You may have noticed that many male anime characters are voiced by women. But why is that?
Every anime fan has their own preferred way of watching their favorite series. Some prefer to watch the original version, while others prefer the dub. Regardless of which camp you belong to, you may have noticed something peculiar.
In both the original versions and some English translations, some of the most well-known male anime characters are actually voiced by female actors. This includes Dragon Ball's Son Goku, Naruto, and Luffy from One Piece. But why is that the case?
The Reason Why Male Anime Characters Are Often Voiced By Women
The most well-known and somewhat adorable example is Son Goku from Dragon Ball, voiced in Japanese by Masako Nozawa, a now 87-year-old lady. But even in the English version, Goku's voice is provided by a woman. Stephanie Nadolny voices the Dragon Ball hero in the English dub.
Dragon Ball is not the only Anime where women voice act male characters. It's not a coincidence, but actually has some pretty good reasons behind it.
Most anime series where this happens are those in which we meet the character as a child or teenager and follow their journey. In order to give them an authentic voice and not make them sound older than they are, male voice actors are often not cast for these roles.
Now, you might wonder why not just cast male teenagers for these roles. This can be explained by the fact that time in the anime series in question often passes much slower than our RL time. If the teenage actors age faster than their anime character, their voice may no longer match. Additionally, producers often want to avoid confusing viewers when the voice changes.
If you're interested, here are more examples where female voice actors take on male roles:
- Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece: Mayumi Tanaka in Japanese and Colleen Clinkenbeard in English
- Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto: Junko Takeuchi in Japanese and Maile Flanagan in English
- Conan Edogawa from Detective Conan: Minami Takayama in Japanese and Wendee Lee in English
- Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist: Romi Park in Japanese
- Gon Freecss from Hunter X Hunter: Junko Takeuchi in Japanese and Elinor Holt in English
Has that ever caught your attention? What other examples can you think of? Write it in the comments!