Veteran voice actors Atsushi Abe and Tsubasa Yonaga appeared as Guests of Honor at FanimeCon 2025 to speak about their 20-year career in the industry as well as the various characters they’ve voiced over the years. For Yonaga, it was his first ever U.S. convention appearance, while it was Abe’s first appearance on the West Coast. Asia Blooming sat down with both actors to learn more about their careers, working together, and one of their most beloved projects, Idolish7.
On getting started as a voice actor, Abe shared that it wasn’t an easy decision for him. Lagging behind his college peers on the job search, he wasn’t sure what path to pursue. His blond hair, often seen as unprofessional in work environments in Japan, didn’t help matters either. He was drawn to voice acting because he enjoyed a number of anime and manga, from City Hunter, Lupin III, and Escaflowne to Please Save My Earth. One major hurdle that stood in his way was that he felt only a select few people actually succeeded in becoming a voice actor. At the end of the day, he chose to chase his dream. “I realized that once I graduated college, there is no set series of milestones after that,” he said. “I have to decide everything for myself after that point. That’s what led me to seriously pursue voice acting.” For Yonaga, he knew from a young age that he was passionate about singing and acting and was introduced to voice acting as a profession early on and kept working toward that goal.
Abe and Yonaga ended up becoming trainees at Ken Productions, their current agency. Abe recalled one of his earliest memories of Yonaga when they were trainees. “Yonaga always had interesting fashion choices,” he began with an amused smile. “At the time, he loved checkered print. I remember there was a time he was dressed completely head to toe in checkered print. It was… really interesting.” On the other hand, Yonaga commented on Abe’s penchant for wandering. “Abe loves going around places by himself,” he said while chuckling. “Usually at a convention, you’d always go around with your manager. However he doesn’t really care about that, and he’d just walk around, take photos with cosplayers, and freely communicate with others. I think it always surprises his manager all the time.”
Even after training, both actors went on to being casted to work together on numerous projects. One that fans were particularly excited about at FanimeCon was Idolish7, a rhythm game that inspired an anime series starring a seven-member male idol group. “This morning Abe and I attended an Idolish7 cosplay event and surprised the fans. It was such a joy to meet the fans,” Yonaga said. “I was so impressed by how much love and care the fans put into making their cosplay. It was so amazing!” Abe exclaimed.
Meeting the fans is one of their favorite things about working on Idolish7, so the moment they were able to hold their first live concert was special. “The day before our live performance, we all came to the venue to take a look. It was so huge, with a capacity of 40,000 people, that we couldn’t stop laughing in disbelief. There was this kind of feeling like I disassociated from reality,” Abe said with a laugh. “It’s so different performing in the studio and at a concert,” Yonaga began. “It’s incredible to see all our fans in the crowd. The audience is just so passionate, so it gave me a lot of energy. Meanwhile, in the studio, it’s like I’m fighting against myself [to achieve the best performance].”
Abe shared one of the best parts about working with an ensemble cast: “There are moments when working with other voice actors that it feels like we’re bringing these characters to life and creating a beautiful scene together. It feels so good to work together and just riff off each other’s energy. I feel very happy when I’m able to do that well, and it’s great to go out and have a drink afterwards.”
And they’re excited to do it all over again. On future projects, Abe and Yonaga shared that they are thrilled to be getting back in the booth for another season of Idolish7. 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the mixed media project, and it was announced in January that a compilation movie of season one and season four, Idolish7: Fourth Beat! are in production. While they weren’t able to share specific dates, fans can look forward to the next chapter of Idolish7’s journey.
