There you will find all of my old posts, all of Stappy’s old posts, and any new stuff we may come up with.  For anyone new to THIS site, you will find anime reviews, seiyuu-related entries, and crazy, perverted fantasies there.  MM MMM GOOD.

Let me explain how this works: when you are a seiyuu, voice and face is pretty much all that is important (skill is something that everyone can eventually obtain to an acceptable degree after training, so I won’t factor this into my evaluation).  So… with that said, let’s take a look:

Beautiful voice… but… plastic surgery anyone?

Example 1: Sawashiro Miyuki

I have no idea what is wrong with this poor girl.  She’s young, she’s got the most beautiful voice in the world, and yet… she looks 40.  Not only does she look almost twice her actual age, she also looks like an UGLY OLD LADY twice her age.  I don’t mean to sound shallow, but God was really stingy in terms of allotting physical attractive when Miyuki was born.

Example 2: Nabatame Hitomi

Example 2: Nabatame Hitomi
Naba-nee is one of my favourite seiyuu.  She’s been casted for countless awesome roles, and she’s managed to play them all very successfully.  I used to think she was the love of my life… until I saw her face.  I’M SORRY!!!!!!!! >_<  She’s got a nice, versatile voice, and she’s done a lot of roles that I absolutely adore (Nobue from IchiMaro, Kanu from Ikkitousen, Shizuma from Strawberry Panic, Kanade from Candy Boy, Margery Daw from Shana).  However, when I actually started to learn about seiyuu (which was not long ago… maybe less than 1/2 a year back?), and I saw her face, my fabricated image of Nabatame Hitomi was completely… nuked (I can’t think of a better way to describe it).

At the other end of the spectrum… beautiful face, “questionable” voice

Example 1: Chihara Minori

Ok… minorin is one of my favourite seiyuu… mostly because of her face.  She can also sing, which is a bonus that God decided to throw in when she was climbing outta her mother’s womb.  However, I must admit that I am most, definitely, NOT, attracted to minorin’s voice.  There have been several times where I’ve found her voice very very annoying, even when she’s singing.  And O LORD, Natsume Aya was just… not cool.  Still, I can’t say her voice is BAD bad… but for someone whose face is so pretty… her voice is seriously lacking.

Example 2: Nakahara Mai

This is actually another iffy person for me to put in this category.  Some people find Mai attractive, while others find her… slightly “odd” looking (when I first saw her face, I thought, for just a little while, that she was a transexual).  Don’t get me wrong though, I like some of Mai’s work.  I think she does well as a seiyuu, but I simply don’t like her actual voice quality.  Her high-pitched girl voice just… ugh. =_=

Lucky people who have a bit of both…

Example 1: Inoue Marina

I never found Marina particularly pretty, but she’s not ugly either.  Nor did I ever find her voice particularly nice to listen to… but eh, she lands good roles here and there (her debut Cossette, Kana from Minami-ke, Kasahara Iku from Toshokan Sensou).  Pretty balanced, I would say.

Example 2: Hirano Aya

Example 2: Hirano Aya
Despite all the times I keep saying how much I hate this girl, I can’t deny the fact that she is, indeed, gifted.  Her voice isn’t too bad at all (with the exception of her Haruhi days… when she used to sound like she was on helium 24/7), and some people (for reasons that will be forever mysterious to me) find her attractive.  A bit of both… mmm…

Poor unfortunate souls who seem to be lacking in everything but spirit

Example 1: Momoi Halko

I adore her.  I really do, but I have to say her voice totally gets on my nerves if I have to listen to it for a long period of time.  Having seen her in person, and being less than say… half a meter from her face, I must say she’s totally lacking there too.  However, I adore Halko because she’s got such an awesome personality, and she sounds like a very strong person.  So maybe God ran out of “Hotness” and “Smexy Voice” that day, and tried to make it up to her by give her extra “Kickass Personality”.

