Inori Minase, born in Tokyo on December 2, 1995, is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is best known for her portrayals of Chino in Is the Order a Rabbit?, Hestia in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? and Rem in Re:Zero.
Due to the catchy "gentle" timbre of her voice, Minase is typically known for her roles as childish ingenues, but since 2016 she has a tendency to play girls who hide their real natures or intentions, like Rem in Re:Zero and Koiwai in Masamune-kun's Revenge. In addition, many of her heroines tend to be sexy yet innocent, with timid or quiet personalities.
At the same time, her most famous and popular characters Rem, Hestia, and at least Jun Naruse are the sidekick-heroines that are deeply in love with the main hero, and ready to give him all the support he needs in his adventures, even if they are not sure he will return their feelings. In continuation of this trend, in the anime adaptation of Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku she played a kind of deconstruction of her typical roles, voicing Swim Swim, an emotionless, cold-blooded sociopathic killer, while looking on the surface like a cute quiet girl blindly in love with her mentor.
Due to her charismatic voice acting and convincing chemistry between her heroines and the protagonists, she has earned a number of awards in 2015 and 2016, including best seiyuu award in 2015, and victory in the "best female seiyuu" nomination according to NewType the following year. In 2017, she took second place in the top 20 most popular seiyuu of the year, overtaking Saori Hayami and falling behind only Kana Hanazawa.
Frequently paired with Rie Murakawa, appearing in several roles together.
She launched a solo music career in 2015 under King Records, which has gained much traction and success.
She opened an Instagram account
on June 13th, 2020. Unfortunately, the account name "inoriminase.official" was already taken by a faker as far back as 2017, which has given her agency no shortage of headaches trying to inform people that that is not her real account.
Notable roles:
- Agnea Bristarni in Octopath Traveler II
- Akane Kinoshita in Loving Yamada at Lv999!
- Akane Segawa in And You Thought There Is Never a Girl Online?
- Altina Orion in the Trails Series and the Northern War anime (taking over for Risa Taneda as of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III).
- Archetto in Arknights
- Aries Spring in Astra Lost in Space
- Asaka Mibu in Black Bullet
- Aurora Sya Lis Goodereste in Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle
- Balloon Party in Reverse: 1999
- Beta in The Eminence in Shadow
- Carol Malus Dienheim in Symphogear
- Casty "Cass" Riernoit in Ciel nosurge and Ar nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star
- Chamille Kitora Katjvanmaninik in Alderamin on the Sky
- Charlie Brenner in Playmobil: The Movie (Japanese dub)
- Chiester 556 in Umineko: When They Cry:Symphony of Catbox and Dreams
- Chino Kafū in Is the Order a Rabbit?
- Chito in Girls' Last Tour
- Chizuru Takano in Tsurezure Children
- Ciel Kirahoshi/Kirarin/Cure Parfait in KiraKira★Pretty Cure à la Mode, KiraKira★Pretty Cure à la Mode: Crispy! The Mille-Feuille of Memories!
- Dark Fina in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
- Diantha in Granblue Fantasy
- Eddelrittuo in Aldnoah.Zero
- Erna in Spy Classroom
- Eve in Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE
- Fuka Reventon in ViVid Strike!
- Fuku in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Furina in Genshin Impact
- Gangly Knees Roboco in Me & Roboco
- Gre-chan in Robot Girls Z
- Hanna in Doraemon: Nobita's Sky Utopia
- Heaven in takt op. Destiny
- Hibiki Iga in Basilisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls
- Hikari Kongou in Himouto! Umaru-chan R (2nd Season)
- Hestia in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
- Hiyori Suzumi in Confession Executive Committee
- Homura Amanohokosaka in BlazBlue
- Iori Sekiguchi in Charlotte
- Iris in MementoMori: AFKRPG
- Itsuki Nakano in The Quintessential Quintuplets
- Jeanne in The Case Study of Vanitas
- Jill in Fire Emblem Heroes
- Jun Naruse in The Anthem of the Heart
- Kaju Ichigo/Berry Blossom in Acro Trip
- Kaoru in Onmyoji
- Kasandra in Xenoblade Chronicles 2
- Kasumi in Alchemist Code
- Kasumi in Princess Connect! Re:Dive
- Kuroha Shida in Osamake
- Laxi in Dragalia Lost
- Leonica in Ragna Crimson
- Liscia Elfrieden in How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom
- Maaya Asagaya in Anime-Gataris
- Mabushiina in Mashin Sentai Kiramager
- Mana Asuha from Luck & Logic
- Mari "Kimari" Tamaki in A Place Further than the Universe
- Mei Amanohokosaka in XBlaze
- Mather "Mei" Enderstto in Endro~!
