Seiyuu Digest #35 – Makoto Furukawa

Makoto Furukawa joined the industry following the steps of his idol. Without knowing, people were praising his passion for voice acting, work ethic, talent, and likable personality.

Makoto Furukawa

KANJI: 古川 慎

BORN: September 29, 1989

OCCUPATION: seiyuu, singer, radio host

HEIGHT: 170cm

Note: This article is undergoing a deep update. There may be some information missing.

Seiyuu

Furukawa was born on September 29, 1989, in Kumamoto Prefecture, located on the island of Kyushu.

Having been born and raised on an island far away from Tokyo, the young Furukawa first became interested in the seiyuu industry when he was in middle school and played a Gundam game.

In that game there was a character Hikaru Midorikawa had voiced and the teenage boy became fascinated to the point of aspiring to be like his new subject of admiration Midorikawa.

At that time a friend of his got him a brochure of a vocational school in which Hikaru Midorikawa had been appointed to be a special lecturer fueling his desire to be a seiyuu even more and giving him the courage to take the plunge and enroll in Fukuoka‘s Music Vocational School from which he graduated. 

After he graduated, one could understand why he has such talent and passion be it for his job as a seiyuu or for singing, something Furukawa has proved more than enough to excel at both tasks.

In 2011, Furukawa signed a contract with Spacecraft Entertainment and he made his debut with his character Satoshi Yoshino in the web anime Busou Chuugakusei: Basket Army.

In 2018, Furukawa announced his departure from Space Craft Group, talent agency that had housed him since his debut in 2011.

At the same time he announced that he was a freelance seiyuu for a couple of months until, in December 2018, he announced that he’d joined TOY’S FACTORY alongside also former Space Craft talent and fellow male seiyuu, Toshiki Masuda.

2012 – 2014

Paving his career

After his debut in 2011, Furukawa was taking minor roles in anime such as Kokoro Connect, Psycho-Pass, DOG DAYS’ and Hidamari Sketch x Honeycomb, with the remaining year more or less uneventful.

2013 was the year in which the world would get to see for itself just how Furukawa handled a character filled with emotion and a tragic past in the popular anime Golden Time as the college law student Banri Tada.

Not only did this role enable him to prove his worth as a seiyuu, but it also made it possible to shed light into his talent and versatility as newcomer in the industry trying to prove himself.

Tada is not your typical main character in a romance anime whose life appears to be perfect, in fact, it is the complete opposite. Not only does this young adult not know anything about his past life previous to his awaking after being caught up in an accident and lost his memories, but he also had to take a year off to recover from the damage in his brain.

One thing, however, is clear to this new Tada, he wanted to go to college to study Law.

Despite the fact that at first, he appears to be apathetic towards his surroundings, through numerous situations he was put through either by Kouko Kaga or Mitsuo Yanagisawa, he somehow manages to remain in a stable state. His gentle personality who makes him compassionate towards others is what draws Kaga to him.

It is not until Tada begins to show transmutation symptoms in his mental state that we can really notice how well Furakawa portrayed this caring and soothing character in the moments when Tada suddenly recalls his past as he is struggling to cope with the sudden surplus of information regarding an important event.

From that moment on, Tada becomes extremely agitated and frantic as he begins to have fitful seizures as each and every time he regains a part of the memory of the once wiped out past.

There had been a point in the story he longed to retrieve it all, but at that moment Tada wanted to erase it.

Furukawa was on point with his performance in moments of confrontation between characters and parting ways with others. Regardless, Banri Tada was surely one of the characters that put him in the spotlight, even if it momentarily.

In the same year, Furukawa landed on another main character role in the children supernatural/action anime Gaist Crusher as one of the main characters Shiren Quartzheart, the lone wolf and quiet fourteen-year-old character which despite the environment where he lives he does not mind sacrificing something to protect his loved ones.

In 2014, other than his main role in the action/romance anime Seireitsukai no Blade Dance as Kamito Kazehaya, a slave spirit, Furukawa was pretty much M.I.A.

Instead, the seiyuu had minor roles in anime such as Aldnoah.Zero as Shigou Kakei, but also in M3 The Dark Metal, If Her Flag Breaks, Kamigami no Asobi, and Tokyo Ravens.

2015 –

Rise in popularity

2015 would be the year Furukawa had the most number of roles, be it minor or main characters, it was all about Furukawa.

In that year we could count on the seiyuu’s appearance in multiple and contrasting anime, proving once again that Furukawa is not only able to dub gentle characters from a romance anime as he had been doing here and there.

With a career adding up to only four years, the seiyuu got a role in a mainstream shounen anime Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma as both Yoshiaki Nikaidou and Takumi Ishiwatari, the first one being a student who attempted to enroll in the Tootsuki Culinary Academy.

Aside from the fact that Furukawa was beginning to show signs that he indeed has an opportunity to thrive in the industry, the seiyuu still got some minor roles here and there, namely as Kirus in Arslan Senki but also in Charlotte and Your Lie in April.

