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Megumi Hayashibara's The Characters Taught Me Everything: Living Life One Episode at a Time
For over three decades, renowned Japanese voice actress Megumi Hayashibara has breathed life into countless iconic characters—including Ranma Saotome ( Ranma ½ ), Rei Ayanami ( Neon Genesis Evangelion ), Lina Inverse ( Slayers ), Jessie ( Pokémon ), Faye Valentine ( Cowboy Bebop ), and Paprika ( Paprika )! In this new memoir, Megumi provides an in-depth look at her illustrious career and how the characters she has portrayed have impacted her life both personally and professionally.
272 pages, Paperback
First published February 20, 2021
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193 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 7, 2021
If you're a fan of Megumi Hayashibara and interested in voice acting, I think you'll really like this book. She mainly talks about how each of her characters throughout the years have influenced her in her life. She even talks about some serious topics in some chapters, which is a nice touch.
The reason why I gave this a 4 is mainly because of two things.
1: I was only interested in some of the characters she voiced. Also there was a point in the book where she stopped talking much about her feelings once she became a veteran. That's what I found really interested while reading the first 1980 - 1990 part. But it is what it is. She still explains interesting details in her later works in 2000 - 2010, but I still found the earlier parts more interesting.
2: The formatting of this book is sometimes weird and bad. At the time of this review, only the digital version is out. And I also don't know if the JP version suffers from this problem, but regardless... it made the book more difficult to read.
The text is too small. I often had to strain my eyes to try and read what was written on the page - especially during the illustration pages. And zooming in didn't help, because the text would be blurry.
Another thing I noticed was that some sentences would start at strange places. I think this is because Yen-press was trying to stay true to how the JP text was placed in that version, so they copied it for the ENG version, but it just doesn't work.
Some places where a new paragraph or sentence started, it would continue on to the next page. It's normal, many books does this. But when suddenly a 2-page illustration page pops out of nowhere as the next page - unfinished sentences does not flow well in a book like this. Either finish the sentence before showing the illustration, or start the sentence on the next page.
Same happened when one or two words would start a new sentence at the end of a page, then continue on to the next page. It's jarring to read when it comes to a book like this, especially when the next page has often loads of space left to put your text on. Several pages had lots of white space left, which Yen-press could have utilized to make a better formatted book.
Other than that though, I like how most of the show titles in this book have their original Japanese names in romanji. It's good and very much appreciated. However there were two popular shows that do not have that. Pokemon (Pocket Monsters) and Case Closed (Detective Conan/Meitantei Conan). But it is what it is, I guess...
Either way I'm at least glad that Yen-press respects Japanese culture and translated the names and honorifics the characters use in different shows. It's very much appreciated and shows that they're very authentic to the original source material and people who only have watched the JP anime-version of these series.
If you've read this far, thanks (lol). I think you'll enjoy the book for what it is, so check it out. It's also getting a physical English release in August.
The reason why I gave this a 4 is mainly because of two things.
1: I was only interested in some of the characters she voiced. Also there was a point in the book where she stopped talking much about her feelings once she became a veteran. That's what I found really interested while reading the first 1980 - 1990 part. But it is what it is. She still explains interesting details in her later works in 2000 - 2010, but I still found the earlier parts more interesting.
2: The formatting of this book is sometimes weird and bad. At the time of this review, only the digital version is out. And I also don't know if the JP version suffers from this problem, but regardless... it made the book more difficult to read.
The text is too small. I often had to strain my eyes to try and read what was written on the page - especially during the illustration pages. And zooming in didn't help, because the text would be blurry.
Another thing I noticed was that some sentences would start at strange places. I think this is because Yen-press was trying to stay true to how the JP text was placed in that version, so they copied it for the ENG version, but it just doesn't work.
Some places where a new paragraph or sentence started, it would continue on to the next page. It's normal, many books does this. But when suddenly a 2-page illustration page pops out of nowhere as the next page - unfinished sentences does not flow well in a book like this. Either finish the sentence before showing the illustration, or start the sentence on the next page.
Same happened when one or two words would start a new sentence at the end of a page, then continue on to the next page. It's jarring to read when it comes to a book like this, especially when the next page has often loads of space left to put your text on. Several pages had lots of white space left, which Yen-press could have utilized to make a better formatted book.
