Akino Arai

Artist

アライアキノ

Akino Arai is a Japanese female singer-songwriter from Tokyo, revered in the anime music world for her crystalline voice and richly nostalgic, dreamlike compositions that feel as though they drift in from a half-remembered childhood. She made her major-label debut with "Yakusoku," the theme song of the anime film Windaria, a gentle war fable whose melancholy tone perfectly suited her delicate sound. Over the years she has become a favorite collaborator of leading anime composers, and her resume includes a catalog of quietly iconic tracks. She is particularly associated with "VOICES," one of the most beloved songs of the seminal OVA Macross Plus. Her other anime credits include "Mitsu no Yoake," the opening theme of Spice and Wolf II (Ookami to Koushinryou II), the second season of the autumnal medieval fantasy series, and "Unknown Vision," the ending theme of the politically-minded fantasy Maoyu: Archenemy & Hero. Arai's work has come to embody a certain wistful, mystical strain of anime song craft.