Shuka Saitō (斉藤朱夏, Saitō Shuka, born August 16, 1996) is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is currently affiliated with Holy Peak. She is known for her role as You Watanabe in the multimedia franchise Love Live! Sunshine!!. She is also an idol in the unit Aqours, for the same franchise. In 2019, she made her solo debut as a musician under Sacra Music with the mini album "Kutsuhimo" (くつひも, Kutsuhimo). Later that year, she released the single "36°C/Papapa" (36°C/パパパ); the song "Papapa" was used as the opening theme to the anime series Oresuki.
Biography[]
Shuka Saitō was born on August 16, 1996, the youngest of four children. She has an older sister and two brothers. She attended a hip-hop course in the fourth grade of elementary school, which had a great influence on her career aspirations at an early age. She took dance lessons until the third year of high school. In the second year of high school she also took singing lessons.
In 2015, Saitō attended an audition for the role of You Watanabe from the anime television series Love Live! Sunshine!! and got the role. She is part of the fictional group Aqours, which belongs to the Love Live! Franchise, and has released several singles with the group, which are very successful in Japan and some of which have received a gold record. At the eleventh Seiyū Awards in 2017, she received the Singing Award as a member of Aqours.
Saitō had other speaking roles in the anime television series Oresuki as Asaka Mayama. She also interpreted the song in the opening credits of the series with Papapa. In 2021, she had main speaking roles in anime television series Wonder Egg Priority as Rika Kawai. In addition, she spoke various characters in various video games, including Phantasy Star Online, Granblue Fantasy, Hakoniwa Company Works and Dolls Order.
In June 2019, Saitō announced that she would also work as a solo musician and signed a record deal with the Japanese music label Sacra Music.