Double Score ~Cattleya~

I skipped this one because I wanted to listen to the Narcissus CD (Hirarin~) but I'll return to reviewing them in the right order. Not that it really matters in which order you listen to these.

Double Score ~Cattleya~

Company: BlueMoon
Based on: CD <-> Otome Game
Released: 2012.07.13
Official site: http://www.asgard-japan.com/bluemoon/ds/


Double Score is an upcoming series of otome games where every obtainable character is between 29 and 46 (the heroine is 17). The concept of the game is that "age doesn't matter when it comes to love". Before the games are released however, each character gets a situation CD. This is the CD for Shirosaki Rio (CV: Ookawa Tohru), one of the two host characters in the game.

Despite Rio being a host, he is everything but the cool and suave character that you might expect him to be. As a professional host he obviously has that side like that as well, but he acts entirely different in front of the heroine (his girlfriend, meaning you). One of the major points in this CD is that his host skills don't work on you, and that being really in love makes you do stupid things. He is also an incredible otoku, a trait that he shares with his high school classmate Tomu (CV: KENN).

Which is also what part of this CD is about. Just as Rio is preparing for his date with you, Tomu calls him because he needs someone to drive him somewhere, and he seems to be in a real hurry. Rio refuses though, because he already has a date with you. Their conversation on the phone is already pretty brilliant, as soon as Tomu starts with an overly formal way to start the conversation you know what kind of conversation it is going to be.

When you call Rio right after that you tell him that he should go and help Tomu and that you don't mind waiting a little. So in the end Rio drives off to pick up Tomu. It turns out that Tomu wanted to go to a game shop because they are handing out a demo for a certain game there. Being an incredible otaku, Rio is suddenly full of passion to help Tomu get there (and score a demo himself in the progress).

When all of that is finished Rio is 3hours late for your date though. While Rio speeds off to see you, Tomu contacts you that it will be a while before he gets there (apparently Rio introduced you once before). Once he is at your place your mom apparently let Rio in the house, and he is in the middle of a rather embarrassing apology in front of your door when you suddenly appear behind him, happily saying that you were killing time at a nearby cafe. After that it is all sweet time with Rio. He first takes you to the aquarium and after that on a night drive. And of course the car is stopped for a while for an appropriate amount of kissing.

In the Narcissus CD Seiya also apparently went to meet your parents, but Rio obviously knows your family as well. I have to admit that I'm kind of surprised that they seem to have no problems with their 17year old daughter dating a 29 (34 in Seiya his case) year old host. I'd expect a few objections there. Instead Rio (or any of the other guys in their own CD for that matter) himself seems to be the one that holding back because of, and worrying about your age.

I really really really liked the friendship between Rio and Tomu. Somehow it felt really natural, and I just loved their conversations. They way Tomu tries to get information about how far Rio is with you is just too precious. Judging from their conversations Rio was apparently a pretty flirty and loose type before he met you, and Tomu calls him "the emperor of the night" a couple of times (much to Rio his annoyance) so I suppose he has some 'nighttime skills' as well. Which is why Tomu is all the more surprised that you did nothing beyond kissing (yet).

Rio mentions that being really in love makes you do stupid things (the way he says it is literally "uncool") and it was kind of refreshing that he indeed doesn't act as the perfect boyfriend and has a few 'uncool' moments (almost falling to the ground because he is relieved that you aren't angry with him, for example. Or the entire apology scene for that matter). Then again this whole series is rather good at showing those sides of the characters in the scenes where they talk any of the other characters.

Rio his answering of the standard questions in the bonus track from the first press edition is rather straight forward until he is asked about his hobby; his otaku passion clearly shows. His taste in what kind of underwear he would like his girlfriend to wear was also rather interesting: sports underwear (he calls it 'moe' xD). His final answer on what part of the female body he likes best was also pretty brilliant ("listen very carefully because I'll only say this once *takes deep breath* breasts. the end." ).


Conclusion:
Rio was completely different from what I imagined. I really loved the scenes with Tomu, and because of his personality the parts where you are alone were a lot of fun as well. I'm kind of curious what his interaction with Seiya is like... If things continue like this I am really tempted to get some of the games after all.

Perabu! A Capella Love!?

ぺらぶ！ A cappella love！？

Company: Frontierworks
Based on:  Original
Released: 2011.06.22
Official Site: http://perabu.jp/index.html



Perabu!! A Capella Love!? is the story of 5 high school students who are suddenly told that from now on they are the school a capella club (or for schort, perabu). Oh, and that they have a performance in front of the entire school in exactly one month.

The person behind all of this is the rather eccentric music teacher Sakikabara Ryuunosuke (CV: Ono Daisuke) for reasons you'll hear at the end of the CD. Our five victems are of course all completely not interested in a capella and completely different types of people (although they at least seem to be familiar with each other).

Inoue Yoshiya (CV: Kimura Ryouhei) is the moodmaking of the gang. He is always in high tension and tends to make up words (for example he keeps using 'perabu' as a verb). Katagiri Hayato (CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa) makes the impression of being a delinquent, but is actually a great cook and overall housewife. Learned all of these things for the sake of his beloved little sister. Arisaka Keiichirou (CV: Maeno Tomoaki) always acts very serious, but actually loves cats and has his own cat-blog. Mitsunaga Chihiro (CV: Kakihara Tetsuya) is your standard much-too-popular-with-the-girls narcissist. And finally Tokieda Ayumu (CV: KENN) is always either sleeping or eating, and looking cute while doing so.

Story-wise this follows the pattern of a random group of unwilling people is thrown together to do something, problems must be overcome, and they succeed. Usually there is a "friendship bonds are formed" step somewhere in between, but these 5 were already pretty close. Perabu relies on the quircky personalities of its characters to make the story interesting. However this works only half of the time. While their quircks did make you laugh, it still feels like the 'story' is too simple.

However it gets bonus points for actually including the a capella song they were practicing. The last track consists of the song + everyone stating that they've come to like a capella and want to continue (surprise surprise)


Conclusion:
Perabu! certainly isn't a bad drama. It is actually pretty funny and the quirky characters are very lovable. Yet it feels like it could have been so much more. Despite the funny take on things the plot is just too thin, literally almost everything is predictable from the start. Hopefully they'll improve this a little for the next entry in the series.