Seiyuu Digest #86 – Arthur Lounsbery

An extremely versatile actor, passionate about cosplaying and games and with a singing voice you’ll want to listen to time and time again. Time to dive deep into Arthur Lounsbery’s career.

Estimated reading time: 44 minutos

Arthur Lounsbery

KATAKANA: ランズベリー・コナン・アーサー

BORN: September 12

OCCUPATION: voice actor, actor, singer

HEIGHT: ??? cm

Arthur Lounsbery was born Arthur Conant Lounsbery on September 12, in California, USA, and is currently represented by 81 Produce.

About his birth year, at the time of writing this feature, 81 Produce and Arthur Lounsbery hadn’t confirmed in which year he was born.

Although he never confirmed his real age, Lounsbery mentioned on episode 1 of Maison du Aoharu in 2021, that he was 27 years old at that time. This may have been a joke with one of the viewers and seeing as he never confirmed nor denied it, fans still do not know when he was born.

Despite having been born in the USA, Lounsbery is Japanese.

He is represented by 81 Produce since his debut in 2011.

Seiyuu

After graduating from high school, Lounsbery went to take entrance exams to enroll in a university. However, life would end up changing from himself as a part-time job colleague of his suggested him to try and be a voice actor.

Lounsbery ended up trying his luck and in 2009, Lounsbery enrolled at Amusement Media Academy (former graduates: Miyake Kenta, Wataru Hatano, Tetsuya Kakihara, Yusuke Kobayashi, Yusuke Shirai, Shinichiro Kamio) in its Voice Actor department.

According to the information on Amusement Media Academy’s official website, he attended a special course with classes only once a week.

He ended up graduating in 2011, Lounsbery was a free agent until joining 81 Produce – one of Japan’s top talent agencies for voice actors -, in 2012 setting him on what is, so far, an interesting career.

2011 – 2014

The tough road ahead

Most fans coming across Lounsbery won’t be due to his work in anime – besides 2 anime series that have marked his career -, as he doesn’t have much anime work despite being active for over a decade.

Lounsbery kicked off his work as a voice actor in 2011 – still as a free agent – with a minor role in the anime series Phi Brain: Puzzle of God.

A year later, he joined 81 Produce and got minor roles in Medaka Box Abnormal and Sket Dance.

2013 would get him a solid supporting character role in the sports anime Inazuma Eleven Go: Galaxy. He was cast as Ryugel Baran, a forward for Ratoniik Eleven and Faram Dite that acts and thinks he’s smarter than he is.

That leads to the character to give not only unwanted advice but also advice that doesn’t make any sense or is fundamentally wrong.

This role gave some exposure to Arthur Lounsbery, even if only for a couple of episodes into the series.

In 2014, Lounsbery was cast as Shinji Watari in the popular sports anime Haikyuu!!. Watari is a second-year student at Aoba Johsai High, playing the position of libero.

He’s passionate and extremely competitive, loving a good challenge. When it comes to his teammates, Watari is caring and supporting at all times, being almost like an emotional anchor for his team.

Lounsbery’s performance was as you’d expect, filled with emotion, never exaggerated, making Watari a character you’d want to hear more of.

He reprised his role in the first two seasons of Haikyuu!! and one movie.

Aside from Watari, Lounsbery lent his talents to several minor characters in the series across several seasons.

Other anime series in which he voiced characters during this period of time – 2011 – 2014 – include:

• Gatchaman Crowds (2013)
• Seiyuu Sentai Voicetorm 7 (2013)
• Duel Masters Versus (2014)
• Free! -Eternal Summer- (2014)
• Dragon Collection (2014)
• Buddy Complex (2014)

2015 –

First leading role + slowly writing his story in the anime industry

It took 4 years as a voice actor for Lounsbery to get his first leading role in anime.

That opportunity arose with Starmyu, music anime – that later on had a strong stage play component – in which Lounsbery was cast as Kaito Tsukigami.

Kaito Tsukigami is the type of character that may come off as cold or even too strict on a first approach, however, he comes to open himself to others, support those around him.

Given his prestigious upbringing with his parents being part of the showbiz and his older brother being a musical genius and alumnus of Ayanagi Gakuen, the school he is attending, it is as if he conducts himself while trying to avoid the shadow of his family that looms him.

As such, he doesn’t like being compared with any of them, especially his older brother, just wanting to become an actor, showcase his unique passion and talents to others.

Lounsbery dove deeper into the conflict in Tsukigami’s life and the frustrations of being compared to others and perfectly fleshed those out in a performance that many fans still hold very dear.

This role would also end up putting the spotlight on Arthur Lounsbery’s singing skills, with Kaito Tsukigami’s songs being extremely popular.

Lounsbery reprised his role as Kaito Tsukigami for 3 anime seasons as well as for the stage plays that followed.

Somehow – and weirdly – the popularity that Lounsbery got thanks to this role never really translated to the work in the years afterward, with roles actually dropping drastically for him.

2016 was much quieter for Lounsbery, getting only supporting and minor roles. He was cast as Kanata Kira, an idol and member of the group M4 in the music anime Aikatsu Stars!.

