From a child actor to a rock band frontman and beloved voice actor and a staple in narration, this is Yuu Hayashi’s career.
Yuu Hayashi
KANJI: 林勇
BORN: April 2, 1983
OCCUPATION: Voice actor, singer
HEIGHT: 164cm
Yuu Hayashi was born on April 2, 1983, in Kanagawa, Japan, and is currently represented by Ken Production.
Acting
While fans may know Hayashi for his work in anime and for being the frontman of SCREEN mode, the truth is, he started his career as a child actor at Himawari Gekidan, a theatre troupe/agency best known for having trained talents such as Mamoru Miyano, Kensho Ono, Miyu Irino, Ryohei Kimura, Kouki Uchiyama, Yuto Uemura and more.
And why did he start his career as an actor?
According to Hayashi, during an episode of the radio show All Night Nippon, his father won 5 million yen (30.000€) in the lottery when he was a child. He used that money to help 5-year-old Hayashi join the Himawari Theatre Group.
He became a child actor, appearing in TV dramas and commercials but in the dubbing of Western movies and TV series, he found his home. To this date, Hayashi continues to be a reference in dubbing.
During his childhood, Hayashi was actively working in the entertainment industry but he still wanted to be active in different things. He joined a football club team during elementary school. In middle school, he decided to pause his activities in the entertainment industry to focus on playing basketball.
After that, and with his work in entertainment on a hiatus, Hayashi enrolled in high school. He was really good at English – grades and knowledge in general – so he enrolled in a high school with an international liberal arts course.
During this time, he resumed his career in the entertainment industry, returning to dubbing.
Things didn’t go smoothly for him and with time he found his passion in music, focusing everything he could into debuting with a band.
His change of focus to music and the later breakthrough thanks to Haikyuu!!, took Yuu Hayashi to different heights.
Worth noticing that in his mid-twenties, Hayashi left Himawari Gekidan – because of the change in the scope of his activities + his age – transferring to Ken Production, a talent agency that, up until now, represents him.
Seiyuu
In 1995, he actually voiced characters for anime movies such as Katta-kun Monogatari and Memories. Beyond that, it would take him almost a decade before he’d return to voice acting.
Hayashi officially debuted as a voice actor in 2003 when he was 20 years old. But that start – and the first couple of years – weren’t as good as expected.
2003 – 2013
A start with some troubles along the way
His first role was in 2003 in the romantic comedy anime series, Ultra Maniac, as Yuta Kirishima, one of the supporting characters.
From this point on and up until 2012, he was on and off voicing supporting and minor characters.
It would take him 4 years to get another minor role in an anime series, this time around in the sports anime series, Ookiku Furikabutte.
In 2008, he voiced a minor character in Stitch!. Once again, it’d take him a couple of years to get another role in an anime series. In 2011, he was cast in Tiger & Bunny.
2012 however was the start of a turning point for Yuu Hayashi.
He was cast in the popular anime series JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken as Smokey Brown, one of the supporting characters in the series.
This role brought eyes and ears to his work, something that would slowly help him stand out and, eventually, get his big break in 2014.
In 2013, he was cast as Seigo Kinoshita, one of the supporting characters in the anime series, Chihayafuru 2.
While this decade was sparse with roles in anime series, what awaited Yuu Hayashi was something that even he didn’t expect.
2014 –
The unexpected big break
A big reason why Yuu Hayashi is known among anime fans is his role in the hit sports anime series, Haikyuu!! as Karasuno High’s Wing Spiker, Ryunosuke Tanaka.
Tanaka is part of the main supporting cast in the series and instantly turned into a fan favorite due to his quirky and loud personality, passion, and care for his teammates.
Due to the explosive popularity of the anime series – which spawned several seasons, OVAs, and movies -, Hayashi started to be beloved by fans and that attention, in return, brought him a lot of work in anime series.
In 2014, he was cast as Miyabi Saotome, one of the supporting characters in the BL anime series, Love Stage!! as well as its OVA series Love Stage!!: Chotto ja Nakutte.
As part of SCREEN mode, Hayashi performed the opening theme for this series titled “LΦVEST”.
A year later, he was cast as friendly yet a bit of airheaded small forward Shigehiro Ogiwara, one of the supporting characters in the popular sports anime series, Kuroko no Basket.
