Seiyuu Digest #50 – Toshiki Masuda

Musical actor, stage actor, model, seiyuu, singer, radio personality are just some of things Toshiki Masuda is known for. And yet it seems like he has only scratched the surface of his talent.

For this special seiyuu digest – that encompasses the months of December 2018 and January 2019 – you and I take a look at the career of the multi-talented seiyuu, stage actor, singer, and model, known for his versatility and extreme professionalism + perfectionism, Toshiki Masuda.

Estimated reading time: 83 minutos

Soft update on 15/05/2022

Toshiki Masuda

KANJI: 増田俊樹

BORN: March 8, 1990

OCCUPATION: seiyuu, actor, stage actor, model, solo artist

HEIGHT: 176cm

---

Toshiki Masuda was born on March 8, 1990, in Hiroshima, Japan. He’s the eldest of two kids (has a younger brother).

Since he was young, he was interested in acting. It was only in high school when he watched Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch (2006) that he took interest in anime however it was Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2007) that made him want to become a voice actor.

Passionate about acting, he left Hiroshima in 2008 and went to Tokyo to attend Tokyo Announce Gakuin Performing Arts College in the Broadcasting Voice Actor Department.

A year later and while still attending classes at Tokyo Announce Gakuin, he got interested in musical acting – influenced by some of his peers and seniors that worked in that field – and decided to audition for the Prince of Tennis musical.

He passed the audition and ended up debuting first as a musical actor.

In 2010, and after graduating from Tokyo Announce Gakuin, Masuda joined Space Craft Group in their voice acting department.

Acting

Masuda kicked off his career as an actor, being in both plays and musicals and impressing everyone with his varied skillset.

As soon as he was cast in his first musical – Prince Of Tennis – and up until 2012, Masuda was a constant presence on stage with a stage play or musicals one after the other with almost no interruptions between different productions. He’s also ventured to the small screen in 2017 being the lead actor in Bokukoe.

Prince of Tennis (2009 – 2010)

Masuda joined the cast of Prince of Tennis‘ musicals in 2009. He played the role of Seiichi Yukimura, Rikkai’s captain. 

Before graduating from this musical, Masuda performed in three musicals from 2009 to 2010 – The Final Match Rikkai First feat. Shitenhoji (July 30 to October 4, 2009), The Final Match Rikkai feat. The Rivals (December 17, 2009, to March 14, 2010) and Dream Live 7th (May 7 – 9 and May 20 – 23, 2010).

Conton Club〜image3〜 (2010)

Soon after graduating from Prince of Tennis, Masuda joined the cast of the Conton Club〜image3〜.

The comedy play, a parody of the 1920’s 1920s, Cotton Club in Harlem, New York is known for being a high-class club, home to jazz, gangs, crime, and much more ran from 09/06/2010 to 13/06/2010.

Active Boys Collection (2010)

Two months later, he was cast in abc★赤坂ボーイズキャバレー (abc – Akasaka Boys Club), musical that ran from August 2010 to September 2010. He played the role of Junpei Komiyama, one of the host club’s members.

Memo・Real the PARTY! (2011)

2011 kicked off with a main role in the musical メモ・リアル the PARTY! (Memo・Real the PARTY!). The musical – that adopted a STOMP style of performance – ran from 08/01/2011 to 23/01/2011. For his role, Masuda learned to tap dance.

Masuda Toshiki – The 20-year-old Etude – (2011)

Two months later and he was once again on stage, this time around for a special stage play. “Masuda Toshiki – The 20-year-old Etude –” ran from 04/03/2011 to 06/03/11.

The play had its comedic moments but was mostly drama-driven, focused on his character’s inner conflicts and how those intertwined with him being a suspect in a criminal investigation. The play was later released on DVD.

Memo・Real the THEATRE! (2011)

Masuda returned to reprise his role in the musical Memo・Real the THEATRE!. The musical ran from 18/09/2011 to 02/10/2011 and was as well-received as the first installment, Memo・Real the PARTY!.

Reverse Historica (2011)

In 2011, Masuda joined the cast of  the stage play Reverse Historica. The play ran from 23/11/2011 and 27/11/2011 and had a unique take on the historical genre.

Nude Mouse (2012)

A year later he joined the main cast of Nude Mouse (ヌード・マウス). The play ran from 24/01/2012 to 29/01/2012. After this play ended its run, fans would only get to see Masuda on stage in 2017.

Chikyu Senshi ZEROS (2014)

In 2014, he joined the cast of the live-action movie 地球戦士ゼロス (Chikyu Senshi ZEROS), an Ultraman-inspired series. Masuda and fellow seiyuu Tetsuya Kakihara played rival roles for this movie.

Here comes the sun (2016)

He participated in his first-ever recitation play in 2016. This recitation ran from 16/04/2016 to 24/04/2016 and counted with VR (virtual-reality) characters instead of the voice actors on stage live reading.

Masuda voiced Toshi-kun, however sharing it with Makoto Furukawa (the character was double cast).

Rusted Armors (2017)

After 5 years completely immersed in the seiyuu industry trying to make a name for himself, Masuda finally made his return to stage/musical acting. In 2017, he joined the cast of the musical, 錆色のアーマ (Rusted Armors).

The play was extremely well received, being praised by entertainment media outlets all over Japan. Sharing the spotlight with EXILE’s Taiki Sato, Masuda played Oda Nobunaga.

Due to its popularity, 錆色のアーマ (Rusted Armors) was later released on DVD.

Boku Koe (TV series – 2017)

In 2017, he joined the cast of Boku Koe, a project promoted by Abema TV and WOWOW, that featured several seiyuu acting in completely different media. He was announced as the lead actor for this series, being present in all storylines.

According to Masuda, in an interview given for the behind-the-scenes portion of the series, he had never acted before in a live-action series and was nervous about it.

Aside from his lead role, he performed with BELLWETHER, an idol unit created just for this series.

Oyasumi Prince (2017)

In 2017, Masuda joined the lineup for “Oyasumi Prince“, mini VR (virtual reality) reading series promoted and produced by NHK Educational TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaB647q40hE&t=105s

The series kicked off in December 2017, aiming at making hardworking women sleep better. The cast counted with 4 actors, each one of them in unique settings and reading different stories.

Bokukoe 2 (2019)

In 2018, and after the airing of Bokukoe’s spin-off series “Dare-Koe, Bokukoe announced the return of the main series for the 2nd season in 2019. Toshiki Masuda is part of the returning cast.

Rusted Armors (2019)

Toshiki Masuda reprised his role as Oda Nobunaga on Rusted Armors‘ new run that started in June 2019.

Seiyuu Tantei (2021)

In 2021, Masuda had a guest role on episode 2 of the TV Tokyo comedy mystery drama 声優探偵 (Seiyuu Tantei). For this TV series, he acted as himself.

Patissier-san to Ojou-san (2022)

In January 2022, Toshiki Masuda joined the supporting cast in the Japanese TV romance drama, Patissier-san to Ojou-san (パティシエさんとお嬢さん).

The drama airs on TVK Yokohama and KBS Kyoto.

Masuda was cast as Katsuji Izawa, one of the staff members working at the series’ patisserie.

Seiyuu

2011 – 2014

The beginning

Contrary to what happens to most seiyuu when they debut, Masuda’s debut was with the main role instead of a secondary or random background character.

He debuted as a seiyuu in 2011 voicing Ryouga Kamishiro in Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL. However, as much as his actions might have caught the attention of the viewers at that time the reality was that he didn’t build upon that slight recognition and was nowhere to be found in anime for two years.

Masuda returned to voice acting in 2013 with secondary roles in anime such as Outbreak Company, Kimi no Iru Machi, Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru, Juusen Battle Monsuno, JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken, Pretty Rhythm: Rainbow Live, and Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san.

However, there was one role that put him in the spotlight, Masayoshi Hazama in Samurai Flamenco. This was Masuda‘s first leading role in anime. The series itself strayed a bit away from its original focus – being a parody of the sentai genre – and had an unexpected change of tone midway through the season.

Many fans voiced that Samurai Flamenco had its good points – with good nods to 90’s pop culture and its humor – however, something felt wrong with the anime’s change of tone.

Masuda’s work as Hazama shifted a lot of attention to himself, with people impressed that a musical actor was actually solid as a voice actor.

Although not the best series or character in his repertoire, it can be said that it was through Samurai Flamenco that a lot of eyes started following Masuda’s work as a seiyuu.

2014 was a rather quiet year for him.

His biggest role of the year was in the popular sports anime Haikyuu!! as Chikara Ennoshita. Part of the supporting cast, Ennoshita seldom had the spotlight on him however, when he had, he’d show everyone that he’s more than a quiet guy on a team filled with loud and expressive individuals.

