Christopher Niosi

Christopher Edwin Niosi (born December 31, 1988), also known as Kirbopher, is an American animator, producer and voice actor. He is best known as the creator of the animated web series TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise and for his roles in anime, cartoons and video games. His voice-work includes Arataka Reigen in Mob Psycho 100, Dezel in Tales of Zestiria, Khoury and others in the Pokémon series, Ernesto and others in ''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Pegasus in the Viz Media dub of Sailor Moon SuperS and Therion and Mattias in Octopath Traveler''.

Biography
Niosi was born in Northport, New York and raised in Long Island. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Niosi has one brother and two sisters; one of them is former actress Alison Fanelli. In 2015, he vlogged that he has Asperger syndrome.

Niosi began making numerous animations for Newgrounds under the name "Kirbopher" in 2004, mostly making Nintendo-based parodies. His first professional animation job was for Eduware providing character design, animation and voices. He has also worked as an animator for the video games A Hat in Time, Skullgirls and Cryamore.

Niosi started his first professional voice-over job playing the role of Khoury and others in Pokémon Diamond & Pearl after meeting voice director Tom Wayland. He began voicing several anime characters, such as Yujiro Hattori in Bakuman, Taira in Queen's Blade Rebellion, and Dezel in Tales of Zestiria. In 2016, Niosi got his big break in anime dubbing as Arataka Reigen from Mob Psycho 100. In 2017, he was announced as the voice of Pegasus for the Viz Media dub of Sailor Moon SuperS.

In 2016, Niosi became a series regular in Cartoon Network's ''OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'', which aired on August 1, 2017; he voiced characters such as Nick Army, Neil, Pird, Ernesto. These roles eventually lead Niosi to join SAG-AFTRA and be represented by Arlene Thornton & Associates. In 2018, Niosi was cast as Therion and Mattias in Octopath Traveler. In 2019, he was cast as the male version of player character Byleth in Fire Emblem: Three Houses and the mobile spin-off Fire Emblem Heroes, but was recast following a breach of a non-disclosure agreement by Niosi prior to the game's release.

"Terrain of Magical Expertise"
Niosi is the co-creator of the project Terrain of Magical Expertise, also known as TOME, alongside graphic design artist Mike Luckas. The web series is known for its inclusion of several YouTube personalities and anime voice actors such as Yuri Lowenthal and Kyle Hebert and many other contributors such as Steven Universe ' s Aivi Tran. The series' concept was based on their experiences role-playing in the internet forums of the former media website TV.com, after which the concept is named. Although a 73-episode Newgrounds-based web series entitled TV Tome Adventures was produced, the rebooted web series was developed years later by Niosi with a different approach. Originally sponsored by Newgrounds, the series was eventually crowdfunded through GoFundMe to produce the remaining duration. The majority of the animation was provided by Niosi himself, along with several guest animators and production assistants. TOME was first released on Newgrounds on November 11th, 2011, and ran for fifteen episodes and nine shorts. The final episode released on July 7th, 2015, while the final short released on November 11th, 2016.

On September 30, 2017, a Kickstarter for a video game adaption, influenced by Nintendo's Super Mario RPG, was launched. The game serves as an alternative continuity from both predecessors and featured a customizable avatar known as the White Hat Hacker joining the main characters. The campaign was funded on November 4, 2017, successfully funding $111,162. The game is produced by NEO-C Productions LLC., with Niosi serving as the director, lead designer and character animator of the game, with Michael Scott Prinke serving as the lead programmer. Many of the TOME alumni return, such as voice artist Blake Swift, who reprises his role as Alpha and works as a sound designer for the project. Similar to its predecessors, the game will include the likenesses of internet personalities such as The Game Theorists and backers from the campaign in a story-driven or cameo role. Although a PC and macOS release is planned, the release date and any additional platform releases for the final product remains undetermined.

Abuse controversies
On July 18, 2019, Niosi made a post on his Tumblr account revealing that he had been physically and emotionally abusing colleagues, family and partners for over a decade; his post highlighted specific instances of abuse for which he issued public apologies. This caused significant controversy on the internet. In response to one of these incidents where Niosi violated a non-disclosure agreement about his role as Byleth in the Fire Emblem series while bragging to an ex-partner, Nintendo recast him with Zach Aguilar in Fire Emblem Heroes and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

TV Series

 * Suburra: Blood on Rome (2017-present) - Gabriele "Lele" Marchilli
 * 1983 (2018) - Jakub Suchoparski

Anime

 * Sailor Moon SuperS (1995-1996) - Pegasus/Helios, BiriBiri Yarou (ep. 160)
 * Pokémon Diamond & Pearl (2006-2010) - Khoury
 * Pokémon Best Wishes! (2010-2013) - Rhoder (ep. 117), Additional Voices
 * World War Blue (2012) - Zelig, Additional Voices
 * Glitter Force Doki Doki (2013-2014) - Baseball Distain (ep. 9)
 * Pokémon XY (2013-2016) - Additional Voices
 * Dragon Ball Super (2015-2018) - Zircor
 * Mob Psycho 100 (2016-present) - Reigen Arataka
 * Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- (2016-present) - Julius Euclius
 * Fate/Apocrypha (2017) - Karna/Lancer of Red
 * Kakegurui (2017-present) - Kaede Manyuda
 * Back Street Girls: Gokudols (2018) - Additional Voices
 * Dragon Pilot: Hisone & Masotan (2018) - Shirota
 * Hero Mask (2018-present) - Harry Creighton
 * SWORDGAI The Animation (2018) - Toshio Tanabe

OVAs & Specials

 * Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas (2009-2011) - Aquarius Degel, Pakia

Anime Films

 * Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I: The Egg of the King (2012) - Additional Voices
 * Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II: The Battle for Doldrey (2012) - Soldiers
 * Patema Inverted (2013) - Lagos
 * Napping Princess (2017) - Morio

Video Game Dubbing

 * Octopath Traveler (2018) - Therion, Mattias

Writer

 * World War Blue