Ikue Ōtani has provided Pikachu’s Japanese voice in the Pokémon animated series.
Ōtani began voicing Pikachu when the anime premiered in 1997. Pikachu generally speaks through its name rather than conventional human dialogue, so the performance depends heavily on tone, rhythm, emotion, and distinctive vocal cries.
The same voice actor also voiced Pikachu in many Pokémon films, games, specials, and promotional productions. This continuity helped make Pikachu’s voice recognizable across different formats and languages.
Rica Matsumoto, who voices Ash in Japanese, is another major performer associated with the original anime. Megumi Hayashibara and Inuko Inuyama also voice important Pokémon characters, but neither is the Japanese voice of Pikachu.