Justin Briner is an American voice actor. He has provided voices for English-language versions of Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

films and television series with

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

. He is best known for his roles as Izuku "Deku" Midoriya in ''

My Hero Academia is a Japanese superhero manga series written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 2014, with its chapters additionally collected into ...

'', Mikaela Hyakuya in ''

Seraph of the End is a Japanese dark fantasy manga series written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto with storyboards by Daisuke Furuya. The series is set in a world that allegedly comes to an end at the hands of a "human-made" virus, ra ...

'', Maki Katsuragi in ''

Stars Align is a Japanese original anime television series written and directed by Kazuki Akane at studio Eight Bit. The series aired from October 10 to December 26, 2019. On January 31, 2020, it was announced that there would be a Special Collaboration ...

'', Qwenthur Barbotage in ''

Heavy Object is a Japanese light novel series, written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Ryō Nagi. ASCII Media Works published the series in twenty volumes from 2009 to 2021 under their Dengeki Bunko label. It has received three manga adaptations. A ...

'', Alfonso San Valiante in '' Garo: The Animation'', Luck Voltia in ''

Black Clover is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūki Tabata. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since February 2015, with its chapters collected in 33 ''tankōbon'' volumes ...

'', Kensuke Hanasaki in ''

Trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwi ...

,'' Ichi in the game '' Cibele'', Shō Kusakabe from ''

Fire Force is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Atsushi Ohkubo. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from September 2015 to February 2022, with its chapters collected in thirty-four '' ...

'' and Hanako/Amane Yugi from ''

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by AidaIro. It has been serialized in Square Enix's magazine ''Monthly GFantasy'' since 2014. It has been collected in eighteen ''tankōbon'' volumes as of August 2022. The story follows Nen ...

''.

Biography

Justin Briner was born and raised in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He has a younger sister, Hayley Briner. He attended the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

and studied theater prior to finding voice acting work. In 2015, he starred as the voice of Mikaela Hyakuya, one of the two main teenage orphans who turns into a vampire in the anime series ''

'', which was released through Funimation's broadcast dub service. He voiced

Elam Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretc ...

, a boy who serves Arslan's main party member Narsus, in ''

The Heroic Legend of Arslan is a Japanese fantasy novel series written by Yoshiki Tanaka. It was published from 1986 to 2017, with sixteen novels and one side-story in the official guidebook ''Arslan Senki Dokuhon''. Set in ancient Persia, it is loosely based on the ...

''. He voiced main protagonist Qwenthur Barbotage in the mech-themed anime show ''

''. A reviewer wrote on Anime UK News that she was impressed with the quality of the dub and that Briner and fellow voice actor

Micah Solusod Micah Solusod is an American voice actor. His best-known role in anime has been the title character Soul Evans in '' Soul Eater'', which was broadcast on Adult Swim's programming block ''Toonami''. He debuted as Malek Yildrim Werner in ''Blassr ...

"have a lot to do with how instantly likably the characters come across, which helps carry the whole show". In video games, Briner voiced Ichi, the love interest of the main character, in '' Cibele'', an indie video game about developing an

online relationship An internet relationship is a relationship between people who have met online, and in many cases know each other only via the Internet. Online relationships are similar in many ways to pen pal relationships. This relationship can be romantic, plato ...

. ''Cibele'' won a

Nuovo Award The Nuovo Award or Innovation Award is an award given at the Independent Games Festival (IGF), an annual event that takes place during the Game Developers Conference, one of the largest gatherings of the indie video game industry. The award is ...

at 2016

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

, and made Briner's name known in mainstream news. In ''

'', Briner voiced the lead character

Izuku Midoriya , also known by his hero name , is a superhero and the main protagonist of the manga series ''My Hero Academia'', created by Kōhei Horikoshi. In the series, he is an ambitious first-year high schooler and the 9th (and current) holder of "One ...

, a middle school student who was not born with superhero powers but lives in a superhero-based world, and is recruited to enroll in a school for superheroes. Alex Osborn of

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

described his performance as excellent and standout, while Tom Speelman of

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...

noted that he and his Japanese counterpart "nail the optimistic nerdiness and heroic attitude" with Briner "channeling a bit of

Morty Smith Mortimer Chauncey "Morty" Smith, Sr. is one of the eponymous characters from the American animated television series ''Rick and Morty''. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, and voiced by the former, Morty is a 14-year-old boy loosely ins ...

for good measure". The series has run for six seasons, with Briner and fellow voice actor

Christopher Sabat Christopher Robin Sabat is an American voice actor, voice director, ADR engineer, and line producer working for Funimation, and OkraTron 5000. Some of his prominent roles in animations and anime include Vegeta and Piccolo in '' Dragon Ball'', R ...

doing panels and interviews at anime conventions including

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first we ...

and

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is co ...

regarding their work on the show. Briner has continued to voice lead and main characters in other anime shows. He voiced Alfonso San Valiante the crown prince in the first '' Garo: The Animation'' series, which Robert Prentice of Three If By Space described the English cast "a great lineup", in particular highlighting Briner. In 2016, voiced

Lance A lance is a spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier ( lancer). In ancient and medieval warfare, it evolved into the leading weapon in cavalry charges, and was unsuited for throwing or for repeated thrusting, unlike si ...

in the anime adaptation of '' Puzzle & Dragons X,'' and

Nasu no Yoichi (c. 1169 – c. 1232) was a ''samurai'' who fought alongside the Minamoto clan in the Genpei War. He is particularly famous for his actions at the Battle of Yashima in 1185. According to the ''Heike Monogatari'', the enemy Taira placed a fan at ...

in the alternate history anime '' Drifters''. In the prison comedy ''

Nanbaka , also known as ''Nanbaka - The Numbers'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shō Futamata. An anime television series adaptation by Satelight aired between 5 October 2016 and 22 March 2017. The title is a play on words, ...

'', his vocal performance was described as "more awestruck and childlike" than that of the original Japanese counterpart. Anne Laurenroth of Anime News Network found Briner's portrayal of Kensuke Hanasaki in ''

'' helped prevent his pre-backstory character from getting overly annoying. Briner has also been involved in the production side as the head writer on the ADR script for '' Rio: Rainbow Gate''. In 2017, he voiced lead characters Haruki Mishima in '' Convenience Store Boy Friends'', Tazuna Takatsuki in ''

Hand Shakers is a Japanese action anime television series produced by GoHands with collaboration of production company Frontier Works and publisher Kadokawa. It aired from January 10 to March 28, 2017. A sequel named '' W'z'', which is set a decade after t ...

'', and Ernesti "Eru" Echavalier in ''

Knight's & Magic is a Japanese light novel series written by Hisago Amazake-no and illustrated by Kurogin. The series tells the story of a young Japanese man who dies in a car accident and reincarnates as a child in an alternate world where magic and gian ...

''. In the same year, he landed the lead role of Justice "Seigi" Akatsuka in ''

Taboo Tattoo is a Japanese action ''seinen'' manga series written and illustrated by Shinjirō. It was serialized by Media Factory in its ''Monthly Comic Alive'' magazine between November 2009 and June 2017. The series was compiled into thirteen volumes b ...

''.

Filmography

Anime

Films

Web series

Video games

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Briner, Justin Living people American male video game actors American male voice actors Male actors from Baltimore Male actors from Texas People from Denton, Texas Twitch (service) streamers University of North Texas alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American male actors