Kira fit right with the type of characters that Arthur Lounsbery had been voicing up until then: passionate and supportive, however, with a twist.

The character proved to be quite playful and a tease to a couple of characters in the series. Still, at its core, Kira is quite serious and down-to-earth, something that Lounsbery made sure fans would feel whenever he was on the scene.

2017 was even quieter for him, only getting minor and supporting roles in anime such as Masamune-kun no Revenge, AKIBA’S TRIP -THE ANIMATION- and Jigoku Shoujo: Yoi no Togi.

From 2018 to 2022, Lounsbery’s roles in anime drastically dropped, with him grabbing supporting or minor roles in anime series such as Merc Storia: The Apathetic Boy and the Girl in a Bottle (2018), Actors: Songs Connection (2019), and Breakers (2020).

In 2020, Lounsbery reprised his role as Fantôme Iris’ Felix Louis-Claude Mont D’or in the music/slice-of-life anime Argonavis from BanG Dream!.

A year later, he was cast as the soft-spoken and cold Yamato Kai, a fugitive in Project Scard: Scar on the Praeter.

The series’ main cast was comprised of all members of 8P – group that Arthur Lounsbery is a part of.

So far in 2022, Arthur Lounsbery is cast in the action/fantasy anime Yu☆Gi☆Oh!: Go Rush!!, set to premiere in April.

Other anime series in which he voiced characters during this period of time – 2015 – until 2022 – include:

• Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma (2015)
• Omakase! Miracle Cat-dan (2015)
• Bonjour ♪ Sweet Love Patisserie (2015)
• Cross Ange: Rondo of Angels and Dragons (2015)
• Kamiwaza Wanda (2016)
• 12-sai.: Chicchana Mune no Tokimeki (2016)
• Mahoutsukai Precure! (2016)
• Luck & Logic (2016)
• Reikenzan: Hoshikuzu-tachi no Utage (2016)
• Kirakira PreCure a la Mode (2017)
• Boku no Kanojo ga Majimesugiru Sho-bitch na Ken (2017)
• Hangyakusei Million Arthur (2018)
• Aikatsu Planet! (2021)

Radio

As far as radio work goes, Arthur Lounsbery has been active since 2015, lending his radio host talents to shows stemming from anime series as well as original seiyuu projects and 2D music projects.

When you listen to a radio show hosted by Lounsbery, you can expect a calm demeanor, witty comments, a little bit of geeking and a whole lot of professionalism.

It is rare for Lounsbery to go crazy when hosting or even guesting on radio shows still, while on paper it may seem like his radio shows (or radio show appearances) are too calm, he compensates with interesting conversations, genuine interest in what his guests (or the show’s hosts) are saying and actively participating in the conversations.

He holds his own really well as a solo host although he’s had very few opportunities to do so.

Below are some – not extensive – of the radio shows he’s hosted over the years.

StarMyu Radio: Mezase! Radio Star (2015 – 2016)

The first radio show that Arthur Lounsbery hosted was StarMyu Radio: Mezase! Radio Star (スタミュラジオ 〜目指せ!ラジオスター〜) back in 2015.

Fans of StarMyu got to listen to passionate conversations about the anime series, the characters’ relationships as well as get to better know the voice actors behind the characters they love.

Arthur, Daiki, Yoshiki no Kaleidoscope Party (2016 – 2018)

81 Produce’s talents, Arthur Lounsbery, Daiki Kobayashi and Yoshiki Nakajima, co-hosted the radio show Arthur, Daiki, Yoshiki no Kaleidoscope Party from 2016 up until 2018.

The concept revolves around the three hosts living under the same roof and the listener being the guest to their party.

Touma Yumi & Lounsbery Arthur no VALKYRIE -RADIO ANATOMIA- (2017 – 2019)

In 2017, Arthur Lounsbery teamed up with Yumi Touma to co-host the radio show Touma Yumi & Lounsbery Arthur no VALKYRIE -RADIO ANATOMIA- (冬馬由美＆ランズベリー・アーサーのVALKYRIE -RADIO ANATOMIA-).

The radio show aired from 2017 to 2019 and stemmed from the videogame VALKYRIE ANATOMIA.

MAN TWO MONTH RADIO: Lounsbery Arthur no Entaku no Ou o Mezashite (2018-)

In 2018, Lounsbery was invited to be the host of MAN TWO MONTH RADIO, show in which seiyuu can handle their own radio show for two months before switching with the next seiyuu.

MAN TWO MONTH RADIO: Lounsbery Arthur no Entaku no Ou o Mezashite (MAN TWO MONTH RADIO: ランズベリー・アーサーの円卓の王を目指して) was a show all about Lounsbery becoming a king and answering listeners’ problems and worries as well as taking on challenges sent by them.

The show aired from February 2018 until late March 2018.

8P Radio ~ Road to the New World ~ (2018-)

This radio show is hosted by Tasuku Hatanaka, Sho Nogami, Taku Yashiro, Junya Enoki, Arthur Lounsbery, Atsushi Kousaka, Takeaki Masuyama and Shoya Chiba.

