History Main / VoiceoverLetter

The [[{{Narrator}} narration voiceover]] of what the on-screen characters are reading. This narration is usually in the voice of the person who wrote the text, although whomever is [[SoundingItOut reading the text]] may FadeIn/out at the start/end of the message.

The [[{{Narrator}} narration voiceover]] of what the on-screen characters are reading. This narration is usually in the voice of the person who wrote the text, although whomever is [[SoundingItOut reading the text]] may fade in/out at the start/end of the message.

* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'', when LLENN reads the letter from Pito to M, she starts reading, then the voiceover switches to Pito's voice.

* In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', when Peter reads the note from his mother.

* Subtly played with in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII''. At the end of [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII Part II]], Marty receives a letter from the time-displaced Doc Brown which had been sent 70 years prior. Marty begins to read it aloud... and then the next morning it's read aloud in its entirety for both Marty and the audience by Doc Brown's younger self.

Subtrope of InnerMonologue. Compare ReadingForeignSignsOutLoud (for the methods of translating foreign language text shown onscreen) and SoundingItOut (for when the character who is reading the letter does so out loud). Often overlaps with other letter tropes, such as EpistolaryNovel (for when one or more letters form a FramingDevice for the story), and EpilogueLetter (for when the letter serves as summary/ending for a story).

* [[PosthumousCharacter Misa]]'s farewell [[DeadManWriting letter]] for Yusa in episode 12 of ''Anime/{{Charlotte}}'', where at first it's Yusa who reads the letter, but halfway through the voice changes into Misa's. [[TalkingToHerself They share]] [[Creator/MaayaUchida the same voice actress]], though.

* Happens in ''Series/TreintaYUnMinutos'' at the beginning the episode "Educativio". Tulio, the anchorman, accidentally starts reading a paper thinking it is a news flash when it was actually a private letter from his girlfriend. So to avoid further embarrassment he says that he will read it quietly, and the voiceover of his girlfriend starts... Just for his assistant to point out they can still hear it.

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* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'': In the UpdatedRerelease, Marie reads aloud her poems if you go to the Velvet Room on certain days and find her absent. If you complete the Jester Social Link, Adachi will do the same with the letter that he sends you [[spoiler:after being arrested and imprisoned for the murders]].
* ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'' and ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' also feature Marie's poems and give them the same treatment.
* At the end of his [=WakuWaku=] course in ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoFever2'', Sig reads a letter from Ms. Accord concerning Lemres, and the letter's writing is spoken in Accord's voice.

* In ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'', when Billy receives a letter from Bad Horse three cowboys lean into the frame to sing the contents of the letter.

* One part of episode 69 of ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' involves Keyleth receiving a letter from a guest player-turned-NPC, Kerrek (played by Creater/PatrickRothfuss), who had befriended the group and provided some much-needed advice to her in particular. As she opens the letter and begins to read it, a recording of Patrick reading the letter is played.
* This is {{Lampshaded}} in an episode of ''WebVideo/BeingTheElite''. [[Wrestling/AdamPage "Hangman" Adam Page]], having been absent from [[Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling AEW]] for a few months (out of {{Kayfabe}}, to allow him to take paternity leave), receives a letter from the promotion's HR team informing him that he has run out of paid time off. The first half of that letter however is dedicated to explaining how the voice in Hangman's head is his own, and not the voice of the HR representative writing the letter, in a telepathic case of TheTapeKnewYoudSayThat.

* ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'':
** ''Recap/TintinCigarsOfThePharaoh'' has a voiceover for the letters from the drug trafficker leader to his minions.
** The animated version of ''Recap/TintinTheRedSeaSharks'' has Tintin start reading the Emir's letter aloud to share it with Captain Haddock, before the screen transitions to the Emir writing it with echo.