Despite not being one of the most popular characters in the series, he’s an important part of Karasuno either cheering, subbing for, or tutoring some of the members when they fail their exams.

Masuda perfectly grasped the character’s quiet, reserved demeanor and, at times, even added a comedic touch to the character’s reactions to some of the team members.

In the same year, he voiced characters in other anime, however, those were mostly background/random characters (Noragami, Mahou Sensou, Lady Jewelpet, and Choubakuretsu Ijigen Menko Battle: Gigant Shooter Tsukasa).

2015

Slowly build up a name for himself

Masuda started the year with a supporting role in the 3rd season of the popular sports anime, Kuroko no Basket.

He voiced Kotaro Hayama, Rakuzan’s prideful and loud small-forward. His acting fleshed out Hayama’s energetic and competitive demeanor.

A couple of months later and he was announced as one of the names to be featured on yet another popular sports anime. Ditching basket for baseball, Masuda joined the cast of Diamond no Ace‘s 2nd Season.

He voiced Gou Wakabayashi, a passionate pitcher about the game but with hatred of prestigious baseball schools.

Aside from those two supporting roles that were important in specific arcs of each anime series, Masuda raked up two main roles.

The first one was as Toranosuke Miyamura in the harem/comedy anime, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches. His performance as Miyamura was dubbed by most fans of the series as entertaining and even hilarious at times.

The other role, perhaps one of the most popular roles in his career, is Ryu Zaou in Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu LOVE!.

The anime has a unique take on the magical girl anime, parodying it yet still having some depth and its serious moments. The series’ popularity was impressive in Japan, ending up spawning one more season and OVA with the same cast.

A spin-off series was then released in 2017 however Masuda wasn’t a part of it.

Aside from these roles, he reprised his role as Chikara Ennoshita in the 2nd season of Haikyuu!! and had supporting and/or random characters in anime such as One Punch Man, GATE, Noragami ARAGOTO, Durarara!!x2 Ten, Future Card Buddy Fight Series, and Fuusen Inu Tinny.

2016 – 2017

Breakthrough

2016 was the year in which Masuda started to be a strong presence in the anime industry. Through consistent work, he managed to grab 7 main roles as well as a couple of interesting supporting roles.

He voiced the main character Emilio Langheim in the original fantasy anime, Endride. The anime suffered from a slow-paced, a rather uneventful pace and weak plot which easily made it one of the anime to avoid during that season.

The anime was badly received and is plagued is low score reviews.

The music franchise Tsukiuta was greenlit for anime adaptation and premiered in the summer. Masuda reprised his role from the drama and music CDs as Koi Kisaragi, a member of Six Gravity and a character that despite looking like a player but is, in fact, the brother type that takes care of everyone as well as is an earnest worker.

In the exact same season, the first season of B-PROJECT premiered. B-Project: Kodou*Ambitious introduced 3 idol groups – KITAKORE, MooNs, and THRIVE – and followed their antics and adventures with some music in the mix. Masuda voiced Mikado Sekimura, MooNs‘ member and resident otaku.

In the Fall season, the anime adaptation of the popular card collecting game Touken Ranbu premiered. Masuda reprised his role as Kashuu Kiyomitsu, one of the anime series’ main characters.

Touken Ranbu Hanamaru had a slice-of-life approach to the franchise focusing on bonding moments between characters and their antics instead of the full focus on history – that is put in the game – or battles – that was later put on Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu.

Although far from being the main character this role still deserves a mention. In the Spring 2016 season, Masuda joined the cast of Boku no Hero Academia, shounen anime that turned into a massive success both domestically as well as overseas.

He voices Eijiro Kirishima since 2016, has reprised his role in the 2nd (2017) and 3rd (2018) seasons.

Still in the same year, he reprised his role as Chikara Ennoshita in the 3rd season of Haikyuu!! and got supporting roles in Koutetsujou no Kabaneri, Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta?, Hai to Gensou no Grimgar, Battery, Handa-kun, Fudanshi Koukou Seikatsu and Rilu Rilu Fairilu.

2017 might have not been as prolific as the past year had been yet Masuda was still impressing with his acting in the few series he was cast in.

The first leading role of the year was Atom Kirihara in the music anime, Marginal #4: Kiss kara Tsukuru Big Bang. Atom is a hotblooded, self-centered yet passionate character that is a centerpiece in the Marginal #4 franchise.

The anime tried to focus on both plot and music but ended up coming short on both departments. The plot was nowhere to be found with the series ending following an episodic formula that failed to deliver anything the drama CDs or game had managed to do.

There were mixed reactions among fans.

On one side some were disappointed that the anime had taken a slice of life route and didn’t focus on a specific story, on the other, there were those that were on cloud nine due to the franchise getting its anime adaptation.

Easily one of the most important roles in that year is his role as Masahiro Setagawa in the shounen-ai anime, Hitorijime My Hero.

Although Masuda was already making a big name for himself in the BL/shounen-ai scene, he had never voiced a character in an anime of the genre, much less a leading one.

Setagawa is, at first sight, the model ruffian yet, despite his looks, he’s a changed man after meeting Kousuke Ooshiba, whom he immediately asks to be his apprentice after a certain event occurred.

Their relationship blooms into something more than idolatry or friendship throughout the series.

The anime suffered from pacing issues and a couple of clichés however fans pointed out that Setagawa-Ooshiba’s relationship was treated respectfully and any issues they had to overcome drove the story forward in an interesting way.

Masuda’s acting as Setagawa was commended by fans of the manga as well as newcomers. It was noticeable the care and attention he had put into grasping the best he could of Setagawa’s personality and his interactions with the other characters.

Other anime he voiced characters in include: Nana Maru San Batsu, Ikemen Sengoku: Toki wo Kakeru ga Koi wa Hajimaranai, and Beyblade Burst God.

2018 –

IDOLiSH7, going freelance and finding a new home

2018 started with a bang for Masuda. IDOLiSH7‘s anime kicked off in January and was instantly well received by fans of the franchise as well as newcomers.

His acting as the sharp-tongued yet calm and collected Iori Izumi made him one of the most popular characters in anime during the Winter season.

During the fall season, he joined the cast of Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san, a parody anime that follows the work of the bookstore clerk Honda-san, his co-workers, and interactions with clients as well as suppliers. Masuda voices Yousetsu Mask, one of the bookstore’s clerks.

Although the character doesn’t have much focus in the short 15-minute episodes, Masuda is voicing a wide variety of random characters for this series from foreigners, to old people, a KADOKAWA’s salesman, between many other characters.

His acting, just like the acting of all other seiyuu in the series is good to the point that it enhances the comedic elements in this anime.

He reprised his roles as Kashuu Kiyomitsu in the second season of Touken Ranbu – Zoku Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru – and Eijiro Kirishima in Boku no Hero Academia‘s 3rd season and had minor or supporting roles in anime and animated movies such as Darling in the FranXX, Asa da yo! Kaishain, Last Period: Owarinaki Rasen no Monogatari, Midnight Crazy Trail, Inazuma Eleven: Orion no Kokuin, Gakuen Basara, Hataraku Onii-san! no 2!, Gurazeni, Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion The Animation, 1-nichi Gaishutsuroku Hanchou and Hinomaruzumou.

In August 2018, Masuda announced his departure from Space Craft Group, a talent agency that had housed him since his debut as an actor in 2009 (and seiyuu in 2011). At the same time he announced that, from now on, he’d be a freelance seiyuu.

Fans worried that the lack of a talent agency backing him up would lead to him gradually disappearing from the public eye (a common occurrence among seiyuu that turn into freelancers).

However, there was no need for those worries as Masuda only was a freelance seiyuu for 3 months.

In November 2018, he announced an affiliation with TOY’S FACTORY, a talent agency that is, from now on, in charge of managing his career as a seiyuu, actor, and solo artist.

Despite this big change in his career, there were no changes to his work as a seiyuu. He’s already got plenty of anime that he’s voicing characters in 2019.

Those include Ensemble Stars!, KING OF PRISM -Shiny Seven Stars-, Egao no Daika, and W’z. An anime adaptation for the smartphone puzzle Stand My Heroes (premiere date still unknown).

Radio

Since his debut as a seiyuu, Masuda has been an active presence when it comes to radio shows. From radio shows stemming from anime or games to seiyuu radio shows, he’s got plenty of credits under his belt. He’s known for his energy and playfulness.

The first radio show he hosted was 細谷佳正・増田俊樹の全力男子 (Hosoya Yoshimasa & Masuda Toshiki No Zenryoku Danshi).

