Line #67 PromotedFanboy/AnimeAndManga


1	* CLAMP, creators of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'', and many other successful manga, started out as a doujinshi circle back in the '80s.
2	* Kiyohiko Azuma, creator of ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' and ''Manga/{{Yotsuba}}'', started out doing doujinshi based on various shows, including ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'', ''Battle Athletes Victory'', and ''Anime/SailorMoon''. He even wrote erotic doujinshi under the pseudonym Joji Jonokuchi.
3	* Eiichiro Oda, author of ''Manga/OnePiece'', was a massive ''Manga/DragonBall'' fan; heck, he loved all of Creator/AkiraToriyama's works, and that's what inspired him to become a manga artist. Eventually, he ended up working at ''Shonen Jump'', the same magazine that ''Dragon Ball'' was published in, and even collaborated with Toriyama on a ''DBZ/One Piece'' [[Manga/CrossEpoch crossover manga]].
4	* Shiori Teshirogi, the author who writes ''Manga/SaintSeiyaTheLostCanvas'', is actually a {{shoujo}} author who once met Creator/MasamiKurumada. ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' was always her favorite series and she jumped at the chance of making a new story when Kurumada pitched the idea to her, and what was originally thought to end up being a rather brief series has exploded in popularity. To put it simply, she is writing a non-canon doujin, getting ''paid'' for it, ''and'' getting an OVA deal for it. Not bad for someone's first {{shonen}} story.
5	* Creator/ShojiKawamori was an aeronautical engineer who had a family member on ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross''[='s=] production crew. Apparently he has an addiction to those little wooden Mensa puzzles that are all about compressing multiple components into objects with much smaller external surface areas. When toy companies realized he "had a gift" for creating elegant transforming designs that most designers today still can't match (IE: transformations tuck limbs against the body and end up looking blocky), he ended up making more selling transforming robot designs than he was in the very dry aerospace business. Needless to say, he works as a HumongousMecha designer now (and is the head of the entire ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' franchise to boot).
6	* Some actors in anime dubbing were {{anime}} fans before getting work as VoiceActors, including Creator/GregAyres, Creator/CaitlinGlass, and Creator/CrispinFreeman.
7	** Creator/ADVFilms was ''founded'' by anime fans who promoted ''themselves''. [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-06-29/crimson-star-acquires-looking-up-at-the-half-moon-anime The same goes for a newly founded company called Crimson Star.]]
8	** These days, fandub [[FandomVIP BNFs]] like Creator/CristinaValenzuela are part of anime dubbing casts - sometimes [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha reprising roles]].
9	** Rather subverted by Creator/VicMignogna (alias the number-one fan of [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Ed Elric]]). [[{{Pun}} Don't ever dare call him "shorty"]].
10	*** Though he plays the trope straight in a different area -- he recently directed an episode of ''Star Trek Phase 2''
11	** When Creator/VIZMedia acquired the rights to the [[DuelingDubs redub]] of ''Manga/SailorMoon'', Creator/AmandaCelineMiller, a longtime fan of the series, auditioned for every female character for a chance to be a part of the show. She was ecstatic when she was chosen to play Sailor Jupiter, her favorite character in the series. Same goes to Creator/CristinaValenzuela (Sailor Mars), Creator/CheramiLeigh (Sailor Venus), and Creator/LaurenLanda (Sailor Neptune) who were also fans of the series and were overjoyed when they became cast as part of the show.
12	* Famous voice actor Creator/TakehitoKoyasu is a long-time ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' fanboy. In the early '90s, he had a minor supporting character role in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91 Gundam F91]]''... and few years later, he voiced [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Zechs Merquise]], [[Anime/TurnAGundam Gym Ghingham]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Mu La]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny Flaga]].
13	*** Creator/KeiShindou was a CosplayOtakuGirl before she became pro.
14	*** It's said that Creator/HikaruMidorikawa wanted so badly to have a role in the ''Gundam'' metaseries that when the auditions for ''Anime/GundamWing'' opened, he auditioned for ''the five Gundam pilot roles''. He apparently cried TearsOfJoy when told that he got the role of Heero Yuy.
