What exactly is a “non-anime” sound?

These days, it’s somewhat common for audition breakdowns to include notes such as “we are looking for natural, grounded, non-anime reads” or “we are NOT looking for an anime sound”. This direction can be bewildering to a lot of actors—-after all, what exactly constitutes an “anime sound” and how does one avoid it?

First, let’s look at what is typically meant by an “anime sound” in general.

While many anime dubs have fantastic voice acting with lots of care put into the shows by directors and actors alike (and dubs these days do contain a variety of acting styles), English dubs can tend to suffer from a few pitfalls that don’t always translate well into other media such as Western cartoons or cinematic video games:

• Because the show has already been animated, the actors do not have any freedom when it comes to pacing. As opposed to an original animated (“pre-lay”) cartoon where the animation is done to the voice track, with dubbing, the visuals and mouth flaps are already set in place and must be matched exactly. This can sometimes result in a read not always sounding as “natural” as it could, especially if actors have to redo a take slowing down or speeding up in order to better fit the lip flaps.
  
  
• Due to these timing constraints, the writing is often affected as well. While many ADR writers put a lot of care and effort into the scripts they adapt, there’s only so much you can do when - for example - the end client wants something as close to the direct translation as possible, but there’s no way the direct translation is fitting lip flaps, so words either have to be substituted for longer words and padded out, or have an entire thought condensed into just a few words. It’s not always possible for the script to flow in a “natural, conversational” way when so much is dependent on lip flaps and the meaning doesn’t always translate the same way in English. If the line itself doesn’t sound natural, usually the performance of it won’t, either.
  
  
• To go along with the theme of “flow”, not only is each actor recording individually for anime (as opposed to some pre-lay cartoons where actors record together in a group), but depending on the studio and director, sometimes each individual line (“loop”) may be recorded one at a time in order to refine the timing or performance, especially if a particular line has tricky sync. However, when this line is part of a longer “run” of lines all said by the same character, the performance won’t always flow naturally from one line to the next, and may sound slightly disjointed or choppy.
  
  
• In general, the original Japanese performances in anime tend to skew bigger and over-the-top. The animation and mouth flaps often support these performances too, to where a more low-key conversational read might sound strange or jarring compared with the exaggerated visuals. There is typically more emphasis placed on matching original Japanese performance (by both anime fans and clients) than there was in the early days of English dubbing.
  

Certainly in this day and age, most dubs don’t really sound like this anymore, but there are certain stylistic habits that actors who do a lot of anime dubbing tend to fall into. Speaking heavily from personal experience as well as input from other actors and directors in the community, here are a few tips you can try if you find yourself getting stuck in the rut of “anime-sounding reads” or if you get this feedback from a coach or director:


Bring down your projection.

The base line for vocal projection in anime dubs and JRPGs tends to be higher than say, an AAA video game. Sometimes the projection can be done subconsciously by actors who are trying to match the read given by the original actor in the Japanese version. Other times, more “vocal support” might be requested by a director or engineer. Often, the reason for this is that in anime, the M&E (short for “music and effects”) can be quite loud and overpowering in a scene, and if the actor isn’t loud enough, simply raising their volume in post can make their line sound out of place within the scene, or even introduce unwanted noise if the actor is recording remotely.

However, if you listen to on-camera actors talking in a live-action TV show or movie, you’ll notice they’re not shouting at each other unless the scene necessitates it (for example, they’re at a party and having to project over the crowd). They just sound like normal people (or in fact, may even sound like they are mumbling sometimes.) So if your goal is “conversational”, part of this means not projecting your voice too loudly unless there is an actual reason for it in the scene. “To me it reads the same as dialing it back. Dial it down from an 11 to a 5/6. I've had years of practice from theatre, but to describe it would be to sit with it more, think/wander, be imperfect, whereas anime reads tend to be more laser-focused and going from beat to beat,” says Brittany Ann Phillips. (We’ll cover more on “dialing it back” in terms of the emotions of the read in a later section of this article.)


Relax your enunciation.

