13/12/2013

December News Post Vol.1

And then, out of nowhere, a news post!!! :D

I will not say it is weekly or anything, but for now it is here. And hopefully more will follow. The tiny numbers next to a series title link to tumblr posts with related translations.


Kyuuketsuki Darling
The Kyuuketsuki Darling website updated with a banner that leads to a blog post with info about the upcoming fandisks. Yes, Fandisks. Three of them are planned for now, to be released somewhere in spring 2014, and they are a sort of epilogue or after story to the original CDs.

- Vol.1: Remi Barrier (CV; Nakai Kazuya) & Tsukioka Haruki (CV: Kimura Ryouhei)
- Vol.2: William Edwards (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki) & Azer Aslan (CV: Okamoto Nobuhiko)
- Vol.3: Katagiri Ryuuji (CV: Ono Yuuki) & Sakuraba Ryuuto (CV: Taniyama Kishou)

The Marine Entertainment website also lists "others" for each CD, so maybe more characters will appear in each CD, but it is safe to say that the two listed will be the main focus.



Fantasy Kareshi ~Dive into Fairytale~ [1][2]
Animate and Marine Entertainment are teaming up for another collaboration (their first one was Risou Kareshi). This time you become the heroine of a well known fairytale, and for each fairytale there are two characters you can fall in love with.

In the Peter Pan story you become Wendy, and you can choose between Peter and Captain Hook. In Red Riding Hood you become the titular Little Red Riding Hood, and you can choose between the Hunter (Rolan) and the Wolf (Ruu? Lou?), and finally in Hansel and Gretel you become Gretel, and you can choose between Hansel and the Magician. They turned Hansel into your half brother for this series (and the witch into a male magician). 6 CD's have been planned for now, so probably one for each character.

The seiyuu for this series have already been decided; Oosaka Ryouta, Ono Yuuki, Shimono Hiro, Suwabe Junichi, Taniyama Kishou, and Toriumi Kousuke.

But who will voice which character is up to us to decide! Animate and Marine entertainment are currently running an survey where you can choose who will voice which role. The web version can be found here. I translated all of the character descriptions in case you want to consider those while voting. Details about the voting process are also in that post.

The results of the survey will be posted somewhere in February next year, so I am guessing the releases will start several months after that. It is a long wait, but probably worth it considering that we get a say in which role the seiyuu will voice.


25/11/2013

Why Sakuya Killed His Fiance, And Why I Think ''Boku ga Kimi wo Koroshita Riyuu'' Is a Mediocre CD - an essay by Eri.

Please note that this is not a review, but more of an analysis of the CD and why I think it was mediocre. I originally wanted to post it as a reply on tumblr, but it turned into a full essay and I didn't want to post a wall of text like this on tumblr.  So again, this is not an actual review. What I am doing is closer to dissecting the story (and it's flaws)

The Story
The CD starts when you 'wake up' and see Sakuya, who explains that you are dead, and that he is the one that killed you. You are currently in the afterlife. He tells you he will explain how you ended up like this, and that this explanation starts 7 day ago. After this the CD counts down to the day of your death, from Sakuya his perspective.

The first scene between the two of you is that you are shopping. You just picked up your wedding ring for your wedding, which is in 7 days. Quick calculation tells us that means you die on your wedding day, nice. While you are out Sakuya notices you coughing.

Next scene is Sakuya arriving at work and noticing that there are a lot of people absent. When he sits down a newspaper falls (out of his bag? from the desk?) and he remembers an article about an unknown disease spreading. (it is literally called ''kibyou'' meaning ''strange disease''). Sakuya re-reads the article, which states that the disease starts with a headache and that it has caused several deaths...

Next scene is when Sakuya gets home. While waiting for you to get home Sakuya watches the news and sees a report about a traffic incident. This triggers a flashback from his childhood; the traffic accident where he lost his father. Apparently they were driving to the airport to go on an overseas trip for his birthday. For some reason his mother is not there in his memories. (More on this scene later). This accident also caused amnesia - he has no memories from before the accident.

He is pulled back to reality by your entering the room. You visited the hospital on the way home (more alarm bells), it will take a few days before you get the results of your tests however. Sakuya makes you some hot milk, but you drop the mug and cut yourself. He cleans the wound by sucking it, noting that your blood 'tastes strangely sweet'. At this point I was afraid we would end up with a vampire story, but thankfully we a spared from that. It is still important later on though.

A few days later Sakuya receives a call from the hospital you went to, telling him to come alone. He is instantly worried so he leaves for the hospital right away. The doctor who called him greets him with ''long time no see''. Apparently he was an apprentice of Sakuya his father, but Sakuya doesn't remember him. The doctor tells him that having no memories is no surprise after that incident in the past.