Example 2: Kaneda Tomoko

If there is one voice in the world that gives me a headache within seconds, it would be Tomoko’s.  Her portrayal of Nel from Bleach had my ears bleeding since her first word.  Aoi from Myself; Yourself almost made me drop the series because of her unbearably screechy voice.  From all the pictures I’ve seen of her, she definitely does not look attractive.  So what did God give her to make up for all her… deficits?  I remember seeing some clip a little while back with Tomoko wearing a Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch) hat and getting high on sake.  So God had a little bit of “Kickass Personality” left, and a great abundance of “Total Insanity”, which He probably threw into Tomoko.  Mmm…

The most FORTUNATE SOUL <3

Example 1: Tanaka Rie (ZOMG MEGANE *drools*)

Height, body, looks, smexy voice… RieRie’s got it all.  I think God accidentally threw in a little bit of “Insanity” too… which some view as either RieRie’s downfall… or an extra dose of moe-ness.

Overused, but unforgettable XD

Example 2: Noto Mamiko

Example 2: Noto Mamiko
THIS is totally biased. XD XD XD  Truthfully, Mami isn’t all that pretty at all… nor is she tall… nor does she have a nice body… but eh.  I love her… and since she has my LOVE, she is most definitely a fortunate soul. ^^

Example 3: Mizuki Nana

Example 3: Mizuki Nana
THIS is just for Stappy’s sake.  I mean, if Nana had to be in any of the above categories, she’d probably fit here.  I am not particularly attracted to her face.  I like her music, I like her singing, I like many of her voice roles.  So… I guess it won’t hurt to put her in this category.  There is one thing that Nana is majorly lacking: HEIGHT.

Example 4: Paku Romi

Example 4: Paku Romi
This was also a late addition (mind you, I started this entry CENTURIES ago… but I only managed to get my hands on a few good pictures NOW).  I like Romi’s work… I love her low voice, and I find it unfortunate that she often voices boys.  Romi’s voice would totally work for a kickass female (e.g. Osaki Nana).  After Stappy provided me with a few HM3 magazines, I’ve totally fallen in love with her.  She’s so BLOODY cool!!!  For someone her age (ZOMG SHE’S 36!), she looks totally awesome.

And THUS I conclude my analysis.  God is CLEARLY being unfair when you have people with the likes of Tanaka Rie, Noto Mamiko, Mizuki Nana, and Paku Romi lurking on this earth.  Well, fellow-normal-citizens-of-this-planet-who-are-not-as-gifted-as-the-4-ladies-listed-above, we have no choice but to suck it in and deal with our sad, sad lives.  However, please take comfort in knowing that you are most likely not as ugly as Sawashiro Miyuki, or not as annoying-sounding as Kaneda Tomoko.  If people like them made it big, it only goes to show that there is hope for everyone ^_^

Ok… I think I must say I ultimately fall for more rockish songs… take KitaEri’s Realize for example… I adored that song.  Trickter was great… great instrumentals, great voice, great singing, great melody, great everything.  The PV was ok too, though it seemed pretty much like all other normal music videos (the ones where you see the artist walking around and singing and kinda has no storyline).

What I really really really liked about this song was that last a capella bit.  Honestly, it takes guts to sing ANYTHING a capella, and Nana nailed this one (though I must say I’m still not the biggest fan of her voice).  I would just like to totally congratulate her on a job well done, erm… or maybe I mean a song well sang XD.

Once again… linked from your trusty buddy youtube… Trickster

So I finally got a chance to watch the Discotheque PV after being informed of its existence by my dear friend Stappy. I can only say one thing: I’m SO in love.

I’ll admit FIRSTHAND that I didn’t hate Cosmic Love as much as some people did. So when I heard Discotheque for the first time properly, and saw the PV, I was in RABU.

Nana’s higher-pitched singing voice was actually pretty cute, and wasn’t as annoying as I remembered it to be. The song itself is really catchy, and the PV a lot better than many of the other seiyuu PVs I’ve seen so far.

