Ai Orikasa

Ai Orikasa (折笠 愛 , Orikasa Ai , born Kikue Orikasa (折笠 きく江 , Orikasa Kikue ) on December 12, 1963) is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer.

She has played a variety of characters, from young girls to women and boys. In her leading roles, she often voiced boys, and has also done the voice of a mother. She also played the voice of Hagu-Hagu, a strange creature who only says "Hagu-Hagu" in the TV series Haō Taikei Ryū Knight. In recent years, she has voiced Shizuka's mother in Doraemon, and has also provided the Japanese dub voice for Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Orikasa comes from Tokyo, Japan. After moving on from high school in 1982, she graduated from the drama department of the Nihon Denshikōgakuin College (now Nihon Kogakuin College). After performing on stage as an actress with the Bungeiza Theater Company and the Sōhen Theater Company, she participated in an audition for the TV series Little Lord Fauntleroy out of a desire to broaden her work. After several rounds of auditions, she made her debut as a voice actress in 1988, playing the main character, Cedie. According to Orikasa, Minami Takayama and Megumi Hayashibara were the other finalists in the audition for the role of Cedie, and Orikasa says that she was chosen for the role of Cedie because of her innocence rather than her acting ability.

Her stage name, "Ai Orikasa," implies her wish to be loved by everyone. The staff went to the restroom while thinking of her stage name, and came up with it.

In the early days, she appeared in many works of Nippon Animation. Especially in the World Masterpiece Theater, she was one of frequently appearing voice actors like Kazue Ikura, Ginga Banjō, Ken'ichi Ogata, etc.; next to "three major voice actors" Mitsuko Horie, Eiko Yamada and Keiko Han.

Of all the characters she has played in anime, she cites Ryōko from the Tenchi Muyo! series as her most memorable character. She has also dubbed for dramas, movies, and animation produced overseas, and has been active as a singer among other things.

At the end of September 2011, it was announced that she had left Production Baobab, where she had belonged for many years since her debut, and moved to Axlone, Toshiyuki Morikawa's agency.