Actors who come up in anime and JRPG circles tend to have “good diction” pounded into them since Day 1. Clarity tends to be highly emphasized in these projects, and it’s not uncommon to be asked to redo a line because “we didn’t quite hear the T at the end of the word ‘right’” or “the ‘sts’ sound isn’t coming through clearly enough on words like ‘beasts’ or ‘ghosts’.” If any word sounds slightly muddy or words are run together too much, you’ll likely be asked for a retake. After getting a lot of these notes over time, it’s easy to get into the habit of overemphasizing consonants when acting and making sure every syllable of every word is said clearly and loudly enough.

However, in real life, people generally don’t speak this way. Think about how you sound when just talking to your friends or family—-you can still be understood, but chances are you speak in a slightly lazier and more casual manner than you do when reading out loud. For example, a phrase like "I don't know" may come out more like "Iunno", a phrase like "probably wouldn't want to" becomes "problywouldnwanna", etc. There’s of course a healthy balance, as even with more “conversational” reads it’s important that the audience can still understand you, and obviously if you flub a word you’ll need to redo it regardless, but if you find yourself focusing very closely on diction, this may be one of the reasons your reads are clocked as sounding “too anime”.

Learning and practicing good diction is still essential in voiceover, so it may seem odd to take everything you learned and essentially throw it away. Don’t worry: your training and practice will still serve you well in ensuring you can clean up your reads and enunciate well when needed, but turn it off when you don’t.


Avoid overemphasizing your words too much.

This is a bit of a weird one, but another trait that’s often associated with the “anime” speaking style is the tendency to “punch” certain words in a sentence. To better illustrate this concept, try taking this line and reading it two ways out loud using the emphasis indicated in the text:

Overexaggerated speech: “I DON’T think it’s very SMART of us to DO such a dangerous THING.”
Natural speech: “I don’t think it’s very smart of us to do such a dangerous thing.”

Now, this is of course exaggerated for learning purposes, and you’d rarely ever actually be asked to read the line the first way! But it really does illustrate how forcing emphasis on too many words takes you from sounding like a normal person to an over-the-top shounen protagonist! Unless you are specifically directed otherwise, read the line naturally and let any emphasis fall where it may.


Flatten out your speaking cadence.

With anime voice acting, it’s easy to fall into certain speaking patterns, namely those that sound too “musical” or even sing-songy. These speech patterns are a dead giveaway of what many casting directors think of as an “anime sound” and may be detrimental if they’re specifically NOT looking for that sound.

Kim Morton explains that when casting, “I am genuinely looking for more grounded reads. Specifically, I'm looking for undertones. Can you carry two emotions at once, can you bury an emotion in a more casual read, can you let an emotion influence a line that wouldn't usually carry that emotion, can you speak without falling into patterns, stuff like that. I put a lot more emphasis on the ability to deliver casual conversation than to give big emotional beats.”

In a Twitter thread by a casting director about “real vs anime” reads, voice actor Kaiji Tang offers a very valuable perspective: “Generally ‘real’ is shorthand for We want you to sound like you're speaking to a real person and not matching flaps. Folks who do anime tend to develop an "accent", purely from the muscle memory of constantly fitting story telling music to lip flap. It's hard to break the habit depending on how much anime you do, and some folks don't even hear the accent in their reads anymore. Anime acting requires you to sharply slope music constantly to fit the localized American storytelling into Japanese lip flaps, so you become a bit more focused on getting the story of the read right rather than the naturality.”

If you find yourself often defaulting to these certain cadences in your reads, one exercise that you can try with yourself is to first speak the line in a completely flat manner with no inflection, just to get yourself “out of the read”. Then, try another take where you slowly add a bit more inflection but force yourself to do something different or even completely opposite from what you did for your initial read. You may find that you open your eyes to new ways the line can be interpreted.


Don’t stress too much about voice print or achieving a technically “perfect” sound.

