i☆Ris is calling it a day. The voice actress idol unit announced on October 11 that it will end its activities at the end of 2027, the same year the group turns 15.
A statement on the group’s official website says all five members and their staff have been discussing the future of the unit and of each individual member since last year, and settled on ending activities next year. It thanks the fans who have supported them since 2012. Before the finish line, the group will hold its 14th anniversary live on November 3 at Yokohama Arena, which leaves a little over two years on the clock for a proper send-off.
Six winners, one audition
The unit formed in July 2012 out of six winners of the AniSon Vocal Audition competition run by avex and 81 Produce, and put out the debut single “Color” that November. It was unusual from the start because every member also worked as an anime voice actress.
The current lineup is Saki Yamakita, Yū Serizawa, Himika Akaneya, Yūki Wakai and Miyu Kubota. Original member Azuki Shibuya left on March 31, 2021.
Fifteen years of anime themes
Their theme-song credits run across more than a decade of television. They sang for Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live, Mushibugyō, Fantasista Stella, Hantsu x Trash and Twin Star Exorcists, then for Akiba’s Trip: The Animation, PriPara, Idol Time PriPara, Magical Girl Site, Wise Man’s Grandchild and Magical Sempai. More recently they handled the theme for the dodgeball anime Honō no Tōkyūjo: Dodge Danko.
All six original members were in the main cast of the 2014 PriPara anime, which tied the group’s music work directly to one of the biggest kids’ franchises of the era. The unit won the Singing Award at the 10th Annual Seiyū Awards in March 2016 and played its first Nippon Budōkan concert that November.
The group also moved into film. Its theatrical feature, i☆Ris the Movie -Full Energy!!-, opened in Japan in May 2024, and a companion documentary followed that September. Both were part of the 10th anniversary push. A weekly webcomic had already appeared back in 2016.
Why it matters
A group that lasted 15 years in the voice-idol space is a rarity. Most units in that corner of the industry run for a few years, lose a member or two, and quietly stop. This one kept the same name, the same label partnership and the same dual role for its members, and it stayed booked on anime themes well into the 2020s.
The announcement also gives the members a long runway. Ending at the close of 2027 rather than immediately leaves room for a farewell cycle of live shows and releases, and each member’s voice-acting career does not have to stop with the group. Yū Serizawa, for one, still has ongoing anime roles, and she is on the cast of the upcoming How Not to Summon a Demon Lord ULT, which just revealed its main staff.
Source: Anime News Network
Featured image: The voice actress idol unit, via Anime News Network.
