Katekyo@ Okashikei Suugaku Kyoushi

Time to listen to some more Koyasu-sama! (Why is he in so few drama CDs? *weeps* )

かてきょ@お菓子系数学教師 

Label: Natalis
Based on: Original
Released: 2009.12.17


Ketekyo@ is all about... a home tutor? There is really no other way to put it. Of course the personalities of both the teacher and student are weird enough to make this interesting. To avoid confusion: this has nothing to do with the Katekyo BL manga series.

In this CD we have Kamiryou Zen (CV: Midorikawa Hikaru) as the teacher, and Tachibana Kaito (CV: Koyasu Takehito) as student. Zen is described as a "sweets type maths teacher" (sweets as in candy) but a better description would be saying that he is an otome. He might have the body build of a sports type, but he likes making sweets and amigurumi, and acts and talks like a girl. He also manages to link just about everything to maths.

Kaito on the other hand looks much older than he is (Zen first mistakes him for an older brother, then for a father figure) and acts very mature. He is good in almost every subject, except for math. He doesn't really want to study it either. Zen his reactions amuse him, although he also finds him troublesome due to his otome personality.

While Zen is supposed to be teaching math, he first starts a conversation about tea (he has a passion for tea), and after that sweets and amigurumi. When Kaito is finally studying he nearly starts crying because he remembers an old unrequited love (which of course has something to do with maths). Their conversations are fun to listen to. Zen is being completely serious, while Kaito just vaguely goes along with the conversation.

In the final track Kaito is now also a university student and starts to work as a home teacher at the same agency that Zen was working for. They meet in the hallway there (Zen actually does a little otome scream), and Zen tells him that he is going to quit soon because he has started to run a cafe together with someone. He also teaches people amigurumi there, and seems to have found his calling. Kaito still thinks that Zen has a troublesome personality xD

This was fun to listen to. Especially because of Zen being a complete otome. Some of his reactions are exactly how you'd expect a teenage girl to react and it is just too priceless. Midorikawa-san does a brilliant job here. Especially the littly girly scream when he sees Kaito again after 5 years is just too adorable.

The entire CD I kept wondering whether this would cross into BL territory or not, but in the end it didn't. The entire setting is there, I just never makes the little extra step (although you could still interpret it as such I suppose).


Conclusion:
While wondering where the story was going this was a lot of fun to listen to. I applaud Midorikawa-san his otome acting skills. This is balancing on the BL - non-BL line, but it is fun to listen to no matter which way you want to interpret it.

Special: Favourite Seiyuu

As requested by someone in the comments  a long time ago, here is a small write up on my favourite seiyuu. My preferences are probably quite personal, and often the only argument is "I just love his voice". Really, I don't think I have any sane arguments to defend any of my choices. But that doesn't stop me from loving them.

I'm just writing this list based on who's voice I love. Despite listening to a lot of drama CDs and being a seiyuu fan in that sense, I seldom actually look for info on seiyuu or watch events. In fact I actively try to avoid seeing pictures of them because if I know how they look that starts to clash with the character image in my mind. So I can't really say much about their personality and things like that. I know some people are also fan of certain seiyuu (or actors for that matter) because of who they are, I just love them for their voice or acting skills.

(I'm really sorry if this is all very boring and stuff, but I promised I would write this so I wanted to make a proper post out of it)


1. Sakurai Takahiro
Sakurai has been at the top of my list for years now, with the one and only argument that I simply love his voice. The cause for my incredible Sakurai bias is one series and one series only: Are you Alice?. Sakurai = Alice (and vice versa) in my head. My love of his voice has reached the point where I still want to see Twilight in Japanese just because he voiced Edward. (I'm... not much of a Twilight fan in case you didn't know).

If we are not talking about drama CD my favourite Sakurai roles are probably Asbel Lhant (Tales of Graces), Clause Faustus (Kuroshitsuji), and the Medicine Seller (Mononoke), though I tend to go into fangirl mode as soon as I hear his voice.

Favourite drama CDs: everything Are you Alice (but especially the tokuten or anything where Alice acts out of character), Anata ga Ofuro de Noboseru CD Vol.1 Kusatsu, Fujoshi no Totsugikata / Fujoshi no Mikata, Fushihi Koubou Vol.3.



