

Seeing [Majikoi S in VNDB](https://vndb.org/v6245), the seiyuu for Kawakami
Momoyo and Christiane Friedrich is written as Kamishiro Misaki and Misaki Rina
respectively. People that is not too into seiyuu might not know, but the
seiyuu-otaku are very likely to know that they [Kamishiro Misaki is Asawaka
Yuu](https://vndb.org/s81) and [Misaki Rina is Itou
Shizuka](https://vndb.org/s516). The first is even more easily recognizable by
non-seiyuu-otaku and non-anime-otaku since she is the voice provider for the
VOCALOID Megurine Luka.

Heck, even people that doesn't know this would be able to find it relatively
easily with some Googling. I tried entering the name Kamishiro Misaki in
Google and the 5th entry states Asakawa Yuu's name.

[![Kawashiro Misaki on
Google](https://i.stack.imgur.com/V1dVr.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/V1dVr.png)

Misaki Rina is even worse. It clearly shows that Misaki Rina is Itou Shizuka.

[![Misaki Rina on
Google](https://i.stack.imgur.com/FlA8d.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/FlA8d.png)

If they are relatively unknown seiyuu, then it can be said that they use such
alias so that later when they finally get famous people wouldn't link them to
their previous work as eroge seiyuu. But these two are famous seiyuu even
during the time Majikoi S was released. Also the Majikoi anime was aired
between 2 Oct 2011 and 18 Dec 18 2011, while Majikoi S was released in 27
January 2012. Given that

  * those 2 reprise their role in the anime,
  * they voiced it the same as when they voice the character in the Visual Novel,
  * and that the anime clearly stated that Christiane Friedrich is Itou Shizuka and Kawakami Momoyo is Asakawa Yuu,

it doesn't take a genius to figure that it is them.

This is apparently common in female seiyuus while many male seiyuus use their
usual name even when voicing eroge. For example the [BL Emperor, Toshiyuki
Morikawa](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/36047/who-is-the-emperor-
of-bl), uses his name, [Toshiyuki Morikawa in most of his Visual Novel
works](https://vndb.org/s53) even if the said work is a R-18+, such as [Gin no
Kanmuri Ao no Namida](https://vndb.org/v1781).

Most, if not all famous female seiyuus use alias to voice R-18+ games.
Examples other than Itou Shizuka and Asakawa Yuu would be [Sato
Rina](https://vndb.org/s360), [Goto Yuko](https://vndb.org/s833), all use an
alias when doing most of their eroge works.

My question is, since it is clear that it is them, why do most popular female
seiyuu still bother using alias when voicing eroge?


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culture voice-acting
Why do seiyuu famous for doing eroge still use alias?


H-actors and eroge seiyuus indeed use aliases because of following reasons:

**1\. Avoiding union penalties and expulsion (legal reason)**

The [Screen Actors Guild](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_Actors_Guild)
(SAG-AFTRA) is a union most voice actors comes under. SAG-AFTRA forces their
members to only take on union work. This is how the union makes sure that its
members get paid fairly, have good working conditions and aren’t taken
advantage of.

The problem with hentai voice actors is that hentai sometimes don’t meet SAG-
AFTRA's standards for working conditions and pay ([as little as $150 to $450
per video](https://vocal.media/filthy/11-shocking-facts-about-the-hentai-
industry-you-didn-t-know)). In those situations, there are willing buyers (the
studio or small business hiring a voice actor) and willing sellers (the voice
actor wanting to do the work). So it can make sense to use an alias to
sidestep the issue which means that if a voice actor wants to do non-union
work, being credited in their real name could cause them to be in breach of
their contract with SAG-AFTRA. Being in breach of contract with SAG-AFTRA can
result in a fine. Actors can also be expelled from the union, which can make
it a lot harder for you to get work from companies contracted to SAG-AFTRA.

**2\. Using unique name/aliases/stage name to avoid personal or professional
confusion**

Sometimes one might have a common name/surname. In order to tackle any
personal or professional confusion (getting confused with other actors), they
use stage name or aliases. Using a stage name can help one distinguish the
work life with personal life and also can use the name to make it as a "brand"
(actors can become famous by that name and people can recognize with this name
rather than the personal name).

**3\. To protect their identity and professional career due to nature of the
work**

Using an alias has an advantage for h-actors because they can hide their
identity due to nature of work being "adult oriented". Voice actors are
extremely popular in Japan and have a huge fan following which also includes
some messed up people like stalkers and their name can reveal a lot about them
so the information can be easily misused ([more than 20000 stalking cases
reported to Japanese police in 2020](https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-
data/h01040/)).

This can also be a way for the actor to do any non h-work work without future
clients knowing about the work in the past and avoiding any miscommunication
because some company feel strongly against h-work. It can also protect
themselves from exposure from any "bad/low-budget h-projects". A lot of
independent clients can easily find the gigs with a quick Google, it could
reflect badly on the actor.

**References**

  1. [Why Do Voice Actors Use Aliases?](https://moonlightingvoice.com/why-do-voice-actors-use-aliases/)
  2. [Why do people use aliases and pen names?](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12753)
  3. [Why do anime actors go by different names in different anime](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20079&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0)
  4. [H-anime voice actors](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18705)
  5. [Why do some anime voice actors hide or do not reveal their name, even though people know its them?](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/9jt45w/why_do_some_anime_voice_actors_hide_or_do_not/)
  6. [Why seiyuu (voice actress) in Japan always use a stage name instead of their real name?](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/65l3ay/why_seiyuu_voice_actress_in_japan_always_use_a/)
  7. [anyone know the reason why voice actor for anime usually use fake names instead of their real name?](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/48h8sx/anyone_know_the_reason_why_voice_actor_for_anime/)


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