Kuroko no Basuke Sound Theater 2nd Games

黒子のバスケ DRAMA THEATER 2nd GAMES それがボクたちのバスケです

Company: Lantis
Based on: Manga -> Novel
Released: 2012.11.14


Kuroko no Basuke is a basketball manga serialized in the Weekly Shounen Jump, and follows Kuroko Tetsuya and his team mates at Seirin High. During middle school Kuroko was part of the "generation of miracles", 6 extremely talented regulars on the Teito Gakuen basketball team. All of these players went to different high schools, and of course Seirin will have to face them one by one. This CD has little to do with all of that though. Instead, it features a story about the Teito Gakuen school festival, when everyone was still in attending there.
 

The story starts with Kise (CV: Kimura Ruouhei) helping Momoi (CV: Orikasa Fumiko ) carrying some bags full of provisions for the Toou baseball club. To thank him she offers to buy him a drink somewhere, and they run into Kuroko (CV: Ono Kenshou) inside the shop. Momose accidentally drops a picture of all of them that was taken at the school festival, and so they start to reminisce about that time.

I could give an endless summary but in short: Momoi hears a rumour that if a couple wins the stamp rally that is held by the quiz club that they will stay together forever, so she wants to join together with Kuroko, who wants the figure that is the first prize so he agrees to join. Aomine (CV: Suwabe Junichi) wants the figure as well, and he ends up pairing up with Kise (who was looking for a partner, because there were so many girls that wanted to be his partner that they stated fighting amongst each other).

The stamp rally itself features some rather strange things as well, they have to cross the sports ground which has been rigged with pitfalls, and the things they need to collect as one of tasks are rather vague. Aomine and Kise have "hero sanjou!", so Kise starts to impersonate all kinds of hero's, Kuroko and Momoi have "kai wo kaigaeshiku kaesu" (to give back a seashell to someone who wants it, but the point here is obviously the pun), so they steal Midorima (CV: Ono Daisuke) his lucky item of the day and he chases them through the entire school.

Before all of this we also get to hear Kuroko being a butler (because his class is doing a butler cafe) and Murasakibara (CV: Suzumura Kenichi ) impersonating Marie-Antoinette, to hilarious results. And while everything is going on, Akashi (CV: Kamiya Hiroshi) is winning every single board game there is and collecting an enormous amount of prizes.

I really love this story. It shows how everyone was while they were at Teikou and they just seem to be having so much fun. It makes me wish for more material about that time, while also making my heart ache seeing them as they are now.

For some reason I found Akashi his parts especially hilarious. While everyone else is running around in chaos he is calmly winning board games, and every time he does it the sketch follows the exact same pattern and the prizes get more and more luxurious (one year long free food tickets etc etc).

While most of the story is complete crack, it does have some more serious moments near the end. The whole reason Kuroko wanted the figure was to give it to Aomine, to thank him for encouraging him to keep playing when Kuroko was thinking of stopping. 

The surround sound effect from last CD is still there, but I didn't notice it as much this time.

In the freetalk Ono Kensho says he was very nervous being surrounded by senpai seiyuu. Kimura Ryouhei once again does his freetalk as "Kise Ryouta". During the entire freetalk everyone calls each other by a nickname, usually the first part of their character name+"chin" (Kuro-chin, Mido-chin, Mura-chin), even thinking of nicknames for the members that only voiced a few lines on the spot xD


Conclusion:
This made me want to see more of the Kiseki no Sedai era!! Everyone just seems so happy together it just breaks my heart to see them as they are now (but I love Seirin as well so I want to see more of them as well). I hope that they will continue releasing drama CDs like this. Meanwhile, I think I'll try to locate some of the short dramas that came with the limited editions of the DVDs.

Otenki Sentai How Weather

お天気戦隊ハウウェザー

Company: R45° / Sousakubou
Based on: Sentai Parody
Released: 2011.01.15
Official site: http://www.how-weather.com/


Otenki Sentai How Weather is a sentai parody in which all characters are based on different sorts of weather. On the good side we have Hare (clear weather), Ame (rain), Yuki (snow), Kumori (clouded), and Rai (lightning). Together they form the group "How Weather" and fight the evil organization Chuuihou (wheather warning). The entire organisation is actually only three people though: Hyou and Arare (hail) and Taifuu (typhoon).

