Official Zildjian artist press photo of Yoshinori Imai, Japanese drummer who joined Casiopea in 2022 (as Casiopea-P4), used as a stand-in — no free-licensed photo of Imai could be located after a genuine search. Standard copyright, all rights reserved — held by Zildjian / Yoshinori Imai. This is not a Creative Commons–licensed image; it is used here as an honestly-disclosed editorial stand-in for a real photo. — Downloaded directly from Zildjian's official artist page (https://zildjian.com/blogs/artist/yoshinori-imai), image file yoshinori-imai-profile.jpg. Saved locally as portrait.jpg in this folder.
Yoshinori Imai, born November 2, 1987, in Kanagawa, began playing drums at fourteen under the direct influence of Akira Jimbo. He studied under Yasushi Ichihara and Kozo Suganuma before establishing his career, and became a Zildjian artist. When Jimbo left Casiopea in 2022, Imai joined as a full member on July 1 of that year, taking over the drum chair of the musician whose playing had drawn him to the instrument in the first place — the band's fourth lineup era, known as Casiopea-P4.
His Casiopea discography runs from New Topics (2022) through Right Now (2024) and a 2025 release titled P4's Finale Sound Version; subsequent credits in 2025 and 2026 (True Blue, Miracle Night Live) appear under the plain Casiopea billing, suggesting a further lineup transition not independently confirmed beyond the billing change itself. He is also a member of the band UK Rampage.
Outside Casiopea, he has built a substantial parallel career as a session drummer for video-game and anime soundtracks, working under a rotating cast of lead composers rather than any single regular collaborator — the Octopath Traveler soundtrack series (2018, 2021, 2023), Tetris Effect (2020), a Danganronpa remix collection (2021), Star Ocean The Second Story R (2023), and Rain Code (2023) among them. He has also recorded with singer May'n and vocaloid/electronic producer sasakure.UK.
Imai's playing carries forward the technical, high-energy fusion style associated with his direct predecessor Akira Jimbo, while his soundtrack session work demands a more varied, genre-flexible approach suited to scoring rather than a fixed band identity.
Discogs artist ID 6118302 (今井義頼). Identity confirmed via matching Discogs profile facts plus a WebSearch synthesis of Zildjian's own artist page and Wikipedia's Casiopea article. 21 total credits, all Appearance role — no leader credits found, consistent with a career built as a session/band-member drummer.
| Release | Year | Notes | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Topics | 2022 | His recording debut with the band, Casiopea-P4 billing | Spotify |
| New Beginning Live CD | 2023 | Casiopea-P4 | |
| Right Now | 2024 | Casiopea-P4 | |
| P4's Finale |
2025 | ||
| True Blue | 2025 | Plain "Casiopea" billing | |
| Miracle Night Live | 2026 | Plain "Casiopea" billing |
| Release | Year | Label | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 有形世界リコンストラクション | 2012 | Pony Canyon | Billed as 有形ランペイジ, an earlier/related name for this act |
| Release | Year | Composer/Artist | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Octopath Traveler Original Soundtrack | 2018 | Yasunori Nishiki | Spotify |
| You | 2018 | May'n | |
| Ribing Fossil | 2019 | りぶ | |
| 愛が地球救うんさ! | 2020 | でんぱ組.inc | |
| Tetris Effect Original Soundtrack | 2020 | Hydelic | |
| The One | 2020 | Saki | |
| Octopath Traveler 大陸の覇者 Original Soundtrack | 2021 | Yasunori Nishiki | |
| Danganronpa Decadence Remix | 2021 | Masafumi Takada | |
| トンデモワンダーズ | 2021 | sasakure.UK | |
| Star Ocean The Second Story R Original Soundtrack | 2023 | Motoi Sakuraba | |
| Rain Code Original Soundtrack | 2023 | Masafumi Takada | |
| プリンセスコネクト! Re:Dive Character Song Album Vol.5 | 2024 | Various | |
| Urban Mirage | 2025 | Miho Terachi |
All 21 located Appearance-role credits are represented above, given the manageable catalog size.