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.

Amemakura Vol.1: Subaru

On behalf of me constantly falling asleep while listening to this, I find this pretty difficult to review. Even after listening to it at least 4 times some parts are a little...hazy.

雨枕 01.昴

Company: Hituzigumo
Based on: Original
Released: 2011.12.14
Official Site: http://hituzigumo.com/amemakura/


Amemakura literally translates into "rain pillow", it is a series in which your boyfriend talks you to sleep, while on the background you hear the soft sound of the rain outside. I can't give a better summary. It's better than it sounds.

Your boyfriend for this CD is Subaru (CV: Tachibana Shinnosuke), who was born and raised in America (born in New York, raised in California), but recently came to Japan as the result of a fight with his father. Not that you hear any of this in the CD. He has quite an ego and is used to getting everything he wants.

The story starts with you and Subaru in his room, after you had a date. It is Christmas Eve, and coincidently also his birthday. You've just made camomile tea before going to sleep, which is apparently a habit of Subaru. He asks you to lie down with him, and talks a bit about the day you spend together.

In track two the actual talking-you-to-sleep begins, although the first track is already relaxing. Just like the first Kannou Jikan CD, there are a few moments in which he tells you to breath deeply, and tense and relax your muscles (which btw, really helps to relax). The soft rain sounds also help, although they are not present all the time.

He gives you a head massage in the third track. I think. Every time I listened to this I kept drifting off and falling asleep, so this is part is really hazy. He first talks about how your body is really soft and warm (pervert xD). And then he suddenly switches to massaging your head and neck. Hmmm, ok.

After that we switch to a rather original way of counting sheep. When he was a little kid his parents were almost always away. Even though they would always phone to wish him goodnight, he sometimes felt lonely and couldn't sleep. One of his sisters (apparently he has 12 siblings?!) would tell him a bedtime story about little sheep, which he now tells you. It is really cute, every sheep gets it's own little story.

When you've finally fallen asleep, Subaru notices the rain has changed into snow. He thinks about waking you up, but decides not to. Instead he looks forward to your excited face in the morning.

What puzzles me about this CD is that you are both supposed to be in high school, but Subaru talks about you living together. Exactly what kind of life are you living?? He doesn't really sound like someone in high school either, but oh well.

The way Tachibana-san speaks in unnaturally slow and calm. It is still enjoyable, and definitely relaxing, but unnatural if you think about it. I also noticed that there are some unusually long pauses between what he says. This was in no way distracting, though it did occasionally make me wonder whether I had fallen asleep again or there really was nothing being said at certain points. Don't get me wrong, though, neither of these points are really distracting.

Despite the CD being called amemakura, the rain bgm is not always there. At the beginning of a few tracks you can hear it, but it soon fades out. The rest then simply has no background music at all. I somehow expected it to be there for most of the CD, but that is not the case.

Because it is made by Hituzigumo (who also did Kannou Jikan) I was afraid this was going to be just as ero, but luckily that isn't the case. While Subaru still has some questionable moments, there is no ero in this. He even mentions that he'll just let you sleep for today.

Tachibana-san starts his freetalk whispering, but soon switches to a louder (normal) voice. He seems to have had fun recording this, although he does mentions that he probably never spoke this slow before. If you've got this on an mp3 or something, I really recommend not listening to this after the rest, it'll definitely wake you up.


Conclusion
Well, to fall asleep with this was definitely a great success. I couldn't stay awake even if I wanted too. With Shuukan Soine I always had the emergency solution of listening to it on the middle of the day, but even that failed with this CD. It was nice to listen too, though personally I think they could have done more with the rain thing.

