27/08/2011

Tales of Symphonia: A Long Time Ago Vol.3

テイルズ オブ シンフォニア - A long time ago 第3巻

Company: Frontierworks
Based on: Game
Released: 2004.08.25


In total there are 3 volumes for A Long Time Ago, and each CD has two stories that deal with the past of a character.This final volumes is somewhat different however, in that it also brings together what everyone was doing in the present.

In fact, it mainly focuses on the story in the present, and Zelos and Kratos their past is stuffed somewhere in between.

The story begins with an announcer in Meltokio proclaiming that Zelos (CV: Onosaka Masaya) is dead. Lloyd (CV: Konishi Katsuyuki) and Collette (CV: Mizuki Nana) who happen to be there don't want to believe it. While drinking something in a pub later they meet a woman called Kyrie who was working together with Zelos. Apparently Zelos found evidence of some sort of conspiracy just before he was killed, however he already gave to evidence to "the person he trusts most". Wanting to avenge Zelos, the three of them set of to find the evidence.

Kratos is only present in the story through his conversations with Yuan. What they tell of his past is already explained in game; what happened when Anna her exsphere was removed. I don't think there were any more details than in already mentioned in the game.

This drama CD had a completely different set-up, and I'm not entirely sure I'm happy about that. Zelos and Kratos are my favorite characters, so I was looking forward to seeing (hearing?) them in the spotlight. Instead, I think Lloyd and Collete actually featured more. Zelos does get a bit of action and a really cool line near the end though.

The cast comment however, was a lot better this time! This time four of the seiyuu made a comment, and they also interacted with each other making it a lot more lively. Especially Onosaka Masaya is really fun to listen to.


Conclusion:
I'm a bit sad that it doesn't center on Zelos and Kratos, but hearing a little bit of the future, of the problems that arise after the end of the game was nice too. That all three CD's are tied together with this was a nice touch too. I'll just turn my hopes towards the Rodeo Ride Tour CDs for more Zelos~

ps: all three covers together form one large image:

26/08/2011

Weekly News Post

After missing a news post we are back this week! And with a some very good news too! Starting with:


Shuukan Soine vol.7~ 12
Yes you read that right!! Shuukan Soine will be continued, and with another 6 vol no less!! Starting on 2011.11.18 (they should have chosen a week earlier!!) one CD will be released every week for 6 weeks. And to make this news even better, the seiyuu are also already known, on order they are:

a sweet but somewhat thickheaded boyfriend (Kurota Takaya), a timid younger boyfriend that loves you with whole his heart (Okamoto Nobuhiko), a boyfriend that is always smiling and like an older brother (Morita Masakazu), a cheerful and fun, generous boyfriend (Inoue Kazuhiko), a somewhat cold boyfriend, who still lets you glimpse his respect and love (Fukuyama Jun), and a serious boyfriend with a strong sense of justice (Midorikawa Hikaru).

I'm sure that many of us are squealing like mad over vol.10. Inoue Kazuhiko doing a Shuukan Soine CD... that will end with a lot of nose bleeding. Too bad for me there is still no Sakurai, but this is a beautiful list of seiyuu and a lot of releases to look forward to :3


Oujisama warai
more details about the upcoming little mermaid spinoff in the oujisama warai series. The princes from Cinderella, Snow White, and Genji are visiting a neighboring country for the wedding of a relative. However the prince that is the groom doesn't feel like marrying because he wanted to have a "destined love like in movies" and resents his political marriage. And along comes a princess who not only claims to be engaged to the prince, but also claims to be a mermaid...?!

The official site also updated with a beautiful summer themed banner at the top, and the official art for the prince of the little mermaid, posted to the right here.


Hougen Renai
a recent blog post stated that they were planning "various things" and one of those has been announced: two radio CDs are to be released on 2011.09.29 and 2011.10.27.

I'm not entirely sure what the contents of the CDs will be, but each CD has three prefectures: the first one has Aichi, Kouichi, and Niigata prefecture, while the second one has Nagano, Fukushima, and Hiroshima prefecture. If you buy both CDs you can also get a bonus CD which has the until now radio-only story for Hiroshima prefecture.