The main focus of this show is to challenge various things and to improve themselves as seiyuu.

Hatanaka Tasuku Lounsbery Arthur no ore ni kamawazu sakini ike! (2018 -)

Still in same year, Lounsbery teamed up with fellow male seiyuu, Tasuku Hatanaka for the radio show, Hatanaka Tasuku Lounsbery Arthur no ore ni kamawazu sakini ike!.

HELIOS Rising Heroes Radio Monday Night Heroes (2019 -)

In 2019, Arthur Lounsbery and Yoshiki Nakajima were chosen to co-host the radio show HELIOS Rising Heroes Radio Monday Night Heroes.

The radio stems from the video game HELIOS Rising Heroes and counts with cast members as guests.

Other radio shows he’s been a guest in or host/co-host include:

• Gero no THE CATCH (2015)
• Yoru no Drama House (2015)
• Karucha Syndrome (2016)
• Nariyuki NIGHT (2016)
• Hatanaka Tasuku no Ima, Mukatte masu!!! (2017)
• Sato Takuya no Yaremasu! (2017)
• Toriumi Kousuke, Yasumoto Hiroki no Kindan Nama Radio (2017)
• Hiyama Nobuyuki no Animeji-yu (2017)
• JAZZ-ON! the radio (2019 -)
• Argonavis from BanG Dream! AAside Radio Royale Festival (2020 – 2021)
• U-nite! 81Wednesday Lounsbery Arthur no Yoake Uta (2021)

Games

This is one of the fields in which Lounsbery is the most active.

He’s got over 50 credits in games with most of those credits in RPG games. Fans can also find him voicing characters in action and otome games although those are not as common in his repertoire.

Like most characters in his repertoire, Arthur Lounsbery often voices cool types, characters with a strong sense of justice and incredibly passionate (although they may not show it).

His first role in videogames was in Hime Gal Paradise: Mechikawa! Age Mori Sensation! in 2012.

He’s lent voice to a couple of iconic characters – not extensive – such as:

Alt Fail in VALKYRIE ANATOMIA -THE ORIGIN- (2016)

Lounsbery’s first leading role in games was as Alt Fail in the smartphone RPG game inspired by Norse mythology VALKYRIE ANATOMIA -THE ORIGIN-.

The game would end up having a radio show tied to it in which Arthur Lounsbery and Yumi Touma were the hosts.

Arthur Nito in Million Arthur: Arcana Blood (2017)

Lounsbery was then cast as Arthur Nito (Twinblade Arthur), one of the main characters in the arcade fighting game Million Arthur: Arcana Blood. This game is quite popular in arcades in Japan.

FELIX in Argonavis from BanG Dream! AAside (2021 – 2022)

In 2021, Arthur Lounsbery joined the lineup for the smartphone rhythm game Argonavis from BanG Dream! AAside.

He reprised his role as Fantôme Iris’ free-spirited frontman FELIX.

Although the game was short-lived – mainly to the big change made to the ARGONVIS from BanG Dream franchise that changed its name and parted ways with Bushiroad – fans got to experience a bit of his eccentricity as well as the intellectual side in the in-game story.

He also voiced characters in the following games (list is not exhaustive):

• Royal Flash Heroes (2015)
• Valiant Knights (2015)
• Aikatsu! Photo on Stage!! (2016)
• Dragon Genesis: Seisen no Kizuna (2016)
• Haikyuu!! Donpisha Match!! (2016)
• Icchibanketsu ONLINE (2016)
• Knight Slinger (2016)
• Magic-kyun! Renaissance (2016)
• SOUL REVERSE ZERO (2016)
• DUELS X MACHINA (2017)
• Op8♪ (2018)
• Palette Parade (2018)
• IDOL FANTASY (2018)
• Kaikan Phrase CLIMAX Next Generation (2019)
• HELIOS Rising Heroes (2020)
• Paradigm Paradox (2021)

between many others.

Acting/Live reading

When you mention the name “Arthur Lounsbery” to seiyuu fans in Japan, the first thing they’ll tell you is that he’s a good stage/musical actor, with his most notable role being Kaito Tsukigami in the StarMyu stage plays.

Even among fellow voice actors, Lounsbery is best known for his acting skills.

Let’s check some of his notable credits so far in live acting, stage plays, and reading plays (not extensive).

Christian in Kami Voice: The Voice Makes a Miracle (2011)

One of Lounsbery’s first-ever appearances in a live-action movie was in 2011 for “Kami Voice: The Voice Makes a Miracle” as Christian, one of the eccentric students at Kubota Voice Acting Academy. This was prior to joining 81 Produce.

He mentions he’s a Portuguese nobleman that dreams of, one day, having a Japanese girl making him a bento (packed lunch).

The movie is an adaptation of a famous manga written by Yoshiki Sakurai and Team G.V. and illustrated by Kuroko Yabuguchi. The live-action premiered on November 19, 2011.

The movie is deeply connected with the seiyuu life and shows the hardships one has to face to enter and strive in that field of work, especially when something goes awry that can put that career in jeopardy.

