Weekly News Post

Well, after some startup problems we should be back on a regular schedule now. Also, if it might seem like there are two posters now: it is still only me. I used to have sepparate accounts for my mail and my blog, but I was getting tired of loggin in and out everytime I wanted to switch, so now I can use bot to post.


Barico
Looks like the series Barico is coming to an end. The official site has not been updated yet, but Frilla Records lists サヨナラ四重奏－Good bye Quartet― for a 2012.02.24 release. The product page says "the deelply moving finale" so there is no doubt that this will be the last CD for now. In the main series that is, because at the same time "Coffee and Love for all Seasons" has been announced: a compilation of all the short comics and a special drama CD.


Koi Koi
A new series by Marine Entertainment. Koi Koi is based on Hanafuda, the characters are based on each the month. 4 CDs will be released, each featuring 3 characters. Official Site is here.

Storywise, it is said that the 12 Hanafuda (here, Koifuda) govern the seasons. All twelve of them have been sealed together, to make sure that the seasons change smoothly as they should. However due to some sort of accident the cards have been released and have flown off in every direction, making the seasons run wild. And it is now your task to find the twelve of them again.


Kindan Kyuuketsuki
Dummy head mic, vampires out for your blood, sounds familiar? I'm not talking about Diabolik Lovers though. No there is another drama CD out for your blood: Kindan Kyuuketsuki ~Kurenai Bara no Ou~. Like it says on the site, this time your vampire is a lot more traditional.

Set in a (suspiciously German sounding) mediaeval era, you are invited into the house of a count (CV: Morikubo Shoutarou) who lives somewhere deep in a quiet forest, and end up getting your blood sucked.

I will refrain from commenting on the words "vampire stimme" and "vampire breathr" that are used on the site, but more vampires using the dummy head mic means you have me interested. The release is planned for 2012.03.14



IM Label
The official site has a limited edition picture up for new year, it will be their until the 10th and according to their twitter account the site will come back on the 11th "with a lot of info on releases and new works". New works... hmmm, I wonder if they are talking about Zyklus Code or something else entirely...?


Yandere Heaven Black
This blog doesn't feature any BL, but this is something that I had to post anyway. Yandere Heaven is getting a spinoff -Yandere Heaven Black- which is BL. Which means that this time both of the suitors and the main character are voiced.

A teaser site is online now, which reveals some info.  ヤンデレ天国BL(ブラック)～真誠学園男子寮 編～ (yandere heaven black ~shinsei gakuen danshi ryo hen~, Yandere Heaven Black ~Shinsei High Boys Dormitory Episode~) takes place -as you can guess- at the boys dormitory. The main character (CV: Akabane Kenji) is the victim of the affections of his roommate (CV: Majima Junji) and the dormitory's caretaker (CV: Hirakawa Daisuke).

Weekly News Post

Tap Trap Love
A teaser site for Tap Trap Love has been opened, although there is nothing there yet except for a larger version of group illustration and the announcement that 'the site will be opened soon'. Ah well, at least we have some eyecandy now (the three on the right are already my fav characters~)

A 'trial disc' will also be sold at the winter comiket, so we will get a chance to meet the characters this year.


Damekare

Kippei his character illustration is finally up! Visit the official site to see a larger version.

I'll be honest, his design isn't quite to my liking, but I'm still interested in the concept, so I might still give it a try.




Amemakura
Taiga (CV: Taniyama Kisho) his voice sample has been added to the official site, go and listen if you're interested!

Are you Alice? - How about a nice cup of tea

Are you Alice? - How about a nice cup of tea

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story.

Alice seems to be hosting a tv show in which he tracks what the Hatter does during the day. Of course, the Hatter his time is standing still at 6pm so according to the Hatter it is always time for tea. To make things worse, he forgets whether he had eaten the shortcake in the fridge or not, and then blames Alice for eating it.

This basically is Alice tracking the Hatter his weird habits, and being nearly shot multiple times in the process. It really makes you wonder what kind of things Alice has to go through everyday... xD

Are you Alice? - Alice the Gibberish! 2

Are you Alice? - Alice the Gibberish! 2

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original
Released: 2009.05.20
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This is a collection of CMs with Alice and the Hatter talking complete nonsense in between.