The radio show aired from 2011 to 2013 and the unit Maxboys, consisting of Hosoya and Masuda, stemmed from it.

Before that, he was a regular member of A&G ARTIST ZONE 2h (2010 – 2011).

Toshiki Masuda teamed up with Naozumi Takahashi to MC for Rejet presents: Love Bomber (2013 – 2014), radio show focused on promoting Marginal #4‘s activities and Rejet’s projects.

The radio show was live broadcasted using a dummy head mic, which was the first one for both hosts.

2014 proved to be a year in which he raked the most radio work, although most radio shows ended up being short-lived.

He co-hosted the radio show Miwaku Tours with Nobunaga Shimazaki. The show released 1 DVD + DJ CD before it ended its first run in 2014.

He also teamed up with Tomoaki Maeno to co-host “Maeno Tomoaki・Masuda Toshiki’s Mission:WM” (2014). The radio show was also short-lived.

Still in the same year, he co-hosted Masuda Toshiki to Ishii Mark’s RADIO MASTER,ON YOUR MARC(S)!, Miwaku Tours (with Mark Ishii) and was a regular in S.S.D.S. Love Ultimate Diagnosis.

In November 2014, the radio show Hatano Wataru・Masuda Toshiki’s R-chuuuns! kicked off.

The duo was off to a great start showing great chemistry and that, alongside the show’s entertaining format, enabled this show two run for a whole year.

In 2015, Masuda co-hosted Ensemble Stars! 〜 Yaan no mamono ni obieru koneko 〜 radio. He was joined by his fellow UNDEAD members – Wataru Hatano, Kei Hosogai, and Yuki Ono.

A year later, Masuda and Yuto Suzuki started hosting スタパレディオ (Staparadio), radio show that was part of the mixed-media project, Starry Palette. With the game’s announcement in 2016, the duo started hosting the radio show on HiBiKi Radio Station.

The game suffered production issues and seemed to be shelved in 2016, which led to the end of the radio show in the same year.

Two years later, DMM announced that the game had solved its issues and started promoting it nationwide, and the radio show was revived with the Masuda – Suzuki duo hosting it from where they had left it.

In the same year, he was one of the hosts of B-PROJECT‘s radio, Rekomen*Ambitious (2016 – 2017). The show kicked off to promote the anime series.

Alongside veteran seiyuu Takaya Kuroda, Masuda co-hosted 黒田崇矢のかかってこんかい！with増田俊樹 (Kuroda Takaya no Kakatte Kon Kai! with Masuda Toshiki).

From playing console games to cooking and playing darts, this viewable radio show had a bit of everything. 22 episodes, a public recording event, and a year later, the radio show came to an end.

Umitama or Ocean Spirit, radio show hosted by Toshiki Masuda and rookie seiyuu Yoshiki Murakami, kicked off. Everything about the show – mascots, themes, and even the hosts’ clothing – is ocean-inspired.

The show aired regularly since 2017 and has had several live radio events (photo above is from the special event at Kamogawa Sea World in 2018 that was later released on DVD).

Another radio show he was a part of in 2017 was Hirata Hiroaki・Masuda Toshiki no Koe Sanpo. The show had a unique take on what a radio show really is, being hosted while walking to locations instead of just inside of a studio. In its essence, Koe Sanpo was a street walking radio show. The radio show ended in the same year.

Other radio shows he’s co-hosted or been a guest include:

• Hayami Show・Masuda Toshiki’s Anata o iyasu Radio Hakuide sasayaite (2015),
• Monster Hunter radio (2015 – 2016),
• Boy Friend(Beta) Kirameki note (2016 – 2017),
• Touken Ranbu Hanamaru (2016),
• Endride (2016 – 2017),
• MARGINAL#4〜Atom to Rui no Rajifo〜 (2017),
• DEAR BAR+ (2017 -), and
• WEB RADIO Zoku Hanamaru Tsushin (2018).

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

In the same year he debuted as a seiyuu (2011), he was cast in two different games: the otome game BEYOND THE FUTURE – FIX THE TIME ARROWS – (as one of the main romanceable characters, Nate) and the action game Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal Duel Terminal.

After that, he continuously raked up more roles with each coming year. Some of the most noticeable games he’s voiced characters in are Touken Ranbu, IDOLiSH7, Ensemble Stars!, Band Yarouze!, and Yakuza 4.

Touken Ranbu (2015 -)

In 2015 Masuda joined the cast of Touken Ranbu, a free-to-play collectible card browser video game developed by Nitroplus and DMM Games.

He voices one of the most popular characters in the franchise, Kashuu Kiyomitsu, the sword wielded by Shinsengumi’s Souji Okita. Kashuu is one of the main characters in the anime adaptations Touken Ranbu Hanamaru and Zoku Touken Ranbu Hanamaru (2017).

IDOLiSH7 (2015 -)

Also in 2015, he would join what is now one of the most popular rhythm games and franchises in Japan, IDOLiSH7.

The rhythm game slowly build up its popularity due to its gripping story, which gave dimension to each of its characters like no other game of the genre had been able to pull off before.

IDOLiSH7 is a story-driven game that mixes a rich, believable story with rhythm and card collecting features to create an addictive and immersive experience for the player. The game currently features 4 units: IDOLiSH7, TRIGGER, Re:vale, and ZOOL.

Masuda joined the franchise from the start. He was cast as Iori Izumi, IDOLiSH7‘s lead vocal and one of the “brains” behind the group’s management. Iori is a perfectionist that carries superior air and a sharp tongue, however, that is only to mask a softer side of his.

Iori grew to be a fan favorite character within the franchise and is often found ranking high on character popularity polls in Japan.

Ensemble Stars! (2015 -)

In the same year, he joined the cast of Ensemble Stars!, an idol grooming game that, unlike IDOLiSH7, doesn’t have any rhythm game features.

Ensemble Stars! is a story-driven game that easily shot to popularity with its solid story and rich music released outside of the game.

Masuda voices Rei Sakuma, one of the quirkiest characters in the franchise, president of the Light Music Club, and UNDEAD‘s leader. Sakuma is one of the franchise’s most popular characters.

Band Yarouze! (2016 – 2019)

Band Yarouze! started to be distributed on October 12, 2016, after some hiccups that delayed its release, and easily turned into one of the most exciting rhythm games in the industry.

The game counted with an attention gripping story that followed the dealings of 4 different rock bands.

The game’s band lineup counted with not only the main 4 bands – OSIRIS, BLAST, Fairy April, Cure2tron – but also the legends DesTIRARE and the rival bands CrystalCross and Freezing.

Masuda voices the sharp-tongued Sosuke Maki, BLAST‘s leader, and guitarist.

Despite the announcements of new bands joining the lineup and a new storyline kicking off in 2018, the reality was that Sony and Aniplex ended up putting Band Yarouze! in a weird “alive-but-not-really” situation.

Updates ceased to be delivered to the game, however, the game is still playable. Its future is uncertain, especially when there are still plans to release music, merchandise, and perhaps another live event.

Yakuza 4 (2019)

In 2018, it was announced that Toshiki Masuda joined the Yakuza franchise, one of the most popular gaming franchises in Japan. He replaced Hiroki Narimiya as the voice and likeness of Masayoshi Tanimura in the remaster of Yakuza 4.

Tanimura is a young mixed Japanese-Thai police officer who somehow endures the prejudices of Japanese society.

He then learns that the murder of his father may be related to the corruption in the police force and begins a journey to seek out the truth. Yakuza 4‘s remaster is scheduled for release in 2019.

Other games he’s voiced characters in include: 

• Rune Factory 4 (2012), 
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal (2013), 
• Granblue Fantasy (2014), 
• Tales of the World: Reve Unitia (2014), 
• OPERAHOUSE (2014), 
• Haikyuu!! Tsunage! Itadaki no keshiki!! (2014), 
• MARGINAL＃4 IDOL OF SUPERNOVA (2014), 
• Fate/hollow ataraxia (2014),
• Ikemen Sengoku (2015),
• Taisho Alice (2015), 
• POSSESSION MAGENTA (2015),
• I-Chu (2015),
• AKIBA’S BEAT (2016), 
• Icchibanketsu -ONLINE- (2016), 
• Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (2016), 
• DYNAMIC CHORD feat.apple-polisher (2016),
• My Hero Academia Battle For All (2016), 
• Tsukino Paradise/Tsukipara (2017),
• KING OF PRISM Prism Rush! LIVE (2017), 
• Paranormal Kiss (2017),
• B-PROJECT, 
• IDOLiSH7 Twelve Fantasia! (2018),
• Stand My Heroes (2017),
• IDOL FANTASY (2018),
• Starry Palette (2018), 
• WolfToxic (2018), 
• Fate/Grand Order (2019), between many other game titles.

