April Fools is here and, with no exception, male seiyuu continue to showcase their talents + sense of humor to craft the perfect lie.
We take a look at this year’s April Fools pranks or fake projects created by your favorite Japanese voice actors.
A certain female idol is back, a pop-rock duo goes hard on the makeup and embraces visual-kei, a seiyuu turns into an old-school Japanese pop artist, TSUKIPRO releases a movie, among many other shenanigans.
A note that the projects featured below are PRANKS / LIES told by male seiyuu on April Fools’ Day.
UMake embrace their darker side with Visual-Kei remake
UMake goes wild with their transformation for April Fools.
The duo is reborn as a visual-kei band, even releasing their 1st single “Insomnia” on streaming services in Japan.
At the same time, they’ve worked with Yuuki Honda (Soma Saito’s longtime stylist and occasional stylist for other 81 Produce talents) as well as count with coverage by Oricon’s official news section.
All of this makes UMake’s visual-kei transformation and renewed image slightly more believable than many of the projects unveiled today.
That’s the most elaborate prank of the day, that’s for sure.
Shunichi Toki returns as Akairo Ginbai, 80s J-pop singer
After last year’s transformation into an enka singer, Shunichi Toki is back with a new transformation in time for April Fools.
The talented voice actor and solo artist will make his debut under the stage name 猩☆GINBAI (Akairo Ginbai) with the song ゴー☆リライト (Go ☆ Relight).
If you watch the full video, there is even the cover art for the single, including its cassette and LP versions.
Female idol JUNTAA is back
Our beloved JUNTAA is back for April Fools, with Junta Terashima once again embracing his idol self, going wild for this year’s transformation.
The follow up to last year’s “Hoppy Girl” is out and is titled 乙女ストロング (Otome Strong), including an official music video.
Kudos once again to Junta Terashima sticking with this concept for April Fools and delivering a follow up and equally hilarious song and music video.
Tsukipro’s mascots take over Japan
What would happen if Tsukipro’s mascots would go bonkers and tried to take over Japan?
Well, MOVIC created an over-the-top short movie for you under that over-the-top premise.
VAZZROCK’s Yukitoshi Kikuchi (ROCK DOWN) and Yoshiaki Hasegawa (ROCK DOWN) count with 2 important roles in this movie so make sure to check it out.
Paradox Live otome game
The grit, blood, sweat, and tears in Paradox Live get a contrasting romance-filled, otome game overhaul.
The project announced the game ParadoxLove 〜ロマンスは幻影ライブの後で〜 (ParadoxLove 〜 Romance wa gennei Live no nochi de 〜) counting with snippets of the scenarios and profiles for some of the characters in the franchise, all adapted to an otome game format.
A3! turns into A8!
Although not as funny or transformative as some of the previous pranks, the A3! franchise jumped into the April Fools train, and… well, those are a lot of “A”s to read!
Welcome A8! – Act! Addict! Actors! Appare! All! mAinichi! hAtaraku! mAn! – a company waiting for you to send your CV to.
GOALOUS5 turn into cats
GOALOUS5 change a couple of things about them for April Fools. The sentai-centric group morph into sentai cats, each with its detailed profile.
The quintet also changes its name to GONYASU5, releasing a special video to commemorate that transformation.
STARISH and QUARTET NIGHT’s members undergo a metamorphosis
Also in the theme of transformations, Utapri’s STARISH and QUARTET NIGHT showcase a more delicate visual for their cosmetics brand “Metamorphose”.
Check the dramatic changes in visuals for most of the members in the post below.
HE★VENS releases a horror visual novel game
HE★VENS do their own thing on April Fools, announcing the release of a horror visual game novel titled “BLACK GARDEN“.
And yes, the mini-visual novel is playable on Utapri’s official website, so don’t miss it as it’ll only be available on April 1, 2021.
Did your favorite male seiyuu pull off a prank on April Fools? Let me know in the comments below, and the most interesting pranks/lies will feature in this article!
[…] duo was interviewed about their new single “Insomnia” as well as their upcoming live tour UMake 4th Live Tour […]