Honeymoon Vol.5: Sano Eita

Honeymoon Vol.5 佐野瑛太 

Company: Fortissimo
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.06.28
Official Site: http://www.otome-ff.jp/work/work12.html


In the Honeymoon series you get a chance to go on your honeymoon with you brand new husband. Scenes from the proposal, the wedding, your honeymoon, and when you return are all included. Your groom this time is Sano Eita (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki), your high school sweetheart.

The CD begins with the confession scene from a few years ago. You were the manager of the soccer club, and Eita the captain at that time. You called him to the club room to confess, but can't say a thing, so eventually he ends up confessing first. Kind of cute really.

We then switch to your last year at university. You are both busy getting a job (which is serious business in Japan) although you haven't managed to find one yet. Eita tells you that he does have an offer, but that would require him to move to Kyuushuu, and he can't imagine living without you. So he asks you to come with him, as his wife. He doesn't have a ring or anything, but you don't mind.

Cut again to the two of you living together as a married couple a few months later. Eita tells you that you are making him happy, but that he feels that he isn't making you happy, not even being able to hold a proper wedding ceremony or anything. So he wants to at least go on a honeymoon, it might be impossible right now, but in one year it should be possible. You immediately say you want to go to Spain.

So one year later you are on your way to Spain. You'll have to go through a few very painful moments of Eita asking the way or other stuff in English, acting incredibly high tension when he does. He gets even more excited when you manage to get tickets for a match between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Being the soccer fan that he is Eita completely loses sight of what is going on around him. Strangely, I actually thought it was somehow endearing.

You wanted to go to Spain to visit the Prado museum. Eita really does seem out of place here, but he obviously does his best to put up with it for you. The paintings they are talking about btw, are Las Meninas, and I am guessing La maja desnuda. (Eita mentions that he won't look directly at a painting of a naked woman).

While he tries his best here he does fail miserably a little later. You go on a tour of the various bars one night, and he drinks something everywhere, eventually getting completely drunk. When you return to your hotel room he mentions wanting to do it, but ends up falling asleep and remembering nothing the next morning. No worries though, you will get your dosis of eroi the next night.

Back at home some time has passed since your honeymoon. Still feeling bad for not proposing to you properly, Eita surprises you by getting a ring after all, and making a proper proposal. He also says he still wants to hold a proper ceremony one day.

For those of you who know that I'm not really a fan of Yoshino Hiroyuki it might come as a surprise that I actually really liked this CD. Sure, the character (and Yoshino his voice) are still not my favourite, but compared to the rest of the series this CD just felt so much more real. It is far from the perfect wedding and honeymoon, but much more realistic.

Eita doesn't have the money to buy you a shiny ring or hold a proper wedding at the moment he proposes to you, but he really loves you a lot and doesn't want to be separated from you so he proposes. You seem to be living a reasonably happy life but still feeling guilty about possibly not making you happy he makes sure to save up money so you can still go on a honeymoon. Not to mention the final track where he gives you the ring after all this time.

And of course he isn't exactly the ideal husband on your honeymoon, getting drunk and everything. Sure, you could argue that all of this is unrealistic as well, but if felt more plausible than a husband who spends god knows how much money on you (yes I'm looking at you Otoya and Ryou). If I had to name something really unrealistic about this CD, it is you for some reason being a natural talent at flamenco dancing.

Unfortunately Yoshino-san let's me down a little bit in the freetalk, where he mostly talks about his fear of flying. Which is something that I don't share so I wasn't to interested. What was interesting though is him mentioning that the staff gave him all kinds of travel pamphlets. Yusa Kouji mentions those as well in his own freetalk of vol.4, so apparently the seiyuu were given background information and pictures to help them.


Conclusion:
I'm really happy that they took a step back from the perfect honeymoon and husband, and moved a little more into believable territory. I hope that they'll continue this for the upcoming CD's. Yoshino-san is never going to be one of my favourite seiyuu, but I liked his act in his CD.

Samishinbo CD

 さみしんぼＣＤ

Company: Honey Bee
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.05.25
Official Site: http://www.honeybee-cd.com/samishinbo/index.html


Samishinbo CD has been coined as a CD “for those time in which you might feel a bit lonely” and would like someone to talk with. The site mentions situations like on your way home, while eating, etc.

Your cousin Ayumu (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki) is staying over at your place while he looks for a place to live. Ayumu will be going to university soon, so his mom asked you to let him stay at your place while he is looking for a place to live. You yourself are already an OL by the way. The CD is is presented like a story, with you going home together, eating dinner, watching a movie, before you go to bed, and the next morning.

