Template:RoughTranslation Tomo Sakurai (櫻井 智 (formerly 桜井 智) Sakurai Tomo?), born Tomoe Hatta (八田 友江 Hatta Tomoe; September 10, 1973 - August 13, 2025?), was a Japanese seiyū and a idol singer. She was born on September 10, 1971 in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. Sakurai was a member of I'm Enterprise but later became freelance until her retirement. She previously announced her retirement on September 1, 2016, but on June 1, 2019, she announced that she would return to the entertainment industry. She was later affiliated with Feathered Co., Ltd until her death in 2025.
Career[]
Debut[]
At the age of 14, Sakurai debuted as a sub-member for "KISS Fairlies," a group that worked as campaign girls for KIJIMA Motorcycle Racing Team(Japan local). All members were over 15-years-old, aside from Tomo.
In age of "LEMON ANGEL"[]
At 17, she joined the idol pop unit, LEMON ANGEL, a counter project of Cream Lemon coordinated by the same company that produced "KISS Fairlies". The project contained comic, animated, and idol pop units. The unit played themselves in Midnight Anime Lemon Angel. She released 5 albums during her time in LEMON ANGEL.
After LEMON ANGEL[]
Sakurai joined a new video game idol unit and released 1 album with this unit. After leaving, she focused her career to mainly voice acting work.
Retirement[]
On September 1, 2016, Sakurai announced her retirement from her professional voice acting and singing careers on her official blog post titled "Arigato/Thank You."
She explained: "I used to have a strong vocal cord that couldn't be broken and became stronger even after singing for hours. But recently, I have realized it's becoming more and more difficult for me to use my important voice as an actress. I know it's a natural thing as time goes by, but I can't accept the change, then I understand it's almost time to retire."
Return[]
On June 1, 2019, Sakurai announced that she was returning to the entertainment industry.
Illness and death[]
Around August 2023, Sakurai was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was told she had one year to live. After a year of undergoing treatment such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, Sakurai announced on August 10, 2025, that she was hospitalized a week prior and as a result, her concert planned for the 17th at Shibuya, Tokyo was cancelled. While at the hospital, her condition worsened and three days later on August 13, she died at the age of 53, due to complications from multiple organ cancer. Her death was announced by her agency two days later.
Feathered Co., Ltd., Tomo Sakurai's agency in statement said "a funeral will be held privately with only close relatives, so we kindly request that you refrain from inquiries or media coverage regarding the funeral. We are considering holding a farewell event for fans at a later date."
Notable voice roles[]
- Marin in Akazukin Chacha
- Codemaster Amzen in Chaotic
- Shayla Shayla in El Hazard
- Mylene Jenius in Macross 7
- Lena Sayers in Mai Otome
- Makimachi Misao in Rurouni Kenshin
- Kamiya Kaoru in Rurouni Kenshin (audio drama)
- Meimi a.k.a. Saint Tail in Saint Tail
- Chigusa Sakai in Shakugan no Shana
- Sara in Shamanic Princess
- Doll Licca in Super Doll★Licca-chan
- Mizuchi Saiou in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX
- Azusa Miura in iDOLM@STER: XENOGLOSSIA
External links[]
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ko:사쿠라이 도모 pt:Anexo:Lista de seiyū#S ru:Сакураи, Томо zh:櫻井智