In the same year, Hayashi reprised his role as Ryunnosuke Tanaka in the 3rd season, one OVA, and 2 movies in the Haikyuu!! series.
In 2016, Hayashi was cast as the violent and arrogant member of the Port Mafia Michizo Tachihara, one of the supporting characters in the series.
He reprised the role in 5 anime series since then and a spin-off.
Hayashi joined the cast of the popular crime anime series, BANANA FISH, in 2018. He voiced the scientist Abraham Dawson, one of the supporting characters in the series.
He was then cast as Jiro Kusano, one of the main characters in the anime series, Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation.
In 2019, he was cast in the sci-fi anime series, Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO, as the protagonist Takuya Arima.
A year later he joined the cast of the popular battle anime series, Jujutsu Kaisen.
He voices the reliable and friendly Takuma Ino, one of the supporting characters in the series.
2021 would be the year, Hayashi joined the cast of the popular action anime series, Tokyo Revengers.
He voices Manjiro Sano, a founding member and the leader of the Tokyo Manji Gang and one of the most important characters in the whole series.
Seeing how big of a hit this series turned out to be and all the attention the seiyuu got, it was no surprise that Yuu Hayashi started to be on the radar of anime producers as well as international fans.
As a result, starting from that year, Hayashi went to various anime conventions outside of Japan.
2023 kicked off with a supporting role as Olmar in the historical anime series Vinland Saga Season 2.
Still in 2023, Hayashi reprised his role as The Cat’s Whiskers’ Yohei Kanbayashi in the anime adaptation of the popular hip-hop mixed-media project, Paradox Live THE ANIMATION.
2024 kicked off quite slowly for Hayashi, especially with no leading roles in anime series. Still, he reprised his role as Ryunnosuke Tanaka in the movie Haikyuu!! Movie: Gomisuteba no Kessen.
Other anime series in which he voiced characters include:
- Big Order (2015)
- Nijiiro Days (2016)
- Big Order (2016)
- Cheer Danshi!! (2016)
- Mob Psycho 100 (2016)
- Mahou Shoujo Ore (2018)
- Crayon Shin-chan (2018)
- Doraemon (2018)
- Mr Love: Queen’s Choice (2020)
- Kidou Senshi Gundam: Cucuruz Doan no Shima (2022)
- Yu☆Gi☆Oh! Go Rush!! (2022)
- Boushoku no Berserk (2023)
- Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata (2024)
Radio
When it comes to radio shows, Yuu Hayashi has hosted some, mostly tied to SCREEN mode, the band he fronts.
SCREEN mode Tamashii (2015 – 2020)
In 2015, Yuu Hayashi and Masatomo Oda kicked off their first radio show as SCREEN mode.
“SCREEN mode Tamashii” was hosted on SCREEN mode’s official YouTube channel until 2020.
The show was about the band hanging out with their fans and sharing updates and news.
After this, the band hosted 3 more radio shows. Those were the following:
- SCREEN mode’s Stars Radio (2017)
- SCREEN mode Studio Live “Sukuuta” (2020)
- SCREEN mode Yu-YOU-‘s “YOUmode” (April 2022 -)
Hayashi Yuu’s Yu Yatchainayo!! (2020 -)
In 2020, Yuu Hayashi got the opportunity to host his own radio show on Nico Nico Douga titled “Hayashi Yuu’s Yu Yatchainayo!!“.
Hayashi answers fan questions in this show, occasionally plays games, and has fellow seiyuu and singers join him for a laidback talk. For paying listeners, there’s also a “serious” karaoke part.
Other radio shows he’s guested or hosted include:
- Haikyuu!! radio
- Seiyuu NOTE (April – June 2018)
- Muhyo and Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation ~Muhyo Roji Radio~
Games
Yuu Hayashi kicked off his career in the entertainment industry in 1993 and, a year later, he got his first – albeit minor – role in a video game (EMIT Vol.1).
It would take him a couple of years to get another one, this time in the game “Heart of Darkness” in 1999. After that, fans would start to find him more regularly voicing characters in games from 2005 onwards.
Usually, Hayashi voices characters in action, RPG, and even otome (romance visual novels) games.
His best-known roles in games are:
Peter Pan in Kingdom Hearts II (2005)
Since 2005, Yuu Hayashi has been the voice of Peter Pan in the popular games franchise, Kingdom Hearts.