15	* After holding panels at some conventions and posting some essays on the Internet, ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' fanboy Sean [=McCoy=] was invited by Creator/ADVFilms to record some of the commentaries for the Platinum release of the series, giving him three full episodes and two special feature segments to share his [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory incredibly elaborate theories]] (some might say [[FanWank ridiculously]] [[EpilepticTrees elaborate]]) about the meaning behind the show's abstract symbolism alongside ADV honcho and English dub director Matt Greenfield. Strangely, after this "promotion", he has barely been heard from again.
16	** Along similar lines, self-proclaimed "Eva Monkey" Creator/TaliesinJaffe co-recorded commentaries for ''Death & Rebirth'' and ''The End of Evangelion'' alongside dub director, writer and voice actress Creator/AmandaWinnLee and her husband Jason. Jaffe's situation differed from [=McCoy=]'s in that Jaffe had actually worked in the anime industry already and voiced extras in the movies, and in that he spent his time on the commentaries offering various suggestions as to what the symbols in the movies ''could'' mean, as opposed to detailing his own theories as to what they "do" mean.
17	** Creator/MikeMcFarland, ADR director for the English dubs of the ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' films, was a fan of the series for the better part of a decade before he had a chance to actually work on it.
18	* Voice actress and biker enthusiast Creator/YukoGoto is a big fan of ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', particularly of the character Souther. She is also one of the editors of the ''Hokuto Musou'' series of games based off of the anime/manga series.
19	** She even got the chance to voice [[Anime/QueensBlade Menace]], who is basically [[DistaffCounterpart Souther as a girl]].
20	* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
21	** The [=HeartGold/SoulSilver=] miniarc in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' had Lyra's friend Khoury voiced in the dub by Chris "[[WebAnimation/{{TOME}} Kirbopher]]" Niosi. Though she was already a promoted fangirl by the time she made her mark, Creator/CristinaValenzuela as Layla also counts.
22	** In ''Anime/PokemonOrigins'', we have Creator/ChristineMarieCabanos (Reina), Creator/KyleHebert (Prof. Oak), and to an extent Creator/BrycePapenbrook (Red). Cristina Valenzuela also makes an appearance in this special, voicing Cubone.
23	** Creator/SungWonCho, a ''Pokémon'' fan to the point of hiring Ash's original VA Creator/VeronicaTaylor for one of his sketches, got the chance to voice Mustard in the English dub of ''WebAnimation/PokemonTwilightWings''.
24	* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
25	** Creator/MatthewMercer is a longtime fan of the series. In 2014, he landed the leading role of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'', Jotaro Kujo. This is also the case for Jotaro's Japanese voice actor, Creator/DaisukeOno.
26	** [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Josuke]]'s voice actor in ''[[VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureAllStarBattle All-Star Battle]]'', Creator/WataruHatano, was a fan of the series before voicing his character. In fact, Josuke is his favorite character in the series.
27	** Mick Lauer was a huge fan of ''[=JoJo=]'' for almost 30 years—to the point where he made his own ''[=JoJo=]''-inspired story on Youtube called ''WebAnimation/BloodSunVendetta''. He ended up being cast as Leone Abbacchio in the English dub of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'', a dream come true for him.
28	** Following Daisuke Ono's footsteps is Creator/FairouzAi, Jolyne's seiyuu in the ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'' anime adaptation in which the ''[=JoJo=]'' series as a whole inspired her to pursue voice acting, in which she was introduced to the world of manga and anime from discussing it with her friends via Skype calls. The first part she read was ''Stone Ocean'', and she dreamed one day to voice the character Foo Fighters. Come 2021, and she's instead been cast as ''the main character'' Jolyne Cujoh- whom she also wanted to play and considers a long-time role model for her. As she said in an interview, translated by the [[https://jojowiki.com ''JoJo's Bizarre Encyclopedia'' Wiki]]:
29	--->'''Fairouz Ai''': Jolyne Cujoh is the bravest, most beautiful, strongest, most loving, and most wonderful person I've come across. My admiration for her hasn't changed in 12 years. I'm really happy to be able to go on this bizarre adventure with her, and I'll put my life into my performance so that I can acquire the same "amazingness" as Jolyne through the recording process.
