29/12/2012

End of the Year News Post Part 2




Mikkai
The main visual for the third Mikkai CD is up on the official site. The character for the third CD is Sagara Misaki (CV: Nojima Kenji) who is a high school teacher. He doesn't stand out much, and seems kind but this is actually due to the fact that he doesn't have much interest in the people around him. The CD is planned for a 2013.02.22 release.


Momo&Grapes
Multiple new releases from MomoGre are on the way.

In Februari another CD with readings of Miyazawa Kenji his stories will be released. The CD includes several of his stories, each read by a different seiyuu: Kamiya Hiroshi reads Chuumon no Ooi Ryouriten (the restaurant of many orders), Nakai Kazuya reads Neko no Jimusho (The Cat's Office) and Ame ni mo Makezu Kaze ni mo Makezu (Be not Defeated by the Rain), and Ishida Akira reads Hokushuu Shougun to Sanninkyoudai no Isha (The Northern Shougun and the Three Doctor Brothers)

In March a new addition to their Men's Only series will be released: this time they are doing an adaption of the Genji Monogatari. The cast list is as follows Hikaru Genji (CV: Morikawa Toshiyuki), Fujitsubo (CV: Kishio Daisuke), Yugao (CV: Takeuchi Ken), Aoi (Toriumi Kousuke), Rokujou (CV: Nakai Kazuya), Murasaki (CV: Tachibana Shinnosuke), Oborotsukiyo (CV: Kakihara Tetsuya), Tou no Chuujou (CV: Miyauchi Atsushi). This looks like an awesome cast and I am looking forward to everyone playing the female parts, but I keep imagining Genji like he is in the Oujisama (warai) series...


27/12/2012

End of the Year News Post Part 1

Part 1 of the end-of-the-year news!


Oujisama (warai) series
No real news here, but the latest post on the website that celebrates the release of the last Oujisama Date CD mentions that 2012 is almost over now but that they "hope for our support in 2013, when the series wll still continue". The second Radio CD will be out in Februari, but who knows what they might be planning besides that~



Shinsengumi Mokuhiroku Wasurenagusa
Besides the incredibly deadly third voice sample for Yamazaki his CD, voice samples for the official tokuten and the animate tokuten have been uploaded as well. The official tokuten (that you can get when you bought all 6 CDs is a 60min(!) full dummy head mic drama CD in which a short episode with each character is recorded. By the sound of it the CD is going to be a lot funnier than the main story (Heisuke his reaction when he walks in on you sitting in the bath is priceless, and it sounds like Kondo starts to announce something in an overdone fashion during the fade-out of his preview).

The animate tokuten (that you can get when you buy all 6CDs at animate) has all characters interact with each other. In the preview they are first arguing about whether they should write everyone's names on heir tabi (shoes) or not, after which Okita brings out the sake and everyone starts to drink. In the second part they seems to be bragging about how close they are with you while drinking, it ends with them planning to ask you who you like best....


25/12/2012

First of all: Merry Christmas everyone!!
I hope everyone is having a great time with family and friends and eating lots of yummy foods (^-^)


I'm sorry for the lack of news posts, but the end of the year is a bit hectic for me (although I fully admit that my recent addiction to Tales of Xillia 2 isn't really helping).

I will try to post a large news post between Christmas and New Year, as a sort of late Christmas present~

24/12/2012

Lovers Only 3 - Yume wo Egaku Etude

Bloody long review again, but I couldn't help it. It was a good story and I just have a lot I want to write about.


LOVERS ONLY 3 夢を描くエチュード


Company: Momo&Grapes
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.07.26


Lovers Only is a series that tells more mature love stories. Both in terms of being a bit more serious and not all fluff, and in that they tend to be more explicit. The third CD is a story about a music composer and one of his fans (meaning the listener).

Tonegawa Satoru (CV: Midorikawa Hikaru) is a successful composer who does a lot of soundtracks for TV and movies. Recently he has been suffering from a slump however, and has started to dislike his work. This has resulted in him sleeping with lots of different women, which caused the media to become mostly interested in who he is dating, which in turn only annoys him even more and only worsens the entire situation.

Every time he is asked whether he has anyone he likes he remembers a certain woman. Before he debuted he and a couple of friends held a live performance. The people there to listen were mostly friends and family, but there were a couple of girls that were neither so he went to thank them. They become good friends, and started to hang out together. When two of his friends went abroad after they graduated from university however, they sort of lost contact. One of the girls still continued sending letters whenever he published a new album or gave a live performance, writing down her impressions and thoughts.

Just when Tonegawa is thinking of her after a particularly annoying press conference and after party while downing one drink after the other, she (meaning you, the listener) walks into the bar together with some friends. They make eye contact and recognise each other. She comes over to talk, and they spend some time talking together. After a while a pianist starts a live performance and plays some jazz tunes. Everyone is enchanted by his performance including you and Tonegawa. However this also reminds Tonegawa of his current slump, and he tries to get up and leave.

Unfortunately he drank so much that he can hardly stand, and you end up taking him to a hotel so that he can rest. When he wakes up after a while he confesses that he is in a slump and asks you for your honest opinion on his most recent work. You answer that you have stopped sensing any feelings of 'happiness' and 'fun' in his music, but also say that if this is not what he wants to do he should simply find what he wants to do again - it is never to late for that. At this point Tonegawa his being drunk and his feelings for you become too much and he forces himself on you, only focussing on his own satisfaction however.

When he wakes up the next morning you are already gone, leaving nothing but a letter. In the letter you have written down your feelings: it ends with you saying that after writing all of this, you realise that you really did love him. Obviously Tonegawa is ridden with guilt now, especially because he liked you as well (in the past he hid this because one of his friends also liked you). Back in his studio he searches for your letters and starts reading all of them again, and is moved by how precise you have written you thoughts on his works. He sends you a ticket for his next concert, with his apologies and expressing his wish for you to attend the concert. You visit the concert, and at the end he plays a song that he has written especially for you - his longtime fan.

