Double Score ~Cosmos~

At first I was not interested in Double Score at all. I don’t mind characters to be a bit older, but a game that specifically aims for older characters (up to bloody 50years) didn’t seem like my thing. And then the sample tracks came, and I got slightly interested again. And thus I decided to give the first CD a try:

Double Score ~Cosmos~

Company: BlueMoon
Based on: CD <-> Otome Game
Released: 2012.06.15
Official site: http://www.asgard-japan.com/bluemoon/ds/


Double Score is an upcoming series of otome games where every obtainable character is between 29 and 46 (the heroine is 17). The concept of the game is that "age doesn't matter when it comes to love". Before the games are released however, each character gets a situation CD. The first one is Suou Issei (CV: Tachibana Shinnosuke) a 31 year old salary man.

Suou is working on his day off when you call to invite him to a movie. Unfortunately he has to decline because he is still busy, but talks a bit with you on the phone. When he hangs up it turns out that the company president Ninomiya Souichou (CV: Nakata Jouji) overheard part of the conversation which leads to a brilliant conversation between to two of them. (part of this is the sample track on the official site).

Apparently Suou is working on a TV commercial, and is waiting for the agency of the actor they want to use to call him about a possible schedule. He is talking with Ninomiya as he receives said call, and Ninomiya tells him he just just go home to his girlfriend and enjoy the day together. Of course Suou gladly accepts, and calls you that he is on his way. Unfortunately Ninomiya calls him on his phone before the poor guy even managed to get into a taxi, so in the end it takes him a lot longer to get to you. And all this while you were waiting in front of your mansion...

Cue dummy head mic when Suou finally arrives! You haven’t seen each other in over a month, and because he is so happy seeing you again he forgets where you are and hugs you. Before you go to the movie he want to grab something to eat, but when you’re finally ready to leave you get another call from Ninomiya. You are being the understanding girlfriend and type a message that it is fine to go another day which you show to  Suou while he is on the phone, and he finally realizes this isn’t the time for work and quickly finishes his call (and even turns off his cellphone so that you won’t be bothered anymore).

Cut to after the movie, when you walk outside the theatre. The plan is to go for dinner (again?!) and you start walking towards the restaurant while talking. Suou talks about how he first tried to suppress his feelings, thinking he shouldn’t like you, but that he is really happy that you are dating now. Then he really forgets everything around him and you two end up kissing in the middle of the street. Sounds like he is quite the kisser actually .

To begin with, Suou might be 31 but he sounds like your regular love interest in any normal situation CD (where the guy would be somewhere in his 20’s). For me that is good thing. In fact, if I would have known his age I’d guess he’d be something around 25. The way he interacts with Ninomiya does show that he has been around the workplace longer though (or otherwise he probably wouldn’t be that friendly with the company president.

The switch between Suou his attitude at work and with you is, kind of amazing really. The guy really is head over heals in love with you. While I like the fact that the CD shows both side, I personally found his interactions with Ninomiya more entertaining than the parts with you, which were getting a bit too sweet for my tastes. I do like that you can hear part of his internal monologue though, his thoughts are often too amusing.

One of the things I really liked on the other hand was the use of sounds around you. When Suou is on the phone and you are typing that message you can hear yourself typing (on the right side, while Suou is talking on the left) and not just three little beeps, but it actually takes a plausible amount of time. In the same scene you can hear a few words of what Ninomiya says on the other side of the phone. When you walk around town you also hear other people around you. I like these kind of small details.

Another thing is that all characters in the series are interrelated. The obvious case in this CD is Ninomiya, who is the president of the company where Suou works, but more characters are mentioned. Todaka Yousuke works at the same company, Ninomiya is a regular at the cafe owned by Sakita Takuto, who was a classmate of Suou in high school. The actor for the TV commercial is Tomu. These were the relations I gathered from this CD.

If you’ve got the first  press edition there is an extra track in which Suou answers a few questions about what he likes, dislike, his hobbies, etc. Sadly he refuses to answer what kind of underwear he would like to see his girlfriend wear. We do discover that he apparently has a lot of siblings, like housework like cooking and cleaning, and planning how to which time sales to go at supermarkets (and then gets mad because he is called a housewife).


Conclusion:
I was sort of cautious around this series but this convinced me that it will be an interesting series. The interaction with the secondary character was interesting, and judging by the sample tracks for other CD’s that will remain so for the rest of the series. I doubt I’ll be playing the games (because all the characters are split into several games) but I will be getting the CD’s.

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.

ZONE-00 Drama CD - I section CHERRY

ZONE-00 ドラマCD 劇-I section CHERRY

Company: Lantis
Based on: Manga
Released: 2011.05.18
Official site: http://www.lantis.jp/special/zone-00/


I don't know why, but I felt like listening to this when I saw it. Something that was a slight mistake. This drama is based on a manga, and -not heaving read said manga- I feel like I am missing out on a LOT.

All I knew before listening was a short intruduction, that I'll share with you here: "Kujo Saburou is an ordinary high schooler, hyperactive and strangely interested in mysterious (alien) things. He quickly becomes friends with a new transfer student, Shima Ango, who happens to find him in a game of hide-and-seek. But what he doesn’t know is Shima’s true goal: the extermination of mononoke terrorizing the Toyko area. Caught in the middle of their fight, Kujo loses his head, unsealing an Oni inside of him..." (shamelessly taken from mangafox)

The drama CD itself has three tracks, the first two are background stories for two characters. The third one is a complete crack track featuring everyone involved in the first two stories involved in a 'king of hosts' contest.

The first track centers on Kujo Saburou (CV: Kaji Yuuki) his life before the start of the series. We get to hear a bit about his daily life with his mother and how he first met everyone at the shopping district where he often goes. Kujou has a extreme high-tension personality, which shows in his story. It is completely hyper, introducing charcaters at a high pace.

The second track is an almost complete opposite; this time the story centers on Shima Ango (CV: Fukuyama Jun ) just before he goes to Tokyo (where the storyin the manga begins). It begins much much more reserved. Of course Shima then starts killing mononoke, but hey.

The third track is complete crack, but extremely entertaining~

Like I said, I haven't read the manga, making me feel like I was missing out on a lot. Then again, the manga turned out to be chaotic as hell as well. So I might have to say that it conveys the atmosphere of the manga very good actually. All in all, knowing the manga probably makes this a lot more enjoyable. For one because the cast of characters is quite large, and secondly it is probably less confusing.

Conclusion:
I recommend this for fans of the original manga. I don't know whether later chapters of the manga show anything of the characters their past, but this these are probably interesting stories to hear. For those of us not knowing the manga; it is probably best to leave this alone and listen something else.