Dubbing and Narration

This is perhaps one of the entertainment fields in which he’s less commonly found. Masuda has few dubbing credits and only recently started to delve more into this field of work.

Some of his credits include Hannibal (as C.J. Lincoln), Wayward Pines (as Ben Burke), Girl Meets World (as Brandon), The Thundermans (as Max Thunderman), The Newsroom, Six Flying Dragons (as Moo-hyul), The Giver (as Jonas), Dunkirk (as Alex), Bling Ring (as Mark) and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (as Enoch).

Below is a short interview with Toshiki Masuda (as Alex) and Kensho Ono (as Tommy) on Dunkirk’s dub.

When it comes to narration, Masuda is only credited once. Since October 2017 he’s been the narrator for TV TOKYO’s あにレコTV (Anireco TV).

Drama CD

Since his debut as a seiyuu, Masuda has been incredibly active in this field. From Otome to BL drama CDs, he’s got over 60 credits.

He’s got plenty of work with Rejet, a company with which he’s often been associated with their works since 2014.

He’s voiced a wide array of characters that include tsunderes (i.e Masahiro Setagaya in Hitorijime My Hero), bone-chilling yanderes (i.e Nia in THANATOS NiGHT), passionate individuals (i.e Atom in the Marginal #4 series), calm and collected individuals with a gap (i.e RE-O-DO in Dear Vocalist), between many other characters and unique personalities.

He knows how to perfectly grasp the little quirks of each character and his acting is, at all times, believable and attention gripping.

Some of the drama CDs he’s voiced characters in include:

• given,
• Hitorijime My Hero,
• THANATOS NiGHT,
• Dear Vocalist, 
• MARGINAL#4, 
• Honeymoon vol.20, 
• ACTORS -Drama Edition- [EAST], 
• FRESH KISS 100% 5th Twinkle, 
• FlyME project『DRINK ME』,
• Tsukiuta, 
• Corpse†Heart,
• Kuroko no Basuke, 
• COLORFUL5, 
• YES×NO, 
• Ikemen Sengoku,
• Ensemble Stars!, 
• Shuffle, 
• Midnight Jiang Shis,
• Akamatsu to Kuro,
• Sakura Noise,
• Kokumitei Star ni Koishite Shimaimashita,
• between many others.

Music

Toshiki Masuda is, by far, one of the names that most often pops up when you’re checking a music project, especially 2D or 2.5D units.

Due to his versatility and consistency, Masuda is up there with Takuya Eguchi, Toshiyuki Toyonaga, and Soma Saito when it comes to being cast in music projects.

Masuda is known for his warm, gentle baritone voice and as a singer, he can tap really low – faux bass – or raise a bit his tone and try to go for faux tenor however the instances in which that happens are few.

Having prior experience as a musical actor has helped him tackle performances like in VISUAL PRISON’s ECLIPSE without an issue (when those are extremely technical + theatrical) but those same skills were also the reason why Masuda took so long to find his stride as a singer for 2D music projects.

From 2011 to 2016, Masuda was still an impressive musical actor but he was struggling to find his color and voice in 2D music projects, delivering with some frequency sub-par performances.

Since 2016 however, Masuda sorted those issues, found his “voice” and started to sing more comfortably for the 2D music projects he was a part of. Now, fans were listening to the quality he had used everyone to since the days of the Prince of Tennis musical.

His voice filled with life, his tone was comfortable (as opposed to the strained performances from 2011 to 2016). He was sounding confident like he was genuinely enjoying what he was doing. And he keeps improving with each CD release by each 2D group or in his solo artist career. Following Masuda’s growth as a singer is particularly endearing.

Despite what fans may think of his singing or what reviewers say about his music and skills, Masuda judges himself pretty harshly, mentioning on the radio show BETWEEN THE SHEETS (episode aired on February 2022) that he doesn’t consider himself to be a “good singer” but a “2nd rate singer“.

You can tell from this comment that he’s a perfectionist, always striving for better and not settling for what he is doing now. You can also tell that perfectionism aside, Masuda is incredibly analytical of his work, being the biggest judge of himself.

With his improved vocals, versatility, power, and emotion aplenty, a will to continue improving, and one of the sweetest baritone voices in the seiyuu industry, Toshiki Masuda has been a part of a myriad of music projects – from rock bands to pop units.

Let’s dive a bit into his solo career as well as standout 2D music projects and seiyuu units he’s been a part of throughout his career.

Solo artist

In November 2018, Masuda joined TOY’S FACTORY, a talent agency that houses popular rock acts BUMP OF CHICKEN, Mr. Children, HYUKOH, BABYMETAL, and announced both his affiliation with the talent agency – ending his period as a freelance seiyuu – as well as a solo debut for Spring 2019.

He made his debut with the stellar, jazz-rock single, This One.

The single had clear influences of his favorite bands as well as Japanese jazz-rock legends, SID.

This was a release that strayed away from all the pop music that most seiyuu have opted to perform in their debut releases.

He also made sure to showcase his improvements on the vocal end, especially when, in the past, he had mentioned that singing was hard and that he did not envision himself as a singer.

Masuda impressed with his refined and robust vocals, showcasing a control and range that, up until now, we had had glimpses of.

It was no wonder that This One was ranked within Oricon’s top 10.

Masuda introduced the album live at a special release event in 2019. Later that year, he announced the release of his first-ever full-length album, diver.

“diver” was a continuation of his exciting rock sound with some notes of jazz and pop in the mix.

The album was well-received, putting him on par with fellow seiyuu and well-known chart-topper Soma Saito for a consecutive streak of releases within the top 10 since his debut.

In 2021, Toshiki Masuda announced his comeback to the music industry. After 1 year and 8 months since the release of “Diver”, Masuda was back.

However much changed while Masuda was away from the music industry.

His sound was revamped, his focus as a solo artist changed. As a result, “origin” is an album that dives deep into Toshiki Masuda’s passion for rock music, bringing to the forefront powerful tunes nodding at all those influences while also keeping it interesting and emotional at all times.

This is an album in which Masuda confidently showcases his singing skills, tapping for the very first time into head voice, playing around with falsetto, blasting his sweet vibrato, and completely dominating those gentle mid-tones that are a trademark of his.

“origin” was the change in sound that Masuda needed and it immediately showed how comfortable he was performing the songs in it. This renowned focus would end up attracting a lot of attention, with the album ranking at #9 on Oricon’s Weekly Albums chart.

While he’s a versatile singer, rock is the music genre in which he’s most comfortable. If you listen to this album, for sure, you’ll notice that.

In 2022, Toshiki Masuda once again surprised everyone, this time around getting his first ever gig as a solo artist to perform the opening theme for an anime series.

“Midnight Dancer” was released in January 2022 to critical acclaim due to the popularity of the action anime “Koroshi Ai” in Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD1uzl_BsBA

In this 1st single, Masuda tried to sing and perform in different ways. His singing was softer, the tone higher and the music was a mix of Latin Jazz and acoustic rock.

Masuda was exploring new sounds while remaining true to his origins, something that appealed both to new and “old” fans of his music.

“Midnight Dancer” ranked #3 on Oricon’s Weekly Singles chart which was impressive.

Maxboys (2011 – 2013)

The very first unit Masuda was a part of. Maxboys debuted in 2011 and counted with Yoshimasa Hosoya and, at that time, the rookie seiyuu Toshiki Masuda.

Both were the radio show hosts of 細谷佳正・増田俊樹の全力男子 (Hosoya Yoshimasa & Masuda Toshiki No Zenryoku Danshi).

The group experimented with pop and rock, making an interesting blend that led to the release of one of their best tracks “Sakura” back in 2012 for their album Taisetsu na Uta.

Despite the fans’ interest in this group, Maxboys eventually disbanded in 2013 – coinciding with the end of the radio show – after releasing a total of 3 singles and a full-length album.

Maxboys were guests on Orepara 2012. This was the duo’s first and last live performance before disbanding.

Six Gravity (2012 -)

Six Gravity is part of Tsukino Production‘s Tsukiuta series. The unit consists of Kousuke Toriumi, Toshiki Masuda, Yuki Kaji, Tomoaki Maeno, Yoshimasa Hosoya, and KENN. Like most of Tsukino Production‘s units, Six Gravity has released a lot of music as a group as well as in cross units.

Between their 6 drama CDs and the unit’s 3 singles and 1 Best Of album, as Koi Kisaragi he even got the opportunity to release 3 solo singles and two collaboration/cross-unit singles. The group was on hiatus from 2017 to late 2018, however, Tsukipro announced the franchise’s return in November 2018.

