Who’s Your Favorite Voice Actor as “Narrator / Voice from Heaven”? Shimono Hiro-san, Nakai Kazuya-san, Tachiki Fumihiko-san… Voice Actors from Various Shows!

In anime and variety shows, the narration, or the voice of heaven, is also a memorable part of the show.
Sometimes, they even have a stronger presence than the show itself or its characters, so many anime fans must have vivid memories of some of the narrations.

We at Anime!Anime! conducted a readers’ survey asking, “Who’s Your Favorite Voice Actor as ‘Narrator / Voice from Heaven’?” The open-ended survey received 241 votes during the survey period from July 30 to August 6.
Most of the voters were female with a gender ratio of 85% female to 15% male, and the age range was on the younger side with 35% under 20 and 25% in their 20s.

■From live concerts to variety shows! Voice actors that warm up the shows made the list!

1st Place

Shimono Hiro-san topped the list with roughly 22% of the votes.

Many fans pointed out his narration in the music show “CDTV Live! Live!” and said it makes the live concerts even more fascinating, “I love the way he changes his voice to reflect the world depicted by the music he is introducing,” and “His various narrations, such as the casual voice to liven things up, or the calm voice he uses to read the supportive messages for the musicians, increase the anticipation for the song.”

“Since it’s an on-the-spot narration, it makes me feel as if I were’m enjoying the concert together,” is a comment that shows that fans favor live streamings. Being able to enjoy the different style than the usual post recordings is also a reason for its popularity.

2nd Place

Coming in 2nd was Nakai Kazuya-san with roughly 16% of the votes.

He narrates the morning information program “Sukkiri” and the “Sunday noon program “Akko ni Omakase!” and other programs.
“I like the way he uses a variety of voices, such as the tense voice for serious news like politics, a bright and cute voice for entertainment and trend information, and a passionate, awesome voice that conveys the excitement and thrill for sports news,” and “He flexibly adjusts to match the mood of the program, and also takes on several difficult on-the-spot narrations,” are comments that say the information is easy to understand through his voice.
There were also messages that are unique to the broadcast time, such as “When I hear Nakai-san’s live narration in the morning, I feel refreshed and ready to get on with my day!”

3rd Place

Tachiki Fumihiko-san took 3rd place with roughly 5% of the votes.

Tachiki-san also narratesor many varietyies shows and among them, the adventure variety “Sekai no Hate Made Itte Q!” was the most popular among Anime!Anime! readers.
“I love how he teases the TV personalities! I believe it’s thanks to Tachiki-san that “Itte Q!” is so fun to watch,” and “It’s amazing how his voice is so deep, yet comical, and how it makes me excited and nervous when I hear it!” are comments that say that his voice makes the show even more interesting.

There was also a comment about the title that reached its finale this year, “Tachiki-san’s announcement fort the second sound channel of ‘Gintama: The Final’ left a strong impression on me.”

Voice actors who narrate various shows, music, variety, new, shopping, etc, made the list. The votes were mainly for narrators of live-action shows, but there were also votes for anime titles, including Keaton Yamada-san, who graduated from “Chibimaruko-chan” this year, and Twsuda Kenjirou-san from “Cells at Work! Code Black”.

■Top 20
“Who’s Your Favorite Voice Actor as ‘Narrator / Voice from Heaven’?”
1. Shimono Hiro
2. Nakai Kazuya
3. Tachiki Fumihiko
4. Sawashiro Miyuki
4. Suwabe Junichi
6. Kamiya Hiroshi
7. Matsuoka Yoshitsugu
8. Keaton Yamada
8. Tsuda Kenjirou
10. Sakurai Ttakahiro
11. Ishida Akira
11. Ootsuka Houchuu
11. Hayashida Naochika
11. Hayami Saori
15. Kamio Shinichirou
15. Komada Wataru
15. Hidaka Noriko
15. Mizuki Nana
19. Aoyama Yutaka
19. Uchida Yyuuma
19. Ookawa Tooru
19. Kaida Yuki
19. Konishi Katsuyuki
19l. Sugita Tomokazu
19. Noto Mamiko
19. Hayami Shou
19. Fukuyama Jun
19. Fujiwara Keiji
19. Mitsuishi Kotono
19. Yasumoto Hiroki

(Survey period: July 30 – August 6, 2021) *This survey was held to investigate the readers’ “interests and attention towards current anime titles and characters”. The results should not be used to determine the supremacy of characters and titles. We hope this article will help you find new anime/characters and deepen your understanding of them.