In the first track the narrator explains that "How weather" is a telivision program aired on sunday morning, and that we should see how everyone is doing. Eacht track is dedicated to one of the characters, and one to Chuuihou. Don't expect any real sentai action though, instead the tracks are about the daily lives of all of the characters.

And the characters are what makes this CD brilliant. Hare (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) is a lovable egoistic hero. In his track he caught a cold (because he slept with only his underwear on in the middle of the winter) and no-one really wants to help him because they think he deserved it. Rai (CV: Terashima Takuma) like an impulsive kid. He works part time at a family restaurant, and his adventure is all about him not liking curry and running away from home.

Ame (CV: Toriumi Kousuke) is a major narcissist, and seems to enjoy getting scolded for some reason. His episode is all about, well, him being a narcissist. Kumori (CV: Suwabe Junichi) is a complete otaku, and is always busy playing online games (his latest being Final Dragon Fantasy Quest Online). He is usually muttering complaints in the background, but in his own track he is making entire monologues out of it. His story is about meeting someone from an online game in real life.

Yuki (CV: Hirakawa Daisuke) is like the mother of the family and usually act like housewife. He is usually sweet, but when he gets annoyed his personality switches completely. He is tends to make more severe remarks against Ame. Yuki is bloodrelated to Hyou and Arare, which is the reason why everyone is so friendly with each other. In his story there is a time sale in the supermarket, and absolutely nothing will get in the way of him going there. Not even a properly scheduled battle with Chuuihou.

In Chuuihou their story all of them go to a family restaurant for dinner (the one where Rai works). Hyou and Arare (CV: Toyonaga Toshiyuki & Ichiki Mitsuhiro) act like a bunch of high school girls worrying about stuff like diets, while Taifuu (CV: Ookawa Tohru) is as weak to their manipulation as ever.

As you can see, there is no actual action going on what so ever, the narrator even comments on this at the end. While they are supposed to be fighting everyone is getting along just fine. Taifuu even writes an overly polite letter to announce that they are coming when they do come to fight, and brings proper gifts when visiting. All of the characters are interestingly quirky, and the result is a lovable chaos.  I expected Hirakawa-san to act like a housewife based on his character description, but I didn't expect the switch to a more S side when annoyed, nor the voice drop accompanying it so that made for a nice surprise and a happy me.

There is a secret freetalk track, in which everyone talks about the CD and something to do with the weather, as well as their hopes for future installments in the series. Everything is going pretty normal untill Ichiki-san his turn, by which thime the rest is laughing so hard that he can't get on with his talk. He also does a final bai-bai, after which the recording simply continues ( ´艸｀)ﾑﾌﾟﾌﾟ


Conclusion
I'm not entirely sure my enthusiasm for this series is showing in this review. BUT I LOVE IT. From how it fails to be a proper sentai story to all of the characters, to the seiyuu and everything in between. I picked this up because there is a new CD (vol.4) coming soon, but this together with re-listening Hero Academy-J just might have sparked a new love for sentai parodies.

Mousou Esthe II

妄想エステⅡ

Company: 5pb
Based on: original
Released: 2010.12.22
Official Site: http://5pb.jp/moso

Mousou Este is a combination between a drama CD and virtual beauty treatments. You hear the staff of the fictional beauty salon 'Etreinte" talk among each other, and between that there are beauty treatments by one of the staff. The treatment tracks have been recorded with the dummy head microphone, so be prepared to hear them whisper into your ear.

This time the CD starts with Kagami Subaru (CV: Suwabe Junichi) as guest in a radio show, where he introduces his beauty salon. The hostess of the show seems very charmed by him. The next track is back at the salon, where Kagami, Maya Shinnosuke (CV: Taniyama Kisho) and Misaki (CV: Yusa Kouji) are talking about the radio show and... comparing their hands. But the way they keep talking about 'who has the largest' directed my mind in a whoooole other direction.

Back to the order of the day, it is time for Misaki his treatment. He gives you a face massage, although the wording, while describing exactly what he is doing, can still put your mind on other things. The same goes for Shinnosuke his treatment afterwards. Both their voices are so relaxing that my mind simply drifted off and their voices just floated around me, while I completely forgot that they were actually saying something.

