Shinigamihime no Saikon

死神姫の再婚 Vol.1

Company: Frontierworks
Based on: Light novel
Released: 2009.11.26
Official Site: http://www.enterbrain.co.jp/bslog/bslogbunko/shinigamihime_cd/


Shinigamihime no Saikon is a drama CD based on the light novel series of the same name. The story is about the rather eccentric Alicia who is bought by the duke Kashuvan to be his wife. Alicia doesn't seem to mind however, as that is what saved her own family from bankruptcy.

*the names are once again my best guess. Why can't they think of names that are easier to decipher?

The story begins when Alicia (CV: Kobayashi Yuu)  arrives at Kashuvan (CV: Sugita Tomokazu) his castle. At that moment it is completely shrouded in mist, making her excited because she loves all kinds of ghost stories. She is completely aware that she was only 'bought' because of her family name, and doesn't seem to mind at all (She is actually happy about it). Thus suits Kashuvan, as she really is just a political tool to him.

As soon as Alicia arrives they are wed (or, well, they say their vows) but they are interrupted by Tiernald Reiden (CV: Fukuyama Jun) and his servant Yuuran (CV: Seki Toshihiko). Tiernald wants to stop Kashuvan from expanding his influence and calls him a tyrant, while Yuuran sort of tries to stop him. Being a servant of the church ("the prayer of the wings"), Yuuran tends to comment that things are not going according to the laws of the church.

Other characters that add to the rather colourful cast are Nora (CV: Koshimizu Ami), a maid who declared herself Kashuvan his lover. Treize (CV: Konishi Katsuyuki), who used to work as a butler at the castle but has quit when his sister died. And Ruark (CV: Kishio Daisuke), the assassin who killed Alicia her former husband and is now hired to kill Kashuvan.

Of course, nothing in this story goes they way you think it would. Alicia being an incredible airhead does help a lot, and of course Kashuvan isn't half as bad as people say he is. Yuuran secretly pulling a few strings here and there also helps.

With Alicia being free to go anywhere except for the rose garden, this story immediately reminded me of Bluebeard for some reason.. The story partly mirrors that, although luckily not entirely. And of course it adds a rather strange assassin and a semi-corrupt church to the mix. There is also a serious amount of double-and/or-triple backstabbing going on near the end (maybe a bit too much).

The free talk starts quite interesting, with Kobayashi Yuu introducing the theme ("strange hobbies") still in-character as Alicia, after that it switches to a normal cast talk.


Conclusion:
While there is actually a lot of drama going on, the humorous response the characters give makes this a fun story to listen to. While there are 14 novels (the last one was published just a few days ago on 2012.02.15) there is only one drama CD. Which is a bit of a pity but can't be helped.

Uwasaya

噂屋

Company: Omega Label
Based on: Manga
Released: 2010.07.02


Uemura Takitarou is a fairly normal high schooler, except that he is also a genius cosplayer that can transform himself into almost anyone. When one day his one and only friend Kusakami Asami (CV: Koshimizu Ami) is killed by the 'Night Blindness Man', a serial killer who gouges out the eyes of his victims, he is recruited by his schoolmate Tominaga Hana to join the UC, a company that manipulates rumours and urban legends to solve crimes.

UC, also called 'Uwasaya' (the rumour shop) has only a few employees: the mysterious company president Saekusa Kudan (CV: Fujiwara Keiji), the hacker Kurusu Masutatsu (codename 'channeler'. CV: Hino Satoshi), the fortune teller Koizumi Nao (codename: Sleepless diviner. CV: Matsuoka Yuki), model Tominaga Hana (codename: debate magician. CV: Tanaka Rie).

This drama CD has three cases, of which the first one is the Night Blindness Man. To draw out the killer they decide to spread another rumour: the ghost of the killers latest victim is walking the streets asking people to giver her eyes back. Takitarou dresses up as the ghost so that people really see her, and so they draw out the actual killer.

In the second case UC is asked to spread a scary rumour about a horror video game so that the sales will go up. Takitarou decides to dress up as 'the woman in red', one of the characters from the game. However it turns out that someone has already been dressing up like her, because everyone Takitarou tries to scare with his outfit has already seen the woman in red. And then Takitarou sees the ghost woman for himself...

In the final case UC gets a job by phone from an unknown customer, who asks them to put an end to the killing of crows that appears to be occurring all over town. With the help of channeler his hacking skills they manage to find the culprit, but their client turns out to be someone unexpected as well...

I expected this to be only based on the whole rumour/urban legend concept, but in case two and three supernatural events also occur. Meaning horror, meaning one scared me. The sound effects are particularly effective. And the sound of crows has always been rather eerie, but in this story even more so, and I will never look at crows in the same way again.

All three are good short stories though, even though the second one is so very sad. The first one is more like an introduction, and the second one also has a glimpse of Nao her past in it, which leaves the third story as the best one in my opinion. I'm just sad that I can't see what Takitarou dresses up like, haha.


Conclusion:
This had a bit more supernatural events than I expected (if I had know that I would have reviewed this for Halloween as well...) but it was still a very good CD. Just a lot scarier than I expected. I'd love to hear more, and I know that there was also a radio drama for the series, but until I find that I suppose the manga will have to do.