25/08/2011

Kannou Jikan 5: Thanatos no Kyoudai


感応時間5~タナトスの兄弟~

Company: Hituzigumo
Based on: Original
Released: 2011.08.12
Official Site: http://hituzigumo.com/lineup/gumo-0009



Kannou Jikan... I feel obliged to listen to it, yet every time I do I get annoyed with it more and more.

Again, for a short summary: the first Kannou Jikan was more of a relaxation hypnosis with a lot of double wording. The second one became an overdose of pervertedness, the third one took things so far over the top that it became uncomfortable. The fourth one was better on the wording, though it added a lot of perverseness again. And now we've reached part five...

As you can guess from the title Thanatos no kyoudai (the Thanatos siblings) this volume features two characters. Yes, just as I was wondering how they could possibly make the series even more evil, they introduce us to two characters at the same time. The setting is that each year around Obon (when spirits can visit this world) you are visited by two ghosts who want to "play" with you.

Yes, so, two characters. While technically not at the same time (I am refusing to use certain words on this blog, can you tell? xD) you are interacting with two characters. So weird, so weird. You interact with them in turns, and as if somewhat competing with each other they keep adding a little each time. Which is rather effective and makes me highly uncomfortable.

Also, the two of them saying -that- simultaneously was pure overkill.

The freetalk however, was hilarious. Apparently Yonaga Tsubasa and Saiga Mtsuki had a lot of fun recording this together. The best part however is when Yonaga remarks that it was weird to play the part of brothers (because Saiga-san is a woman) to which Saiga-san replies that she was convinced that Yonaga was a woman the first time she heard him, and that she now considers him "Yonaga gendered" (as opposed to male or female xD).



Conclusion:
Well, as expected, the series once again became more perverse. So only listen to it if you like that. Meanwhile, I seriously need to reconsider whether I am still going to listen to a possible vol.6...

23/08/2011

Yandere Heaven ~karei naru Sanjou-kei hen~

 ヤンデレ天国~華麗なる三条家編~

Company: Hobirecords
Based on: Original
Released: 2011.08.12
Official Site: http://www.hobirecords.com/yandere4/

Yesss, Yandere Heaven 4!! I was waiting for this! The series returns with two new characters; this time you are loved to bits by your childhood friend and fiance Yamashina Makoto (CV: Kakihara Tetsuya), and your butler Minase Yasunori (CV: Morikawa Toshiyuki).

-obligatory warning that yandere might not be for everyone-

The story starts on a birthday party, just after your engagement to your childhood friend is announced. Unfortunately neither you nor your butler Minase knew anything about it, although everyone else in the household seems to know.

To prepare for the wedding Yamashina starts living with you, starting a few days in which Minase tries to keep him away from you. Eventually though, Yamashina manages to get the wedding preparations done. On the night before your wedding both Yamashina and Minase come to your room, the one to convince you that you can't escape, the other to convince you to run away with him, and you'll have to choose...

Like in previous entries to the series, there are two sepparate endings, one for each character. The endings are somewhat milder that in the last CD, although that might also be due to neither character being bloodrelated this time (thankfully!)

There is a lot more humor in this CD than in any of the others. The interactions between Yamashina and Minase can actually be called comical at times. Of course when both of them go yandere there is nothing left of that light atmosphere, but it was interesting to see that you can mix the two to some extent.

The cast talk was pretty fun. Kakihara seems to be talking more to himself that to the listeners xD And Morikawa-san suddenly goes high tension. Other than that it wasn't very special though.


Conclusion
This will remain my guilty pleasure for ever I think. It was a little more subdued that the previous entries, but the fact that we have a yandere butler here makes up for a lot of that. I hope that they'll continue the series, in the meanwhile I'll just re-listen all the existing ones~

Are you Alice? - Bug in someone's ear

Yes yes yes, I finally missed a news post. My excuse is that there was a lot to do. Lot's of nomikai mostly... Meanwhile we've already reached the time of month that is packed with new releases. I predict overwork xD


Are you Alice? - Bug in someone's ear


Company: IM Label
Based on: Original
Released: 2011.07.20
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This is one of the side dramas for Are you Alice?, it came with the limited edition of the 4th manga.

The story starts with the caterpillar (CV: Sakuma Rei) lamenting that the world is empty without Alice (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) and the Hatter (CV: Hirata Hiroaki), and consequently runs into them. Alice seems to be rather depressed, not to mention slightly broken all because... he ate a piece of shortcake that belonged to the Mad Hatter. Who is making Alice go through hell for it. And thus begins the epic quest in search for the shortcake!!