His first appearance was in Kingdom Hearts II in 2005. Since then he has reprised his role in:
- Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories (2007)
- Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (2010)
Kaito Shindo in Yumeiro Cast (2016 – 2019) & Yumeiro Cast: TAKE A CURTAIN CALL (2024)
In 2016, Yuu Hayashi was cast to voice Yumeiro Company’s Kaito Shindo, a former rock band frontman with an intense, sort of “bad boy” vibe but who’s got a heart of gold and insane passion for music.
He’s a talented singer and composer, and is in charge of composing the songs for Yumeiro Company.
Hayashi voiced the character from 2016 to 2019 – until the game was discontinued in Japan – and didn’t feature his voice over in the Chinese licensed version.
In 2024, it was announced that Yumeiro Cast will release a full game for smartphones titled Yumeiro Cast: TAKE A CURTAIN CALL and Yuu Hayashi will reprise his role as Kaito Shindo.
Issei Hoshino in Judgement (2018) & Lost Judgement (2021)
In 2018, Hayashi was cast as Issei Hoshino, a defense attorney and one of the supporting characters in the popular action/detective games, Judgement and Lost Judgement.
He’s fully focused on pursuing justice, doesn’t hesitate to help his friends but still lacks a bit of confidence in himself and he’s prone to overthinking. Still, he’s quite the competent character in the series.
He’s a returning character, being part of the active cast in the games series.
He also voiced characters in the following games (list is not exhaustive):
- Final Fantasy Type-0 (2011)
- Haikyu!! Connect! The View from the Top!! (2014)
- DYNAMIC CHORD feat.apple-polisher (2016)
- Boyfriend (kari) Kirameki☆Note (2016)
- Blackish House ←sideZ (2017)
- Graffiti Smash (2017)
- Bungo to Alchemist (2018)
- Tokyo Revengers Pazuribe! Road to National Domination (2021)
- Dragon Quest Monsters 3 (2023)
- Monster Strike (2023 – 2024)
- Argonavis – Kimi ga mitta stage e – (2024)
Narration / Dubbing
Dubbing has been something Yuu Hayashi has been doing since he was 5-years-old. He’s got over 60 credits dubbing international movies and TV series (even animation).
He’s best known in Japan for being the Japanese dubbing voice for Jason Dolley and Shia LaBeouf.
Some of his credits include (list not extensive):
- Good Luck Charlie
- Time Machine
- Pete the Chicken
- Disturbia
- The Nightmare Room Season 1
- The Stevens Family
- My Brother Eddie
- Alvin: The Chipmunk Brothers
- E.T.
- Victor Frankenstein
- Elizabeth: The Golden Age
- Kindergarten Cop
- Justin Bieber: Never Say Never
- Percy Jackson: The Olympians/Sea of Monsters
- The Notorious B.I.G.
- Beethoven
- Home Alone 2
- Poltergeist
- iCarly
- The X-Files Season 1
- Castle Season 1
- Criminal Minds
- CSI:NY
- CSI:Miami
- Bones Season 6
- Smallville
- South Park
- Shrek the Third
- The Little Mermaid
between many more.
Drama CDs
When it comes to drama CDs, Yuu Hayashi is not the most active but fans can still find him reprising his roles in anime and 2D music projects.
At the same time, he has a couple of roles in Boys Love (BL) drama CDs as well.
Some of the drama CDs he has lent his talents to include:
- Cheer Boys! Blu-ray & DVD vol.1 & 2
- Paradox Live series
- ROMEO
- High School Boys, First Time~ series
- Megumi to zen
Music
During high school, he returned to the entertainment industry however, it wasn’t as smooth as he’d expected. He started struggling with his career and actually found that his strength was more in singing than any other thing he’d tried before.
That new passion – and focus – of his led to Hayashi enrolling at Nihon Kogakuin College’s Computer Music Department, majoring in music.
This was when he started to actively compose music and learn the piano.
Soon after graduating, he continued his work as a voice actor but formed a band with friends from college although that was short-lived.
His dream was of debuting with a band. It would take quite a while, only in 2013 getting that chance as he joined guitarist Masatomo Ota to form SCREEN mode, debuting in that year under Lantis.
Yuu Hayashi is a certified tenor – the highest vocal range for men, also, the most common – and is known for his versatility both as a singer and rapper.
Aside from singing for 2D music projects and his band, SCREEN mode, Yuu Hayashi is an accomplished composer and studio musician, providing chorus vocals for songs by King & Prince and others.