It begins when you meet by coincidence after your work and Ayumu his house-hunt. You both get on the train. He actually wants to take one later because this one is too full, but you just go ahead and get aboard. In the train he tries to shield you from the crowd, which causes the two of you to get a bit close. He starts to get flustered, but of course you are blissfully oblivious to that.

At home he tries to make curry, but if fails and is more like soup. You still say it looks good and eat it anyway, and it turns out it actually is edible. After dinner you watch a movie on TV. Before it starts though he is trying to get you to eat some chips that have cucumber flavour, of all possible things.

When he gets out of the bath -and you have fallen asleep on the couch where he is supposed to sleep- he finally asks whether something happened today. Bringing a whole lot of snacks first. Despite the fact that you are on a diet. When you finally go to bed he remains at your side until you fall asleep (what am I? A little kid??). He does sound sweet when still talking when you’ve already fallen asleep though.

The next morning he walks you to the station, actually blatantly saying that he wants to spend as much time as possible together, but once again you are blissfully oblivious. He tries to cheer you up a bit before you leave for work (although you already seem revitalized by then)

In the bonus track you are playing the ‘pocky game’ (eating a pocky, or in this case pretzel, from both sides, the one who lets go first loses the game). Ayumu loses and has to massage your shoulders.

Yoshino is doing one of his usual loud (and annoying) characters here. I was already afraid of this when I saw that he would be voicing the CD, but unfortunately it came true. If you ask me this character and the one from Kareshi Recipe 2 could have been the same character. Or twins at the very least. Personally I don’t like this type of character, but if you do it is a hit for sure. I liked Ayumu better when he was talking more subdued (like in the track where he put you to bed).

The concept is interesting, and I get how they incorporated the idea into this story, but it doesn’t really feel different from any other drama/situation CD to be honest. Then again, if they would stress the feeling lonely part too much chances are it would get too... clingy? candy coated? who knows.

Still, I’m kind of happy that Honey Bee has released something that is not Starry Sky. As much as I love the series, Honey Bee had some really interesting shorter series before they started to focus completely on Starry Sky. Of course they are starting a new major project now (Seishun Hajimemashita!) but I hope that they will continue releasing other stuff as well.


Conclusion
Ayumu isn’t my type of character, and I seriously dislike Yoshino-san when he does this kind of voice, but the idea was interesting and I hope that they will release a similar CD voiced by someone who is more my type. If you ask me a more gentle character would suit the concept better.

Shoukoujo Sarah Monogatari

 

小公女物語

Company: Momo&Grapes
Based on: A Little Princess
Released: 2012.01.26


Shokoujo Sarah Monogatari is based on the novel "a Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It is a fairly well known story, and I think most of us will have heard of it in one way or another, whether someone told it or through the anime or one of it's film adaptions. This is part of Momo&Grapes their Men's Only series, meaning that all character are voiced by male seiyuu.

Sarah Crewe (CV: Okamoto Nobohiko) has crown up in India as the daughter of a wealthy English soldier stationed there. Wishing to give her a proper education, her father (CV: Yamauchi Kenji) sends her to a school in England. To make sure that she will be short of nothing he gives her lots of new clothes and things, and she gets one of the largest bedrooms in the entire school (at the time schools were often boarding schools at the time).

Sarah is well mannered and thanks to her kind attitude and wits quickly makes friends within the school, among them a classmate named Ermengarde (CV: Suganuma Hisayoshi) and the servant girl Becky (CV: Takeuchi Ken). On the other hand, the previous star of the school, Lavenia (CV: Kishio Daisuke) grow jealous of her, and the school principal Miss Minchin (CV: Miki Shinichirou) dislikes her from the start.

But Sarah her fun school days soon end: on her 16th birthday Miss Minchin informs her that her father has died from illness, and because he invested his entire fortune in a mine without profit Sarah is now penniless. Miss Minchin keeps her as a servant, and Sarah is moved from her luxurious room to a small and dark room in the attic.

Lavenia immediately grabs her chance to bully Sarah, but Sarah tries to remains positive. Seeing Sarah try so much Lavenia decides to frame her: she hides a broach she owns in Sarah her room and claims she stole it. Everyone in the school thinks Sarah really did steal it and starts to avoid her.

It is around this time that Sarah meets Ramdas (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki) a servant from the house next to the school. He owns a little monkey that escaped and found it's way into Sarah her room, and climbs after it to catch it, and the two become friends.

However the school board decides that Sarah must leave the school, and she is thrown out on the street. With no money, and no one to help her find a job Sarah has a hard time. When she finally obtains some money to buy herself some bread, she sees another hungry girl and gives her most of her bread. By coincidence Lamdas sees this and decides to help her....