Other than those characters, Furukawa had once more the opportunity to be cast in the shounen/adventure anime The Seven Deadly Sins as Gustaf, a holy knight, Mitsukuri – a member of the Blue Squares – in Durarara!!x2 Shou and in the second season of the famous volleyball anime Haikyuu!! as Yuutarou Kindaichi a middle blocker from Aoba Josai, a character that although feeling resentful towards some events that occurred in the past is above all a stubborn and competitive teenager.

Then the summer ended and in October of 2016, Furukawa was cast for the first time ever as the main lead in the extremely popular parody/sci-fi anime One Punch Man as Saitama, your ordinary man with just a little too much strength.

Saitama is a laid back super hero which despite being on the constant search for an opponent who does make him enjoy defeating, also takes his job not seriously enough, in fact, one could say that he does not believe it to be necessary for him to give his all-seeing as he finishes everyone with just one punch.

In fact, it is precisely for that reason that Saitama has become so lazy when fighting others, which does not mean that sometimes he will not lose control and end up causing fatal damage in other cities resulting in a landscape restructuring if we might say so ourselves.

Saitama first comes to the viewers as a man who has failed to get a job and instead of giving up on his life he chooses to endeavor on another path other than working, a path that should have been more rewarding for himself.

Between lots of awkward situations and misunderstandings, as well as several comic episodes, we get to see for ourselves just how much this main character has changed while he underwent the process to become stronger.

It is also easy to understand when Saitama is or is not being serious seeing as he usually is drawn in a rounder face with simple features when he is lazy, and takes on a sharper look, a more main character of a shounen manga/anime appropriate appearance when he is serious.

Not even Genos can understand how Saitama is rumored to be so powerful when he appears to be so goofy, at least most of the times.

We must say, while Saitama has different facial expressions Furukawa managed to not make Saitama sound too strong when he is being silly seeing as we only get to experience that strong part when the main character is being dead serious, and he managed to express and separate those two characteristics in the best way possible.

A little side note here is that Furukawa at the premier event for One Punch Man took on the challenge of breaking tiles with one punch, a rather interesting event if we must say, alongside Kaji Yuki and Aoi Yuki and Kaito Ishikawa.

After all the popularity surrounding Furukawa due to his role as Saitama, he had to keep up with the momentum and he took advantage of the fact that people had started to get curious towards him.

With that in mind, Furukawa began to have more exposure in magazines and other platforms.

So, in 2016, he made his comeback in the drama/romance shoujo anime Orange as Hiroto Suwa, one of the main characters.

Suwa is one of the members of the group of teenage friends around which the story focuses.

He is outgoing and friendly, some may even that the fact that he appears to be the “older brother type” making him give up something he wanted for the sake of his friends’ happiness, make him a character that sacrifices himself too much for others.

Both in the anime and movie, Suwa has a pivotal role in keeping the relationships balanced as well as helping his friends come to terms with themselves regarding the past that cannot be changed.

A bit like Banri Tada, Suwa is a character that brings forth Furukawa‘s potential as a seiyuu seeing as with both characters he had to portray strong emotions in powerful emotional moments, being as spontaneous as possible while attempting to sound as natural as possible which he did, hence why his performances are so stunning in both anime.

Taboo Tattoo was the next stop for Furukawa.

He portrayed Justice Akatsuka, a 3rd-year high school student that also has a tattoo enabling him to have a special ability. In this case, Akatsuka‘s appears to be extremely difficult to have control over which can make him appear to be a little reckless to use it.

The fact that he somehow acquired the taboo tattoo makes him flabbergasted as he does not appear to want to believe that he has superpowers.

Even more so when people whom he believes trusted him begin to be put in harm’s way. As the story progresses we get to see numerous different sides of Akatsuka and we get to see him grow both as a character but as a person.

In this anime, Furukawa managed to portray a character who has the means to save people but feels conflicted to use the power seeing as he refuses to believe the reality presented in front of him.

For the rest of the year, Furukawa focused on his role in the still running kids’ action/comedy anime Digimon Universe as Yuujin Oozora, a supporting role.

Oozora is a teenage boy which is a friend of Haru, the main character.

Although he makes appearances here and there, one can say that his friendship with Haru is lovely seeing as though even when not present he is worried about him, thus making him want to keep an eye on his friend to make sure everything is fine at all times.

Other than that, Furukawa was cast in the historical/fantasy anime Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru as Ookurikara whose previous owner had been Masamune Date.

This sword is a loner and does not appear to like mingling with others, in fact, some peace and quiet are all it needs and wants.

As if the year had not already been great for Furukawa, he had the opportunity to be one of the members of the luxury cast of Trickster as Hisa Ootomo, a fifteen-year-old teenage boy who is in charge of doing experiments at his school’s scientific experiment club.

Next, Furukawa was cast in the mafia anime 91 Days as Arturo Tronco, a friend of Vanno Vanetti and his driver despite him being a teenager. This young character is like many others in the anime, a victim of a terrible fate.

Later on in the year, he reprised his role as Gustaf in the anime Seven Deadly Sins. He also counted with minor roles in anime such as Prince of Stride: Alternative and PriPara.

However we cannot leave unnoticed his appearance is Ajin’s ova as Hiroki or his reprisal of Hiroto Suwa in the movie Orange – future -.