2. Hirakawa Daisuke
Second one without a valid argument. Hirakawa-san has a pretty interesting voice range, and I love both ends of it. When he plays hetare or clumsy characters, they are just so adorable that I cannot bring myself to dislike them no matter how clumsy they are. I prefer him using the lower ends of his range though, but sadly I don't know many examples. At either rate, I love it when he voices (slightly) dangerous characters.

I think I first really noticed him as Ace from Heart no Kuni no Alice, but what really sparked my fandom was Yandere Heavon vol.2. His yandere performance is -if you ask me- one of the best in the series, and the reason why I secretly keep hoping that almost every character he now voices has a hidden side... Going through his list of anime roles, I think I have literally seen none of the anime in which he voices a major role. So my love is solely based on what I mentioned above, haha.

Speaking of wanting to see Japanese dubs of movies; Hirakawa-san is the voice over for Orlando Bloom, and watching the Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean in Japanese is also still on my to do list.

While I said that I only like seiyuu's for their voice and know little about their personality, I do love how polite and gentle Hirakawa-san always sounds in cast talks and interviews.

Favourite drama CDs:  Shuukan Soine Vol.1, Yandere Heaven Vol.2, Hougen Renai Vol.3, Anata ga Ofuro de Noboseru Vol.3 Misasa, Double Score ~Narcissus~, and his story in Kannou Mukashi Banashi Vol.6.



3. Okiayu Ryoutarou
I think that Okiayu-san was the first time I actually became fan of a seiyuu (before that I would like certain characters, but not specifically their seiyuu). This bias developed out of a character crush: Tezuka Kunimitsu from Tennis no Oujisama. Okiayu-san is one of the few seiyuu who's singing voice I also like, and I have several of his singles and albums (most of them are from Tennis no Oujisama xD). After I stopped watching the show the crush slowly died out though, but at some point I re-discovered him. By this time my Sakurai bias was already formed, so he is no longer at the top of my list anymore, but still a long time favourite.

When we're not talking about drama CD's, my favourite Okiayu characters are Tezuka Kunimitsu (obviously),  Dark (D.N.Angel), Gaius (Tales of Xillia. So I am really really really excited that he becomes a playable character in Xillia 2).

Favourite drama CDs: Shimekiri CD, O.To.Na Gentei Otogame CD Vol.2, Oujisama (warai) series. While not technically a drama CD, the drama part from Sasayaka na Kono Negai is absolutely brilliant.


4. Koyasu Takehito
Probably the only seiyuu who's voice I can recognise with 100% accuracy even if he speaks only one line. (although there has been one incident where I  failed to recognise him). Despite not being my favourite seiyuu ever, I have a habit of calling him "Koyasu-sama".

Despite the fact that he is often cast for characters with a cold and distant personality I love him more when he does sarcastic or comical roles. Especially if you can combine those two.

 The first time I fell in love with his voice is probably when I was paying Tokimemo, where he voices your teacher, Himoru Reichi. Despite originally going after another character his voice won me over and I started going after Himuro halway through the game. When on another character his route it always hurt like hell when I had to reject his invitations (T-T).

I originally played Tales of the Abyss in English, so I first discovered that he voiced Jade when I watched the anime, but that role is basically my ideal role for Koyasu-sama. In Hakushaku no Yousei his role is far more comical, and I spent most of Persona -Trinity Soul- fangirling over Ryou because he was voiced by Koyasu-sama.

Favourite non-drama CD roles: Himoru Reiichi (Tokimemo Girls side), Jade (Tales of the Abyss), Julius (Heart no Kuni no Alice), Kelpie (Hakushaku to Yousei), Kanzato Ryou (Persona -Trinity Soul). His voice completely mismatches Aokiji (One Piece) his image in my mind, so I actually dislike the character because of that.

Favourite drama CDs: Are you Alice - Alice no Tea Party Vol.3 (I cannot express my love for this CD in words), Heartful Kareshi series (he voices a dove). Unfortunately he doesn't appear in that many drama CDs, but I am definitely going to track down more of them.



Honourable Mentions:
Fukuyama Jun and Takemoto Eiji. While I don't particularly like (or dislike) their voices, I've heard these two voice so many different types of characters that I just can't help but admire their skills.