As you expect, non-sense all over the place. Together with puns based on "mushi" (caterpillar is imomushi in Japanese). The caterpillar randomly acts much to sexy, Alice turns into a shortcake maniac. Also the implications of whipped cream all over the place are... Somehow between it all Alice also tries to find the perfect bride, but sadly there aren't many candidates. 

At times it seems like something serious and deep is going to be said, but the randomness always wins. Which is a good thing. (although I would like to hear a more serious story again once in a while).


Conclusion:
For a bonus this was a surprisingly long drama, almost 30min. But nonsensical as always which is what I love. The dialogue is pretty fast at times though, which might make it difficult to follow at times.

20/08/2011

Tales of Symphonia: A Long Time Ago Vol.2

テイルズ オブ シンフォニア - A long time ago 第2巻

Company: Frontierworks
Based on: Game
Released: 2004.08.25


In total there are 3 volumes for A Long Time Ago, and each CD has two stories that deal with the past of a character. The second CD has stories for Raine + Genis and Presea Combatir. The stories are told as flashbacks, so while the drama CD's are chronologically after the game, the stories themselves are from before the game starts. Am I still making sense?

This time I'll start with the one sentence summary:

This CD tells the story from Raine and Genis their travels before Iselia, and how Presea got her exsphere.

Like the first CD the prologue has nothing to do with the rest, but is a short scene with Lloyd (CV: Konishi Katsuyuki) and Collette (CV: Mizuki Nana) instead. Both of them wonder how everyone in Iselia is doing, and talk about going to visit sometime.

For Raine and Genis that first summary isn't entirely true though. Their story is both about their travels before Iselia and their living there. The story starts when Raine (CV: Touma Yumi) and Genis (CV: Orikasa Ai) take shelter from the rain underneath a large tree. Both of them remember that it was always raining whenever they traveled, and start a little reminiscence.

Presea (CV: Kuwashima Houko) is working as a representative of Lezareno Company (Regal his company). While working on destroying the exsphere mines she remembers how she got her own exsphere. We get to hear quite a bit of a Presea that we've never seen before in the games.

This time there is a lot more new background information. (The fact that Lloyd and Dike are living outside of the village because both Lloyd and Dike both hit the mayor during an argument was new to me at least). Both stories are kind of sad, but both stories end with a really positive mindset of the respective characters.

Especially Presea her story was really emotional for me. In the game her backstory is explained, and even then it was already a sad story. But if you actually hear it is even worse. Combined with the beautiful piano music it was enough to make me cry rivers.

The bonustrack still isn't very special though. The three main seiyuu give a short message and that's it. It is cute though.


Conclusion
I liked this one a lot better than the first, mostly because there is quite some new info. Presea has never been one of my favorite characters, but her story is simply beautiful. I.... I don't know anything else to say, I'm sorry (^-^;;)

17/08/2011

Kareshi x Recipe Menu 2

カレシ×レシピ Menu-2

Company: AT-X
Based on: Cooking?
Released: 2009.05.27
Official Site: http://karecipe.com/

In Kareshi x Recipe your boyfriend teaches you how to cook! ... or at least teaches you two recipes.In this second CD you make Ebi-chili and Annin Tofu.

This time your "boyfriend" (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki) isn't actually your boyfriend though. He is your best friend (but still very much in love with you). His parents own a Chinese restaurant, and you wanted to learn something to cook for your actual boyfriend, so you asked him to teach you something.

You start with going to the supermarket together to buy all the ingredients needed, and then go to his place to cook. First the annin tofu, and then the ebi-chili (fried shrimps in chili sauce). Like with the first CD there finally are two tracks in which you eat the food together, one where you succeeded en one where you failed. This time those tracks differ much more than in the first CD though.

I loved the track where you are making the annin tofu. Apparently you have to mix everything pretty fast, and the track turns into some sort of sport commentary while you are cooking. It made me laugh so much. Other than that I find her personality a little annoying. But hey, the poor dude his crush started dating his best friend after they met at his room. That is just sad.