More worried about your condition however, Sakuya asks about the test results. This is where the CD goes overboard. Apparently the strange disease always results in death, and it is not only spreading in Japan but in the entire world. However, they discovered an anti-virus in your blood. Thus, they want you to return to the hospital for tests so that they can develop an antidote. The catch is that you would become a human vegetable in the process. Sakuya immediately yells he won't allow that because you are more important than all of humankind to him. To which the doctor replies that he deliberately infected you with the disease, so that you will HAVE to come to the hospital.

Sakuya is obviously shaken by all of this, and skips work the next day. While doing this he has another flashback, but this time not of the accident but of what seems like a fire, and a woman trying to save him. Because he never saw any of these scenes in his flashbacks before he is understandably confused. This is when he realizes that the doctor said incident and not accident when talking about his memory loss.

Thus Sakuya decides to research whether there where any news articles about a fire which could be related to this. And of course he finds one that fits, it pictures a lodge (probably something like this) which is also pictured on the single family photo he has left. The news article mentions there was a fire, causing the death of one person and heavily injuring another. Because his mother is dead, Sakuya logically assumes his mother died in the fire.

(meanwhile, Sakuya has more flashbacks of a girl with a doll in a red dress, and your condition gets worse, although it could be just fatigue from overwork)

The day before the wedding however, Sakuya accidentally finds a box with all of your old dolls and plushies. Which (surprise surprise) contains the doll with the red dress from his flashbacks. This triggers him to remember everything, and to resolve to kill you. Which he does the next day on your wedding, he stabs you in the back when you give each other the ceremonial kiss.

From here on we return to the afterlife, where Sakuya explains the rest. I will do the same, but a bit more pragmatically because this essay is getting long enough as it is.


Explanation and Motives
You were friends with Sakuya when you were little, and the two of you really liked each other. Sakuya his family was on vacation near where you lived, and when the time came for him to go you didn't want him to leave. Thus you resorted to childish tricks like hiding his things so he couldn't leave (accurate child logic btw). You sneaked into the lodge at night to do so. Unfortunately you were carrying an oil lamp (or something similar) and at some point the whole place went up in flames.

Sakuya got caught in the flames and died, his mother sustained heavy injuries in her desperate attempts to save him, and would later succumb to these injuries. However his father was researching cloning, and succeeded in cloning Sakuya - the current Sakuya is a clone of the original, and this is why he has no memories from before the car accident, that was the day he was ''born''

This takes us back to the scene of said accident. Sakuya remembers this as his was father taking him on overseas trip for his birthday. It is more likely that he was fleeing overseas with the cloned child.

Although the article does not mention a second death, Sakuya deduces that there was - you died in the fire as well. This means you are a clone as well, the proof of this is the sweet taste of your blood (this is retro actively confirmed by the last scene). 

And THAT is the reason why Sakuya kills you, because the two of you are clones. Not because he doesn't want to sacrifice you to save the world, not because you caused the death of his mother and himself, destroying his life, but because you are clones. More specifically, because he is a clone and suddenly feels like he is just a shadow of the 'real' Sakuya and has no right to live. Note that he apparently decided this seconds after realizing the truth about himself. And his conclusion is to kill you, despite the fact that he still loves you and wished for you to be happy. This makes no sense to me.


The ending and its implications
After Sakuya his explanation has ended and he says goodbye, saying you will go to heaven and he will go to hell, there is a small bonus scene. At first this seems like a ''dream end'' where the entire story turns out to be a dream;

Sakuya wakes up after drifting off, mentioning he has a strange dream but can't really remember what is what about (It sounds like you are on a train or something). His finger hurts, and he mentions he cut himself this morning while making breakfast. The band-aid has slipped off, and you suck his finger to clean the wound, and mention that his blood tastes sweet. Sakuya declares this nonsense and changes the subject, saying that he is looking forward to how the wedding ring will turn out.

Now this scene was awesome for two reasons. First, it subverts the ''dream end''. This scene actually takes place one week before you pick up your wedding ring. Meaning that everything else still very much happened.

Second, you mention Sakuya his blood tastes sweet. Remember that Sakuya said the same about your blood earlier in the CD. With Sakuya definitely being a clone, this proves that you are, indeed, a clone as well.


Commentary on several of the scenes
The opening scene was pretty good to be honest. You are dead, but don't know why. The man who was your fiancé tells you he killed you. What happened? Why would he do that? The start is pretty intriguing actually. 

The first real problem is the scene where Sakuya reads the newspaper. It is so incredibly artificial it hurts. I understand that it can be difficult to introduce a topic in a CD with only one seiyuu (and thus no one to bring up the topic) but it is basically forced down your throat. Combining this with your cough from the scene before sets off an amount of red signs and alarm bells that can't be ignored. And while they don't play it completely straight, you do end up infected with the mystery disease.