The cast counted with Wataru Hatano and Yuki Kaji as the protagonists as well as the notable presence of Takuya Eguchi, Showtaro Morikubo, Mamoru Miyano, Junya Enoki, Rikiya Koyama, Romi Paku, Daisuke Namikawa, and Yoshimasa Hosoya, among many others.

Kaito Tsukigami in Musical Star-Myu (2017 – 2018)

In 2017, Arthur Lounsbery reprised his role as Kaito Tsukigami from the StarMyu anime in its musical play adaptation.

He was part of the cast for the two seasons of musicals: Musical StarMyu (2017) and Musical StarMyu Second Season (2018).

This is, by far, the best-known role in Lounsbery’s career – so far – and one of the most memorable stage performances.

He graduated from this role in 2018, with the 3rd season of the musical play casting a different actor as Kaito Tsukigami.

Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de (2018)

Lounsbery has always been pretty active within 81 Produce, participating in several plays in the 81 Live Salon live reading plays project.

The talent agency is known for putting the spotlight on most – if not all – of their talents through these reading plays.

In 2018, he joined the cast of 謎解きはディナーのあとで (Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de), a detective story that counted with some of 81 Produce’s top male seiyuu talents on its lineup such as Soma Saito, Shinichiro Kamio, Koutaro Nishiyama, Shunsuke Takeuchi, Wataru Komada, Arthur Lounsbery, and Yuki Yonai.

Other stage plays/reading plays/live-action movies he’s acted in include:

• Theatrick (2015)
• Jouer du cygne PART 1 〜 Inside Memory 〜 (2015)
• POWER OF VOICE ～Roudoku kara Rakugo, Musei Eiga made Vol.2～ (2017)
• Japanese literature masterpiece selection third volume “Kokoro” (2017)
• Omoide wa Konbiifu ni Nosete (2020)
• THE ROUDOKU 2 “Vampire tantei — Kindan no unmei no chi –” (2021)

Unfortunately, there is no footage from any of these besides promotional photos – if any – so those are specific chapters in Arthur Lounsbery’s career that very few fans had the pleasure of experiencing.

Narration / Dubbing

Lounsbery kicked off work in dubbing in 2011 – when he was still a free agent -, with a role in the Japanese dub of the South Korean drama “Accident Couple”.

He’s not the most active seiyuu when it comes to both narration and dubbing but he does have credits under his belt.

He’s dubbed foreign actors in series/movies such as “The F**k-It List”, “Descendants”, “Descendants 2”, and “Foyle’s War”.

As far as narration goes, Lounsbery has very few credits with TV shows as well as commercials. His most notable narration gigs include Animemashite, and Live Monthly Today’s Cuisine.

Drama CDs

When it comes to drama CDs, Arthur Lounsbery is not the most active however, as of late, he’s been getting more opportunities to showcase his voice acting talents.

The best-known role in drama CDs is, by far, YORU in the CARNELIAN BLOOD franchise. Lounsbery voices the character in the drama parts included with EROSION’s CDs.

In 2022, YORU is featured in a solo CD in which listeners will get to be closer to the character (story recorded using a dummyhead mic), marking not only the 1st time Lounsbery has performed using a dummyhead mic but also the first time he’s voiced a character in a romance drama CD.

Other drama CDs he’s lent his voice acting talents to include (list not exhaustive):

• Neko to Watashi no Kinyobi (2014)
• 81 Produce 35th Anniversary Audio Drama CD: Shiden-kai no Taka (2015)
• Zutto Isshodayo… (2016)
• EXIT TUNES PRESENTS ACTORS 6 (2017)
• Hinekure Sakura ni Koi ga Saku (2018)
• Nama Haishin: Aitsu ni Koi Shite Mita! (2018)
• 8P Drama CD: Monster Cafe (2019)
• ACTORS Extra Edition 8 (2019)
• JAZZ-ON! Sessions「First Cats」(2019)
• Otogi no Uta CHRONICLE series (2019)
• Yoidore Koi o Sezu (2019)
• 8P Drama CD Heaven & Lost Vol.1 and 2 (2021)
• HELIOS Rising Heroes Drama CD Vol.2 West Sector (2021)

Music

Singing is almost like second nature to Arthur Lounsbery.

Not only he’s a really good musical singer but he also can make a natural transition between the complexity and theatricality of musical singing and the polarizing singing technique required to perform pop music (for character songs.

And when it is time to perform rock music… Lounsbery is an absolute treat to listen to. He’s a baritone with quite a bit of faux bass range – both essential for visual-kei rock music – and can pull off falsetto, vibrato, crescendos, long notes and even head voice with no issues.

After having reviewed music performed from 2D rock music projects he’s cast in, I can safely say that his sheer power, raw emotions, complete control, and versatility make him one of the most exciting – yet underrated – talents when it comes to singing.

From starting in the modest seiyuu project soffive to leading the visual-kei rock band Fantôme Iris or being part of the nu-metal-inspired EROSION, Lounsbery keeps on impressing with each of his performances, slowly showcasing why he is a talent you should look forward to.

