Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1564
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Sayaka Ohara works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Sayaka Ohara appears in 21 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Sayaka. Your Name. is the clearest case: a film rated 8.7 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for comedy, fantasy, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Yasuhito Kikuchi, Tomoya Takahashi, Hiroaki Ando and others, Sayaka Ohara helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Your Name. (2016) as Futaha Miyamizu (voice) · Revue Starlight: The Movie (2021) as Karen's Mother (voice) · Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie Part 2 (2021) as Michiru Kaiou / Eternal Sailor Neptune (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #1564 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
21
2013–2026
Career length
13 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.7
Your Name.
Average Nutevio score
7.4
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.5
Your Name.
Most frequent director
Tomoya Takahashi
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Tomoya Takahashi
Most common genre
Animation
21 titles
Average runtime
1h 36m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.2
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.9
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
2020s
7.4 average MV
The 2020s are where the work and the material meet. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie Part 2, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie Part 1 — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2020s
7.4
Across 15 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2020s
7.5
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2010s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Made in Abyss: Wandering Twilight, Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System - Case.1 Crime and Punishment, Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System - Case.2 First Guardian.
Most productive era
2020s
15 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|
| Drama | 8.12 films | 7.87 films |
| Action | 6.61 film | 7.96 films |
| Comedy | 6.61 film | 6.82 films |
| Crime | 6.72 films | — |
| Romance | 8.71 film | 7.46 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2013anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day - The Movie
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Touko Yadami (voice).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2016Your Name.
8.7 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea
The current state of the argument, as Frey (voice).
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
21 of 21 films
as Futaha Miyamizu (voice)
Directed by Makoto Shinkai
as Ozen (voice)
Directed by Masayuki Kojima
as Karen's Mother (voice)
Directed by Unknown
as Michiru Kaiou / Eternal Sailor Neptune (voice)
Directed by Chiaki Kon
as Michiru Kaiou / Sailor Neptune (voice)
Directed by Tomoya Takahashi
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Futaha Miyamizu (voice)
Your Name. (2016)
Performance score8.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Futaha Miyamizu (voice) gives Sayaka Ohara a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Ozen (voice)
Made in Abyss: Wandering Twilight (2019)
Performance score8.2
Made in Abyss: Wandering Twilight asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Ozen (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Karen's Mother (voice)
Revue Starlight: The Movie (2021)
Performance score8.1
Revue Starlight: The Movie asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Karen's Mother (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Michiru Kaiou / Eternal Sailor Neptune (voice)
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie Part 2 (2021)
Performance score7.9
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie Part 2 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Michiru Kaiou / Eternal Sailor Neptune (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Futaha Miyamizu (voice)
Start here. Your Name. is the clearest statement of what Sayaka Ohara does — accessible, 106 minutes, and rated 8.7 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Sayaka at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Made in Abyss: Wandering Twilight (2019)
Keeps the animation register of Your Name. but asks for a colder reading of it.
Revue Starlight: The Movie (2021)
Keeps the fantasy register of Made in Abyss: Wandering Twilight but asks for a colder reading of it.
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie Part 2 (2021)
Keeps the action register of Revue Starlight: The Movie but asks for a colder reading of it.
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie Part 2 (2023)
Keeps the fantasy register of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie Part 2 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Naoyoshi Shiotani
Director
2 films together
Notably Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System - Case.2 First Guardian
Masayuki Kojima
Director
2 films together
Notably Made in Abyss: Wandering Twilight
Chiaki Kon
Director
2 films together
Notably Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie Part 2
Tomoya Takahashi
Director
2 films together
Notably Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie Part 2
Tatsuyuki Nagai
Director
1 film together
Notably anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day - The Movie
Makoto Shinkai
Director
1 film together
Notably Your Name.
Tatsuma Minamikawa
Director
1 film together
Notably Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry
Tomonori Sudo
Director
1 film together
Notably Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel III. Spring Song
Tomotaka Shibayama
Director
1 film together
Notably A Whisker Away
Takahiro Natori
Director
1 film together
Notably Aria the Benedizione
Hiroyuki Seshita
Director
1 film together
Notably Knights of Sidonia: Love Woven in the Stars
Kazuya Tsurumaki
Director
1 film together
Notably Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
Tomohisa Taguchi
Director
1 film together
Notably The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes
Hiroaki Ando
Director
1 film together
Notably Kaina of the Great Snow Sea: Star Sage
Yasuhito Kikuchi
Director
1 film together
Notably That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Chiaki Kon
Director
2 films together · 8.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal the Movie Part 2Masayuki Kojima
Director
2 films together · 7.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Made in Abyss: Wandering TwilightTomoya Takahashi
Director
2 films together · 7.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie Part 2Naoyoshi Shiotani
Director
2 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System - Case.2 First GuardianMakoto Shinkai
Director
1 film together · 8.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Your Name.Kazuya Tsurumaki
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a TimeTomohisa Taguchi
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of GoodbyesTomonori Sudo
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel III. Spring SongTomotaka Shibayama
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Whisker AwayTatsuyuki Nagai
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day - The MovieTakahiro Natori
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Aria the BenedizioneYasuhito Kikuchi
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Tatsuma Minamikawa
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fairy Tail: Dragon CryHiroyuki Seshita
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Knights of Sidonia: Love Woven in the StarsHiroaki Ando
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kaina of the Great Snow Sea: Star SageSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Your Name.
as Futaha Miyamizu (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Your Name.
as Futaha Miyamizu (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Your Name.
as Futaha Miyamizu (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
as Sumire Nagara (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Your Name.
as Futaha Miyamizu (voice)
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Sayaka Ohara has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Animation Legend
Awarded
21 catalogue titles in animation, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Made in Abyss: Wandering Twilight
as Ozen (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Made in Abyss: Wandering Twilight
as Ozen (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie Part 2
as Michiru Kaiou / Sailor Neptune (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Made in Abyss: Dawn of the Deep Soul
as Ozen (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Revue Starlight: The Movie
as Karen's Mother (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry
as Erza Scarlet (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea
as Frey (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Your Name.
as Futaha Miyamizu (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and comedy
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and comedy
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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