Childhood & Early Life
Rie Takahashi was born on February 27, 1994, in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. She developed interest in anime while watching anime series ‘Ojamajo Doremi.’ She became more passionate about it after watching ‘Soul Eater’ and ‘Higurashi When They Cry’ during junior high school days. She resolved to pursue career as voice actor after she realised that voice of many male characters were contributed by female voice actors.
During the third year of high school, Rie attended the broadcasting club of her school. During the 4th High School Animation Fair, her voice acting earned Rie a special citation. She took part and passed an ‘81 Produce’ sponsored audition while attending her third year in high school and following her high school graduation in 2012, she joined the training school of ‘81 Produce’ called ‘81 Actor's Studio.’ Moving on, she joined the voice actor unit ‘Anisoni∀.’ She graduated from ‘81 Actor's Studio’ in 2013, and then formally joined ‘81 Produce.’
Continue Reading Below
Career
Rie commenced voice acting from 2013, featuring in supporting roles in anime productions like ‘Driland’ (2013), ‘Aikatsu!’ (2014), and ‘Cardfight!! Vanguard G’ (2015).
Her first lead role, ‘Futaba Ichinose,’ a shy and nervous rookie voice actor, came with the anime television series ‘Seiyu's Life!’ (2015). Together with Marika Kouno and Yuki Nagaku, co-stars of the series, Rie formed a Japanese idol group called ‘Earphones.’ Till present the group has released two studio albums, ‘Mystery Miracle Tour’ (2015) and ‘Some Dreams’ (2018), apart from singles, video albums, and music videos.
She played one of the main roles (Miki Naoki) in the anime television series ‘School-Live!’ (2015). Opening theme of the series was performed by Rie and her co-stars, Mao Ichimichi, Inori Minase, and Ari Ozawa. That year she also lent her voice to ‘Kobayashi’ and ‘Kaon Lanchester’ in the anime TV series ‘Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace’ and ‘Comet Lucifer’ respectively.
The anime television series ‘KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!’ featured Rie as Megumin. It ran for two seasons from January 14, 2016 to March 16, 2017. Apart from featuring in both seasons, she also performed closing themes of the two seasons, ‘Chiisana Boukensha’ and ‘Ouchi ni Kaeritai’ respectively with co-stars Sora Amamiya and Ai Kayano. Meanwhile, on March 12, 2016, she won the ‘Best Newcomer Award’ at the 10th ‘Seiyu Awards.’
She voiced the character of ‘Emilia’ in the anime TV series ‘Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World’ (2016). The second ending theme of the series ‘Stay Alive’ was performed by her. The second season of the series is in production. Rie will be seen reprising her role in the second season.
In 2016, she replaced Risa Taneda to play the voice role of Mash Kyrielight in the online, free-to-play role-playing mobile game ‘Fate/Grand Order.’ She will be reprising the role in the upcoming Japanese fantasy anime series ‘Fate/Grand Order - Absolute Demon Battlefront: Babylonia,’ planned for an October 2019 premier in Japan.
She lent her voice to ‘Takagi’ in anime series ‘Teasing Master Takagi-san.’ The first season of the series aired from January 8, 2018 to March 26, that year. She also performed several ending songs for the series, including ‘Kimagure Romantic’, ‘AM11:00’, ‘Bicycle’, ‘Kaze Fukeba Koi’, ‘Chiisana Koi no Uta’, ‘Ai Uta,’ and ‘Deatta Koro no Yō ni.’ Rie is presently reprising her role in the second season of the series that premiered on July 7, 2019.
Over the years, she has lent her voice to a number of characters in several other television animes. These include ‘Noct Leaflet’ in ‘Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle,’ ‘Mirai Asahina / Cure Miracle’ in ‘Maho Girls PreCure!’ (2016), ‘Matome Mayonaka’ in ‘Akiba's Trip: The Animation,’ ‘Ernesti Echevarria’ in ‘Knight's & Magic’ (2017), ‘Tsubasa Katsuki’ in ‘Comic Girls’ (2018), and ‘Madara-san’ in ‘Magical Sempai’ (2019).
Apart from lending her voice in several television animes, Rie has also given her voice to various other productions. These include voicing ‘Mirai Asahina / Cure Miracle’ in anime films ‘Pretty Cure All Stars: Movie’ (2016), ‘Maho Girls PreCure! the Movie’ (2016), and ‘Pretty Cure Dream Stars!’ (2017); and ‘Megumin’ in ‘KonoSuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! Crimson Legend’ (2019).
She played Megumin in the original video animations ‘KonoSuba – OVA’ (2016) and ‘KonoSuba 2 – OVA’ (2017), and as ‘Takagi’ in ‘Teasing Master Takagi-san – OVA’ (2018); and as ‘Akane Noda’ in original net animation ‘Monster Strike’ (2016).
She has also lent her voice to many video games. These include ‘Yuki Tendo’ in ‘Future Card Buddyfight’ (2015), ‘OTs-44’ in ‘Girls' Frontline’ (2016), and ‘USS Massachusetts’ (BB-59), and ‘USS Montpelier’ (CL-57) in ‘Azur Lane’ (2017).
