Rie Tanaka may be 40 years old, but that doesn’t mean she’s too old to bare her flesh. 

Voice actors – known as seiyuu in Japan –do a lot of work behind the scenes, bringing life to some of the country’s most beloved anime characters, and providing Japanese dubs for Hollywood movies.

While the characters they voice are often the stars of the show, there’s a lot of interest in the actors and actresses behind them too, and a number of seiyuu have come out with successful side careers in singing and modelling, with a fan base that eagerly laps up everything they do.

Rie Tanaka is one such actress, who’s given life to a bevy of characters ranging from Lacus Clyne in Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny to title character Neptune in the Hyperdimension Neptunia video game franchise, and even Amber Heard’s Mera in the the Japanese voice dub for Hollywood movie Aquaman.

▼ Tanaka at work in the studio.

She’s also a singer who’s released three albums and works as part of a singing trio called Steel Angels with two other voice actors, even releasing a photo collection together. However, it hasn’t been all roses for the Sapporo-born voice actress, as she split with fellow voice actor Koichi Yamadera, her husband of six years, in August 2018.

Still, the 40-year-old actress isn’t letting her divorce get her down, as she’s bounced back into the spotlight with a flesh-baring photo shoot that would put young, 20-something actresses to shame.

Tanaka happily shared some behind-the-scenes photos and videos from the shoot with her 314,000 followers online, hinting at a bigger project to come.

▼ “I’ll let you know what this photo shoot was for in the days to come! Look forward to it!”

https://twitter.com/tanakarie/status/1180403743927390209

While the photos of her in lacy blue and black lingerie would’ve been enough to set Tanaka’s fan world on fire, she followed up with some videos from the shoot as well.

https://twitter.com/tanakarie/status/1180402919855669248

▼ The room she was photographed in was almost as stunning as Tanaka herself.

https://twitter.com/vega_mao/status/1180416990160158720

▼ Tanaka looking much younger than her 40 years.

https://twitter.com/tanakarie/status/1180828311418597378

People online immediately jumped on the photos, with fans praising her for her beauty and confidence to step out in lingerie, while others criticised her for being “a middle-aged woman showing off her body”, and deriding the fact that “voice actresses seem to enjoy taking their clothes off these days”.

Tanaka knew the shoot would cause controversy among conservative types in Japan, yet she says she enjoyed dressing up in pretty lingerie for the shoot, and is looking forward to sharing more news about the shoot with her fans. And good for her, because as we know, you’re never too old to show off your beauty, whether you’re a 67-year-old former Miss Universe or a 55-year-old “eternal idol” lingerie model.

Source: Hachima Kikou
Featured image: Twitter/@tanakarie
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