Female Voice Actors in Male Anime Roles

[Mark Nornes]

Having just written about dubbing, I can tell you that the practice  
seems to have evolved for practical reasons. Dubbing takes great  
skill (at least as it's done in anime and certain dubbing countries  
like Germany, Canada, Czech Rep., etc.), and few young people are up  
to the challenge. Second, schooling has always presented problems for  
film industries. Best to use someone who doesn't need TLC.

markus



On Apr 9, 2007, at 3:50 AM, Alex Zahlten wrote:

> I just wanted to add that it is certainly not a practice exclusive  
> to Japan. In Germany, where the great majority of films are dubbed,  
> not subtitled, it is very common especially for young boys' roles  
> to be spoken by female voice actors. It is very obvious as well,  
> and as a child I often wondered why something like this was being  
> done (it apparently disturbed my realist sensibilies).
>
> Alex
>
>
>
>
> -------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Mon, 9 Apr 2007 04:39:56 +0900 (JST)
> Von: Akiko Sugawa-Shimada <akiss00999 at yahoo.co.jp>
> An: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> Betreff: Re: Female Voice Actors in Male Anime Roles
>
>> Yes, it is very common in Japan.  It's simply because many female
>> voice actors have low-tone, high-pitched voices, which pretty fit
>> voices of many boys' characters.  Suzukaze Mayo is an exception,
>> because she is originally from Takarazuka, not a voice actor.  But
>> when she was in Takarazuka, she played male roles.  So, there are
>> still many fans of hers, who love her playing male parts (or
>> voices.)
>>
>> And just for a trivial note, we used to have 'Ogata Megumi Boom' in
>> the early 90s when she played Kurama of YuYuHakusho.  (She is famous
>> for the voice of Shinji of Neon Genesis Evangelion as somebody
>> mentioned.)  Her 'feminine boyish' voice attracted many female fans,
>> who also loved Kurama himself.
>>
>> Another famous voice actress who is famous for boy's voices is
>> Tanaka Mayumi, who plays Lufi of ONE PIECE.  But she also plays
>> female roles often.  This surprises many fans as well.
>>
>> Akiko
>>
>> --- Silvia Groniewicz <sil at blackbox.net> wrote:
>>
>>> I agree that is is actually pretty common. Especially young
>>> males are
>>> often voiced by female voice actors (the main characters from
>>> Hagane no
>>> Renkinjutsu, Hikaru no Go, Hunter X Hunter to name just a
>>> few), children
>>> of course (Conan from Meitantei Conan, Chiriko from Fushigi
>>> Yuugi,
>>> Momiji from Fruits Basket) and the occasional adult male with
>>> very
>>> child-like or feminine features (see Kenshin, Satoshi from
>>> Gakuen Heaven).
>>>
>>> To get an idea how common it is, just try browsing through the
>>> top 200
>>> titles on http://www.animenfo.com. They always list at least a
>>> few of
>>> the voice actors and it's not difficult to see in which cases
>>> females
>>> get chosen for male roles.
>>>
>>> Best Regards,
>>> Silvia Groniewicz
>>>
>>> Michael McCaskey wrote:
>>>> When I was doing a class on "Samurai X" recently, I realized
>>> for the first time that the Kenshin Japanese voice is that of
>>> a female voice actor.
>>>>
>>>> All of the Japanese Kenshin voice roles were done by
>>> Sukukaze Mayo. But when Sukukaze appears in live action films,
>>> she plays female roles. Her other anime voice roles are also
>>> as women - except possibly in the anime Blackjack: The Movie
>>> (1996), where she does the voice of Joe Carol Brain, and I'm
>>> not sure yet whether that is a male or a female part.
>>>>
>>>> The English Kenshin voices are done by Richard Hayworth, and
>>> in some cases by another male voice actor.
>>>>
>>>> The only other similar case I can readily think of is
>>> Otomo's anime "Steamboy," where the lead young male role of
>>> Ray Steam is voiced in Japanese by Anne Suzuki, and in English
>>> by Anna Paquin.
>>>>
>>>> Does anyone know if it's fairly commonplace to use female
>>> voice actors for male anime character roles? Or is it quite
>>> unusual?
>>>>
>>>> One of my students wants to know, and I have no satisfactory
>>> answer for him as yet.
>>>>
>>>> Maybe 15 years ago, I used to hear a female storyteller on
>>> NHK, I think once a week. She voiced both males and females in
>>> her stories. I realize now that the male voicing I heard was
>>> close to the Kenshin voice.
>>>>
>>>> Michael McCaskey
>>>> Georgetown Univ.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ******
>> Akiko Sugawa-Shimada
>> akiss00999 at yahoo.co.jp
>>
>> --------------------------------------
>> Protect Your PC Now ! -  0 yen Security Campaign
>> http://pr.mail.yahoo.co.jp/premium/
>
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