For Fukuyama Jun it was the difference between Shimizu Keiichi and Lelouch Laperouge that first made me aware of this. Shimizu was the first character that I associated with Fukuyama, which is why that image is stuck in my head. After doing some research I discovered that I heard him in countless roles, without even recognising him. This video shows a some of those, although it is a lot easier to recognise when they are all put together. Lately I've been getting better at recognising his voice, although I often only recognise it but fail to pinpoint who it is.

As for Takemoto Eiji, just listening to the Oujisama (warai) series gives you an impression of all the different characters he can voice (he voices almost every side character in the series, this has also become somewhat of a running gag in the series).




After listing my favourite, I suppose it is only fair that I list my least favourite ones as well, although there are only two of them, and I think that they are quite obvious from various reviews that I have done (^-^;;)

Ishida Akira in situation CDs / otome games. I don't know why, but I cannot bring myself to like Ishida-san when he voices a boyfriend role. That being said, he can voice very convincing shota's, and I have less problems whenever he voices a normal role in any anime or game. It is just that I don't like boyfriend!Ishida...

Yoshino Hiroyuki whenever he uses that gyaruo/bratty voice, which is most of the time. He actually has a rather nice voice if he talks in a more serious tone, but unfortunately he is usually type cast for the former. My disappointment when I discovered that he voiced Debito in Arcana Famiglia was unending (although it is actually one of the more reasonable examples).

Penguin Enishi

I didn't know what to start with after the hiatus (there is so much I need to catch up on!) so I eventually decided to go for the review that spent the most time as a pile of notes:

ペンギンゑにし

Company: Frillia Record
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.01.27
Official site: http://frillra.jp/pengin/


Penguin Enishi is a story about a small shrine in that is nicknamed 'Penguin Shrine'. The head priest recently died, leaving the shrine in the hands of his two sons, Miki and Tane. However neither of them is an official priest, and if the head office doesn't send a new priest, the shrine will be abandoned.

Miki (CV: Ono Daisuke), the oldest of the two, is trying to obtain his qualification as priest. But even though he gets the top score at the exam, he has no supernatural abilities and therefore fails the exam everytime. Meanwhile Tane (CV: Shimono Hiro), the younger one, does seem to have abilities, but he is still in high school and cannot become a priest yet. The two of them are actually half brothers, they have a different mother.

A little while ago a talking penguin calling himself Enishi (CV: Nakata Jouji) suddenly appeared at the temple, claiming that he is a god. Miki is sceptical, but Tane is overjoyed so the penguin gets to stay. Now all he does is eat a lot and cause trouble in the neighbourhood (although he does claim that he can be useful, stating excellent skills with word and excel among his strong points).

Meanwhile Hazumi Ten (CV: Sakurai Takahiro), who is Tane his halfbrother (although Tane refuses to see him as a brother) and works as a police officer, brings along the ghost of boy (CV: Suzumura Kenichi). The only thing the boy remembers is Miki his name. While trying to find out his identity, they discover that his name is Nishimaki Kento, and that he was a year under Miki and Ten while they were at high school, and slowly they start to discover why the only thing that he could remember was Miki his name...

Between all of this there are scenes with Chidou Nene (CV: Maeda Ai), Ten and Tane their mother. She left her first husband (Ten his father) and remarried Chidou Daiju (Miki and Tane their father) but left the house and has been living on her own for a while. Nene seems to have become the love interest of Ichikawa Tadamaki (CV: Koyasu Takehiro), although his motivations can be doubted, and neither does he seem to be entirely human...

I'm trying to summarize all this while trying to avoid spoilers, as this is an interesting story. Not all is as it seems in the beginning, and there are some interesting developments. There is a lot of humour as well; especially Enishi is a good comic relief. The pacing of the story was really good as well, and I'm interested in seeing how it will develop (especially with regards to Ichikawa his intentions).

In this review the relations between everyone may seem a bit hazy, but it is all very simple. When in doubt, just take a look at the character chart on the official site here.


Conclusion
A good story, not too much supernatural activity, the right amount of humour and penguin induced chaos, and lots of potential for the next part. Also Koyasu-sama and Sakurai, just saying.

