Analysis of local voice quality changes in Japanese anime voices

Japanese anime is noteworthy for being dubbed by professional voice actors and is unique in its vocal characteristics. In this study, we used recordings of anime lines performed by 11 students of voice actor course and conducted analysis on local changes in voice quality within an utterance. Different realizations of breathiness were observed, besides the use of strong inhalations at the end of phrases and sentences, especially in emotional expressions. Harshness was observed in utterances with excitement expressions. Furthermore, it was observed that most of the students show similar distributions and similar acoustic features to those of professional voice actors, suggesting that such local changes in voice quality at specific positions within an utterance are also important characteristics of Japanese anime voices, functioning as a resource of social meaning.