Unlike 2016, 2017 has been slightly less prolific, however, there are still some new anime that Furukawa has been cast in, so all in all it has not been an unproductive year so far.

This year we could count with Furukawa on Chiruran 1/2 as Heisuke Toudou.

Other minor roles were Zappa Shimoi in One Piece, Fujiwara in Sakura Quest, and Riku Kasai in The Moon is Beautiful. While he had several minor roles, Furukawa was cast as Zağanos Zehir in Shoukoku no Altair, a perfectionist that sometimes ends up hurting other people’s feelings while showing aloofness.

On a whole different level, Furukawa‘s talent has been recognized to the point of him getting roles in major anime series such as Fate/Apocrypha as Aka no Rider a.k.a  Achilles.

He is the Rider class servant of Shirou Kotomine. Achilles is frequently seen smiling in a carefree manner.

Although he is a servant, he will not obey his master if he deems the order to be against his principles, aside from that he also does not think highly of anyone related to the kings, so we could say that he has a will of his own.

Other roles Furukawa got were in the movie Fairy Tail Movie 2: Dragon Cry as King Animus, a once gentleman who is now vicious and harsh, punishing everyone who defies his authority, and Takeru Yamato in Monster Strike 2 Episode 0.

Scheduled to be aired in October is the long-awaited anime adaptation of the iOS Android game adaptation of TsukiPro which is TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION.

The anime will have several groups featured in, namely SolidS, Quell, Growth and among them, there’s also SOARA. Furukawa has been the voice of Soushi Kagurazaka since 2016.

Kagurazaka is one of the members of SOARA, a seiyuu unit. His character is once again the “older brother type” or the “caring type” seeing as he takes care of the rest of the group’s members.

 Radio

Like many other seiyuu, Furukawa has quite a few radio shows he has either hosted or been invited to.

For those who are fans of the seiyuu, you’ll know that whenever and wherever he goes to Furukawa just brightens up the mood and makes one laugh so much that chances are that you’ll end up cramping.

From 2013 to 2014 the seiyuu hosted GOLDEN TIME‘s radio show, however, he didn’t stop there as he has also hosted a radio show with Yusuke Kobayashi – the seiyuu who voiced Arslan – called Yuke to Mabo.

In 2016, Makoto Furukawa started co-hosting Nandemo Hero! Yukke To Mabo with fellow male seiyuu, Yusuke Kobayashi.

The radio show is still pretty popular and has spawned several DJCDs over the years (above is the cover for the vol.4).

From here onward, Furukawa has made multiple shows such as One Pan Man Justice Enforcement! Maji Radio! (2015-2016), Makoto Furukawa no Orange Futari (2016-), Everything hero! Let’s get ready (2016-) and Fate/Apocrypha Radio トゥリファス！(2017-).

On another note, Furukawa has been a guest in Trickster‘s radio show hosted by Ryota Osaka and Daiki Yamashita. Furukawa was the special guest for episode 8.

Needless to say, that aside from his usually bubbly personality and the host’s interaction made the show was a complete mess, since no one could handle his energy and funny remarks.

All in all, it was an episode that rendered everyone tired of laughing. Another show he appeared as a guest was Nobuyuki Hiyama‘s Animage.

In December 2018 a new radio show was announced and Masuda was on its personality lineup. 

増田俊樹・古川慎のごりやく☆研究所 (Masuda Toshiki Furukawa Makoto no Gori Yaku ☆ Kenkyujo) teams up fellow TOY’S FACTORY (and former Space Craft Group) talents Toshiki Masuda and Makoto Furukawa for what promises to be an entertaining show to start airing on KBS Osaka Radio on 04/01/2019.

Games

Aside from his work in the anime department, Furukawa knew better than anyone else that if he wanted to make a name for himself he needed to branch out in all different platforms so as to get fans to know him, and with that in mind, Furukawa made his first endeavors in the game industry in 2009.

In his first game in Kogane no Kizuna as Sadias.

Despite his first attempt, Furukawa was pretty much on a low profile in this entertainment medium until 2012 when he made his comeback to voicing characters in games with a role in Sousouki Reginald as Reginald Abelain, this being his first main role in a game, the first of many.

The following year he reprised his role as Shiren Quartzheart in the Gaist Crusher‘s game, as well as his role in Alpha Dia Genesis as Dion.

In the same year Furukawa reprised his role as Banri Tada for the Golden Time Vivid Memories game, as well as his role in Seireitsukai no Blade Dance as Kamito Kazehaya.

In 2015, Furukawa appeared in the shoujo game Cinderella to 100 Oku-doru no Ouji-sama as Clive Felix, a model and IT company executive.

Following this spree of shoujo games, the seiyuu appeared in another otome game, this time around his role was Hajime Saito in Ikemen Bakumatsu ◆ Unmei no Koi.

In 2016, Furukawa made appearances as Asselin BB II in THE iDOLM@STER: SideM, a character that likes to believe himself to have been in Hell and being a servant of Satan when in all reality he is nothing more than a chef. 

Another role where Suzumo Susuhara in Iwaihime, an honest and mature protagonist who is also the childhood friend of Tsubakiko Harumiya, the main character in the story.

In Yumeiro Cast he played Kuroki Ryosuke, a member of GENESIS.