This time the Mad Hatter opens the skits with incredible tension (and referencing Star Wars just like they did in the first Alice the Gibberish). Just like the first time, this is a collection of CMs, and Alice and the Hatter commenting on them in between.

A large part of the CMs are in the shape of the fictional radio show "Alice no Heya". Hearing all of them together is kind of fun, especially because they get more and more random each time.

This time the CMs go all the way up to the unbirthday scraps and character singles, they don't realy mention any of the content, but just to be on the safe side it might be better if you've listened to all of them before listening to this.


Conclusion:
To be short, this is just more of the same, but that definitely isn't a bad thing here. Randomness and hilarity are guaranteed again so go and listen if you know the series.

Are you Alice? - Alice the Gibberish

Are you Alice? - Alice the Gibberish

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This is a collection of CMs with Alice and the Hatter talking complete nonsense in between.

Mostly these are short skits between Alice and the Hatter. At times they actually comment on the CMs, but other times what they talk about has nothing to do with the CMs. Hilariously enough, the CMs themselves become less and less serious as well, sometimes making you wonder what was a CM and what wasn't xD  (the ones where they state a release date are CMs)

Keeping in mind that all of these are just shorts skits, this is written really well. Just be prepared to hear the title theme a couple or dozen times (there are 36 tracks, and about half of them are CMs). This covers all the CMs up to Alice no Tea Party Phase 3, so it is best if you've heard all of the works released up to that point (Drink me, Check Mate, Call me, Tea Party Phase 1 - 3) because they tend to mention some spoilers as if it doesn't matter, but if you've heard at least the first three you should be fine.

Track 35 is one of my personal favourites, it's actually a mistake, and then when they try it again they succeed but you can still hear them laugh afterwards.

Randomness and hilarity guaranteed, this is one of the best collections of short skits ever.


Conclusion:
If you know the series this is fun to listen to. Both for the CMs and the short skits. If you don't know the series go listen to it first and then listen to this.

Weekly News Post

To start with some non drama CD news: I officially have a tumblr now. It's over here. Of course drama CD's are heavily featured, but there is also other stuff that interests me. Just keep in mind that, while this blog and the tumblr are somewhat related, this blog is for proper reviews while the tumblr is for random remarks and incoherent posts.


Oujisma (warai) series
Both Oujisama (warai) Variety drama 2 and Oujisama (warai) IF ~Oujisama Gakuen~ will go on sale on 2012.01.25, but both will be available beforehand at the winter Comiket.

For those who have bought both the first vacation CD and the second vacation CD (the variety drama's, they shouldn't change the titles, it is confusing): a special CD called 'Hadaka no Oujisama' will be gisfted as a bonus if you send the special coupons found on both CD to frontier works. (I have no idea whether this will also work for those living outside of Japan). Thanks to Annadiel for pointing this out!!


Kannou Mukashi Banashi
The staff just posted a picture of the Kannou CD box on their blog. It looks like besides the first 6CD's (the box is for the first season, meaning the first 6CD's) a seventh CD which includes a story for Puss in Boots. Which is kind of strange considering that the cover of the box is from Bluebeard. Let's just hope the box holds more surprises.

Another blog post mentions a limited edition drama CD that will be sold at 5pb's "Otome Carnival": a dramatized version of how Kannou Mukashi banashi came to be (if I'm understanding this right, the announcement has me majorly confused). A version of 'the ugly duckling', done by 10(!) seiyuu will also be read live.


La Storia della Arcana Famiglia
The release list on frontier works their homepage lists a drama CD for Arcana Famiglia titled  アルカナ・ファミリア」capitolo 1　～アーレ！ ノヴィーツィア！ 頑張れ新米幹部～ (Arcana Famiglia capitulo 1 ~Ale! Novicia! Ganbare shinmai kanbu!~) to be released on 2012.01.25

Are you Alice? - All in the Golden Afternoon

Are you Alice? - All in the Golden Afternoon

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original
Released: 2011.04.07
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This was released with the limited edition of the Are you Alice? PSP game.

The characters start with re-introducing themselves and their setting in the story. Alice (CV: Sakurai Takahiro), the Mad Hatter (CV: Hirata Hiroaki), the Cheshire Cat (CV: Inoue Kazuhiko), the White Rabbit (CV: Morikubo Shoutarou), all tell their setting and some of their feelings.