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}'' when Chowder runs away from home, Mung finds his note, after the letter ends he says [[BreakingTheFourthWall "It's a good thing there was a voiceover, because his handwriting is terrible"]], the screen then pans over to the letter which is just a bunch of scribbles.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Twilight's "Dear Princess Celestia...." letters are always done in her voice.
* Happens twice in ''[[WesternAnimation/MoralOrel Beforel Orel]]'': First, Orel writes a letter to his grandfather, revealing that he plans on [[spoiler: murdering his baby brother]]. At the end, Grandpa writes a letter to Orel telling him that he's a good child and not to let growing up in Moralton affect him.
* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' does this a few times in "Live Fast, Diane Nguyen", specifically whenever Todd is around notes or photos of [=BoJack=] in his absence.
-->'''[=BoJack=]''': Todd! Stop singing your dumb scrambled eggs song!\\
'''Todd''': Who said that?\\
'''[=BoJack=]''': If you're wondering who said that, it's this note that you're reading. You're hearing my voice in your head because that's how reading works.\\
'''Todd''': Oh yeah.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls2016'' episode "Bye Bye, Bellum", where Blossom reads a letter from Miss Bellum to The Mayor. It turns out Blossom was reading it aloud doing a spot-on Bellum impression.
-->'''Buttercup:''' Wow, Blossom, you do a really good Miss Bellum impression.\\
'''Blossom:''' Thanks, ''but apparently, it's worthless now.''
* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' has Bob reading [[FourthWallMailSlot a fan letter]] with a child's voice reading it aloud. This was dropped for subsequent episodes because the producers felt it was too distracting.
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': "The Parasite" opens with an entry in Anais' diary being read in her voice, but it's actually Gumball [[VoiceChangeling perfecting imitating her]] while [[SoundingItOut reading her diary aloud]] to Darwin.

* When Dan sends Chris a letter in the ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'' episode "Dan vs. the Salvation Armed Forces", it reads in Dan's voice in a perfectly normal tone... but several words are wrong, ranging from the equivalent of a wrong letter to complete gibberish. Halfway through, Chris comments "Dan's handwriting is terrible."
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'':
** At the end of "Froggy Little Christmas", Anne does this while writing letters to Marcy and Sasha's parents about their daughters' whereabouts.
** In "All In", [[spoiler: as Sprig starts to read his ancestor [[PosthumousCharacter Leif]]'s secret letter to Andrias, her own voice takes over as the scene fades to flashbacks of her life after taking the Calamity Box]].

* There's a case from ''Anime/YuGiOh'' when Tea reads Pegasus's diary.
* When Cobra gets Vivi's letter in ''Manga/OnePiece'', which reveals Crocodile to be the mastermind behind the Alabasta civil war, she begins reading the letter aloud.
* At the end of ''Manhua/InfinityGame'' [[spoiler:this is subverted. It looks like Long Wei is reading out his letter to Lu Xiao, but really he's writing his diary as though it were a letter to her and she's reading a menu somewhere else]].

* Used in episode 158 of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''.

* Kaori's letter at the end of ''Manga/YourLieInApril'' is voiced by her. [[spoiler:It also counts as DeadManWriting]].

* In ''Anime/YukiYunaIsAHero - Hero Chapter'', Yuna's journal that details the circumstances behind [[spoiler:the curse she's been implanted with]] is narrated in her voice.

* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'' has this happen with Urokodaki's letter to the head of the Demon Slayer Corps, in which he vouches for Nezuko's character and says that [[spoiler:if she does attack someone, he, Giyu and Tanjiro will all commit {{Seppuku}} to atone for it.]]
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' has Christa/Historia reads Ymir's letter, with Ymir's voiceover reading it aloud. The anime letter is somewhat abridged from the manga, in which Ymir relates some of her backstory.
* In the 2017 anime of ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'', Kino receives two letters at the end of "A Kind Country," one from Sakura's mother and one from Sakura herself. [[spoiler:After the volcano destroys the country,]] Kino starts reading both of them aloud, at which point the letter writer takes over.

* In the second episode of ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistBrotherhood'', Ed reads aloud the certificate from Fuhrer King Bradley granting him the status of State Alchemist and the title of Fullmetal Alchemist, but after a moment, Bradley's voiceover takes over.

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

* In ''Anime/WhenMarnieWasThere'', when Anna reads Marnie's diary, the lines are voiced by Marnie herself.

