Haruka Matsubara (Neo-Japanese: 松原 遼, Matsubara Haruka), better known under the stage name Haruka Amami (Neo-Japanese: 天海春香, Amami Haruka) (born June 18th, 1971) is a Neo-Japanese actress and singer who is best known for singing songs for various anime series.
Career
Start
She originally debuted as a child actress in 1984 (at the time, she was most likely 13 years old), in which she was seen in commercials about the Famicom (a Bloxtendo console released the year prior in 1983). At the time, she was known as Haruka Matsubara (since it is her birth name) and she was mostly active in commercial work between 1984 and 1987.
In May 1986, she officially debuted as a idol at age 15 with the song “Akko no Akko” (which was used as the 2nd opening song for the anime series, Revelations: The Demon Slayer). The song was obscure at the time, but has become a cult-classic (mainly thanks to Gen Z Robloxians posting videos using the song in both BloxTok and BloxTube) in recent years.
Sometime in 1987, she stopped appearing in commercials to focus more on her singing career.
In 1991, she debuted in her first anime role, which was as Satoshi Asakura (better known in the west side of Roblox as Ash Ketchup) in the comedic Pulseman spin-off OVA series, Indigo League.
Popularity (1990s-2000s)
Haruka became extremely popular outside of Neo-Japan in the 1990s due to the song “Ashley no Uta” (better in Bloxlish as “Ashley’s song”), which was used as the primary theme song in the 1995 children’s anime series, “Ashley the Magical Witch” (it is worth noting that she also voiced Ashley, the titular protagonist of that anime).
Haruka also voiced the character of Mai Shiranui in the 1998 sports anime series, “The King of Fighters ‘98” (produced by SNK Animation). She also sang a rendition of the song, “Moete Hero”, which is the franchise’s most famous song.
In December 1995, she released one of if not her most famous singles, “Hare Hare Yukai”, which was used in the 1996 anime series, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
Decline and Hiatus
In the early-to-mid 2010s, Amami’s Roblox-wide popularity began to decline significantly due to the lack of interest from consumers, but her songs are still regarded as cult classics around Neo-Japan.
She would go inactive for many years before returning in 2025, when she released the song “Ashley no Uta (21st century edition)”, which was a new version of the original “Ashley no Uta” song and was created for the 30th year anniversary of the original Ashley the Magical Witch anime series.
Relations:
Mr. SKIM
Trivia
- She has said that her favorite anime role is as “Ashley” in the “Ashley the Magical Witch” anime series and that she was happy when that series received a reboot in 2025. As of 2026, the reboot is still ongoing.
- Amami is the Neo-Japanese voice actress of Chris Thorndyke (as a child), a character from the comedy anime series, Sonic X. (Which she got thanks to an audition)
- Amami has appeared in many toy commercials besides Bloxtendo, one of the newer commercials features