In the next scene Odagiri Eito (CV: Terashima Takuma) is worried because this will be the first time to actually give a treatment to a customer. The rest somewhat tries to comfort and tease him at the same time. His treatment is a footmassage, but he talks a bit too much for my tastes (can't help it, he is nervous after all). His comment that this 'is the first time for both of you' made me laugh though. However I remained giggly for the rest of the CD, so whether that is actually a good thing. Anyway, he is a really pure and cute character.

After Eito is finished the rest also enters the room to give you a special treatment. I find it hard to imagine 4 estheticians working at the same time, but their various voices together are highly lethal for sure.

I have to say, this series has a way with words. While they really are just talking about the treatments my mind is definitely thinking of entirely different things. That aside, I fell asleep multiple times while trying to listen to this CD, especially during the first half.

The characters are less quirky than in the first CD, except for the parakeet Noel (CV: Hatano Wataru) who returns in this instalment as well. This made the day to day conversations of the staff a little less interesting, but at the same time they are less noisy than last time, avoiding the 'wake-up call' issue.


Conclusion:
The focus definitely shifted a bit more from relaxation to adding a little ero in here, but they did it in a good way and if you don't want to hear it you can simply ignore it. Above all else it is still very relaxing to listen to. My only problem was that I'm not very knowledgeable about how various parts of your body are called, so at times I wasn't quite sure what they were doing to me exactly (yes yes, you're massaging my head, but how exactly... xD)

Halloween+Town

 ハロウィン+タウン

Company: Frontierworks
Based on: Mobile game
Released: 2011.09.23
Official Site: http://www.halloween-t.com/


Halloween+Town is an otome game for mobile phones, an online comic is also published by Zero-Sum online. In Halloween+Town the human world and demonworld ("Makai") coexist, even though most people don't know the Makai exists. The cast of Halloween+Town all live as normal humans going to school, however at night they revert to there actual forms: wherewolf Ookami Shirou (CV: Kimura Ryouhei), Invisible man Ichinomiya Tooru (CV: Hino Satoshi), Vampire Kuroki Takaya (CV: Yusa Kouji), Jack-o-Lantern Uryuu Minami (CV: Fukuyama Jun), Frankenstein Rikudou Yuudai (CV: Suwabe Junichi), and.... a pumpkin (CV: Takemoto Eiji).

The scene starts with Shirou, Tooru, Takaya, Minami complaining that there is too much homework during the summer vacation and that they want actually go somewhere. After various ideas to decide to go camping. Yuudai and the Pumpking tag along for the trip.

Of course the trip wouldn't be complete without some activities. After managing to successfully raise their tent (despite the Pumpkin doing his best to interfere) they go on a short bicycle trip, ending with Yuudi and the Pumpkin plunging into a lake xD  In the evening everyone tries their hand at cooking something, which ends surprisingly successful. And through all of the, the Pumpkin creates immense amounts of chaos.

After Diner is finished all of them spend some time watching the stars when they realize that the Pumpkin is missing. Wondering whether he simply wandered off or got stuck somewhere they decide to go and search for him. A little chaos later they have found him, apparently searching for some special herbs that he wants everyone to eat. However when they do... (^-~)

The Seiyuu also comment on this in the cast talk, but this drama CD is light hearted and there is absolutely no serious or dark content (as opposed to the original work, apparently). The characters sound like they are really having fun, but the setting is a bit generic.

The cast talk itself was pretty funny, Takemoto-san acts almost the same like the Pumpkin, and everybody is just fooling around. The topic is which member of the cast would be the most fun to tease, and poor Takemoto-san is chosen by everyone, even by Fukuyama and Suwabe-san who did the recording or their own and therefore both have a sepparate comment after the rest.


Conclusion:
I feel like I'm missing out a bit because I don't know the game, but more than that they could have made better use of the night-time personalities of the cast. This way it was a bit of a generic story. However the pumpkin was hilarious. Also, isn't a story that has Halloween in the title, but takes place mid-summer... a bit weird? xD

Don't Cry, Girl ♥

ドントクライ、ガール♥

Company: Movic
Based on: Manga
Released: 2011.04.06


Based on the manga of the same name by Yamashita Tomoko, this is the story of Taeko (CV: Kobayashi Yuu). Who, for whimsical reasons, has to start living with Masuda (CV: Morikubo Shoutarou) , a friend of her parents. The only problem is that Masuda tends to walk around naked at home. All the time.