Other than that though, I like how most of the show titles in this book have their original Japanese names in romanji. It's good and very much appreciated. However there were two popular shows that do not have that. Pokemon (Pocket Monsters) and Case Closed (Detective Conan/Meitantei Conan). But it is what it is, I guess...
Either way I'm at least glad that Yen-press respects Japanese culture and translated the names and honorifics the characters use in different shows. It's very much appreciated and shows that they're very authentic to the original source material and people who only have watched the JP anime-version of these series.
If you've read this far, thanks (lol). I think you'll enjoy the book for what it is, so check it out. It's also getting a physical English release in August.
December 19, 2021
Hayashibara Megumi was the first japanese singer I truly loved and admired back when I was a child, so of course I was very happy to find this book of hers translated to english. Hayashibara is one of the most well-known and prolific voice actresses in Japan, her career spans decades and she’s voiced some of the most iconic characters in anime like Rei Ayanami from Evangelion, Musashi (Jessie) from Pokemon, Ai Haibara from Detective Conan and Ranma from Ranma 1/2. I’m familiar with Hayashibara’s essays because when I was a child I stumbled upon a series of short comics about her debut as a voice actress and her training to become a nurse. I was fascinated by everything in the voice acting world, but more importantly, I was very impressed with how insightful she was.
Then again, I was like 10 years old back then, so I didn’t know what I would think about her now that I’m a grown up, also, I’m not very into anime nowadays, so I haven’t watched most of the characters that were supposed to teach something, I had my doubts about this book because of that.
However, it doesn’t matter if you are familiar with the character or not, because Hayashibara is careful to introduce all the important points about each of them and how they are connected to their story and universe. And after we have become familiar with these characters she tells us what the lesson is. Some of these “lessons” are humorous, others are truly philosophical and insightful, and I love the balance between these 2 sides of the book.
It made me want to watch all of these animes, although I probably won’t because I’m a grown ass woman with a very demanding job. Still, I felt great joy reading about how these characters are brought to life in such an intimate and intricate way, and I got to remember the excitement I felt when I was a kid and I listened to Hayashibara’s songs every day.
This book is also very beautiful, it contains original artwork from the creators of many of the works Hayashibara was part of. I want to buy the physical version of the book as well for my personal collection.
Then again, I was like 10 years old back then, so I didn’t know what I would think about her now that I’m a grown up, also, I’m not very into anime nowadays, so I haven’t watched most of the characters that were supposed to teach something, I had my doubts about this book because of that.
However, it doesn’t matter if you are familiar with the character or not, because Hayashibara is careful to introduce all the important points about each of them and how they are connected to their story and universe. And after we have become familiar with these characters she tells us what the lesson is. Some of these “lessons” are humorous, others are truly philosophical and insightful, and I love the balance between these 2 sides of the book.
It made me want to watch all of these animes, although I probably won’t because I’m a grown ass woman with a very demanding job. Still, I felt great joy reading about how these characters are brought to life in such an intimate and intricate way, and I got to remember the excitement I felt when I was a kid and I listened to Hayashibara’s songs every day.
This book is also very beautiful, it contains original artwork from the creators of many of the works Hayashibara was part of. I want to buy the physical version of the book as well for my personal collection.
April 13, 2023
Nice and easy read providing background informations about some extremely popular and influential anime characters written by who voiced them, I.E. a woman I discovered after my latest rewatch of Cowboy Bepop to be behind half the anime production from the 80's on. And, not only that, but she's an incredible J-Pop singer too, which is the reason why I am slowly becoming an uberfan of her musical work (Sorry, I can't listen to metal all the times). Not 100% perfect and not all the characters she voiced mentioned in this book (which are a selected percentage of ALL the characters she voiced in the anime media) were of interest to me, but it's a nice read nonetheless. It's also interesting that she claims to not know anything specific about psychology yet she seems to repeat some precise concepts and ideas of a certain '30 american psychologist turned comic book writer I'm totally enamored with, I don't know how it's possible but yet reading the books side by side she copies that psychologist without knowing it or using the names he used. On a ending note, the nod to the Paprika american carbon copy by Christopher Nolan made me erupt in laughs. If who voiced directly the character suggest the direct affiliation between the two, I don't know what you need more as a proof...