SCREEN mode (2013 -)
Since 2013, Yuu Hayashi has been the frontman and lyricist for the two-piece band, SCREEN mode.
Alongside guitarist Masatomo Ota, the duo is signed to Lantis and is best known for creating music for anime series (called “anisong”).
The band debuted with the single “Moonlight STORY” in 2023, song featured as the ending theme for the anime series, Gingitsune.
The song showed the band’s downtempo, emotional brand of pop-rock.
A year later, the duo was back for more music, this time around releasing “LΦVEST“, the opening theme for the BL anime series, Love Stage!!.
Hayashi voiced one of the characters in this series.
Their sound was more upbeat and peppy for this song, bringing a jaunty piano melody and strings to create an exciting story for the song.
In that same year, the band released its 1st mini-album “NATURAL HIGH DREAMER“. The CD included previously released singles as well as a couple of new songs.
“STAR PARK” was chosen as the band’s leading track for this release, bringing a more electro-rock-driven sound, a big departure from the sound they had before.
However, this change in tone brought more attention to the band, which was starting to build up momentum among anime/anisong fans.
A couple of months later, the band was back at it with their 3rd single “Amazing the World“. The song was featured as the first ending theme for the anime series, Gundam Build Fighters Try.
The band was back to its energetic pop-rock sound, bringing a lot of speed and excitement to the table.
The 4th single “Kyokugen Dreamer” followed in January 2015. The song was featured as the opening theme for the anime series, Yoru no Yatterman.
The turning point for the band – attracting quite a lot of attention – was “Ambivalence“. The song was featured as the second ending theme for the 3rd season of the popular sports anime series, Kuroko no Basket.
This was a downtempo pop-rock tune with a ballad undertone in the verses but a hopeful, engaging chorus that perfectly captured the excitement of youth.
After releasing several singles, it was time for the band to gear up and release its 1st full-length album, “Discovery Collection“.
The album featured the song “Brand-new land” as its leading track, releasing a full music video for it prior to the album’s release.
2016 was a packed year for the band with the release of the singles “Naked Dive“, “ROUGH DIAMONDS” and “Reason Living“.
“Naked Dive” was featured as the opening theme for the anime series, Musaigen no Phatom World.
“ROUGH DIAMONDS” was featured as the opening theme for the 2nd season of the popular anime series, Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma.
Out of all these singles, “Reason Living” was the one getting the best fan reaction. The song was featured as the second opening theme for the 2nd season of the popular anime series, Bungou Stray Dogs.
Adding to this, the song was voted the 9th best song as voted by readers of the Newtype magazine back in 2017.
Things quieted down a bit in 2017. The band released its 2nd mini-album “SOUL“. The release featured the song “WHY NOT!” as its leading track.
This was a big change in tone for the band, embracing a mix of soul and disco for a leading track and even featuring dancing in the music video.
The tone shifted quite dramatically a couple of months later when the band released the 9th single “MYSTERIUM“.
The song mixed electronica with rock and a dramatic choir, fleshing out the vibes of the anime series, Vatican Kiseki Chousakan. The song was featured as its opening theme.
The band was back to its playful pop-rock sound in “DISTANT GOAL“, leading track in the band’s 2nd album “1/1“, which was released in 2018.
A couple of months later, the band released its 10th single “GIFTED“. The song was featured as the opening theme for the anime series, Muhyo & Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation. Hayashi voices one of the main characters in the series.
In 2019, the band released its 3rd mini-album “Yakusoku no Sora“, with the title track embracing a ballad-inspired sound in which strings and acoustic guitars lead the way.
The CD features as well “Wright Left“, an insert song featured in thee 3rd season of the anime series, Bungou Stray Dogs.
Wrapping up the year, the band released its 11th single “One Wish“. The title track had a really smooth, easy-listening sound that showed yet another side to SCREEN mode.
After this, the band didn’t release music until 2021, with the 3rd full-length album “With You“.
The album brought previously released songs as well as a special collaboration song with GRANRODEO’s KISHOW titled “ALIVE“.
In 2022, the band would see yet another rise in their popularity with “Wake up Decker!“, song featured as the opening theme for the TV tokustasu series, Ultraman Decker.
And in 2023, the band released its 13th single “TRUE STORY“, bring in electronica mixed with shredding guitar riffs for its title track.