The actual recipes seem quite tricky. For the annin tofu it is just that you have to mix and cool down everything quite fast, but the ebi-chili featured some ingredients that (according to the CD) were not available in most supermarkets. They said it was ok to not use them, but it just seems tastier with.

An interesting thing is that it is mentioned in this CD that you are supposedly good at making hamburgers, which is what you cooked together with your boyfriend in the first CD. So are they implying that you are still the same person, and that the boyfriend that is mentioned here is actually the one from the first CD?! If so, heaven knows how these two became friends...

The free talk was ok, Yoshino was haing some trouble talking about what he usually cooks because he rarely cooks xD


Conclusion:
The CD was kind of fun, but the gyaruo-ish character that Yoshino does kind of annoys me. It is less sweet but more fun than the first CD. The recipes this time round somehow seemed much trickier though. (that, and I don't have a fry-pan, so I can't make it anyway...)

15/08/2011

Are you Alice? - Disappearance Curve


Are you Alice? - Disappearance Curve


Company: IM Label
Based on: Original.
Released: 2008.12.??
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This is one of the side dramas for Are you Alice?, it came with the unbirthday CD's, though I'm not sure which shop offered it as a premium.

In this side story Alice decides that he is going to be more selfish from now on and runs away from home. He tries to stay at the castle with the Queen of Hearts, where Mitsuki happens to be teaching the trump cards how to make sweets...

the White Rabbit makes a dramatic entrance, and eventually offers to let Alice stay at his place. Which turns out to be more of a haunted house completely filled with mirin (the regrets that previous 'alices' have left behind).

This is Alice (and everyone else) acting out of character at their best. Except for the side drama's where everything is turned into a school setting I don't think they are ever this much out of character (except for some commercials maybe). I love the White Rabbit here, he is just too adorable.

Conclusion:
Complete nonsense as always. A lot of fun to listen to, nothing more to say about it really. Except maybe that.... if you mix tsundere and yandere together you get a really funny and adorable White Rabbit :D

13/08/2011

Tales of Symphonia: A Long Time Ago Vol.1

テイルズ オブ シンフォニア - A long time ago 第1巻

Company: Frontierworks 
Based on: Game
Released: 2004.07.23


Tales of Symphonia is one of my favorite games of all time, and I've been meaning to listen to the drama CD's for ages now. And here it is! The review for the first vol!

In total there are 3 volumes for A Long Time Ago, and each CD has two stories that deal with the past of a character. The first CD has stories for Regal Bryan and Fujibayashi Sheena. The stories are told as flashbacks, so while the drama CD's are chronologically after the game, the stories themselves are from before the game starts. Am I still making sense?

Interestingly enough, the prologue has nothing to do with the two stories. In the prologue we hear how Lloyd (CV: Konishi Katsuyuki) and Collette (CV: Mizuki Nana), are traveling to find all remaining exspheres. While the entire party from the game may now be split up, everyone is working towards the same goal in their own way (due to spoiler reasons, I'll refrain from any details ;)

Switch to Regal his story. While riding a coach to somewhere Regal (Ootsuka Akio) remembers a scene from his childhood with his father. Regal his father is a rather cold-hearted man who thinks only of their family company. Unintended Regal follows in his footsteps. However all of this begins to change when one of the maids one day puts a single white flower on display in his room.

Interested in the flower Regal asks her what the name of is the day after, and so she begins to bring a new one everyday. Through this they slowly become acquainted, and Regal begins to act much less cold in every aspect of life. However his butler George sees the growing love between a Noble, not to mention the president of a large company and a simple maid as unfit, and tears the two apart...

The second story is about Sheena (CV: Okimura Akemi), who receives a job offer from Zelos (CV: Onosaka Masaya). Due to it being a job with many responsibilities she initially want to refuse it. Involuntarily, this makes her think of when she was still working at the Elemental Research Lab in Meltokio.

During her time there she one day meets a man made elemental spirit named Corrinne. Feeling sorry for Corrinne because it is used in all kinds of experiments, she decides to set it free. Corrinne however stays with Sheena, and becomes a sort of moral support to her.

In short, these are the stories of how Regal met Alicia and how Sheena met Corrinne. If you've played the game, there is no really new information in this drama CD. It just gives further details to a past that we already knew. That doesn't make it any less interesting though. Especially in Regal his case, because I always had the feeling that he just missed a lot of screentime in the actual game (because he is the last person to join your party).