As always MomoGre their adaption is very faithful to the original. The amount of male seiyuu acting out believable girls in CD is also amazing. Maybe it is partly because they also got to do some really girly talk, but it took me almost no time at all to get used to. Okamoto is usually cute, so the jump to a believable girl isn't too hard. Takeuchi Ken his Becky is so girly it is almost scary though.

Kishio Daisuke his Lavenia also makes my skin crawl. It makes you wonder where he learned to act like an evil bitch like that. Lavenia her tsundere moment in the ending is priceless though. Yoshino Hiroyuki surprised me in an entirely different way. I'm used to his type voice ranging from flirty to gyaruo to host, but not as a 100% perfect butler. I wish he did this more often.

The cast talk isn't too special. It is interesting to hear all those seiyuu that were convincing girls just a few seconds ago talk normally again though. Okamoto saying that it was hard to do the "kyaa!" because it is just to girly was cute though.

Conclusion:
Sarah her life takes a 180% turn in this as she falls from school princess to servant, but luckily she remains positive or this might have become really annoying. Luckily they avoid all of that and it is a cute and (voice technically) amazing story to listing to. Momogre their works are usually good, and this is no exception.

Oujisama (warai) Variety Drama 2nd Season.

After all the Yandere, it is time for something light hearted. And what better than my favourite princes?

王子様(笑)シリーズ バラエティドラマCD 2nd Season

Company: Frontierworks
Based on: Original
Released: 2012.01.25
Official Site: http://www.fwinc.co.jp/princewww

Oujisama (warai) re-tells the story from several well known fairy tales from the perspective of the prince. This time however the princes go on a vacation, or at least that was the plan. The princes in this CD are Aladdin (CV: Miyano Mamoru), Genji (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki), The Emperor (from Taketori Monogatari, CV: Okiayu Ryoutarou), and the Frog Prince (henceforth know as Kaeru, CV: Sugita Tomokazu). Of course Takemoto Eiji is also present, as every other role.

The plan was for all of the princes to go on a winter holiday, but all of them find it much to cold to do anything, so eventually all of them (except for the emperor) end up doing nothing while sitting under a kotatsu. While three of the princes are spending their time relaxing, the Emperor is talking with the Narrator (CV: Takemoto Eiji, of course) about what they could do.

The narrator suggests doing something with Christmas, however none of the princes know anything about Christmas, resulting in everyone giving their own hilarious misunderstood version of Christmas, but in the end nothing much happens.

Eventually, they do find something to do: Yaminabe.
Yaminabe is a sort of nabe where everyone puts something in the dish, but you don't show the others what it is. The joke is that everyone usually brings unusual foodstuffs, and that you have to eat whatever you get. This can get pretty disgusting (trust me).

The princes have two rounds in which each of them have to eat something. Some of these are pretty hilarious, such as Genji putting frog legs, or the Emperor putting konyaku (which really does taste like nothing, which is exactly why it tastes so weird) in the mix.

Afterwards all of them end up looking through all kinds of fairytale books in order too find a type of magic that can bring Kaguya-hime back from the moon (cue the Emperor saying that Kaguya-hime is not an alien countless times). Of course all of the fairytales they talk about are in some way misunderstood or simplified far too much. Eventually they talk about going to the Wizard of Oz.

During all of this, Genji manages to annoy the rest so much that they want to teach him a lesson. And thus they take him to a spring where a fairy appears (the say that is a goddes to Genji, but it turns out to be a guy). If you drop something into the spring, the fairy asks you what you dropped and offers you something better. If you refuse that and say what you actually dropped you receive one of the better items.

And so, they throw Genji into the spring, and receive a Genji with better manners in return (the way Genji his personality is described is briliant, I don't think I've ever heard so many negative character traits together). However it soon turns out that this new Genji isn't exactly what they hoped for either...

Between the main story are short tracks depicting how each prince spends their everyday life. Of course all of them spends their days in rather strange ways.

Especially the first part is a 100% winter story. Relaxing under a kotatsu which is so comfortable you don't ever want to get out of it, and eating nabe sounds like 100% winter in Japan to me. The atmosphere is also one of being lazy and doing absolutely nothing. The kind of thing that makes me want to huddle in a blanket as well. Although the Yaminabe part is pretty hilarious, their reactions to the food are just too much fun.

Personally, the part where they discuss all of the fairytales was ok, but not that special to me. But the entire thing with Genji getting a different personality was pure gold. I don't remember where I know the whole fairy in a spring thing from though (except for maybe the Legend of Zelda). Genji his new personality is in a way just as annoying as his old one.