The song was featured as the opening theme for the 4th season of the anime series, Bungou Stray Dogs.
But he’s also quite active with 2D music projects! Those are the following:
Yumeiro Cast (2016 – 2020)
A part of one of the units in the Yumeiro Cast rhythm game, Hayashi alongside Ryota Osaka, Toshiyuki Toyonaga, Yuki Ono, Natsuki Hanae, Tasuku Hatanaka, and Yuto Uemura sang several songs featured in the game.
With a musical-like approach to the unit’s “sound”, Yumeiro Cast had unique instrumental pieces and vocal performances that went hand in hand with the themes of the plays the characters performed in-game.
With a diverse cast, this unit had all the right tools to succeed on the horizon. Unfortunately, the game ended distribution at the beginning of 2019, which ended up arriving a frustrating news for fans.
The game’s license was soon sold to a Chinese company, featuring the game in the country, however, not with the original voice cast.
Only in 2024 did the project return to SEGA’s hands, with the company announcing the release of a game and the creation of new music for it.
From 2016 up until 2020, Hayashi, as Kaito Shindo performed songs on the following CDs:
- Yumeiro Cast Vocal Collection ~WELCOME TO THE SHOW!!~ (2016)
- Yumeiro Cast Vocal Mini Album: Birthday Collection (2016)
- Yumeiro Cast Vocal Collection 2 ~DEPARTURE TO THE NEW WORLD~ (2016)
- Yumeiro Cast Vocal Collection 3 ~A Chance to Make Progress~ (2017)
- Yumeiro Cast “Seiya no Love Letter” Song Collection: Saigo no Lonely Christmas (2017)
- Yumeiro Cast Drama Theater 1 ~Re PHANTOM of the MASQUERADE~ (2018)
- Yumeiro Cast Vocal Collection 4 ~Dreaming of Next Stage~ (2019)
- Yumeiro Cast Drama Theater 2 ~Soukai no Pleiades~ (2020)
A note, to this date Kaito Shindo’s “Kamigami no sen utage” – song included in Yumeiro Cast Vocal Collection 3 ~A Chance to Make Progress~ – is still one of the best solo songs in the Yumeiro Cast franchise.
Kenpro Live (2017 -)
In 2017, Hayashi participated in the recording of KENPROROCK 2017‘s theme song “VOICE FOR YELL“. A music video was later released on Ken Production’s YouTube channel.
KENPROROCK is a music festival counting only on Ken Production’s talents, some of its talents include Kisho Taniyama (GRANRODEO), Mitsuki Saiga, Atsushi Abe, Tsubasa Yonaga, Yuu Hayashi (SCREEN mode), Takuya Sato, Tasuku Hatanaka, Katsuyuki Konishi (Seki to Konishi) and more. It is held annually.
The Cat’s Whiskers (2020 -)
The biggest and most hyped project he joined so far in his career was in 2020 with PARADOX LIVE.
Alongside Ryota Takeuchi, Junta Terashima, and Natsuki Hanae, Hayashi is part of the lo-fi boom-bap hip-hop team, The Cat’s Whiskers.
The team’s debut song, “MASTER OF MUSIC” was released in 2020 as part of the franchise mini-album, Paradox Live Opening Show.
As Yohei Kanbayashi, Hayashi’s rapping is incisive, powerful and straightforward. He brings a mature yet slightly aggressive undertone to the lo-fi, old-school twist to The Cat’s Whiskers’ hip-hop sound.
The team participated in various stages in the 1st STAGE BATTLE series in Paradox Live, ending up not getting enough votes to challenge for that top spot in the battle.
Still, “Paradox Live Stage Battle “JUSTICE” (2020) and their song “Faith” left quite an impact.
The nostalgia exuding from it, the bounce and bop in the beat, the delicate, elegant touch of those piano melodies, the lo-fi touch, and the throwback rap style were enough to showcase just how unique the team is.
A couple of months later, the team faced off against BAE with the song “4 REAL” in “Paradox Live Stage Battle “PRIDE“.
That classic, 90s East Coast, jazz hop sound that was made popular by the awesome Wu-Tang-Clan is here and when reviewing this song, I couldn’t help but fall in love with it as soon as the first beat made its entrance.
That melancholic saxophone adds such a beautiful touch to the song that, along with those jazzy piano melodies and groovy bassline, make the song shine in that release.