The following year, he ventured to the game industry once again, making appearances in games such as Arado Senki as Kenshi Oni, the main character in this adventure game, but the seiyuu was also featured in the Android and iOS app Kizuna Striker as Kuro Minagawa.

He voiced characters in other games such as Star Revo ☆ 彡 88 Constellation’s idol revolution, Prince of Cocktail, and lastly Furukawa reprised his role Souji Kagurazaka in Tsukino Paradise, the smartphone rhythm game.

Another famous role of his is in the popular idol game IDOLiSh7 as Re:vale’s manager Rinto Okazaki.

All in all, Furukawa has pretty much appeared in different genres and not only focusing on otome games, for instance, and in fact, while that is true, for the past few years the trend has been Furukawa appearing in games with units.

Drama CDs

As any other seiyuu, Furukawa also branched out to do voice acting in drama CDs.

His first role was as Banri Tada from Golden Time in a drama CD included with the manga.

Be it for his soothing and gentle voice, or the more robust characters, Furukawa has managed to get the attention of people of different ages which is a plus for the seiyuu.

He’s a big name in the BL – boys love – scene, being often in the top 10 best voice actors in this very specific genre of drama CDs.

He’s voiced characters in drama CDs such as given, 「ALIVE」 その1 – その4 Side.S, One Punch Man, THE IDOLM@STER SideM ST@RTING LINE -09・10 as Asselin BB II, Come to the Starry Sky Hall ♪2nd☆night as Kuon, just to name a few.

Music

Furukawa has shown over the years his natural talent when singing by delivering quality performances with his natural vibrato and making total use of his mid-toned, baritone vocals as he melts the hearts of everyone with his charming and fluffy personality.

Therefore, and with that being said, it is not uncommon for him to be cast in a variety of seiyuu units.

It is no secret that Furukawa has amazed everyone with his singing skills over the years, so when he often gets cast in new 2D music projects.

Solo career

After the announcement of his debut back in October of last year, and it took quite some time for any further information to be disclosed. Fast forward to April of this year and Furukawa confirms his debut under Lantis.

miserable masquerade is Furukawa‘s debut single that came out on the 4th of July, and what a way to debut as a solo artist.

With a different genre in all three tracks, Furukawa not only showcased his talent but also his confidence in his skills.

On Oricon Weekly‘s single chart, Furukawa ranked at 9th place. The single kept its ground on top 50 for two weeks.

Units

Café Parade (2015 -)

This unit consists of Makoto Furukawa, Daiki Kobayashi, Takuya Kodama, Sho Karino and Kouhei Amasaki. This unit is part of the IDOLMASTER SideM franchise.

With this unit Furukawa has shown just how well he sings, taking full advantage of his vibrato. Showing off his mid-toned vocals while singing in a slightly soulful, flamboyant fashion really brings the best out of his powerful and versatile skill set as a singer.

Take the example of the track Café Parade in which he is in charge of add-libs and melting the listener as he mercilessly delivers each and every note. Even when he is harmonizing with the other members his vocal performance still outshines them.

In À La Carte Freedom, Furukawa sings in almost an acapella and musical-like manner.

This is indeed a perfect chance to ascertain how well the seiyuu knows how to project his voice and deliver flawless performance.

Up until now, the quintet has released 3 CDs, THE IDOLM@STER SideM ST@RTING LINE-10 Café Parade (2016), THE IDOLM@STER SideM NEW STAGE EPISODE:04 Café Parade (2020), and THE IDOLM@STER SideM GROWING SIGN@L 04 Café Parade (2022).

Although the group had a small cameo in the IDOLM@STER SideM anime, the group ended up not releasing any music for the series.

Aside from these singles, Café Parade has participated in several cross-unit and solo song projects within the franchise.

The quintet has participated so far in 4 IDOLMASTER SideM stages:

• 2nd STAGE 〜ORIGIN@L STARS〜 (2017),
• 3rd STAGE 〜GLORIOUS ST@GE!〜 (2018),
• THE IDOLM@STER SideM 4th LIVE STAGE 〜TRE@SURE GATE〜 (2019),
• THE IDOLM@STER SideM 6thLIVE TOUR ～NEXT DESTIN@TION!～ (2021 – 2022).

SOARA (2015 -)

SOARA consists of Toshiyuki Toyonaga, Yuki Ono, Makoto Furukawa, Taishi Murata and Chiharu Sawashiro.

The group/band made its debut in 2014, joining the TSUKIPRO franchise and quickly establishing themselves as the youth pop-rockers that aimed at putting a smile on the fans’ faces.

Early on, the group had an odd dynamic. Toshiyuki Toyonaga and Yuki Ono were the founding members and, for what seemed like half a year, they were supposed to be a duo.

Turns out that, by the end of 2014, TSUKIPRO announced the addition of 3 other members to this band: Makoto Furukawa, Taishi Murata, and Chiharu Sawashiro.

Although Furukawa has been a member of the band since the beginning, he only began singing in their release titled Alive Sono 4 Side S.

A track that really made the fans marveled with Furukawa’s vibrato and complete control over his vocal performance is 旅立ちのエール in which aside from Toyonaga‘s vocals Furukawa is shining brightly while nailing all the notes.