Anime and localized media in general often favors clean and clear voices, especially for younger protagonists. This can mean that actors work hard to meticulously avoid any gravel/texture/rasp in their voices. If an actor’s voice cracks while yelling, they may be asked to retake the line until they are able to get a clean and technically perfect take.

Because voice print is often heavily considered in localized casting (as you’re often - at least to some extent - vocally matching the actor from the original language), a lot of emphasis can be placed on maintaining vocal consistency, especially if you’re doing a voice that’s quite different from your own. If you’re suspected of getting “off voice” too much, the director will typically play your reference file to make sure that you’re staying in character and not straying too far back into your own speaking voice. This makes sense from a technical perspective when working with localized media and wanting to make sure that the character sounds consistent throughout all of their speaking lines.

But (noticing a theme here?) this isn’t really a thing in real life. As humans, our voice pitches naturally rise and fall based on all sorts of circumstances. If someone is highly emotional, or if they’re shouting urgently, their voice may crack, and that’s normal. So if the goal is to “sound like a real person”, don’t obsess over keeping your voice in the exact same spot vocally on every line (although you obviously don't want to stray so far that it starts sounding out of character), and just focus on the emotions your character is feeling in the scene. “I think some of it comes down to focusing less on the voice and reminding yourself that the acting should be front and center, and [that] our experiences in life can allow us to bring depth to those performances. It's like the old saying goes, lead with good acting and the voice will follow,” says Jeff Burns.

Another trick that can help, if the read calls for it and it feels natural to you, is to add “pre-life” (sighs, breaths, “um”s, “uh”s, or other nonverbals) at the start of or between sentences. When you think about it, real people aren’t always articulate with their thoughts, and this sometimes comes through in film and TV acting styles. People may stutter, pause while they think of what they’re trying to say, add filler words, etc. Obviously, this is a luxury one doesn’t have in anime because of the need to match lip flaps, so allowing yourself these little imperfections (where it makes sense to - don’t force it!) can move you distinctly away from what might be considered an “anime” sound. “For me, I’ll approach the material the way I imagine it being filmed on-set; is this a moment done in close-up - intimate, or from a distance? I’ll often allow myself more stuttered, naturalistic pacing and non-verbals, since one thing dubbing definitely doesn’t allow for is setting your own pace for the dialogue,” says Alex Weitzman.

A note some directors will give is “it doesn’t have to sound pretty”. Let raw emotions come through in your read. Allow yourself to embrace imperfections and be human.


Avoid exaggerated displays of emotion (this is a big one).

If you watch on-camera actors, their mannerisms and expressions are often subtle, because they know the camera will pick up their intent without the need to hammer it in, as opposed to anime which will “highlight stakes to 11” as pointed out by Richie Tavake. On-camera actors’ spoken dialogue tends to be more subtle also, as they are able to use their facial expressions and body language to supplement the emotions their character is feeling.

Even though you won’t be able to rely on these physical cues as a voice actor, if you’re struggling with over-emoting, remember that even in an animated medium, the visuals will still carry a lot of the story. You don’t need to hammer the viewer over the head with every emotion your character is supposed to be feeling, just as we don’t exaggerate our emotions this way in real life. If you’re in the headspace of your character, trust that the intent of your lines will come through. “Some shows call for a specific exaggerated tone, and a lot of others don't, but all need to be believeable,” says Bunny Dark.




Throw out preconceived ideas about how nonverbal efforts should “sound” when voice acting.

In anime, certain nonverbal efforts become almost “formulaic”, with a classic example being the “Anime Gasp” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZT604JWkxA). According to Erin Nicole Lundquist, “While there is a stereotype to an “anime sound” which many modern productions have moved away from, there are still expected tropes and efforts that are unique to the anime genre that don’t appear in other arms of voice work. An example of this is the difference between a live action or video game “gasp” and an anime “gasp.” It is expected in anime dubbing that you will give that “cough-gasp” that is so common place in anime that it’s the expected reaction whereas in the live action dub you will want to make the gasp sound as true-to-life as possible.”
Gasps aside, anime in general tends to favor “clean” and high-energy effort sounds. What you do with the sound will of course depend on who your character is and the context of the scene, but some things to play with to break yourself out of the “anime rut” on efforts might be to experiment with a little less projection, or if the scene does call for high energy, make it sound a little more gritty and real rather than technically clean and perfect. Think about the sounds of a real-life street fight and how they would differ than those of a shounen anime battle!