30	** On a similar note, Creator/KiraBuckland is a massive ''[=JoJo=]'' fan who cosplays as Jolyne, a character she considered to be her dream role. She got to fulfill that dream in the English dub of ''Stone Ocean''.
31	* Mark Simmons and Keith Rhee, two Big Name Fans of ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'', were hired by Bandai, Simmons working on the localization of several series and Rhee on the official website. Furthermore, the Federation male custom pilots in the Encounters In Space game are named after the two of them.
32	* Creator/StudioGainax, who got their start by producing a well-known pair of independent anime shorts (the opening animations for ''Anime/DaiconIIIAndIV'') for a Japanese science fiction convention in 1981 and 1983. Especially Creator/HideakiAnno.
33	* Lianne Sentar had been writing over 3,000 stories of ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' {{fanfiction}} since she was 13. She was hired to write the Creator/{{Tokyopop}} novel adaptations distributed in North America for only this reason.
34	* Creator/JasonGriffith managed to accomplish this by accident. According to him, he was a big fan of ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' and auditioned for the role of Chris Thorndyke in ''Anime/SonicX'' so that he could "know what it's like to be Sonic's human friend". Imagine his surprise when he got the role of Sonic himself.
35	* ''Anime/YashahimePrincessHalfDemon'':
36	** Creator/AzusaTadokoro is a fan of ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' and has cited the anime as an inspiration for her getting into voice acting in the first place. She's part of the main cast of as the voice of Moroha, Inuyasha and Kagome's daughter.
37	** On the English dub side, Creator/KiraBuckland has cited ''Inuyasha'' as one of the anime series that got her into voice acting. She is the voice of Setsuna, Towa's twin sister.
38	* Music/{{Gackt}} (already mentioned under ''Franchise/KamenRider'' above) is also a huge ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' fan, having contributed the theme song to the long-dead theme park attraction "Gundam the Ride: A Baoa Qu", recording a remix of "Ai Senshi" from the original series, and even getting a concert audience to chant "Sieg Zeon!" by delivering Garma Zabi's funeral speech from memory. In 2010 he finally got to join the ''Gundam'' universe proper by voicing ex-, the OriginalGeneration FinalBoss of ''[[VideoGame/GundamVsSeries Gundam Extreme Vs.]]''
39	* As children, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, better known today as Music/DaftPunk, were fans of the anime series ''Anime/CaptainHarlock''. After recording their breakout album ''Discovery'', they would work with ''Captain Harlock'''s creator Creator/LeijiMatsumoto in making it's visualization, the rock-opera anime movie ''Anime/{{Interstella5555}}''.
40	* ''Anime/PrettyCure''
41	** Creator/NanaMizuki, better known for her role as the DarkMagicalGirl [[Franchise/LyricalNanoha Fate Tessarossa]], is a humongous ''Anime/PrettyCure'' fan. When she got the role of InnocentFlowerGirl [[Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure Tsubomi Hanasaki]], she was ''elated''. Even when she was asked to come back for a few short lines in ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars New Stage'', she expressed on her blog joy at being able to voice her again.
42	** Creator/HitomiNabatame was a huge ''Pretty Cure'' fangirl too and actually attended the auditions [[Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure for the first series]], but wasn't chosen (though she did voice a minor character). Years later she was selected as [[Anime/DokiDokiPrecure Mana "Cure Heart" Aida]], and apparently broke in TearsOfJoy when she was told about it.
43	** Creator/MegumiNakajima is also a ''Pretty Cure'' fangirl and got her chance to play as [[TheDanza Megumi Aino]] in ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure''.