And this would not be the last time the seiyuu amazed us with his mid-tones and dominating his high and low notes as he did in Ai no Hana alongside Taishi rendering us flabbergasted.

From the pop-rock genre, SOARA chooses to pursue another genre so as to find their genre which suited them best and opted to go more on the pop/alternative road, as LAPIS BLUE showed us a track with a simplistic instrumental piece with laid back guitars with a melodic piano creating a summer song.

Furukawa’s talent to perfectly harmonize and blend his vocals with the rest of the members leads to pretty impressive performances. If that is not enough, he is the kind of singer that is not intentionally flashy but ends up naturally standing out.

Other releases are Soyokaze no uta, CRESCENT FANTASY, and Wonder Wand.

Most recently, ALIVE X Lied Vol 3 came out and with it, Buzzer Beater was released. This was also a track that gave his fans a taste of what would be he was a solo artist.

While returning to his roots, Furukawa‘s Buzzer Beater is a pop-rock track with jazzy hints.

The instrumental piece in this track was already top-notch but when combined with Furukawa‘s falseto and vibrato this track just became even better reaching a whole other level of greatness.

Regardless of the seiyuu’s talent that by now we already know of, Furukawa has shown especially with this track that he has the talent and the experience to possibly back him up if he ever releases a solo album/single.

Starting from there the group increasingly added more lines to these three members and now, by the end of 2019, there is an equal distribution of lines among members.

With that change and the realistic passage of time in the TSUKIPRO franchise, the band has been maturing with their sound having recently ditched its youthful vibe in favor of a mature, slightly more serious yet nostalgic style of pop-rock.

The group has participated in all CD series in the franchise. Those include:

• ALIVE Side:G Series (ALIVE Side:S Vol.1, ALIVE Side:S Vol.2, ALIVE Side:S Vol.3, ALIVE Side:S Vol.4)
• KACHOFUGETSU Series (Ai no Hana, Lapis Blue, Soyokaze no Uta, Mikazuki Fantasy)
• Unit Song Series (Wonder Wand)
• TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION Theme Song Series (ALIEL, FRIEND, Start Line ~Boys, Be Mighty~, Mirai e no Okurimono, Dear Dreamer,)
• RE:START Series (vol.3 SOARA and vol.6 SOARA)
• CARDS Series (CLUB and HEART)
• TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION 2 Theme Song Series (Gonna Be Alright, LET IT BE, Himitsu no Treasure and Best Wishes,)
• Anokoro no Bokura wa

As far as character songs go, Furukawa has performed as Soshi in the following CDs:

• X Lied Series (Vol.3 SOSHI X RYOTA)
• RE:START Series (vol.2 Soshi & Ren & Nozomu, vol.4 Morihito & Soshi)
• Neo X Lied Series (Vol.3 KAGURAZAKA SOSHI × SAKURABA RYOTA)

When it comes to the live performances, SOARA has performed in several franchise live events. The unit’s live debut was at TSUKIPRO LIVE 2016 in Nakano.

A year later, in 2017, the group performed at A.L.P -ALIVE PARTY 2017 SUMMER-, event specifically featuring ALIVE’s groups: SOARA and Growth.

In 2018 and now following the premiere of the first season of TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION, the franchise held the big live event TSUKIPRO LIVE 2018 SUMMER CARNIVAL.

An in 2022, after 3 years of no live events for the franchise – due to Covid-19 -, Growth was back on stage at TSUKIPRO LIVE 2022 WINTER CARNIVAL.

EXIT TUNES PRESENTS ACTORS

Regardless, Furukawa has also sang for another collection titled EXIT TUNES PRESENTS ACTORS, in this case, the seiyuu sang for the sixth album.

His song is それがあなたの幸せとしても, a ballad led by Furukawa’s vocal performance, a melodic piano, strings, and a sorrowful guitar.

Needless to say, he nailed it and proved once again why he is so talented singing.

If you already enjoyed Furukawa‘s vibrato and falsetto you’re in it for a good run with this track.

Genesis (2016 – 2019)

Also in 2015, Furukawa joined the cast of Sega’s musical/rhythm game Yumeiro Cast. He voiced the face and leader of the group, Kuroki Ryosuke.

Genesis consist on Makoto Furukawa (leader), Soma Saito, Daisuke Hirakawa, Daiki Yamashita and Kenichi Suzumura.

Just like the game’s flagship theater troupe, Genesis performs some songs – although few in comparison. Their unit song Phantom Rain impressed as soon as fans got to listen to it in-game (back in 2015).

Genesis was keen on their dark electronic pop sound, wrapping it up with a vocal lineup that impresses beyond words.

Soon after announcing the end of the distribution of Yumeiro Cast, Lantis announced the release of GENESIS VOCAL ALBUM, best of that included full versions of GENESIS’ iconic Phantom Rain and Dears for Fears, as well as solo songs by all 5 characters including Kuroki’s rock tunes NO ANSWER and Hikari Hikaru Hikari.

Phantom Rain is, easily, one of the best songs released by a 2D group. The track is dark with an addicting instrumental piece delivered by synths and the synth bass topped off with the linked performances of Furukawa and Saito (the core of the group) and Suzumura‘s vocal performance that are the one’s with the majority of the highlight.

