Justin Briner is an American anime voice actor who provides the voice of Izuku "Deku" Midoriya in My Hero Academia and Yoo Jin-ho in Solo Leveling. Hot on the heels of the My Hero Academia Season 7 premiere, Briner is pleading with fans on social media to not ask him or other voice actors about their personal opinions on romantic pairings of their anime characters.
Briner took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to express his plea to anime fans. "Kindly stop asking me about ships at my panels," Briner said. "It’s none of my business and it’s officially gone too far. I’m not indicting any fandoms. I’m parallel to at large! In general you’re very considerate and we have a lot of fun together. I’m certainly no stranger to the internet. The fandom space is yours. Involving myself in it is at best uncomfortable and at worst very inappropriate."
Anime Voice Actor Justin Briner Explains Why He Can't Answer Questions About Fan Ships
Before logging off, Briner made it clear he doesn’t want anyone attacking the person in question that prompted the response, also offering some additional clarity as to why he and other anime voice actors can’t answer these romantic questions from fans. "I can get in big trouble for these interactions and had to put my foot down, that’s all," Briner said. "I don’t condone any of your cruelty or personal attacks. I also don’t condone those who have found this moment as an excuse to paint the entire fandom as weirdos when that’s simply not my experience with them at all. I would also never send fans to attack anybody on my behalf."
Although some might see Briner’s response as an overreaction to a harmless question, as an official voice actor, what he says about Deku or anyone else in My Hero Academia carries more weight than an outsider. Expressing his satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a romantic pairing could be interpreted as an official endorsement, disappointing fans who ship XY together and not XZ. Things get particularly dicey when it comes to same-sex pairings. Additionally, any public support of a particular pairing could be seen as a confirmation, potentially upsetting fans if said ship isn’t confirmed by the end of a series. Both Naruto and Bleach experienced their own fandom ship wars regarding the confirmation of NaruHina and IchiHime.
Solo Leveling's Jinwoo Sung Voice Actor Has Also Had Run-Ins With Zealous Fans
Aleks Le, the English voice actor for Jinwoo Sung in Solo Leveling, recently opened up about the online threats he received from fans if he didn’t deliver the character’s "Arise" line to their satisfaction. "If you don't say ARISE correct I swear I WILL FIND YOU and after that Sung Jhin-woo wouldn't bring you back," said one hateful message. In response to this and "thousands" of other comments along similar lines, Le said, "If you keep spamming my comment section with threats, if you keep making threats to me about this scene, I'm gonna change it to, 'Wake up.' I'm gonna change it to, 'Wakey wakey'... I'm gonna change it to 'Get up, buddy... it's time for school.'" Before ending his video response, Le assured fans that he would deliver the line to the best of his ability but asked them to "ground their expectations" regardless.
The new season of My Hero Academia is currently airing on Crunchyroll, while the final storyline in the manga by Kohei Horikoshi continues. Solo Leveling Season 1 is likewise available to stream on Crunchyroll, with a Season 2 confirmed but with no currently announced release date. The franchise will also receive its first official video game, which is set to release globally on May 8.
Source: X (formerly Twitter)