Next comes the scene at the hospital. First of all, your blood having the (only) anti-virus for a disease which threatens the world sounds too fantastical to me. But there are more things wrong with this scene. I might not have much medical knowledge, but I do not see why you have to become a human vegetable from their tests. If they discovered the anti-virus in your blood, wouldn't that be all they need? Sure, giving a lot of blood (for a possibly prolonged time) would weaken you, but the worst that would happen is that you have to stay in a hospital bed for a while, not die as is heavily implied here.

(Keeping you alive is in their best interest as well, so it is reasonable to assume they would not take so much blood that they would kill you).

Another thing that bothers me is the doctor saying that he infected you with the disease when you came for a check-up. That would mean that they ran tests on your blood immediately after taking it (highly unlikely, it will probably get send to a test centre) AND immediately discovered that there was an anti-virus in it (even more unlikely, that would take extensive testing).

Also, as your blood had the only known anti-virus, Sakuya basically doomed humankind by killing you. Unless they salvage the blood from your cold, dead body or discover a new anti-virus we will all die slow and painful deaths caused by the mystery disease.


Plotholes and other rants.

  • The doctor infecting you with the mystery disease as mentioned above, as this would mean he basically infected you before he even knew you had the anti-virus.
  • For that matter, why extracting the anti-virus from your blood would result in your death.
  • Sakuya seeing flashbacks from before the car accident. Cloning duplicates the body, not the mind. 
  • You being a clone. The newspaper article does mention Sakuya his death but makes no mention of a second body.
  • Even if they only discovered your body later, how did you return to a normal life after being born as clone? There is no indication of you having a strange past anywhere in the story.
  • Why are there two clones out in the wild, both without any supervision? It is hard to imagine they would just let you go.
  • Your (and Sakuya's) blood being sweet. If you are just a clone there is no reason for this, unless they used medicine/genetic manipulation to stabilize the clones. it did make for an awesome moment in the ending though.
  • It sounds like there is no one present at the wedding, why not?
  • Sakuya is the afterlife as well, but this is not explained anywhere. I guess we'll just have to assume he committed suicide after killing you.

Ono Daisuke his Performance
While I have a lot to say about the rest of the CD, I have little to say about OnoD his voice acting. It was neither bad nor really good. I'd be surprised if such a high profile seiyuu gave a bad performance to be honest, but it didn't really move me either. 

A lot of that can be attributed to the writing I suppose; I was getting increasingly annoyed with the story and it would have taken a truly astounding performance to save it. Unfortunately there was no real room for that. 

So I'll go with ''good''. There weren't any bad moments so that makes it good, it just doesn't manage to impress beyond that (in my opinion).


Conclusion
The concept and start of the CD were promising. Unfortunately the plot ends up as too cliché, with a couple of gaping plot holes to make the situation worse.

I wanted to like this CD, I like mystery stories like this and it had the potential to be heartbreaking. Bitter-sweet would have been a good alternative, but in my opinion the CD barely reaches even that level. 

Yet, for all it's flaws, the ending is amazing. When it seemed like they were going to pull a dream end I nearly stopped listening right there. The last thing I needed after a story I hardly enjoyed was a ''just kidding!!'' moment. I'm glad I kept listening though, because it was a well executed double plot twist. If anything, I will be remembering this ending for a long time.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Wow. I just wrote almost 2500 words on the flaws of a drama CD, haha. Even my incredibly long Wasurenagusa reviews are still only about 1500 words!

If you've listened to the CD as well and have anything to add (or counter my arguments!) feel free to post in the comments. I'm really interested in how others feel about the CD, because to me it was disappointing. 

While I had fun writing this, this post does not mean I will return to a regular posting schedule any time soon. It was more like something I needed to get out of my system. Basically this entire post is a rant that is pretending to be coherent.

12/08/2013

Hello!!

It has been a while, how is everyone?

I know I've made a few people worry because I stopped updating (thank you so much for the sweet messages!), but I am fine and it was just life getting in the way of everything.

The combined load of final exams, working as much as possible, studying for the JLPT1 exam in July, applying for internships, and -on the positive side- my new relationship took so much time it became impossible to keep writing reviews. I didn't even have the time to log in to tumblr, and I made a new record by not even touching my laptop for almost 3 weeks in a row because I simply didn't have the time.

Things have finally calmed down now though. Especially finding an internship took an enormous amount of energy, and the paperwork involved nearly drove me insane (I can probably rage for an hour or more about this, so lets just keep it short here) but everything worked out in the end. On the first of August I landed in Tokyo, where I will be spending 6 months working as an intern at Bosch.

I've settled into my mini apartment and am getting used to the work, which means I will finally have time to devote to my hobby and this blog again.

