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Has there been an official credible reference that there are real life
counterparts to the characters in shirobako?

I heard from a friend today that there are real life counterparts to the cast
just like there are real life counterparts to the studios in the anime. My
friend said that he knows that at least the director and the mohawk production
assistant had real life counterparts.


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2015-04-04T05:05:10.230
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2016-10-25T09:42:38.770
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shirobako
Are there real life counterparts to the characters in the anime?


Oh boy, this is going to be a big answer eventually. There's a lot more than I
have here so far, but I need to go back and rewatch some of the episodes to
re-find some of the references. I'll continue to update this answer every so
often as I rewatch the show.

I don't know that there is an "official credible reference" (in fact, I
suspect that there is not and never will be such a thing because of how
Japanese media tends to pussyfoot around references to real-life
people/media/etc.), but some of the references to real-life people are
incredibly transparent if you know who they're referencing.

Miyamori and her four friends don't have real-life counterparts, but many of
the other characters most definitely do. Here are some of the ones I'm aware
of.

* * *

So, first off, Shirobako director Kinoshita Seiichi looks a lot like real-life
director [Mizushima
Seiji](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=3891) (and
their given names are eerily similar). I'm told that the director of Shirobako
(coincidentally named Mizushima Tsutomu) is buddies with Mizushima Seiji,
hence his appearing in the show as the director.

![Director](https://i.stack.imgur.com/21Fku.jpg)

The three Exodus lead voice actors - Nakaharu Mei (Akane), Kayana Mui
(Alpine), and Itou Suzuka (Aya) - are voiced by real-life voice actors
[Nakahara
Mai](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=438), [Kayano
Ai](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=91009), and
[Itou
Shizuka](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=17353).

![Exodus lead VAs](https://i.stack.imgur.com/gS93ql.jpg)

And, of course, veteran director Kanno Mitsuaki, the man behind Avangelion, is
none other than the master, [Anno
Hideaki](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=15).

![*vangelion](https://i.stack.imgur.com/39hA4l.jpg)


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This is a pretty old question, but let me answer. The OP might not need this
information anymore, but people who come by this website will.

I have two links.

First, [the character references to real life](http://kotaku.com/the-anime-
version-of-real-life-anime-creators-1697430522). This article is in English,
and shows the counterparts in real life to the characters in Shirobako. It is
just a quick overview.

The second one is in Japanese, but there are a lot of screenshots and images,
so you can probably view it. [Here it
is](http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2141700241478852401). This covers all,
literally all the references in the anime Shirobako. It starts off pretty
basic with the buildings and staff and all that, and then it gets really
detailed, like the coke bottle in the corner of the car, the Madoka Magica
doll on top of Miyamori's table, the car/bike brand names, the food brand
names and so on. There are 30 pages to that article.

I didn't know the small red thing on the table was a reference to Coke Cherry.
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EBw4M.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EBw4M.png)

Hooray for Shirobako for inserting so many references! [![Shirobako
Staff](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YcjxX.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YcjxX.jpg)


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