Who better to trust with proper throat care?

Cold and flu season is coming fast among us in many parts of the world, and this year it is even more fraught with hazards than ever before. Even a slight case of a sore throat can lead to dirty looks or worse when coughing in public, so it’s best to keep our pharynges in tip-top condition.

But with so many throat products on the market, how can we know which one is the most effective?

To answer that, Asahi Group Foods turned to the people who care for their throats the most: professional voice actors. The company consulted 39 actors from the I’m Enterprise talent agency, whose impressive roster includes Hiro Shimono (Attack on Titan) and Kana Ueda (Saki) to name but a few.

▼ Many of I’m Enterprise’s actors have had recurring roles in major franchises like My Hero Academia, Sword Art Online, and Fate.

It’s a cutthroat line of work, and these people live and die by their vocal chops, so it was a stroke of genius for Asahi to seek their tips to keeping a silky smooth throat. Everything from the ingredients to the flavor to even the name and packaging was done with their input.

Some of the suggestions included “ability to keep the throat moisturized,” “including honey and balloon flowers,” “providing a cooling sensation,” and “having a sweet and natural taste.”

Putting all these ideas together, Asahi created Uruoi Voice Nodo Ame (“Moisture Voice Throat Candy”).

These lozenges are a hard candy containing honey, balloon flower, bee glue, loquat leaf extract, and powdered apricot kernel. Inside is a soothing syrup of honey and balloon flower that hits the throat fast right where it’s needed most.

It’s a tempting concoction on its own, but the backing of such a prestigious voice talent agency only adds to this candy’s intrigue as demonstrated by online reactions:

“Are they going to sell it in rural areas too?”
“I’m definitely buying that.”
“Oh, did Ayane Sakura help too?”
“This would be perfect for karaoke.”
“That’s a very famous agency! I will totally buy those.”
“If they got input from Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, I will absolutely buy it.”
“It looks okay. I just want it in a normal way.”
“This looks really good!”
“I want, I want, I want!”

I have to say, up until now I wasn’t really in the market for any throat lozenge, but I’m really curious to see if those things can give me the dulcet tones of of a BL-inspiring anime butler. Heck, even if it just lets me constantly scream like Demon Slayer‘s Inosuke (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka) without doing permanent damage, that’d be cool too.

We’ll have to wait and see when Uruoi Voice Nodo Ame hits store shelves on 19 October all over Japan. Hopefully, it’ll even come out in the countryside so that one person can get some too.

Source: J-Cast Trend, PR Times, Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: PR Times
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