Strawberry Prince’s Rinu Discusses His Dream of Voice Acting, Success on the Radio

By Yayoi Kawatoko / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

11:00 JST, March 6, 2026

The hugely popular idol group Strawberry Prince will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year. Rinu, the red-themed member of the six-member group, is mainly active on video streaming sites in the virtual world, appearing as an illustrated character. But he is also making waves in the real world.

The Yomiuri Shimbun recently interviewed Rinu to find out more about his multifaceted activities.

Rinu hosts “Rinu no STPRadio!,” aired on the Nippon Cultural Broadcasting network. The radio show is already enjoying great popularity after just a year. He also sings and dances at concerts and is expanding his range of activities, which includes voice acting and video game streaming.

Like the other members of the group, Rinu is a “2.5D idol,” active online as a two-dimensional character (the group’s members are represented by charming anime-like avatars in videos of their performance), but also performing in real events, such as concerts with a live audience, where the members usually reveal their faces.

Online, Rinu’s character has adorable dog ears and red hair. He is one of the original members of Strawberry Prince, which was formed in 2016.

The group’s other five members are Root, Colon, Satomi, Nanamori and Jel. They are mostly active on video streaming sites, where they publish videos featuring covers of famous songs and stream their video game plays.

Strawberry Prince is immensely popular, especially among young people. The group has over 4.3 million subscribers on its YouTube channel and about 50 million followers on social media, when combining the count for the group’s account with the members’ individual accounts.

“I never expected we would last as long as 10 years,” Rinu said.

He was born on May 24, 1998, and raised in Tokyo. Influenced by a friend who was forced to give up on their dream of becoming a voice actor due to illness, he resolved to fulfill that dream in his friend’s place.

In junior high, Rinu joined the drama club to study acting. There, he heard about the video-sharing site Niconico from another member, and this opened his eyes to the world of video streaming. In high school, he started posting his own videos.

“When I was getting more and more frustrated with my school life and myself, I drew a lot of support from music and videos online,” Rinu said. “In my second year of high school, I started posting videos as I wanted to be the one putting them out there, and I hoped someone would discover me. Several months later, Na-kun [Nanamori] invited me to join Strawberry Prince.”

As those who listen to his game commentary already know, Rinu has an adorable voice. This voice is more fully showcased in videos, in which he covers songs. He has also released collaborations with well-known artists such as HoneyWorks and songs with lyrics he wrote himself.

Rinu has also produced and distributed animated videos and has more than 2.2 million subscribers on his YouTube channel.

And he has realized his dream of becoming a voice actor, a dream that he had once given up on.

“I want to cherish my feelings of love,” Rinu said. “If you keep doing what you love, it will eventually lead to your dream. You never know when your dream will take off. I want to keep going forward with a positive mindset no matter what I do.”

Moved by handwritten letters

On the weekly program for “Rinu no STPRadio!,” which airs on Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m., Rinu presents enjoyable and lively chats with guests.

Many of his guests are his acquaintances. “I want the guests to have a good time and leave satisfied. I hope I can bring out what is appealing about them and have an interesting exchange with them,” he said.

He admits that he felt nervous at first.

“When I work as a Strawberry Prince member, I have other members who help me if something happens, so I feel secure. But with this show, I have to do it alone. After a year, I think I’ve finally learned to manage the conversation somehow or other.”

He says that interacting with guests was a new, exciting experience, and so were the exchanges with listeners who send in messages.

“I usually do live streaming and take comments in real time. But for this radio show, I get handwritten letters. That makes me happy. I received a postcard from an elementary school kid. It was super cute.”

While he usually plans his videos himself, the radio show’s concepts are planned by staff.

“They prepared chicken and cake for the Christmas party [on the show]. It was a lot of fun,” he said.

In summer 2025, an event called “STPR Natsu Matsuri” (STPR summer festival) was held in connection with the radio show.

Rinu appeared with three other members of his entertainment agency who are not Strawberry Prince members. The event was a great success. “To my surprise, we got along pretty well,” Rinu said.

His time on the airwaves has also helped expand his fan base.

“More people have come to know me by name,” he said. “I want to convey who I am, how much more amazing I am than you think, through my activities, through Strawberry Prince, and convey my feelings. I want to create more opportunities for fans to say openly, ‘I like Rinu,’ more chances for them to feel warm in their hearts and for me to meet fans.”