While everyone else is still applauding he grabs your hand and you leave together. So that he can apologise and tell you that he loves you. This of course all ends in the long awaited sex scene, and for once I am going to write something about it. Because it managed to surprise me in a lot of ways.

First of, as an apology for having his way with you the last time he says he will let you do whatever you want. And you actually put a blindfold on him and bind his hands and take things in your own hands, err, mouth. This means that the listener is for once not just passive but actually assertive. The second thing was a sentence I had never expected: Tonegawa asks you whether it is ok to do it from behind. I did so not see that one coming, nor did I ever expect to hear a sentence like that in any situation CD. The third thing was that the bed sounds have been upgraded again. You can actually hear the rhythm this time (;*゚Д゚;*)ハァハァ. Not only that, this time we also get squelchy noises at the appropriate points. Those were definitely not there before.

Afterwards -and still in bed-  Tonegawa asks you to marry him. YES. Finally a Lovers Only with an actual happy ending!!(whoohoo!)

So this time most of the bittersweetness was in the middle of the story instead of near the end. The scene were Tonegawa is reading your letter was beautiful. All of the emotions just pile up there. The music playing during that scene was also perfect for it, it seemed to partially build up with the emotions.

Speaking about the music, I loved almost all of the music in this CD. All of it except for one crucial piece: the piece he wrote for you. While the rest of the CD uses jazz pieces with an actual piano that piece seems to be using a keyboard and synthesisers instead, making it seem cheap in comparison. Which is a downright shame. It is after all the piece he wrote for the person he loves. A full version is included with the CD, and while it does get more interesting after the first part, it still sounds cheap.


The freetalk that comes with the CD if you got it at MomoGre their official store feels very... intimate? Midorikawa-san answers all the questions very seriously and calmly, and talks about how fan letters have helped him realize things about his own acting. I was quite surprised how much he talked about receiving fan letters and it was interesting to listen to.


Conclusion:
I thought that after listening to the first two CD I would have been used to how explicit the series is, but obviously not. Several phrases that I didn't expect and all those bed sounds (coupled with Midorikawa-san his breathing) left me completely flustered. I can't decide whether I liked this one or the first one best; the first one wins points for the seiyuu and setting, while this one wins when it comes to the story.

PS: After staring too long at the cover because it is so pretty I realized that even though the shiny surface of the piano shows a reflection of the keys, Tonegawa his hand is not reflected even though it should be. なにこれ?幽霊?

19/12/2012

Ai no Poem tsuki Kotoba-seme CD Vol.4

Tiara 愛のポエム付き言葉攻めCD Vol. 4

Company: Lantis
Based on: Original
Released: 2009.07.22

The Ai no Poem tsuki Kotoba-seme series is pretty much what it says on the tin: A CD that 'attacks' you with words, which also has a poem about love included. And by attacking I mean aiming directly at your heart and making you go dokidoki in a lot of ways. Vol 4 is voiced by Hatano Wataru and Abe Atsushi.

For this CD we once again have two seiyuu like in the first CD, but this time there is one story that features both of them.

You are taken to a distant castle where two brothers live. Their father gave you to them as a gift, with the message that they will have to see who gets you in the end yourself. The two brothers give you one month to choose between them, which also gives them one month to seduce you.

Despite being the more serious one, Noir (CV: Abe Atsushi) is the first one to make a move on you (although.... we'll get to that later). He runs into you in the garden one morning and walks with you a bit. When you touch one of the roses blooming in the garden you prick yourself. Noir immediately asks you to show your hand, and says that your blood looks inviting nope nope nope DiaLovers traumas. He takes you back inside to tend to your 'wound', which is when he discovers that you are covered in "tiny flower petals", and it turns out that Rouge drugged you last night and had some quality time with you. Noir decides to make you fall for him, starting with 'erasing those marks with his own kisses'. Afterwards he takes you to his room so that you can sleep (yeah right).

Rouge (CV: Hatano Wataru). Rouge is the more loose one of the two, never acting serious and basically sleeping all day. When he wakes up it is already night, and he discovers you in his brother's room. He goes to talk with you, and says he knows that you are actually a witch, but that he doesn't care about this and loves anyway. He also tells you that Noir would kill you if he discovered that you are a witch, but that he will love you. He also seems to have a bit of a brother complex.

When the night to choose comes you go to Rouge because of what he said, but the two draw their swords for a duel, but you throw yourself in front their blades to stop them. However it turns out that Noir knew who you were, and loved you anyway. Of course we need a happy ending, and when you kiss Noir the curse placed on you by the real witch is lifted (and you magically survive two stab wounds) and you decide to take another year to pick your actual groom.

And then  "CUT!!". Turns out this was all a recording for a movie. 'Rouge' tries to hit on you, but it turns out you were already dating 'Noir' for 6months xD

There are rose/flower metaphors everywhere in this CD. The description of the kissmarks on your neck as 'flower petals' really made me laugh though. The entire "castle with a rose garden" and the "curse lifted by a kiss" really gave this CD a fairytale vibe. The ending in which everything turned out to be a movie really caught me by surprise though!

I didn't even take the trouble of listening to the poem this time. Sorry.

