Manaka Iwami (石見 舞菜香, Iwami Manaka), (born April 30, 1998), is a Japanese voice actress. She is the Japanese voice of Tohru Honda, the main protagonist of the reboot of Fruits Basket.
Biography
Manaka Iwami was drawn to becoming a seiyuu after seeing the performance of Ai Kayano in AnoHana while in middle school. Iwami was not an articulate girl growing up, so she thought she could not become a professional if she did not start studying to become a seiyuu earlier than others. She persuaded her father to allow her to attend seiyuu training school, declaring that otherwise, she would not attend high school.
In 2016, Iwami was selected by audition to join the cast of Sayonara no Asa ni Yakusoku no Hana wo Kazarou as lead protagonist Maquia. The film is the directorial debut of Mari Okada, who is also the screenwriter for the aforementioned AnoHana series. As fate would have it, SayoAsa would also star Ai Kayano in a supporting role, ensuring a fateful meeting between Iwami and her role model.
Despite being selected for SayoAsa, that film would not open in theaters until 2018. Consequently, Iwami instead made her screen debut in 2017 in the television series Tsuki ga Kirei.
Personal life
Manaka Iwami was born on April 30, 1998, in Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
Career
She has performed the voices for few anime roles and is noted for:
- Chiaki Hoshinomori in "Gamers!"
- Hotaru Hoshikawa in "New Game!!"
- Chibi in "Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi"
- Teresa in "Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai"
- Maquia in "Sayonara no Asa ni Yakusoku no Hana wo Kazarou".
She won the Best New Actress Award at the 13th Seiyu Awards in 2019
Fruits Basket Voicing
She is the Japanese voice actress of Tohru Honda in the 2019 anime. She replaced Yui Horie, the 2001 voice actress of Tohru Honda, because Natsuki Takaya mentioned that she wanted an "all new-cast".
「フルーツバスケット」The Final カウントダウンコメント/石見舞菜香(本田 透役)【ついに今夜】
Manaka Iwami talking (in Japanese) briefly about voicing Tohru for S3 of the anime reboot
Trivia
- She is born in the year of the Tiger.