Risou Kareshi Vol.1 - Cool Type

アニメイトで聞きました! 理想彼氏 第1弾 クールタイプ

Company: Marine Entertainment / Animate
Based on: A survey on what the ideal boyfriend is like
Released: 2012.06.27
Official site: http://www.marine-e.net/sp/risoukareshi/


Risou Kareshi is a project by Marine Entertainment and Animate in which the characters are based upon what the ‘ideal boyfriend’ would be like. A survey was hold at the Animate Ikebukero store, and based on the results they decided the characters their their job, hobbies, personality, and even seiyuu.

The first CD is the cool type, voiced by Kamiya Hiroshi. I might be mistaken due to not having seen the booklet, but I think he is actually nameless. In most situation CD’s the character does have a name, even if it is never used, but I never heard or saw it mentioned anywhere.

Either way, your boyfriend (by lack of a better title) has a cool personality, he works as a doctor, his hobby is cooking, and he is prone to showing tears (but only in front of you). The CD starts when you are already dating, but a large part of it is a flashback on how you met.

Which was in the hospital, when you are visiting your nephew who injured his leg due to jumping off swings. When I first heard his voice I actually thought it was your niece, but they say ‘oigo’ (nephew) and refer to him as a he so it really is a boy then. Must be very young xD

At any rate, while visiting your nephew you meet your (future) boyfriend a few times in the hospital. He even drives you home one day when you are walking back through the rain. And seems genuinely worried when he hears that you caught a cold afterwards. A little while later when you are visiting again and he calls out to you, causing you to accidently cut your finger because you were cutting an apple.

He immediately helps you take care of the cut, and you say he is just like a big brother. To which he -reluctantly- replies that he wants you to see him as a man, not as a brother, and confesses that he likes you. Of course, you like him as well so that is the start of your relationship.

The last two tracks are scenes of you two together when you are already dating. The first one is at home. While eating you comment that you want to cook for him, but he is more worried that you might injure yourself (you are quite the klutz in this CD). Afterwards you are watching TV (it sounds more like you were playing a game) while he is reading a book for work. You complain that he likes reading alone more than doing something together, so he puts the book away and says he sees that as an invitation to do ‘something that you can only do together’.

In the second scene you are stuck in the traffic and he is complaining about all sorts of things. Apparently you have been dating for a while here, because he also complains about the fact that you casually said ‘isn’t it time to get married?’ and that you were much sweeter when you started dating. Eventually he says he won’t listen to you anymore so you try to get his attention with various things, which leads to him tearing up about a movie, and then saying that he’d like to be the perfect boyfriend for you now and forever (and of course you say that he is the perfect boyfriend, no matter the flaws).

I have to say this CD was different from what I expected, not in a bad way though. To begin with I was surprised to see multiple seiyuu listed as cast. I expected that this would be only Kamiya-san being the perfect boyfriend, as in going on various dates and stuff, but not that there would be other characters. Don’t get me wrong, but in a lot of situation CD’s you and your boyfriend seem to be the only people in the world, and he is the only one that can talk xD

The second surprise is that this is mostly about how you met. No endless dates or sweet situations with Kamiya-san being the perfect boyfriend, but an actual story on how you met. Don't expect a novel plot though. Still, I think I like this better than if it would have been only the two of you while you are already a couple.

There is just one thing I missed. It was said that he was prone to tears, and while he does tear up a little about the movie, I expected a little bit more. I somehow expected (or hoped for) a scene where something at work would bring him to tears at home, almost a breakdown if you want. Call me evil but I think that would have been really endearing.


Conclusion:
Different from what I expected still interesting. I kind of like these kind of CD’s where there is also some interaction with other characters, although there might have been a liiiiitle bit more scenes with the two of you.

Toraware no Mi no Ue

とらわれの身の上

Company: Koei
Based on: Manga
Released: 2001.11.22


Toraware no Mi no Ue is a manga by Matsuri Hino (Vampire Knight). The manga has been released in English under the name Captive Hearts. The story is about Kuroishi Megami, who lives a carefree life until he reunites with his gone-missing-in-china-and now-returned childhood friend Kogami Suzuka. Megumi discovers that his family has been is under a curse to serve the Kogami family for generations. So whether he wants to or not, he suddenly finds himself acting like the perfect servant to Suzuka,.

Megumi (CV: Narita Ken) is enjoying his little life of luxury when his father (CV: Tanaka Hideyuki) suddenly bursts into to room claiming that he has finally located the whereabouts of there long lost masters. Megumi is not pleased at all as this means that they will have to give up the wealth they inherited from the family. However when his father returns it turns out that the only one still alive is Kogami Suzuka (CV: Kawasumi Ayako) the daughter of the family.

When Megumi tries to talk to her he feels strange, and before he knows he suddenly acts as her servant. Megumi (nor Suzuka for that matter) has no idea what is going on, until his father explains about their curse. Long ago one of their ancestors was cursed, so now the Kuroishi family has to serve to Kogami family, they cannot deny any order given to them by the Kogami family. And because Megumi has never been around members of the Kogami family, his servant mode tends to run a little haywire.

As soon as Suzuka learns from the curse, she feels sorry for Megumi and returns to China. Megumi however, resolves to bring her back. Not just because of the curse, but because he truly likes her. What follows are a lot of scenes where Megumi his servant mode runs haywire (with often hilarious results) and Suzuka wondering whether Megumi really likes her or everything is just the curse at work.

The drama CD actually ends a good point; the moment where Megumi tells Suzuka his love is not just because of the curse but real, and asks her to be his girlfriend. This is somewhere near the end of the first vol in the manga. Unfortunately the manga continues on the "obstacle to their love appears, they need to overcome it, next obstacle appears" route for a few more volumes, which is where I lost interest. But the drama CD ends at a nice spot.

Megumi his butler mode is hilarious, especially because it comes with it's own bgm, Suzuka is pretty normal, but Megumi his father is brilliant. Whether it is due to the curse or not, he puts all his energy into serving to Kogami family, often getting over emotional over little things.

The CD follows the script of the manga pretty accurately, only differing in some scenes which are hard to enact without any pictures. Unfortunately this also means that it is slightly chaotic, just like the original. I really recommend listening to this either when you already know the manga, or while reading it, because some scenes are kind of vague if you don't have to accompanying visuals.


Conclusion:
I actually like this better then the manga, simply because it end at a good point instead of dragging on forever. Narita Ken was an unexpected choice for Megumi (somehow I expected a different voice) but it works perfectly. If you're not into overly cute shoujo plots, I'd leave this alone though. It is amusing but nothing special.