Yusuke Shirai

BLGLFlix editorial view

Half his best known roles come from franchises where the voice actors perform live as the characters.

Yusuke Shirai (白井悠介), born 18 January 1986 in Saku, is with Early Wing and voices Yuta Rokkaku in Cherry Magic!. His other roles include Yamato Nikaido in IDOLiSH7, Ramuda Amemura in Hypnosis Mic, Shuumei Sasaki in Sasaki and Miyano, and Yuta Matsukaze in WAVE!!

IDOLiSH7 and Hypnosis Mic are not only anime. They are franchises in which the cast records music as their characters and performs it in front of arenas, so the person doing the voice is also the person on the stage, singing, in character, to an audience that bought tickets. That is a job description with no equivalent in live action.

It changes what representation is for. An agency handling a voice actor in these properties is managing recording schedules, concert tours, merchandise appearances and radio programmes at once, which is closer to idol management than to conventional casting.

For this catalogue the relevant point is that the anime version of a boys love manga is made by people whose careers run through that machinery, not through television drama. His birth date, birthplace, agency and one verified account are all on record here.