Yukishiro Gakuen no Yukai na Hitobito ~Toshiue Kareshi. Yanwari S no Ani Hen~

雪白学園のゆかいな人々　~年上彼氏。 やんわりSの兄編~

Company: Mujina
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.01.25
Official Site: http://mujina.kkjinnai.co.jp/index.html


Yukishiro Gakuen no Yukai na Hitobito is a series of  drama CD's, loosely connected by taking place at the same school and some recurring characters. This time the focus is on the brothers Mukai Yukihisa (the younger one) and Mukai Tatsuhisa (the older one). Both are voiced by Tachibana Shinnosuke in this CD

Toshiue Kareshi shares it's setting with another CD: Toshishita Kareshi. While this one centres on the older brother, that one centres on the younger brother. You can think of the two CD's as parallel worlds, the setting is the same but things are slightly different.

The story begins with you (the listener) confessing your love to Tatsuhisa, who is your teacher, a month before you graduate high school.  Tatsuhisa says that he can only answer your question from his position as a teacher at this moment, so he promises to tell you his answer the day after your graduation - when you are no longer teacher and student.

From then we skip back in time, 4 years before now, when Tatsuhisa first became your tutor. Tatsuhisa describes how your relation develops through the years. You enter Yukishiro Gakuen because Tatsuhisa becomes a teacher there, and enter the astronomy club. You've had an interest in astronomy for a while, but the fact that Tatsuhisa is the consultant for the club probably helped a lot.

From there on you spend your days with Tatsuhisa, and Yukihisa who in turn followed you to Yukishiro Gakuen (he is one year younger) and joined the astronomy club as well. There are a few scenes from each year, leading back to the 'now' in the storyline. Which is where the plot twists are waiting.

I has listened to Toshishita kareshi first, and somehow expected the scenario from that CD to be reversed, but that is not the case. This is an entirely different story, but using the same characters. Interesting enough, that means that Yukihisa his brother complex doesn't show up either, that is something he kept entirely to himself, so you never get to see that side here.

Tatsuhisa his attitude toward you is certainly ambivalent. On the one hand he treats you with care, on the other hand he can also act like an absolute a$$. He never reproaches your advances, but doesn't try to stop you either. This together with the plot twists at the end really had me wondering how the CD would end. In case you are now wondering, it ends with an onsen trip. Be sure to look forward to it.

Azumi and Masao also make another appearance. Azumi his glasses obsession is back in full force, which made me happy. One day he really needs his own CD. Which will be all about glasses, of course.



Conclusion:
Once again this is more serious. Then again, I haven't listened to the later entries in the series yet, so I'm not sure whether it was already heading in a more serious direction (it started out as complete crack). As much as I usually like S characters, I didn't really like Tatsuhisa though. But the plot twists at the end made this story for me. I really didn't see it coming. And now, you are left to wonder what happens. So go and listen!

Nego Danshi Vol.1 & 2

ね語男子 其の一   ね語男子 其の二

Company: Wavemaster Happies
Based on: Cats
Released: 2012.01.18


Nego Danshi is a series about cats. Or more accurately, it shows of scenes out of the life of a cat, from the perspective of that cat. Or put more simply: Nego Danshi has seiyuu acting like cats.

Each CD has 4 different tracks, 3 of them depicting 3 different cats and an extra. This time the characters are a 'lone wolf', a cute cat, and a cat in his last moments.

The first track has the memorable lines "I'm a lone wolf. Though I look like a cat". It is a track about a lone cat in the city. He starts out all cool, but then a group of high school girls and some kids with a toy get the better of him. In the beginning there is no ~nya or anything catlike, but just wait until they start to pet him.

The second track is about a cute cat that spends his days sleeping and is hungry when his master gets back. The entire scene where he chases a mouse is so incredibly cute (and funny). Somehow I really hope this is what a cat is thinking when it chases something.

The third track is a true tearjerker though. It is about a cat in his final moments, reliving a few memories, and finally crawling unto your lap too fall asleep forever. Even though the atmosphere was very light and funny before, this track nearly had me crying.

The extra sounds like the seiyuu finishing the recording, and then after they exit the building they meet a cat and... magically turn into one. Hilarity ensues.

