# Megumi Hayashibara (林原 めぐみ)
**Megumi Hayashibara** (林原 めぐみ; born 1967) is a Japanese voice actress, singer, radio personality, and lyricist from Tokyo whose roles include Ranma Saotome's female half, [Rei Ayanami](https://www.edgepedia.org/rei-ayanami) in *Neon Genesis Evangelion*, Lina Inverse in *Slayers*, Musashi (Jessie) in *Pokémon*, Faye Valentine in *Cowboy Bebop*, and Ai Haibara in *Detective Conan*.[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/40325) • [2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584) The National Diet Library's authority record confirms the authorized name 林原, めぐみ, born 1967, with the reading ハヤシバラ, メグミ and the romanization Hayashibara, Megumi.[3](https://id.ndl.go.jp/auth/ndlna/00539590) She is also a fully qualified and registered nurse.[4](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=391)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1967, Tokyo, Japan[4](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=391) |
| Debut | 1986, in the anime *Maison Ikkoku* (めぞん一刻), while still enrolled in a voice-actor training program[2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584) |
| Signature roles | Ranma Saotome (female half), Rei Ayanami, Lina Inverse, Musashi/Jessie, Faye Valentine, Ai Haibara, Anna Kyoyama[2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584) • [1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/40325) |
| Music output | A 2024 report counted 44 singles and 14 original albums under her own name, with multiple Oricon Top 10 entries[5](https://animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1733718596) |
| Radio | *林原めぐみのTokyo Boogie Night*, running since 1992, reached its 1,700th broadcast in November 2024[5](https://animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1733718596) |
| Credits scale | 382 roles across 258 titles (Behind The Voice Actors); 117 video games (MobyGames)[6](https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Megumi-Hayashibara/) • [7](https://www.mobygames.com/person/40290/megumi-hayashibara/) |
| Memoir | 林原めぐみのぜんぶキャラから教わった : 今を生き抜く力 (Kadokawa, 2021); English edition from Yen On, 258 pages[8](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BC07514434) |
## Early life and entry into voice acting
After graduating from high school, Hayashibara attended nursing school while also entering a voice-actor training school, and she debuted as a voice actress in 1986 in the anime *Maison Ikkoku* while still enrolled in the training program.[2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584) [Anime News Network](https://www.edgepedia.org/anime-news-network) records that she is a fully qualified and registered nurse.[4](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=391) The name of her training school is not firmly established: the Japanese database coemee lists 日本ナレーション演技研究所 (Japan Narration Acting Institute),[9](https://coemee.com/column/seiyuu/hayashibara-megumi/) and no retrieved source confirms the frequently repeated claim that she trained at Art Vision.
## Major voice roles
Her profile at Stage Natalie lists her major roles as Himiko in *Mashin Hero Wataru*, Ranma Saotome in *Ranma ½*, Rei Ayanami in *Neon Genesis Evangelion*, Lina Inverse in *Slayers*, Ai Haibara in *Detective Conan*, and Musashi in *Pokémon*.[2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584) TMDB adds Faye Valentine in *Cowboy Bebop* and Anna Kyoyama among her best-known characters.[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/40325) The publisher's summary of her memoir frames her three-decade career around Ranma Saotome, Rei Ayanami, Lina Inverse, Jessie, Faye Valentine, and Paprika.[8](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BC07514434)
The scale of her credit record is large for a single performer: Behind The Voice Actors counts 382 roles across 258 titles,[6](https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Megumi-Hayashibara/) and MobyGames credits her on 117 video games, mostly reprising her anime roles, with the sorceress Lemina Ausa in *Lunar 2: Eternal Blue* cited as a better-known exception.[7](https://www.mobygames.com/person/40290/megumi-hayashibara/)
## Music career
Hayashibara released her first single, 「虹色のSneaker」, on March 5, 1991. A 2024 report counted 44 singles and 14 original albums under her own name, with numerous works entering the Oricon Top 10.[5](https://animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1733718596) An earlier image song, 「夜明けのShooting Star」 for *Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket* (1989), drew wide attention and made her a pioneer of the "voice-actor artist" (声優アーティスト) model, in which a voice performer also works as a recording artist in her own right.[2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584) Japanese media credit her as a leading figure in making that then-rare model widely known.[5](https://animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1733718596)
Her later releases include the album *Fifty～Fifty* (March 2018), her first new album in 7 years and 8 months, and the *30th Anniversary Best Album VINTAGE DENIM* (March 30, 2021), alongside the single 「Soul salvation」 for *Shaman King* (April 14, 2021).[2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584) • [5](https://animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1733718596) She held her first solo concert, 「林原めぐみ 1st LIVE -あなたに会いに来て-」, in June 2017, more than a quarter century after her recording debut.[2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584) She left King Records, her long-time label, on April 29, 2019.[4](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=391)