* Done twice in ''WesternAnimation/{{Anomalisa}}''. In the beginning we hear Bella voicing her letter that Michael reads on the plane. Happens again [[{{Bookends}} at the end]]. This time it is Lisa voicing out her letter to Michael.

* All the time in ''Film/YouveGotMail''. In her commentary Creator/NoraEphron made it clear that she wanted to get away from the computer screens ASAP, for fear that the audience would get spooked and leave the theater.
* Played with in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire''. Harry reads an article by Rita Skeeter, and we hear her voiceover of what it says. A few sentences in, it pisses him off so much he throws it into the fire, and Rita's voice first tries to cram in as much as possible, and then screams as the article burns. Given that talking envelopes exist in this series, it's quite possible that the letter was actually reading itself out loud.

* Spoofed in ''Film/TopSecret''. Nick Rivers arrives at his banquet table and finds a note from his agent waiting. As he starts reading it, the agent's voice appears, slightly distorted, as if done in voiceover. As Nick keeps reading, the agent walks into frame towards the table, talking in stride with the letter with a small megaphone over his mouth.
* Subtly played with in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII''. At the end of [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII Part II]], Marty receives a letter from the time-displaced Doc Brown which had been sent 70 years prior. Marty begins to read it aloud... and then the next morning it's read aloud in its entirety for both Marty and the audience by Doc Brown's younger self.

* Played with in ''Film/WarGames'', when Joshua types, somewhat justified in the fact that David has a text-to-speech device, but it's totally unnecessary in-universe, but is {{HandWave}}d by David trying to impress Jennifer with it. When they are conversing with Joshua at NORAD, it apparently has the exact same consumer-grade TTS device piped into their loudspeakers -- perhaps to impress visiting Congresspeople.
* In ''Film/TheCranesAreFlying'', when Veronika starts reading the letter from her boyfriend Boris, her voice switches over to his.
* The letters from Anna to her parents-in-law in ''Film/TheSeventhContinent'' are voiced by her.

* In ''Film/CorvetteSummer'', Kenny voices the letters he writes to [=McGrath=] about his progress in tracking down his stolen car.
* ''Film/TheNotoriousDaughterOfFannyHill'': After each client, Kissey writes her thoughts regarding them down in her diary. The shots of her writing are accompanied by a voiceover of her reading what she is writing. Oddly, the actress seems to actually seems to be reading at the speed she is writing, so there are significant pauses between words.
* In ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'', during the "Eddie's Teddy" number, Dr. Scott reveals a note his (late) nephew sent him warning him that he was in trouble. Eddie's voiceover reads the note out loud, ending with him screaming in terror.

* ''Film/InYourAfterglow'': Several characters keep journals, and they all mentally read their entries aloud.
* When Dr. Rogers reads Cooper's diary in ''Film/TheManWhoTurnedToStone'', it is narrated in Cooper's voice.

!!!'''Creators:'''
* Creator/AaronSorkin has used this trope a couple of times.
** On two episodes of ''Series/SportsNight'', Jeremy writes a couple of letters to his sister in this way.
** Also on the second season ''Series/TheWestWing'' episode "The Stackhouse Filibuster", C.J., Josh, and Sam all narrate the episode through e-mails they're sending (C.J. and Sam to their respective fathers, Josh to his mother).
!!!'''Series:'''

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* Happens in ''Series/TreintaYUnMinutos'' at the beginning the episode "Educativio". Tulio, the anchorman, accidentally starts reading a paper thinking it is a news flash when it was actually a private letter from his girlfriend. So to avoid further embarrassment he says that he will read it quietly, and the voiceover of his girlfriend starts... Just for his assistant to point out they can still hear it.
[[/folder]]

* Used extensively in the Music/StephenSondheim musical ''{{Theatre/Passion}}''.
* ''Theatre/{{Aida|JohnRice}}'' turned this into a song, aptly named "Radames' Letter."