Let me point out that Nana’s PV actually consisted of 6 people other than herself. Compare that to any of say… Minorin’s PVs. See the difference in production costs? XD I really loved Nana’s whole disco outift, she looked tremendously cute in them. I was just talking to Stappy yesterday about how some seiyuu are less appealing as they age, but DAMN, Nana keeps looking better and better. I personally found her MUCH more attractive than usual in this PV with her high energy, radiant smile, and just overall cuteness.

Enough said… linked from youtube: Discotheque

Quick Summary, then we get onto the good stuff.

The story is centered around Kikuchi Yume, a country girl who has travelled to Tokyo for a summer training session to become a certified mage.  The series just runs through her adventures (and misadventures) of her summer, and the trials she must face to become a certified mage.

In this world, people who are born with magical powers can apply to be certified mages.  All magical action must be authorized by a central committee, who accepts requests from normal everyday citizens.  Then, the request is processed and passed onto a certified mage, who is allowed to use ONE action to grant the request of the applicant/customer.

Yume follows her teacher, Oyamada Masami, as he tackles each case.  Along the way she meets several other trainees, such as Angela Brooks and Inoue Sakuya.  Through several adventures, she learns that magic can sometimes bring joy to the customers, but it can also bring sadness.  She comes to realize that magic is not almighty, and is often only a temporary solution to a problem.  For someone who has always believed that magic could only bring happiness, Yume begins to question the raison d’etre for her powers.  How will she overcome this emotional obstacle?  And… as a side story, Yume’s teacher is also faced with a similar problem from his past, where his powers had failed him.  How will the teacher-student pair overcome their trials?

Picture time:

Someday's Dreamers

Main Character: Kikuchi Yume

Yume's bipolar, antisocial, mentally unstable buddy Angela

A scene I thoroughly enjoyed XD pt1

Pt 2: Oyamada-sensei on the left, Kera on the right... inconsiderate guys...

Pt 3, male nipples ftw =_= Poor Yume

Pt 4 YES COVER THOSE NASTY THINGS!

Yume using her magic, she chose a dolphin as her familiar

Before I start critiquing, I must point out the fact that I am an absolute SUCKER for Slice of Life anime.  My favourite anime series of all time would probably be ARIA (though I can’t decide whether I liked the first or last season best… so let’s just take all three seasons into consideration).  For anyone who has seen ARIA, they would know that it may not be everyone’s cup of tea: a cup that’s full of slow, relaxing cheesiness topped with a bit of a moral lesson.

While Someday’s Dreamers (I apologizing for referring it to its English name… but Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto is a BIT too long to type) wasn’t exactly as good as ARIA, I would definitely recommend it for people who enjoy Slice of Life anime.  It had a nice pace, where they would generally finish each case in one or two episodes.  One could also see how Yume, the protagonist, grows and learns from each case.  I also liked how they used the cases in which Yume actually exercised her powers as a reflective piece, where she would first see only a very shallow aspect of the work she had done, only to come to realize that there was more to each situation than she had initially believed.  There were also some episodes where Yume would refuse to use her powers, believing that sometimes some things must be solved by oneself, or else everything would be meaningless.

In terms of seiyuu… I was shocked to find that Miyazaki Aoi voiced Yume.  I mean, I could tell that the person who was voicing Yume had a slightly different depiction of the character than most other seiyuu might’ve done (the way she spoke was a little stiffer, and the way she portrayed some emotions was a little strange), but I was still overjoyed that my favourite Hachi (from Nana) voiced such a nice character.  I loved Aoi’s portrayal of Hachi in the first Nana movie… she managed to make Hachi NOT UBERLY ANNOYING, which is an amazing feat.  She had something that the second Hachi couldn’t imitate.

