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The sweet voice can be heard in a vast array of contexts—from video games, to television commercials, to public announcements. This analysis, however, focuses on the role of sweet voice in anime (Japanese animated films and television programs). Anime is a particularly suitable format in which to examine the sweet voice style for a number of reasons. From a practical perspective, it is difficult to acquire a large amount of high-quality data from other sources, such as public announcements. Anime has the advantage of not only providing a lot of speech data, but also data from many different speakers, and data from the same speakers using different styles as they portray different characters. Moreover, many of the professional voice actresses, or seiyuu, who perform in anime are also involved in producing sweet voice in other contexts; Ouhara Sayaka, for example, performs one of the voices included in the present anime study, does announcements for multiple train lines, and works as a radio DJ (Haikyou 2008). In terms of gaining insight into the sweet voice, anime is ideal because it provides two levels of context through which we may examine the sociopragmatic functions of this style: the function of the sweet voice within the program itself, and the evaluation of sweet voice and sweet voice characters by fans of the program. While the body of anime programs containing sweet voice encompasses a wide variety of genres and levels of sophistication, the role of sweet voice within these programs nonetheless follows certain recognizable patterns that reveal multiple underlying ideologies relating to gender, Japanese society, and the nature of the human voice and language. This analysis is usefully supplemented by a study of how these programs are perceived by audience members; anime fans are prolific analysers, debaters, and classifiers of characters and genres, creating a superstructure of meta-content and interpretation that can extend or subvert the structure of the original program. This fan-created superstructure can feed back into the creation of new anime programs, so that structures and ideologies of fan culture are integrated into the culture of the programs themselves. Thus, examining both the interior world of the program and the exterior world of fan evaluation is crucial in understanding the structures and styles found in anime. Sweet voice characters. After developing a sense of the physical properties of sweet voice, it is time to move on to examining how the sweet voice functions within the anime setting. Again, this analysis primarily makes use of the tenFemale characters with sweet voices appear in various genres of anime, including both male-oriented (shounen) and female-oriented (shoujo) programs, targeting multiple age ranges. In spite of this, certain commonalities exist among the characters who have sweet voices. Four general principles concerning sweet voice character traits can be outlined as follows.

i. Sweet voice characters are primarily (relatively) older women in positions of traditional female authority. The roles of the ten sweet voice characters in Table 1 include three mothers, two student council presidents, one older sister, two older girls, and one interior designer. Other sweet voice character occupations include teacher, school nurse, and goddess. The one nontraditional occupation in the ten performances is Carmen 99 (Gun X sword, 2005), a kind-hearted bounty hunter. ii. Sweet voice characters are extraordinarily beautiful. Due to the stylized nature of the representation of the human form in anime, it is often difficult to determine by looking at a character whether they are meant to be attractive. Thus, voice quality provides a valuable cue to the audience in determining how a character’s appearance is perceived by others. Characters with sweet voices are often beautiful to the degree that they elicit remarks of admiration, for example, “I’ve never seen such a beautiful creature before!” (Petopeto-san). Even mothers with sweet voice, who one might imagine are excluded from the heterosexual marketplace, are explicitly stated to be beautiful; in Tonari no Totoro, for example, the mother is asked by her young daughter if she will have hair as beautiful as hers one day. The use of beautiful here is crucially different from cute—sweet voice characters are not cute, but rather possess a mature, classical beauty. iii. Sweet voice characters are neither villainesses nor heroines. As illustrated in principle i, sweet-voiced women are generally positive supporting characters who take care of the protagonist (either male or female) in some fashion. These characters rarely undertake independent action, instead reacting to events around them, most often with calm resignation. iv. Sweet voice characters are sexualized yet ladylike. With the exception of the characters in young children’s films, the sweet voice characters have their sexuality highlighted in some respect, though their behavior is generally far from lewd. These characters also tend to dress conservatively, wearing long skirts. Of the ten sweet voice characters in Table 1, three are explicitly or implicitly nonheterosexual.

This study has explored the role of voice quality in the creation of style. Voice quality has a unique role to play in style, because its status as a feature considered to be beyond the realm of conscious control makes it a source of authenticity. Thus, voice quality can license particular linguistic behaviors, such as the use of Japanese Women’s Language, that would otherwise be seen as inauthentic. In the specific case of the sweet voice, a Japanese vocal style used by professional voice actresses rather than ordinary women, voice quality is a prominent factor in the evaluation of the characters and performers who make use of this style. Sweet voice contrasts with other feminine Japanese styles both in terms of its acoustic properties and due to its association with traditional notions of the ideal woman. Differences between sweet voice and other vocal styles remind us that there is more than one way of performing femininity in Japanese.

Edit Summary:

The researches of the usage of sweet voices inside anime symbolizes the fact that it’s more than just for voice actors/actresses to portray certain anime characters because it also reflects the anime market, social construction and Japanese traditional views of gender issues.