That means also when he opens the door when Taeko first arrives. Or when he is cooking. Or, well always actually. To makes things worse he sometimes uses the word moe. Taeko tries her best to endure all of it, but her reactions are just as priceless as Masuda his silly actions.

The cast is made even livelier by Masuda his friend Jinnai (CV: Suwabe Junichi) who is only sliiiiiightly perverted. And by Teako her two best friends, who seem to be oblivious to all the strange things Masuda and Jinnai say.

I already knew this was going to be win when the drama starts with Taeko saying "... my mother, open bracket, an idiot, close bracket..." (she literally says that). And from there on it only gets better. The best part of the entire drama is when Taeko her friends ask her to arrange a meeting with Masuda and Jinnai (because they look good) and the following conversations. Especially the part where Jinnai his answer to what his ideal romance would be is one large sensor beep xD

The last two tracks where Taeko for some reason considers marrying Masuda are brilliant as well. Just listen and you'll understand what I mean ;)


Conclusion:
I didn't know what to expect when I started listening but it turned out to be more than worth the listen ♥. It has been a long time since I laughed this much while listening to something. I love the randomness, the seiyuu, everything. Go and listen. Now ♥

Mousou Esthe

妄想エステ

Company: 5pb

Based on: Original

Released: 2010.06.23

Official Site: http://5pb.jp/moso/

Mousou Esthe is made by the same team as Kannou Mukashi Banashi (it was originally also listed on the same website). Of course that means the Dummy Head Microphone is used here as well. Mousou Esthe mixes the day to day conversations of the members of the beauty salon 'Etreinte' with the beauty treatments they give. And an overall plot somewhere on the background.

In the prologue we hear that Kagami Subaru (CV: Suwabe Junichi) receives an important prize in recognition of his skills as a beautician. Soon however he discovers that while he thought he had everything, he wasn't happy.

We switch to the present where he now owns his own salon in Hisuigaoka. This is where the story takes place. In each track a new esthetician is introduced in the form of a short conversation with Kagami and/or previously introduced characters. Then the scene switches to you (the listener) receiving a beauty treatment by the newly introduced character.

All of the characters are rather quirky. Save for Kagami pherhaps, who acts as the single sane character. Izumino Sei (CV: Sugita Tomokazu) is silent and my-pace, Sakura Naiki (CV: Okamoto Nobuhiko) has an obsession with cleanness, and Sendou Fumiya (CV: Takahashi Hiroki) is probably best described as a lovable narcissist. The final character is not a esthetician, but the shops mascot and extra comedy relief parrot Noel (CV: Hatano Wataru).

Thanks to these quirks the day to day conversations between these characters if funny to listen to. The main attraction of the series however are the beauty treatments. This is where the Dummy Head Microphone (that can make it sound like the characters are actually talking in your ear) is used. Of course it's a bit weird to imagine you are getting a massage when you only hear someone talk, but it is relaxing none the less.

There is something of a plot that spans the entire series going on in the background, but it is neglectable. The plot is not the main focus anyway, the treatments are. With a relaxing piano tune playing in the background it really feels like the atmosphere in a beauty salon. The only drawback to this relaxing atmosphere is that the next scene tends to come as a wake-up call, especially if the characters suddenly start talking rather lively.


Conclusion:
The conversation between the characters make this a lot of fun to listen too, which is why I think that it's a shame that they don't return in the following entries to the series (except for Kagami). Having a voice only beauty treatment feels a little strange, but it is fun to listen to.


Speaking of 'voice only beauty treatment' I think I saw a make-up
hypnosis not too long ago...

刻の男組(ときのスーパーヒーロー)」第1弾「イケメン☆桃太郎」

 Toki no Superhero) Vol. 1 Ikemen Momotaro

This is the story of Momotarou (well known Japanese folklore), but in a ridiculous way. It could have been Toki no superhero (warai) series, or anything alike. Basically that is what it is, and at least as brilliant. It starts with 'long long ago, an old couple happily lived together', after which said old couple is heard screaming at each other in some sort of argument.

For a while the story goes against what the storyteller (CV: Suwabe Junichi) says, but after a while he is slowly forgotten, to make a comeback later on. The story mostly follows the original folktale, except that the motives of most characters can be highly doubted. That, and the monkey smokes, the rooster uses a laptop to gather information, and more stuff like that.