Instead of jumping in head first and risking another hiatus I am taking some time to do some preparations, and I'll resume posting in September.



I'm sorry for my absence, and I hope to see everyone back next month!!


Well that obviously failed. But the blog shall not die, never!
Behind the scenes the gears have started to turn, and slowly, slowly, everything will fall into place.

29/04/2013

Kyokugen Kareshi ~Chikyuu ga nakunaru 30pun mae~

極限彼氏~地球がなくなる30分前~

Label: Cineria
Based on: Original
Released: 2013.03.29
Official site: http://ike-men.net/ci_kyokugen.html


Kyokugen Kareshi is a CD about the end of the world, the last 30min to be more specific. A giant comet will be falling on the earth soon, and there is no escape or hope for survival. You spend these last 30 minutes together with your boyfriend Kishida Hiroto (CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa).

The CD starts with Hiroto opening the curtains, saying that the weather is beautiful and that you wouldn't expect weather like this on the day that the earth will end. He sounds remarkably cheery and optimistic. You on the other hand are completely down and crying, so he spends the first few minutes trying to cheer you up. After that you sit together and talk about different things, like how you met, but also about really random things.

Hosoya-san his ability to voice situation CDs in a way that sounds completely realistic more or less makes this CD what it is: a truly bitter sweet story. Hiroto tries to cheer you up in the beginning, which worked in my case so I was able to smile for a large part of it. I know many people have been crying rivers over this CD, but I was able to keep my tears from falling thanks to Hiroto. The only moment where I nearly started crying is when Hiroto his own voice nearly breaks - Hosoya-san voicing nearly crying characters is something that immediately triggers my tears.

One thing that I did not expect in this CD were the kisses. I obviously expected there to be some kissing, but I more or less expected that they would be simple "chu" kisses. And not the sort that leave me all flustered and hoping for more.

True to the title the main story is 30minutes. There is a secret track and a freetalk after that, but both are pretty short. Without spoiling the secret track (because it is the sweetest thing ever) something very similar actually happened to me once, making this seem even more real and leaving me squeeing and wanting to hug Hiroto.



Conclusion:
Because of the setting I expected to cry rivers (because I know Cineria their works can cause floods of tears) but thanks to Hiroto trying to cheer you up I managed to keep my tears to myself and even smile instead. If you are wondering whether you would like this because of the setting, don't worry and just listen. It is a very good CD, both in terms of writing and acting.

It mostly left me with the urge to listen to everything that is voiced by Hosoyan because it made me love his voice even more than I did before.

14/04/2013

Weekly News Post

This week somehow passed without a single review.... Meanwhile Gakken just keeps releasing things!!! How the... too many releases guys!! But lets begin with the news that I discovered last week but that got left out of the news post due to post length restrictions:



Oujisama Ouritsu Gakuen
The series is getting a second season, titled Re:Fairy Tale, which takes place 25 years after the original one. We get a new set of princes based on the same fairytales, although it looks like they are keeping the same seiyuu for the same fairytale. They are starting with the 2nd year students again, although the roles have been switched around a bit.

Ibaraki Sou (CV: Terashima Takuma), who is based on Sleeping Beauty, Kanzaki Haru (CV: Suzumura Kenichi) who is based on The Princess and the Frog, and Shirase Yukiya (CV: Toriumi Kousuke) who is based on Snow White are the first ones to get a CD, with Ibaraki his CD being released on 2013.06.15. All three seiyuu are listed as cast for the first CD, so this probably means the CDs will follow the same pattern as the first series, with scenes with all three of them and scenes with just you and your prince charming.

As you can see they have taken one prince from each year in the first series and put those together. You might also have noticed that their last names are still similar to the the princes from the first series, which makes me wonder whether these are the 'children' of you x your prince charming of choice from the first series (if they are this gives me all kinds of complicated feelings).


06/04/2013

Weekly News Post



Momo&Grapes
MomoGre is releasing another drama CD adaption of a famous book, this time they are doing the Phantom of the Opera. オペラ座の怪人~愛と哀しみの鎮魂歌~ (opera no kaijin ~ai to kanashimi no requiem~, The Phantom of the Opera ~A Requiem of Love and Sadness~) is planned for a 2013.05.21release.

The phantom will be voiced by Hirata Hiroaki, Christine by Noto mamiko, Raoul by Hatano Wataru, and the Persian ('Daroga') by Tanaka Atsuko. I'm sure others will be surprised that Daroga is being voiced by a woman (while he is very much male in the original story), but Tanaka Atsuko has a deep voice and has voiced male characters before, so I assume that they haven't suddenly changed his gender and that it will all work out in some way (MomoGre has my complete trust when it comes to adaptions like these).


