Maon Kurosaki

Maon Kurosaki(黒崎 真音, Kurosaki Maon, January 13, 1988 - February 16, 2023) was a female Japanese singer-songwriter from Tokyo signed to Geneon Universal Entertainment. She released her debut album H.O.T.D. in September 2010, which features the ending themes of the anime series Highschool of the Dead. Her two singles that followed, "Magic∞World" and "Memories Last", were used as the ending themes for the anime Toaru Majutsu no Index II. Kurosaki has also performed at many events including Lis Ani 2010, and she performed twice at Anime Expo 2011 in Los Angeles, California. She also performed at Animelo Summer Live 2011.

Career
Maon Kurosaki began her singing career in Akihabara at the performance venue and bar Dear Stage since at least January 2008. Music producer Akihiro Tomita noticed her singing talent, and he subsequently became her producer when she made her major debut signed to Geneon Universal Entertainment. Kurosaki first announced her major debut to her fans in January 2010. Her first music release was her debut album H.O.T.D. on September 22, 2010, which contains the ending theme songs used in the 2010 anime series Highschool of the Dead. To commemorate the album and the broadcast of the anime, she performed songs from the album once a week at Deer Stage from July 7 to September 22, 2010. Another event to commemorate the album was held at Animate in Yokohama on October 16, 2010.

Her debut single "Magic∞World" was released on November 24, 2010, and she performed at Deer Stage on that day to commemorate the release. Kurosaki's second single "Memories Last" was released on March 2, 2011. Both "Magic∞World" and "Memories Last" were used as ending theme songs to the 2010 anime series Toaru Majutsu no Index II. Kurosaki had her first solo live event called "Maon Kurosaki Live 2011 Spring: Memories First" on March 4–5, 2011 in Harajuku. She made her North American debut at Anime Expo 2011 in Los Angeles, California where she performed on July 1 and July 3. She released the mini-album Goshiki Uta: Immortal Lovers on August 10, 2011, which contains the ending theme songs used in the 2011 original video animation series Hakuōki Sekkaroku. She made her first appearance at the 2011 Animelo Summer Live on August 28. Kurosaki released her second studio album Butterfly Effect on November 30, 2011. In 2011, Kurosaki formed the band Altima with Move's Mototaka "Motsu" Segawa and fripSide's Satoshi "Sat" Yaginuma.

Before she had her major debut, Kurosaki posed as a gravure model for the cover of Yūsaku Kitano's novel Maid Road Reload sold on April 26, 2010 by ASCII Media Works under their Media Works Bunko imprint. Kurosaki has been a regular host for the Thursday broadcast of the radio program A&G Artist Zone 2h since October 7, 2010.

Kurosaki died on February 16, 2023 after being diagnosed with an epidural hematoma in 2021.