I'm still not very used to Kaeru being there, but his conviction that his princess is just a tsundere whenever she refuses his romantic advances is hilarious. He actually calls it "play", causing Genji to remark that things like that are dangerous when they become habit, and Aladdin to wonder what kind of experiences Genji has.

In the cast talk everyone talks about how they spend their winter. Which is mostly talk about wintersport. Miyano-san gets very excited in his explanations, and apparently makes some incredibly funny faces while doing so.


Conclusion:
While I didn't laugh as much as with other CD's in the series, I still had a lot of fun listening to this. Somehow I just like the other princes (especially Cinderella and Snow White) a lot more, although I do love Aladdin.

Oujisama (warai) Yomikatari CD Vol.2

王子様（笑）シリーズ 読み語りCD ～君に捧ぐ物語～ 第2集

Company: Frontierworks
Based on: Fairy tales
Released: 2011.01.26
Official Site: http://www.fwinc.co.jp/princewww/


The original 2 entries to the Oujisama (warai) series told re-imagined version of a few well known fairy tales. The yomikatari CDs are a sort of spin-off CDs in which the princes from the main series read their own fairytale to you, but not without making side remarks.

This is paired with the second CD and has the princes from that CD read their own story, while the other two keep interupting and commenting on the story.

First up is Aladdin (CV: Miyano Mamoru) who starts by trying to read out the entire story of 1001 nights (the story of Aladdin is actually one of the stories told by Scheherazade) but the other two stop him and get him to tell only his own story. I have to admit, I only know the Disney version, so this had some surprises for me as well.

Next up is the Emperor from Taketori Monogatari, who reads his own story. He gets through the story fairly ok, but becomes so heartbroken by the end that he drowns his sorrows and ends up completely drunk. Aladdin also tends to remark on the fact that "your country is very strange at times". (Both the Emperor and Genji are from Japan, and the cultural differences between them and Aladdin were already used for humour in the main series).

Finally we have Genji (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki), who intends to read all 54 chapters of the story, but the (now completely drunk) Emperor tells him to tell an abridged version. Aladdin is mostly saying that Japanese culture is still strange, and the Emperor his drunk remarks are brilliant too. The best thing however, was Genji comparing all of the female characters from his story with anime archetypes like tsundere and yandere, ending with Murasaki as a lolicon xD

Come to think of it, this is the second time the Emperor gets drunk (he also did that in the zadankai of the vol.2) but he wasn't half as drunk that time as he is now xD That the Genie (CV: Takemoto Eiji) also made an appearance was a nice surprise, even though he mostly just feeds the emperor more alcohol.

The seiyuu all make a separate cast comment, making me wonder whether they actually recorded this all separately. If they did they did a really good job on making it sounds natural, at least to me it sounds as if they were all together.


Conclusion:
Just like the first yomikatari CD, this is only funny to listen to if you know the original CD (or otherwise you'll miss out on a lot of in-jokes). But just like the first on it is pretty short (only 30min) so if you have heard the first one it is perfect as a snack. On the other hand, you can also argue that that makes it relatively expensive. I really do hope that they will make a third CD like this now that we have 9 princes.

Oujisama (warai) series: Oujisama to Ningyo-hime no Koi

王子様 (笑)シリーズ  ドラマCD 第5巻 ～王子様と人魚の恋～

Company: Frontier Works
Based on: The Little Mermaid
Released: 2011.10.26
Official Site: http://www.fwinc.co.jp/princewww



The Oujisama (warai) series re-imagines various well known fairytales. This time 'the Little Mermaid' is completely changed. The focus is on the prince instead of the princess though, and as the 'warai' (laughter) in the title implies the story gains a lot of humour.

Several character from previous entries to the series make their appearance here as well: Cinderella her prince (CV: Suzumura Kenichi), Snow White her Prince (CV: Nakai Kazuya), and Hikaru Genji (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki) are visiting Frederick (the main character this time; CV: Morikawa Toshiyuki) because he is scheduled to marry the next day. On the way there Genji saves/picks up an unknown girl and her servant (CV: Takemoto Eiji) who wants to stop the marriage and marry the prince instead.

Frederick first complains about his life not being dramatic enough because his marriage is political, and that he wants to have a fateful encounter with someone so that he can fall in love and blow of the marriage. But when Genji brings in the unknown girl (who is obviously the little mermaid, they even named her 'Little') he claims he doesn't remember her and is not interested in marrying her at all.

