Kikunosuke Toya: Movies & Box Office

Kikunosuke Toya (戸谷 菊之介, Toya Kikunosuke; born November 30, 1998) is a Japanese voice actor affiliated with Sony Music Artists who has rapidly emerged as one of the most exciting new talents in the anime industry. Born in Tokyo, Japan and raised partly in Kanagawa Prefecture, Toya spent several years of his childhood in Thailand due to his parents' work, an international experience that helped shape his broad cultural perspective. He began playing the piano at the remarkably young age of three, and his musical talents led him to accompany a chorus competition during junior high school. He once unsuccessfully auditioned to play jazz piano for a school club. During high school, he posted covers on YouTube and Nico Nico Douga, served as the keyboardist of an all-male Princess Princess cover band, and participated in a volunteer comedy group that performed at school festivals and graduation parties.

After spending time in a high school drama club, where he was offered a lead role and the opportunity to write and direct a school festival class play, Toya auditioned for several comedians' offices and training schools. Realizing he could make people laugh through acting, he decided to pursue the profession. In October 2017, at the age of 18, he won the Special Award at Sony Music Artists' 6th Anistoteles audition, inspired by Inori Minase's win of the Anistoteles Grand Prix. This led him to choose voice acting as a career path. In 2019, he became part of the first graduating class of Megumi Ogata's private acting school Team BareboAt.

In October 2018, Toya was cast in DMM Games' Wind Boys! project, and in 2019, he appeared in the music video for Owarikara's song "Fetish!". His breakthrough came in 2022, when he landed his first main role as Denji, the titular protagonist of the hit anime Chainsaw Man, with Ogata herself providing words of encouragement. Anime News Network critic James Beckett praised Toya's performance, noting that he "nail[ed] Denji's particular mix of ferocity, mania, and brazen idiocy." Beyond Chainsaw Man, Toya has starred as Akira Kiyose in Sony Music Entertainment Japan's UniteUp! project (where he also performed the theme song "Unite Up!" as part of the unit Protostar), Donny in Four Knights of the Apocalypse, Shohei Usami in The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity, Mikoto Yuzuki in The Yuzuki Family's Four Sons, and Fubuki in The Elusive Samurai. He also stars as Minoru Kudou in the third season of The Irregular at Magic High School and Hadis Teos Rave in The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor. In November 2023, he was a guest at the North American premiere of Four Knights of the Apocalypse at Anime NYC. In 2024, he was nominated for Best Voice Artist Performance (Japanese) at the 8th Crunchyroll Anime Awards and won Best New Actor at the 18th Seiyu Awards, later also winning at the 20th Annual Seiyu Awards in 2026.