The franchise will return with a solo CD series and its anime adaptation was renewed for a second season (date to be determined).

Marginal #4 (2013 -)

Toshiki Masuda, Yuto Suzuki (leader), Takahashi Naozumi, and KENN teamed up as Marginal #4 in 2013. The unit made a thunderous debut with 100万回の愛革命, single that lived up to all the hype surrounding it at that time. The unit had an addictive pop-rock sound that easily impressed.

Marginal #4 rose in popularity with singles such as LOVE★SAVIOR (2013), Masquerade (2013), CHU CHU LUV♥SCANDAL (2014), and Red Hot Saga (2014), setting itself as one of the most exciting 2.5D units in Japan.

The unit ended up performing live for the first time on Rejet Fes 2013, performance that wasn’t released on DVD and still remains a unique experience for those that got to attend Marginal #4’s stage debut.

However, that status didn’t last long, and later in 2014, the group started to struggle with their identity and sound.

Marginal #4 faced a major slum between 2014 and 2016 with all-new singles released during that period being complete disasters – Bingo!!!! (2014) and UFO (2015) -, plagued with overcrowded compositions, lacking vocal performances, and a weird overall feeling that something was missing from the unit’s original exciting yet alluring sound.

In 2016, with the releases of YO-HO! and IV aile, Marginal #4 started to show signs of trying to overcome those struggles. However, the group still lacked consistency, something they were only able to regain with Choooose me (2017).

Since their debut, Marginal #4 have released 2 best-ofs, 11 singles, 1 solo series, shuffle units releases, and performed live more than a handful of times, the most recent being the headlined show 「Marginal#4: Kiss kara Tsukuru Big Bang」Presents Pythagoras Production LIVE “Big Bang Fes”.

Masuda might have started as an inexperienced singer, especially when in comparison with his peers, all already had solo career endeavors.

Although he was the group’s weak vocal link, every time he performed live you could feel his passion and determination to improve.

Gradually, he improved his singing, working on his consistency and range.

By 2016, he had already overcome his group peers with his husky vocals, smooth mid-tones, emotional high notes, and R&B-imbued ad-libs. By the time “GiVeMe” was released (2018), it was clear that he has grown to be Marginal #4‘s most reliable vocal.

Over the Rainbow (2013 -)

Still in 2013, Masuda was cast in the anime Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live, thus joining the unit that formed within the franchise, Over The Rainbow.

Over The Rainbow consist of Tetsuya Kakihara, Tomoaki Maeno, and Toshiki Masuda. The group never released albums, only a couple of songs that were inserted in the anime series (i.e Athletic Core, Flavor, pride, and 虹色CROWN).

The group made their first live performance at KING OF PRISM Over The Rainbow SPECIAL THANKS PARTY in 2016.

MooNs (2015 -)

Masuda joined the cast of B-PROJECT in 2015. He’s a member of MooNs, unit consisting of Yuto Uemura, Showtaro Morikubo, Toshiki Masuda, Tetsuya Kakihara, and Genki Okawa.

Although within MooNs he’s far from being the main vocal, he’s still shown plenty of his vocal prowess since the release of SUMMER MERMAID, being an essential member that is as powerful in dance-pop songs as he is in ballads.

So far the group has released 4 singles – Glory Upper (2015), Brand New Star (2016), SUMMER MERMAID (2017) and GO AROUND (2018) – and were featured on B-Project‘s album “S Kyuu Paradise“.

MooNs have performed live twice: B-PROJECT Kodou Ambitious BRILLIANT PARTY (2016) and B-PROJECT Summer Live 2018 – Eternal Pacific –.

UNDEAD (2015 -)

In 2015, he joined the cast of Ensemble Stars! to voice Rei Sakuma, UNDEAD‘s leader. The group counts with  Wataru Hatano, Yuki Ono, and Kei Hosogai and is known for their passionate and dark rock sound as well as their insane popularity within the franchise.

They are, hands down, the best outfit in the Ensemble Stars! franchise.

The quartet so far has released:

• Ensemble Stars! Unit Song CD Vol.1 UNDEAD (2015)
• Ensemble Stars! Unit Song CD 2 Vol.1 UNDEAD (2016)
• Ensemble Stars! Unit Song CD 3 Vol.6 UNDEAD (2017)
• ENSEMBLE STARS! ALBUM SERIES PRESENT -UNDEAD- (2018)
• Ensemble Stars! ED Collection Vol.1 (2019)
• ES Idol Song Season 1: UNDEAD (2021)
• UNDEAD × AKATSUKI “PERFECTLY-IMPERFECT” FUSION UNIT SERIES 05 (2021)
• UNDEAD “FORBIDDEN RAIN” ES Idol Song Season 2 (2022)
• Crazy:B & UNDEAD “U.S.A.” COVER SONG SERIES 01 (2022)
• UNDEAD “Sustain Memories” ES Idol Song Season 3 (2022)

“Ensemble Stars! Album Series UNDEAD” claimed #1 on Oricon Daily and jumped to #3 on Oricon Weekly (over 48.000 copies sold in one week), showing the group’s popularity and sales power.

UNDEAD performed live for the first time in 2019 at Ensemble Stars! Starry Stage 2nd in Nippon Budokan.

The group would then impress everyone with mesmerizing performances at Ensemble Stars!! Starry Stage 4th -Star’s Parade- August in 2022.

DRINK ME (2015 -)

A unique project in the seiyuu industry kicked off in 2015. In a market filled with 2D idols, EXIT TUNES wanted to impress.

FlyMe Project brought visual-kei to center stage, introducing two bands with distinct takes on the visual-kei genre: MEDICODE (hardrock/heavy metal/screamo) and DRINK ME (pop/rock/alternative/ska).

The project enlisted the help of popular producers, bands, and musicians (DIAURA’s Kei, A9’s Hiroto, LM.C’s Aiji, Nighmare’s Sakito, Matenrou Opera) from the visual-kei scene.

DRINK ME consists of Daiki Yamashita (vocals), Toshiki Masuda, Yoshimasa Hosoya, and Yuki Kaji.

Masuda, Hosoya, and Kaji only participate in the drama parts within this project. The band has released two singles since their debut: DRINK ME (2015) and The New World (2017).

I♥B (2015 -)

Still in 2015, Masuda joined the cast of the smartphone rhythm game, I-Chu. Alongside Natsuki Hanae, Naoya Nakanishi, Junya Enoki, and Yuichiro Umehara, he is a part of the idol unit I♥B.

Since their debut the group has released 7 singles: Fly Fly!, Dear My Precious Friend, My destiny, Mirai Fantasista, Shinkai Mermaid, We are I★CHU! – I♥B ver. and Let’s Go.

IDOLiSH7 (2015 -)

The 7 member group consisting of Toshiki Masuda, Tsubasa Yonaga, KENN, Atsushi Abe, Takuya Eguchi, Kensho Ono and Yusuke Shirai debuted in 2015, part of the rhythm game of the same name.

The game was an instant hit due to its well-done blend between a rhythm game and its story components.

This wasn’t like other idol games out there, focusing on delivering a rich story alongside high-quality music, ending up attracting a lot of people to this game with that formula.

Toshiki Masuda voices Iori Izumi, sharp-tongued lead vocal in IDOLiSH7 (also Mitsuki Izumi’s younger brother) and, in a way, like a second manager to the group.

Since their debut, IDOLiSH7 has released several singles as a unit, cross units, special sub-units, and solo tracks, all of them well-received by their fans. Back in 2016, IDOLiSH7‘s first-ever full-length album “I7” set a record among seiyuu/2.5D units.

It was the first-ever album to score a #2 on Oricon Weekly in the album category. The album had an impressive number of sales, sweeping the charts when most people doubted they would be able to pull off anything like that at that time.

That feat showed the franchise’s popularity when it was only promoting itself through the game and music (no live events nor anime adaptation plans at that time). Their record was later broken by none other than TRIGGER, a rival unit also from this franchise.

IDOLiSH7 performed live for the first time at IDOLiSH7 ROAD TO INFINITY, live show event held on 07/07/2018 and 08/07/2018 at MetLife Arena. Masuda’s energy and professionalism on stage impressed a lot that attended the franchise’s first live.

However, Masuda had already performed live as Fly Away (Riku and Iori’s sub-unit) at IDOLiSH7 Fan Thanksgiving vol.3 “Kimi to motto motto, ai o kataranaito!” held in May 2018.