- Merc in Merc Storia
- Meteora Österreich in Re:CREATORS
- Misaki Sakimiya in Dead Mount Death Play
- Misumi "Mito" Tozawa in Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night
- Mitsune Miwa in Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story
- Nagisa Aizawa in My Monster Secret
- Nene Higashiyama in 18if
- Nene in Omega Quintet
- No. 21 in Punishing: Gray Raven
- Noel in Celestial Method
- Nopht Keh Desperatio in WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us?
- Noxia in Guardian Tales
- Pepper in No Guns Life
- Priscilla in Rune Factory 5
- Prushka in Made in Abyss
- #QP in The Caligula Effect 2
- Reema in Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet
- Reina Aharen in Aharen-san wa Hakarenai
- Reines El-Melloi Archisorte in Lord El-Melloi II Case Files and Fate/Grand Order
- Rem in Re:Zero and Isekai Quartet
- Renkin Arthur in Million Arthur
- Rona Schenazard in Snow White with the Red Hair
- Ruruka Andou in Danganronpa 3
- Saori Kido/Athena in Saint Seiya: Saintia Sho
- Senri Teshima in W'z
- Shakespeare in Divine Gate
- Shia Foschurose in Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear
- Shiratoya Nae in Inazuma Eleven: Ares
- Shoko Makinohara in Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
- Soline in Goddess of Victory: NIKKE
- Somali in Somali and the Forest Spirit
- Sophia Ascart and Atsuko Sasaki in My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
- Suzune Takahashi in Love Lab
- Swim Swim in Magical Girl Raising Project
- Talia in Eversoul
- Tapris Sugarbell Chisaki in Gabriel Dropout
- Tsubasa Oribe in Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE and Fire Emblem Heroes
- Uki Yamazoe in Chaos;Child
- Viola in The Duke of Death and His Black Maid
- Yoshino Koiwai in Masamune-kun's Revenge
- Yuki Takeya in School-Live!
- Yui Tada in Tada Never Falls in Love
- Yume Tsubakuro in Katana Maidens
Tropes associated with her:
- Big Brother Worship: The character she voices often worships her brothers in Love Lab and Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception, and her sister in Re:Zero.
- Beneath the Mask: Many of her roles after 2016 have this.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: In addition to voicing Liscia Elfrieden in How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, she also sang the vocals for the opening theme.
- Emotionless Girl: Most of her characters have a similar personality like Meteora and Koiwai, including Rem, although this is a mask.
- Ms. Fanservice: If you see Inori Minase in the cast, then it's more likely to be an innocent sexy girl with a chic figure and a sweet voice.
-
Moe: She rarely plays "ordinary" girls, mostly it's Emotionless Girl or childish ones. - Romantic Runner-Up: Similarly Kana Hanazawa in own time, she's fallen into this trope three times as the Betty in a Betty and Veronica situation, even when she was obviously the central Love Interest in the work (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?) or if the hero eventually realizes his love for her (Re:Zero).
- Polar Opposite Twins: Active and energetic older twin sister in Snow White with the Red Hair and younger, tender and quiet twin sister in Re:Zero.
- Terrible Artist: Her drawings invariably end up crude and badly proportioned.
- Token Mini-Moe: Chino, Eddelrittuo, and Eve.
