the voice training school for Arts Vision. She can be quoted as saying "I went for an audition instead of hunting for a job, hahaha....". Horie graduated after 4 years of training. During this time she entered the SME Voice Actor Audition in 1996, winning the Namco Prize, (with Ayako Kawasumi winning the Special Award). On August 28, 1996, Horie and 21 other voice students (including Yukari Tamura) were unveiled at Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Inc.'s "SOMETHING DREAMS '96" at the Tokyo International Exhibition Centre as the Dorikan Club, a group of aspiring voice actresses. Career 1997–1999: Early career Whilst still training and under the representation of Arts Vision, Horie was able to make her voice actor debut in the 1997 Sega Saturn game, Voice Fantasia: Ushinawareta Voice Power. Her first leading role was in the 1998 anime Kurogane Communication, of which she sang the theme songs, "My best friend" and "Dear Mama". These two songs were released as Horie's first single under the Pony Canyon music label. In 1999, with the increasing number of eroge and visual novels being adapted to anime, Horie was able to win a major role as Multi, a robotic girl, in the romantic anime To Heart. 2000–2003: Growing success The following year, Horie succeeded in auditioning for the lead female role of the TV anime adaptation of the shōnen manga comedy Love Hina, as Naru Narusegawa. Love Hina was a huge hit, with sales of over one million DVDs. The high popularity at the time lead to Lycos Japan using the anime to advertise its search engine and other services, with narration from Horie. This was to be her first CM. The ascending popularity of Love Hina spawned a lucrative franchise of OVAs, Drama CDs and games, of which Horie reprised the star role. In regard to their rising fame, Horie worked with Yukari Tamura and form the group . This group had two debuts in 2000, on April 30 at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium and May 13 at Nagoya's Nadia Park Complex. The first of these was called "Yamato Nadeshiko Debut Kinen First Live ~suddenly 1000 seconds live in Yoyogi~", which happened during the "Dorikan Club Fifth Anniversary Event". Together they would release two singles, in 2000 and "Merry Merrily" in 2001, the latter being used as an insert song in the Love Hina Christmas Special. This collaboration ended with a seven date concert