Momotarou (CV: pretends to not want to leave the elderly couple, but once away screams that he is finally free. The monkey (CV: Miyata Kouki) pretends to be cute but that is actually just a fake personality, his actual personality is one of the worst you've ever seen. The rooster (CV: Ishida Akira) is revered as the smartest animal in the woods, but is in fact simply owns a laptop. The dog (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) has an ore-sama personality. Even though they go to oni island to save a village, they decide to sacrifice the village for their master plan to defeat the oni. Also, they seem to have crossed the ocean on a motorboat...

The music is also brilliantly out of place, all kinds of well known and/or stereotypical tunes are played in both fitting and completely unfitting situations.

The final track is a cast talk/radio announcement by Suwabe Junichi and Miyata Kouki. They start with talking about that they have no idea what to talk about. After that they simply decide to ask everyone how they felt about the recording. Puns and randomness all over the place. Also, I didn't even notice that myself, but Suwabe-san talks about the fact that all heroes in the series are named -tarou. Which ends with him listing all of them; "Momotarou, Urajima Tarou, Kintarou, Itou Kentarou..." xD


Conclusion:
It didn't make me laugh out loud like the warai series managed to do, but it was definitely fun to listen to. The over the top music is part of the fun. I would have liked for the narrator to be present in more of the story, but Momotarou his remark saying that the demon his voice sounded familiar partly made up for that.


Trivia:
Sue me, but I COMPLETELY missed that Sakurai Takahiro was the dog orz. Thus I was listening to his talk in the cast comment in compleet shock. Maybe I should pay more attention to the entire cast listing after all... *sigh* Of course, as I listened to the drama again I started to wonder how I could miss it in the first place... orz.

ふしぎ工房症候群 ドラマ CD 女性恐怖症なおします

 Fushigi Koubou Shoukougun Drama CD - Josei Kyoufushou Naoshimasu

This is the drama CD version of the second Fushigi Koubou CD - 女性恐怖症なおします (josei kyoufushou naoshimasu, curing the fear of women). The story is exactly the same as the original, with the difference that it is acted out as an actual drama (as opposed to told by only one person).

The only difference between this and the original is that there is a short scene in the beginning in which the girl visits the fushigi koubou, at that point we don't hear what she orders though. The rest of the story is exactly the same. The main character talks about his fear, and the two scenes that make his fear of women escalate are there as well.

Somehow I had the idea that the original did a better job at portraying the emotions and feelings of the main character, most likely because you were actually inside his head. On the other hand, his fear of women does become more understandable. The way they talk about him makes you understand his feelings a bit better (women can be scary...)

Their date on the other hand becomes much more lively. In the original it was already cute, but this time you can hear both of them talk, and both of their thoughts making it a lot livelier to listen too. This also makes it clear that they think of each other as an expat much earlier in the story, which is a bit of a pity because I liked the way it was revealed only at the end in the original.

On the whole I can't say whether I like the original or the drama CD more. The original portrays the character his feelings a bit better in my opinion, but on the other hand the drama CD also portrays the feelings of the girl making it more interesting. The entire date scene gets a lot more lively just by the fact that you actually hear the two of them talk. Either way it is still a wonderful story that is really recommend listening to.

黒薔薇アリス

Kurobara Alice

Is it obvious that I am attracted to anything that has 'Alice' in the title? If not let me warn you now; if somewhere in a title the words 'Alice' or "Wonderland' can be found you can be sure that it has my attention.

Same with this one. I didn't read the original manga, so little did I know that it has very little to do with anything 'Alice' and is actually... a vampire story. A bit of a surprise there, but it was still a very good listen.

The original manga is by Mizushiro Setona, and the Drama CD is the same as volume one of the original manga. Because there are more volumes this also means that it is only the beginning of the story, in fact it feels much more like a prologue.


The story begins on the 16th birthday of Anieska (CV: Yukana), who is thrilled to find out that her childhood friend -and now famous opera singer- Dimitri (CV: Nakamura Yuuichi) visits her birthday party, as he had told her he would be in Vienna. Even though Anieska has a fiancee, Theodore (CV: Terashima Takuma), Dimitri truly loves her. A fight between Theodore and Dimitri causes him to rush out of the place and he gets hit by a horse carriage due to not watching where he walks.