Most of the CD is Frederick arguing with the servant (who speaks instead of 'princess Little') and the other three just generally make comments on the conversation and argue among themselves. But with everyone their weird personalities (Cinderella loves weapons a bit too much, Genji is an incredible player) that is exactly what makes this CD so hilarious.

Speaking of that, there is just too much hilarity in this CD. Cinderella and Snow White discovering that they are relatives, Genji constantly trying to win princess Little for himself, Frederick his obsession with sweets, the fact that Little is actually an incredible stalker, the references to earlier entries to the series xD Not to mention Cinderella and Snow White their constant tsukkomi and occasional breaking of the fourth wall alone is already hilarious. (they actually mention that this is a drama series a couple of time xD)

What I truly loved was how they managed to give the story a serious turn despite the fact that it is a complete parody. Of course, right after you feel the effect of the serious turn they go completely hilarious again xD

After the main story there is a zadankai as always. The fourth wall is completely torn down here xD Cinderella and Snow White explain the idea behind the series to Frederick and decide on a nickname for him as well (and thus, he is called 'Ningyo' (Mermaid) afterwards). Frederick also has a passionate rant against blood-type horoscopes (which is, given the popularity of those in Japan, rather hilarious)

I only realized after listening to this how much the style of these CDs has changed. The first two entries had sepparate stories for each prince, which were a sort of mix between  reading the story to you and acting out part of it. From vol.3 on the cast from the first two entries appears along side of a new character allowing for lots of references and hilarious conversations between the characters. (This, btw, also places all of the fairytales in one world, as if each one takes place in a different country located on one large fairytale continent). Also, Frederick/Mermaid is the 9th character already... (o.O) It feels like the cast from the first two CDs is more popular though (especially Snow White and Genji)


Conclusion:
You're missing out on a lot if you don't know at least the first two CDs of the rest of the series (3 and 4 aren't referenced that much) but if you do know those then you should definitely listen to it. This is my favourite entry to the series so far, and one of my absolute favourite drama CDs of all time. Also, I think the cover art is gorgeous.

Warumono (warai) series: Okami ha tsurai yo

 わるもの(笑)シリーズ 狼はつらいよ

Company: Frontierworks
Based on: Fairytales
Released: 2011.10.26
Official Site: http://www.fwinc.co.jp/www/


After the Oujisama (warai) and Meisaku Bungaku (warai) series we now also have the Warumono (warai) series. This time the so called 'bad guys' are in the spotlight, and this is the second vol. which centres on the (big bad) wolf. First things first though: the jacket illustration!! *drools*  I'm sorry, I'll get back to reviewing...

What if the Wolf from Red Riding Hood, the 7 little Goats, and the Three Little Piggies was the same wolf?? That is the concept behind this CD. We start with the wolf (CV: Shimono Hiro), who is writing a letter to his mama mother about how well he is managing living on his own, only to break down crying saying that he hasn't managed to catch a single thing. Just at that moment Red Riding Hood (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki) passes by. With a basket full of ingredients to make curry, and carrying a stun gun. And to top things off, Red Riding Hood is a HE.

After getting into a lot of trouble with Red Riding Hood the wolf sees Mother Goat leave her 7little kids behind to go shopping. And thus he tries to get in the house. The door is opened by one of the little goats (CV: Yasumoto Hiroki) and... no words can describe his. Picturing a little goat with that voice, it just doesn't work xD  Anyway, they eventually decide to play hide and seek, with the added difficulty that the entire house turns into a ninja-trapdoor-and-hidden-mechanic-mansion.

After turning completely vegetarian for a while after the that the wolf decides to eat the three little (gourmet) piggies. So he makes a phone call whether he can arrange an interview with them but the three of them have their own plans with the wolf as well... He first arrives at the house of the oldest (CV: Yasumoto Hiroki) where he is burried in herbs, then he arrives at the house of the second (CV: Yasumura Makoto) where they try to turn him into smoked wolf, and after surviving all that he arrives at the house of the youngest one (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki) where they confess they wanted to try and cook him xD

As expected from the warai series, the stories are brilliantly transformed into something hilarious. Red Riding Hood being a male (delinquent), the much too mature sounding little goat, and the three little piggies trying too eat the wolf instead of the other way around. All of them were brilliant. Also, was that a Tiger and Bunny reference in the last story???

I loved Shimono-san his wolf. So cute. And no wonder he can't catch a thing if he gets distracted by how cute a rabbit is when it is hopping around xD Yasumoto-san his voice is to die for in any situation, and the three little piggies all just sound too sexy. I think I was going to say something insightful but I forgot.

The cast talk was ok. Shimono, Yasumoto and Yasumura are just fooling around and leave weird messages for Yoshino (who did his recording later). Although Yasumoto-san does talk a bit more serious about Yabu no Naka (which you really should listen to if you haven't yet!!).