Anyway, enough fapping about Aoi.  Masami-sensei was voiced by Suwabe Junichi, one of the male voices I actually RECOGNIZE (clearly, I’m a female seiyuu fan… I don’t recognize, at least, I don’t TRY to recognize, many of the male voices).  Watanabe Akeno voiced Angela (KYAAAA ANOTHER GREAT JOB), and Milinda voiced by Hiramatsu Akiko, who also voices Kobayakawa Miyuki from the You’re Under Arrest series.  A pretty awesome voice cast for a pretty awesome series.

If one is a fan of Slice of Life, this is a must watch.

P.S. The last ep was a bawl-fest… I used 4 tissues (full of tears and snot).

Whatever expectations I had for this series… were sorely left unmet.

Mind you, this series had an awesome seiyuu cast: Toyoguchi Megumi as Rio, Kugimiya Rie as Maya, Noto Mamiko was Lilica, and Tanaka Rie as the jealous loser (I don’t recall them EVER mentioning her name in the entire series…).  Still, even the abundance of awesome voices did not make up for the crappy art, choppy animation, and absolute lack of storyline.  One thing it DID have in excess was fan-service.

Quick Summary: Future Tokyo is in a state of complete chaos, with crime rates raising and the current police force completely powerless to stop criminals.  In order to counter such a pathetic ordeal, the government establishes a secret task force which utilizes exceptional talent and super-powered equipment: the Warriors.  Rio and Maya, later joined by Lilica, are part of such a group.  Rio specializes in hand-to-hand combat, Maya in arms and sniping, and Lilica a natural psychic with exceptional powers.  The entire series is essentially about the three of them fighting crime, or solving big cases.  However, it seems that someone is working in the shadows so dispose of this super trio.  Who can it be?  What will become of these three super-well-endowed ladies?

Yea ok.  Picture time:

The three busty ladies... Lilica (Mamiko) on bottom left, Maya (Rie) on the right, and Rio (Megumi) on top.

LOL one of the most random episodes... used as a DVD cover??? Warriors... ALIEN STYLE XD

The smexy ladies behind the voices of the smexy ladies... if that makes sense. From the left: Mamiko (Lilica), Megumi (Rio) and Rie (Maya)

Let me remind everyone that I watched this SOLELY for the voice-acting… and even there I was kinda disappointed. Megumi voiced Rio, the lead, using a relatively girlier voice that sounded something like Meg from Burst Angel. However, occasionally she slipped into her lower Sei-like voice (Marimite), which I felt was just… not cool. If you’re gonna use a happy voice, stick with the happy voice. Don’t switch voices in the middle of the series =_=. Nothing exceptional from Mamiko or Rie either… both of them using their usual voices, saying unexceptional lines… etc. All in all, I didn’t like this series one bit.

However, if one is REALLY bored and would like to see lots of PANTSU and boing~!, please feel free to watch this. You won’t be TOO disappointed.

Now that work is finally over, I finally have some time to watch anime.  This is when I stumbled across this short, sweet OVA series.

Quick synopsis (I’ll try to leave spoilers out of this):
The entire story takes place in a fictional world where magic and technology coexists.  A machine called a “Mold” is used by people of all professions and fields in order to control and utilize magic.  However, when the magic-user either overuses magic, or uses magic with a defective Mold, the power goes out of control and contaminates their bodies, thus transforming them into bloodthirsty demons.

So the story is centered around two separate people really… One is Rayott, a man who carries the sin of killing his own master.  The other is Isaac, a man determined to be just like the hero who saved him in his childhood.  Ironically enough, the man who saved Isaac is the very man Rayott had killed.  What will happen when these two powerful magicians clash?  Here are a few screencaps to tickle your ani-tastebuds:

Rayott, the main protagonist

Isaac, the other protagonist in the story

Aftermath of a demon going wild...

One of the better looking demons (no sarcasm whatsoever)

Pissed off Isaac...

The ultimate face-off

Defeated...or not?

Transformation and death

The End.