Ojisama VS Wakazou
Staying with Momogre for a moment, a second CD in their Ojisama VS Wakazou series was announced a while ago. The idea of this series is that it puts veteran seiyuu against younger seiyuu (I'm saying younger, because the difference is not as extreme as the title implies). This second CD has Horiuchi kenyuu VS Sakurai Takahiro.

Storywise The heroine (meaning the listener) is just a normal OL. After breaking up with your boyfriend a couple of years ago you are taking a break from romance as a whole. And then one day Ishinose Minato(?), one of your co-workers, asks you out. In order to reject him you make a plan to draw the attention of his older brother Yuusei and father-and-company-president Yasuaki(?), but the two of them end up falling in love with you for real.

This description leaves me puzzled as there seem to be 3 people involved, and Momogre has given no details on who is voiced by who, although I think it is safe to assume that Yasuaki will be voiced by Horiuchi Kenyuu. The CD is planned for a 2013.04.25 release (in Momogre their own shop, that probably means that it will be available in other places a little later).

05/04/2013

Mimikaki Kareshi ni Nekashitsukerarechau Saimin Onsei

Reviewing a doujin work again. Most doujin things are 18+ so I tend to stay away from them but this was all ages so time to take the risk and give it another try, and I'm glad I did.


耳かき彼氏に寝かしつけられちゃう催眠音声


Label: HypnoLife
Released: 2012.10.26


Mimikaki refers to the cleaning of the ears, as well as the tiny -often bamboo- sticks used to do this. So in this CD your boyfriend(CV: Zero) cleans your ears for you (^-^). It is coupled with a second track in which your boyfriend talks you to sleep.

There are two versions for both tracks included in this download: a simple/normal version and a sweet version. All of these tracks are included a second time as a 'noizcut' version. I assume that the noise is supposed to be less in these tracks, but I couldn't really notice any difference. But more on that later.

In the simple version your boyfriend simply cleans your ears. The actual ear-cleaning (this feels so weird to write) is depicted by a soft scraping sound, which becomes quite relaxing after a while I have to add. He doesn't say anything while doing this, so most of this version is simply the slight scraping. In the sleeping track he massages your ears, after which he talks you to sleep.

The sweet version has more talking. It has a short introduction scene, and he keeps talking during the mimikaki part. What he says is pretty natural and it is never over the top sweet. The second version of the sleep track is the 'whisper' version. The beginning is the same, but starting somewhere halfway through he whispers instead of talking normally.

If you don't feel like sleeping after listening to the first part there is another short track included that provides a simple ending.

I've never had anyone clean my ears so I had no idea what to expect, but I certainly did not expect this CD to be this relaxing! The first part is already relaxing, but I applaud those that are able to stay awake through the entire 40min of the second track. Both times that I listened to this I fell asleep somewhere halfway through (and had to listen to it in the middle of the day to be able to stay awake).

Zero his voice is nice enough to listen to. Some lines are less convincing then other ones, but nothing jarring. What did occasionally bother me is the noise. The recording isn't clean and there is a constant noise. You need to watch out with the volume because al long as the volume isn't too high you won't really notice, but there seems to be some sort of magic point and if you set the volume higher than that the noise suddenly seems to become 3 times as hard. Of course I still managed to fall asleep, so it isn't that prominent, but when the track ends you'll really notice how much noise there was: everything suddenly seems so silent after that.

As most of HypnoLife their works are 18+ I was a bit worried whether this one would also show traces of that but it really is all ages and very cute. There are a few slightly suggestive lines ("I'm putting it all the way in") and one scene where he licks your ears but overall the cuteness factor outweighs these moments.


Conclusion:
This was cute and relaxing. Thanks to the different versions you can mix and match a bit with the tracks which makes listening to it again more interesting. It would be nice if HypnoLife made more things that are all ages (they have a few others, but most of it is 18+)

03/04/2013

Anata ga Ofuro de Noboseru CD Vol.6 - Shuzenji

あなたがお風呂でのぼせるCD 第6弾 「修善寺編」


Company: em2
Based on: Onsen
Released: 2012.08.29


Anata ga Ofuro de Noboseru CD is a series that has personified various onsen from all over Japan. By using this CD (which stands for "Compact Dream") the personified spirit of an onsen appears in your bathroom, and takes a bath together with you. This sixth CD features Shuzenji Onsen and is voiced by Ishida Akira.

As always the Guide (CV: Fujiwara Keiji) does the introduction and hands you a 'CD' (Compact Dream) and gives you the advice to "pause and take a deep breath in case things become too much".

As opposed to all the other CDs Shuzenji appears in the kitchen... because you were spacing out and accidentally poured the CD (instead of instant soup) into a mug  xD. Obviously surprised you drop the mug and Shuzenji immediately orders you to get the things needed to clean up. He also scolds you for not looking at the package to see what is in it, saying that he considers something that says that it contains "an onsen spirit" suspicious and would have thrown it away.