Listen to real people talk.

As silly as this may sound, sometimes it’s the simplest solution! If you’re watching a lot of anime and playing a lot of JRPGs, it can be easy to pick up those speaking styles and habits when acting. This isn’t always a bad thing, as it can help you with learning and exploring different archetypes (“good actors borrow, great actors steal”) but sometimes it helps to go back to square one.

Here’s a common example. If you are an adult looking to voice child or teenage characters, your first instinct is probably to alter the pitch of your voice to “sound younger”. Let’s use the example of young boy characters. For masculine voices, the instinct is to pitch one’s voice up higher, which often results in an unpleasant falsetto sound. For feminine voices, the instinct is often to add texture/gravel, but this can hurt one’s voice if done incorrectly. But if you listen to real kids talk, girls don’t always have high-pitched voices and boys don’t always have raspy voices! Listen to how your younger siblings or neighbors talk, or if you’re not around any kids or teens in real life, go on YouTube or TikTok and watch vlogs. This can work for any age range you are trying to match—-if the goal is to sound natural, the best way to achieve that is to listen what people in that age range actually sound like. Remember, chances are a 16-year-old in anime is going to sound very different from a 16-year-old in a live action movie!


But remember that “natural and grounded” doesn’t necessarily have to mean “boring, flat, or devoid of uniqueness”.

One of the issues with the constant insistence that reads and voices must sound “natural” is that human voices come in a variety of pitches, tones, and cadences. Some people naturally have a high and young-sounding voice, a more animated speaking style, and/or certain inflections and pronunciations based on where they grew up, and that doesn't automatically mean they sound "anime". While it’s important that actors’ reads must stylistically match the tone of the project and the rest of the cast, casting directors should also take care to not automatically disregard those with less common voice prints.

Lily Emil Lammers points out that comments in casting sides like “no put-on voices” can be confusing to transgender, non-binary, or otherwise gender-nonconforming voice talent. “Many trans actors work hard to achieve a voice that feels more like them, is that put on? If not, is it put on when they do a voice that matches someone's perception of their AGAB [assigned gender at birth]? Is it put on when I answer the phone and my voice pitches up? Should I only audition with my "natural voice"? Okay... then what is my natural voice???” Kim Morton adds that if your voice tone doesn’t happen to match the tone a casting director is seeking, they “can decide your voice sounds forced, even if it IS natural. It can be a bummer to think about, so I kinda try not to during auditions and just give my best.”


Note that heightened acting styles have their place, aren’t necessarily bad, and sometimes just come down to the style and tone of the project.

Ultimately, good acting comes down to believability, and whether or not something sounds believable can vary based on the character and medium. There are some styles of projects where flat or overly “grounded” reads would simply be a mismatch with the visuals and animation and feel out of place. “For me personally, I take it with a grain of salt because it really does seem to mean something different to every actor and every casting director. As others have said, anime has a HUGE variety of styles. I also have yet to see an anime that fully uses film-style reads, mainly because... it doesn't work?” notes Lily Emil Lammers, who has studied and auditioned for both voiceover and on-camera projects. “A good actor can do both, and knows when to.”

At the end of the day, most of the time when “non-anime” is noted in an audition side, it mainly means that they don’t want reads that sound forced, overexaggerated, or unnatural in terms of line deliveries. Don’t get so hung up on trying to avoid an “anime” sound at all cost that you send out an audition you feel sounds off or doesn’t match the style of the project. For example, sometimes JRPG auditions will have this note, but still cast performances that are animated and high-energy. This article is aimed to help give you more tools as an actor to dissect where you might be falling into certain habits, and how to break them when a read specifically calls for it.

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