(I just realized I could have written a summary of only one sentence, doh)

In the bonustrack both Ootsuka Akio and Okamura Akemi give a short comment about their story. Maybe due to being so short it felt rather... lacking though. I really hoped for a cast comment with everyone involved, but alas.


Conclusion:
Because these CDs technically take place after the game, and therefore assume you know about every spoiler there is, it is probably best to listen to this only if you've (almost) finished the game. For those who are interested in the backstories of the characters this drama CD  is the right thing. Even if it is just a more detailed version of a story we already know.

12/08/2011

Weekly News Post

Comiket 80 starts today, making me almost depressed about all the tokuten I am missing. I really really need to go someday. But as it is I'm not in Japan at the moment, and even if I were, I'm much to scared to go by myself xD


Oujisama (warai)
a rough sketch of the prince for the upcoming little mermaid story has been released. In the description they say that his character is "sweet", but for now his sketch looks everything but sweet to me. The first thing I thought was "another Cinderella?!".

Maybe he'll look sweet if he smiled a bit more (^-^;;)


Bokutachi otoko no ko
a mini drama will be released on the mobile distribution site Pocket Drama. The mini drama is called タマのドキドキ☆妄想デート (Tama no dokidoki☆mousou date, Tama his dokidok☆fantasy date) so I suppose Tama will be going on a date?! It is only distributed for mobile, so unless you have a Japanese phone there is sadly no way of listening to it.

11/08/2011

Fushigi Koubou Shoukougun Drama CD: Hitoribocchi no Tanjoubi

ふしぎ工房症候群 DRAMA CD ひとりぼっちの誕生日


Company: Cosmic Ray
Based on: Original
Released: 2006.11.24
Official Site: http://www.cosmicray.co.jp/fks/


ふしぎ工房症候群 (fushigi koubou shoukougun) translates into something like 'mysterious workshop syndrome'. The mysterious workshop in the title is what binds all of the stories in this series together. The shop can only be found by someone who is lost and really needs it, and is run by an old man, who sells 'happiness'

In the original reading CD's, each story is told by a (high profile) voice actor who both tells the story and acts out certain characters. The drama CD's adapt these stories into and actual audio drama (with multiple seiyuu).

This is the drama CD adaption. Like with the drama CD for "jousei kyoufushou naoshimasu" this drama CD starts slightly before the original version, adding a few scenes where we hear exactly how hard the protagonist (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) works.

Other than that the story is exactly the same as the original. As an actual audio drama, the story does feel much livelier. However it also lack a bit of the emotional impact that the original had. On the other hand, the last scene in the drama does a better job at expressing that the protagonist has found his happiness.

Sakurai his comment is weird in a good way. But the best part is probably that it sounds like he is recording it all by himself, while actually (at least part of) the entire cast is with him xD

Conclusion:
Like with the other drama CD I listened to, I find it hard to decide whether I like the original or the drama version better. Both have their advantages, and both are beautiful. So in the end I simply recommend listening to both ;)

10/08/2011

Kareshi x Recipe Menu 1



カレシ×レシピ Menu-1

Company: AT-X
Based on: Cooking?
Released: 2009.03.20
Official Site: http://karecipe.com/

In Kareshi x Recipe your boyfriend teaches you how to cook! ... or at least teaches you two recipes. This first CD has you cooking Hamburgers and Creme Brule together with your boyfriend.

The CD starts with your boyfriend (CV: Ono Daisuke) checking whether he has bought all of the ingredients and whether everything is ready. After calling you to ask you to bring some demi-glace sauce because he forgot to but it, all that is left is to wait for you!

When you arrive you start to cook together, first making the creme brule, and after that the hamburgers. The creme brule is only one track, but making he hamburgers gets much more attention. Cutting the meat (you're making the minced meat yourself), unions, the sauce, the mushrooms for the sauce, everything has it's own track. Finally there are two tracks in which you eat the result of your hard work, one track in which you've succeeded, and a version where you failed.

Between explaining the recipe your boyfriend talks a lot, mostly sweet and very-much-in-love stuff. You can leave it to OnoD to act the part of perfect boyfriend. I loved the part where he nearly proposes to you, and then stops himself saying "this isn't something I should say while standing in front of pork-meat!".