44	** Eimi Naruse—the voice of Hikaru Hoshina aka Cure Star in ''Anime/StarTwinklePrettyCure''—is quite possibly the biggest example of this in the franchise. In a cast interview held before the season premiered, she was able to give detailed answers of what she loved about every season up to that point, to the point where she’s probably as obsessed with ''Pretty Cure'' as her character is with space. She also expressed her love of the series on social media both during and after her season ended.
45	** All four main Cures in ''Anime/HealinGoodPrettyCure'' have ''Pretty Cure'' fans voicing them. Of note, Chiyu Sawaizumi aka Cure Fontaine’s voice actress Yorita Natsu had a role in the immediate previous season as the Gemini Star Princess and the twins Takuto & Ikuto Amamiya, while Creator/AoiYuuki (probably the most overjoyed of the four to be cast and better known as [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Madoka Kaname]]) was in TheMovie for ''[[Anime/KiraKiraPrecureALaMode KiraKira☆Pretty Cure à la Mode]]'' as the BigBad Cook before playing this season’s lead role Nodoka Hanadera aka Cure Grace. [[SixthRanger Cure Earth]]’s voice actress—Creator/SuzukoMimori—stated in her own interview that voicing a Pretty Cure is something she’s aspired for since the start of her career.
46	** Real life fashion model Nicole Fujita has a cameo AsHerself in TheMovie for ''Healin’ Good''. In an interview, she mentioned that she watched the original ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure'' as a child and was surprised to be able to participate in the franchise as a voice actress.
47	** Creator/RinaHidaka wanted to be in ''Pretty Cure'' for years but could never fit auditions for it into her schedule until she landed the role of Laura in ''Anime/TropicalRougePrettyCure''. One of the first people she shared the news with before the cast was publicly announced was Creator/AiKakuma, who was playing Rabirin in ''Healin’ Good'' at the time.
48	** The voice actresses of the three main Cures of ''Anime/DeliciousPartyPrettyCure'' have all wanted to be in the franchise since the starts of their careers. Of note, Hana Hishikawa (who voices Yui Nagomi/Cure Precious) has been a fan of ''Pretty Cure'' since she was in nursery school watching ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure''.
49	* Creator/BrycePapenbrook is a hardcore fan of ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' and even wanted to be a cast member of it. When Creator/FUNimation acquired the license, many fans thought that Creator/JoshGrelle, Creator/GregAyres, or Creator/MicahSolusod would voice Eren since they are their usual voice actors of choice for leading protagonists. In 2014, it was announced that Papenbrook would provide his voice.
50	** Creator/JoshGrelle (Armin), Creator/JessicaCalvello (Hange), and Creator/PatrickSeitz (Shardis) had also watched the simulcast before auditions and became big fans of the series.
51	* Arisa Ando, a voice actress active during the 1980s and 1990s (her notable roles include Kyoko in ''Plawres Sanshiro'' and Sandy in ''Anime/TheNoozles''), became interested in a voice acting career after getting hooked on ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'' and ''[[Creator/IkkiKajiwara Samurai Giants]]'' reruns as a teenager. She even submitted a poem to the ''Yamato'' producers which was reworked in part into the ending theme song for ''Be Forever Yamato'', though she never received credit for it. (Notably, ''Yamato'' veteran Noboru Ishiguro also worked on ''Noozles.'') At one point, Ando considered becoming an animator herself, and even took a part-time job coloring cels while she was already working as a seiyuu.
52	* Shoko Nakagawa was a huge fan of series such as ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' and ''Manga/DragonBall'' growing up, and has had a prominent role as a host on ''Series/PokemonSunday'' and its successors and roles in several of the animated films, along with a minor role in ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'' as the Oracle Fish.
53	* Creator/KyleHebert was a fan of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' before landing the roles of Gohan and the Narrator which started his career as a voice actor for animation.
54	* French singer/songwriter Cécile Corbel became known to Ghibli filmmakers after she sent them a fan letter showing her love for their films along with a copy of ''Songbook, Vol 2'', at the time, her most recent album. After Toshio Suzuki, the head producer of ''Anime/{{Arrietty}}'' listened to the CD, she received an e-mail asking her if she could write a song for the movie. She ended up composing the entire score.