* Used in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'', and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' for letters read by Princess Peach.
* ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' - the letter from Mary serves as BookEnds to the game.
* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'':
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', Colette's voice is used as the voiceover when Lloyd reads a letter from her.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', Luke, after being separated from his friends for around a month late in the game, reads letters from Tear, Anise and Guy, and their voices describe what's been going on in their lives.
* In ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', one of Edward's later letters to his granddaughter Alexandra, regarding how she can defeat the Ancient that Pious is summoning, is read aloud in his voice, and this is the only letter in the game that receives this treatment, emphasizing its importance.
* ''VideoGame/{{Oni}}'' has Konoko reading her father's memoirs like this. Specifically, the part that narrates how he met his wife and how [[spoiler:he [[TearJerker took her life]] via MercyKill]].

* The PC game ''VideoGame/SecretsOfDaVinciTheForbiddenManuscript'' begins with the protagonist, Valdo, reading a letter from his mysterious employer which explains the situation for the player, with this trope happening simultaneously.
* Yeesha's memory amulet ''VideoGame/MystIVRevelation'' allows for every journal in the game to be read aloud by whoever wrote them. Played straight with her mini-journals in ''VideoGame/MystVEndOfAges''.
* In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III]]'', Rean receives a letter from his step-father that's read in his voice, telling Rean that he's proud for his actions and apologizes for [[spoiler:hiding the truth that Giliath Osborne is his real father.]]

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses''
** In a variation, Jeralt gives a voiceover for his diary when Byleth discovers and reads it [[spoiler:after he is killed in Chapter 9]].
** This also happens to various letters, such as a letter Seteth sends to Rhea if he and Flayn survive Chapter 15 of Crimson Flower, and a letter Claude sends to the protagonist on Silver Snow.

* Textbook example in ''Series/{{Frequency|2016}}'', when Frank cites from Larissa's diary, describing the appearance and disappearance of Meghan at the Hideaway Camp. Frank's voice morphs into Larissa's voice at the beginning and back to his at the end of the narration.

* Several of the characters on ''Series/{{MASH}}'' write letters home this way, including Hawkeye (several times), Trapper, Radar, B.J., Colonel Potter, Klinger, and Father Mulcahy. On the ninth season episode "Letters", all of the major characters do this when they're responding to letters from the fourth-grade class of a teacher Hawkeye knows.

* Played with in ''Film/WarGames'', when Joshua types, somewhat justified in the fact that David has a text-to-speech device, but it's totally unnecessary in-universe, but is {{HandWave}}d by David trying to impress Jennifer with it. This is a bit taken UpToEleven later, when they are conversing with Joshua at NORAD, which apparently has the exact same consumer-grade TTS device piped into their loudspeakers -- perhaps to impress visiting Congresspeople.

* Parodied in ''Series/MyHero'': Cassie runs away, leaving a letter for her parents. At first, the trope seems to be upheld, then Janet asks George to stop reading it out loud in Cassie's voice.

* ''{{Series/Legion|2017}}'': In "Chapter 22", while Gabrielle writes a letter to her husband Charles, we hear her narrate its contents.

* ''{{Series/Legion|2017}}'': In "Chapter 22", while Gabrielle writes a letter to her husband Charles, viewers hear her narrate its contents.

** Also on the second season ''Series/TheWestWing'' episode "The White House Pro Am", C.J., Josh, and Sam all narrate the episode through e-mails they're sending (C.J. and Josh to their respective mothers, Sam to his father).

Compare ReadingForeignSignsOutLoud (for the methods of translating foreign language text shown onscreen) and SoundingItOut (for when the character who is reading the letter does so out loud). Often overlaps with other letter tropes, such as EpistolaryNovel (for when one or more letters form a FramingDevice for the story), and EpilogueLetter (for when the letter serves as summary/ending for a story).

* An episode of ''Series/MisterEd'' had Ed run away from home because Wilbur was too insistent on learning the mystery ingredient in Ed's health drink. He left a note read in Ed's voiceover saying the secret ingredient was hay.

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* Parodied in ''Podcast/{{Rifftrax}}'' when one is used in ''Film/TheWickerMan2006''.

* Spoofed all over the place in Radio/BleakExpectations. It often happens with Mr. Benevolent's letters in particular, where Benevolent's voice reads the letter ... then the character actually reading aloud is complimented on how well they can do the voice.