## Broadcasting and writing
**Radio.** Her program *林原めぐみのTokyo Boogie Night* began in 1992 and reached its 1,700th broadcast in November 2024; a [New Year's Eve](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-years-eve) live special aired on TBS Radio with a YouTube stream.[5](https://animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1733718596) A program running more than three decades is a defining part of her public persona in Japan, where she is also listed as a radio personality, lyricist under the name MEGUMI, and essayist.[9](https://coemee.com/column/seiyuu/hayashibara-megumi/)
**Books.** Her memoir was first published in Japan in 2021 by Kadokawa under the title 林原めぐみのぜんぶキャラから教わった : 今を生き抜く力, translated into English by Jenny McKeon and Nathaniel Hiroshi Thrasher as *Megumi Hayashibara's The Characters Taught Me Everything: Living Life One Episode at a Time* and published by Yen On in 2021 (258 pages, ISBN 9781975333676).[8](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BC07514434) [Yen Press](https://www.edgepedia.org/yen-press) had announced the print edition on February 19, 2021.[4](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=391)
## By the numbers
- Active as a voice performer since 1986, more than 35 years as of the mid-2020s[2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584)
- 382 roles across 258 titles[6](https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Megumi-Hayashibara/)
- 117 video-game credits[7](https://www.mobygames.com/person/40290/megumi-hayashibara/)
- A 2024 report counted 44 singles and 14 original albums under her own name[5](https://animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1733718596)
- 1,700 broadcasts of *Tokyo Boogie Night* by November 2024[5](https://animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1733718596)
## What has changed since 2023
Her recording activity has continued. The single 「終結の槍 / 終結のはじまり」 was released December 6, 2023 on King Records (catalog number KICM-2147).[2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584) A 「Gathering」 theme single for the pachinko machine 『Ｐ ゴジラ対エヴァンゲリオン セカンドインパクト G』 followed on December 18, 2024.[5](https://animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1733718596) She was scheduled to appear in the voice-cinema event 「ボイスシネマ 声優口演ライブ2024 in 有楽町」,[2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584) and a limited special-price DVD and Blu-ray edition of *Wolf Children* (おおかみこどもの雨と雪) featuring Hayashibara was released by Vap on November 19, 2025.[2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584) Credits include *Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn*, the *Detective Conan* film 名探偵コナン ハイウェイの堕天使, and 呪術廻戦 死滅回游 (*Jujutsu Kaisen*).[9](https://coemee.com/column/seiyuu/hayashibara-megumi/)
## Agency and identity notes
Her current agency affiliation is reported differently by sources: TMDB states she is affiliated with Aksent,[1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/40325) while the Japanese database coemee lists her with Woodpark Office (ウッドパークオフィス).[9](https://coemee.com/column/seiyuu/hayashibara-megumi/) Her identity as the performer is nonetheless firmly established: the [National Diet Library](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-diet-library) authority record (created September 2, 1997) fixes the authorized name and birth year,[3](https://id.ndl.go.jp/auth/ndlna/00539590) and Anime News Network, TMDB, coemee, and Stage Natalie agree on the March 30, 1967 birth date and Tokyo origin.[4](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=391) • [1](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/40325) • [9](https://coemee.com/column/seiyuu/hayashibara-megumi/) • [2](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584) Anime News Network also records her songwriting alias "Megumi", her marriage on March 30, 1998, and the birth of her first daughter on June 28, 2004.[4](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=391)
## References
1. [Megumi Hayashibara, The Movie Database (TMDB)](https://www.themoviedb.org/person/40325)
2. [林原めぐみのプロフィール・作品情報, ステージナタリー (Stage Natalie)](https://natalie.mu/stage/artist/86584)
3. [林原, めぐみ, 1967-, Web NDL Authorities, National Diet Library](https://id.ndl.go.jp/auth/ndlna/00539590)
4. [Megumi HAYASHIBARA, Anime News Network Encyclopedia](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=391)
5. [『林原めぐみのTokyo Boogie Night』大晦日生放送特番が決定, アニメイトタイムズ (Animate Times)](https://animatetimes.com/news/details.php?id=1733718596)
6. [Megumi Hayashibara (visual voices guide), Behind The Voice Actors](https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Megumi-Hayashibara/)
7. [Megumi Hayashibara, MobyGames](https://www.mobygames.com/person/40290/megumi-hayashibara/)
8. [Megumi Hayashibara's the characters taught me everything, CiNii bibliographic record](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BC07514434)
9. [林原めぐみのプロフィール・出演作品・共演の多い声優, coemeeメディア](https://coemee.com/column/seiyuu/hayashibara-megumi/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Voice performers › Japanese voice performers › Surnames symbols to M*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license