Voices of anime stereotype, an academic study

Voices in Japanese Animation: A Phonetic Study of Vocal Stereotypes of Heroes and Villains in Japanese Culture

By
Mihoko Teshigawara
B.A., Nagoya University, Japan, 1996
M.A., Nagoya University, Japan, 1998

Abstract

The voices of heroes and villains in Japanese animation (anime) are thought to represent the vocal stereotypes of good and bad characters in Japanese culture. In this study,phonetic properties of the voices of heroes and villains in anime were examined.

Previous studies on vocal stereotypes reveal that people infer similar personality traits from voices. A few studies have investigated the acoustic correlates of personality in speech, and a few have examined auditory correlates identified by phoneticians; however, no study has investigated the correspondence among auditory correlates, acoustic correlates, and laypersons’ perceptions. This research attempts to fill these gaps in our knowledge by investigating the phonetic correlates of vocal stereotypes.

The rest of article can be accessed here.

It is pretty interesting look into more anime stereotypes.