is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Aomori Prefecture, affiliated with Atomic Monkey. She is known for voicing Shiki Ichinose in The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls, Bamboo Memory in Uma Musume Pretty Derby, and Bà Ârinmaru Gokokuhà Âtenji in '.
Kotomi Aihara, a native of Aomori Prefecture, was born on 2 May 1990. As a preteen, she watched Cardcaptor Sakura and Hunter x Hunter and wanted to be a "2D boy", so she gradually became interested in voice acting. This tendency had already existed in the previous few years, with her parents buying her a lot of goods associated with Sailor Uranus, a character she liked because of her voice (which was provided by Megumi Ogata). She was educated at the Atomic Monkey Voice Acting and Acting Institute, where she was taught by instructor Miki Nagasawa, and she also took part in the finals of the Seiyu Awards New Voice Actor Discovery Auditions and in the audition, winning the special prize at the latter.
Aihara voices Shiki Ichinose in The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls, a sub-franchise in The Idolmaster franchise. Since then, she has performed as a singer on several Idolmaster music releases, including "The Idolmaster Cinderella Master 038: Ichinose Shiki" (2015), which charted at #11 in the Oricon Singles Chart and the 2016 album The Idolmaster Cinderella Master Cute Jewelries! 003 (the series' first album to top the Oricon Albums Chart). She reprised her role in the anime adaptation The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls Theater.
She voices Bamboo Memory in Uma Musume Pretty Derby. In May 2024, it was announced that she would voice Bà Ârinmaru Gokokuhà Âtenji in '.
She cites Shiho Niiyama as an influence.
She likes anison and is often interested in music by Megumi Hayashibara and Nana Mizuki, whose song "Scarlet Knight" she performed in her Seiyu Awards self-introduction. She likes horror and mystery games, having played repeatedly, and she also plays the puzzle games Disney Tsum Tsum and Tetris. She is a fan of 1990s anime, with her favorites being Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailor Moon Sailor Stars.