Heartful Kareshi Prologue

はーとふる彼氏 プロローグ

Company: Frontierworks
Based on: Game
Released: 2012.01.25
Official site: http://www.fwinc.co.jp/hatoful/


Heartful Kareshi is an otome game in which all they guys are doves. Yes, like actual doves. I still haven't played the game (shame on me). The outset of the game is that you somehow end up going to a school St. PigeoNation, where all the students are doves. This drama CD however only has the guys pigeons interacting with each other.

The CD starts when Shirogane Sakuya (Student council president, CV: Ishida Akira) hears about the '7 mysteries of St. PigeoNation'. He doesn't believe any of it but because he wants to know everything about "his" school, he orders his two underlings classmates Kawara Ryouta (CV: Asanuma Shintarou) and Oko San (CV: Wakamoto Norio) to go and investigate with him. Each following track deals with one of the 7 mysteries.

The first one is that "Iwamine-sensei appears in the school's infirmary". Considering that Iwamine Shuu (CV: Koyasu Takehito) is the school nurse that isn't really surprising. But to be fair Iwamine-sensei is incredibly scary.

The second one is that "the student council president his room is supposed to be connected to another world". A rumour that emerged because Sakuya installed a trap door that dumps any intruders, and most of all his half brother Sakazaki Yuuya (CV: Yusa Kouji), in the garbage dump.

The third one is that "if you scribble in a book in the library you will get cursed". This is actually just due to Fujishiro Nageki (CV: Saiga Mitsuki) being there, and that is all I will say about it. (Those who have played Nageki his route will probably understand).

The fourth one is once again in the infirmary, this time with the rumour "that there another menu in the infirmary". Turns out that Iwamine-sensei is testing out some not-yet-approved medicines. Once again, Iwamine-sensei his tendencies for strange (and possibly deadly) experiments is stunning.

The fifth mystery is the rumour about "a pool of blood in the teacher's toilet". Turns out that this is mostly Nanaki-sensei (CV: Nojima Hirofumi) being a klutz. Iwamine-sensei turns up again. I'll take this chance to say that I find it very amusing that Iwamine-sensei his theme music is from the Nutcracker ballet xD

The sixth mystery is the "Teke-teke" a monster that runs very fast and appears at the school grounds. When Oko runs off at high speed to find it you can already guess what the solution is...

The final mystery is some sort of cult that wreaks havoc on the school grounds at night. It turns out that it is only the astrology club that went off-rails a bit (they want to convert all the world to believe in roasting marshmallows. Kawara even begins a speech about that he believes that people should be free to choose whether they want to roast their marshmallows or not).

There is a small bonus track in which the seiyuu talk as doves, meaning they only make dove sounds, which is quite amusing. After that comes the free talk, which is of course abundant in puns about birds. The most amusing thing however is Wakamoto Norio saying that he tried to play Oko 'as cute as possible'. If there is anything that Oko doesn't sound like it is cute.

Speaking of Oko, he sounds exactly like Shining Saotome from Uta no Prince-sama (also voiced by Wakamoto-san) which amused me to no end.  But all the characters sounds amusing really. And after a while I really got the feeling I was listening to doves talking. The entire concept of this game is crack, and this drama CD is possibly even more crack.

But really, all the characters are quirky and lovable, and the entire CD was just so much fun. Something that I find amazing is that they originally announced a voice cast as an Aprils Fool joke, but that they have managed to get almost everyone they listen as the actual cast (Okamoto Nobuhiko was listed as the seiyuu for Kawara).


Conclusion:
This review has become more like a summary, but really, I had so much fun listening to this. A second drama CD will be released soon, and I think I really need to start playing this game now. I secretly hope that Higure Angel, the extra character for the plus version of the game, will also be included in the drama CD's. After all, they listed Sakurai as his potential seiyuu.

Superior

 シューピアリア

Company: Frontierworks
Based on: Manga
Released: 2007.03.21


Superior is a story about the hero Exa who travels with his companions to find the 'ideal land' by order of the prince. Exa his actual dream is to restore peace to the world so that monsters and humans can coexist by killing the Demon king, however he doesn't know that said demon king is actually female and has fallen in love with him.

