Ikue Ōtani has voiced Pikachu in the Pokémon anime’s Japanese and international versions.
Ōtani has performed Pikachu’s voice for the vast majority of the character’s appearances since Pikachu was introduced in the anime. Unlike most Pokémon characters, Pikachu’s voice was retained across language versions rather than being replaced by a different local actor in each dub.
Pikachu usually speaks by repeating variations of its own name. The production team originally considered gradually teaching Pikachu human speech, but that plan was abandoned during production.
This role is separate from Ash’s voice actor. Rica Matsumoto voiced Ash in Japanese, while Veronica Taylor voiced Ash in the original English dub. Ōtani’s consistent Pikachu performance helped make the character’s voice recognizable to audiences around the world.