Highlights
- Megumi Hayashibara has announced that she is stepping down from her role as the voice of Hello Kitty after 33 years, one year before the character’s 50th anniversary.
- Hayashibara is taking this announcement as a positive and likening it to a graduation, feeling no sadness or regret.
- Hayashibara’s career as a voice actress extends beyond Hello Kitty, with notable roles in popular series like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop.
In 1990, Megumi Hayashibara auditioned for the voice acting role of Sanrio’s mascot, Hello Kitty. The prolific voice actress lent her voice to the character over the span of 33 years, covering several Hello Kitty anime series, original video animes (OVAs), and anime films. On the eve of the birthday of the iconic kitten bearing a red ribbon, Hayashibara announced that she was stepping down from the role after serving as the voice of Hello Kitty for over three decades, one year shy of the character’s 50th anniversary. Hayashibara made the announcement on her social media accounts and personal blog, stating, “Looking ahead to the next 50, the next 100 years, it has come to be that I’m leaving [the role of] Kitty. As we say in the industry, I’m ‘graduating.’” She joins fellow Hello Kitty voice actors leaving the franchise, Miina Tominaga and Go Takahashi, who voiced Kitty-chan’s twin sister, Mimi and Hello Kitty’s boyfriend, Daniel, respectively.
While the news comes as bittersweet to Hello Kitty fans around the world, Hayashibara herself is taking this announcement as a positive. In her blog post on Ameba, Hayashibara states that she has no sadness or regrets on stepping down, expressing that it feels more like a graduation. She also ponders the feeling being akin to that of a family wishing off their daughter into marriage and watching her make a new life for herself. It’s unknown what is next for Hayashibara in the world of anime and voice acting, but one thing for certain is that she will always be remembered as one of the very best of her craft.
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Megumi Hayashibara Takes Hello Kitty Role in 1990
While Hayashibara’s voice was the one many grew to love over the last 33 years, she wasn’t the first to do so for the popular Hello Kitty character. That honor belongs to Fuyumi Shiraishi, who voiced the character in a 1981 animated short movie called Kitty, Mimi, and the New Umbrella. After eight years, Shiraishi stepped down from the role and created an opening that the Sanrio company wished to fill immediately. In 1989, they held auditions for a new voice actress, and Hayashibara landed the role, becoming the second voice of Hello Kitty‘s ribbon-wearing feline. The decision came at an important time for the Sanrio company, as they went on to open a Sanrio theme park in Tokyo in 1990, which required the voice of Hello Kitty for many features.
Apart from a few exceptions over her 33-year span, Hayashibara has been the voice children and adults alike have grown to love. Although her career began in 1971 with a role in Tensai Bakabon, Hayashibara’s career really took off in the mid-1980s when she landed several jobs and showcased her exceptional abilities. After taking on prominent roles, such as Ume from the Project A-ko series, she landed one of her biggest gigs that would never be topped in terms of commercial success. From 1993 to 2011, the Kitizu paradaisu series aired on televisions everywhere, capturing the hearts of many with just 32 episodes.
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Countless OVAs, anime short films, and feature films alike, Hayashibara rose to immediate fame with the Hello Kitty role, not only becoming a household name but also one of the best voice actresses of her era. Her professionalism and candid ability to voice a myriad of different styles made her a sought-after voice actress, earning roles in theatrical releases such as Pokemon: The First Movie and one-off appearances in popular anime series like Dragon Ball Z. At the same time that Hayashibara was voicing Sanrio’s mascot character, she was equally becoming known for characters in series that gained notoriety as some of the best Japanese media ever released.
Hayashibara’s Other Notable Roles
As part of being a member of several successful anime series, any video game adaptation also includes her voice acting as part of the cast. In 1990, she lent her voice as Ranma Saotome Female in the Ranma ½ video game, a fighting-style game on the Super Famicom. She continued reprising the same role in the following seven games of the same series before kicking the door wide open with The Pokemon Company, earning a minor role as the voice of Dratini in the Nintendo 64’s Pokemon Snap. As small as the opportunity may have felt, it led to bigger and better things as Hayashibara continued to voice several Pokemon voices in games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the mobile game Pokemon Masters EX.
In terms of commercial success, no role may top Hello Kitty, but that’s not to say that Hayashibara didn’t voice more pop-culture icons. In 1995, she was cast as Rei Ayanami in Neon Genesis Evangelion, a series that is held in the highest regard among anime aficionados. The job also had her voicing the Yui Ikari and Pen Pen characters, though one links to Rei while the other is a slightly minor role compared to the other two. In 1998, she took on the voice of Faye Valentine, the female lead in Cowboy Bebop, a 24-episode series that captured the hearts of many and became a hit among many circles. Both series also came with their video game adaptations, all of which Hayashibara took on.
In 2023, Hayashibara took on seven new roles, including the Pokemon Sprigatito in the new Pokemon Horizons series. As the Hello Kitty door closes for Hayashibara and her wonderful career, it’s certain more will open for her graduation to blossom and evolve.
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