In the free talk they have to talk about what they think is a 'romantic situation'. Hatano-san goes for a location where you can see the starts. Somewhere away from people and the city, where you can see a lot of stars. Abe-san his choice is when you are together in a car when it rains, because it sort of feels like being in your own world.  Also: Hatano-san his futagoo?!!!! was hilarious. (you need to hear it)


Conclusion:
While nothing can beat a do-S character bound in chains, this CD did a pretty good job. The story is floating on a pink fairytale cloud and then suddenly they say things that made me giggle like an idiot. It is pretty short though, barely even 30min. It has also been a while since I listened to anything with Hatano-san. Too long.

17/12/2012

Lovers Only 2 - Love Romance ha Kimi to

LOVERS ONLY 2 ~ラブロマンスは君と~


Company: Momo&Grapes
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.04.26


Lovers Only is a series that tells more mature love stories. Both in terms of being a bit more serious and not all fluff, and in that they tend to be more explicit. The second CD is a story about an angel who is supposed to search a new love interest for you. To be able to pick someone you like he disguises himself as a human and begins to spend time with you.

The Angel (CV: Toriumi Kousuke) received an order from the goddess Venus to find someone for you to fall in love with. You just had your heart broken, so you need someone new to fall in love with. When he arrives in the human world he finds you feeding a small kitten in a park on the way to your work, and immediately likes you.

To talk to you he disguises himself as a human and enters the shop where you work, and he asks you to help him find a present for a girl. He starts to like you even more after talking with you, and (in angel form) follows you to your house. As soon as you arrive home you break down in tears because of your heartbreak, and he resolves to find someone who will treasure you. But he also wants to find someone who suits you, so he decides to disguise himself as a human to learn more about you so that he can find the right person.

The next morning he puts this plan into action. When you are feeding the kitten in the park he calls out to you, pretending to also feed it at times. You decide to make a schedule to decide who will feed on which days, and this is how you start talking. Soon however, you start to spend more and more time together, until finally you spend at almost every day off together.

He starts to realize that he has fallen in love, but Venus is also becoming impatient and wants him to pick a boyfriend for you soon. So he decides to visit you one last time to say goodbye. You are also visibly shaken by the fact that he has to leave (he tells you that he needs to move somewhere far away because of his work) and at that point he truly realises that he loves you, and wants to kiss and hold you no matter what the consequences.

Once again I am not going to summarize what happens next because (/▽*\)~♪ イヤァン

The consequences of him sleeping with you are what makes this CD so bittersweet though: all of your memories of him are erased (apparently that just happens if an angel sleeps with a human). As a result you don't remember meeting him at all, nor do you remember who gave you the mirror you often use (that was the gift you picked at the start of the story, and that he eventually gave to you). One year later he is looking at how you are doing, and you are happily dating with the boyfriend he picked out for you - who looks exactly like how he looked when he was disguised as a human.

Just like before the entire CD is told from the male perspective, giving you insights on his thoughts as well. My problem with the first CD was the switching between narration and the sex scene, and they actually solved most of my issues with that. This time you can still hear some of the bed sound effects during the narration at times, making the switching a bit more subtle. I also swear that there are more bed sounds and that they became more real.

The ending is just so sad... You don't even remember that you met him, while he still loves you and is the only one to remember all the time you spend together. Somewhere in the beginning when you choose the mirror as a gift he sees a (blurry) vision of the two of you dancing together, so at first I thought they were going to throw in some "we met in a previous life" plot, but they didn't. (Which is a good thing if you ask me).

Toriumi-san uses a slightly higher pitched voice than I am used to, which I think is a missed opportunity. Yes, this makes the angels seem incredibly sweet and caring, but I think I would have preferred an angels with a sexy deep voice if we are going to end up going all the way.

Sadly, I have a version without free talk, so I can't comment on that.


Conclusion:
Once again a bittersweet love story with a sad ending. This time the story a least does have a definitive end though (not knowing exactly how the affair from the first CD is going to end made me feel even more sad then the actual story itself). This one was a bit cuter, more fluff and kittens (literally).

14/12/2012

Toubousha ~Naoya Hen~

逃暴者 ~ナオヤ編~


Company: Twofive inc.
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.11.21
Official site: http://www.twofive.co.jp/cd/fugitive_02.html


Toubousha is a CD in which a fugitive is on the run from someone. He uses you to get away, and as a result you are forced to do what he says. The CD uses the dummy head mic for the entire length of the CD (and does so very effectively). There are two endings; a good and a bad one.

In the second CD the person on the run is Ninomiya Naoya (CV: Shimono Hiro). He bumps into you while running away and drops a bloody knife. Because you've seen the knife he quickly grabs you and tells you not to make a fuss. He pulls you to the side and you see people running by - probably looking for Naoya. When they are gone he quickly runs to hide, dragging you along.

The first place where you hide seems to be an abandoned office. You notice that his shirt is covered in blood, but he tells you not to pry to much. He intends to hide here for a while, put apparently the adjacent offices are still used and a guard comes to check the place. You hide beneath a desk to get away, and you can hear Naoya his panicked breathing besides you. When the guard goes away Naoya immediately wants to leave to find a better place as well. You run for a while, but you are apparently wearing high heels or something, because you are not able to run very well. Thus, Naoya drags you into a nearby building.

Judging from the description you are in a (love) hotel. He turns on the TV for a bit, but they are running the news that a male university student was killed, and that someone was seen running from place of the crime. You try to run, but he grabs you and holds you down. After which he starts to desperately tells you that he wasn't the one who killed him. He tells you that the guy who died was a friend of him, and that he was already dead when he arrived at his house.

Naoya starts sneezing, and you offer to make some tea so that you can warm up your bodies. However being a klutz you accidentally spill hot water on your hand, and he immediately grows worried and tells you to cool it with water. In the end he is the one to make tea. Just the tea isn't enough to warm him though, and you offer him the shirt you bought for the birthday of a friend. He wants you to turns around as he changes, which is just too cute.

