Seiyu to Yoasobi 2025 Reveals Hosts, Broadcast Details
The 2025 season of Seiyu to Yoasobi (also known as Say You to Yo Asobi) began on April 14th, and over the last week has revealed the voice actors who will be regular hosts for the next year, including returning favourites and several newcomers across the week. With the addition of a Sunday timeslot, as of this year, the show now airs daily with a different pair of hosts dedicated to each day. Without further ado, let's take a closer look!
Monday
Monday kicks things off in style with regular host Hiroki Yasumoto paired with the first of the newcomers, Chiaki Kobayashi. Yasumoto has been hosting the Monday slot since Season 2 in 2019, and he’s best known for roles such as voicing Yasutora Sado in Bleach and Agil in Sword Art Online.
Meanwhile, Kobayashi is a rising star of the industry who has recently played the role of Mash Burneded in Mashle and Stark in Frieren. He’s also quite prolific in the world of boys’ love, having been cast as Kiyoshi Adachi in Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! and regularly appearing in BL drama CDs. In 2021, he won the Best New Actor Award at the 15th Seiyu Awards for his role as Makoto Edamura in Great Pretender.
Tuesday
Unlike Monday, which retained one of its regular hosts, Tuesday has gone through an entire shake-up and is led by newcomer Miyu Irino and returning host Hiro Shimono. Irino is best known as Koshi Sugawara in Haikyu!!, or more recently, for taking over the role of Sabo in One Piece. He also plays Sora in the Kingdom Hearts video game series. While not the most prolific in terms of output, he certainly has a collection of memorable roles to his name.
Hiro Shimono, however, will be familiar to many as Zenitsu Agatsuma in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Dabi in My Hero Academia, and Rex in the video game Xenoblade Chronicles 2, among other high-profile roles. Shimono has been a regular host of Seiyu to Yoasobi since 2019, but he left after Season 6 in 2023. Having been one of the staples of the show for so long, it’s great to see him return!
Wednesday
The Wednesday slot sees regular Daisuke Namikawa move from his usual Thursday duties for the first time since the show began. He’s joined by Taku Yashiro, who joined the show for the Monday broadcasts last year, making this the only day of the week to not feature a brand new host. Compared to Namikawa, Yashiro is a relative newcomer to the field and is known for playing roles like Natsuo Fujii in Domestic Girlfriend and Friede in Pokémon. He’s also set to play Agate Crosner in the upcoming Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter video game later this year. In 2018, he won the Best Rookie Actor Award at the 12th Seiyu Awards.
Namikawa, meanwhile, has been in the industry since 2010 and is known for roles such as Ulquiorra Cifer in Bleach, Shota Kazehaya in Kimi ni Todoke (From Me to You), and Jellal in Fairy Tail. He’s also frequently cast in video games, with his most recent role being Yugamu Omokage in The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy. Having been with Seiyu to Yoasbi since the start, Namikawa is one of the best veterans to pair with one of the younger hosts. His episodes alongside Natsuki Hanae are well regarded as some of the most chaotic and entertaining overall.
Thursday
For Thursdays, regular Natsuki Hanae remains one of the hosts (having stayed in the slot since he started in 2023), and he’s joined by one of the newcomers, Kensho Ono. Like several of the Seiyu to Yoasobi hosts, Ono is not only a popular anime voice actor but also a live-action actor and singer. He’s currently playing Harold W. Lucraft in Your Forma and is known for his time as Ryunosuke Akutagawa in Bungo Stray Dogs. He won the Best Lead Actor Award at the 16th Seiyu Awards in 2022 for his role as Hathaway Noa in Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway. He’s married to fellow seiyu Kana Hanazawa.
As mentioned earlier, up until this year, Hanae had been paired with Namikawa and is already well known for his chaotic episodes. Including when the pair played ping pong and smashed a monitor on set. His roles as a voice actor include Tanjirou in Demon Slayer, Ken Kaneki in Tokyo Ghoul, Ken Takakura (Okarun) in Dandadan and presently Nice in To Be Hero X. He’s also the father of twins, whom he regularly dotes on. Being paired with a newcomer should prove an interesting challenge for Hanae now that he’s in his third year on the show!
