Seiyū Love: Saori Hayami
I’m always happy when a favorite seiyū gets a leading role. Leads tend to have the best opportunity to show a wide range of emotions.
So I had to watch “Snow White with the Red Hair” when I read that Saori Hayami was playing Shirayuki. It was an obvious choice, since Hayami’s gentle, feminine voice is perfectly suited to the thoughtful, studious healer. There are so many splendidly subtle emotions Shirayuki experiences and Hayami expresses—cautious curiosity, restrained aggravation, forced calm. Her voice is essential to the charm and appeal of this delightful series. (Please let there be a third season after the manga ends!)
Of course, soft sweetness is not all Hayaimi is capable of, and there’s hardly a better example of this than the snide and sarcastic Shinoa from “Seraph of the End.” Whether she’s calmly critiquing (criticizing, really) her teammates’ performances during practice or shouting commands during a battle, Shinoa is a wonderful example of how girlish does not equal weakness. Indeed, despite her diminutive size and the big bow in her hair, Shinoa is a capable, competent killer who can hold her own against the worst monsters of her post-apocalyptic world.
Urara Shiraishi is a bookish, moe character from “Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches.” So why would I mention her along side more dynamic roles? The concept of the series (SPOILER ALERT!) is that the lead can swap bodies with other people by kissing them. So Hayami has to play a hot-headed punk of a guy, emulating the other actor’s performance with her own character’s voice. It’s a fantastic artistic challenge that Hayami meets spectacularly, and it’s the humorous bedrock of this comedy series.
Sweet, shy, snarky, sensual—Saori Hayami can and does play every kind of character. As her wealth of roles can attest, she is a prodigious talent who enhances any series she’s in.