The story starts with Ex (CV: Morikubou Shoutarou) and his companions Lakshri (CV: Morita Masakazu) Sheila (CV: Kuwashima Houko), Angelica (Kugimiya Rie) being summoned by prince Juno (CV: Saiga Mitsuki) to search for the 'ideal land' where monsters and humans are rumoured to live in peace.

And so they set off. The personalities of all the characters are a but off though. Lakshri is a perverted ore-sama, Sheila seems to be only interested in food and talks like a cat (with a lot of nya~), Angelica looks and sounds cute put is actually a very powerful mage. And they are followed around by the monster Okina, who looks like an old man with many arms coming out of his face and has fallen in love with Exa...

On their way to the 'ideal land' they come across a lot of problems, partly caused by their own actions, partly caused by the guardians Reek (CV: Hoshi Souichirou) and Jin (CV: Sugiyama Noriaki) who try to keep anyone from entering the Ideal Land. And then there is the 'copy demon queen' (CV: Kaida Yuuko) who was created to take the demon queen her place while she is away and her servant Kagami (CV: Koyasu Takehito) who also come to wreak havoc...

This drama CD was a lot more light-hearted than I expected. The beginning sounds serious, but after that it first takes a trip down the humour lane. Only near the end it becomes serious again. I'm not saying it is a bad thing though, especially Lakshri creates a lot of funny situations and conversations, but it is not what I expected from the cover and the description. (I have never read the manga, so I don't know what it is like)

In the cast talk they talk about what the 'perfect place' would be like. All kinds of interesting a ridiculous stuff is mentioned: A place where there are a lot of dogs and cats, where you can get drunk without forgetting things, where you can keep eating without getting fat, Where there is no need for money, Where Hoshi Souchichirou doesn't exist (he keeps interrupting Koyasu-sama), Where the trains are not overcrowded, that kind of stuff.


Conclusion:
I expected a much darker drama, but it was actually very light-hearted although there is a very serious plot going on in the background. The randomness was fun, but not very special. Lakshri and his idiot behaviour create for a lot of funny moments though.

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.

Pokemon - Shiroi Ashita da! Rocket-dan!

Surprised? I never knew that there were Pokemon drama CD's, so when I discovered that there are two of them I just had to find them. This is by far the oldest drama CD  that I have reviewed so far (1998!!) so please forgive the blurry cover image ;)

I use the English names, because that is what I grew up with.

サウンドピクチャーボックス 白い明日だ!ロケット団

Company: Nintendo / Shogakukan Production

Based on: anime

Released: 1998.11.11

Every one knows Pokemon, so I don't need to explain what it is :p But I'm part of the Pokemon Generation, I grew up with it. I played the games (still do!) watched the anime, like everyone did. So when I discovered that there are two drama CD's my nostalgia overtook me~

白い明日だ!ロケット団 (shiroi ashita da! roketto dan, A White Tomorrow! Team Rocket!) is a story about team rocket. It was originally broadcasted as a radio drama, and later released on CD. The CD has 7tracks in total, of which 3 are the drama and the other 4 are songs.

The story of the drama takes place somewhere at the beginning of the series. Team Rocket has once again been blasted away after a failed attempt to catch Pikachu. While Jesse (CV: Hashibara Megumi) and Meowth (CV: Inuyama Inuko) are arguing about Meowth his uselessness, James (CV: Miki Shinichirou) complains that he is hungry and calls for food.

Which is brought to them by a "Rocket Gang Special Delivery Member Trainee"named Mondo. After a quick friendly match between Jessie her Arbok and Mondo his Ditto(CV: Kawata Taeko), Jessie and James offer to 'train ditto for a while' and trade him for Meowth (who doesn't agree with this at all). Their actual plan is to have Ditto transform into Pikachu so that they can swap it with the real one, but Ditto keeps transforming into the wrong pokemon and only causes trouble.

The story quite entertaining. The interactions between the Rocket trio are always entertaining, and Mondo is such a lovably naive character as well. Apparently he regularly delivers food and equipment for Team Rocket to use. This is also the only time he ever appears in the series, he is never seen or mentioned in the anime.

