Shimekiri CD ~Konya ha Nemurasenai~

〆切CD　今夜は眠らせない

Company: Sherry Topaz
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.03.28
Official site: http://www.sherry-topaz.com/new/2nd/index.html


Shimekiri  is a CD to keep you awake while you have to work an all-nighter to make a deadline. The concept is that there is an bureau called "Midnight Agency" that send people to help you stay awake. Oshikiri Mamoru and Shimeno Susumu are two such agents, and they are here to keep you awake tonight.

The CD is roughly divided into three parts; one part with Mamoru (CV: Okiayu Ryoutarou), on part with Susumu (CV: Konishi Katsuyuki), and the epilogue where both of them try too keep you awake. In each part they are visiting a different client. One of the first things I noticed was the incredibly long tracklist (71 tracks!!) which as it turned out, is due to the CD consisting mostly of very short tracks.

The CD begins with a small prologue, just before both of them start their work day. Susumu is teasing Mamoru a bit about how he is actually very soft (because Mamoru sent a client that had failed her deadline a cake to cheer her up). After that Mamoru his oart starts.

Mamoru begins by explaining his work (helping you in keeping awake and working,) and also explains that during this time making sure you keep the deadline has priority so if necessary he might be very strict. So he also warns you that there is no point in crying xD

Throughout his tracks you really notice that Mamoru tries to be strict, but is actually very sweet. If you do something unexpected he doesn't know how to handle it and generally gives in. One of the cutest moments is when he finds a picture of your pet (I'm assuming a small dog) and he gets all flustered and offers to take care of it next time when you have a deadline. Somewhere near the end he suddenly acts out a power rangers scenario where he defeats the evil sleep-man so that you can continue working.

After Mamoru his part is finished, Susumu his part starts. He is visiting a client where he has been a couple of times. My guess is a managaka or doujinka, and judging from his reaction to your work possibly BL. Susumu is actually quite the opposite of Mamoru, he starts out very sweet, but if you keep refusing to work he becomes very strict. He also gets a parody track, where he becomes Shimekiri Knight, and needs to rescue the princess from the evil King Sleep.

This CD was quite different from what I expected. I somehow thought it would have some sort of a story part. Like on of them coming to your place to keep you awake, and eventually starting to like you, but that is not at all the case. Both of them have a long list of short tracks (34 of them) which are all short scenes or them doing something to keep you awake. None of these tracks are really connected, and some of them are really short (like 10 seconds or so).

In both cases you do notice some progress in the situation though. Both of them start with just watching you, then they comment on small things like leaving your cellphone alone or telling you to focus again, and eventually you really start to fall asleep/ don't want to continue anymore so they turn to more creative ways to keep you awake, and eventually you reach the parody track.

In the epilogue both of them are working on a case together. This is where Susumu really goes all cold on you when you refuse to work and just want to sleep, and Mamoru is almost panicking and trying to get you to work again so that Susumu calms down. It ends with all of you falling asleep together.

My favourite tracks are track 18, where Mamoru finds out about your pet. Track 25, where Mamoru starts singing softly, and then suddenly switches to saying "if you sleep you will die". Track 58, where Susumu tells a weird version of sleeping beauty. Track 59, where Susumu goes Bancho Sarayashiki on you. And the parody tracks (34 and 66)

The freetalk is done by Okiayu-san and Konishi-san together. Konishi-san begins by explaining his character his name, because the way it is written is apparently unusual (I really wouldn't know). Both of them talk a bit about whether people really have that many deadlines, because at first they can only think of people like mangaka or writers when it comes to deadlines.

After that they talk a bit about the theatrical group Konoshi-san is with, and how they used to practice until really really late (or all night). And how Seki Tomokazu would sometimes look really really pale when working night after night on a script. After that the conversation changes to gaming, and while they are talking about that they run out of time, so they hope that there will be another CD so that they can continue the talk xD


Conclusion:
This CD was different from what I expected, but still a lot of fun to listen to. If you are going to use it to actually stay awake, I'd recommended ripping it and mixing the tracks with a playlist of other things, because listening to all of them at once might be a bit much.