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.

Ai no Poem tsuki Kotoba-seme CD

Going back to the first CD in the series~

愛のポエム付き言葉攻めCD

Company: Lantis
Based on: Original
Released: 2008.12.25


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 happens to have 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. The first CD is voiced by Midorikawa Hikaru and Miyata Kouki.

The main scenario in Midorikawa-san his part is that you come back home and your boyfriend has just finished cooking dinner for you. You are greeted with the oh so cliché but always entertaining "welcome home. Would like a bath, or dinner, or me" and a pretty deep kiss. Your boyfriend acts all cute but he says some pretty direct things.

After dinner you apparently fall asleep and you have a couple of dreams. One about a Magic Knight, which is with ease the most direct character in this entire CD. One about a prince who finds you being lost in the forest, this one is mostly sweet. And one where you are still in school and end up always eating lunch with the tsundere student council president (this later turns out to be how you and your boyfriend met). After you wake up again you get some more sweet words from your boyfriend.

I can't say much about the poem. It does seem the fit with the things said in the track before it. But Midorikawa-san his slightly broken "I'm your man" (in English) caused a me to skip the track as a whole the first time, until I discovered that his freetalk was recorded on the same track. Apparently Midorikawa-san did this recording while he had a cold (you can hear it in the free talk, even though he didn't sound like that at all in the rest of the CD).

The second part of the CD is voiced by Miyata Kouki, who appears as "kotobaseme kamen (the masked kotobaseme)" right after you were dumped by your boyfriend. He offers to date you and you accept, partly because you already know who he is: the president of the drama club at school (still, you were dumped only hours -possibly minutes- before. Talk about a fast recovery).

Of course being in the drama club (you also join after you start dating) you have to pick a play to perform at the school festival. You end up with a play about a knight who is betrayed by his older brother and is chased from the castle, only to return years later in disguise during a masked ball. And of course he falls in love with his brother's fiancée etc etc etc. The wording was a bit to theatrical, so forgive me for not being able to take it very serious.

The poem this time is titled "I no longer need a mask", so I suppose it fits? I didn't like Miyata-san his part that much. His characters were either to genki or too theatrical for my taste.

In terms of kotobaseme; the first two tracks by Midorikawa-san are the most 'attacking' ones. After that they get sweeter and sweeter. Nothing wrong with that, but in a CD with a title like this you'd expect the wording to be a bit bolder.


Conclusion:
The poems felt less random in this CD, but I can still do without them. I like the first two tracks the most, the rest was OK but nothing special.

PS: so far this is the oldest situation CD I've listened to, I think.

Ai no Poem tsuki Kotoba-seme Vol.3

Tiara 愛のポエム付き言葉攻めCD Vol. 3

Company: Lantis
Based on: Original
Released: 2009.05.27

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.3 is voiced by Hirakawa Daisuke.

The story begins with with the heroine (you- the listener) entering a cafe. You were lost and entered the cafe to shelter from the rain, but purely by coincidence it happens to be run by a senpai who you know from the literary club at high school. While talking with him you suddenly confess that you always liked him, and he asks you whether you have a boyfriend now. You start crying because you were just dumped, and to cheer you up he reads you a story that you wrote for his farewell album at high school.

Which is where we switch to a different story: that of the 'kisoku tantei Cranberry no oshioki jikenbo". In other words "Aristocrat Detective Cranberry his Punishment Case Files". I tried my best not to laugh at the title but I failed. This title amuses me so much.

But back to the story. Detective Cranberry apprehends a girl who he thinks is the thief 'Kurogitsune' (the black fox), but it turns out she is just a normal girl. In fact, she was just on her way to his house because she was sent there by a family member to learn proper manners. Cranberry takes her home, apologising that they will be spending the night alone because he sent everyone away after receiving a note from Kurogitsune saying that she will steal one of his prized jewels.

Once in the house his politeness quickly turns into flirting, he even tells you that he is planning to take all night to make you fall for him. After you return from taking a bath and pour him some tea he turns his words into actions. He first orders you to lick his feet, but when you refuse because "you don't know how" he simply shows you how by doing it to you. He continues by saying that he is "not only good with his mouth", but it soon turns out that he only meant that he is good at dancing.

While dancing he confesses that while he said that he would make you fall for him, he has actually fallen for you and kisses you. Soon after however he collapses because you actually are Kurogitsune, and you drugged his tea.

When he wakes up he is bound in chains are you are whipping him. I seriously thought my fangirl heart would not be able to handle this part. Hirakawa-san playing a do-S character that was bound in chains and still unbelievably sexy. I... I can't....*cough* but back to the story. While chained he convinces you that he loves you, and asks you to release him so that you can marry. When you do this you are rewarded for this by being chained by him instead. And some very very nice kissing. And they lived happily ever after...?

Back in the cafe your senpai teases you when you say that the story you wrote wasn't that eroi. Then he accidentally makes you remember that you were dumped and you start crying again. Which is when he can't hold back anymore and kisses you, saying that he always liked you too. And so we get to hear some more lovely smooching and you live happily ever after as a happy couple (for real this time).

This CD caught me completely by surprise. Yes of course it is titled 'kotoba-seme' but I didn't think it would be this...this... sexy. In the cafe parts Hirakawa-san is voicing a super sweet senpai, while he uses a much lower voice as Cranberry. Their personalities are also the complete opposite. The senpai character is super sweet and almost hetare, while the other is a do-S aristocrat (and my preference is once again worrisome). And some of the things he says. You'd think I would be able to handle more after listening to certain other series, but this CD had me burying my head in my pillow to suppress all the giggles and fangirl screams.

I'm less positive about the poem. It sort of feels...random. Maybe if I try really hard I would be able to link it to the story in some way, but for now I am failing. Then again, I never have been good at understanding poems, so maybe I am the one at fault here.


Conclusion:
For some reason I didn't really expect much of this CD but it proved me wrong in every way. I've listened to two of the other CDs in the series and I can say that this was by far the most effective one, although that might have something to do with my bias for Hirakawa-san.