Megumi Hayashibara


Megumi Hayashibara is a Japanese voice actress, singer, lyricist and radio personality from Kita ward in Tokyo and is affiliated with self-founded Woodpark Office. One of the most prominent Japanese voice actresses of the 1990s, Hayashibara is best known for her roles in Love Hina, Saber Marionette J, Ranma ½, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Slayers, Detective Conan, Pokémon, All Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku, Video Girl Ai, , and Shaman King.

Biography

Megumi Hayashibara was born on March 30, 1967 in Kita Tokyo, Japan. She studied at a Catholic school and at one point was bullied in fifth grade. She was an active club member and participated in the Badminton, Biology, Broadcasting, Drama and English clubs. She played the role of Alice in an English language production of Alice in Wonderland. Despite qualifying as a nurse, she has never been employed in a nursing position.
On March 30, 1998, she married. On January 10, 2004, she announced on her radio show that she was pregnant with her first child. On June 28 of the same year, she gave birth to her daughter by emergency caesarian section.

Voice acting

On the same day as submitting the application for nursing school, she went to a book store and found an advert offering free anime voice acting auditions at Arts Vision. Several months after submitting a demo tape, she received a confirmation of passing the first stage of the audition, and eventually decided to continue training as a nurse while doing voice acting. After a year of voice actor training, Hayashibara was chosen to voice small roles on Maison Ikkoku. Initially, she had difficulty with her lines and had to redo many lines after the main recording sessions. Hayashibara later auditioned for Ranma ½ expecting to be cast as Akane Tendo, but was cast as the female half of Ranma Saotome instead. In 1993 and 1995, Hayashibara was a guest at Anime America. At the 1995 event, she decided to give a speech in English after believing the translation at the 1993 event did not reflect what she had said. In 1995, Hayashibara provided the voice of Rei Ayanami in Neon Genesis Evangelion, a role referred to as "innovative casting".
In addition to voicing Musashi/Jessie of Team Rocket in Pokémon, Hayashibara has also voiced Ash's Pidgeotto and Pidgeot, May's Skitty, Whitney's Miltank, Clair's Dratini and Dragonair, Latios, Latias, and Anabel's Espeon in both the Japanese and English-language versions of the anime. She also provides the voice for Ai Haibara in the ongoing anime series, Detective Conan.
While Megumi rarely voices male characters, she voiced as Shuichi Saihara in due to her deep and vast experience connected to detective characters. She has actually helped the team on making Shuichi more detective-like.

DJ

While at nursing school, she started a temporary job as a DJ at a local ice skating rink. After becoming better known as a voice actress, she was given her own Radio show, "Heartful Station". After 17 shows, the broadcasting station cancelled the show and other anime related programming to concentrate on traditional music. However, 6 months later, Hayashibara started a new radio show at another broadcaster.

Writing

Hayashibara wrote a series of comics for Anime V magazine, with artwork by Sakura Asagi. The comics, known as "Megumi-Toons", talked about her personal life and career. The individual chapters were collected into the book, which has been reprinted several times. Hayashibara has also contributed two columns to Newtype magazine; Aitakute Aitakute, and Speaking in Character. Aitakute Aitakute is a series of interviews conducted by Hayashibara with people from all walks of life. Three compilations of the column have been published. Speaking in Character has been translated into English for Newtype USA.

Filmography

Television animation

Original video animation (OVA)

Anime films

Video games

Dubbing roles

† Year of original release

Drama CD

YearTitleLabelcatalog numberRoleNotesSources
1990-07-21RG VedaKing RecordsKICA-19Ashura
1992-09-26Nekomusume Sound Phase 0IKing RecordsKICA-123Natsume Atsuko
1992-11-21Nekomusume Sound Phase 0IIKing RecordsKICA-129Natsume Atsuko
1993-02-05Nekomusume Sound Phase 0IIIKing RecordsKICA-140Natsume Atsuko
1993-06-23Nekomusume Sound Phase 0VKing RecordsKICA-152Natsume Atsuko
1993-09-22Nekomusume Sound Phase 0VIKing RecordsKICA-164Natsume Atsuko
1994-08-24GS Mikami Gokuraku Daisakusen—KICA-211DJ
1994-08-24Bakuretsu Hunter Whip 2StarchildKICA-213
1994-09-21Popful Mail ParadiseKing RecordsMailSeries of five CDs
1995-03-03Bakuretsu Hunter Whip 5King RecordsKICA-229
1995-03-24Saber Marionette R first seriesStarchildKICA-234
1995-04-21Saber Marionette R second seriesStarchildKICA-240
1995-06-21Saber Marionette R third seriesStarchildKICA-244
1995-06-21Bakuretsu Hunter IIKing RecordsKICA-245, … KICA-278Tira MisuSeries of five CDs
1996-01-24Saber Marionette J first seriesStarchildKICA-288
1996-02-21Saber Marionette J second seriesStarchildKICA-292
1996-04-24Saber Marionette J third seriesStarchildKICA-299
1996-05-22Saber Marionette J fourth seriesStarchildKICA-304
1996-06-28Mujintou Monogatari—JSCA-29040Saori Kurashima
1996-07-24Popful Mail The Next GenerationKing RecordsMailSeries of two CDs
1997-04-23Jungle de Ikou!King RecordsOngoSeries of three CDs
2000-07-28DiGi Charat CD Drama so nyo 4—GCFC-008Pyokola-Analog III
2000-09-30DiGi Charat CD Drama so nyo 5—GCFC-010Pyokola-Analog III
2005-07-21Slayers vs. OrphenKing Records—Lina Inverse
—Akihabara Dennou Gumi——Tsubameradio drama
—Dancing Whispers——Miifa
—Di Gi Charat——Pyokola-Analog III
—GS Mikami Gokuraku Daisakusen!!——DJ
—Kodomotachi ha Yoru no Juunin——Yumi
—Lamune & 40 DX——Mountain Dew Gold
—Lips the Agent——Yuu, Winter Fairy
—Love Hina——Urashima Haruka
—Mujintou Monogatari——Kurashima Saori
—Neon Genesis Evangelion——Rei Ayanami
—Shadow Skill——El Lag
—Slayers Extra——Lina Inverse
—SM Girls Saber Marionette J——Lime
—SM Girls Saber Marionette R——Lime
—Tokyo Juliette——Ayase Minori

Discography

Albums

Singles

Substitutes