Before you are allowed to take a bath you are first ordered to clean the entire bathroom (with Shuzenji making remarks about everything). After this he does wash your hair and apply a treatment for you though. While commenting that you are neglecting your own body.

Even though his counting track isn't the longest one is the series, it certainly feels like it. Shuzenji his personality really shows though. He is strict and always does things as they should be done and with care, his counting somehow really reflects that. Where others would count cheerfully or the pace would change during the counting Shuzenji properly counts in the same rythem the entire time.

After you get out of the bath again he washes the treatment out of your hair and asks why you were so tired that you overslept this morning (it was already 2PM when he appeared in your kitchen), and you answer that you were playing games. It doesn't end there though, you actually drag him out of the bathroom to play games with you xD

Around this time he starts to get sweeter. The remark that he is not going to try his best to be really sweet because "you've got enough games and CDs that feature even sweeter men lined up on your bookshelf" really made me laugh though. Just before he disappears he lets you sleep in his lap, and says some very sweets things though.

In the beginning Shuzenji doesn't show much affection but his attitude does a 180degrees turn near the end. Some of his lines might actually be some of the sweetest in the entire series. I love how you were able to break through his  usual pattern and get him to play games with you, being dragged along in someone else their pace is clearly something he isn't used too.In the onsen guide track he is still so completely in love it is adorable.

In the freetalk Ishida-san announces his own role as "Shuzenji Tarou" (Tarou being the most standard and non descriptive name there is) xD He first talks a bit about how he wondered how you personify an onsen, whether they have a personality at all. Which is probably something we were all wondering about at the start of the series. After that he answers the usual questions: Whether there is an item he uses in his daily 'ofuro (bath) life' (No), Whether he washes his head or body first (body first, starting at the left arm), Whether he likes his bath hot or more lukewarm (Lukewarm).




Conclusion:
I liked Shuzenji a lot more than I expected. In the beginning his strict personality is mostly amusing, but when it changes to sweet he is such a precious sweetheart! I'm not really a fan of Ishida Akira in situation CDs, but this was a very nice listen.

01/04/2013

April Fools - Oujisama (warai)

The makers of Oujisama (warai) are a bunch are a bunch of first class trolls xD

They announced a new prince for the series: 中大兄皇子 (naka-no-oe-no-ouji, Emperor Tenji) complete with character design and an interview with Konishi Katsuyuki who would supposedly voice him.

Unfortunately for us, it was all a joke. A second interview in which Konishi-san is asked how he felt about being asked to help them with this April Fools joke has also been posted by now.

Apparently he'd really like to join the cast so he asks the readers/listeners to recommend him if they know a good prince for him to voice xD

Aprils Fool - Cineria

Cineria has announced a BL CD as an April Fools joke. If you open their website you'll be greeted by the PV that they made for it (NSFW, mind you)

It is not that I don't see Cineria making a BL CD, but if you watch the PV you'll notice things are off. The seiyuu for example are called ウオ!イイ声!(Whoa!!Nice Voice!!), and the price of the CD is 5000,000yen and the comic version 700,000 yen. The use of the chocokurage logo as a sensor bar and that blushing wooden horse completely cracked me up though xD.


= = = = = EDIT = = = = =
Cineria has announced the start of a new brand called "niche", which will specialize in BL works. And guess what their first project is? Which means every single thing in the PV was accurate, except for the prices (ok, and the seiyuu. But they are indeed peope with nice voices).
= = = = = EDIT = = = = = 


On a side note, Cineria their previous April Fools joke was that they would release a drama CD titles Ojisan Paradise, which was announced with he image to the right. They made a merchandise item out of it and promised to actually make the thing if they would sell 100 of them, and they have so now they are actually working on the script!

April Release List

Return of the monthly release list!

Like before, releases in bold are the ones that I am interested in the most.


2013.04.05
  • Tsukiuta. April [women] Togawa Chisa "Sing my Way"
  • Tsukiuta. April [Men] Uduki Arata "Sakura to tomo ni kimi dake wo"

2013.04.10
  • Hayami Shou Produce CD vol.2 Shuffle Koukousei Time Traveler
  • Hitorijime Series vol.2 Mou kaesanai dare mo shiranai bessou de
  • Nora Comics CD Series Panzer Princess CD Vol.2
  • TV TARI TARI Drama CD Tabidachi no Uta

2013.04.17
  • Drama CD FAIRY TAIL VOL.1
  • Motehappi ~Kokoro to Karada Michitekuru
  • Sasaki Yuka / Akayu