Conclusion:
The first vol. was already good, but I like this one even better! Although that might have something to do with Yasumoto-san his voice. I really really hope that they will make more entries to this series. (although I have no idea what kind of stories I'd like to hear).

Also, Shimono's wolf in no way matches the cover. But that is totally irrelevant as soon as I stare at the picture again.

Kareshi x Recipe Menu 2

カレシ×レシピ Menu-2

Company: AT-X
Based on: Cooking?
Released: 2009.05.27
Official Site: http://karecipe.com/

In Kareshi x Recipe your boyfriend teaches you how to cook! ... or at least teaches you two recipes.In this second CD you make Ebi-chili and Annin Tofu.

This time your "boyfriend" (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki) isn't actually your boyfriend though. He is your best friend (but still very much in love with you). His parents own a Chinese restaurant, and you wanted to learn something to cook for your actual boyfriend, so you asked him to teach you something.

You start with going to the supermarket together to buy all the ingredients needed, and then go to his place to cook. First the annin tofu, and then the ebi-chili (fried shrimps in chili sauce). Like with the first CD there finally are two tracks in which you eat the food together, one where you succeeded en one where you failed. This time those tracks differ much more than in the first CD though.

I loved the track where you are making the annin tofu. Apparently you have to mix everything pretty fast, and the track turns into some sort of sport commentary while you are cooking. It made me laugh so much. Other than that I find her personality a little annoying. But hey, the poor dude his crush started dating his best friend after they met at his room. That is just sad.

The actual recipes seem quite tricky. For the annin tofu it is just that you have to mix and cool down everything quite fast, but the ebi-chili featured some ingredients that (according to the CD) were not available in most supermarkets. They said it was ok to not use them, but it just seems tastier with.

An interesting thing is that it is mentioned in this CD that you are supposedly good at making hamburgers, which is what you cooked together with your boyfriend in the first CD. So are they implying that you are still the same person, and that the boyfriend that is mentioned here is actually the one from the first CD?! If so, heaven knows how these two became friends...

The free talk was ok, Yoshino was haing some trouble talking about what he usually cooks because he rarely cooks xD


Conclusion:
The CD was kind of fun, but the gyaruo-ish character that Yoshino does kind of annoys me. It is less sweet but more fun than the first CD. The recipes this time round somehow seemed much trickier though. (that, and I don't have a fry-pan, so I can't make it anyway...)

Oujisama (warai) series vol.02

王子様(笑)シリーズ ドラマCD 第2巻

Company: Frontierworks
Based on: Fairy tales
Released: 2010.06.23
Official Site: http://www.fwinc.co.jp/princewww/princewww.php


Oujisama (warai) re-tells the story from several well known fairy tales from the perspective of the prince. Only... somewhere along the way things changed a little bit. This second vol has three new stories: Aladdin, Taketori Monogatari, and the Genji Monogatari. This time the princes actually have a name, which makes reviewing a lot easier xD

In the first story Aladdin (CV: Miyano Mamoru) has to find the magical lamp for a magician. However he gets stuck in the magic cave with no way out. When Aladdin tries to clean the lamp to read some faded inscriptions on it the genie of the lamp comes out and promises to do anything Aladdin says. Aladdin plans to have the genie kidnap the princess of the country so that he can 'save' her and marry her.

Miyano Mamoru his character saying "I will build anew world"= Death Note Raito?! Was all I could think for a while. No "it's a whole new world" romances here, just Raito Aladdin planning to improve the world by setting up a scheme to marry the princess and become the new king. Hihi, this makes the story a lot more interesting.

The second story is Taketori Monogatari (sometimes known as Kaguya-hime) from the perspective of the Emperor (CV: Okiayu Ryoutarou). Rumours of Kaguya-hime her beauty have reached the capital, and many important figures are competing for her hand. The Emperor feels that she is causing too much trouble and travels to her residence to make sure this stops, but of course he also falls in love.

There isn't much to say about this story accept that... it actually fits?! A few expressions aside, this could actually be the other side to Kaguya-hime her story.

However the third story makes up for this almost-serious story. Genji (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki) is technically a player even in the actual Genji Monogatari, but is this story he actually sounds like one. Genji want to raise the (still 6year old) Murasaki into the perfect bride, and his rather strange way of getting this done. But especially the way Genji talks is just brilliant.

Like in the first CD there is a zadankai in which the three characters talk with each other. Genji treating the Emperor as his older brother is brilliant. They mostly talk about how they met their respective princesses (kidnapping in two cases) and they keep calling Kaguya-hime an alien.