After that all of them start arguing a bit about their respective setting and personalities. And thus the arguing escalates xD And is it me, or does Alice make a Makai Senki Disgaea style announcement for a so called next time? (even the music seems to match)

The switch between a serious introduction and the random conversations feels a bit off this time. Usually they effectively cancel out the seriousness, but here it just somehow goes from serious into Alice style randomness, and then suddenly changes back in a weird way. Also, I think they used the background music from the game, which is slightly different from the music used in the drama CD's.


Conclusion:
It is hard to say about my favourite series, but I didn't like this work very much. There isn't anything new. It is always nice to hear the cast go about in their usual ways. But compared to other works (even shorter ones) this one simply doesn't really cut it.

Weekly News Post

Just because I can, this post is made on 11.11.11 at 11:11 xD



IM Label
is planning something new. This year their 1 coin series will end, however starting next year they will start with "IM crcl"(pronounciation: IM kurakura). crcl is short for 'craft x clown', but what that is supposed to mean...




Amemakura
not really news, but I have some more info on vol.2 of Amemakura. I said you and your boyfriend were on vacation on an island when the rain comes pouring down (see previous news post for more info), but more specifically you are visiting 'Gunkanjima'. This is an island about 15km from Nagasaki that used to be a coal mine, but is now more like a ghost town. It is a touristic attraction nowadays and you can visit in on a tour (walking around by yourself isn't allowed for safety reasons).

Actually called Hashima, the island it's nickname 'gunkanjima' comes from the fact that it looks like a battleship. Or so the text that I had to translate in class today told me. The world is a small place sometimes...


Honeymoon vol.2

More info on Honeymoon vol.2! To begin with, the lovely cover to the right. The official site describes Kousaka Otoya (CV Toriumi Kousuke) as "sexy and ore-sama type" but Toriumi-san describes him as "cool". Hmmm. He also mention that he had a very hard time finding a balance between acting cool and sweet towards 'his girlfriend' (meaning you, the listener) feeling that he couldn't act too cool, but that he should get too sweet either.


From the rest of the cast interview there are two more bits of interesting info: apparently Kousaka doesn't give the impression to be very nice to others, but is very sweet to his girlfriend/fiancée/you, and there is a scene in which you almost drown, eep!

Are you Alice? - Make a name for oneself

Are you Alice? - Make a name for oneself

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original
Released: 2011.09.23
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This is part IM Label their one coin series, and has absolutely nothing to do with the actual story.

Make a name for oneself begins with Alice talking serious about how he ended up in the game to kill the white rabbit, only to declare that they will ignore the entire setting this time and even going as far as to do a bit of advertising for the original 3 drama CD's. This is how I know the series.

Then we are treated to a moment of wonderful silence at the Hatter mansion (no seriously, it is somehow hilarious) and we return the the usual menu of arguing between Alice and the Hatter. This time about the name 'the mad hatter', the Hatter suddenly realizes that it is pure badmouthing, and that he isn't even a hatter so that it makes no sense. And thus they decide to think of a nickname for the Hatter...

The constant switching between dramatic music and complete nonsense makes this one of the best short episodes yet. Also... I think I'm going to call the Hatter "Hatchan" from now on xD

Weekly News Post

As you can see we've got a new, winter themed, layout! Maybe it is a little early to start with the snow crystals, but I like it xD  And now on to the rest of the news!!



Shuukan Soine
The cover image and voice sample for vol.11 (CV: Fukuyama Jun) has been uploaded on the official site, so go and listen if your curious! (note: depending on your connection the voice sample may take a while to load).

And the details page for vol. 12 (CV: Midorikawa Hikaru) is finally open too and has the cover illustration as well. And I have to say, it looks gorgeous! -EDIT- the preview voice has been uploaded as well. And I...I...I think I'm going to faint. Don't fade out with kissing sounds and rustling of the sheets!!! It makes me lose to much blood...!


Oujisama (warai) series
A new Oujisama (warai) drama CD is in the works!! 王子様（笑）シリーズ　ドラマＣＤ if　～王子様（笑）学園～ (Oujisama (warai) series drama CD if ~oujisama (warai) Gakuen~ will be released during the winter Comiｋet (2011.12.29).

