Ai no Poem tsuki Kotoba-seme CD Vol.4

Tiara 愛のポエム付き言葉攻めCD Vol. 4

Company: Lantis
Based on: Original
Released: 2009.07.22

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Yandere Heaven Vol.6 ~Karei naru Tokudaiji-ke Hen~

ヤンデレ天国(ヘブン) ～華麗なる徳大寺家編～

Company: Hobirecords
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.08.29
Official site: http://www.hobirecords.com/yandere6/


Yandere Heaven is a series in which you (the listener) become the object of affection of two rather dangerous characters. In the beginning things seem ok, but then their love becomes obsessive.This time you are loved by your step brother Tokudaiji Katsumi (CV: Majima Junji) and your younger brother Ayumu (CV: Abe Atsushi). As always there are two possible endings; one for Kasumi and one for Ayumu.

-obligatory warning that yandere might not be for everyone-

When you were young your parents died in an accident, and you were left alone with Ayumu. Your uncle eventually takes you in, and so you start living in their house and gain Katsumi as your step brother. Ten years later things seem to be fine, until your uncle tells you that he prepared an omiai (arranged marriage) for you. Of course Katsumi and Ayumu both object to this, but you seem to feel obliged to accept it. Funny little detail is that the omiai is so that you can marry either one of the Saionji brothers.

To get your mind of things Katsumi takes you on a drive, which is when Ayumu is over attachment to you really starts to show. He texts you and when you don't answer in 5min starts to call and says that he will come to you (he is tracking your cellphone). Eventually Katsumi takes the phone and turns it off. When you return later that night Ayumu is angry with you because you let your guard down around Katsumi, and eventually drags you with him out of the house.

He takes you to your old house, apparently he somehow convinced his classmate Yamashina Makoto to buy it for him. Katsumi just sends a servant to keep an eye on you, although he also seems to have bugged you as he is somehow listening in on your conversation with Ayumu. The next day it is obvious that Ayumu just plans on living here together and not letting you out of the house, but Katsumi crashes the party by telling you that your uncle is continuing with the omiai and that you need to get out of here. He even offers to take both you and Ayumu with him so that you can at least escape for now. This is where you will have to choose one of them.

In the review for vol.5 I was saying that the yandere level was much more subdued than before. This time it is almost absent if you compare it with the other CDs. Ayumu has more of an incredible siscon than that he is yandere, although he is still the most yandere of the two. Katsumi obviously has the mindset, but he never goes completely yandere on you. He is always calm and kind, the only time his yandere personality shows through his mask it is only for one or two sentences.

The endings this time just didn't work for me. Fine Katsumi has you locked up and gives you a drug that you can use either to kill yourself or him (or do nothing with it), but he is still calm and intends to slowly tell you about all the feelings he has for you. If you wouldn't have been locked up in a room without windows it would have almost been sane.

Ayumu his ending bothered me to no end though. For some reason Katsumi has just disappeared into nowhere. Makoto of all people knew where you were, even kindly handed Ayumu the key to the room where you were locked up. While Ayumu is sufficiently yandere in the sense that he want to commit a double suicide so that you can be together forever, the rest of it makes no sense at all.

The animate tokuten CD probably enraged me even more. There is no trace of yandere to be found anywhere. You could have just as well have been happily living together judging from that scenario. Katsumi and Ayumu seem to have lost all animosity against each other (although Katsumi never seemed to really dislike Ayumu). The tokuten for the previous CD were a little extreme, but this was just too much fluff and no yandere.

I did think that Katsumi was a very interesting character though. In fact, he seems to be incredibly charming. His attitude also shows that he doesn't see Ayumu as a threat. He lets Ayumu take you away, knowing that he'll be able to find you again anyway. He even offers to take Ayumu with you while running away, so he must have thought that it would be no problem to get rid of him later on or that taking him along doesn't pose a threat to his plans. The way he seems the handle all of this with ease and a certain grace was interesting. I just would have loved to see him go insane when pushed to the limit.



Conclusion:
This is very hard to say about a series that I love, but I didn't like this CD. While the basics are there it just doesn't reach the levels of the previous entries to the series. I suppose I just prefer my yanderes more insane. On the other hand, if you were curious about this series I would start with this CD.

Fushigi no Kuni no Alice ~Alice in Wonderland~

不思議の国のアリス~Alice in Wonderland~

Company: Momogre
Based on: Alice in Wonderland.
Released: 2011.05.26
Official Site: http://www.momogre.com/



This story is part of momo&grapes their "men's only" series, meaning that all characters are voiced by male seiyuu. The story is based on (the Japanese translation of) Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

You know me, if something has 'alice' written on it I'm all over it. So when I found out that momogre would do an adaption of the original work I was super exited!

The story itself is so famous that it doesn't really need an explanation. This adaption is very loyal to the original story, so there isn't really much to explain for me there. (except that, well, it is very loyal to the original. And I love that). In fact, I think that they've actually used part of a translation as script, because most conversations seem to be exactly like how I remembered them. The Narration is of course original to this work.

The cast was fantastic as well. Kaji Yuuki is a super cute Alice, although no matter how hard I try he doesn't really sound like a girl to me. He sounds more like a young boy but still super cute and it somehow works so I am not complaining. The only voice I was uncomfortable with was that of the Cheshire Cat, who is voiced by Takeuchi Ken. Somehow his voice didn't suit my image of the Cheshire Cat. Then again I might just be too used to Inoue Kazuhiko as the Cheshire Cat from Are you Alice?

Another funny trivia about the Cheshire Cat is that he is called "Chashire Cat" in the story, even though the official site lists him as Cheshire Cat. The seiyuu talk about this in the freetalk as well.


Conclusion:
Personally I absolutely loved this adaption. I love most things even remotely related to Alice in Wonderland so I'm probably biased, but this was a wonderful adaption. It is very faithful to the original, and has a wonderful cast. Whether you're already familiar with the story or not, this is a wonderful drama to listen to.


Also, I'm sorry for reviewing two different Alice in Wonderland related things in a row :p