Is it just me, or is "ryokai" pronounced "yokai" regularly?


I realize anime is not like real life. In any case, I have noticed for a long
time now that when saying "roger", they sound like they are saying "yokai"
when in fact there should be a "r" sound in the beginning. It seems like they
drop the "r" entirely, however. Maybe it's just me, but I've even rewound and
listened to it said many times in many instances and it never ceases to sound
like they omit the "r" sound entirely in this usage. So, if I'm hearing it
correctly, why do they do this? If I'm not, then... well, why does it sound
like that's what they're doing to me so clearly & consistently(perhaps I'm not
sensitive enough to pick up on their language's tiny nuances yet)?

To clarify: I do realize the way they say "r" is light in & of itself already.
The way it's pronounced makes it slip into their language in a very fine and
balanced way(definitely a "soft" sound, unlike the American "r" I grew up
with). But in other instances, I do still pick it up. It's only ever an issue
with this word/in this scenario. I was curious whether or not there is a
reason for this, is all.




Japanese ry is palatal flap while English y is palatal fricative. So they are
very close. (Japanese y is less fricative than the English counterpart and
close to a kind of diphthong.)




Japanese ry is palatal flap while English y is palatal fricative. So they are
very close. (Japanese y is less fricative than the English counterpart and
close to a kind of diphthong.)