Wrapping up the year, the team released “Life Is Beautiful“, one of its best songs. The song was included in “PARADOX LIVE EXHIBITION SHOW”.
The team collaborated as well with Kazuma Mitchell in the song “My Sweetest Love“.
A year later, the team went head-to-head with the soon-to-be winners of the 1st STAGE BATTLE, cozmez.
In “Paradox Live Stage Battle “LOVE“, The Cat’s Whiskers explored the theme “love” in a unique way, putting “longing” in the spotlight.
“Mercy On Me” has a melancholic and, at times, introspective tone about a former lover, and that is performed in such a soft way. The song is led by Junta Terashima but Hayashi’s low, quiet, and emotional performance is also a highlight.
While it’s quite the loungy tune, the lyrics are quite mature, with innuendos here and there once again showing why the protagonist in those lyrics, longs for that person.
Early in 2021, Hayashi participated in the franchise’s 1st live show “Paradox Live Dope Show“.
Later in the same year, he attended the special event Paradox Live 2nd anniversary Fes..
The rest of the year was reserved for best of albums in the franchise: “TRAP” and “LIVE“. Later in the same year, The Cat’s Whiskers’ members participated in the Shuffle Team Show CDs (2 releases).
Hayashi participated in both CDs as part of New&Classic (Paradox Live Shuffle Team Show vol.1) and Double Trouble (Paradox Live Shuffle Team Show vol.2).
Welcoming new teams in the franchise, the Paradox Live franchise released a special CD titled “Paradox Live Opening Show-Road to Legend-“.
The team released the cool, summer-inspired tune “Ride Out“.
In May 2022, Yuu Hayashi joined The Cat’s Whiskers on stage for its performances at Paradox Live 2nd LIVE DOPE SHOW.
In July 2022, the team is going to participate in “Paradox Live -Road to Legend- Round1 “FATE” with the song “Shooting Arrows“.
The group beat 1Nm8 and advanced to the next stage to face off BAE in “Paradox Live -Road to Legend- Round2 “WILL”“.
The quartet brought “No Matter What” to this battle but that wasn’t enough to beat BAE, the group that advanced to the next stage (and would end up winning the Road To Legend series).
In 2024, the group participated in the franchise’s 3rd album “ANTHEM“. They performed the new song “Get It Back“.
A couple of months later, in May, the franchise held Paradox Live Dope Show 2024.
ST//RAYRIDE (2023 -)
In 2023, and to celebrate FROM ARGONAVIS franchise’s 5th anniversary, it was announced that there was a new band joining the lineup.
ST//RAYRIDE (Read: stray stride) features double vocals by voice actor and SCREEN mode‘s frontman Yuu Hayashi and solo artist SHIN.
Yuu Hayashi is in charge of rapping for the band, bringing his experience as The Cat’s Whiskers‘ rapper (from the Paradox Live franchise) to this franchise.
The band premiered their debut song “STRAYDASH//STARTDASH“ and instantly impacted fans with their rap-rock sound.
The song features lyrics by ZAQ and composition and arrangement by GRANRODEO’s e-ZUKA.
It was released in physical format as part of the album “Kimi ga mitta stage e” in 2024.
RED BOUQUET (2023 -)
Still in the same year, Hayashi joined the cast of Fragaria Memories as Merold (in the image above, the second from the left), one of the members of the unit, RED BOUQUET.
The franchise is tied to the Sanrio name – of Hello Kitty fame – and features 3 units: RED BOUQUET, BLUE BOUQUET, and BLACK BOUQUET.
RED BOUQUET features vocals by Gakuto Kajiwara, Yuu Hayashi, Takuma Terashima, Shunichi Toki, Saku Hyuga, and Shugo Nakamura.
The group debuted with the song “EVER RED” in 2023. Merold, Hayashi’s character doesn’t perform in this song.
Fans however can listen to Hayashi’s vocals in the group’s 2nd song release, “Your Melody“, released in 2024.
Photobooks
At the age of 39 in 2022, Yuu Hayashi published his first book, a photo essay titled “Hayashi Yuu Photo Essay: SU.“
This is a book full of humorous masterpiece essays, from recollections of childhood to secret stories of the limbo between voice acting and music activities, disclosure of self-taught mapo tofu recipe, and friendships in the seiyuu world.