As for the actual cooking, the recipes seem really tasty. I was paying too little attention to the actual cooking instructions and more to all the other talk so I didn't fully catch how to actually make the recipes though. However it does make me want to try it sometime. You can see pictures of the dishes on the website if you're curious.

The free talk was OK. OnoD saying that there were a lot of mistakes because his stomach made all kinds of noises (because the drama made him hungry) made me laugh. Other than that he talks about food that he often cooks.


Conclusion:
I think you'd actually have to listen to this multiple times if you want to filter out the cooking instructions, but it actually does tell how the make the two included recipes. (luckily, the booklet has the recipe as well) Other than that it is simply a very cute CD. I actually think that cooking instead of another date CD was a pretty original and nice idea. And one day I am actually going to make this, because I'm curious how it will turn out.

09/08/2011

Pokemon - Shiroi Ashita da! Rocket-dan!

Surprised? I never knew that there were Pokemon drama CD's, so when I discovered that there are two of them I just had to find them. This is by far the oldest drama CD  that I have reviewed so far (1998!!) so please forgive the blurry cover image ;)

I use the English names, because that is what I grew up with.


サウンドピクチャーボックス 白い明日だ!ロケット団

Company: Nintendo / Shogakukan Production
Based on: anime
Released: 1998.11.11

Every one knows Pokemon, so I don't need to explain what it is :p But I'm part of the Pokemon Generation, I grew up with it. I played the games (still do!) watched the anime, like everyone did. So when I discovered that there are two drama CD's my nostalgia overtook me~

白い明日だ!ロケット団 (shiroi ashita da! roketto dan, A White Tomorrow! Team Rocket!) is a story about team rocket. It was originally broadcasted as a radio drama, and later released on CD. The CD has 7tracks in total, of which 3 are the drama and the other 4 are songs.

The story of the drama takes place somewhere at the beginning of the series. Team Rocket has once again been blasted away after a failed attempt to catch Pikachu. While Jesse (CV: Hashibara Megumi) and Meowth (CV: Inuyama Inuko) are arguing about Meowth his uselessness, James (CV: Miki Shinichirou) complains that he is hungry and calls for food.

Which is brought to them by a "Rocket Gang Special Delivery Member Trainee"named Mondo. After a quick friendly match between Jessie her Arbok and Mondo his Ditto(CV: Kawata Taeko), Jessie and James offer to 'train ditto for a while' and trade him for Meowth (who doesn't agree with this at all). Their actual plan is to have Ditto transform into Pikachu so that they can swap it with the real one, but Ditto keeps transforming into the wrong pokemon and only causes trouble.

The story quite entertaining. The interactions between the Rocket trio are always entertaining, and Mondo is such a lovably naive character as well. Apparently he regularly delivers food and equipment for Team Rocket to use. This is also the only time he ever appears in the series, he is never seen or mentioned in the anime.

This sounds and feels like the actual anime in every way. From the narration to the background music, everything is exactly the same. From the way Team Rocket blasts off, to their hilarious conversations, it all has so much nostalgia it just makes me happy.

This drama CD held one great surprise for me: Mondo. Or rather, his seiyuu. I've checked and double checked and checked again, but it turns out Mondo his voiced by none other than... Koyasu Takehito. No matter how much I listen, I can't hear it. Except for the cast call. The one seiyuu I was certain I could recognize everywhere and I couldn't hear it even though I knew. I am sorry Koyasu-sama, I have failed you  T-T

One thing that I did discover is that it is not an easy drama  to listen to. Jessie and James tend to speak very fast and with their mouth full or other things that make them hard to understand. Meowth his way of speaking is not easy to listen to if you're not used to it to begin with.

Track 1 and 5 are songs also found on an earlier single with Team Rocket songs, but track 6 and 7 are pretty interesting. Both are lyrical versions from songs from the game boy games. (the opening theme and the surf theme respectively). Especially the surfing song is really cute.


Conclusion:
There is so much nostalgia here, but somehow it is still fresh. Don't expect any character development whatsoever, but it is fun to hear a Team Rocket story that I didn't know. This is a fun, lighthearted drama (just like the anime) but I'm looking forward to the other drama CD, which tells the story of how Mewtwo was born.

ps: I loved how everyone got to say their name in the cast call, even Misty who said only one sentence, and the seiyuu who did the pokemon. Brock his Onix is the only one not announced (apparently though, Onix is voiced by Ishizuka Unshou as well).