Waiting for more infos on the J-Pop side of things next time!
Edit: use the anime suggestions by Megumi-Sensei with precaution, I've tried to get in most of the series she mentions in this book after reading it and, outside the most known and popular ones, they're all utter garbage. Readers be aware.
Waiting for more infos on the J-Pop side of things next time!
Edit: use the anime suggestions by Megumi-Sensei with precaution, I've tried to get in most of the series she mentions in this book after reading it and, outside the most known and popular ones, they're all utter garbage. Readers be aware.
July 24, 2023
This was a precious gem of a book. ❤️ I loved getting some more insight into the world of Japanese voice acting, and through the eyes of one of my all-time favorite voice actors nontheless!
Megumi Hayashibara does a great job of both entertaining and educating, with her stories on how she worked on each anime and what her approach was to the different characters and collaborations. Sprinkled in with that, we get a lot of fun trivia, along with some more philosophical ponderings about life and humanity as a whole.
I'm so glad this book was released in English, and that I got the opportunity to buy it. This is one I will treasure for many years to come. (And I'm so much looking forward to hearing Hayashibara's take on Galaxia!)
Megumi Hayashibara does a great job of both entertaining and educating, with her stories on how she worked on each anime and what her approach was to the different characters and collaborations. Sprinkled in with that, we get a lot of fun trivia, along with some more philosophical ponderings about life and humanity as a whole.
I'm so glad this book was released in English, and that I got the opportunity to buy it. This is one I will treasure for many years to come. (And I'm so much looking forward to hearing Hayashibara's take on Galaxia!)
August 22, 2022
I was inclined to give this book 5 stars based solely on the fact that Hayashibara's work was a big part of my becoming an anime fan in the 90's -- but completely coincidentally. It's just that every series I picked up at the time (Macross Plus, Evangelion, Blue Seed, and Evangelion) seemed to include her on the cast. As such, she's one of the free Japanese voice artists I can identify while watching something.
This book, meanwhile, is its own thing. It's a somewhat unique approach to someone discussing their long and illustrious career. It's a role-by-role breakdown of many of her major roles and what she learned from the experience. This is exactly the kind of book that people who want to know more about the reality of "the business" want to read.
Except it's superficial. The book is a nice and breezy read, and it's intentional. It feels like it only highlights the best of situations and none of the "hard lessons" one might come across as a young woman in any business. Perhaps she got lucky, but I imagine any drama that existed had to be removed for various cultural or (more likely) professional reasons. The book just feels like eating a confection at a carnival when I wanted something nutritious at a museum.
It's not by any means a bad book. It's an enjoyable read. Especially for those who like anime and/or the professional side of performance. Hayashibara sounds like a delightful person who has so much of herself to share.
Interesting note: This book contains no actual pictures of Hayashibara. So if you wanted a glimpse at the voice actress, the internet is a better choice.
This book, meanwhile, is its own thing. It's a somewhat unique approach to someone discussing their long and illustrious career. It's a role-by-role breakdown of many of her major roles and what she learned from the experience. This is exactly the kind of book that people who want to know more about the reality of "the business" want to read.
Except it's superficial. The book is a nice and breezy read, and it's intentional. It feels like it only highlights the best of situations and none of the "hard lessons" one might come across as a young woman in any business. Perhaps she got lucky, but I imagine any drama that existed had to be removed for various cultural or (more likely) professional reasons. The book just feels like eating a confection at a carnival when I wanted something nutritious at a museum.
It's not by any means a bad book. It's an enjoyable read. Especially for those who like anime and/or the professional side of performance. Hayashibara sounds like a delightful person who has so much of herself to share.
Interesting note: This book contains no actual pictures of Hayashibara. So if you wanted a glimpse at the voice actress, the internet is a better choice.
September 18, 2021
This is a very inspiring, unique, and personal memoir that provides great insight into renowned voice actresses Megumi Hayashibara’s career, roles, and life.
I love that it’s organized into 4 big segments that are each devoted to a decade that has smaller chapters dedicated to an individual character and lesson. It was an easy read with plenty of anime screenshots, colored pages, and even beautiful special illustrations gifted to Megumi Hayashibara from manga artists thankful for her talent and friendship. All of the artwork is amazing and really helps to showcase just how important voice over artists are to animation and the creators.