In addition, there are 140 new photos taken at his alma mater elementary school, and nostalgic places where he played around as a child. It is a book where you can see the bright, straight, and powerful Yuu Hayashi.
The photo essay comes as well with comments by fellow seiyuu and singers Mamoru Miyano and Toshiyuki Toyonaga.
Variety
When it comes to variety and talk shows you can expect Yuu Hayashi to always bring witty remarks – leading to hilarious banter, especially when close to “chaotic” seiyuu – and a joke or two to make the mood more friendly and lively.
He’s at his most chaotic during the Haikyuu!! events – if you’ve watched those, you know what I mean.
Some of the variety and talk shows he’s attended/participated include:
Hayashi YuuTube!! (2020 -)
In June 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, Yuu Hayashi launched the YouTube channel “Hayashi YuuTube!!“, where he posted singing videos and engaged in various unique projects.
His channel was initially focused on gameplay recordings + commentary, but slowly he started to include more diverse content, including collaborations and live-action projects, achieving his first-year subscriber goal through live streaming.
He personally handled the filming with friends, planned the content, and edited the videos except during busy times.
Say You to Yoasobi (2021 and 2022)
Yuu Hayashi has guested twice on the popular seiyuu-hosted talk show, Say You to Yoasobi. He was a guest in 2021 as well as in 2022.
In 2021, he was invited to promote the anime series, Tokyo Revengers. He participated in challenges and shared interesting stories, including about his relationship – and how to address – Daisuke Namikawa.
And in 2022, he joined Daisuke Namikawa to fill in for Hosoya Yoshimasa. During that episode, there was a lot of banter, crazy shenanigans, and face-reading by an expert.
Talking Stand MORINOTH (2022)
In 2022, Yuu Hayashi was a guest on Showtaro Morikubo’s talk-variety show Talking Stand MORINOTH.
In the show’s concept, “Talking Stand MORINOTH” is a hidden bar in the back alleys of Minato Ward in Tokyo.
Master Showtaro Morikubo and part-time bartender Kohei Amasaki are running the store under the concept of “Adult nights are so interesting.”
For this show, Showtaro Morikubo invites a guest over to candidly talk about their careers, hobbies, and what they are “crazy” about at the moment, while Amasaki works as a bartender/interviewer.
For this episode, Hayashi talked about his career, music, karaoke and more.
Facts
He’s an amazing singer and won several Karaoke awards for that
If you’ve listened to his singing, you know Yuu Hayashi is ridiculously talented.
And he has proven that multiple times, winning Karaoke competitions on TV, and impressing everyone with his vocal prowess and pitch-perfect singing.
On TBS’s “Can You Get a Perfect Score Live Broadcast 100 Points Karaoke Music Festival”, he scored 100 points singing Motohiro Hata’s “Himawari no Yakusoku”. The song, known for being quite tricky on the vocal end, earned him an award of 1 million yen.
This exposure increased his karaoke-related work, and he won with Mr. Children’s “Dakishimetai” on TV Tokyo’s “THE Karaoke ★ Battle.” Thanks to that, he was later on invited to narrate for the show.
Close friends with Kishow, Mamoru Miyano and more
He is close friends with fellow Ken Production talents Kisho Taniyama and Anri Katsu. They have formed units for the agency’s music live event “KENPROCK”.
He shares hobbies with Katsu, such as road biking, weight training, and ramen.
On the other hand, he has also collaborated with Taniyama on a duet called “ALIVE” from SCREEN mode’s 3rd album “With You”.
Among his juniors, he is friendly with Tasuku Hatanaka, who has appeared as a guest on Hayashi YuuTUBE.
During his time at the Himawari Theatre Group, he formed a unit called “Miyano and Hayashi” with Mamoru Miyano, composing songs and performing them at the theatre’s internal presentations.
Hayashi later shared on a live stream that Miyano watched both the daytime and evening anniversary live streams of SCREEN mode.
They continue to maintain their friendship, with Hayashi attending Miyano’s live performances. At the same time, Miyano has praised Hayashi’s singing in his own publications and media appearances.
Apparel clothing designer
Hayashi has collaborated several times with the Japanese apparel company, LIVERTINE AGE. For this brand, he has designed t-shirts and hoodies.
With this, THTFHQ wraps up another Seiyuu Digest. In the meantime, don’t forget to check past Seiyuu Digests (some of those recently updated) – HERE.