Not much info is available yet, but from the title we can guess that this is going to be a "what if all the princes would be students at the same school" type of story. Acｃording to the official site all 9 princes + the servant (Takemoto Eiji) will be featured on the CD. I predict chaos! :D

Looking back at the webcomic, I now notice this was actually foreshadowed... there are 2 webcomics named oujisama (warai) gakuen (^-^;;)

Are you Alice? - Fork it over

Are you Alice? - Fork it over.

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original
Released: 2011.??.??


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This is one of the side dramas for Are you Alice? that came with the limited edition of one of the novels.

The Queen of Hearts is bored, and therefore decides that Jack (who was allowed to speak only 10 syllables in 10 years) is suddenly allowed to speak again. On one condition; when the Queen is present he may only say funny things.

Because Jack isn't very funny on his own, it is then decided that he should form a manzai combi with Alice. Neither one wants to do this, but when the Queen mentions that manzai comedians are popular with the ladies lately Alice is suddenly motivated to give his all.

Hearing Jack again after a while was a lot of fun. The -absolutely horrible- manzai skits he does with Alice are pretty funny as well (simply because they are that bad). But the best part was the Hatter who suddenly turns out to be a master at tsukkomi.


Conclusion:
While the randomness and sillyness gets mos of the attention, a few more serious remarks are made, especially by the Queen, making me wonder what is going to happen next in the world of Are you Alice?.  Besides that this is a wonderfully random side drama, well worth listening for a laugh if you know the series.

Weekly News Post

Ha! Posting commences even before November 1st!! Mostly because, well, since I've been on Hiatus for a little I've been missing out on news posts, and while there might be some old news in here,  all of it is worth mentioning  and this news post was getting so long, that I feared it would become endless if I waited another week with posting it. So without further ado: this weeks news post!!


Shuukan Soine
Almost all of the new volumes have their detailed description and preview tracks up on the official site. Most of the previews are either cute or induce nosebleeds (or both), so if you haven't listened yet I highly suggest you do!


Oujisama (warai) series
Now that the fifth story has been released, it is time for another variety drama! And that means the second vacation CD, this time with Alladin (CV: Miyano Mamoru), the Emperor (CV: Okiayu Kryoutarou), Genji (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki), the Frog Prince (CV:Sugita Tomokazu) and of course Takemoto Eiji as their servant. The CD will be released in January, so the theme will be "winter".


Momogre
While no detailed pages are up yet, a small icon on Momogre their website states two new releases for next year. On 2012.0.26 放課後はミステリーとともに (Houkago ha Mystery to tomo ni, Mysteries after schooltime) which is originally a novel by Higashigawa Tokuya will be released (most likely under their horror and suspence label, it is a detective story after all). And on 2012.02.23 小公女セーラ (Princess Serah) which is the Japanese name for the novel A Little Princess written by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The first story I know nothing about except the fact that it is about a high school detective club, but the second story I do know. I've never read the novel, but I have seen one of the films based on it (the 1995 one, to be exact) so I know the story a little bit. It will be released as part of their Men's Only series, so I'm curious about who is going to play little Serah, as well as who is going to play the evil headmistress  Miss Minchin.

Are you Alice? - Bug in someone's ear

Yes yes yes, I finally missed a news post. My excuse is that there was a lot to do. Lot's of nomikai mostly... Meanwhile we've already reached the time of month that is packed with new releases. I predict overwork xD

Are you Alice? - Bug in someone's ear

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original
Released: 2011.07.20
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This is one of the side dramas for Are you Alice?, it came with the limited edition of the 4th manga.

The story starts with the caterpillar (CV: Sakuma Rei) lamenting that the world is empty without Alice (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) and the Hatter (CV: Hirata Hiroaki), and consequently runs into them. Alice seems to be rather depressed, not to mention slightly broken all because... he ate a piece of shortcake that belonged to the Mad Hatter. Who is making Alice go through hell for it. And thus begins the epic quest in search for the shortcake!!

As you expect, non-sense all over the place. Together with puns based on "mushi" (caterpillar is imomushi in Japanese). The caterpillar randomly acts much to sexy, Alice turns into a shortcake maniac. Also the implications of whipped cream all over the place are... Somehow between it all Alice also tries to find the perfect bride, but sadly there aren't many candidates. 

At times it seems like something serious and deep is going to be said, but the randomness always wins. Which is a good thing. (although I would like to hear a more serious story again once in a while).


