The expressions new char[N] and new unsigned char[N] are guaranteed
to return memory sufficiently aligned for any object. See §5.3.4/10
“[…] For arrays of char and unsigned char, the difference between the
result of the new-expression and the address returned by the allocation
function shall be an integral multiple of the strictest fundamental
alignment requirement (3.11) of any object type whose size is no greater
than the size of the array being created. [ Note: Because allocation
functions are assumed to return pointers to storage that is
appropriately aligned for objects of any type with fundamental
alignment, this constraint on array allocation overhead permits the
common idiom of allocating character arrays into which objects of other
types will later be placed. —end note ]”.
From a stylistic point of view, of course: if what you want is to allocate raw
memory, it’s clearer to say so: operator new(N). Conceptually,
new char[N] creates N char; operator new(N) allocates N bytes.