55	* Creator/MegumiHan, who voices Takeru "T.K." Takaishi in the 2013 video game adaptation of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' (replacing Creator/HirokoKonishi, who retired from voice acting), has been a big fan of the franchise since childhood. Ditto for her role as Gon Freecss in the 2011 anime of ''Manga/HunterXHunter''.
56	* Kanetake Ebikawa won a design contest for ''Manga/MobileSuitCrossboneGundam''; now he's become famous for his work on ''Anime/EurekaSeven'', ''Literature/FullMetalPanic'', and ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00''. It even came full circle when he got to work on ''Crossbone Gundam Ghost'', a sequel to the story that helped launch his career.
57	* Creator/KoheiHorikoshi, author of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' was a fan of ''Shonen Jump'' as a boy. In fact, he submitted fanart that got featured in the 23rd volume of ''Manga/OnePiece'', which ''My Hero Academia'' runs alongside. Oda himself opened the Question and Answer section of Volume 77 by pointing this out, and explains he was ecstatic when he learned of it.
58	* Creator/{{Toyotaro}} made the [[UrbanLegends legendary]] ''Webcomic/{{Dragon Ball AF\|Toyble}}'' doujin in 2000 under the name Toyble. Ever since Shueisha hired him, ''AF'' has been officially sold as a tankobon, he has authored the ''VideoGame/DragonBallHeroes'' and ''[[Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF Resurrection 'F']]'' tie-in manga, is drawing ''Manga/DragonBallSuper'' and is not only an assistant to Creator/AkiraToriyama, but also [[TakeUpMySword his chosen successor]].
59	** Music/MaximumTheHormone wrote [[FilkSong "F"]], with lyrics about ''Franchise/DragonBall'' villain Frieza. Toriyama then met the band through a friend; its concept inspired the aforementioned ''Resurrection [='F'=]'', which [[AutobotsRockOut features the song as an insert.]]
60	* Creator/AdultSwim has said numerous times that the favorite anime they've ever aired was ''Anime/{{FLCL}}''. Fifteen years later, they're now collaborating on a sequel series to the original.
61	* Sui Ishida, the creator of ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', is a long-time fan of ''Manga/HunterXHunter''. For April's Fool 2015, he created a false advertisement claiming he would be releasing a side-story for the series. Roughly a year later, this became a reality when he was invited to create a 69-page {{Prequel}} for his favorite character and got to collaborate with his hero, Creator/YoshihiroTogashi.
62	* ''Franchise/YuGiOh'':
63	** Creator/MattShipman is one of the few voice actors who actually plays the ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' card game. He later got to play Shay Obsidian (Shun Kurosaki in Japanese) in ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV''.
64	** Voice actress Jennifer "Jen" Silverman is another longtime fan of ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' who became a part of it. She got to be the voice of Sora Pearse (Sora Shiunin in Japanese) in ''VideoGame/YuGiOhDuelLinks'' and Asana Mutsuba in ''Anime/YuGiOhSEVENS'' and ''VideoGame/YuGiOhRushDuelDawnOfTheBattleRoyale''. Being an avid cosplayer, she also recently began cosplaying as her characters.
65	* Creator/TeamFourStar, the makers of ''WebVideo/DragonBallAbridged'' are, naturally, big fans of ''Franchise/DragonBall''. Because they're based out of Texas, many of them have parlayed their roles in ''DBZA'' into performances in Funimation-dubbed anime like ''Manga/OnePiece'' -- and of course, ''DBZ'' itself, with Scott "[=KaiserNeko=]" Frerichs voicing a low-level Freeza soldier in ''Resurrection [='F'=]''.
66	** Perhaps more famously, Curtis "[=Takahata101=]" Arnott was cast in ''VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse'' as one of the Create-A-Character voices, where he's essentially replaying his role as Abridged!Nappa complete with tons of [[AscendedMeme memetic]] [[ShoutOut Shout-Outs]] to the ''Abridged'' series. When ''[[VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse2 Xenoverse 2]]'' came out, the other founding members of TFS ([=KaiserNeko=] and Nick "Lanipator" Landis) joined him in the game's roster.