He finally introduces himself as Ninomiya Naoya. Apparently you go to the same university, and he saw you a couple of times at the cafeteria. You say you've seen him as well, but you have never spoken before. While you are talking a bit a blackout occurs, and you end up sitting together in the dark (after he accidentally trips over you and falls right on top of you by the sound of it). Naoya starts to wonder what is real and what isn't, whether he has actually already been captured and is just dreaming this while he is already prison. He calms down a bit while hugging you.

By being so close you realize that Naoya has a fever. The fever is getting worse with the minute, and he is on the verge of collapsing. You offer to buy some medicine but he doesn't want you to leave. Before he really collapses he practically begs you not to leave him. He's afraid of being alone right now and doesn't want you to leave his side. After he falls asleep you stay by his side. Like I mentioned there are two endings, and both pick up after he wakes up again. If you don't mind spoilers keep reading, otherwise skip the next two paragraphs.

In the bad end Naoya wakes up from having nightmares. He completely freaks out and is convinced you need to change hiding places again. In the epilogue he has gone completely crazy. You are staying at your house, and he is convinced the news that the culprit for the murder has been caught is just to lure him into the open. As a result he doesn't want to go outside and has forbidden you to go out as well. He is still afraid of being alone, and wants you to stay by his side forever.

In the good end he says he will turn himself in. He knows he didn't do it and hopes that if he turns himself in and tells everything he knows that the police will believe him and search for the real culprit. One week later at the university he suddenly grabs you and tells you "not to make a fuss" after which he releases you and says it is just a joke. The real culprit has been caught, and he asks whether you want to walk to the nearby park with him. Once there he tries to confess, which nearly fails but with a little help he succeeds. In the epilogue you have been dating for a while and are currently on a picknick date.

Shimono-san his acting is really great. Those moments when Naoya is panicking, and especially when he is nearly fainting from that fever his voice sounds so fragile that I just wanted to hug him and tell him everything will be all right. It also wouldn't have mattered whether he really killed that guy or not, I just wanted to stay at his side.

What did bother me however is that you already knew each other. That he saw you at the university (or the other way around) is still plausible. That you both noticed each other however is stretching things a bit. Even worse, it seemed like the shirt you bought was intended for him in the first place. Which is just plain weird, considering that you never even talked before. But oh well.

That the bad end was a (semi)yandere end was surprising (although I already knew this from a short remark on 2chan). As some people might know I love yandere characters, you might expect that I liked this ending, but I did not like it. Yes I like yanderes, but this ending just didn't cut it. It isn't exactly unthinkable that things might end like this, but if they were going for a yandere anyway they could have made Naoya the actual killer in the bad end. Considering that he already 'knew' you and probably liked you as well, a yandere end in which he killed that guy over you and then proceeded to trap you as well would have been... more interesting. The material was there anyway. (Or maybe I like my yanderes a bit too extreme...). And it felt like the ending was a bit too short.

Shimono-san sounds so cute when he starts the free talk. Apparently it was a tiring recording, and he was somehow very nervous due to the fact that his character was on the run all the time. Before he talks about the topic he wonders about whether he will be able to talk about this for 10 min (the free talk is 8:40, so he failed xD). The topic is "what would you take with you if you were on the run" but he can't decide on something to take. So in the end he chooses "money". He wonders whether it is OK that he is talking this much on his own so he suddenly starts talking close to your ear again (*´∀`*)


Conclusion:
This CD very different from the first one, and much more serious.  But both stories are great. I didn't really like the bad end this time, but the good end was very sweet. I am secretly hoping for another toubousha CD, and maybe this time one where the guy actually is guilty. But I guess writing a happy end would get tricky in that case...

12/12/2012

Ai no Poem tsuki Kotoba-seme CD

Going back to the first CD in the series~

愛のポエム付き言葉攻めCD



Company: Lantis
Based on: Original
Released: 2008.12.25


The Ai no Poem tsuki Kotoba-seme series is pretty much what it says on the tin: A CD that 'attacks' you with words, which also happens to have a poem about love included. And by attacking I mean aiming directly at your heart and making you go dokidoki in a lot of ways. The first CD is voiced by Midorikawa Hikaru and Miyata Kouki.

The main scenario in Midorikawa-san his part is that you come back home and your boyfriend has just finished cooking dinner for you. You are greeted with the oh so cliché but always entertaining "welcome home. Would like a bath, or dinner, or me" and a pretty deep kiss. Your boyfriend acts all cute but he says some pretty direct things.

After dinner you apparently fall asleep and you have a couple of dreams. One about a Magic Knight, which is with ease the most direct character in this entire CD. One about a prince who finds you being lost in the forest, this one is mostly sweet. And one where you are still in school and end up always eating lunch with the tsundere student council president (this later turns out to be how you and your boyfriend met). After you wake up again you get some more sweet words from your boyfriend.

I can't say much about the poem. It does seem the fit with the things said in the track before it. But Midorikawa-san his slightly broken "I'm your man" (in English) caused a me to skip the track as a whole the first time, until I discovered that his freetalk was recorded on the same track. Apparently Midorikawa-san did this recording while he had a cold (you can hear it in the free talk, even though he didn't sound like that at all in the rest of the CD).

The second part of the CD is voiced by Miyata Kouki, who appears as "kotobaseme kamen (the masked kotobaseme)" right after you were dumped by your boyfriend. He offers to date you and you accept, partly because you already know who he is: the president of the drama club at school (still, you were dumped only hours -possibly minutes- before. Talk about a fast recovery).

Of course being in the drama club (you also join after you start dating) you have to pick a play to perform at the school festival. You end up with a play about a knight who is betrayed by his older brother and is chased from the castle, only to return years later in disguise during a masked ball. And of course he falls in love with his brother's fiancée etc etc etc. The wording was a bit to theatrical, so forgive me for not being able to take it very serious.

