Voice actor Yuu Hayashi made his first overseas appearance at an anime convention this year at FanimeCon. As an anime fan himself, he was bowled over by the sheer number of fans in attendance and was most impressed by the convention’s gaming hall, reminiscent of arcades in Japan. “It’s amazing to see that there are some games here that I played when I was younger. I have special memories of them,” said Hayashi. “In particular, I played Para Para Paradise when I was in high school,” he added with a chuckle while showing off a few dance moves.
Diving into his career, Hayashi shared that he started in entertainment as a child actor at the theatrical company, Gekidan Himawari. It was his parents’ idea for him to join, but the steep entrance fee (around 200,00 and 300,00 yen at the time) initially stood in the way. But by a stroke of luck, Hayashi’s father won the lottery, which helped pay for the entry fee, and thus began young Hayashi’s acting career when he was in his second year of elementary school.
His first role was in Disney’s Bambi as the titular character when he was a fawn. As a young child, Hayashi found it challenging to understand how to approach the role. “Rather than reading the script, I grasped the feelings of the character by watching the animation,” said Hayashi. “Seeing whether Bambi looked happy or scared, that helped inform how I should portray the character.”
After playing a few other roles while in elementary school, Hayashi decided to leave the theatrical company in order to focus on playing basketball through middle school. However when he went into high school, he began thinking about what he wanted to do in life. Ultimately, that brought him back to voice acting: “I thought a lot about my time at Gekidan Himawari, and it was something very meaningful. I decided to continue down that path, and that became the first real start of my career in the sense that I chose to act with my own will.”
Since then, Hayashi has voice acted for a wide range of characters in popular anime like Tokyo Revengers, Bungo Stray Dogs, and Jujutsu Kaisen. Some include roles that Hayashi has played for years like Tanaka in HAIKYU!! The sports anime has been a hot topic in the States as of recently, as the film, HAIKYU!! The Dumpster Battle, made its U.S. premiere on May 31.
Hayashi shared that he feels a special connection with Tanaka due to their similarities. He said, “When I was starting out, it felt like there were people around me who got popular quickly in their early 20s. I started playing Tanaka when I just turned 30. Compared to other characters, Tanaka doesn’t have any kind of special power or ability. He’s not a genius in any way, but he’s got guts and is willing to work hard. Similar to Tanaka, I too felt like I also had a late start.” He continued, “Tanaka’s the one who speaks out and cheers on his teammates more than anyone else. When everybody else is tired and has lost heart, Tanaka’s the one who picks everyone back up. I feel that performing Tanaka and building relationships with other people on the project really helped me grow. It’s like Tanaka was pulling me along and helping me grow as a voice actor.”
Bringing a character to life isn’t just about saying lines when that character is onscreen. Hayashi shared, “One way I try to fully perform Tanaka is how he supports his teammates, even when he isn’t the focus. For example, when Hinata does a great serve. While you don’t see Tanaka (onscreen), you can still hear him cheering. It’s easy to overlook these things, and sometimes they aren’t written in the script. However, I think adding these elements are an important part of voice acting and creating anime.”
Hayashi has also taken his characters from the screen to the stage like in his live performance as Yohei Kanbayashi from Paradox Live, a series focused on various teams duking it out through rap battles and vocal performances. Recently, Hayashi participated in the franchise’s second edition of its live show, Paradox Live Dope Show 2024, in May. He described, “Each team in Paradox Live has a very different feel. My team, The Cat’s Whiskers, has a more mature feel, which I like about our team.”
Despite his singing experience, Hayashi said that playing Kanbayashi was far from easy. “I think out of all the characters, mine is either first or second in terms of rap ability. [To prepare for my songs] I receive a demo that’s performed by a professional rapper. It’s a really challenging role because I’m striving to perform at the level of a professional and perform it with Kanbayashi’s style, which is like a double punch in terms of difficulty.” He found that recording as Kanbayashi ended up taking much longer as well: “It normally only takes an hour to record. But it took me four hours to do the first recording. I kept doing it and felt like something wasn’t right. I probably did it at least 100 times. I worked really hard on it, so this role is particularly memorable to me.”
When taking Kanbayashi to the stage, Hayashi considers how to incorporate all parts of the character in his performance, from his backstory to his mannerisms: “He’s lost somebody dear to him, so I think it’s important to portray that in the performance somehow. I also adlib and make gestures that reflects his personality like when I finish a song, I might look up into the sky and blow a kiss. I feel like that’s how I honor the character.”
Through his long career, Hayashi has determined what he believes is the best approach to voice acting. “I think 50% is reading the script and understanding the directions, while the other 50% is looking at the scenes to understand the emotions and grasp the situation. It’s been a process for me to reach this kind of 50/50,” said Hayashi. “At first, I felt like I would reach too much into the directions or overthink how to play the character.” To conclude, the voice actor shared what he felt was one of the most valuable skills in voice acting: “It’s being able to take feedback and express it immediately.” That flexibility is key to combining both the actor and director’s interpretations of the character and gives the actor the key to taking on any character.
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