LiSA

Renowned for her energetic yet deeply emotional pop style, Japanese vocalist LiSA has supplied numerous themes for anime productions. Public recognition arrived initially through her role as lead singer in Chucky, prior to her solo introduction via the 2012 release Lover's Mile, which attained the seventh position on the Oricon Albums Chart in Japan. Every subsequent solo album of hers has charted within the Top Ten, such as Landspace from 2013, Launcher issued in 2015, and Little Devil Parade in 2017. Her extensive catalog of anime contributions, including themes for Sword Art Online, Fate/Zero, The Irregular at Magic High School, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train, and additional series, helped build a dedicated following. The year 2020 saw her fifth solo effort, Leo-Nine, claim the number one spot on both the Oricon Albums Chart and Billboard Japan's Hot Albums Chart. Lander followed in 2022 as another Top Five album, incorporating the tracks "Homura" and "Dawn."

Risa Oribe entered the world in 1987 in Seki, Gifu Prefecture, where piano instruction formed part of her early education before she added vocal and dance training. During her teenage years she assembled a cover band that performed material by favored artists such as Avril Lavigne, Ego Wrappin', and Love Psychedelico. That ensemble later evolved into the indie rock group Chucky, which featured LiSA from 2005 until its dissolution in 2008.

After Chucky disbanded, Oribe moved to Tokyo to launch a solo path and there assembled the project Love Is Same All alongside members of Parking Out. The endeavor soon revolved around Oribe, who began performing under the stage name LiSA—an acronym drawn from the band title. Early in the 2010s she attracted broader notice by recording material as the fictional act Girls Dead Monster for the anime series of the same name, releasing singles such as "Thousand Enemies" and "Braver." Capitalizing on that exposure, she issued her official solo debut, the mini-album Letters to U, in 2011; the set contained the Top Five single "Oath Sign," which served as the theme for the anime Fate/Zero.

Her first full-length album, Lover's Mile, appeared in 2012 and reached number seven on the Oricon album charts. Shortly afterward LiSA performed as a guest at the 2012 Anime Expo in Los Angeles and headlined her initial North American concert. Further anime soundtrack contributions followed, among them the Top Five hit "Crossing Field," the opening theme for Sword Art Online. In 2013 she delivered her second album, Landspace, which peaked at number two on the Oricon chart. Additional singles tied to anime projects continued to chart highly, including "Rising Hope" for the 2014 series The Irregular at Magic High School and "Shirushi," an ending theme for Sword Art Online II that same year.

Launcher, her third album, arrived in March 2015 and reached number three on the Oricon album chart. That year she also released "Rally Go Round" as the theme for the second season of the anime Nisekoi and supplied the Japanese-dub voice of Madge Nelson in the animated feature Minions. Following the 2016 mini-album Lucky Hi Five!, she issued "Brave Freak Out" for the series Qualidea Code and "Catch the Moment" for the 2017 film Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale; both tracks appeared on her fourth album, Little Devil Parade, which landed at number four on the Oricon chart in 2017. The next year she contributed "Thrill, Risk, Heartless" as the theme for the video game Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet and released the compilations LiSA Best Day and LiSA Best Way.

October 2020 brought her fifth full-length, Leo-Nine, which featured production and songwriting input from Pablo, Ryo Eguchi, Koichiro Takahashi, and Shota Horie and debuted at number one on both the Oricon Albums Chart and Billboard Japan's Hot Albums Chart. The album included "Adamas," previously used as the first opening theme for the anime Sword Art Online: Alicization. Also in October she achieved a number one single with the non-album track "Homura," the theme for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train, which later received the Grand Prize at the 62nd Japan Record Awards.

Further singles emerged in 2021, among them "Dawn," the theme for the anime Back Arrow. Later that year she collaborated with DJ Snake, Ozuna, and Megan Thee Stallion on the Billboard-charting song "SG." These releases preceded her 2022 album Lander, which contained the prior singles "Homura" and "Dawn" plus the charting tracks "Akeboshi" and "Shirogane" and reached number three on the Oricon Albums Chart. The non-album single "Shouted Serenade" appeared in 2024.