The poem this time is titled "I no longer need a mask", so I suppose it fits? I didn't like Miyata-san his part that much. His characters were either to genki or too theatrical for my taste.

In terms of kotobaseme; the first two tracks by Midorikawa-san are the most 'attacking' ones. After that they get sweeter and sweeter. Nothing wrong with that, but in a CD with a title like this you'd expect the wording to be a bit bolder.


Conclusion:
The poems felt less random in this CD, but I can still do without them. I like the first two tracks the most, the rest was OK but nothing special.

PS: so far this is the oldest situation CD I've listened to, I think.

10/12/2012

Lovers Only

Lovers Only


Company: Momo&Grapes
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.02.28


Lovers Only is a series that tells more mature love stories. Both in terms of being a bit more serious and not all fluff, and in that they tend to be more explicit. In the first CD you go on a business trip to Hangzou together with Ichiyanagi Kunio (CV: Morikawa Toshiyuki), your direct superior at work. He is married and you have a boyfriend, yet you still feel attracted to him.

Ichiyanagi chose you to come with him on a business trip to China, despite the fact that you have only been working at the company for about 1.5 years. There is a proper reason for this though; you spend an entire night collecting data for a presentation he gave the next day, and because he was impressed with your work he asks you to come with him.

The business part of the trip goes smoothly, but Ichiyanagi is also slowly becoming aware of your charms. The first time you literally make him speechless is when you try on a modern china dress for the dinner after the meeting. When one of your associates mentions that you almost look like a couple he is visibly flustered as well. It doesn't really help that this causes him to knock over a drink either.

Back at the hotel after the dinner you decide to celebrate with just the two of you as well. You order champagne to drink on the balcony, which is when under to influence of alcohol you start to come closer together. To my surprise you yourself are actually the one to initiate a kiss. While he does respond to your kiss, Ichiyanagi is also the one to come to his senses first and hurriedly leaves the room.

The next day you have no appointments, so you spend some time visiting several famous museums and tourist spots together, as if nothing happened the day before. However when it suddenly starts to rain and you are taking shelter together you end up confessing your feelings for him. This makes him realize that he loves you as well, and you return to the hotel. Which can obviously only mean one thing.

(I am not going to give a summary of what happens behind the doors of that hotel room because... (/▽*\)~♪ イヤァン)

The final track is on the flight back. Ichiyanagi notices that you seem down, and tries to cheer you up and apologise for his actions. Telling you that it is his responsibility, but also what he wanted. Neither of you know how things will go from no on, but you don't want to lose each other either.


To my surprise this CD is rather, no, considerably explicit in what is happening. Kannou Jikan and Wasurenagusa might have ero scenes as well, but this CD gives much more accurate descriptions of what is going on. Also: bed sounds. This is the first time I've heard those in an otome CD (I know BL CDs frequently use them, but this is the first time I've heard them in a situation CD).

The entire CD is told from Ichiyanagi his perspective. Meaning that he doesn't only narrate the CD, but you also get to hear some of his thoughts. This works great for most of the CD, but I'm not so sure about this in the hotel room scene. Personally the constant switch between narration and -lets be honest- very hot sex threw me off. Then again, it is the same narration that makes these scenes this explicit, so in the end I don't know whether it is good or bad. Besides, Morikawa-san his performance more than makes up for it.

The final track hurt so much. The CD doesn't say how things will go from now on, it ends with your conversation on the plane. Considering that he is married and you have a boyfriend this is bound to cause a lot of problems afterwards, and exactly because the CD doesn't provide a happy (or bad) ending Ichiyanagi his words nearly made me cry. There is no way this will end good, but you still love each other. It made me feel like no matter what he says, the end result will be that you will have to return to being no more that a superior and his subordinate - and that hurts.

The free talk (which is only included when you buy it directly from MomoGre, I think) is a full 13min, so pretty long. He talks about various topics, and it is fun to listen to. One of the best parts is where he asks the people of MomoGre whether he is some sort of guinea pig because he often voices the first CD in their series. And even though this isn't a dummy head mic CD he ends up talking about it anyway.


Conclusion:
Usually I'm not really an ero fan, but I cannot deny that this CD was all sorts of amazing. I hope that they fixed the narration-ero scene switching problem in the later CDs. Maybe if they keep some of the background sounds even during the narration the switching will feel more natural. Or maybe this is really just a personal thing.

ps: tiny picture because there is a typo on most of the pictures floating around on the internet, which I think has something to do with whether or not the CD was bought at MomoGre or not, but I'm too lazy to do the research for now.

09/12/2012

Weekly News Post

Lots of previews this week!


Anata wo Misshitsu de Torishirabe CD
A preview for the first CD has been uploaded at the official blog. Sounds like this is going to be quite the interrogation.  The CD will be out later this month on the 26th.


10nen Hatsukoi
A preview for the 10nen Hatsukoi Christmas Carol CD is up on youtube. It seems like the start of the story. Sounds like it is going to be a fun story and like I should finally listen to the actual series. Also, those final messages *kyaaaa*.




Ikitsukai
A preview for the first Ikitsukai has been uploaded on animate TV. For your information, this is a scene in the sauna. But the overload of heavy breathing and BL-interpretable lines would make you think it is something else (which is exactly their intent, of course). I was nearly dying of giggles and laughter while listening to this. The fact that it is recorded with the dummy head mic makes it all the more deadly.


