The voice actor for Kiriko in Overwatch 2 has revealed herself, and it might be someone you already know.
Sally is an American singer and voice actress originally from LA, but who later moved to Japan to jump-start her career. Both her parents are Japanese but because she was raised abroad, she had limited proficiency in her native language. Ironically, this may have hurt her earlier in her career, but it possibly helped contribute to her current success now.
Sally’s claim to fame came after she became a member of the idol/anime girl group 22/7. A tweet of her joking around while speaking in English went viral, and her anime character as a member of 22/7 was subsequently rewritten to be an English speaker. She’s rapidly become that odd rarity–a Japanese idol popular outside Japan.
Sally already has a few bona fides for voice acting before taking on this role for Activision. For video games, she voiced Ashley in the mobile game Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story. Aside from her idol group’s official animation, The Girls on That Day, she’s taken roles in features like Peach Boy Riverside, Tomo-chan Is A Girl!, Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood, and of course, the 22/7 movie.
Many fans are sure to agree that Sally is a great fit to play Kiriko. Not only is she perfectly suited to voice a Japanese character in English, but her preexisting fame and popularity also help raise the profile of the game and her character. Sally is also a legitimately well-experienced actress, working since 2017. No word yet if Sally or her group 22/7 is going to have any songs for Overwatch 2, but now that’s something that could become a thing.
If you’ve seen the trailer, you already know Sally’s put a lot of her attitude into Kiriko’s character already. With the way Kiriko switches between her shrine maiden and modern outfit in-game, it’s a strangely fitting match to how fans watch Sally adjust to the traditions and norms of her native Japan as an ex-pat.
For those curious, Sally isn’t voicing Kiriko for Japanese players. Instead, they get veteran voice actress Fairouz Ai Kadota.
The half Japanese, half Egyptian performer is possibly best well known in the West for voicing Jolyne Cujoh in the original Japanese broadcast of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean. In this capacity, you may have also already heard Fairouz voicing Jolyne in games like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Last Survivor and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R.
Fairouz’ video gameography spans different companies, games and genres, including Fire Emblem Heroes, Granblue Fantasy, Cytus II, Cookie Run Kingdom, and Wonder Boy Asha in Monster World.
Overwatch 2 will be released free-to-play on October 4, 2022, on Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Nintendo Switch. You can read our prior coverage on Kiriko below.
Overwatch 2: Fox Hero Kiriko Leaked
Overwatch 2 Battle Pass and New Hero Details Revealed
Source: Twitter