67	** They also appeared in the Cell Games Reenactment in ''Kai'', complete with several fandom references. However, this is only available in Platform/YouTube uploads, as it was taken off the TV broadcast likely due to Toei and the group often butting heads due to copyright reasons.
68	* According to Music/KyaryPamyuPamyu, her favorite show when she was a child was ''Manga/CrayonShinChan''. When she was asked to do a theme song for the show and guest star in an episode, she was very excited about it.
69	* Creator/HiroyukiImaishi loved the ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' [[Franchise/{{Gundam}} franchise]] growing up, he eventually got to animate on ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00''.
70	* Creator/JamesMarsters of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' fame [[ConvertedFanboy first became a fan]] of ''Franchise/DragonBall'' when he watched the anime as character study for his role of King Piccolo in ''Film/DragonballEvolution'', even going as far as to keep Piccolo's design from being drastically altered in a case of ExecutiveMeddling. While no one likes to talk about that movie, this all came full circle for Marsters come 2016 when he was cast as none other than '''[[Characters/DragonBallZamasu Zamasu]]''' in ''VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse2'', a role he would then reprise for ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' and ''VideoGame/{{Dragon Ball FighterZ}}''. [[note]]Though he's credited under pseudonyms (due to union problems): [[SignificantAnagram Sam Majesters]] in ''Xenoverse 2'' and ''[=FighterZ=]'', [[https://twitter.com/funimation/status/953072340073680897 David Gray]] in ''Super''. It took ''a lot'' of digging from fans, including hints dropped by [[Creator/CliffordChapin other]] [[Creator/ChristopherSabat voice actors]], [[http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/tv-shows/Dragon-Ball-Super/Zamasu/ for them to figure out who was actually voicing the character.]][[/note]]
71	* Creator/DaikiYamashita said that he was always insecure about his relatively high-pitched voice until his friend started showing him anime where Creator/YuukiKaji played teenagers and young boys. This got him into voice acting. After landing his StarMakingRole as [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Izuku Midoriya]], he regularly gets to work with his idol.
72	* Creator/AtsumiTanezaki entered the voice acting industry because she was impressed by the voice acting on ''Anime/SailorMoon'', which she watched as a kid. She would later have roles in two MagicalGirl anime by Toei, who created ''Sailor Moon'': ''Anime/DokiDokiPrettyCure'' and ''Pop in Q''.
73	* Creator/MakotoShinkai:
74	** According to interviews on the ''Anime/TheGardenOfWords'' Blu-Ray, music producer Daisuke Kashiwa was a fan of Shinkai's earlier ''Anime/FiveCentimetersPerSecond'' and had sent some of his existing work.
75	** [[https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2017/03/16/music/radwimps-ride-name-train-fame/#.Xr4PQWgzYuV RADWIMPS bassist Yusuke Takeda]] was a fan of his since ''Anime/VoicesOfADistantStar'', and his band got to score both ''Anime/YourName'' and ''Anime/WeatheringWithYou''.
76	* Japanese comedian Naomi Watanabe describes herself as a lifelong ''Anime/SailorMoon'' fan, and got to voice Zirconia in the ''[[Anime/SailorMoonCrystal Sailor Moon Eternal]]'' films.
77	* Creator/XantheHuynh was [[https://twitter.com/ItsXanthor/status/1350306439953203202 a long-time fan]] of ''Manga/KurokosBasketball'' before she was cast as Momoi in the 2021 English dub.