07/12/2012

Tabi to Michizure

タビと道づれ

Company: Frontier Works
Based on: Manga
Released: 2009.06.24


Tabi to Michizure is a story about Tabi (CV: Kugimira Rie) who wants to see her childhood friend 'Kou-chan' (CV: Sakurai Takahiro). One day she suddenly decides to visit the town where they lived, and instead of taking the train to school she takes the train there. When the conductor comes to check hee ticket she panics at first because she doesn't have one, but he gives her a stamp on her hand saying that it is "a ticket is a way to get where you want" and that the shape doesn't matter.

When Tabi arrives at the town where she lived before she is immediately ambushed by Yukita (CV: Minagawa Junko) and Nishimura (CV: Nakamura Yuuichi) who seem completely surprised that a train has arrived and start to question her about how she got here. Tabi first runs away but is nearly 'swallowed' by a large hole in the road that suddenly opens when she tries to take a shortcut to Kou-chan his house. Yukita saves her, and the two of them explain that this town has been repeating the same day over and over again.

Yukita his childhood friend Kanako (CV: Asumi Kana) comes by every day on exactly the same moment, begging him not to leave for Tokyo, using exactly the same words every day. Other people in the town repeat exactly the same pattern every day as well. No trains and arrive or leave, and each day is the same as the one before. Tabi is the first one to arrive in a long time, and along with Yukita and Nishimura the only one that notices that every day is the same, the other people forget this.

Yukita and Nishimura think that Tabi might be the key to solve the mystery of the town, and so Tabi and Yukita start searching for clues while checking which roads they can and can't cross. And so the days keep repeating.

This is a cute story, and for some reason it made me feel very nostalgic. I don't know, the idea of a rural town repeating the same summer day over and over again just seems so... peaceful. Throughout the story bits and pieces of the characters their past are told, especially about Tabi, Yukita, and Nanako, and some of them are quite surprising to.

Tabi has some problems with making friends, which leads to some hilarious moments as well. Yukita likes making strange metaphors, and is entirely too energetic and loud, but it is exactly this personality that gives him so much charm (along with Minagawa Junko her amazing voice work). Nishimura is like the one sane person, but still interesting.

The CD doesn't cover the entire manga, and some of the events have been shuffled, but overall I feel like this version is easier to understand (some things are explained better here). This also means that the CD ends about halfway through the story, but this isn't a bad thing at all. Although it does leave you with a couple of questions (I am mostly wondering about why Nishimura also keeps his memories).

In the free talk everyone talks about where they want to travel, or a story that has something to do with 'travel'. I am once again amazed by how annoying Kaneda Tomoko her voice is, it sounds like she is on helium 24/7. And for some reason Sakurai introduces himself as "Taka-chan" (probably because his role only has Kou-chan as his name).


Conclusion:
This is a really sweet story. It isn't all fluff and rainbows, but in the end it made me feel like plain everyday life can be happiness as well. And it made me feel like travelling. Though I'd prefer to do that during summer.

06/12/2012

Pick-up Voice for iOS

I kept forgetting this in the news posts, and then I thought it would be better if I actually read it first, which I kept forgetting, and so this went in circles for a couple of days but here we are!


As you may or may not know, an English version of the seiyuu magazine Pick-up Voice was released for iPhone/iPad a little while ago. Search for the Pick-up Voice Mobile in the app store/news stand and you should find it. The app itself is free, but you will need to pay a subscription fee or buy the individual issues to be able to read them.



My biggest problem with this app is actually the News Stand app itself. I had never used it before, but it annoys me to no end. When I first bought vol.1 I couldn't find it anywhere, so I had to choose download again. I didn't want to stream, so I downloaded the issue but if you close the app or your phone goes into standby mode the download stops and you'll have start over. Ugh. Eventually I managed to download it though. Next problem: if you switch into standby mode while reading the app closes and you'll have to manually select it again and manually browse to the page you were at again. Great (=_=;;).

But if you open the current issue you are greeted by a several pages long Kaji Yuuki interview so most of my irritation just vanishes into thin air because he is so very cute somehow. I noticed that the English is a bit... weird at times. Not incomprehensible but there are definitely some odd sentences here and there and overall it has that "obviously translated from Japanese to English" feel. I don't know whether you know what I mean, but sometimes it is just so obvious what the source language was in translations, which results in a weird slightly unnatural translation. That said, everything is perfectly understandable, most of it is pretty good, and above everything else: I feel blessed for even having an English version.


Reading on an iPhone is slightly impractical but definitely possible. You'll have to zoom and scroll a bit to be able to read everything but it is not too bad. I imagine that it would be easier to read on an iPad. On the other had, I kind of wonder how it looks on an iPad. If I zoom a bit too much on my iPhone the image becomes pixilated pretty fast, so I was wondering how it looks on an iPad (If anyone has one and downloaded this, please let me know!) But once again: I feel blessed just because this exists.



I am really happy that they decided to release this, and I hope that they will continue to release more Issues in English. It really isn't that expensive, so I hope that everyone will support and buy this so that the publishers are encouraged to keep this up and maybe even release more stuff in a similar way!

05/12/2012

Do-M Club ~Tensei Gakuen Housoubu~

ドM倶楽部 ~天醒学院放送部~


Company: Hobirecords
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.11.30
Official site: http://www.hobirecords.com/mclub/


The makers of the Yandere Heaven have released a CD that takes us to a whole different extreme: do-M. The basic setup of the CD is the same as in the Yandere Heaven series, you become the object of affection of two different characters who seem normal at first, but the further the story progresses the more their real personality starts to show. The CD has a separate ending for each of the two characters, as well as a 3P ending.

The story takes place at Tensei Gankuen, you are a member of the broadcasting club together with your classmate Tokiwa Tadashi (CV: Ono Yuuki). There are no other members, but the club advisor Aida Muneyuki (CV: Inoue Kazuhiko) is pretty much involved with anything you do.