Hikari Hikaru Hikari goes the rock path and has a fast tempo instrumental piece, delivered by the drums and guitar. What is indeed interesting in this track is the fact we can listen to shakuhachi once in a while, therefore the traditional elements are blended with the rock ones creating this peculiar track which ends up being easy to listen to.

NO ANSWER sung by Kuroki Ryosuke (Makoto Furukawa) takes on a different approach yet it allows us to listen to the seiyuu’s vocal prowess. This track does indeed have a perfect rock instrumental, the guitar is on point as well as the rest of the instrumental piece. Needless to say, NO ANSWER has proven, if there was still any need, that Furukawa has the potential to sing rock songs.

With the end of the distribution of Yumeiro Cast in 2019, the group is in a sort of official disbandment status – the game was recently picked up by a Chinese company and is going to be distributed there so there is no mention on whether the game will be picked up as it is, if the story will keep going or if any of the original cast will return.

4U  (2017 – 2018)

In 2017, Rejet announced the launch of their first ever idol game Star Revo. 

4U lineup consisted of Yuuya Nakada, Atsushi Tamaru, Taku Yashiro  and Makoto Furukawa.

Unfortunately, in 2018, with the end of the distribution for Star Revo, 4U got to give the last gift to their fans with the release of the popular アオノエデン (Ao no Eden) in the special Best Of, THE BEST「STAR REVOLUTION」Vol. 1.

Rush! (2018 – )

The five piece group Rush! consists on Kento Hama (leader), Yuto Uemura, Makoto Furukawa, Toshiki Masuda and Yusuke Kobayashi. Their songs were marketed as being powerful and having an underlying battle vibe.

Although the group was announced in February 2018, they haven’t released any music.

BRAVE HEARTS (2018 – 2019)

SQUARE ENIX announced in March 2018 that the company was going to launch their first-ever idol game IDOL FANTASY.

Makoto Furukawa was announced as part of BRAVE HEARTS, unit consisting of Toshiki Masuda, Kentaro Kumagai, Yusuke Shirai, Arthur Lounsbery, Ayumu Murase.

The group performed pop/rock music however, they never got the opportunity to release a single or an album before the game ended distribution in 2019.

DREAM!ing (2018 -)

DREAM!ing is another project featuring Furukawa. Also born from a game, this extended group is composed of a cast with numerous known names, such as:

• Natsuki Hanae, 
• Makoto Furukawa, 
• Nobunaga Shimazaki, 
• Shouta Aoi, 
• Toshiyuki Toyonaga, 
• Yuma Uchida, 
• Shunichi Toki, 
• Toshinari Fukamachi, 
• Shinnosuke Tachibana, 
• Tetsuya Kakihara, 
• Yusuke Kobayashi, 
• Tasuku Hatanaka, 
• Yoshiki Nakajima, 
• Shunsuke Takeuchi, 
• Naru Hamano,
• Yuto Suzuki and 
• Tomohiro Yamaguchi.

Unlike the other projects Furukawa has been a part of, DREAM!ing is not the most conventional as there won’t be any units, so to say, instead groups and duets will be formed.

RUBIA Leopard (2019 – )

In 2019, Makoto Furukawa was cast as the frontman of the grunge rock band, RUBIA Leopard.

In the DIG-ROCK franchise, RUBIA Leopard is a popular rock band known for its dangerous and slightly alluring sound. The band is fronted by AKANE (CV: Makoto Furukawa) and counts with guitarist KURONO (CV: Kaito Ishikawa), bassist MASHIRO (CV: Takuya Sato), and drummer HAIJI (CV: Natsuki Hanae).

So far, the band has released the following songs:

• Answer
• Chained to You
• Never End
• Higher Ground
• Prisoner
• Identity

O★Z (2021 -)

In 2021, Makoto Furukawa joined the cast of O★Z, a visual-kei group part of the Visual Prison franchise. He’s the leader of the group and the face of the Visual prison franchise.

The group includes as well Shoya Chiba, Nanami Hiroki and Shun Horie.

VS AMBIVALENZ (2021 – 2022)

VS AMBIVALENZ is a 2D music project by NIZISTA (best known for HANDEAD ANTHEM).

It was launched with a unique survival show format in which only 7 out of the 14 members would make it to the final group.

The cast includes Shintaro Asanuma, Makoto Furukawa, Chiaki Kobayashi, Reiou Tsuchida, Tasuku Hatanaka, Kengo Kawanishi and Ayumu Murase.

All seiyuu lend their voice to 2 characters in this franchise. And 1 of the characters that each seiyuu voiced would not make it to the final group.

Makoto Furukawa voiced 39YEAH↗ and REY. Both characters tapped into Furukawa’s different takes on his vibrato and low baritone vocal range.

The group made its debut in 2021 with “Go My Own Way”.

They arrived with a sound that was nothing like what you’d listened to up until then from 2D idol groups.

The care for quality music and technical performances was there. The balance between vocals was insane. Their sound was upbeat and tasteful while the soundscapes were aesthetically pleasing.