Wow… short short summary.  It could’ve been a lot longer, but I didn’t want to spoil anything for anyone who wants to watch it.  All in all, I really enjoyed this series.  It wasn’t just mindless bashing and slashing and blood splattering.  Of course, there was some of that as well, which is the reason it initially appealed to me in the first place.  However, they also go in a little deeper to explore several moral issues.

In Rayott’s case, he blames himself for killing his master and many other people for his own survival.  However, in his given situation, should he really be taking the blame?  This situation is a prime example of where there are areas of grey in terms of morality.  It’s like saying lying or killing is always wrong, which, in my opinion, is not necessarily true.

In Isaac’s case… Isaac always saw himself as being a hero, or siding with justice.  However, he eventually finds out that he had been fighting for the enemy, risking his life to serve the very people he vowed to destroy.  How does that impact one’s heart and soul?

This series wasn’t all that deep, but it had a nice balance of action, plot, and the philosophical mumbo jumbo.  I personally think they could have pulled off a 12 episode anime series with this material without it being too draggy… but I guess this 3-ep OVA will have to do.

After reading seiyuu3′s most recent entry (by houkoholic) and watching the PV, I think Ameagari no Hana yo Sake just kicked Melty’s ass. I don’t know… the happy music and happy but clearly cheaply produced video really clicked with me. One thing bugged me immensely though.

Someone clearly overdosed minorin’s hair with extra-strength hairspray =_= It hardly even moves in the wind =_=

I downloaded (SORRY MINORIN!!! BUT SHIPPING IS JUST TOO COSTLY!) Minorin’s newest single about a week ago, and even after listening to it several times, I still don’t see it’s appeal.

Let’s just introduce the single first: Ameagari no Hana yo Sake contains two songs: Ameagari no Nana yo Sake and Say You. Both songs are upbeat, happy-sounding songs. Personally, I see NOTHING appealing about the title track; neither her singing nor the song itself reached out to me in any way or fashion. Say You actually spoke to me a little… but not enough. I thought Say You sounded rather generic… generic in that it sounds like 90% of all other happy ani-songs. However, Minorin’s Engrish was… less Engrish-y this time around, so I’ll give her a tiny bit of credit there. Overall, I didn’t like the single at all.

I’ve read many many other reviews on Melty Tale Storage (Minorin’s single before this one), and most people hated it. I, however, fell in love with it after listening to it a few times. I love how it sounds so grand and powerful, and absolutely loved the chorus and the two different parts being sung. I even liked the Echo of Melty Tale Storage: Red Strings Version they threw onto the single… even if it’s almost 8 minutes long. Sandglass~Kioku no Ryushi, the second track on the single, was also a better song (imo) than Say You.

In conclusion: Melty >>> Ameagari, and Sandglass >>>Say You… therefore Melty single >>> Amegari single. That’s just my opinion. Of course, it all depends on one’s taste in music… I simply thought Minorin’s newest single contained common-sounding songs with a style that many other artists also perform (and probably perform better). If there’s one thing that I think the Ameagari single bested the Melty single in, it’s the cover and pictures XD

Without giving too much away, let’s start with a quick summary of the whole series. Hilariously enough, Ureshii, one of the subbing groups that did this series, often jokingly compared the series to a Shakespearean tragedy. In a way, they’re correct (lots of dead bodies everywhere). While the series itself carried a rather depressing undertone, there were instances where there would be an explosion of emotions, whether they were happy (not likely) or sad (90% of the time). Despite being a thoroughly depressing series, Kaiba presented several interesting ideas: the idea of one’s life being equal to one’s memories, the idea of evolution through unity (which I will talk more about later), and the greed of humanity. There were many hints at other substantial ideas, but eh, I watched this series through a 3-4 month span, I can’t remember everything.