He’s best known for being part of the following 2D music groups:

soffive (2013)

81 Produce debuted soffive in 2013. The unit was created to promote their rookie talents.

soffive consisted of Kento Ito, Yoshiki Nakajima, Arthur Lounsbery, Koutaro Nishiyama, and Shunya Hiruma.

They performed live and featured three of their songs in the motion comic, Voice Acting Sentai Boy’s tome 7 that aired on Fuji TV in the last quarter of 2013. Soon after debuting, the unit disbanded.

M4 (2016)

M4 debuted in 2016 and the members include Taku Yashiro, Yuto Uemura, Shun Horie, and Arthur Lounsbery.

This is one of the units that were created from the story of an anime, in this case, because of Aikatsu Stars!. The story behind this unit is that the members are the 4 best male students in a school in the series.

8P (2016 -)

The mixed media project, 8P kicked off in 2016, leading to a creation of a radio show, a variety series that has spanned several DVDs and even music, when the group decided to start releasing their own music.

8P consist on Tasuku Hatanaka, Sho Nogami, Taku Yashiro, Junya Enoki, Arthur Lounsbery, Atsushi Kousaka, Takeaki Masuyama and Shoya Chiba.

In 2018 the group released the album, CV, featuring subunit songs.

In 2019, 8P kicked off a solo series, with each member composing and or writing lyrics for a song of theirs. Arthur Lounsbery performed the song Light-blue Wind for his solo entry.

Later in the same year, 8P released the full-length album, Happy Glitter, featuring the solo tracks as well as a new group song.

In 2020, 8P kicked off their duet series. Each CD included drama tracks and 1 song performed by 2 of the members of the group.

Arthur Lounsbery teamed up with Sho Nogami to perform the song “What is human?” in 8P Unit Song Drama CD Vol.3.

A year later, 8P was back in full force, bringing not only their 2nd full-length album “CV:2” but also a new single “Course of my fate“.

8P performed the opening and ending songs for the otome game “Paradigm Paradox”, otome game by Otomate and available on Nintendo Switch in which all eight members of 8P voice characters.

BRAVE HEARTS (2018 – 2019)

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

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

F☆light (2019 – 2021)

F☆light (pronounced “F Light”) consisted of Arthur Lounsbery, Daiki Kobayashi, Ryo Kikuchi, Ryo Takizawa, and Takahide Ishii.

The group is featured on Kaikan Phrase CLIMAX -NEXT GENERATION-, a game project developed by GMO Internet-based and in the same universe as the popular manga Kaikan ♥ Phrase.

Besides releasing music as a 2D group, F☆light ended up making the jump to 3D with all cast members participating in the music video for “Galaxy Dream” (2019).

The group then released the digital single “Spark in the night“.

With the end of the distribution of the Kaikan Phrase smartphone game, the group disbanded in 2021.

SwingCATS (2019 -)

All in the same year, Lounsbery joined the cast of the jazz music project, JAZZ-ON!, as part of SwingCATS.

SwingCATS consist of Yuki Yonai, Wataru Komada, Shunichi Toki, Toshinari Fukamachi, Genki Okawa, Makoto Ishii, Arthur Lounsbery and Shinichiro Kamio.

The group has released 2 singles so far: First Cats (2019) and Raining Cats (2020).

Lounsbery performed alongside fellow 81 Produce talent, Shinichiro Kamio, the song Lonely Junction (featured in the group’s 2020 single, Raining Cats).

In 2021, the JAZZ-ON! franchise kicked off its very 1st shuffle CD series.

Arthur Lounsbery participated in Invisible Chord 2nd. He performed the self-titled song “Invisible Chord 2nd” alongside Wataru Komada, Shunichi Toki, and Shinichiro Kamio.

A couple of months later and still in 2021, Lounsbery performed “We are here” alongside Kengo Kawanishi in the shuffle album “Tone of Stars Beta“.

Fantôme Iris (2019 -)

Fantôme Iris consists of Arthur Lounsbery (on vocals), Wada Masaya, Jun Fukuyama, Tsubasa Yonaga, and Taiyo Ayukawa.

The band dons strong visual-kei aesthetics, taking a lot of influence by 18th century Europe’s fashion and the Romanticism movement (art movement).

FELIX, who Arthur Lounsbery is voicing, is all about his vampire persona on stage.

What can I tell you about Fantôme Iris? Easily one of the best bands in the FROM ARGONAVIS franchise.

Their sound and lyrics are created – mostly – by SID’s MAO and Shinji, making the band sound like a real deal visual-kei outfit.

Fantôme Iris’ sound is refined, urgent at times, dramatic, and theatrical at all times and Arthur Lounsbery fully embraced everything the band is all about to deliver performances that will first make your jaw drop – a mix of clean baritone and faux bass), then hook you in.

The band joined the franchise in 2020, kicking off their activities with a live appearance at ARGONAVIS 3rd LIVE “Sound Only Live”.

This was something new as far as introducing new groups/bands in 2D music projects. The band was performing live in the events held by the franchise but there was still no original music released by them at that point.

