Seiyuu Say Me: So Moe I’m Weak in the Knee - The Imouto Voice of Tamura Yukari

Ever wish you had a younger sister? Oh yea, me too. Now, imagine what her voice would sound like. Then, take that voice, and make it 100 times cuter, and you’re in the ballpark of the devastating instrument that Tamura Yukari posesses. Just like Kugimiya Rie is typically associated with the tsundere character, Yukarin is typically typecast as the imouto (younger sister) character.

So what is it about the imouto that makes her so alluring and so gdamn moe?? To oversimplify an extremely complicated dynamic, let’s just say that imoutos fulfill several of the major moe qualifications:
   - Young
   - Commonly seen in pajamas
   - Unconditionally loves her big brother
   - Extremely underage
   - Jaaaaaaiiillllbaaaaiiit

To get technical, one could say that the imouto character is the polar opposite to the tsundere, as one has to be highly attentive and work hard at bagging the tsundere girl, whereas the imouto is always ready to go, as she’s been holding back her secret crush on onii-chan for years and just needs one drip of confirmation to burst forth.

Tamura Yukari Air as Michiru Clannad as Mei Sunohara D.C. ~Da Capo~ as Sakura Yoshino DearS as Nia Galaxy Angel as Ranpha Franboise Gintama as Ana Hanano Higurashi no Naku Koroni as Rika Furude IDOLM@STER: XENOGLOSSIA as Iori Minase Jinki:Extend as Rui Kisaka Kanon as Mai Kawasumi Kasimasi - Girl Meets Girl as Tomari Kurusu Kuroshitsuji as Elizabeth Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha as Nanoha Takamachi Midori no Hibi as Shiori Tsukishima Moetan as Ink Nijihara My-HiME as Midori Sugiura Myself ; Yourself as Syuri Wakatsuki Nabari no Ou as Shinrabanshou Naruto as Tenten Nurse Witch Komugi as Asuka Sakurai Onegai Sensei! as Ichigo Morino Otogi-Jushi Akazukin as Akazukin Pita Ten as Misha S-CRY-ed as Kanami Yuta Shakugan no Shana as Tiriel (”Aizenta”) Sketchbook ~full color’S~ as Nagisa Kurihara Uta∽Kata as Michiru Munakata

Needs to work on her technique… at eating crepes

I’m not going to waste any time in showing you this first clip from CLANNAD season 2:
 

 
In my years (decades?!) of watching anime, few clips have topped this one on the “I’m never deleting this off my hard drive” scale. If you didn’t understand the fascination with imoutos before – maybe you already have one and don’t see what the fuss is all about – you should at least have a good understanding now. It’s a weird thing, isn’t it? 2000 yen can get you a lot of things… a 4gb memory card, two months of Rapidshare premium, enough Long Island Iced Teas to get three 100 pound girls drunk… and yet, I would much rather spend it buying a Princess Crepe for my imouto. Ah, an older brother’s love.
 

 
As demonstrated by Akazukin (Otogijuushi Akazukin) above, Yukarin’s characters have a penchant for doing brutally cute things, like dancing while singing incomprehensible songs, randomly add nonsense like “nipaa~” to the end of sentences, or kick major ass with her Mickey Mouse hair or oversized hair sambas.
 

 
In addition to her extensive voice acting career that dates back to 1997, she’s also quite a popular singer - I wouldn’t call her a great singer, but there’s something awesome about having one of your favorite voice actors be able to sing, too. Especially if her singing voice is exactly the same as her anime voice. There’s many popular seiyuu with established music careers, but none have been doing it for quite as long as Yukarin!

As for her normal speaking voice… well, whaddya expect…
 

 
So, the next time you’re checkin’ out your favorite imouto anime and hear that puckered voice that could melt the hardest of mochi ice creams, pay closer attention – it’s probably Yukarin!

Up next on Seiyuu Say Me: My Shounen Homie, Paku Romi, or I’m Going Gaga for Itou Shizuka.