Conclusion:
For a bonus this was a surprisingly long drama, almost 30min. But nonsensical as always which is what I love. The dialogue is pretty fast at times though, which might make it difficult to follow at times.

Are you Alice? - Disappearance Curve

Are you Alice? - Disappearance Curve

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original.
Released: 2008.12.??
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This is one of the side dramas for Are you Alice?, it came with the unbirthday CD's, though I'm not sure which shop offered it as a premium.

In this side story Alice decides that he is going to be more selfish from now on and runs away from home. He tries to stay at the castle with the Queen of Hearts, where Mitsuki happens to be teaching the trump cards how to make sweets...

the White Rabbit makes a dramatic entrance, and eventually offers to let Alice stay at his place. Which turns out to be more of a haunted house completely filled with mirin (the regrets that previous 'alices' have left behind).

This is Alice (and everyone else) acting out of character at their best. Except for the side drama's where everything is turned into a school setting I don't think they are ever this much out of character (except for some commercials maybe). I love the White Rabbit here, he is just too adorable.

Conclusion:
Complete nonsense as always. A lot of fun to listen to, nothing more to say about it really. Except maybe that.... if you mix tsundere and yandere together you get a really funny and adorable White Rabbit :D

Are you Alice? - Eat someone with a spoon

Are you Alice? - Eat Someone With a Spoon

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original.
Released: 2010.07.23
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This is one of the side dramas for Are you Alice?, it came with a limited edition of the manga.

Mitsuki has opened a cafe in wonderland, and after repeatedly stating that he doesn't want to go Alice (with the help of the Cheshire Cat) convinces the Mad Hatter to go and take a look.... Only to find out that all items on the menu are badmouthing Alice.

To make up for all of this however, Mitsuki has a "completely normal orange juice", which turns Alice into a cat.

I loved this short. There are puns everywhere, which always makes me happy. And Sakurai saying "nya~" completely made my day. The Cheshire Cat is also brilliant in this, because no one can understand Alice as a kitten he becomes the interpreter. Hilarity ensues.


Conclusion:
Among all of the Are you Alice? side drama's this is one of my absolute favorites! I know I always say Are you Alice is brilliant, but it really is and this is one of the best shorts there is. If you know the series you should really really really try and find it somewhere!

Are you Alice? - Graffiti Covered

Are you Alice? - Graffiti Covered

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original.
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This is one of the side dramas for Are you Alice? that you got if you bought all Unbirthday Scraps directly from IM Label.


Warning: somewhat of a spoiler just ahead.


It starts with Alice (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) wandering around in the rain and nothingness that his world reverted to, complaining that Carrol isn't writing (and thus not continuing the story) when he finds someone with his head stuck in the ground.

After being indirectly insulted he helps the poor thing out, and it turns out it is a 'rakugaki', meaning graffiti, a scribble on the side of a page. Due it being a scribble Rakugaki (CV: Mizuta Wasabi) is a bit off an oddball (both in looks and in character) but Alice agrees to help it find shelter from the rain.

The conversation between Rakugaki and Alice is brilliant. Rakugaki is both a bit of an oddball and doesn't know much about the world so that makes for brilliant conversations. Near the end it suddenly becomes a little more serious however.


Conclusion:
Together with "no Name" and "Bristle Grass" this shows what happened to Alice after the events of the main story, making it interesting to listen to. From these three this is by far the funniest one to listen to, the other ones are a bit more serious. Only recommended if you've finished listening to the main story.

Are you Alice? - Good Bye

 

Are you Alice? - Good Bye

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original.
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story. This is one of the side dramas for Are you Alice? It originally was an extra drama that you got if you bought the three main CDs at Animate. It isn't for sale.

This drama starts with Alice (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) pestering the Mad Hatter (CV: Hirata Hiroaki) with asking how far the Hatter got with Alice Liddel.

The the scene suddenly switches to said Alice Liddel (CV: Nakahara Mai) walking around wonderland. She meets both the Cheshire Cat (CV: Inoue Kazuhiko) and the White Rabbit (CV: Morikubo Shoutarou) but seems a bit confused. Eventually they take her back to the Mad Hatter, where she is greeted by... Alice?

This short story is a bit confusing. Not that it is confusing on its own, but the implications are. After all, it means that both Alice and Alice Liddel are in wonderland at the same time, and both are the "Alice" from the title of the book.