Everyone thinks Dimitri died, but he suddenly wakes up as if nothing is wrong. As he has, contrary to earlier reports, only minor injuries he is immediately released again to start rehearsing for his next performance. However, strange things start happening at the rehearsals; most of the people involved commit suicide or die of accidents. Not much later a mysterious figure suddenly tells Dimitri that he is now a vampire...

A few dramatic turns of events later (I'm not telling you, go and listen :P) the story suddenly switches to the present time, Japan. Where we meet the English teacher Kikukawa Asuka who has a secret relationship with Ikujima Kouya, one of her students. Their relationship however takes a turn for more drama as they become involved in a car crash. Asuka survives but Kouya sustains life threatening injuries. Just as everything seems lost a mysterious figure appears that promises Asuka to Save Kouya if she helps him with something.


As most of the story takes place in the past, and only the last minutes in the present this really feels like some sort of a prologue. Not to mention the drama ends with a cliffhanger. The cast themselves also comment on this in the cast talk, saying (or hoping) that there might be a second drama someday.

The story starts quite cheery, and that takes a rapid turn for dark drama and twisted feelings. Despite this I laughed out load at one of Dimitri his lines, simply because I never expected to hear it (if you really want to know, somewhere in a discussion where he is accused of 'doing all kinds of things to get higher up' he suddenly boldly responds with something along the lines of 'I don't do fellatio, it's not good for my throat'. I didn't see that one coming, and I was baking cake at the time so it was a really weird combination xD)

In my opinion there is a liiiitle bit too much drama overall, but it was still a very good story. I really hope that there will be a second volume someday, because this way you are literally suddenly left in the dark.

ふしぎ工房症候群 EPISODE 1 & 2

More by coincidence ans luck than skill I recently discovered a Drama series that was releasd a couple of years ago. I randomly came across the cover and was somehow attracted to it. Only later I researched what it was actually about, and it is one of the greatest treasures I've found.

 

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

Each story is told by a (high profile) voice actor who both tells the story and acts out certain characters. The story is told from the perspective of the main character, and mostly centres on that person his thoughts. In each story the main character is going through a troubled period or trauma, and the mysterious workshop becomes the turning point in their lives.

As the characters visit the workshop in despair or depression, many of the topics are quite heavy. However because the workshop does sell happiness (almost) all stories have a warm ending. I wouldn't really say happy end, but in a way they do find their happiness.

The first story is told by Suwabe Junichi, and is about a man who lost his girlfriend in a car accident. After that he is so broken by the loss that he loses the will to live and quits his job. In the complete despair over her loss he at some points stumbles upon the 'fushigi koubou'. Inside an old man asks him what his order is, and tells him that the workshop sells 'happiness'. The man eventually orders 'his dead girlfriend'. To his surprise he actually finds her when gets back home...

The second story is about an entirely different man, who has a fear of women. While he somehow managed to get through university, his life turns into a living hell in the first week he starts working. After an especially horrible evening he also stumbles upon workshop, and asks to 'cure his fear'. The old man tells him to meet a certain girl, and gives him a list with instructions as to which places to go. What ensues is probably one of the most awkward dates in history.

While both stories may seem somewhat simple, the ending has a slight twist, and because you are actually inside the character's head the emotional impact is very high. The voice acting is -as expected from such high profile voice actors- excellent, and it is interesting to hear the different kind of voices they use. Especially their 'old man voice' can lead to amusing moments.

Especially the first story was very emotional, Suwabe-san does a great job at portraying the loneliness and despair the main character feels over losing his girlfriend. In the second volume the despair and panic of the second man are also well portrayed, to the point where I started feeling uncomfortable as well. On the other hand the awkward situations during their 'date' also made me smile a little. In both cases the end however is very sweet.

A little detail that I liked was that the second album refers to the first one, the two characters were working at the same company. While it is never explicitly said that they were, the main character in the second volume mentions 'a co-worker that quit his job because he had lost his lover'.




The original series spans a total of 12 volumes, and a second season has another 7 volumes. Finally 5 of the original stories were remade into actual dramas. I've listened to all of the original stories, and am now halfway through the second season. Not only are all of the voice actors well known and fantastic, but the stories are well made and do a great job of making you go through all of the feelings the main character feels. One of the best series if you feel like listening to a more serious drama :)