Aya Uchida

Uchida Aya was born July 23, 1986 in Outa City, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Her blood type is O and her zodiac sign is Leo. Her common voice actress nickname is "Ucchi". She voices Minami Kotori in Love Live!.

She is unique within the Love Live! team for being the only voice actress without a proper call-and-response all the way up to the present, though she may have come up with a new tagline Kotori no oyatsu ni shicchau yo! during the 5th live. As this line was used only during the encore video animation and during an emcee line-swap with Pile/Nishikino Maki, it is still uncertain whether she'll retain it into future appearances.

Background
Uchida Aya's family consists of her parents, a younger sister and her. Their family raises a cat named KiKi.

As a child, she really liked Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon and wished that she could be like Sailor Moon. She was also a fan of works by Ghibli and Disney, often rewatching them on videotape. After coming to know the profession of voice acting during middle school and doing some research into it, becoming a voice actress became her goal.

After graduating from high school, Uchida Aya entered Yoyogi Animation School, and then enrolled into JTB Entertainment Academy as part of its pioneer batch. During her time there in 2008, she made her debut as a voice actress on TV anime Oden-kun.

She made her major debut as a singer with the release of her first full album アップルミント (Appuruminto) on November 12, 2014.

Personality & Hobbies
Uchida Aya describes herself as a reserved and timid person. As a child, she used to imagine various things/play make-believe, have conversations with herself and make things, and claims she is still pretty much the same person she was.

She loves eating and has no food she dislikes in particular. Her favourite snacks include rice crackers, potato chips and rusk, generally food with crispy and crunchy textures. She can hold her liquor well, and her favourite drinks are beer and red wine.

Her hobbies include making paper-cranes, accessories and sweets such as Gateau Chocolate, Decoration Roll Cakes, and Apple Pies. She also collects bath goods and likes reading books as well as making things in general. Her special skills include hair arrangement. Her qualifications include a regular driver's license.

In an interview she claims she is not very good at making friends, but she is close to Murakawa Rie whom she co-starred with in Vivired Operation. She also sees herself often casted as characters that are "The Number One Idiot" so she believes she may be a good fit for those characters.

Trivia

 * On November 10, 2014, she was appointed as a "tourism special envoy" for the entire Gunma Prefecture.
 * She thinks performing as part of Love Live! is one of the most difficult things she has had to do as a voice actress, as she did not expect dancing to be part of her career. She is a lot more confident in her dancing capabilities after all the difficult and tiring practice.
 * Her most enjoyable part of being a seiyuu is reading fan-mail, which really cheers her up.