Vocally, Toshiki Masuda has stood out since day 1. Be with group songs, sub-units (Fly Away), shuffle units or solo, his performances bring a unique flair, bathed in sweet vibrato and showcasing an impressive vocal control (almost on par with Atsushi Abe’s).

Iori Izumi kicked off IDOLiSH7‘s solo series 12 SONGS GIFT with the release of the ballad One dream in January 2018. This ballad perfectly captures the character’s personality and issues and, with Masuda’s performance, is easily one of the best songs from the solo series.

In 2019, Masuda participated in IDOLiSH7 REUNION, live show that, for the very first time welcomed ZOOL on stage.

After the group having released several singles both for the anime adaptation as well as the game, it was announced in 2021 that IDOLiSH7 was going to release its 2nd full-length album.

Excitement was through the room among fans of the franchise.

“Opus” was released in January 2022 and blew everyone away with the group’s growth.

When “Opus” wraps up you have, indeed, the group’s best album to date. One that illustrates the growth IDOLiSH7 has gone through in the last couple of years, looking fondly to those memories while with an optimistic outlook for the future.

A couple of weeks later, IDOLiSH7 held its first-ever one-man live show.

IDOLiSH7 LIVE BEYOND “Op.7” was held at Saitama Super Arena (as well as livestreamed in over 15 countries around the world) on January 22 and 23, 2022.

As part of the celebrations of the 7th anniversary of the IDOLiSH7 franchise, it was announced a special cast event to take place in August 2022 as well as the release of group songs to celebrate their debuts.

At the same time, and following the 5th season of the story in the game, IDOLiSH7 are going to release a new single titled マロウブルー (Mallow blue).

The group is also confirmed to perform the opening theme for the 2nd cour of IDOLiSH7 Third Beat that will premiere in 2022.

Dear Vocalist: RE-O-DO (2016 -)

In 2016 Masuda was announced as the face of Dear Vocalist, drama + music CD series created by Rejet.

He voices RE-O-DO, LUMIERE’s vocalist known for his dedication to both his work and girlfriend.

With music composed by R.O.N, RE-O-DO’s songs range from aggressive to uptempo and upbeat, all within the rock genre. RE-O-DO’s songs have a unique touch (much like all other Dear Vocalist’s vocals) that easily tells his songs apart from others.

Heavy riffs and catchy chord progressions are the greeting cards, at the same time clean vocals and the lack of use of electronica (with his Xtreme entry being an exception) for the most part make him one of the rock purists (the others being Judah and (2)you) in the franchise.

So far Masuda has performed for 4 singles – all part of the respective 4 drama CDs released up until now – and 1 Best of album.

Masuda performed live for the first time as RE-O-DO on CR69Fes.2018「Dead or Alive」, Dear Vocalist‘s first-ever live show held at Akasaka Blitz in Tokyo on 30/09/2018.

For this live, he performed the songs EGOIST?, Rain&Pain, and I am a Loser.

Wonder Corona! (2016 -)

Rejet/Pythagoras Production announced their first shuffle units back in 2016. Wonder Corona! was the first unit to debut back in April 2016. The lineup was one of the strongest yet one of the oddest in the middle of the shuffle series. Alongside Okawa were Toshiki Masuda (Marginal #4) and Shouta Aoi (Unicorn Jr.).

This group had everything to be a good one but no one really knew if their contrasting tones would work together. 

Okawa was still improving his vocals, Masuda had completely changed his singing style – much due to his musical theatre experience -, Aoi was an intimidating, complete performer, but interesting enough, every single one of them was known for being versatile multitaskers in their own respective groups.

Wonder Corona! released two singles, Viva La Chu and Samajera.

The group showed consistency, Viva La Chu was a strong release, one of the best from the first wave of releases from the shuffle series, Samajera, although a bit odd at times, was one of the best releases, this time from the second wave.

Masuda‘s growth started to make him stand out from the rest of the group. By changing and improving his singing technique, he started to showcase that he be more than a reliable singer.

Epicurean (2016)

Rejet created the project Forbidden Star in 2016. Several units were announced to be part of this project – now dropped – including Epicurean, group that counted with Yuto Suzuki, Toshiki Masuda, Nobunaga Shimazaki, and Takuya Eguchi.

Epicurean had music produced by R.O.N.

The group released two singles Check it Love! (2016) and Dream on Stage! (2016).

BLAST (2016 – 2019)

2016 welcomed an ambitious rock rhythm game, Band Yarouze!. The franchise introduced 4 main bands: OSIRIS, BLAST, Fairy April and Cure2tron.

BLAST‘s lineup counts with Youji Ikuta (vocals), Daiki Yamashita, Haruki Ishiya, and Toshiki Masuda.

The band has a youthful yet aggressive punk-rock/punk-pop sound that easily sets it apart from all other music within the franchise.

Since their debut, BLAST released a couple of insert songs for the game – that were later released in Duel Gig albums – and performed live twice.

Since for the Duel Gig live shows only the vocalists for OSIRIS and BLAST attended, Masuda never took part in any of the franchise’s live shows.

Aside from the group songs, Masuda performed solo (as Sosuke Maki) on “heartbeat“, song later released on DUEL GIG EXTRA, Best Of album released in November 2018.

BELLWETHER (2017)

In 2017, alongside Shunsuke Takeuchi, Koutaro Nishiyama, Tasuku Hatanaka, and Chiharu Sawashiro, Masuda performed as BELLWETHER, a special unit created specifically for Boku Koe‘s musical segment.

The songs were a bit “different” in comparison with the typical idol songs – BELLWETHER‘s were more on the parody side -, with themes ranging from bad puns to nipples.

The unit served its purposed within the show and isn’t active anymore.

BRAVE HEARTS (2018 – 2019)

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

Toshiki Masuda was announced as part of BRAVE HEARTS, a unit consisting of Makoto Furukawa, 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.

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.

stirRhythm (2018)

stirRhythm was the main unit in Starry Palette, a mixed media project developed by DMM GAMES.

The project was announced early in 2017 but due to technical issues production was halted, only to be, months later, announced that production had resumed and the project was still alive.

Starry Palette planned to have music releases, a smartphone game, live performances, radio show (Toshiki Masuda and Yuto Suzuki are the hosts), manga, novels, among other things before distribution ended in 2019 and the whole project never got to see the light of day.

stirRhythm consisted of Toshiki Masuda, Yuto Suzuki, Junya Enoki, Shouta Aoi, Keisuke Komoto, Subaru Kimura, Sho Kiriake, Ihara Shin, Yuki Ono.

The group had 15 in-game songs, with some of those having been previously released as bonus content for Dengeki Girls among other otome magazines in Japan.

ECCENTRIC FIVE (2018 -)

ECCENTRIC FIVE is a group comprised of Ensemble Stars!’s most eccentric characters voiced by Toshiki Masuda (Sakuma), Koutaro Nishiyama (Shinkai), Takuya Eguchi (Sakasaki), Hiroki Takahashi (Itsuki), Kenji Nojima (Sakasaki).

The group released their first song “Eccentric Party Night!!” part of Switch’s “Ensemble Stars! Album Series Switch” released on 24/10/2018.

RGB-Trinity (2019-)

In November 2018, Masuda was announced as part of RGB-Trinity, Kira-tune’s new unit set to debut in 2019. RGB-Trinity consist of Toshiki Masuda, Yuma Uchida and Yusuke Kobayashi.

Anthos* (2019 – )

In 2019, Toshiki Masuda joined the ambitious and unique project, Hana Doll.

Hana-Doll* is an idol project created by MOVIC (TSUKIPRO, VAZZROCK, Tsukiuta, etc) in 2019. Originally, 6 idols were part of Anthos, a group signed to the fictional talent agency Amagiri Production.

Anthos was originally comprised of Toshiki Masuda, Kento Ito, Wataru Komada, Daiki Hamano, Shunichi Toki, and Seiichiro Yamashita.

In 2020, the group welcomed a new member in Shun Horie, and the group stylized their name as Anthos*.

So far, the group has released the following CDs:

• Birth (2019)
• BOXED (2019)
• IDOLls (2019)
• Message (2020)
• For… (2020)
• Meet (2021)
• Es (2021)

Their unique sound completely strays away from that of regular idol projects.

The lyrics delve into darker themes (after all, there’s a really dramatic and emotional story at the core of this group and each character), the instrumentals do not focus on what is trendy, instead, the focus is put on a minimalistic electronica sound with elements of hip-hop and tropical house that captures the listeners’ attention.

In 2021, the franchise kicked off its first solo CD series The Way I Am. As Kiyose Haruta, Yamashita performed “Taiyo ga Nemutteru jikan ni“, a sweet dance-pop tune.

