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 Cineria their works can cause that sort of tear floods) 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.

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).

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).

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 volumes 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 3times 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+)

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.