Chiharu Hokaze

"Laughter is the key to happiness! My aim is to become an admirable voice actor. I want to become a person loved by all generations." Chiharu Hokaze (Currently known as just Chiharu) was born on April 10, in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Her nickname is "Chiharun". As a former digital seiyuu idol in 22/7, Chiharu portrayed Reika Sato via both voice acting and motion-capture physical acting. She was the leader of 22/7.

Prior to the consent of using their names for voice roles, Chiharu went under the alias "Honoka Noka."

Chiharu officially graduated on February 28, 2021.

Chiharu's image color was red.

 

Biography
Chiharu has an older brother and an older sister, who is Aimi Terakawa from Poppin'Party.

Chiharu has loved video games ever since she was in preschool, and would often watch her older brother play. Chiharu says that her brother is the reason that she started to learn about voice actors.

When Chiharu was in middle school she was in the basketball club. Despite this, she claims that she barely showed up and didn't know any of the rules of basketball.

Chiharu said that she was very unhelpful during her time in school and people had a hard time talking to her because of her expression. She also said she would skip school when a new game released just to play it.

Before joining 22/7, Chiharu had previously tried and failed other auditions before she found out about the 22/7 auditions when her mother sent her a URL and encouraged her to try it out.

Her career began on 24 December 2016 upon successfully passing 22/7 auditions and joining the unit.

On the 23rd of December 2020, she announced she would be graduating from 22/7 after the February 28, 2021 live, where she will then focus on becoming a seiyuu.

She is currently working as a seiyuu under the agency HiBiKi under the mononym Chiharu. It is the same agency that her older sister is in.

Goals
Chiharu's goal is to become a well-established seiyuu.  

Seiyuu Influences
 
 * Chiwa Saito (斎藤 千和)
 * Maaya Uchida
 * i☆Ris

Interests
Chiharu is an avid gamer. She would play games the night before a big event to calm her nerves.

Chiharu often talked about games with Mei, and recommended Harvest Moon to her because there were rabbits in it. She played Splatoon 2 with Mei and Kanae on Nintendo Switch.

She has mentioned that she has played She has said that she especially likes Persona (3,4,5). When she played Persona 3 as a female protagonist, she chose Ken Amada as her love interest. She also likes Aegis. She also likes Hifumi in Persona 5.
 * Xenoblade Chronicles
 * Monster Hunter World
 * Splatoon

Chiharu is a fan of the classic shoujo manga Fruits Basket. She also likes anime and recommends [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toradora! ToraDora!], Psycho-Pass, and Code:Geass. In the Hetalia series, her favorite character is Spain.

Chiharu plays the bass, and said that everyone in her family has done band-like activities. Her mother has also done bass before.

Quirks
Chiharu often puffs out her cheeks which she calls her "tako face" or "octopus face."

Chiharu created a Bird Salaryman character called Toriiman and used him on her Showroom live-streams. According to Moe, he has a wife and children, and is looking for a job in order to aim for higher heights. She also ran a "Bar Hokaze" corner, in which she answered fan questions as if she were a wise bartender.

Her favorite food is okra.

Despite being the leader of 22/7, Chiharu didn't think she is very leader-like.

Behind the scenes
Chiharu has revealed on a Showroom stream that she studied to become a nurse and has a nursery school licence.

Chiharu is friends with Hina Suguta, and has been friends even before Chiharu's debut. While Chiharu doesn't speak in a Kansai dialect with her fellow 22/7 members, she does when speaking with her other friends and family.

Before she got a personal Twitter account, she often checked tweets with her #帆風千春 hashtag.

She went with Ruri and Urara to see Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight -The LIVE- and afterward took them to the walkway in Shibuya station that served as a hideout in the game Persona 5.

On December 23, 2020, it was announced that Chiharu would graduate from 22/7 on February 28, 2021 due to wanting to pursue solely a voice actor career. Her blog post announcing her depart can be seen here.

On May 18, 2018, management granted her an individual official Twitter account. On April 10, Chiharu's birthday, management granted her an individual official Instagram account. However, both have been deleted since her departure. She currently has a new twitter account.

Unlike Mei, Chiharu is very open to interacting with the other 22/7 members online.



Gallery
For more images of this voice actor please refer here.

Trivia

 * Chiharu likes the song Sora no Emerald because she likes the lyrics, and according to Uta it is her favorite song. Chiharu also likes Bokura no Kankyou, and Idaten Musume because all 11 members have a solo part.
 * Chiharu's favorite 22/7 character is Reika, although Chiharu seems to like Yuki as well.