Still in the same year, Anthos* started to slightly change their sound, embracing more tropical music while putting aside their minimalistic, chillout sound from their debut.

As a group, their dynamic changed as well with the addition of Shun Horie, Anthos* got more power on the tenor range.

“Meet” was the first album released by the, now rebranded, Anthos*. And it brought two intense tunes to the spotlight, the leading track “Flash Point” and its b-side “Shine on“.

In June 2021, Anthos* performed live on stage for the very first time. 7 Meet A  Anthos* Stage Event 2021 was held at Tokorozawa Sakura Town Japan Pavilion Hall A in Saitama on 06/06/2021.

The live event featured performances by the group as well as the solo tracks released in The Way I Am CD series.

Before the end of 2021, Anthos* released a new CD “INCOMPLICA:I/F~es~“.

This CD welcomed two new songs to the group’s repertoire “Lay it down“, a hard-hitting, dancefloor-driven song favoring the rappers within the group – Daiki Hamano and Seiichiro Yamashita – and “Paradiso“, song favoring the main vocals of the group.

SCREEN10 (2022 -)

In 2022, Toshiki Masuda joined the lineup of the special unit SCREEN10.

SCREEN10 counts with the singing skills of Kouhei Amasaki, Tasuku Kaito, Soma Saito, Daiki Yamashita, Kouhei Amasaki, Junichi Suwabe, Showtaro Morikubo, Yuki Kaji, Chiharu Shigematsu, and Masami Ito.

The unit was formed to perform the theme song for the anime movie “Ensemble Stars!! -Road to Show!!-“.

SCREEN10 performed “Life is so Dramatic!!“.

Variety

Since his debut as a seiyuu, Masuda has been featured in quite a few seiyuu variety shows or events.

From the Maxboys TV’s diary episodes to Animemashite, Banpresto, or even Rejet Fes, he always brings his variety skills to the spotlight leading to a whole lot of hilarious moments as well as a fair share of candid moments.

As a host his professionalism shows, being able to conduct events without any issues – even if the cast is trying to make fun of him or seem uncontrollable.

As a guest, he typically starts off calm and collected and easily puts the hosts in tears with his antics. Here are some of his best variety appearances.

Maxboys TV (2012)

In 2012, UNIVERSAL MUSIC Japan kicked off Maxboys TV, a series of short episodes into their career. Some of the videos included behind-the-scenes footage of some of their album/single photoshoots between other things.

A total of seven episodes were released from 2012 to 2013. Episodes can be found on UNIVERSAL MUSIC Japan’s official youtube channel – HERE.

Banpresto (2013 & 2017 – guest)

Toshiki Masuda has been twice on Banpresto (2013 and 2017), variety show hosted by Kenichi Suzumura and Ryota Osaka.

His appearance in 2013 was the first time as a seiyuu that he appeared on a variety show. Given how he was still a new face in the seiyuu industry, that episode ended up being rather quiet – that is in comparison with his hilarious second appearance on the show.

Masuda returned in 2017 to promote Tsukiuta‘s goods and ended up playfully giving up on his presenting job multiple times due to Suzumura’s constant directions on how to act as Koi Kisaragi (Six Gravity).

After multiple tries, staff’s unique reactions (or lack of), and Suzumura’s teasing, Masuda threw his script on the floor in protest.

This is easily one of his best variety appearances, filled with crazy antics and hilarious banter. Also known as the origin of Masuda’s iconic “My pride is more valuable than money!” rant.

Animemashite (2014)

In 2014, Masuda co-hosted TV Tokyo’s Animemashite, a show focused on the anime and seiyuu scenes, with fellow seiyuu Soma Saito.

The recording was split into two, with a part of each episode focusing on each seiyuu, their likes, ambitions, and what was the catalyst for them to enter the business.

The show’s concept allowed the seiyuu to interview each other and then interview other guests – that went there to promote their shows and/or music releases.

Tokimeki Recipe (2014)

Toshiki Masuda joined Tetsuya Kakihara for Tokimeki Recipe’s DVD. Tokimeki Recipe was a variety show in which two seiyuu would be paired up and work together to cook several dishes with available ingredients.

Between cooking, game corners to earn ingredients or hints and challenges, the duo was busy yet the vibe throughout the shooting was welcoming and entertaining.

Masuda has said a couple of times that he loves cooking and this show was perfect to show his fans just how great his skills and knowledge are.

Jinro Battle ~ Jinro VS tantei ~ (2015)

In 2015, Masuda participated in Marine Entertainment’s popular Jinro Battle variety show. On Jinro Battle ~ Jinro VS tantei ~ (人狼バトル～人狼VS探偵～) he tried his best to beat the game, however, much to his disappointment, ended up being eliminated twice.

The cast included Shouta Aoi, Tetsuya Kakihara, Hiro Shimono, Kenichi Suzumura, Kousuke Toriumi, Kenji Nojima, Hirofumi Nojima, Ayumu Murase, and Hiroki Takahashi.

Diamond no Ace All Star game II (2016)

In 2016 Masuda attended Diamond no Ace’s outdoor event, Diamond no Ace All Star game II.

He ended up winning the tournament as part of the “rivals” team B (Tatsuhisa Suzuki, Kensho Ono, Kenichi Suzumura, and Soma Saito). His unique entrance and self-introduction pose still are in the memory of many fans.

IDOLiSH7 Kimi to Aidolish naito! (2016)

IDOLiSH7 released their first album “i7” in 2016. To celebrate its release all members attended the special broadcast IDOLiSH7 キミと愛ドリッシュないと！(IDOLiSH7 Kimi to Aidolish naito!).

Throughout the broadcast, he was constantly being picked on by Yusuke Shirai leading to hilarious banter between them. Adding to that were his priceless reactions – i.e furiously protecting Iori’s cardboard standup from Shirai’s attacks.

Famitsu Gamers (2017)

Famitsu Gamers DX (ファミ通ゲーマーズDX), game show hosted by Kenichi Suzumura and Tomoaki Maeno, sure has had its hilarious episodes however, there’s this one memorable episode.

Toshiki Masuda guested on the show in 2017 and chaos ensued.

The fiery and competitive performances in Super Bomberman R and Mario Bros game led to a whole lot of laughter not only from the hosts, guest, staff as well as viewers.

Masuda Toshiki to Hatanaka Tasuku no TSK (2018 – 2021)

Toshiki Masuda and Tasuku Hatanaka teamed up to co-host 増田俊樹と畠中祐のTSK (Masuda Toshiki to Hatanaka Tasuku no TSK), variety show that has the duo doing what they want.

Episodes focus on various activities – making a table, purchasing a used kotatsu, selling old things at a recycle shop, buying presents for each other – all with a really low budget to spend.

There are episodes that focus on a particular seiyuu and others on the duo. When working together, Masuda teases Hatanaka at any given opportunity but when alone, he often becomes everyone’s laughing topic – i.e the paper plane episode.

The show airs on Nico Nico but recaps or digests are released monthly on TSK GEKKO’s official youtube channel.

Sokuboku (2018)

In 2018, he guested on Koutaro Nishiyama’s variety show, Sokuboku. Alongside Daiki Yamashita – also a guest – and Nishiyama, Masuda played tennis.

IDOLiSH7 Fan Thanksgiving vol.3 “Kimi to motto motto, ai o kataranaito!” (2018)

Masuda participated in two out of the three IDOLiSH7 fan meetings held in 2018. He was the MC for the 3rd fan meeting – IDOLiSH7 Fan Thanksgiving vol.3 “Kimi to motto motto, ai o kataranaito!” – that counted with the presence of Yusuke Shirai, Atsushi Abe, Kensho Ono, and Soma Saito.

Aside from his mc skills in the talk corner and acting in the live skit, Masuda performed live as part of the sub-unit, Fly Away.

Kensho Ono no Ononomi (2018)

In October 2018, Masuda guested, alongside fellow seiyuu Atsushi Abe, on Kensho Ono‘s beer-powered talk show, “Kensho Ono no Ononomi“.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4hl8z7lWfo

Seiyuu Zawatsuki (2022)

In 2022, Toshiki Masuda teamed up with fellow seiyuu Wataru Hatano to co-commentate the variety show Seiyuu Zawatsuki.

One of the best things about this format is that viewers get both the footage of the adventures of Hinata Tadokoro, Yuya Hirose and Toshinari Fukamachi, but also the real-time commentary of the episode in question.

It’s in this format that Masuda’s relaxed, calm and collected demeanor shows. He watches the events unfolding calmly, assess them, makes a sarcastic or playful comment at times, experiences second-hand embarrassment. Rinse and repeat.

https://twitter.com/seiyu_zawatsuki/status/1483363542032134144

He’s actually quite observant, picking up even the smallest of details and you can bet he’ll both highlight it as well as poke fun at those the are at the core of that detail.