Still, Fantôme Iris left quite the impression with their solid covers and when they teased original music, fans were delighted.

The band’s first single was the digital single “histoire“.

At that time, in my review of this single, I said “Fantôme Iris comes to fill in the void and breathe fresh air into it, showcasing a polished technique as a band as well as their confidence. Yes, they have a powerful and confident frontman in their ranks.

Arthur Lounsbery fully embraced his role and shows the class and technique as a visual-kei rock frontman in this release. I love how he just goes for it with flourishes – vibrato and falsetto – but keeps those minimal, adding them for extra theatricality or as accents to certain phrases. He does so in a natural way too.

Never, during his performances, did he sound strained. He sounds really comfortable performing songs like these which is, once again, a relief, because few seiyuu can proudly say that they can nail an intense visual-kei rock performance as he did.“

Lounsbery’s sheer confidence and natural performances made the songs stand out even more than usual, with him showing why he’d been chosen as FELIX.

Before the end of 2020, the band participated in the special album “Gin no Yuri/Banzai RIZING!!!/Hikari no Akuma“.

What followed was a majestic performance by the band and yet another outstanding performance by Lounsbery.

The band continued to impress with their covers – that were released throughout the year but fans still had to wait a couple of months until Fantôme Iris would release a new single.

The band’s 1st physical single “Zakuro/Kyoki no Melody” hit stores in July 2021, changing their sound ever so slightly to introduce groove metal.

 “Zakuro/Kyoki no Melody” is a rock-solid entry in Fantôme Iris’ repertoire, an entry that brings groove rock to their arsenal and further highlights how natural and powerful a frontman FELIX (CV: Arthur Lounsbery) is.

Wrapping up the year, the band released the single “Pierrot“.

“Pierrot” is an absolute banger – both the song and the single as a whole – counting with shredding tunes, plenty of theatrical performances, and even some spooky fun in the middle.

The single quickly took its spot of Fantôme Iris’ best release to date, a must listen even for those that may not be fond of the FROM ARGONAVIS franchise but want to enjoy good visual-kei rock.

So far, since their debut, Fantôme Iris has performed live several times:

• ARGONAVIS 3rd LIVE “Sound Only Live” (2020)
• ARGONAVIS Sound Only Live “Destiny Rock festival” (2020)
• Fantôme Iris S-SOL -histoire des vampires- (2020)
• Live Royal Fes 2020 (2020)
• Fantôme Iris 1st LIVE -C’est la vie!- (2021)
• Fantome Iris Concept LIVE -Moonlight Feast- (2021)

EROSION (2020 -)

CARNELIAN BLOOD is a mixed media – voice comics, music, radio, etc – project created by Rejet. EROSION stems from the franchise as its representative group, a rock band with 5 vocals.

EROSION consists of Shoya Chiba (leader), Arthur Lounsbery, Ryota Suzuki, Toshiyuki Toyonaga and Yuya Hirose.

Hirose voices YORU, one of the band’s members.

Since its inception in 2020, EROSION has been simultaneously a 2D and 3D group.

Rejet always releases 2 types of videos for each new song: a short teaser featuring the characters and a full music video featuring the seiyuu cast.

In the first season of CDs, EROSION released 3 singles: “From a Spicy Peak”, “Aspiration” and “RAD HEAD”. All singles were released in 2020.

Right off the bat, in “From a Spicy Peak“, EROSION doesn’t shy away from a darker, heavier approach to their sound, which I love.

I feel like rock bands in 2D music projects seldom get courageous enough to embrace a heavier sound because they feel like regular 2D music fans will certainly avoid it at all costs.

So, it is a breath of fresh air to find EROSION doing their thing and being cool about their rock sound and, at the same time, really comfortable while performing it.

From “Underdogs” to “From a Spicy Peak“, this single was overflowing with an aggressive and daring rock sound that the 2D industry hadn’t been graced with for a couple of years.

At the same time, the group showed that there’s no need to have an “all popular/star” seiyuu lineup to sound good.

With Toshiyuki Toyonaga and Arthur Lounsbery’s vast experience as singers, all members sounded incredibly well, ushering a new era of singers among seiyuu as young talents Yuya Hirose, Shoya Chiba and Ryota Suzuki showcased their skills in quite an impressive fashion.

Soon after, the band released its 2nd single “Aspiration“.

This CD was a departure from the band’s debut sound, shifting from high-octane rock with some hits and bits of hardcore, to easy-listening pop-rock.

“Aspiration” has its moments of brilliance although the band is sounding more and more like an idol group instead of a rock band, which as some of you may be aware of, is the band’s selling point.

For a band that started out with a considerably heavy sound as their debut song, with each song in this CD, EROSION gradually toned down their aggression.

In November 2020, EROSION wrapped up its first season of CDs with electrifying “RAD HEAD“.

“RAD HEAD” is powerful, intimidating, and overflowing with energy and quality. The title track brought a lot of grit and intensity back to EROSION’s sound.

“Get Out!!!!!” brought a bit of electronica into the mix, creating a tasteful blend of their gritty rock sound and dirty electronica. 