78	* ''Manga/UnicoAwakening'':
79	** Samual Sattin (American author and writer) is a huge fan of Creator/OsamuTezuka (especially ''Manga/{{MW}}'' and ''Manga/{{Unico}}''). When he got notified by a former worker of [[Platform/{{Crunchyroll}} Crunchyroll Japan]] that Tezuka Productions had been expressing interest on reviving the ''Unico'' franchise. Sattin immediately used his Visa Card to travel to Japan [[note]] At the time, the country denied any foreign visitors due to [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID concerns]]. Due to this, he had to fly to Japan from a different airport or private jet just to visit Tezuka Productions.[[/note]] during the Spring of 2021 to pitch his idea. After pitching his idea, members of the company instantly loved Sattin's vision on a new Unico Manga which made him ecstatic. During his stay in Japan, he meet Creator/{{Gurihiru}} where they discussed plans on the manga. In late April 2022, Tezuka Productions alongside Octas Inc. announced the return of Unico with a new manga series titled ''[[Manga/UnicoAwakening Unico: Awakening]]''. Sattin actually became the writer of the upcoming manga with Gurihiru as the illustrators.
80	** Creator/{{Gurihiru}} are also massive fans of Tezuka and Unico, with Sattin picking the team as the manga's illustrators and character designs and redesigns. When Sattin first chose the team to work on the manga, they almost declined it due to fear of their Japanese-American inspired art style not living up to Tezuka's art style. When the finalized cover of the first volume was unveiled February 8, 2024. The duo made a statement on Platform/{{Twitter}} discussing [[https://twitter.com/Gurihiru/status/1755972217878557076 how overwhelming they felt working on the manga's cover art.]]
81	* Many of the cast of ''[[Manga/UruseiYatsura Urusei Yatsura All-Stars]]'' adaptation are massive fans of the 1981 original:
82	** Creator/HiroshiKamiya grew up with Rumiko Takahashi's works, as well as ''Urusei Yatsura''.
83	** As a high school student, Creator/SumireUesaka collected Lum figurines and frequently watched the 1981 series.
84	** Creator/MaayaUchida is a fan of Rumiko Takahashi's female characters.
85	** Creator/MamoruMiyano grew up watching the original series since he was a child.
86	** Creator/KanaHanazawa is a massive ''Urusei Yatsura'' fan, having watched the original series since she was a child.
87	** Creator/KatsuyukiKonishi saw ''Urusei Yatsura'' in the theaters as a youth.
88	** Creator/NanaMizuki is an ''Urusei Yatsura'' fan, citing Princess Kurama as one of her favorite characters.
89	** Creator/KentaMiyake cited ''Urusei Yatsura'' as the first school romantic comedy series that he watched during his childhood.
90	** Creator/SaoriHayami was an ''Urusei Yatsura'' fan before she was brought onto ''All-Stars''.
91	** Creator/TakahiroSakurai grew up with ''Urusei Yatsura'' since he was an elementary school student.
92	* Creator/EricaLindbeck is a huge fan of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' and stated that she would love to appear in the dub someday. She eventually did so in Season 6 where she voiced Lady Nagant.
93	* Creator/RieTakahashi was a massively loyal ''Manga/OshiNoKo'' fan ever since the manga was published, and ''immediately'' went to audition for the anime when it was announced. Although she did audition for Akane, she was ultimately cast as someone ''much'' better: Ai, the lynchpin of the story's events.
94	* Creator/ArturoCastaneda, son of the famous Mexican VA Creator/MarioCastaneda, was a huge fan of ''Franchise/DragonBall'' as a kid, and convinced his father to accept the role of Goku's adult voice after he first turned it down. Many years later, Arturo would become a notable voice actor himself, even joining his father as part of the cast in ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' as the voice of Whis.
95	* Nearly every ''Franchise/LoveLive'' actress for every unit beyond [[Anime/LoveLive μ's]] is this. Pretty much every cast member of [[Anime/LoveLiveSunshine Aqours]] has been a fan of μ's at some point, and [[Anime/LoveLiveNijigasakiHighSchoolIdolClub every]] [[Anime/LoveLiveSuperstar subsequent]] [[VideoGame/LinkLikeLoveLive unit]] has fans of at least one or more prior units and/or characters in them. This also extends to some members of the English dub, albeit not nearly as prominently.

Context PromotedFanboy / AnimeAndManga