Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#972
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Megumi Hayashibara represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 40 years in, and Megumi is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Megumi Hayashibara appears in 32 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Megumi. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion is the clearest case: a film rated 8.0 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, drama. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for action, mystery, crime. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Takahiro Hasui, Kozo Kaiho, Katsuya Shigehara and others, Megumi Hayashibara helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997) as Rei Ayanami / Yui Ikari (voice) · Wolf Children (2012) as Sohei's Mother (voice) · Castle in the Sky (1986) as Woman in Blue (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #972 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
32
1986–2026
Career length
40 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.0
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
Most frequent director
Kunihiko Yuyama
5 films together
Longest collaboration
5×
With Kunihiko Yuyama
Most common genre
Animation
31 titles
Average runtime
1h 36m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.8
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1980s
7.9 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. Castle in the Sky — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
7.9
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
8.0
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Castle in the Sky.
Most productive era
2020s
18 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1980s | 1990s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 8.01 film | 7.03 films | 6.83 films |
| Action | 7.91 film | 7.52 films | 6.45 films | 6.313 films |
| Thriller | — | — | — | 6.41 film |
| Comedy | — | 6.51 film | — | — |
| Crime | — | — | 6.31 film | 6.68 films |
| Romance | — | — | — | 6.73 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Woman in Blue (voice).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
1997Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
8.0 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
The current state of the argument, as Kimika Saeki (voice).
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
32 of 32 films
as Rei Ayanami / Yui Ikari (voice)
Directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki
as Rei Ayanami / Yui Ikari (voice)
Directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki
as Sohei's Mother (voice)
Directed by Mamoru Hosoda
as Woman in Blue (voice)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
as Pino (voice)
Directed by Kenji Nagasaki
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Rei Ayanami / Yui Ikari (voice)
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997)
Performance score8.2
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Rei Ayanami / Yui Ikari (voice) gives Megumi Hayashibara a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Rei Ayanami / Yui Ikari (voice)
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021)
Performance score7.8
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Rei Ayanami / Yui Ikari (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Sohei's Mother (voice)
Wolf Children (2012)
Performance score7.7
Wolf Children asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sohei's Mother (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Woman in Blue (voice)
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Performance score7.7
Castle in the Sky asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Woman in Blue (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Rei Ayanami / Yui Ikari (voice)
Start here. Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion is the clearest statement of what Megumi Hayashibara does — accessible, 87 minutes, and rated 8.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Megumi at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Keeps the action register of Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion but asks for a colder reading of it.
Wolf Children (2012)
Keeps the fantasy register of Castle in the Sky but asks for a colder reading of it.
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021)
Keeps the drama register of Wolf Children but asks for a colder reading of it.
My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission (2021)
Keeps the action register of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Kunihiko Yuyama
Director
5 films together
Notably Pokémon: The First Movie
Chika Nagaoka
Director
3 films together
Notably Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram
Kazuya Tsurumaki
Director
2 films together
Notably Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
Tomoya Takahashi
Director
2 films together
Notably Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie Part 2
Hayao Miyazaki
Director
1 film together
Notably Castle in the Sky
Isao Takahata
Director
1 film together
Notably Pom Poko
Hiroshi Watanabe
Director
1 film together
Notably Slayers Return
Mamoru Hosoda
Director
1 film together
Notably Wolf Children
Tetsuo Yajima
Director
1 film together
Notably Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us
Takahiro Ikezoe
Director
1 film together
Notably Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion The Movie: The Marvelous Fast ALFA-X That Comes From the Future
Motonori Sakakibara
Director
1 film together
Notably Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution
Shinji Aramaki
Director
1 film together
Notably Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War
Kenji Nagasaki
Director
1 film together
Notably My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission
Ayako Kono
Director
1 film together
Notably Sword Art Online the Movie - Progressive - Aria of a Starless Night
Yasuichiro Yamamoto
Director
1 film together
Notably Detective Conan: Kaiju Gomera vs. Kamen Yaiba
Susumu Mitsunaka
Director
1 film together
Notably Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween
Yuzuru Tachikawa
Director
1 film together
Notably Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine
Katsuya Shigehara
Director
1 film together
Notably Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback
Kozo Kaiho
Director
1 film together
Notably Patlabor EZY: File 1
Takahiro Hasui
Director
1 film together
Notably Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Kunihiko Yuyama
Director
5 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 5 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Pokémon: The First MovieChika Nagaoka
Director
3 films together · 6.4 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar PentagramKazuya Tsurumaki
Director
2 films together · 7.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of EvangelionTomoya Takahashi
Director
2 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie Part 2Mamoru Hosoda
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wolf ChildrenHayao Miyazaki
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Castle in the SkyAyako Kono
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sword Art Online the Movie - Progressive - Aria of a Starless NightKenji Nagasaki
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Hero Academia: World Heroes' MissionIsao Takahata
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Pom PokoTetsuo Yajima
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Pokémon the Movie: The Power of UsTakahiro Hasui
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the HighwayKatsuya Shigehara
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Detective Conan: One-Eyed FlashbackYuzuru Tachikawa
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Detective Conan: Black Iron SubmarineMotonori Sakakibara
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back - EvolutionShinji Aramaki
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable WarHiroshi Watanabe
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Slayers ReturnSusumu Mitsunaka
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Detective Conan: The Bride of HalloweenTakahiro Ikezoe
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Yasuichiro Yamamoto
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Detective Conan: Kaiju Gomera vs. Kamen YaibaKozo Kaiho
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Patlabor EZY: File 1Six degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Castle in the Sky
as Woman in Blue (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Wolf Children
as Sohei's Mother (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
as Rei Ayanami / Yui Ikari (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Shinkansen Henkei Robo Shinkalion The Movie: The Marvelous Fast ALFA-X That Comes From the Future
as Rei Ayanami (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
as Rei Ayanami / Yui Ikari (voice)
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Megumi Hayashibara has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
40 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Animation Legend
Awarded
31 catalogue titles in animation, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Wolf Children
as Sohei's Mother (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
as Rei Ayanami / Yui Ikari (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos the Movie Part 2
as Sailor Galaxia/Shadow Galaxia (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Detective Conan: Kaiju Gomera vs. Kamen Yaiba
as Ai Haibara (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Castle in the Sky
as Woman in Blue (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission
as Pino (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Pokémon the Movie: White - Victini and Zekrom
as Musashi (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Case Closed: The Fist of Blue Sapphire
as Ai Haibara (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Have your say
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