2channel's Favorite Seiyuus

Mizuki Nana is by far 2channel's favorite seiyuu -- or at least the one they want to talk about most these days. 2channel is the vast Japanese message board whose anime threads are a hotbed of Japanese otaku. (mouseover images for captions)

Surpisingly, the second-most-talked-about seiyuu is the beautiful Chihara Minori. This is a clear indication that singing is of tremendous interest, since those two are probably currently the two most popular singer-seiyuus. Nana-chan is definitely the most popular, especially since her appearance on a top mainstream Japanese music show.

Tamura Yukari, the long-time idol seiyuu who made her name as Nanoha and is now starring in the ecchi comedy B-gata H-kei, comes next. She is also a singer.

And then we have Hirano Aya, whose role as Suzumiya Haruhi propelled her to the top, and whose beauty and visibility may be helping to keep her there -- along with her own singing. She is also by far the most hated seiyuu on 2channel, with almost half as many threads of posts against her as normal threads. Each 2channel thread represents a thousand posts.

Then we get to a couple of seiyuus who don't do as much singing, but both of whom do moe roles: Asumi Kana, who plays Yuno in Hidamari Sketch and Poplar in Working; and Iguchi Yuka, who plays Index in To Aru Majutsu no Index and is one of the stars of the new ecchi comedy Mayoi Neko Overrun.

Here is a list of the top 50 threads on the seiyuu board at 2channel, by number of posts per day. This list -- especially the bottom half of it -- will shift over time, as different seiyuus gain and lose prominence. But this is where we are today.


The first of the two middle columns is number of posts per day in a thread. The next is the total number of thousand-post threads that have accumulated over time. To help identify the seiyuus, I give a role, new or old, that each is associated with.

1	Mizuki Nana	216	571	singer, Fate in Nanoha
2	Mizuki Nana	168	570
3	Chihara Minori	96	184	singer, star in Chu-bra
4	Tamura Yukari	96	567	Nanoha
5	Hirano Aya	72	188	Suzumiya Haruhi
6	Asumi Kana	72	81	Yuno in Hidamari
7	Iguchi Yuka	72	16	Index
8	Horie Yui	57	371	Hanekawa in Bakemonogatari
9	Sakamoto Maaya	50	145	Nino in Arakawa
10	Nakamura Eriko	50	73	Idolmaster games
11	Tomatsu Haruka	45	31	Nagi in Kannagi
12	Matsuoka Daisuke	44	2	extras
13	anti-Hirano Aya	42	71
14	Nakajima Megumi	42	39	Ranka in Macross F
15	Hikasa Youko	40	30	Mio in K-On
16	Hanazawa Kana	38	31	Kobato
17	Sakurai Harumi	38	31	Yuri in Angel Beats
18	Hasegawa Yurina	33	271	plaintive blog; formerly Ochiai Yurika
19	Shimoda Asami	30	41	Idolmaster games
20	Imai Asami	28	92	Idolmaster games
21	Satou Satomi	28	16	Ritsu in K-On
22	Harada Hitomi	28	8	Himeji in Baka to Test
23	Mizuhara Kaoru	28	32	Misao in Lucky Star
24	Katou Emiri	27	37	Hideyoshi in Baka to Test
25	anti-Nakajima Megumi	27	51
26	Kitamura Eri	26	38	Rin in Kodomo no Jikan; artist/otaku
27	Mizuhashi Kaori	26	63	Miyako in Hidamari
28	Itou Kanae	26	15	Ruiko in Railgun
29	anti-Mizuki Nana	25	24
30	Nemakura Manami	25	9	Idolmaster games
31	Taketatsu Ayana	24	12	Azu-nyan in K-On
32	Gotou Yuuko	22	82	Hiro in Hidamari
33	Kotobuki Minako	21	9	Tsumugi in K-On
34	Satou Rina	19	30	Negi in Negima
35	Takahashi Chiaki	19	65	teacher in Dai Maou
36	Asano Masumi	18	147	Hakufu in Ikkitousen; radio host
37	Gibu Yuuko	17	8	Akira in Aoi Hana; TV personality
38	anti-Imai Asami	17	5
39	Yahagi Sayuri	17	12	Haruna in ToLoveRu
40	Hayashibara Megumi	17	82	Ayanami Rei
41	Onosaka Masaya	17	34	Momoshiro in Prince of Tennis
42	Tange Sakura	16	36	Cardcaptor Sakura
43	Sanpei Yuuko	16	25	Cure Dream in Precure 5
44	Itou Shizuka	16	57	Hinagiku in Hayate
45	Yuuki Aoi	15	4	Mina in Vampire Bund, Yutori-chan
46	Koshimizu Ami	15	60	Kallen in Code Geass
47	Yuzuki Ryouka	15	77	Yukino in Candy Boy
48	Noto Mamiko	15	60	Nogizaka Haruka
49	Kamiya Hiroshi	15	40	Izaya in Durarara
50	Kobayashi Yuu	15	35	Rio in Sora no Woto

You can see that Nana-chan has both the top two threads, and almost four times the posts per day of the next seiyuu in the list. Now that is popularity. This is clearly due to her singing and her personality, since even some of her admirers do not rate her seiyuu work especially highly -- competent as it is.

Long-time top names like Tamura Yukari and Horie Yui remain near the top of the list, and older stars like Hayashibara Megumi and Tange Sakura retain their popularity.

But it also interesting to see new names rise: the cast members of popular moe anime such as K-On and Hidamari Sketch. And new voices like those of Katou Emiri and the even newer Harada Hiromi, both of whom are in Baka to Test. And Sakurai Harumi, who stars as Yuri in the new anime Angel Beats.

Once we get past the singer-seiyuus, 2channel is clearly focused on moe.

There are names there that seem unknown or little-known to me: the cast members of the Idolmaster games.

There are not many male seiyuu in the current list.

My own current favorite voices are dotted here and there within the top 50 and outside it: Hirano Aya (5), Sakamoto Maaya (9), Hanazawa Kana (16), Katou Emiri (24), Yahagi Sayuri (39), Sanpei Yuuko (43), Yuuki Aoi (45), Koshimizu Ami (46), Kamiya Hiroshi (49), Kobayashi Yuu (50), Sawashiro Miyuki (61), Takagaki Ayahi (62), Hayami Saori (70), Saitou Chiwa (71)....