The freetalk starts with Takemoto Eiji (who once again played the servant in every story) introducing Miyano and Okiayu-san. Like in the first CD the topic is 'a fateful encounter'. The discussion is going absolutely nowhere but they sound like they are having fun. Again the freetalk is done in two parts, with the second part done by Yoshino Hiroyuki and Takemoto Eiji (again)


Conclusion:
Again: Hilarious, Brilliant. I like this one even better than the first CD. There just isn't much that I can say, except for go and listen!

Shuukan Soine CD Vol. 5 - Reo

 

週刊添い寝CD Vol.5 玲央 

Company: Black Butterfly
Based on: Original
Released: 2011.06.24
Official Site: http://www.blackbutterfly-cd.com/


Shuukan Soine is a CD in which your boyfriend cuddles next to you in bed and talks with you  until you fall asleep. After the first 4 original entries to the series this is vol.5. And how we've waited for a continuation! I'm not really a fan of Yoshino Hiroyuki who voiced this volume BUT shuukan soine continues so all is good!

The CD starts with you doing something in the kitchen, and Reo complains that you should just come to bed. Reo works as a model and it has been a while since you've seen each other, so he suddenly called you in the middle of the night asking you to come over.

Eventually you get him to read a picture book that he brought back from a photo shoot.  The story this time is about the wind and a cloud. Everyone is afraid of the wind because it blows things away and destroys stuff. One day the wind tries to rip a cloud a part, but the cloud simply floats away and returns. After a while the cloud returns and tells the wind that it could use its power to help people, and from then one the wind helps people and is loved by all.

Of course Reo likes this story to the relation between the two of you, although he only tells you this after you've fallen asleep. Reo is a rather selfish but sweet, teasing you all the time.Only after you've fallen asleep you get to hear how sweet though.

As always there is a wake-up track again, however I was slowly falling asleep by that time so I didn't exactly hear all of it. And sadly I don't like Yoshino-san enough to re-listen it just so that I can review it for you. Many apologies.

I did, however, wake up  again at the free-talk, which was fun. Yoshino shows us just how well the Dummy Head records things, he sways around while talking and walks away from the microphone to show you that you can hear difference in distance as well. He even walks all the way to the door of the studio and opens is (you can actually hear the staff laughing). The best part however is that he says that he has to talk in a subdued voice when talking very close to the microphone, because it would sound awfull IF HE TALKED VERY LOUDLY (he screams that into your ear, you have been warned).


Conclusion:
Like I said, I'm not that much of a Yoshino fan, and for a CD that is done by a single voice actor that is a major inconvenience. But my being biased aside, it was a fun story to listen to and I'm just happy that Black Butterfly made a continuation to the series.

News: 週刊添い寝 to be continued.

Yes you read that right, Shuukan Soine will be continued.

Black Butterfly announced today on their twitter acount and official blog that the series will be continued. No detailed information yet, but the home page will be updated 'with the details in the near future'.

The official site has also updated with a sneak peak image of sorts (if you visit the site often you might need to refresh before it loads the correct image).

EDIT: Black Butterfly hasn't officially announced who the seiyuu are, but Messesanoh (a website for anything and everything otome) gives us more details. It looks like the seiyuu are Yoshino Hiroyuki for vol.5 and Toriumi Kousuke for vol.6. Messesanoh list the CDs for a 2011.06.24 and 2011.07.01 release.

Many thanks to Sweet_Y from the Hibiki forums for finding this.

王子様(笑)シリーズ 第3巻 ～王子様と眠れる森～

Oujisama (warai) vol.3 ~Oujisama to nemureru mori~

Oujiama (warai) series is a drama cd series that tells well known fairytales in an... entirely different way. The title means 'Prince (laughs) series' and as the title implies the stories are told from the viewpoint of the prince in a rather hilarious way. This volume has only one story; that of Sleeping Beauty.


The moment I saw this was announced it made me happy, and I'm glad I was able to listen to it this fast! Contrary to the first two volumes there is only one story this time, but some of the princes from earlier volumes reprise their roles.