Conclusion:
Confusing, but still somehow nice to listen to. It does show that both the Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit treat the actual Alice Liddel a whole lot different than any other Alice. Nothing relevant to the plot happens however, so you don't really miss out if you can't listen to it. But there is no harm in listening to it either.

Are you Alice? - Sweet November

Are you Alice? - Sweet November

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original.
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


This is one of the side drama's for Are you Alice? It originally came with Alice no Tea Party Phase 3, though I'm not completely sure which company had it as a bonus.

In Sweet November the Mad Hatter (CV: Hirata Hiroaki) complains that he has to write a story due tomorrow and asks Alice (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) what kind of events there are in November. Eventually they decide to do a school trip story, and the Cheshire Cat (CV: Inoue Kazuhiko), the White Rabbit (CV: Morikubo Shoutarou) and the Dutchess (CV: Kawata Taeko) are called so that they at least have a few students for the trip.

Of course the Hatter has zero understanding about what a school trip should be like, and no one really cooperates anyway so chaos ensues. Hilarious chaos.


Conclusion:
While not one of the better side dramas this is still highly amusing. It is completely unrelated to the actual story, so you can listen to it any time.

Are you Alice? - Bunk it

Are you Alice - Bunk it

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original.
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/


This is one of the side drama's for Are you Alice, if you bought all unbirthday scrap albums at Messe, you got this as an extra. It isn't for sale.

Like many side drama's this is complete crack. It starts with Mitsuki (CV: Fukuyama Jun) introducing himself as a born victim of ijime (bullying) but that he will be reborn now that he has transferred to a new school. Only to be bossed around by Alice (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) right after saying so.

As this is a school life parody they try to actively use every cliche there is in the genre. From the Mad Hatter (CV: Hirata Hiroaki) who is the homeroom teacher and Alice forcefully changing the setting into a mixed school so that they can see Alice Liddel (CV: Nakahara Mai) in a mini skirt, to Mitsuki constantly being bullied, to Alice Liddel abusing her absurdly powerful position as president of the student council to turn the Cheshire Cat into the school nurse, everything is complete crack.

And absolutely brilliant. This is why I love these tokuten, the completely nonsensical stories are just too brilliant.In the story Alice says that they did something like this before, which references to the Blackboard Jungle story from the Lost End drama CD.


Conclusion:
Go and listen to it now! You could probably even listen to it without knowing anything about the series as it is mainly just a parody of the school life genre, but knowing the series does make it more fun.

Are you Alice? - Unbirthday scrap #002

Are you Alice? unbirthday scrap #002 : ××× ⇔ Alice?

Company: IM Label
Based on: Original.
Released: 2008.03.28
Official Site: http://imlabel.jp/alice/

In Are you Alice a male Alice wanders into wonderland and is subsequently involved in 'the game to kill the white rabbit'. Alice his story is told in three drama CDs - Drink me, Check Mate, and Call me- but there are several expansions to the story.

The unbirthday series is one of those expansions. Aptly named, each entry tells us about the lives these characters used to live before the main story started (or in some cases, the events prior to the story). While they are a sort of prologue it is best to listen to them after you've listened to the main story, as you're assumed to know various things.
This also means there may be slight spoilers ahead.

The second unbirthday scrap centers on Alice (the male one.  I'll use Alice Liddel when referring to the female one to avoid confusion).  This story starts with how the life of Alice (CV: Sakurai Takahiro) and Alice Liddel (CV: Nakahara Mai) would have been if they had met. It is confusing at first, but after a while it becomes clear that this is essentially the story that should have been Alice his reason for killing his sister.

While this fact becomes clear in the main story, it was never really told how or why, making this very interesting (if slightly confusing) to listen to. Chronologically this comes after unbirthday scrap #001 and right before the story starts, if not for the last few sentences (which show Alice and the Mad Hatter together) it would have lead right into it.

Trivia: while Saiga Mitsuki in both in the first unbirthday scrap and this one, the characters she portraits are completely unrelated.


Conclusion:
Like I said in the review of unbirthday scrap #001, it is a shame you can't listen in chronological order because that would leave you with more questions than answers. For those who know the series this is a very interesting story, although it doesn't really reveal anything new. Those who don't know Are you Alice? yet should listen the the main story first ;)