August 19 is “World Photography Day”.

It was established as a photographic process called Daguerreotype was used on the same day in 1839. It dramatically shortened the required exposure time and contributed greatly to develop a portrait.

More and more voice actors/actresses have recently been publishing their own photo books. Photo books contain a lot of attractions such as natural behind-the-scene photos, and part of their private life.

Therefore, Anime!Anime! conducted a reader survey titled “Which voice actor/actress would you like to release a “photo book”?”. During the survey period from August 5 -12, a total of 586 responses were received. For the gender ratio, the females were the majority with about 90% while the males were about 10%. For the age distribution, we received the majority of responses from the young readers: about 30% were from teens, and 40% were from those in their 20s.

In this article, we will introduce the results for the Voice Actor Ver.

■The top positions also include the voice actors who already released a photo book!

1st Place

1st place went to Shimono Hiro-san. The support rating was about 15%.

The readers said that they wanted to see his variety of attractions, saying “Although he released a photo book in his 20s, I also want to see the wonderful photos of him today after growing older!”, “I liked his first photo book, so I want to see him becoming mellowed in his 40s”, and “He marked his 20th anniversary as a voice actor in 2021, so it’s time for him to release his 2nd photo book”. The readers have a desire for his 2nd photo book.

2nd Place

2nd place went to Namikawa Daisuke-san. The support rating was about 9%.

The readers are expecting his first photo book, saying “Since he shows a lot of wonderful photos in the pamphlets of live performances or bromides of various contents, I want to see such photos in a photo book. I’ve been eagerly waiting for that”, and “He has been playing a variety of characters in many works with his rich expressions. I want to see various expressions of himself”. Some reader mentioned his gorgeous posing, with the comment, “I was surprised by the different posing that he showed on a variety show.”

3rd Place

3rd place went to Ishikawa Kaito-san. The support rating was about 8%.

The readers said that they wanted to enjoy different photos of him, with the comments such as, “Ishikawa Kaito-san doesn’t have his own SNS account, so we rarely see his behind-the-scene photos. I would like him to show such photos in the form of a photo book… I hope”, “He looks good in whatever style of clothes, so I think a stylebook would be great”, and “Just as ‘How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?’ that he appeared, he works out by himself, so I want him to show his well-shaped figure!”.

The top includes some voice actors that already released a photo book. The readers left a lot of comments saying that they are curious about their private life, that they want to look back on the costumes in the past events, and so on.

■Ranking Top 10

[Which voice actor/actress would you like to release a “photo book”? Voice Actor Ver.]
1. Shimono Hiro
2. Namikawa Daisuke
3. Ishikawa Kaito
4. KENN
5. Uchiyama Kouki
6. Kimura Ryouhei
7. Hirakawa Daisuke
8. Kamiya Hiroshi
9. Saitou Souma
10. Yoshino Hiroyuki

(Survey Period: August 5 – 12, 2021)

*This survey is intended to research the readers’ “interest in anime and characters today”. It is not intended to discuss the relative merits of each character nor work. I would be glad if this article can help you develop an understanding and interest in the anime and characters.

■Ranking Top 20

[Which actor/actress would you like to release a “photo book”? Voice Actor Ver.]
1. Shimono Hiro
2. Namikawa Daisuke
3. Ishikawa Kaito
4. KENN
5. Uchiyama Kouki
6. Kimura Ryouhei
7. Hirakawa Daisuke
8. Kamiya Hiroshi
9. Saitou Souma
10. Yoshino Hiroyuki
11. Nakamura Yuuichi
12. Umehara Yuuichirou
13. Fukuyama Jun
14. Uchida Yuuma
15. Enoki Junya
15. Kaji Yuuki
15. Sugita Tomokazu
18. Shimazaki Nobunaga
19. Okamoto Nobuhiko
19. Ono Daisuke
19. Taniyama Kishou
19. Tsuda Kenjirou

(Survey Period: August 5 – 12, 2021)

*This survey is intended to research the readers’ “interest in anime and characters today”. It is not intended to discuss the relative merits of each character nor work. I would be glad if this article can help you develop an understanding and interest in the anime and characters.