.