08/08/2011

Are you Alice? - Eat someone with a spoon


Are you Alice? - Eat Someone With a Spoon

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original.
Released: 2010.07.23
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This is one of the side dramas for Are you Alice?, it came with a limited edition of the manga.

Mitsuki has opened a cafe in wonderland, and after repeatedly stating that he doesn't want to go Alice (with the help of the Cheshire Cat) convinces the Mad Hatter to go and take a look.... Only to find out that all items on the menu are badmouthing Alice.

To make up for all of this however, Mitsuki has a "completely normal orange juice", which turns Alice into a cat.

I loved this short. There are puns everywhere, which always makes me happy. And Sakurai saying "nya~" completely made my day. The Cheshire Cat is also brilliant in this, because no one can understand Alice as a kitten he becomes the interpreter. Hilarity ensues.


Conclusion:
Among all of the Are you Alice? side drama's this is one of my absolute favorites! I know I always say Are you Alice is brilliant, but it really is and this is one of the best shorts there is. If you know the series you should really really really try and find it somewhere!

05/08/2011

Weekly News Post

A little late, but here is the news!



Yandere Heaven
The official site has been updated with voice clips for both characters and a short preview! It might just be my love of butlers, but Minase is... ♥. The preview is surprisingly fun, until things go yandere of course. After that is is just love~ 


Momogre
Versailles no Bara, one of momogre their men's only stories, will get a side story. Not much is know yet except the title and a (very) short plot description: ベルサイユのばら外伝~黒衣の伯爵夫人~ (versailles no bara ~kurogo no hakushakufujin~, the Rose of Versailles ~the countess in black~). The original cast will meet a mysterious countess at Oscar his sister her mansion... and that is all that is known for now, other than that the release date will be 2011.10.27


The Time Walkers 01: Amakusa Shirou

Well August got of on a wonderful start with me posting nothing for almost a week :p This post and the news post are a little late, but here they are, enjoy.



The Time Walkers 1 - 天草四郎

Company: Cosmic Gate
Based on: History
Released: 2009.06.24
Official site: http://www.cosmicray.co.jp/ 


Written by the same author as the Fushigi Koubou Shoukougun series, the Time Walkers is a series about people who travel through time and find themselves in the place of famous personalities in Japanese history. Yes it might sound a bit weird, but as a spiritual successor to the Fushigi Koubou and written by the same person it simply had to be good.

The first story in the series is told by Ishida Akira, and is about Amakusa Shirou. First however, the protagonist tells us something about his past. As a devout Christian, he was working as a volunteer in a refugee camp in Africa. However due to the war getting too close he is forced to leave, and a few months later the news that the camp was destroyed in a bloody battle reaches him.

Plagued by feelings of guilt and despair, he returns to Japan. During a trip there he meets a strange old man dressed in black. The old man leads him to a seaside park, which turns out to be the remains of Hara Castle. There the protagonist sees a statue of Amakusa Shirou, and before he knows it looses his conscience.

When he wakes up, people suddenly call him "Shirou-sama" and he discovers that he has somehow become Amakusa Shirou, right before his last stand in the Shimabara rebellion. First only thinking of finding a way back, he gradually resolves to use this chance to do what he couldn't do in Africa: save as many people as possible.

Like in with the Fushigi Koubou series,the protagonist is initially unnamed. However because he takes the place of Amakusa Shirou others often refer to him as such. I like this concept of a nameless protagonist a lot, it helps you sympathize with the character.

As this is based on history, it really helps a lot if you know a bit about it. No need to do extensive research though, just reading wiki (either before or after listening) is just enough. It is not necessary to understand the story, all the info you need is given and the story is more about the emotions, but it does help you get a grasp on what kind of situation the protagonist is thrown into and I really recommend it. 


Conclusion:
This is truly a spiritual successor to the Fushigi Koubou series in every way. It feels exactly the same
, so expect the same kind of emotional impact, only this time with added time travel. If you don't know much about the history of Japan (or keep forgetting it, like I do) it might be a lot of information that is thrown at you, but the story is beautiful and absolutely worth listening too.