And “Sham’ing” introduced electronica to the band’s sound, a first however something that worked incredibly well with the vocals that EROSION has at its disposal.

EROSION kicked off 2021 with its 1st live show “EROSION 1st LIVE「UNDERDOGS」from CARNELIAN BLOOD“.

The music video for “What is mine” was recorded during this live show.

EROSION released its 1st full-length album “What is mine“.

 “What is mine” is an exciting release by the 2D/3D 5-vocal rock band.

A confident display of technique – individually and collectively -, quality and charisma while fully embracing a unique, edgy rock sound that you can’t find in any other 2D rock band currently active in the industry.

The CD featured all songs released up until then and added 4 new tracks – with 3 of those spread across the CD’s 3 editions – “What is mine“, “Vigrante“, “The Sun Also Rises” and “CRIER!! CRIER!!“.

The band kicked off their 1st solo CD series “EROSION with YOU from CARNELIAN BLOOD” in December 2021.

The first entry was “EROSION with YOU from CARNELIAN BLOOD Vol.1 CREHA”, album that included the orchestral-rock-meets-nu-metal banger “Firemind“.

Orchestral elements made their way into “Firemind”, breathing life into it, making it resonate with the listener, leaving a mark as those dramatic strings find their way through the song, contrasting with the melancholic vocals by the band members.

That was the song that showcased all members finally on the same page vocally, going for powerful canon and unison sections, all harmonizing in perfect sync.

This was a song that showed that EROSION can be pretty raw in its emotions with all members making sure you’d scream along, that you’d feel those emotions all over.

That song was followed by “Devil’s Dinner” in the 2nd entry in the solo CD series “EROSION with YOU from CARNELIAN BLOOD Vol.2 BYAKUYA“.

As far as live performances go, EROSION performed live for the very first time in 2021. The only footage available of this live show is the live music video for “What is mine“,

Rejet later announced that EROSION‘s 2nd live show is going to take place at TACHIKAWA STAGE GARDEN on 10/09/2022.

VENOMOUS 8 (2021 -)

In 2021, Lounsbery joined the cast of the first-ever heavy metal 2D music project, THE LAST METAL.

The project is all about “Authentic heavy metal music” x “Voice actors/actors” x “Revenge drama“.

Alongside Kent Ito, Ryota Suzuki, and Keisuke Ueda, Lounsbery is part of Venomous 8, a heavy metal band with strong influences of speed and symphonic metal.

The band’s debut CD is titled “Welcome to the Deadlight City“. The live-action music video for the title track was released in 2021, leaving a lot of fans of rock music begging for more.

Variety

On variety and talk shows, fans can expect Arthur Lounsbery to be the calm and collected type of person.

However do not take that as him being “cold”, he’s actually quite laidback and friendly to others but he stops to listen to others, seldom interrupts others… he’s engaged with those guesting/co-hosting shows alongside him in a calm way.

He can tease others quite a bit, especially if he’s close to them – he does that to Daiki Kobayashi and Shoya Chiba with some frequency – but do not expect crazy shenanigans from him. That’s really not his thing, at least, so far it hasn’t been something he’s embraced in his variety/talk show appearances.

Some of the variety shows he’s participated in include:

Tokimeki Recipe (2016)

In 2016, Arthur Lounsbery and Tasuku Hatanaka teamed up for Tokimeki Recipe’s cooking variety 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.

The duo had to tackle cooking with game corners midway through to earn clues or tips on how to cook the dishes they were tasked with creating.

Due to their close friendship, the recording is filled with good vibes, with both looking and acting naturally and comfortably around each other.

Comic BAR RENTA! (2018)

In 2018, Arthur Lounsbery guested on Shuuta Morishima‘s Comic BAR RENTA!, show that airs on TOKYO MX.

Following the premise of the show, the guest performs alongside the host a short part of an online comic/manga. He guested on episodes 62 and 63.

LIPSS Innocent na Sasayaki (2019)

LIPSS Innocent na Sasayaki premiered in 2019 with a promising concept that ended up not panning out.

The show counted with a star-studded cast comprised of popular seiyuu – Takuya Eguchi, Soma Saito, Koutaro Nishiyama, Arthur Lounsbery, and Mai Fuchigami – and popular stage actors – Mario Kuroba, Motohiro Ohta and Daichi Saeki.

Arthur Lounsbery participated in some of the episodes in the show.

KENN & Arthur Nu:camp (2019 – 2021)

In 2019, Arthur Lounsbery teamed up with KENN for the outdoors variety show KENN & Arthur Nu:camp.

The variety show started broadcasting on TV Kanagawa in October 2019, wrapping up in December 2019.

In this show KENN and Arthur Lounsbery – who were completely new to outdoor activities – challenged themselves as well as a special guest with barbecue contests, trout fishing, making pizza from scratch, among many other activities.

After the show stopped being broadcast on TV, the show continued to release DVDs featuring seiyuu guests and even held an event in 2021, when the show stopped its activity altogether.

Project SCARD Prosuka TV (2020)

In 2020, Arthur Lounsbery teamed up with Shoya Chiba to co-host the promotional talk show プロスカTV (Prosuka TV).

