is a Japanese voice actress from

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. She is currently affiliated with Just Production. Homoto is best known for her role as Lanzhu Zhong in ''

Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is a Japanese multimedia spin-off project from the ''Love Live!'' series and its game series ''Love Live! School Idol Festival (often abbreviated as ''LLSIF'' or ''Sukufesu'') is a Japanese rhythm game series. The first game, develop ...

''.

Personal life

Homoto was born in

Tottori Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, least populous prefecture of Japan at 538,525 (2023) and has a geographic area of . ...

and she grew up in Chiba,

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, and

. She is a

Hāfu is a Japanese language term used to refer to a person born in Japan with half-Japanese and half non-Japanese ancestry. The word can also be used to describe anyone with mixed-racial ancestry in general. As many consider Japan to be one of the m ...

with a Japanese father and a Chinese mother. Her father wanted her to learn Chinese, so they lived in Guangdong from 2004 to 2012. At that time, she used her Chinese name "Yang, Ming" (楊明). Most of the time, Homoto talks to members of her family with a combination of Chinese and Japanese. After she graduated from high school, Homoto gave up going to university and went to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

alone with 100000 JPY to pursue her dream of being a voice actress.

Career

Since she lived

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

from 2004 to 2012, Homoto can speak

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

fluently and knows some

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

. For the same reason, she debuted in as a Chinese—Linlin—through audition hosted on LINE. In 2020, Homoto started her YouTube channel and does live streaming on a weekly basis. Usually, the stream includes chatting, letter reading, Chinese teaching and guitar segments. Homoto is not only the voice actress for the Lanzhu Zhong character in ''

''. She is also a staff member under the sound cooperation unit in ''

Love Live! Superstar!! is a Japanese multimedia project co-developed by Kadokawa Corporation, music label Lantis, and animation studio Bandai Namco Filmworks (formerly known as Sunrise). The project is the third major and fourth overall installment in the ''Love Li ...

''. She helps translate Chinese and Japanese between

Liyuu Liyuu (born 9 January 1997) is a Chinese singer, voice actress and cosplayer who is affiliated with HoriPro International and signed to Lantis. Beginning her activities as a cosplayer before 2016 under the stage name 黎狱 (, pronounced same ...

and the director.

Filmography

Television anime

* ''

Dropkick on My Devil! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yukiwo. The series began serialization in Flex Comix's ' web magazine in April 2012. Twenty-five volumes have been released as of June 2025. An anime television series adaptation by ...

'' (2018–2020, Sister, Skull) * ''

'' (2021, Sound cooperation) * ''

Gunma-chan Gunma-chan (ぐんまちゃん, formerly known as Yūma-chan/ゆうまちゃん) is the fictional ''yuru-chara'' mascot of Gunma Prefecture. There are two official versions of the character. The original version The original Gunma-chan debut ...

'' (2021–2023, Honey Work D) * '' Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club 2nd Season'' (2022, Lanzhu Zhong) * '' Nijiyon Animation (2023, Lanzhu Zhong) * '' Chiikawa'' (2023, Gray's children)

Web anime

* ''Live Animation Heart X Algorhythm'' (2018–2019, Linlin, Kiilin)

Video games

* ''

Love Live! School Idol Festival All Stars (often abbreviated as ''LLSIF'' or ''Sukufesu'') is a Japanese rhythm game series. The first game, developed by KLab and published by Bushiroad's Bushimo, was released in Japan on April 15, 2013, for iOS and June 8, 2013, for Android (operatin ...

'' (2020–present, Lanzhu Zhong) *

Azur Lane ''Azur Lane'' () is a side-scrolling video game, side-scrolling shoot 'em up video game created by Chinese developers Shanghai Manjuu and Xiamen Yongshi, released in 2017 for the iOS and Android (operating system), Android operating sys ...

(2022–present, Harbin)

References

External links

Official agency profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Homoto, Akina 1996 births Living people Japanese video game actresses Japanese voice actresses Japanese people of Chinese descent Nijigasaki High School Idol Club members 21st-century Japanese actresses