Friday
To finish off the weekdays, Friday is hosted by Tomokazu Seki and Reiji Kawashima. Seki has been hosting the Friday slot since the series began, with a different co-host every year. Like Namikawa, Seki is a veteran in the voice acting world, having begun his career in 1993. His notable roles include Kyo Sohma in Fruits Basket, Shinya Kogami in Psycho-Pass, and Kanji Tatsumi in the Persona 4 series. He’s also well known in the world of Tokusatsu, having been involved in many projects over the years.
Kawashima shot to fame thanks to his role as Fushi in To Your Eternity and has more recently played the high-profile lead role of Taiyo Asano in Mission: Yozakura Family. Known for his love of fashion and his two beloved cats, Kawashima has quickly gained a firm following of fans. He also hosts a regular radio show for the internet radio station, Onsen. This is his first time hosting on Seiyu to Yosaobi, so it’s no surprise to find him paired with a regular who can help contain and focus his boundless and chaotic energy.
Saturday
The Saturday slot for Seiyu to Yoasobi was first introduced last year and, having proven popular, has stuck around for the 2025 season. The formula has been tweaked slightly to include three hosts rather than the usual two, which makes for extra chaos. This year it’s hosted by Masaya Fukunishi, Nobuhiko Okamoto and Showtaro Morikubo.
Morikubo has been on Seiyu to Yoasobi since Season 3 in 2020 and has been active in the industry since 1996. He’s known for being cast in several idol projects like I-Chu, B-Project and for playing the protagonist in Persona 4. His anime roles include Shikamaru Nara in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Gomah in Dragon Ball Daima and currently Caster in Fate/strange Fake.
Okamoto joined the team for the 2022 season and was the Saturday host last year as well. As a voice actor, he’s known for playing Yu Nishinoya in Haikyu!!, Garfiel Tinsel in Re:Zero and Bakugo in My Hero Academia. He’s married to Asuka Ogame. Like Kawashima, he hosts a regular radio program for Onsen as well.
Fukunishi is the newcomer of the three and began working as a voice actor in 2015. He took over several high-profile roles from Tatsuhisa Suzuki when he went on hiatus in 2021, but his first lead role came in the form of Kafka Hibino in Kaiju No. 8. Like with many of the new hosts for this year's season, pairing him with two regulars makes a lot of sense. And the group certainly had an exciting first outing when they were tasked with building several pieces of furniture for their set…
Sunday
The Sunday slot is brand new for the 2025 season and is being hosted by Yu Serizawa and Maria Naganawa. This will be the first time that the weekday slots have no female hosts, which was the regular Tuesday broadcast last year.
Serizawa is continuing from the 2024 season. In 2019, she won the Best Supporting Actress Award in the 13th Seiyu Awards for her role as Shera L. Greenwood in How Not to Summon a Demon Lord. She’s also known for her work as Mini Yaemori in Rent-A-Girlfriend, Mona Kawai in Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to My Charms, and she’s currently playing Eiko Zen in Maebashi Witches.
And Naganawa is a newcomer to Seiyu to Yoasobi. She started voice acting in 2008 and is known for playing Kanna Kamui in Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Shizuka Yoshimoto in The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You. She’s also frequently cast in video games, including Honkai: Star Rail as Huohuo, Grandblue Fantasy as Wamdus and Azur Lane as Laffey. Of the two hosts, she’s certainly quieter and more laid back than Serizawa, but I imagine some of that is due to her still settling into the role. It’ll be interesting to see how the two develop as this season goes on.
Connect Week
In another change to the structure this season, it was also announced that there will be a Connect Week once a month. This takes over from the traditional break week, where the usual broadcasts are suspended to give the hosts a well-earned break. During Connect Week, the show will air for half an hour as opposed to the usual hour and a half during the week, while Saturday or Sunday will have a special that runs for the usual time.
The Connect Week episodes will be hosted by Tomoko Kaneda, who has been in the role since the 2020 season, when the concept began. She’ll be hosting alongside the show's mascot Sobi and a ‘monthly’ host, who will differ throughout the year. Together, the group will also welcome a special guest for the weekend broadcast. Kaneda is another popular voice actor, but she’s also a radio personality who hosts a variety of shows.
Seiyu to Yoasobi airs daily on AbemaTV's Anime Live channel from 10 pm JST until 11:30 pm, except on Saturday, when the show starts at 9 pm and ends at 10:30 pm. Connect Week episodes air from 10 pm until 10:30 pm during the week, with a Saturday or Sunday broadcast from 10 pm until 11:30 pm. The show can be streamed live with a premium subscription to AbemaTV, or episodes are free for a week after broadcast on catch-up on their streaming service.