How Anime Makes You a Better Speaker
This is the thirteenth post in Authentalk’s series about how to write subject matter-specific speeches. Call it Animatiain.
Celebrating my dad’s 50th birthday.
She was a small dog but larger than life.
She had an adorable underbite.
She had a tough past, abused before we adopted her, but a soft heart; she worked for years at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles as a therapy dog.
Anime was a Japanese Chin. She was my dog for over a decade, and I loved her deeply. While we sometimes called her “Anna May” (read that with a southern accent), because, like, who names a dog Anime, I always connected her with her namesake: Japanese animation.
Japanese animation (anime; the comic books are called manga) is hugely popular. Over 50% of global Netflix viewers watch it. In 2024, anime was viewed over 1 billion times on Netflix, and viewership has tripled since 2020. Variety estimates that its market is now worth over $25 billion.
A few posts ago, I talked about the importance of developing executive presence by reading a series of monologues from my favorite Tony Award-winning plays. Anime monologues can help with the same drills: you read them over, learn about the context, perform them naturally, mark up the script with bolding, underlining, and italics for emphasis, add body language and facial expressions, and compare them to the originals.
But anime offers something more. If you’ve never seen it before, you’ll think it’s over the top in a way that goes beyond Western cartoons. Emotions are often dialed up to 11. Characters have verbal grunting and confirmation sounds when they agree to do something. They shift between a very childish, cute, Hello Kitty-esque style called “chibi” and detailed, bloody battles.
Anime teaches performers to commit fully to a choice. Most presentations fail because the speaker is afraid of looking foolish. Anime gives you permission to practice being bigger than life.
Its monologues are useful public speaking practice because anime performers take emotional and physical choices that most speakers are afraid to make. And since every anime you’ll find has both an English dub and the Japanese original (with subtitles), you’ll have at least two models to improve your delivery.
And there’s good research from MIT on the value of playmaking and improvisational silliness to improve business confidence and success. The Journal of Business Research furthered in 2018 that theatrical improvisation is a terrific way to jumpstar organizational creativity, so start by having some fun, doing some silly voices, and developing as a performer.
I’ve included some iconic anime monologues to guide your practice!
"There's no such thing as a painless lesson—they just don't exist. Sacrifices are necessary. You can't gain anything without losing something first. Although if you can endure that pain and walk away from it, you'll find that you now have a heart strong enough to overcome any obstacle. Yeah...a heart made Fullmetal." — Fullmetal Alchemist
"To make sure those weaker flames don't go out, each one casts their own into the strongest fire of them all: A raging fire...that is Griffith. But, my light isn't to be seen among them. Still, after all this time, it seems I'm just someone who stopped to warm himself at the bonfire in passing. So long as I have my sword to fight with, I'm sure to survive. Year after year, I've proven it to be true. Before joining the Hawks, I've always survived, no matter the odds, no matter how hopeless a losing battle. This time was no different. In truth, I believe that's no way to live one's life. I've been fighting in battles for as long as I can remember. The mercenary leader who raised me taught me nothing except how to wield a sword - I've never had anything, except my sword. I don't want to die; for me that is the only reason I keep fighting. There is nothing for me to give myself to or save myself for. I fight because I know nothing else. Once...I was willing to do just that, to commit myself to fighting and let someone else find a reason for me." - Berserk
“Save your bullets. You don't have what it takes to kill someone like me. When do you think a person dies? When a bullet from a pistol pierces his heart? No. When he's attacked by an incurable disease? No. When he eats a soup of deadly, poisonous mushrooms? No. A man dies when people forget him. Even if I should disappear right now, my dream will come true. And when it does, the citizens’ sickness of the heart will be cured as well.” ― One Piece
“The courageous fallen. The anguished fallen. Their lives have meaning because we, the living, refuse to forget them. And as we ride to certain death, we trust our successors to do the same for us. Because my soldiers do not buckle or yield when faced with the cruelty of this earth. My soldiers push forward! My soldiers scream out! My soldiers rage!” — Attack on Titan
"Mark my words! This drill will open a hole in the universe, and that hole will be a path for those behind us: the dreams of those who have fallen—the hopes of those who will follow! Those two sets of dreams, weaved together into a double helix, drilling a path towards tomorrow! And that's Tengen Toppa! That's Gurren Lagann! My drill is the drill...THAT CREATES THE HEAVENS!" — Gurren Lagann
“Something I’m scared of? Oh, I suppose, monsters. There are many types of monsters in this world, monsters who will not show themselves and who cause trouble. Monsters who abduct children, monsters who devour dreams, monsters who suck blood, and, monsters who always tell lies. Lying monsters are a real nuisance, they are much more cunning than other monsters. They pose as humans, even though they have no understanding of the human heart. They eat, even though they've never experienced hunger. They study even though they have no interest in academics. They seek friendship even though they do not know how to love. If I were to encounter such a monster, I would likely be eaten by it, because in truth, I am that monster.” — Death Note
What are your favorite anime monologues? Share them with me!
