Female Voice Actors in Male Anime Roles

Mon Apr 9 12:02:27 EDT 2007

Hi,

Can I ask a question or comments?  It is pretty common in Japan (or
other countries) that female voice actresses perform as young boys.  But
in case of Kenshin, Kenshin was old enough to be performed by a male
actor.  And while other female actor's voice sounds like young boy's,
Suzukaze sounded like a woman pretending to be a man.  I am not
complaining her performance (I like her performance in Black Jack and
Snow Queen), but I wonder if she was the best choice for Kenshin, or why
she was selected to perform a young samurai.

Michiko Ito
Japanese Studies Librarian
East Asian Library
University of Kansas Libraries
Watson Library
1425 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence KS 66045-7544
TEL: (785) 864-4669
FAX: (785) 864-3850

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
[mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] On Behalf Of Mark
Nornes
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 6:53 AM
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Re: Female Voice Actors in Male Anime Roles

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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