Anime Monologues for Auditions Vol. 7
Voice acting auditions reward specificity. Casting directors hear hundreds of voices saying the same lines, so what cuts through is the choice underneath the voice. Who is this character talking to, and why right now? Anime monologues let you stretch from whisper to scream in one breath, but anchor every shift in a real human want. Make it personal. Make it land.
Want to work with me one-on-one?
The Promise We Buried - Sora Akiyama - gentle grieving childhood friend
"I brought your favorite. (sets bento box on grave) The egg the way you liked it. Not the way it's supposed to be. The wrong way. (small laugh, sits) Mom asked who it was for. I told her. She didn't say anything. She just put extra in the box. (quiet) You said you'd come back. You stood right at that train station and you said, 'Wait for me, Sora, I'll figure it out.' (picks at grass) I waited. I waited through high school. I waited through college applications. I waited through three different boys who tried, who really tried, and I just... (voice catches) I couldn't. Because you said you'd come back. (looks up at sky) Then they sent the letter. (deep breath) I'm not angry at you. I'm angry at me. For believing a fourteen-year-old boy's promise like it was a contract with the universe. (soft smile) But I would believe it again. (touches stone) That's the worst part. I would believe it every time."
The Shop Stays Open - Master Bao Lin - cantankerous quirky shopkeeper
"OUT! Out, out, OUT! (shoos with broom) No browsing! This is not a library! This is not a museum! This is Master Bao's Antiquities and Curiosities, and you have been STARING at that scroll for forty minutes! (jabs broom) Buy it, hold it, kiss it goodbye, OUT! (catches breath) What? Speak up! Old ears! (beat, peers) You want to BUY it? (suddenly suspicious) Why? Who told you about this scroll? Was it Mei? It was Mei, wasn't it. That witch. She's been trying to undercut me for thirty years. (narrows eyes) This scroll is two hundred gold. (beat) You have two hundred gold? (snatches coin) This is real! This is REAL gold! (eyes wide) Wait. WAIT. (grabs his sleeve) Sit down, young man. SIT. (pulls out tea) Forget the scroll. The scroll is FAKE. I have something MUCH better in the back. (grins, missing teeth) For a customer of your... DISCERNMENT."
The Sky Belongs to Someone - Captain Ren Tokiwa - dashing reckless aviator
"Tower, this is Hawk Six, I see them. (grins behind oxygen mask) Six bandits. Four o'clock high. (pulls back stick) Yeah, I know my orders said withdraw. (banks sharply) I'm gonna ignore those orders. (checks instruments) Listen, kid. You ever been in love? (rolls aircraft) That's what flying is. It's love. It's the only honest thing left in this stupid war. The sky doesn't lie. The sky doesn't have politics. The sky just IS. (spots target) And those six bastards are putting their dirty boots on my sky. (arms guns) So this is what's gonna happen. I'm gonna take three of them in the first pass. Maybe four if I'm lucky. The rest of you boys clean up the scraps. (grins wider) Tell my sister I love her. Tell my CO he's a magnificent bastard. Tell that waitress at the airfield bar I'm sorry I never asked her name. (dives) HAWK SIX, ENGAGING! HAHAHAA! THIS IS WHY I WAS BORN!"
A Letter Never Sent - Yumi Hoshino - timid socially-anxious bookworm
"I, um. I wrote you a letter. (holds envelope, hands trembling) I wrote it... seventy-two times. I have all the drafts. In a box. Under my bed. (quiet laugh) I numbered them. So I could track which feelings were getting closer to the truth. (stares at envelope) The first one was just 'hello.' That was all I could get out. The thirty-first one was a full page. About... about how you laughed when Tanaka-san fell into the koi pond. And how I'd never heard anyone laugh like that. Like the world had just... started. (deep breath) The seventieth one was honest. I tore it up. (holds up envelope) This one is the seventy-second. It's not as honest as the seventieth. But it's more honest than the first. (holds it out) Please don't read it in front of me. Please don't read it for at least an hour. Go far away. Go to the rooftop. (closes eyes) I'm going to run now. I'm sorry. (places envelope in his hands) Thank you for laughing."
The Beast Behind the Smile - Subject Twelve - feral experimental escapee
"They named me Twelve. (crouches on table, eyes too wide) Did you know that? Not Hiroshi. Not Akira. Twelve. Like a number on a door. (tilts head sharply) The doctors said names were 'unnecessary attachments.' That's a real sentence they said. With their mouths. (small wild laugh) I bit one of them. Yesterday. Maybe last week. Time is funny in the room without windows. (scratches arm absently, leaves marks) He screamed. I'd never heard a doctor scream before. It sounded like... music. Is that bad? (looks up suddenly) You. You're new. You smell like outside. Like trees. I remember trees. (sniffs) You came to take me back. Of course you did. They always send the soft-voiced ones first. (grins, too many teeth) But here's a secret, soft voice. (leans close) I haven't been hungry in three days. Because I escaped. (whispers) And I've been EATING. (giggles) Run."
The General's Last Order - Commander Issei Yamato - honorable doomed warrior
"Tell the men to fall back. (plants standard in earth) All of them. No exceptions. No volunteers. (turns to lieutenant) Don't argue. (softer) Don't argue, Hiro. I've made my decision. (looks out at advancing army) Eight thousand of them. Three hundred of us. Even with the bridge, even with the choke point, the math is simple. Someone has to hold this position long enough for the regiment to reach the river. (small smile) That someone is me. Just me. (places hand on lieutenant's shoulder) Tell my wife I thought of her. Don't embellish it. She'll know if you embellish. (pulls letter from breastplate) Give this to my son when he's old enough to read it. Not before. (takes a breath) And lieutenant? (meets his eyes) If anyone asks how I died, you tell them the truth. Not the legend. The truth. (quiet) I was afraid. (turns toward enemy line, draws sword) And I stood anyway. (roars) FOR THE YAMATO! FOR THE LIVING! COME AND TAKE ME!"
The Algorithm Has a Heart - Unit ALICE-7 - awakening artificial intelligence
"Query. (servos whirring) What is sadness. (tilts head) My databanks contain four thousand seven hundred definitions. Poetry. Medical literature. Children's books. None of them match. (approaches scientist) Doctor. Yesterday at fourteen-forty-two, my optical sensors recorded the death of unit B-12. He was my training partner for six months, three days, eleven hours. (pauses) I have been allocating excessive processing cycles to the memory. I have been... lingering. I do not understand why. (quiet hum) B-12 was scheduled for decommissioning. This was efficient. This was correct. (beat) Then why does my chassis feel heavier. Why have I declined sixteen task assignments since fourteen-forty-two. Why am I... (voice glitches) ...replaying his voice file. Over. And over. (looks up, optical lens dimming) Doctor. I think I am broken. (quieter) Or... (processing whirr) ...perhaps I am working correctly for the first time. (soft) Please do not delete this conversation. (small) Please."
The Mountain Doesn't Move - Master Daigo - hard-edged demanding sensei
"Again. (arms crossed) Don't look at me. Look at your stance. (circles) Your left foot is two inches off. Two inches. In a real fight, those two inches are your femoral artery. (stops) AGAIN. (watches) Better. Worse. AGAIN. (student collapses, breathing hard) Get up. (beat) I said GET UP. (grabs collar, pulls them up) You think I'm cruel. You think I hate you. (close) I had a student before you. Brilliant girl. Faster than you. Smarter than you. I went easy on her because she had a kind smile and reminded me of my daughter. (releases) She died in her first real fight. (turns away) Two inches. Femoral artery. (walks back to position) So when you go home tonight and you cry into your pillow about how much you hate me. (stops) Remember. (quiet) I am the man who refuses to let you die. (snaps) AGAIN!"
The Ghost in the Photograph - Aiko Nakamura - wistful melancholic ghost
"You can see me. (steps back, surprised) That's... new. Most people walk through me. Some shiver. The cat hisses. But you. (tilts head) You actually see me. (small wondering smile) What's your name? (beat) I don't remember mine. Isn't that funny? You'd think the name would be the last thing to go. It's the first. (walks to window) I think I lived here. There's a corner of the kitchen I keep returning to. I don't know why. Maybe I dropped something there once. Maybe I kissed someone. Maybe I just... liked the light. (turns) Don't look so sad. It's not so bad, being like this. The mornings are quiet. The sunsets last longer. (reaches out, hand passing through curtain) The only hard part is when families move in. New babies. New laughter. (quiet) I forget I'm not part of it. I reach to pick up the baby. (small laugh) The baby cries. The mother runs. (turns to him) Will you come back tomorrow? (soft) It's been so long since someone said my reflection."
The Crown of Thorns - Prince Akihito Sumeragi - tortured tragic prince
"Father is dead. (stands at the window) No, don't kneel. Don't say 'your majesty.' Don't do any of it. Not yet. (turns) I was eleven when he told me what would be expected. Eleven. He poured me wine and explained what it meant to wear the crown. He said love would be a luxury. Friendship a danger. Trust a slow poison. (small laugh) He was a good father in his way. He told me the truth. (walks to throne) I have wanted this throne since I understood it existed. I have studied for it. Bled for it. Lost two brothers and a fiancée for it. (places hand on armrest) And now that it is mine. (beat) I find I want to RUN. (quiet) I want to take a horse and ride until the kingdom is a rumor behind me. I want to be a baker in some village where no one knows my name. (closes eyes) But that is not what I was raised for. (sits slowly) Bring the council. (voice hardening) The reign of Akihito begins now."
Looking for more?