Thanks to his pretty face and kind personality Tadashi is quite popular at school, to the point of having a fan club. You've known Tadashi since when you were little, and he once asked you out but you turned him down. This was the first time he was refused something, as a result of this he felt this was special and he would do anything to get you to refuse or scold him again.

Aida-sensei is a rather strict teacher. He was physically abused by his mother when he was a child, as a result of which he now associates physical pain with being loved. One day when hands you some papers he gets a paper cut, and while you put a band-aid on the cut you accidentally hurt him. As a result, he becomes obsessed with you.

The story takes place over a week time, and at the start both of them are still normal. Tadashi seems like a normal sweet guy, and Aida like a rather strict teacher. However through various incidents more and more of their do-M personality starts to show. Tadashi starts expressing his wish for you to scold him, or ask things of him that are difficult (like eating a bento with a lot of shishitou (green peppers) in it). Aida-sensei on the other hand gets increasingly vocal about wanting you to hurt him, and you discover that he has been hurting himself for a long time as well.

All of this eventually results in the two of them demanding you to choose between them. In Tadashi his ending he has been locked up in a small room at school for punching Aida-sensei. You come to visit him after class, and he is practically begging you to scold him because he "has been a bad child". You remain largely unresponsive (probably because you've figured out by now that he would enjoy it if you do get mad). Because you don't get mad at him he nearly throws himself out of the window, by which time you finally get mad, drag him back inside and scold him.

In Aida-sensei his ending he has you visiting him each day after class and he orders you to hurt him. He tells you he has been practising a certain way of binding someone with a rope, ordering you to tie the final knot and to pull it tighter. It doesn't end there though: after that he orders you to take pictures of him this way using his cellphone, and he is obviously thinking of spreading those in the school or on the net.

Throughout the entire CD you don't really actively participate in their fantasies. It is obvious that you didn't know about their do-M sides at first, and when it starts to show it is quite obvious that you are at first confused and later weirded out. Even in Aida-sensei his ending where you actually do a few things, this is only because he orders you to. All of this ends in the 3P ending though, where you are a full do-S dominatrix over both of them. I think making you normal instead of an dominatrix from the start was a good choice. This was all of your reactions are natural, and it is easier to place yourself in the heroine her shoes. That said, the 3P end was quite... interesting to listen to actually.

Overall this is less extreme then the Yandere Heaven series. Don't get me wrong, Tadashi and Aida their personalities are quite extreme actually, but because they are do-M there is less shit happening to you, and more to them. Still, I suppose this isn't for everyone. Nothing wrong with trying though, it gets progressively worse so you can always stop at a point where it gets too much.

I was really surprised when Inoue-san was announced as one of the cast members, but he did an amazing job (as to be expected from such a pro I suppose). Both of their performances were great for that matter. I just... I kind of wonder... how does it look when someone is recording something like this in the studio?

As the cast interviews on the website already indicated, Ono-san and Inoue-san did their recordings separately (altough Ono-san did get to hear some of the parts of Inoue-san his recording for when their character interacted), so obviously their cast comment separately as well. I can't help but feel like Ono-san his voice is still in do-M mode. It occasionally has the same higher pitched tone that he used for Tadashi his do-M parts, which makes me laugh.


Conclusion:
I found this an interesting change after all of the yandere and do-s we've seen lately, but I don't see this turning into a series. Just like the Yandere Heaven series this isn't going to be for everyone, but in a whole different way. Hearing characters act all do-M towards you is weird, and I guess that whether you like/can endure it entirely depends on how much tolerance you have for this kind of thing.

(that said, I would be interested if they would make a mix of the series and introduce a do-M yandere character. That would be a combination I haven't seen yet and it seems sort of interesting).

03/12/2012

Jiyuu Kenkyuu

幼馴染とあなたが恋人を演じる自由研究、最後に恋は芽生えるか


Company: Cineria
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.11.09
Official site: http://www.ike-men.net/ci_jitop.html

The full title reads "osananajimi to anata ga koi wo enjiru jiyuu kenkyuu, saigo ni koi ha mebaeru no ka" (the research project in which your childhood friends and you act out love, will love bloom in the end?). Yes that is a long title, a bit too long if you ask me. But it does describe what this CD is all about: for a high school research project you and your childhood friends decide to do an experiment to see whether you will fall in love if you act like lovers.

You and your childhood friends Urabe Tsukasa (Suzuki Tatsuhisa) and Suzuki Youhei (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) grew up almost like family. Your parents were good friends since before you were even born, and you always went on vacation with all three families. Ever since you can remember you've been together. The CD starts with Tsukasa taking the train back to your home town and his reminiscing about the research project you did together, which eventually caused a great change in your relationship to each other.

At your second year in high school, right before the summer vacation, you decide to do this experiment for your research project together. You decide on a couple of rules: the pair that has to act as 'couple' always has to hold hand whenever you go somewhere, and the other person takes on the role of observer and has to keep a small distance. Also, you have to call the observer by his last name instead of his first name like you have been doing up to that point. If you really start to feel something for each other, you may confess your feelings on the last day of the summer vacation - and whether that feeling will be mutual or not will then be the end result of the research.

Which one of the two will be your 'boyfriend' is decided by rock-siccors-paper (they sound really cue doing that btw). Tsukasa wins and gets to decide who will get the boyfriend role. He appoints Youhei as your boyfriend, and himself as the observer. And so you begin hanging out with Youhei as your 'boyfriend'. This is slightly awkward in the beginning, but Tsukasa soon notices that you start to act more and more like an actual couple the longer you keep it up. He also starts to become slightly jealous.

