Several industry professionals have recently announced that they are expecting children. Voice actor Azumi Asakura (Asia from High School DxD , Yukiho from The [email protected] ) announced on her blog on Friday that she is pregnant with her first child, while actor Hiro Mizushima (Sebastian from the live-action Black Butler film, Souji from Kamen Rider Kabuto) announced on Instagram on April 26 that he is expecting his second child.

Mizushima is married to pop singer Ayaka, and their first child was born in 2015. The couple married in 2009 after meeting the previous year while working on the Absolute Boyfriend live-action drama. Mizushima starred as Soshi Asamoto in the Japanese adaptation and Ayaka performed the theme song for the series. Ayaka later announced she was diagnosed with Graves' disease, an autoimmune disease, and took time off of her career before making a steady comeback with the advice of her doctors.

Ayaka wrote in her pregnancy announcement post on Instagram on April 26 that the child is expected in fall.

Asakura announced her marriage to an unnamed company employee in 2017. In her blog post announcing her pregnancy, she wrote that she would continue to work while consulting with doctors about her health so as not to push herself too hard.