2013.04.24
  • Anata ga Ofuro de Noboseru CD Season 2 Vol.1 Kikawa Onsen
  • Chou Sekkingata Sasayaki Micchaku CD 6
  • Danbooru Senki Senshitachi no Kyuusoku
  • DIABOLIK LOVERS MORE,BLOOD Vol.01 Ayato
  • Hakozume CD 4 Mahoutsukai to Issho ni Hakozume
  • IS <Infinite Stratos> Voice Drama & Character Song CD 1
  • Karnival Sorezore no Toki
  • Koichoi ~Daigakusei Hen~
  • Meisaku Bungaku (warai) Series Oku he no Hosomichi ~Sou sa, Ise he ikou~
  • Nego Danshi Vol.16
  • Nintama Rantarou Drama CD Gonensei no dan
  • Ojisama Senka Vol.8 Save my Girl ~watashi no bodyguard~
  • Onee CD ~Radio Personality Ruri-nee
  • OVA Hanayaka Nare, Waga Ichizoku Cinematograph Drama CD
  • Persona 4 the Golden Vol.2
  • Ragnarok Online 10 Aniversary 3 ~watashi ga erabu, ashita no watashi~
  • Sakurasou no Petto na Kanojo Vol.3
  • SEVENTH HEAVEN vol.1 Akira
  • Taisho Kyuuketsuki Ibun Vol.1
  • TV AMNESIA Drama CD 2
  • You-Tak no Sasayali CD

2013.04.25
  • STORY OF 365 days Florigraphy chapter.DIA
  • Drama CD Genji Monogatari ~tsuioku~

2013.04.26
  • 10nen Hatsukoi Sunahara Haruya
  • Arcana Famiglia Il Dolce Regalo vol.1 -Rosso-
  • Double Score ~quarrelxlove~Todaka no baai
  • Heart Supplement Series Sukima Time ~Saturday~
  • Houyou CD Gyutto shite. Vol.2
  • Hitsuji de Oyasumi Series vol.32
  • Kareshi Miman ~ano koro ni ha moderenai~
  • Starry Sky ~Sweet Graduation~

BL Releases:
2013.04.05 Yandere Heaven Black ~Shinsei Gakuen Geinou Kareshi Hen~
2013.04.19 Sansen Sekai no Karasu wo koroshi 10 Drama CD
2013.04.24 Dekichatta Danshi Honeymoon hen
2013.04.24 Kanau Sensei no subete
2013.04.26 Taisho Mebius Line Vol.1 Misaki Hen



There are a lot of releases that are interesting in one way or another, but only a few that I really want. Rejet has started their wave of releases with the start of both the new DiaLovers CDs and their new Seventh Heaven series, and thanks to Taisho Kyuuketsuki Ibun we'll have even more vampires after our blood.

Despite the fact that the series has made me go through so much already I am still interested in DiaLovers, both because I’m curious whether it will be more of the same or maybe a little different this time, and because Sakurai will be voicing one of the later CDs.

And then of course Tsuki Uta (because Hosoya) and Sasayaki Micchaku Vol.6 (because Sakurai).


What are you planning to get / listen to? Did I miss anything? let me know in the comments!

31/03/2013

April Fools - Seventh Heaven

While the Wasurenagusa blog got a header drawn by 35 (who did the artwork for Seventh heaven), the Seventh Heaven blog gets a header drawn by Suou (who does the artwork for Wasurenagusa). This header will also be up only for this day, so go and see the pretty thing!!

Of course they also made a silly blog post for Seventh Heaven, this time Seventh heaven themed snacks. As expected by snacks based on shinigami, most of them kill you xD. translation can be found here.

April Fools - Wasurenagusa

Time to see how many April Fools jokes/pranks/mischief we can find!!


Rejet their Wasurenagusa one is hilarious. They made a blog post with the cast settings for a Wasurenagusa School Drama. This sounds like something that I would actually love to hear. A translation of the entire post can be found here.

They also updated the header of the blog to an image drawn by 35 (who does the art for their Seventh heaven series). The header will only be up for one day, so go and check it out before it disappears!

30/03/2013

Weekly News Post

Team You-Tak 
Ono Yuuki and Eguchi Takuya have paired up as a team to make several drama CDs and a radio show a while ago. Their first drama CD was released February last year, but they are releasing new stuff again. Or well, releasing them in stores, because both of them were already sold at events. 

The first one is ゆーたくの囁きCD (yuutaku no sasayaki CD). Apparently they asked the audience at their first event to write down sentences that they would like You-Tak to read, but didn't get the chance to actually do this during the event. And so these have been recorded are are now released on a CD. According to Ono Yuuki his blog the CD contains both the Ono Yuuki versions and Eguchi Takuya version of almost 100 sentences, both sweet ones and pretty mean ones.