Not only that, Youhei confessed to him that he has liked you for a while now. Tsukasa says that he will cheer him on, but this only makes him think about his own feelings more - although he doesn't really know how he really feel about it. One night while all three of you are staying over at Youhei his house for the night Tsukasa eventually kisses you in the spur of the moment when Youhei steps outside for a bit. Before you can react or say anything however, Youhei returns and you never talk about it again.

The cover of the CD is actually the final time that all three of you are together. You are watching the fireworks together, and this is when Youhei decides to tell Tsukasa exactly what he thinks about this entire experiment (throwing a few punches to make his point) and in the end this changes your entire relationship with each other...

Being a Sakurai fangirl I was already silently rooting for his character before I even started listening. However my hopes were destroyed in the worst possible way in the beginning. The opening words of this CD are... painful. I am not kidding when I am saying that this CD managed to make me cry within 30 seconds. And not just a few tears welling up, I mean literally crying. I do have to say that Suzuki-san his voice is beautiful here though. For some reason I didn't really associate his voice with more mature characters, but his grown up voice here was fantastic (as a child he sounds completely different).

Listening to this I am guessing that the script includes the actual lines that were said by the heroine. There is not just a small pause where you are supposed to have said something, but realistic gaps. They also don't repeat whatever you said for the sake of the conversation; this was written like an actual drama and you'll have to guess whatever you were saying. Of course you can deduce what you probably said from the flow of the conversation, but not everything. Whether this is a good or a bad thing I will leave up to you to decide for yourself. Personally it took me a short while to get used to, but I enjoyed it.

The beginning and ending aside, the middle part of the story (the part when you are doing the experiment) is kind of cute and bittersweet. It is the beginning and the ending that stab your heart with a thousand daggers. Cineria is really good with that... This story seemed less realistic than Kareshi Igai, but the way you talk and the lack of repetition (when a character repeats what you supposedly said) still make the conversation flow naturally just like in all their works.

I could have done with a free talk to heal my broken heart, but unfortunately there is none.


Conclusion:
If you are a Sakurai fan this CD is pure heartbreak. If you're a fan of Suzuki-san however, this most likely turns a bit more into a bitter-sweet love story. Although there is no denying that it is still plenty painful either way. I secretly which for an alternative version where the outcome is different, but I doubt my heart would actually survive listening to something like this again.

Weekly News Post

Last Minute News Post would be a better description.


SenKoi
Gakken (Issho ni Cooking, Joshuseki Kareshi) is starting yet another series: セン恋 (senkoi). The 'sen' part likely comes from 'sensei' (teacher) as this series is all about falling in love with your teacher. The series is based on a novel series which is also published by Gakken. That said, it is actually an 'after story' set 5 years after the event of the novel.

This idea feels a bit strange, considering you would thus have to know the original work to fully understand this one, so I wonder why they will include a sort of summary of the original story as well. 5 CDs are planned in total; one for each novel released. Each CD will feature one of the teachers from the original series, although original characters will also appear.

Sakamoto Ryouta, the main teacher for the first CD will be voiced by Nojima Kenji, while Shimazaki Nobunaga and Ginga Banjou will voice two additional characters.


Issho ni Diet CD
Gakken is releasing another CD, and apparently it is a diet CD this time. The seiyuu is still undecided but it is planned for a 2012.02.25 release.


Honeymoon
Another month another Honeymoon (again): This time Ichijou Yamato (CV: Yasumoto Hiroki) will take you to America (oi oi oi, can't they be a bit more specific?). Yamato loves cooking, and runs a couple of restaurants. He is describes as manly, broad minded, and calm. People who meet him for the first time often find him intimidating, but he is actually very nice and quite cute when he laughs. There is a bit of a gap between his looks and his personality. He is usually kind, but can get quite jealous too.


Ani to Osananajimi
Stella Worth is releasing another CD in their Original CD series. Two CDs again to be more precise. This time the question is who you will ride the ferris wheel with: your brother or your childhood friend. As always each CD has a different scenario depending on who you choose. Details on the cast and when it will be released will come soon according to the blog post in which the CDs were announced.


Kareshi Igai
Another spin-off for the Kareshi Igai series will be released next spring 彼氏未満 (kareshi miman, Less then a Boyfriend) will once again feature Kanemori Tsubame (CV: Okamoto Nobuhiko). While the Kareshi Shoukaku CD follows the scenario where Tsubame-kun became your boyfriend, this one will follow the scenario where you stay with your boyfriend and keep Tsubame-kun on the side.


Kindan Vampire
While the official site has barely even updated to sow more info on the 5th CD, the 6th one has already been announced: 禁断吸血鬼~黒薔薇ノ皇帝~ (kindan vampire ~kurobara no koutei~, Forbidden Vampire ~Emperor of the Black Rose~). This time Tsuda Kenjirou will be the one to suck your blood. The CD is planned for a 2013.02.13 release.


Tenshi no Mesamashidokei
The plot of this CD seems rather vague, but here we go: Amemiya Kouichi (CV: Morikawa Toshiyuki) is fired from his job as a sports magazine writer due to the higher ups not liking his attitude. When he learns that one of his former senpai is planning an interview with a girl who is famous for "finding pets" he tries to get close to you under the pretence of helping his senpai with the interview. Where the story is supposed to go from here I don't know.

What is special about his CD however is that there are two versions: a CD version and an "Only You" version. The CD version is the standard version, but the Only You version uses your own name during the drama. Meaning that yes, you can have Morikawa Toshiyuki say your name. This version does cost 5000yen though.

Currently there is a list of names that can be used, although other names can be requested as well. Before you plan to order though: the site does state that only Japanese names are accepted, and I have no idea whether they will accept international orders (the form for ordering the CD requires you to enter a Japanese address).

I have no idea when the finalized product will be released, but this is called "vol.1", so they are planning more CDs I guess?