I think my favorite segment to read was the 80’s chapter because she revisits the beginning of her career as a novice voice actor. The 80’s chapter is very emotional as she reflects on her first roles, helpful advice she received from veterans, dealing with frustrating outtakes, and even how she got started in her singing career. It’s an informative chapter where you get to learn about her early career and the growth she experiences within this time.
The later decades are all good too! After the 80’s, Megumi Hayashibara starts to branch out on the stories from her early part of her career and goes on to discuss serious topics, roles that emotionally impacted her, life events, friendships, and even a memorable story from her time working with the legendary Masako Nozawa.
It’s an excellent read and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in voice acting, wants to know more about Megumi Hayashibara history, fans who admire the craft(like myself!), and even other voice over artists, novice or established, since I think they will resonate with many stories.
I love that it’s organized into 4 big segments that are each devoted to a decade that has smaller chapters dedicated to an individual character and lesson. It was an easy read with plenty of anime screenshots, colored pages, and even beautiful special illustrations gifted to Megumi Hayashibara from manga artists thankful for her talent and friendship. All of the artwork is amazing and really helps to showcase just how important voice over artists are to animation and the creators.
I think my favorite segment to read was the 80’s chapter because she revisits the beginning of her career as a novice voice actor. The 80’s chapter is very emotional as she reflects on her first roles, helpful advice she received from veterans, dealing with frustrating outtakes, and even how she got started in her singing career. It’s an informative chapter where you get to learn about her early career and the growth she experiences within this time.
The later decades are all good too! After the 80’s, Megumi Hayashibara starts to branch out on the stories from her early part of her career and goes on to discuss serious topics, roles that emotionally impacted her, life events, friendships, and even a memorable story from her time working with the legendary Masako Nozawa.
It’s an excellent read and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in voice acting, wants to know more about Megumi Hayashibara history, fans who admire the craft(like myself!), and even other voice over artists, novice or established, since I think they will resonate with many stories.
April 4, 2022
I read the physical copy of The Characters taught Me Everything by Megumi Hayashibara. I am stating this because I saw that others had issues with the book in other formats, but the physical book was beautiful and perfect. I thought the structure of this book was organized very nicely and I loved all the artwork! There were full pages of art that were personal thanks from the directors and others she has worked with thanking her for voicing their characters! I loved the life lessons she put throughout this book. It was amazing to see what each character taught her in life and how she had to become a part of those characters. The behind the scene information was really cool and it was just very eye-opening how much goes into voice acting. I am thankful that this was printed in English, and after reading this, I feel close to the voice actress in a way. Her heart could be felt throughout this memoir and I am so grateful that she was willing to share her stories with us. I learned so much about characters and people in general from this book.
August 15, 2023
I absolutely love Megumi Hayashibara...She will always be near and dear to my heart for all the happy memories she gave me through anime. She's always been my favorite voice actor. When I saw she came out with a book reflecting on all her previous work, I had to read it!
This book took a lot more patience than I expected to get through. She basically goes through every single show / movie she's done and shares her thoughts on the experience. I haven't seen the majority of her shows / movies. It's kind of like reading EVERY single yelp review of ONLY one person--the places you've been yourself will be more interesting likely than the places you haven't. (perhaps this is how you would feel if you had to read through each and every one of my goodreads reviews in one sitting) It was hard to connect with each of her individual stories and connection to characters.
This book took a lot more patience than I expected to get through. She basically goes through every single show / movie she's done and shares her thoughts on the experience. I haven't seen the majority of her shows / movies. It's kind of like reading EVERY single yelp review of ONLY one person--the places you've been yourself will be more interesting likely than the places you haven't. (perhaps this is how you would feel if you had to read through each and every one of my goodreads reviews in one sitting) It was hard to connect with each of her individual stories and connection to characters.
January 5, 2026
This memoir follows Hayashibara's career from her very first roles in the 80's through the middle of 2020, when the book was originally written, indicated by the references to the COVID-19 pandemic being present tense.
With each role, Hayashibara provides insight into how she developed her performance and also provides a life-lesson that ties to each character.
Overall, I found the book to be a nice peek behind the curtain when it comes to anime production, and Hayashibara's insights come with really good advice for creatives of all stripes.