The show was created by FRONTIER WORKS to promote the otome game PROJECT SCARD in which all members of 8P were cast.

Lounsbery and Chiba showcased a lot of comfort between themselves, being naturally funny and sassy for the 3 episodes they were set to host.

From testing if Chiba would respond to being tickled to dubbing challenges, drawing their characters, and even giving sassy opinions about other characters, those episodes were a lot of fun.

Lounsbery Arthur & Kobayashi Daiki no Maison du Aoharu (2021 -)

In 2021, Lounsbery teamed up with fellow 81 Produce talent Daiki Kobayashi for the talk show Lounsbery Arthur & Kobayashi Daiki no Maison du Aoharu.

The show is livestreamed monthly on YouTube and its concept is that Lounsbery and Kobayashi live together in the sharehouse “Maison du Aoharu”.

Together with a guest, they try to relive those “youthful” days through challenges sent by the viewers.

Other variety shows he’s guest in or hosted include:

• Voice Academia (2014)
• Animemashite (2015)
• Valiant Knights Voice Actor Variety Program: Valido! (2015)
• Mayonaka no Nyago (2016)
• Animate Cafe Channel (2017)
• Famitsu Gamers DX (2017)
• Santaku!!! (2017)
• Karaoke MAX Special Program (2018)
• Arthur’s Indie Game Story (2019)
• Komada Wataru no Komastagram (2020)

Facts

Born in the USA however… despite his foreign name, he is not fluent in English

Lounsbery has already mentioned a couple of times that, although he was born in California, he only lived there for 1 year and a half before coming to Japan and, ultimately, settling in the country.

However, due to him having an English name – he does not have a Japanese name – people mistakenly think he is a foreigner, and as such, that he can fluently speak English.

While Lounsbery is not fluent in English – he’s mentioned he’s not that comfortable speaking English – he can read and easily understand what is written in English, quickly translating things to other seiyuu that happen to guest in the same variety/talk shows as himself.

Heavy rock music fan

Fans of Arthur Lounsbery will know that he is all about rock music.

He loves gothic rock – and any and every connection with vampires -, nordic rock, and all kinds of heavy subgenres within rock music.

He often leaves song suggestions to his fans on his personal Twitter account that dive a bit into his passion for rock music.

It’s not a surprise when you find Lounsbery being cast in 2D rock music projects, showcasing his talents with Fantôme Iris, EROSION, and Venomous 8.

Insanely smart

According to Lounsbery on Voice Newtype No.58 (pp. 80–81.), he graduated high school when he was supposed to be in his first year (16 years old) and took university entrance exams when he was supposed to be in his 2nd year of high school (17-years old).

Lounsbery wouldn’t end up attending university, instead joining Amusement Media Academy with the goal of being a voice actor. Still, him being a couple of grades ahead of everyone shows how naturally smart he is.

An experienced model

While most fans may be familiar with Lounsbery for his singing in the Starmyu anime/stage plays or from the FROM ARGONAVIS franchise, the truth is he has done work in a wide variety of fields.

Over the years, Lounsbery has done plenty of model work from apparel brands, accessories to jewelry companies. Some of the brands he’s modeled for include Eyemirror and LIVERTINE AGE.

Competitive gamer

He’s also known as an incredibly competitive gamer. In August 2016, Lounsbery ranked as one of the 8 best players in Japan of arcade Dissidia Final Fantasy.

This is quite impressive as the official national convention of arcade Dissidia Final Fantasy attracts thousands of players from all over Japan, all with crazy good skills.

Well, Lounsbery impressed everyone by being named one of the 8 best players of the game in Japan.

It is said – not confirmed though, so take it with a grain of salt – that Lounsbery has played that game for 12.000 hours.

Would you like a cup of tea, milady?

Lounsbery has a vast knowledge about tea, something he picked up from working at a butler café.

According to some voice actors that have had the pleasure of drinking tea prepared by him, he’s the real deal.

Takes cosplay very seriously

One thing that Lounsbery’s fans are well aware of is his passion for cosplay, to be a character.

Although there are several situations that could be brought to this topic – do look forward to his posts on Twitter around Halloween -, the best case is his commitment to be Felix Louis-Claude Mont D’or from Fantôme Iris in the FROM ARGONAVIS franchise.

He went as far as letting his hair grow, went through the struggles of maintaining it, making sure it is healthy, even asked his fans on Twitter for tips to have his hair good.

And as such, you can see him performing with Fantôme Iris in full grace. It is as if Felix is on stage.

Loves vampire stories

Lounsbery has said in the past that he loves everything vampire-related mainly because he loves the romance and tragic vibe that those stories have.

Interestingly enough, he ended up joining the FROM ARGONAVIS franchise as part of Fantôme Iris, a visual-kei band that does love those aesthetics and themes a whole love (and one could argue Lounsbery almost looks like a classy vampire as FELIX).

With this, THTFHQ wraps up another Seiyuu Digest. In the meantime, don’t forget to check past Seiyuu Digests (some of those recently updated) – HERE.