This sounds and feels like the actual anime in every way. From the narration to the background music, everything is exactly the same. From the way Team Rocket blasts off, to their hilarious conversations, it all has so much nostalgia it just makes me happy.

This drama CD held one great surprise for me: Mondo. Or rather, his seiyuu. I've checked and double checked and checked again, but it turns out Mondo his voiced by none other than... Koyasu Takehito. No matter how much I listen, I can't hear it. Except for the cast call. The one seiyuu I was certain I could recognize everywhere and I couldn't hear it even though I knew. I am sorry Koyasu-sama, I have failed you  T-T

One thing that I did discover is that it is not an easy drama  to listen to. Jessie and James tend to speak very fast and with their mouth full or other things that make them hard to understand. Meowth his way of speaking is not easy to listen to if you're not used to it to begin with.

Track 1 and 5 are songs also found on an earlier single with Team Rocket songs, but track 6 and 7 are pretty interesting. Both are lyrical versions from songs from the game boy games. (the opening theme and the surf theme respectively). Especially the surfing song is really cute.

Conclusion:

There is so much nostalgia here, but somehow it is still fresh. Don't expect any character development whatsoever, but it is fun to hear a Team Rocket story that I didn't know. This is a fun, lighthearted drama (just like the anime) but I'm looking forward to the other drama CD, which tells the story of how Mewtwo was born.

ps: I loved how everyone got to say their name in the cast call, even Misty who said only one sentence, and the seiyuu who did the pokemon. Brock his Onix is the only one not announced (apparently though, Onix is voiced by Ishizuka Unshou as well).

God Child - 切り刻まれた食べられたミスプディングの悲劇

God Child - The tragedy of miss Pudding.

The drama is based on the manga by Kaori Yuki. In this volume the stories 'The Tragedy of miss Pudding' and 'A Crooked Fairytale' have been made into a drama. The drama follows the story of the manga closely, almost to the word.

In the first story, the tragedy of miss pudding , Cain investigates two murders in which the victims their belly were cut open, and a plum pudding was found on the scene of the crime. Furthermore, eyewitnesses saw a blond haired girl that was singing the Plum Pudding Rhyme from Mother Goose (speaking of which, the rhyme has been altered for this story). He meets a young woman who despite just being married asks to spend the night at his place. It turns out that she is convinced that she committed the murders in her sleep...

I quite liked this story. Partway through you can guess how it will end, but it is interesting none the less. The drama is clearer on some parts, while the manga explains other details better (for example the plum pudding). It made me want to make plum pudding... (considering what happened to those in the story that isn't really a logical choice, but I still want to make it xD). Also, I forgot that Cain is such a flirt xD

A Crooked Fairytale is a story from when Cain was younger. One of Cain his maids has been smuggling antiques out of the  mansion to sell together with her lover. One night while the two meet they are overheard and kill whoever it was, only to discover that it was the young Count Cain that they killed. They quickly bury the corpse underneath the Juniper tree, however the next day Cain shows up somewhat shaken but alive.

You don't get what is going on in this story until the end (unless you've read the manga, of course). It was a pretty good short story... I really don't know what else to say about it. It is good but not fantastic. Once again the drama is clearer on some points while the manga is clearer on others. In this case it might be somewhat difficult to understand what happened to the maid if you didn't read the manga.



The drama was recorded with a 3D recording technique, making it sound as if the characters move around you. I didn't know that that technique was already used so many years ago, so that was a bit of a pleasant surprise. Of course the effect isn't as clear as with recent drama's, but it is definitely there. Especially Cain suddenly 'appearing' on one side was a rather nice effect <3

One thing that I noticed is that while the music is great, it plays for  too long. This is only the case at the end of each story (when the story it's theme is played again), but the music simply goes on for about 30 seconds too long. Other than that I have don't have any major minor points.



Count Cain/ God Child is a wonderfully dark manga by Kaori Yuki, and if dark fairytale like stories aren't your thing then this drama is not for you. I mostly recommend this to people who already know the manga, otherwise you probably miss a lot background. It is not like it is impossible to understand without prior knowledge, but knowing all kinds of story background and/or character relations probably does make it easier. That and it is simply nice to hear these stories with sound, as the drama is completely loyal to the manga it really feels like the manga with sound.