Seiyuu Profile #4: Tai Yuuki « j1m0ne’s blog

Seiyuu Profile #4: Tai Yuuki

This is one of the shorter profiles I’ll write, eventhough it’s been about a month in the works. Got caught up in my work halfway through and sort of forgot most of what I intended to say ^^;

I remember four years ago (2003 if you can’t count) in a packed spring season (obviously not as packed as this/last year), one of the shows I initially picked up was E’s Otherwise. The premise had me interested - superheroes, it must be action-packed and exciting! Or, so I thought. It turned out to be incredibly dull and I gave up after 4-5 episodes. I guess I should’ve learned from my bad experiences with Tokyo Underground…. The one positive I did take from the series however, was the good seiyuu cast; the likes of Watanabe Akeno and Fukuen Misato were just starting out, and the lead role was voiced by little known newcomer Tai Yuuki.

Tai’s voice may not be the most distinctive around but then, neither are about 80% of male seiyuu I’d reckon. He’s probably not one of the most well known voice actors around, but I’m sure many people out there will have heard him in at least one anime (i.e. Da Capo, or maybe even School Rumble - as the class nobody Nara Kentaro).

Vital Statistics

Name: 泰勇気 (Tai Yuuki)
Date of Birth: 6th October 1977
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Agency: Genki Project
Height: 170.2cm/5′5”
Weight: 62kg
Blood Type: B
Hobbies & Skills: Singing, Mecha design, Plamo, Taking walks
Key Roles: Kudou Kai in E’s Otherwise, Asakura Junichi in Da Capo series, D’Eon de Beaumont in Chevalier, Naru in Ghost Hunt

Tai may not have had a lot of roles in his short seiyuu career, but his C.V. is pretty impressive nonetheless. He calls himself the ’21st Century Onii-chan’ - he claims that he’s been in 7 or 8 anime as an onii-chan type character, but I can’t really see it myself. Junichi, Kai, Haruhiko, Makoto (in Ultimate Girls)….. can’t think of anymore.

Tai first started seriously considering a voice acting career when in middle/high school, he heard a seiyuu radio program called Anime KINGDOM (which morphed into AniKingFreedom in 1994) hosted by a group of seiyuu including Yamaguchi Kappei, Okamoto Maya and Miki Shinichiro. Impressed by the camaraderie shared by the seiyuu, Tai thought it sounded like a nice atmosphere to work in and enrolled in seiyuu school as soon as he graduated from high school. Tai’s debut was in a 1998 anime called Yoiko, with his role consisting of just one line that he still remembers (he even recited it on a radio program).

E’s Otherwise was Tai’s first major role, and while he isn’t as prolific as a lot of other seiyuu; he’s had a lot of lead roles for someone who isn’t even 30 yet. He’s signed to Genki Project, one of the smaller seiyuu agencies around though they do have Kakazu Yumi and the newly signed Ochiai Yurika. Inoue Kazuhiko used to be on their books as well, but now Tai is the biggest male seiyuu on their list.

I’d always had an image of him just being your typical screaming shonen/harem anime male seiyuu (I mean, just listen to the voice sample from his agency profile) but I think hearing his roles of D’eon in Chevalier and the moody Naru in Ghost Hunt changed my opinion. I thought his performances in those two shows were outstanding and I hope that he takes on more serious roles.

I’ve always liked checking out the links pages on entertainers’ official sites - just to see who they namecheck or get on well with. Yuuki’s site’s page has aninteresting bunch of links - from the Da Capo seiyuu duo Nogawa Sakura and Itsuki Yui to B-daman mangaka Inuki Eiji and bizzarely, Watanabe Akeno’s heavy rock band CHIBI RARI. The newest added link is to his Dancouga Nova co-star Ikezawa Haruna’s site, (it’s pretty cool too). That’s also the only show this season that Tai is in, but given his pretty consistent track record of around one lead role every cour, expect to see more of him in the future.

Trivia

1*Is a huge Jam Project fan, and has his own seiyuu unit called V.S.UNION that loosely follows JP’s concept. Think super sentai-type songs with corny lyrics and bombastic, OTT melodies. Former members of the unit include Kitamura Eri and Kojima Megumi. Their site has a couple of demos that you can check out, though I can’t actually recommend them. I think their music is slightly better than CHIBI RARI though.
2*That’s not the only musical project Tai is involved in - he also used to be part of the little known all-male seiyuu group Revolver, produced by Kanai Mika. Current members include Katsu Anri, Miyashita Eiji, Mori Norihisa and Masukawa Yoichi. He’s also going to be a guest performer at another seiyuu unit called Layla(Sasagawa Ayana & Sakuno Airi)’s live next month.
3*Yuuki’s musical interest probably stems from his father Tai Eijiro, a folk songwriter, arranger and producer who’s currently part of a group called…. Nekoyasha (yes, that’s me rolling my eyes).
4*One of Tai’s resolutions/wishes for 2007 was to find a girlfriend (the other was to be more economical). He actually wrote up a blog post in February contemplating turning 30 this year and musing about the possibility of marriage. He was more or less listing out all his bad points and wondering what nice lady out there would put up with a guy like him. Overly obsessed with plamos to the point that even the toilet shelves and the balcony are full of half-assembled plastic models and boxes, can’t cook at all and is a “My Pace” kind of person i.e. a bit of a procrastinator. He does claim to help with the washing and cleaning though ^^ Any takers out there?
5*Tai’s obsession with robots is such that he has a gallery section on his site dedicated to the subject, which includes a fictitious super robot series he created himself, called Bakunetsu Galganga; complete with his own mecha/character designs and opening/closing theme songs he wrote.

Roles

clockwise from top left: Naru from Ghost Hunt, D’eon from Chevalier, old and new Junichi from Da Capo, Gray from B-daman, Johnny from Dancouga Nova & Kai from E’s Otherwise.