Kaori Maeda

Kaori Maeda was born on April 25, 1996 in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Her common voice actress nickname is "Kaorin". She voices Shizuku Osaka, one of the main characters in Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club.

Her call and response begins with "Jinsei kudarizaka, noborizaka. Demo yappari..?" (lit. Life is full of up slopes and down slopes. But no matter what, there will always be...?), to which the audience replies "Osaka!" She then finishes with "Engeki mo, school idol mo, ganbarimasu!" (lit. I'll do my best as both an actress and a school idol!).

This is a reference to the Japanese saying of 人生三つの坂 (Life's three "slopes"), 上り坂 (up slopes), 下り坂 (down slopes) and まさか (something unexpected). The pun is on 坂, which is read さか (saka) but unrolled into a completely different meaning in まさか (masaka), and Shizuku's last name is 桜坂, read おさか (osaka).

Her image color during concerts is light blue.

Background
She used to be the lead singer of a band that activated in Kitakyushu.

Back in 2016, she has won the Grand Prix in Seiyuu Artist Ikusei Program・Selection (声優アーティスト育成プログラム・セレクション)

Some of the characters she voices are Touka Kuroitsu from Miss KUROITSU from the Monster Development Department, Mari from Back Street Girls: Gokudolls, Yomi Takeda in Tamayomi, and Aria Futaba from Aikatsu Stars!. She also voices Nice Nature from Uma Musume, Giant Panda in Kemono Friends 2 and Cherry Blossom Cookie from the Cookie Run franchise.

Health Issues
On August 17, 2022, Kaori tested positive for COVID-19.

Personality & Hobbies
Her hobbies are playing mahjong and singing. She also enjoys watching foreign drama and anime.

Etymology

 * The name Kaori means "good, beautiful" (佳) (ka), "weave, weaving" (織) (o) and "village" (里) (ri).
 * Kaori's surname Maeda means "previous/previously, before, earlier, front/in front, former, above, one-time, fore part, privy parts/privates, miss, presence, portion, for, since, forward" (前) (mae) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta/da).

Trivia

 * She is in the same agency as Kanako Takatsuki and Moeka Koizumi.
 * She worked with Natsumi Murakami in Aikatsu Stars!
 * She is the shortest among the main Love Live! cast, at 146 cm (4'9.5").
 * She is ambidextrous (people who can use both the right and left hand equally well).
 * Kaori is the eleventh voice actress in the Love Live! franchise to be diagnosed with the coronavirus disease after Tomoyo Kurosawa (Tsuki Watanabe), Nako Misaki (Chisato Arashi), Moeka Koizumi (Shioriko Mifune), Miyu Kubota (Karin Asaka), Natsumi Murakami (Ai Miyashita), Akari Kito (Kanata Konoe), Sayuri Date (Kanon Shibuya), Aguri Onishi (Ayumu Uehara), Mayu Sagara (Kasumi Nakasu), and Nagisa Aoyama (Ren Hazuki).