We first meet the servant (CV: Takemoto Eiji) of Sleeping Beauty her prince who meets... the prince from Snow White (CV: Nakai Kazuya). It turns out we are in his country, and the servant asks him whether he wants to help out find Sleeping Beauty. We are taken to the Prince (of Sleeping Beauty, his name is Gunther btw CV: Onosaka Masaya) himself who is... fighting a dragon and gains exp o.O

And from there on the entire story turns into an RPG. Sleeping Beauty and his servant try to get Snow White to sign up at a guild, Genji (CV: Yoshino Hiroyuki) already signed up because the girl behind the counter was cute, they need a fourth member to go on a quest to fight a red dragon, so Genji forces the Emperor (from Taketori Monogatari, CV: Okiayu Ryoutarou) to join xD


Genji is as annoying as ever, the Emperor his classic speach clashes with everything, Sleeping Beauty is a complete RPG otaku, and Snow White is the only sane person. Eventually Sleeping Beauty loses his confidence and Genji decides he will go and steal save the princess.

The previous two CDs were good, but this volume was absolutely brilliant, there is no other word for it. Just throwing all these princes (with their strange personalities) in one story was already funny, but when everything turned into a RPG it turned even better. Every RPG cliche is used, from all the different classes to collecting the four legendary thingamajigs to continue the story. If you play a lot of RPGs or know something about them it gets funnier by the minute. But don't worry if you don't know anything about them, even then it will be plenty funny (Snow White is in the same position anyways)

Just like the previous volumes there is a zazankai after the main story in which the characters talk together. Sleeping Beauty never had friends to drink with so  they first need to explain what they are going to do, and the Emperor decides to get drunk right from the get go ("as if I could do this while sober" xD).

The freetalk was also interesting. The theme was 'a dream that you don't want to wake up from'. Yoshino talks about soccer and the world cup (which made me realize just how recent this release is somehow), Onosaka told that he wants to be popular, Okiayu that he wants to lose weight and Takemoto thinks that their dreams are to normal xD The last three did the recording together making their part of the freetalk hilarious. Especially Okiayu and  Takemoto ignoring Onosaka Masaya when he asks whether he wasn't popular enough to do a story on his own was just... wow xD Nakai talks about that it was his dream to become a seiyuu so that he doesn't want to wake up from his current life. His talk is about to get deep and meaningful when time is up and he abruptly (and I mean abruptly) ends it.

The fact that Yoshino and Nakai did their free talk alone made me realize that they did the recording alone, and how difficult that must be. Especially because there is a lot of tsukkomi, mainly fron Nakai. The zazankai in particular sounds as if they really are talking all together so they really have my respect for some awesome voiceacting!



If you haven't heard the first two CDs yet you should listen to those before listening to this one. Firstly because they are also hilarious and absolutely worth listening, but also because the characters constantly reference to it and you might miss some injokes. (Especially the deal about princess Snow White xD). That said, this vol. is absolutely brilliant so go and listen to it NOW :D

Full Score 01 -side Rock-

 Full Score 01 -side Rock-

This is the first part of three CDs that have music as their main theme (the others are Classic and Jazz). It seems like the CDs will not be directly related, except for making vague, or less vague,  references to each other.

I somewhat expected the standard talk cd where a guy/boyfriend talks to you but with a musical theme. Turns out I was completely wrong . Both Characters interact with each other while Oki (the left one) also explains what is going on and Baba (the right one) generally creates more and more trouble.

Oki is a fourth year student at a music university and member of the K-on (music) club, his everyday life is mainly being ordered around by whims of his senpai, Baba Youhei (who was is actually a few years older but still hasn't graduated). Oki seems rather calm for someone who was in a rock band, Baba on the other hand has the outgoing personality you;d expect. Or rather, a completely impossible personality xD Throughout the story Baba keeps causing trouble that Oki tries to solve, or at least he is the one that has to clean up afterwards.

The story was simple and mostly consists of the conversations between the two, but it was hilarious to listen too. The amount of references (especially to music station music shows and Weekend Millionair quiz shows or various anime make everything even funnier. They also make references to the next volume of FULL SCORE, both in the story and in the -appropriately named- rather strange preview. I'm glad that they didn't (ab)use Oki his backstory (he was in a band before but quit) to create too much drama, this way the drama stayed light and funny without any mood whiplashes.

The last three tracks have nothing to do with the rest of the story and are a mix of randomness and music knowledge. And it turns out that Baba was based on Bach... I'm missing the link between a famous classical composer and the half delinquent drummer but hey xD (well, their names do sound similar). Oki was based on a Japanese composer who's name I've forgotten xD.

Looking at the cast names (Yusa Kouji and Yoshino Hiroyuki) I would have expected the roles to be reversed. Probably because I've mainly heared Yoshino act out delinquent and/or snobbish characters. So I was pleasently surprised by Yoshino his sweet kouhai voice. Yusa's 'rockstar imitation' that he does somewhere in the drama on the other hand is incredibly annoying and hilarious at the same time.



I'm looking forward to the next volume, but most off all I want to hear the Jazz one (I love Jazz :3  )