The highlight of this release was “Restart“, a song that put the spotlight on Ayumu Murase, Reiou Tsuchida, and Makoto Furukawa’s vocals.

“Restart” is pretty much flawless on all fronts, not to mention insanely catchy.

Still, in the same year, the franchise released its 2nd CD in the 1st season (out of 2 to decide who were the 7 members making it to the final lineup).

VS AMBIVALENZ’s “PreOrder” was not a perfect entry, especially when its first CD was quite impressive, but it still had its awesome moments, more quality on the vocals, and music almost for all tastes.

You have trap music, hip-hop, and R&B in the electrifying “PreOrder”, enka, Eurobeat, and pop in “Ai no Uta” and then an emotional EDM-meets-hip-hop tune in “Fight-or-Flight”.

Team Cyber’s 39YEAH↗ & REI (CV: Makoto Furukawa) and AUGURI & FUTABA (CV: Ayumu Murase) brought trap, R&B, and rap in “PreOrder”.

This song shines more on the vocal end than it does in its instrumental. Makoto Furukawa and Ayumu Murase have to tackle clean singing, R&B riffing-style singing, and rapping in this song, making it one of the trickiest performances in this franchise so far.

On top of all that, you got here two ends of the spectrum on the vocal end – with Murase’s delicate tenor vocals and Furukawa’s powerful baritone/high bass vocals -, working in perfect sync.

2022 arrived and with it came the 2nd and last CD season for this 14-member lineup.

In “VSA Musical”, the franchise tackled songs that felt like a musical, showcasing a more intense and dramatic side to each performer.

VS AMBIVALENZ “VSA Musical” is, just like its title, all about its musical sound. The first two songs are presented in a way that it feels like you’re watching a musical play unfold.

You have different acts within each song, the songs progress through a mix of talk parts and singing and the cast made sure to deliver performances with a lot of drama.

However, as interesting as each song is, I feel like when you listen to both tracks (over 7 minutes long each), many things are lost in translation and would fare better when performed on stage rather than on sound only. Highlights on the vocal end belonged to Makoto Furukawa, Tasuku Hatanaka and Ayumu Murase.

The three were relentless on the vocal end, fitting perfectly with the technically dramatic style of singing that was required in all songs.

Later in 2022, the 14-member group wrapped up its activities with the release of “Still On Journey”.

After this, in a final vote, the fans decided who would end up being a member of the 2D idol group, XlamV.

XlamV (2023 -)

After a full year of activities to determine the final 7-member lineup for VS AMBIVALENZ, fans made their choice.

The once 14-member lineup – with seiyuu voicing two characters representing a color – turned into the 7-member unit XlamV (read: Kranve) ready to shine.

“XlamV” is a word that combines “climb” and the Roman numeral “XIV” (meaning 14), meaning those of have won the audition but also paying homage to everyone that participated.

The “V” in the name also means “VICTORY”, including the vow to surprise the world and aim to become an idol group that will reach the top.

The full lineup is as follows:

• Jintaro (CV: Chiaki Kobayashi)
• Nagomu (CV: Shintaro Asanuma)
• 39YEAH↗ (CV: Makoto Furukawa)
• Issei (CV: Kengo Kawanishi)
• Lion (CV: Tasuku Hatanaka)
• Auguri (CV: Ayumu Murase)
• Subaru (CV: Reiou Tsuchida)

The group announced the release in April 2023 of their debut digital single “From me“.

“From Me” broke away from clichés for pop tunes by 2D idol groups, avoiding a high-tension EDM sound while highlighting each member’s vocals at all times.

The composition is daring enough to change keys midway and evolve in front of you, creating a pure and clean singing experience that shows a different focus, and a different determination for XlamV.

This was the first of 3 digital singles and the excitement was there for everyone to see.

“This is my way” takes listeners on a captivating journey, guided by atmospheric synths and the warm R&B-style riffs of Tasuku Hatanaka.

XlamV’s “This is my way” showcases a potent fusion of EDM and pop, characterized by its pristine production, ethereal soundscapes, and a strong focus on the vocal performances.

Once again, the group’s vocal abilities shine brightly, solidifying XlamV as one of the most harmonious and cohesive 2D groups in today’s 2D music scene.

The third single was “Groovy Night” and yet again, XlamV was creating music no other 2D group was up until then.

“Groovy Night” embodies a downtempo, mature nu-disco sound, and the vocals follow suit with their melodic and warm delivery.

While Tasuku Hatanaka, Makoto Furukawa, and Ayumu Murase provide ad-libs and riffs, the spotlight is on Kengo Kawanishi, Shintaro Asanuma, Reiou Tsuchida, and Chiaki Kobayashi.

They bring a funky energy to the forefront, making the song ridiculously groovy for the listener. “Groovy Night” is an addictive entry in XlamV’s repertoire and another exciting look at the group’s potential going forward.

And the time arrived for the release of the 1st EP “Climb“.

XlamV’s journey, starting with 14 members and refining to a final 7, has been amazing.

The series of digital singles culminating in the EP “Climb” proves they are the big surprise of the year and one of the best 2D groups active in 2023.