The second CD is 恋チョイ!~大学生編~ (koichoi ~daigakusei hen~, Koi Choi (Love Choice) ~University Student Chapter~), which is a situation CD in which you get to choose between 4 characters who have all fallen in love with you. You can choose your own favourite by choosing which tracks to listen. I am guessing there is a general story line, after which you can choose which guy you like most. Of course both Ono Yuuki and Eguchi Takuya voice a character, and they are joined by Kimura Ryouhei and Akabane Kenji.

Both CDs will be released on 2013.04.24.

29/03/2013

Jinrou -Chaotic Time-

人狼 -chaotic time-

Company: Koepota
Based on: Werewolf (the game)
Released: 2012.09.26

Official site: http://www.koepota.jp/wearwolf/

Jinrou - chaotic time- is based on the Werewolf party game. In the game, everyone is dealt a card which specifies whether they are human or a wolf. The wolves know each other, but the humans only know the number of wolves. During the night phase the wolves 'kill' on of the humans, and during the day everyone debates who should be eliminated in an attempt to kill the wolves. There are several special roles, such as the hunter (who can protect someone), or the fortune teller (who can determine whether someone is a wolf or a human). The goal of game is for each team to try an 'kill' the other team.

This CD uses the rules of the game, but everything is played out like it is a real scenario. The CD is partly narrated by Yuuki (CV: Ono Yuuki), one of the villagers, who tells what happened during the night and gives some background information. The discussions during the day time are like a normal drama. At the end of each day a narrator voice announces the votes for that day.

Right before a large festival, when most of the villagers have left, the remaining villagers are attacked by 3 werewolves who have found their way into their midst. Due to a heavy rainstorm that lasts several days they can't get any help from outside, and so they eventually decide to choose one person to execute each day by majority vote, in the hope that they manage to kill the wolves that way.

This strategy seems like a good plan, until two characters claim that they are the fortune teller, which means that one of them is an imposter. This causes the villagers to distrust each other more and more, and each day the discussions on who to execute grow more fierce.

To summarize the entire situation:
  • There are 14 people at the start of the story: Yuuki, Morison, Layle, Arona, Mei, Ani, Sofia, Sasha, Stacy, Fan, Makandel, Irene, Eris, and Kurt.
  • The village is attacked by three werewolves, who kill one person each night.
  • To eliminate the wolves the villagers decide to sacrifice the person they think is most suspicious during the day. This is done by voting, and the person chosen is killed with a poison.
  • There are several special roles: two associates (two villagers who know one another and that they are innocent), one maniac (who is human but assists the wolves), one fortune teller (who can tell whether a person is a wolf or human, although only one person each day. If the person chosen is the Youko, he or she dies), one psychic (who can tell whether the person executed the previous day was human or a wolf), and one hunter (who can protect someone from being killed), and one Youko (fox spirit), who wins when still alive at the end of the game)
When I started listening I was surprised that the CD started with the second day; you'll have to read the events of the first day one the official site. This means that you are introduced to a lot of characters at once, and at times it was a bit hard to keep track of all of them. Mainly because 14 people is a lot, and also because some characters hardly speak in the beginning.

The bulk of this drama is mainly the discussions between the different characters. The discussions are understandably emotional at times, and I found myself thinking with everyone on who should be trusted or not.

The solution is finally revealed during the cast call, where all the seiyuu state their character name and role. This makes the cast call the most important track in the entire CD, and I'm pretty sure I've never listened to one this attentively. It also made me flail in despair when I discovered some characters where something different from what I thought.

The CD comes with a code that can be used to log in to the official site, so that you can listen to the 'night part' in which the three wolves discuss who they will attack that night. It is obviously best to listen to this after you have heard the main drama, otherwise most of the suspense will be gone. While the night part was certainly interesting because it shows that the wolves also value each other, the writing was nowhere near as good as that of the main drama.


Conclusion:
I've never played werewolf myself, but at least in drama CD for it was very interesting to listen to. You do need to pay a lot of attention while listening though, or you miss things and with that the understanding of why the characters act in a certain way. I know of at least one other drama CD which uses werewolf as a motif: Doubt (which is based on the manga of the same name). Although that series is a lot more bloody (and creepy thanks to some very disturbing rabbit masks) and I am curious how that CD is.


PS: because trying to fit their names in the review made it completely unreadable, here is the cast list:

Yuuki: Ono Yuuki
Morison: Eguchi Takuya
Layle: Okamoto Nobuhiko
Arona: Kayano Ai
Mei: Mimori Suzuko
Ani: Tamiyasu Tomoe
Sofia: Komatsu Mikako
Sasha: Toyama Nao
Fan: Kobayashi Naoto
Makandel / Kurt: Asashina Junpei
Irene: Sakura Yuki
Eris: Nakamura Asami