All of the scenes are nicely written. I have no idea what cats normally think, and I doubt that this is what they think, but it is a lot of fun (and in case of track 3, touching) to listen to.

The interesting thing here is that, except for the extra, both CD's have the same scenario. Even though the track titles for track one and two are different, the story is the same. The difference between the two CD's is how the seiyuu have interpreted or acted out certain their roles.

This confused the hell out of me in the beginning. Somehow their voices were similar enough to make me doubt whether there was some sort of mistake (several people will now shoot me for not being able to hear the difference after the first second. Go ahead, you have all rights to do so). I like both versions, but the third track was more touching in the Shimono version.


Conclusion:
When saw this I was sceptical but decided to give it a try, but listening to this has me convinced: this is going to be one fun series and I hope it never ends. There is something incredibly funny about cats. Or maybe just about seiyuu saying ~nya all the time. But somehow I would have hoped that they would have different scenario's, instead of the same ones. I really hope the other ones have a different scenario though...

週刊添い寝CDシリーズ vol.3 智哉

Shuukan Soine CD Vol.3 Tomoya

Shuukan Soine is a CD in which your boyfriend cuddles next to you in bed and talks with you  until you fall asleep. My first thought on this one; the cover image and content don't match. From the cover I expected a somewhat sleepy, my-pace character. However Tomoya was the most perky of the three yet.

Tomoya is reading a book when you wake up from a bad dream and cling to him. After some teasing he tells you about the story. While probably still part of the same series as the first two, the story is now about a cat and the sea. The cat one day sees the sea and falls in love with it, but due to a misunderstandin thinks that the sea doesn't like him. When the cat and sea finally talk with each other it turns out they both were afraid that they were disliked by the other.

Tomoya links this story to himself, by saying that he doesn't like to say 'I love you' too much, because it would lose it's meaning. However because you feel insecure due to his not saying anything he eventually does say it. Instead of saying it multiple times he 'expresses his love in kisses'.

Tomoya teases you just like Jin did, the difference is that Tomoya sounds and acts a bit more childish. However completely opposite to Jin it seems like he doesn't like to say exactly what he means (Jin was much more straight forward). The wake-up track is very cute, the way he laughs/giggles when you tickle him is adorable.

The first press once again comes with a free talk track. As always it is brilliant to listen to. To begin with, Tachibana-san his voice in the cast comment is much higher that in the rest of the recording xD And it makes you dizzy (he keeps walking around in circles). Fan service 100% when he is asked which position he likes best. (He thinks the listeners should decide that, and talks in both your ears).

I somewhat expected a sleepy character, and after listening I think that I would have liked that. But Tomoya is still a nice boyfriend. If you like your boyfriend a (tiny) bit more on the genki side, he is the one for you.

New Series: 週刊添い寝CD

Black Butterfly (the Company that also did Brother Android and Dolly) is starting a new CD series: 週刊添い寝CD (shuukan soine CD). In other words, the weekly sleeping together CD. No I am not kidding you.

The concept is that every week they release a new CD in which a boyfriend stays by your side until you fall asleep. They advise you to listen to it with a headphone or earphones. Meaning that the characters will probably really whisper into your ear.

Due to previous experiences with dramas that also advise that due to the characters talking into your ear or really close by (I am looking at you, Kannou Mukashi Banashi), I doubt I'll be sleeping much~ None the less, the first CD starts of with Hirakawa Daisuke, so I am interested (haha).

For now there are four volumes planned,. Even though all four voice actors are already known, the artwork for the last two hasn't been released yet. Hmmm.

- Vol.1: Hirakawa Daisuke
- Vol.2: Yasumoto Hiroki
- Vol.3: Tachibana Shinnosuke
- Vol.4: Terashima Takuma

The first CD releases on 2010.11.19, with the next one being released one weak later and so on. More info can be found on the official site.