Tomori Kusunoki

* Cast Image
* Agency Image

**Tomori Kusunoki** (楠木 ともり, *Kusunoki Tomori*) was born on December 22nd, 1999 in Tokyo Prefecture, Japan. Her common nickname is **Tomoriru** (ともりる). She voices Cwellan in B.A.C, one of the main antagonists of 8 beat Story♪.

## Background

Tomori became interested in entertainment at an early age; when she was three years old, she began taking piano lessons. She was also a member of her school's brass band during her junior high school years, and a member of a light music club during her high school years. She was also the student council president of her junior high school.

During her second year of junior high school, she became interested in anime. She particularly liked the series Kobato, and the portrayal of the lead character by Kana Hanazawa. This inspired her to become a voice actress. She decided to participate in an audition held by the agency Sony Music Artists. Because she felt that it would be difficult to pass the voice acting audition unless she had more experience, she instead auditioned as a singer. She ended up receiving the special prize at the competition.

When she started to pursue voice acting, she was also interested in graphic design and wanted to pursue her dream of voice acting while attending art school. However, after being cast as the lead in an animated film, she found it difficult to balance work and schooling, so she gave up on the idea of continuing her education. However, she says that through her work, she has been able to be involved in the designing of CDs and live performance goods, which is something she has always wanted to do.

Tomori made her debut as a voice actress in 2017, playing a background role in the anime series Eromanga Sensei.
She is especially known for her roles such as Makima in Chainsaw Man, Setsuna Yuuki/Nana Nakagawa in Love!Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club (1st Gen) and Yoisaki Kanade from Project SEKAI.

She was casted for the role of Cwellan in 8beatStory♪ in 2020.

## Personality and Hobbies

Tomori's hobbies are songwriting, playing the guitar, walking around in art material stores and looking at the sky. Her skills are drawing (including digital art) and playing the trumpet.
She describes herself as "weak but competitive". People around her often have the impression that she is "firm".

She mentions to have a strong yearning for "transformation" and says that she likes magical girl anime based on this theme. One such work, "Tokyo Mew Mew Mew", is cited as the reason she fell in love with anime. She also cites "Monogatari" series and "Paprika" as her other favorite works.

Tomori has an older sister who is five years older than her, and she says that she was often influenced by her sister in terms of interests and club activities.

## Health Issues

During 2021 Tomori has been experiencing joint pains and numbness when doing large movements which led to her live performances and dance movements being minimized. On November 1, 2022, her condition for why she feels joint pains and numbness when doing large movements during her live performances was diagnosed as Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Upon this diagnosis she decided to step down from her role as Setsuna Yuuki/Nana Nakagawa in Love!Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club.

## Etymology

* The name **Tomori** is written in hiragana (ともり), which has no specific meaning. However, when written in kanji (和莉, 智理 or 向日葵), it could possibly mean:
	+ 和莉 - "harmonious jasmine/fragrance".
	+ 智理 - "intelligent pattern/texture".
	+ 朋莉 - "companious jasmine/fragrance".
* Tomori's surname **Kusunoki** means "camphor tree" (楠木) (**kusunoki**) which is a species of evergreen tree native to asia.