SEIYUU LOUNGE

This summer and after many years of fans wishing he'd make his solo debut, finally Yuya Hirose announced it. "Focus", his debut release and yes, his first full length album - something unheard of among male seiyuu artists - and showed how confident and bold he is about his singing skills.

Did the album deliver everything I wished it would? Probably not.

But was it a good sign for things to come? Oh, yes.

Shoya Chiba released his first conceptual EP "Invention" in July 2026. The hype was real. Chiba is an amazing singer, extremely versatile and all of the songs up until then were pretty much rock-centric.

But "Invention" arrived with a clear concept with an unclear execution that makes this EP extremely entertaining as it is and a bad conceptual EP for how hard it is to notice a concept as you listen to it.

The music is not easy to purchase digitally. The new music is not available on streaming platforms. The franchise barely releases any music nowadays.

What is happening to DIG-ROCK, once one of the most exciting and active 2D rock music projects?

IXIS, new seiyuu unit debuted under Kiramune in 2026 and consisting of Motoharu Ono, Taichi Ichikawa, Yuki Sakakihara, Taichi Kusano, Daiki Kobayashi and Sohei Horikane, released their debut mini-album "Roots Of" and I'm actually surprised it's that good.

In this episode let's talk about this mini-album and why I decided to review it and, even after not liking "STARTLINE" when it first dropped, I gave it another go and ended up enjoying it and the whole mini-album.

Popular singer-songwriter Kent Ito is set to release a new EP by the end of this year. “Breeze” will hit stores in November, following up the stellar EP “ShAdow“, released earlier this year.

Is Kent Ito going for 2 for 2 perfect EPs in 2026? I'm all in for it so let's talk about that and more in this episode of SEIYUU LOUNGE.

Popular singer-songwriter Soma Saito is back this November with his 5th EP, "nameless".

And the vibes are quite interesting just from the promotional photo which mixes the flower-heavy imagery from "in bloom" with the delicate vibes from one side of the "Yin/Yang" promotional photos, the pastels of "Nuance" and the nostalgic undertone from "Fictions".

Yet, what stands out the most is how "In bloom" the overall vibe is, even with all those things considered.So the question is: what will Soma Saito deliver with "nameless"?

Let's talk about all of this and more in this episode of SEIYUU LOUNGE.

Announced in February 2026, Dear Vocalist's 9th CD season, Rise, left fans excited for what's to come with CIEL making a comeback to the franchise.

However, 8 months later and there are no news about this new season coming from Rejet.

What's happened to this season? Why is Rejet keeping quiet about this while focusing on merchandise only?

This and more is discussed in this episode of SEIYUU LOUNGE.

With rising costs of music production, a want to try new things but too afraid to commit to them for a big release, and keeping fans occupied while they work on big album or EP releases in the background, seiyuu artists and 2D groups have opted for releasing digital singles.

This is not a new thing but has increasingly become a trend among artists to ensure fans are well fed and that artists are not overworked while not wasting a lot of money (and making music super accessible from the get go).

In this episode, let's talk about some of the seiyuu artists, units and 2D groups who have been doing this, building up hype to bigger CD releases.

Two of the most respected singers among male seiyuu - now veterans - have decided to change things around in their career as solo artists and give it a chance to creativity, new vibes and a more mature approach to who they are.

Yes, Mamoru Miyano left KING RECORDS and Miyu Irino left Kiramune and in this episode, let's dive a little bit into each situation and see what their new music labels can offer them moving forward.

This year has been a rollercoaster of emotions: two big solo artists changed music labels - surprising everyone -, some 2D music projects announced their end or are going on a hiatus, solo debuts came out of nowhere (yet one was long overdue), some seiyuu released their first conceptual CDs and many more things.

This is just a round up of everything that happened in 2026 so far and it seems this is the most destructive year for the seiyuu music/2D music industry.