It is recurring for Toshiki Masuda to playfully poke fun at 81 Produce – talent agency that represents Wataru Hatano and Hinata Tadokoro -, telling inside stories of how everyone looks up to Hatano almost in a scary way, how it appears 81 Produce is focused on only representing tall seiyuu as of late; as well as crack up on the “unique” ways in which the main trio tackle traditional Japanese activities.

On top of that, since Masuda loves to play games and hates losing, whenever there is a challenge between him and Wataru Hatano, he makes sure that a win is the only thing coming his way.

This leads to really crafty, sometimes even smart displays of his planning and acting in order to pull off everything he needs to avoid the punishments (usually, fanservice lines or situations).

Modeling

Although it is something he no longer does, Masuda used to do modeling early on in his career. Perhaps the best-known modeling gig of his was for Stylebook 2012 Spring & Summer feat. Naoki Yoshida.

After debuting as a seiyuu he’s been using his modeling skills for each and every photoshoot he’s a part of.

Photobooks

When it comes to photobooks, Masuda is one of the most active seiyuu. Fans will be pleased to find that they can follow + revisit Masuda’s career through a wide variety of photobooks.

So far he has released 5 photobooks: Clear Mind (2009) – released before debuting as a seiyuu -, Kisekai Kareshi (2011), another STORY (2018), Masuda Toshiki Personal BOOK Marugoto to Yuyujiteki (2019) and Re: (2020).

All of those have completely different concepts, perfectly encompassing specific periods in his career.

Masuda Toshiki Personal BOOK Marugoto to Yuyujiteki includes all serialization entries with Seiyuu Animage released up until then (1 – 15), as well as unpublished photos taken in Masuda’s hometown, Hiroshima.

For “Re:“, Toshiki Masuda celebrated his 30th birthday by visiting the island of Yakushima in Japan, known for its power spots and fantastical landscapes.

In 2022, Toshiki Masuda wrapped up his serialization corner for Seiyuu Animage, thus his Marugoto to Yuyujiteki feature coming to a close. As a result, it was announced that a 2nd personal book is going to be released on March 2022.

Facts

Wide gap between looks and personality, for entertainment purposes

Perhaps this doesn’t fall in the “fact” category as it is wildly known among his fans that Masuda is, in fact, rather unique.

His looks are the complete opposite of his personality or, at least, rather unexpected.

Apparently, he doesn’t care if his image is in any way tarnished due to his actions that often lead to hilarious moments. Each and every event he’s a part of will have him doing or saying something funny. Energetic and eccentric at times, he puts smiles on both fellow seiyuu and fans’ faces.

On an interesting twist, in 2020, during the TV promotions of his 1st album “diver” in an interview for LisAni, Masuda mentioned that in reality, his real personality and vibe – outside of his goofy voice actor image – are quite calm and even extremely cold to others, at least apparently.

He’s not the type of person that smiles a lot and he’s certainly quite the calm and collected person.

He added that it is part of his job as a voice actor, especially during events, to entertain his fans, that’s why he tends to goof around in those when, in reality, his personality is the opposite.

Passionate about cooking

When Masuda mentioned that one of his hobbies is cooking, he wasn’t kidding. His passion for cooking led Lettuce Club to invite Masuda to write a corner for their magazine.

In 2017 he kicked off the serialization corner Masuda Toshiki no kimi ni kikaseru STORY for Lettuce Club, showcasing his passion for cooking through the preparation of several recipes and writing comments on those.

Math over English, initially

Masuda once mentioned on 細谷佳正・増田俊樹の全力男子 (Hosoya Yoshimasa & Masuda Toshiki No Zenryoku Danshi) that he’s really good in math, the same can’t be said in English which prompted Hosoya Yoshimasa to question his sense of what was truly useful to him.

Masuda playfully replied that English is not something he needs when he works in Japan and doesn’t intend to go overseas.

In 2020, in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Toshiki Masuda told his fans that he was starting to learn English by himself in order to be able to speak with his international fans.

Since then, from time to time, Masuda tweets in English, leading to his fans to pour him with supportive messages.

Plays guitar and piano

During his Maxboys days, he showed in a couple of instances his guitar playing skills.

Later on, he showcased his piano playing skills at Fabulous Party 2017 presented by TOSHIKI MASUDA. He mentioned at that time that he had practiced hard – he previously didn’t know how to play piano – in order to be able to perform two songs at the event.

Completely focused on his work to the point that… the police was called to intervene

In 2017 at Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), Masuda mentioned that one time he was practicing a script for an anime series that included shouts and yells.

A neighbor of his found the noises he was making rather annoying and called the police on Masuda.

Masuda mentioned that initially, he didn’t understand why would his next-door neighbors change so often.

That’s when he realized that it was because he was rehearsing lines for anime series at home. He mentioned that doesn’t happen anymore as he now practices his lines elsewhere.

“My Master”

Masuda has mentioned several times after making his debut as a seiyuu that he was a student of Show Hayami‘s. The veteran seiyuu and legend in the industry taught him a thing or two about being a seiyuu.

Hayami took him under his wing rather early on in his seiyuu career, giving him experience in radio – S.S.D.S. Love Ultimate Diagnosis (2014) – as well as event hosting experience by having him join several of his S.S.D.S. events.

Masuda highly respects Hayami, even calling him his “Master“.

High respect for Yoshimasa Hosoya

Masuda holds Yoshimasa Hosoya dear as not only a fellow Hiroshima native, but also because it was Hosoya who initially guided him in the seiyuu industry when everything was new to him.

Hosoya took him under his wing, showing the ropes to the young Masuda and thus their friendship took off.

Since then, they’ve crossed paths multiple times in anime, games, and events. Masuda often expresses his admiration for him.

The unique friendship with Yuto Suzuki

Now, this is one of Masuda‘s best-known friendships in the seiyuu industry. Toshiki Masuda (born in 1990) and Yuto Suzuki (born in 1989) got to know each other in 2013 when both were cast as members of Marginal #4.

They clicked fast and soon after, stories of their antics and their overall entertaining friendship came to light – with either Suzuki or Masuda spilling the beans on it.

Yuto Suzuki has a unique habit of giving everyone nicknames, even to veteran seiyuu (he just adds the nickname + san and it seems that everyone finds it cute in a way, the best example is Kenjiro Tsuda that he calls “Tsudaken-san”).

Masuda didn’t escape his habit however because he’s younger than Yuto, he didn’t get any honorifics. That was the birth of the nickname “MasuToshi”.

Masuda even went on his personal Twitter in 2013 (the account that was closed in August 2018 when he left Space Craft) to complain about Yuto Suzuki’s barrage of personal messages while at work and even outside of it. He went on to publicly question him on Twitter “What are you? My girlfriend?“.

As much as he complains about Suzuki, the two are known as close friends and constantly tease each other when on the same broadcasts – with Masuda usually making fun of Suzuki’s catchphrase “Gyosu” and Suzuki calling him MasuToshi as well as dissing each other whenever possible.

Close friends with Koutaro Nishiyama, Yusuke Shirai and Genki Okawa

His friendship with Koutaro Nishiyama and Yusuke Shirai started to be noticed by fans in the Binan Kouko‘s early days. The trio was part of the main cast and quickly hit it off when hosting the same variety show connected to the anime series.

Their chemistry instantly shows when they are together and any show that features him with any of the two will certainly have a lot of teasing and fun going on.

On the other hand Masuda‘s friendship with Genki Okawa dates back to the Prince Of Tennis musical in 2009. Both were casted on the same team and even after they both graduated from the play, they’ve often found themselves working on the same stage plays.

When both debuted as seiyuu, they found themselves also participating in the same projects – both are members of MooNs (B-PROJECT) and Pythagoras Production (Masuda joined Marginal #4 whereas Okawa joined Lagrange Point).

Other seiyuu he’s friends with include Kensho Ono, Shouta Aoi, Tasuku Hatanaka, Soma Saito, Wataru Hatano, Yuichiro Umehara, Daiki Yamashita, Takuya Eguchi, KENN, Naozumi Takahashi, between many others.

Due to his welcoming and warm personality, it’s no wonder he’s friends with a lot of seiyuu as well as stage actors.

---

With this, I wrap up another Seiyuu Digest. A reminder that this is a special January – December digest so next month there’s no Seiyuu Digest release. This corner resumes in February 2019.

In the meantime, don’t forget to check past Seiyuu Digests (some of those recently updated) – HERE.

---