On the vocal end, Makoto Furukawa impresses with his evolution as a singer, while Chiaki Kobayashi’s warmth and consistency shine throughout. Tasuku Hatanaka stands out as the driving force behind the group’s performances.

XlamV’s “climb” easily stood out as one of the top 10 CDs released in 2023, showcasing their stylish sound and talent.

After that, the group released two additional digital singles “Said that” and “Mikan“, leading up to the release of their 2nd EP “Raise“.

Variety

Being a seiyuu that has been gaining popularity it is not surprising that Furukawa has been invited to appear in several TV shows. One of them was Shizucafe～石上の宵所～ and Furukawa was invited to episode 3.

In the show, the seiyuu showed his bubbly personality with some hints of goofiness and fluffiness mixed in. Between changing his persona all the time, from an old man to his usual joking personality, Furukawa makes the viewers not only entertained but soothed with the gentle tone that he is so known for.

His intro monologue was funny as Furukawa tried to stick to his character but at the same time, the host’s (Shizuka Itou) remarks made him slightly falter.

Throughout the beginning of the program, the seiyuu also recalls his previous roles such as in Golden Time, but eventually, we get to understand that we are in fact re-visiting his journey in the industry so far.

In 2015, Furukawa was invited to Animemashite alongside Atsushi Tamaru.

The newcomer version of both seiyuu made the actual episode even more interesting as Furukawa spoke about the roles he had played so far and other topics such as motivation to be a seiyuu or even people that he admires.

All in all, Furukawa was above everything else, extremely professional, and showed his highly motivated personality. Another show in which Furukawa appeared was a sort of treasure hunt.

Much to our surprise, Furukawa has been a guest in yet another show titled Comic Bar Renta! hosted by fellow seiyuu Shuuta Morishima.

In this show, the setting is much like a bar where the host is the barman and the guest is the customer. With this in mind, he was the guest of episode 35 of this show.

Mind you, he is usually really happy-go-lucky, however, in this particular show Furukawa appeared to be ever so slightly less goofy, at least in the beginning.

It does not take us long until we end up reaching the conclusion that the seiyuu is always making others laugh, and this show is no exception.

Real Treasure Hunt (2017)

In 2017, Makoto Furukawa participated in Marine Entertainment’s variety show, Real Treasure Hunt.

The cast of Real Treasure Hunt “Challenge From Fuma” in Odawara included Shoya Chiba, Yuto Adachi, Yuichiro Umehara, Daiki Yamashita, Yusuke Shirai, Junya Enoki, Makoto Furukawa, Taishi Murata, Daiki Kobayashi, Yoshiki Nakajima and Hiroki Yasumoto (narrator).

He was paired up with fellow SOARA member and friend Taishi Murata in a quest to find the treasure.

The duo started really well, solving complex puzzles really fast while Furukawa claimed he is the “type of man that solves everything”. However, midway through, ironically it was due to Furukawa that the duo started to fall behind in the competition, being stuck on one of the challenges.

Still, the chemistry and laidback vibes of junior-senior in this duo were a delight to watch and Furukawa was unstoppable for the first part solving some of the challenges that other teams took longer to solve (and Furukawa solved only by glancing at them once).

Kitsutsuki Tanteidokoro special talk video (2020)

Makoto Furukawa participated in this special talk video alongside the series’ cast: Shintaro Asanuma, Takahiro Sakurai, Kenjiro Tsuda, Soma Saito, Kensho Ono, Yuichiro Umehara and Yukiya Hayashi.

Random Facts

GRANRODEO and L’Arc en ciel fan

Furukawa has certainly surprised us with this one, who would have thought that the seiyuu likes to listen to rock bands such as GRANDRODEO and L’Ar en ciel?

Thinking about it, Furukawa is yet another seiyuu who likes KISHOW‘s band, much like a big fanboy, Yuki Ono.

Hikaru Midorikawa is the reason he wanted to become a seiyuu 

It is not uncommon for seiyuu to have people who look up to him as passionately as Makoto Furukawa has.

What we were not expecting was that veteran seiyuu Hikaru Midorikawa fell into that category for Furukawa.

As the seiyuu has mentioned several times now, it was because of one of Midorikawa‘s characters in a game of the Gundam series that young Furukawa became interested in the seiyuu industry.

Later on, a friend gave him a brochure saying that Hikaru Midorikawa was scheduled to be the special lecturer in a vocational school and that was when he decided that he wanted to be like the seiyuu he respects so much.

Motion capture actor as a part-time job in 2012

Yes, you’ve read it correctly. In 2012, while Furukawa was busy with his seiyuu schedules, the seiyuu got a part-time job as a motion capture actor for the Playstation 3 game White Knight Story.

Packed schedule

This one is no surprise, especially in the seiyuu industry.

It has been disclosed by the talent company in which the seiyuu is a part of that Furukawa‘s schedule is packed, although not as bad as fellow seiyuu Hino Satoshi who only sleeps two hours a day, nonetheless still a very stressful day.

Furukawa spends his day going from one studio to another changing his activities from dubbing to hosting niconico live broadcasting shows, the seiyuu has little time to spare.

And that was it for this month’s SEIYUU DIGEST edition. See you next month!

LAST UPDATED ON 14/03/2022