I would definitely recommend this book for people interested in going into fields that involve acting, whether that's being an actor yourself or a writer for either screen or stage, since the insights shared here can help inform how you communicate with the actors you're working with.
With each role, Hayashibara provides insight into how she developed her performance and also provides a life-lesson that ties to each character.
Overall, I found the book to be a nice peek behind the curtain when it comes to anime production, and Hayashibara's insights come with really good advice for creatives of all stripes.
I would definitely recommend this book for people interested in going into fields that involve acting, whether that's being an actor yourself or a writer for either screen or stage, since the insights shared here can help inform how you communicate with the actors you're working with.
August 19, 2022
I had a seiyuu-crush on Megumi back in the 90's. I watched all her shows (subbed when I could find them, raw when I couldn't) and listened to her CDs. She was so talented and in so many high-profile shows that it was impossible not to be interested in her. I was delighted to see this book come out in English. Even though I stopped watching anime as much after 2004 or so, the first half of the book covering the 80's and 90's was a delightful walk down memory lane.
Anyone who is interested in what it's like be a seiyuu, or someone familiar with Megumi's many characters will find something to love in this book.
Anyone who is interested in what it's like be a seiyuu, or someone familiar with Megumi's many characters will find something to love in this book.
January 8, 2023
Anime lovers will enjoy this glimpse into the world of voice acting, especially meeting the person who brought so many beloved characters to life. While it is a memoir, the way it is written based on anime characters is a unique and episodic timeline allowing one to skip around to their favorite. There are beautiful, and individual copies of art from various creators shared from Hayashibara's personal collection gracing the pages adding much color and personality.
And indeed, life lessons are delivered as promised.
And indeed, life lessons are delivered as promised.
March 27, 2021
Good book giving a lot of insight into such a long and interesting voice acting career. My only complaint is the formatting of the ebook. The print was terribly small at some points (the foot notes were barely legible), probably due to keeping the artwork and designs on the pages. I hope if this company does more books like this in the future, they’ll work out these issues to avoid readers straining their eyes.
April 11, 2022
As someone who used to dream of being a voice actor, I really loved having an inside look at challenges voicing a character may present. There is a lot more to voice work that just moving your mouth and making sounds come out.
Roles in this book I knew Megumi Hayashibara from: female Ranma Saotome from Ranma 1/2, Ai Haibara from Detective Conan (Anita from Case Closed), and Musashi (Jessie) from Pokemon.
Roles in this book I knew Megumi Hayashibara from: female Ranma Saotome from Ranma 1/2, Ai Haibara from Detective Conan (Anita from Case Closed), and Musashi (Jessie) from Pokemon.
November 11, 2021
I was happy when this book was announced and went into it not quite sure what to expect, but I certainly wasn't disappointed. It was interesting and brought up things about the industry, insights into characters as well as personal takes through decades. I'd recommend it to fans of anime history, voice acting as well as Hayashibara.
August 18, 2023
I really like reading this book. It was interesting to see how she connected the characters she played to her own life. There were also some really good thoughts and quotes in it. 9/10. - August 18, 2023
January 23, 2024
A megaton of Megu-tan!
March 2, 2025
A must-read for all seiyuu fans <3
May 18, 2022
A fun and insightful look into voice acting! A fair warning there are spoilers for certain shows
December 13, 2021
Overall a good read, but it wasn’t a true epub format, I guess because they wanted to keep the pictures and artwork, so I couldn’t change the text size (I’m on a kindle white). Probably would be easier to read on an iPad.
I got to reminiscence many of my childhood favourites as Megumi wrote about her experiences with each character. I didn’t know of the more recent animes as I haven’t been watching for a while, but still it was nice to read about how she faced and resolved certain things.
I got to reminiscence many of my childhood favourites as Megumi wrote about her experiences with each character. I didn’t know of the more recent animes as I haven’t been watching for a while, but still it was nice to read about how she faced and resolved certain things.
December 28, 2023
A simple, charming read about a voice actress who discusses her career through the characters she performed over the years. Things she's learned, and some interesting takes on getting into the psychology of the character. It's not a very deep read, but it's almost like a love letter to her career. A woman who is grateful for the experience she was able to have in her field.
So if you're interested in animation or acting this will be a worthwhile read.
So if you're interested in animation or acting this will be a worthwhile read.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews