Anime Monologues for Auditions Vol. 9
Range is what gets you cast. A booth director will ask for the monologue, then ask for it angrier, then sadder, then half the volume, then drunk, then like you're dying. The audition piece is just the door. What walks through it is your flexibility. Pick monologues that already contain shifts, then practice finding new ones the writer didn't put on the page. Surprise yourself in the third draft.
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The Thief Who Cooks - Hayato Kurogane - smooth-talking gentleman thief
"Ah, ah, ah. (holds up finger) Before you call the guards. Smell that. (gestures to stove) That's a beurre blanc. Twenty minutes of patience. A whisper of shallot. (steps away from the safe) I broke into your kitchen three hours ago, madame. The rest of the house I did in twelve minutes. The kitchen took the rest. (plates a fish) Sit. Please. The wine is yours, technically, but I've decanted it properly, which is more than your sommelier ever did. (slides plate across counter) Eat. While we discuss the painting in your study. (small bow) Yes, I know it's a forgery. I knew the moment I walked in. The original is in a vault in Geneva. I put it there in 2019. (grins) I've come to return it. (refills her glass) For a price. (leans on counter) Madame. The fish is getting cold. The story is getting interesting. (soft smile) Surely the guards can wait one more course."
The Quiet Storm - Mei Tanaka - shy stuttering girl
"I, um. I'm sorry. (twists hem of skirt) I just need... a second. (deep breath) My therapist says I should... should practice saying things out loud. Even if they come out wrong. Even if my voice... shakes. (swallows) So. Here goes. (closes eyes) You hurt me. (opens them) You hurt me, Yuki. Not by mistake. On purpose. In front of everyone. You made a joke about my stutter and the whole class laughed. And I sat there and I smiled because I didn't know what else to do. (voice firming) I went home and I cried for three hours. My mother thought somebody had died. (small bitter laugh) Somebody did. The version of me who thought you were my friend. (steps forward) I'm not asking for an apology. I don't want one. I want you to know. I want you to KNOW. (steady now) That you didn't break me. (beat) You woke me up. (walks away) Goodbye, Yuki."
The Devil Wears Glasses - Reiko Asahina - ruthless corporate executive
"Sit. (doesn't look up) I said sit. (continues typing) You're wondering why I called you to my office at ten p.m. on a Friday. (finishes typing) It's because I respect you. (finally looks up) Don't smile. I haven't decided if that's a good thing yet. (removes glasses) I've watched your work for six months. The Hashimoto account. The merger memo nobody asked for that saved us forty million yen. The fact that you stay until eight every night and pretend you don't. (slides folder across desk) That's a promotion. Senior strategist. Triple your salary. You report directly to me. (beat) It also has a non-disclosure agreement, a non-compete, and a clause that says if you ever betray this company, I will personally end your career in this industry. (small cold smile) I am not exaggerating. (stands) I clawed my way up from the mailroom. I know every dirty trick because I invented half of them. (extends pen) Sign or leave. (eyes hard) I don't have time for thinkers."
The Last of the Dragons - Garath Highwing - ancient noble dragon
"Approach, little flame. (deep rumbling voice) No, closer. My eyes are not what they were. (slow exhale, smoke curling) Three thousand years, child. Three thousand years I have slept on this mountain. Watched empires rise. Watched them turn to dust. Watched the same dust rebuild itself into new empires that called themselves NEW. (small laughing rumble) Humans amuse me. (stretches ancient wing) You came to slay me. That is the tradition, yes? Knight comes. Dragon dies. Princess weds. Bards sing. (lowers head to her level) Look at me, child. Truly look. (quieter) I am tired. (beat) My mate is gone. My kin are myth. The last egg I tended hatched a thousand years ago and flew east, and I have not seen its shadow since. (closes eyes) So. Yes. (opens eyes, vast and weary) Take your sword. Climb my chest. Find the soft place beneath the scale where the heart still beats. (soft) And do me the kindness, small one. (tilts neck) Be quick."
The Comeback Kid - Tetsuya Sakamoto - washed-up former champion
"You think I don't know what they say about me? (wraps hands) 'Old man.' 'Has-been.' 'The legend who couldn't let go.' (tape, tape, tape) I've heard it all. From sportswriters. From sponsors. From the kid who took my belt last year. (flexes fingers) My wife heard it too. The night before she left. (quiet) She said, 'Tetsuya. There's nothing left to prove.' (small bitter laugh) She was right. There isn't. (stands, faces mirror) But that's the thing. (stares at reflection) I'm not fighting because I have something to prove. I stopped fighting for that years ago. (rolls shoulders) I'm fighting because... when I'm in that ring. When the bell rings. When the crowd disappears. (beat) I'm twenty-two again. I'm the kid from the gym in the bad neighborhood. I'm the boy whose father said he'd never amount to anything. (turns from mirror) And for three minutes per round, I am EXACTLY who I was meant to be. (picks up gloves) So yeah. Old man's coming back. (pulls gloves on) One more time."
The House That Whispers - Yuki Sakamoto - psychic timid medium
"Don't speak. (eyes closed, hand against wall) Please. I need to listen. (deep breath) The house is talking. It's been talking since we walked in but I didn't want to scare you. (voice trembling) There's a woman. In the second bedroom. She's been there since 1947. She doesn't know she's dead. She keeps making breakfast for a husband who never comes home. (opens eyes) There's a boy in the basement. He IS scary. He doesn't want us here. He's been throwing things at the inspectors for fifteen years. (turns) And the attic. (swallows hard) I'm not going up there. I won't. (steps back) The realtor is downstairs lying about why the price is so low. (takes his hand) I know you wanted this house. I know we've been saving for three years. I know the school district is perfect. (quiet) I'm so sorry. (eyes wet) But I can hear all of them at once and they are SCREAMING and we have to leave. (grips harder) Now. Please. NOW."
The General's Daughter - Captain Aria Tatsumi - confident soldier
"At ease. (strides into tent) I said at EASE, sergeant, you look like you swallowed your spine. (removes helmet) Yes, I know who my father is. Yes, I know what that means. Yes, I've heard every joke about nepotism and I've heard them BETTER than you, so spare me. (tosses helmet on table) Here's what's going to happen. (unrolls map) In three hours, the Western Battalion is going to attack our left flank. Don't ask me how I know. I know. I've been studying their commander since I was twelve years old at my father's dinner table. (stabs map) We're not going to defend the left flank. We're going to ABANDON it. Pull every soldier to the ridge. Let them take the camp. (looks up, fierce smile) When they're inside, we close the canyon behind them. (beat) Yes. We trap them. Yes. It's risky. Yes. My father would call it reckless. (small grin) Lucky for us, my father isn't here. (rolls map up) MOVE!"
The Forgotten Friend - Hoshi the Sky Spirit - ethereal lonely spirit
"Do you remember me? (floats just above ground) You used to. When you were small. (soft glow) You used to climb the cherry tree behind your grandmother's house and tell me about your day. The pets you wanted. The brother who teased you. The story you were writing about a princess who saved herself. (smiles sadly) I kept all of it. Every word. Every secret. (drifts closer) You told me I was your best friend. You told me you'd never forget me. You told me when you grew up we'd live in a castle together and I'd never have to be alone. (reaches out, doesn't quite touch) You're forty-two now. You haven't looked up in nineteen years. (quiet) I'm not angry. That's what happens. Children grow. Spirits fade. The cherry tree was cut down ten years ago and I followed you here because I had nowhere else to be. (soft) You're standing on the corner waiting for the light. You look so tired. (whisper) Look up. Please. Just once. (beat) I miss you."
The Honor of the Last Cup - Sake-Master Genzo - gruff lovable bartender
"Sit. (slides cup across bar) On the house. (pours) Don't argue, you've been arguing with yourself for an hour. I can tell. (wipes counter) Forty-six years I've been pouring drinks in this place, son. Forty-six. I've seen the look on your face before. (leans on bar) It's the 'I'm about to do something stupid' look. (small laugh) Don't deny it. I had it myself in 1974. Almost robbed a bank. (nods) True story. Don't ask. (beat) Whatever it is. The girl. The job. The brother who hurt you. The boss who deserves it. (taps cup) Drink first. (watches him drink) Now. (serious) You go home. You sleep. If in the morning, after a hot shower and a real breakfast, you still want to do the stupid thing. (shrugs) You come back here. Tell me. I'll either help you or stop you, depends on what kind of stupid we're talking. (small grin) But you don't decide tonight. (pours another) Tonight, we just drink. (raises own cup) Kanpai."
The Storm in Me - Kaori Mizutani - deeply traumatized survivor
"I'm not okay. (sits on floor, knees up) I haven't been okay. I keep telling everyone I'm fine because that's the password. That's what gets people to leave you alone. 'I'm fine.' (small bitter laugh) It's the most dangerous lie in the language. (picks at carpet) I had a panic attack at the grocery store yesterday. In the cereal aisle. Because they changed the box. The box my brother used to like. He's been dead for two years. The cereal company doesn't know that. They just... redesigned the box. (voice cracks) And I sat down on the floor and I cried until a stranger had to call my mother. (deep breath) I keep thinking I should be over this. There's a timeline in my head. Society's timeline. 'You should be HEALED by now.' (angrier) Healed. Like grief is a broken arm. Like there's a CAST you take off and you walk normal again. (quiet) I'm not healed. (looks up, raw) I'm here. I'm breathing. (beat) And today, that's the bravest thing I know how to do."
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