Riko Kohara

is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Gifu Prefecture. Career Kohara's interest in voice acting began in high school; growing up, she was a fan of manga and anime like Naruto. She later moved to Tokyo to pursue a music career, and graduated from ESP College of Entertainment, a vocational school that specializes in electric guitar and basses. According to a high school friend, Kohara switched from vocals to guitar when her guitarist band mate asked to switch their position. While she was in vocational school, she studied under BURNY's guitarist Masanori Kusakabe, who is also from Gifu Prefecture. Therefore, Kohara inherited Kusakabe's playing style. In July 2011, Kohara became a member of The Sketchbook, a band based on a fictional group in the anime Sket Dance. She learned of the band hosting auditions while attending ESP College of Entertainment; although she had not played guitar in three months and was considering quitting, she passed her audition and won the guitarist position. Joined by Hiroshi Tada (vocal and bass) and Yuu Watanabe (drum), the three performed the opening, endings, and insert songs for the anime. The band disbanded in 2015 as the members wanted to focus on their own dreams. In 2014, one year prior to The Sketchbook's disbandment, Kohara debuted as a voice actress with her first role as a vegetable-hater boy in Soreyuke! Anpanman.