On with the summary. The story begins with a man waking up without his memories. He is found by Popo, who proceeds to name him Warp. Suddenly, a wild chase begins, and apparently everyone is after Warp’s body (which contains strange markings and a hole in his chest). Warp eventually escapes by transferring his memories into another body. After a series of depressing events, he somehow manages to obtain the body of a young girl he met, and thus wins the favour of a sheriff on board the ship he was travelling on. Using this body, and with the accompaniment of the sheriff, Warp embarks on several adventures. Through some unfortunate incident (which I cannot really talk about without giving the story away), Warp ends up losing the girl’s body and transported back into his own body. He then finds out that Popo (the guy who saved him) is part of the Issoudan, an organization hell-bent on killing Warp (not the main character, but another Warp), the King of the Overworld.

Apparently, everyone in the world of Kaiba is living under suppression from the King, who employs an electrolytic cloud to prevent people from reaching him. The cloud has the ability to dispel memories, and thus ending one’s life (keep in mind that in this world, memories are transferable, so as long as you have your memories, you’re not dead). Neiro, a member of Issoudan, is sent to kill Warp (the main character), as he was FORMER king. Popo, as ambitious as he is, wants to kill ALL the Warps, regardless of whether they are the current reigning king or a former king.

The system by which the Kings are chosen is quite complex: there are clones of Warp stored inside the palace of the Kings, and whenever the reigning king dies, a new king is born. However, only 1 in a million (or 10 million, I can’t remember) of the clones is fit to be king, because they are endowed with a special body (marked by the markings you see on the main character’s body). However, as things would have it, because Warp went missing, a fake Warp (one without markings) took over the throne and has ruled since then.

And thus Popo initiates his scheme to take over the world: he alters Neiro’s memories and makes her believe that Warp is the murderer of her parents, and sends her to kill Warp (who is actually her lover). He then sends people to kill the fake Warp, and believes that he succeeds. The real Warp is shot down, and at that point, the past of Warp (called Kaiba by Neiro) and Neiro is unveiled.

Popo, believing all who stood in his way has died, makes his way to the heavens using a special ship. He then pronounces himself king. However, before he can rule anyone or anything, he is shot down by one of his comrades, who is in turn, shot down by the fake Warp (who didn’t die) and his buddies. The fake Warp proceeded to destroy the Warp-cloning system, wanting to leave only ONE Warp (himself) in the world. However, he is stopped by Kaiba, who did not die from Neiro’s attacks, and is overwhelmed by darkness because his lover had tried to kill him. Neiro regains her memories (some of them), and tries to convince Kaiba to fight the darkness growing inside of him (the hole in his chest was the physical indicator of his pain). While this whole power struggle ensues, the legendary monster plant, also named Kaiba, is drawing closer to the world. What will happen? Will Kaiba be able to defeat both his earthly enemies and save his world from being eaten?

Bleh, my summary turned out to be a lot longer than I expected it to be. Onto the hits and misses.

Hits:

• An all-star cast with Houko voicing a great Kaiba, Mami voicing Neiro, and a spectacular Romi voicing a deliciously delirious fool of a villain.
• Concept of transferable memories, and humanity’s attempt to escape death using such a method.
• The idea that ultimately, memories do not make up the entire person. The heart matters too.
• Fantastic side stories to illustrate the flaws of the whole memory transferal system.
• Character design (not the art, I mean the actual characteristics, their stories, their pasts, etc) was phenomenal. Each character carried an abyss of darkness and hatred within them, which they either fall victim to, or eventually fight to overcome.
• A beautiful battle driven by human greed. It was fascinating watching the things people would do just for the sake of standing above others.

Misses

• The.bloody.art. I got used to it by the 3rd episode, but the floating blobs and retarded bodies really really turned me off.
• The concept of evolution by unity. Neon Genesis Evangelion, anyone?

Otherwise, the series itself was great. I seriously loved almost everything about it. However, I don’t think this is a series I’ll be able to watch more than once or twice. Some of the side stories are worth a 2nd or even a 3rd viewing, but the main storyline, once everything is made known or clear, isn’t really worth the time to sit through once more.

Still, for anyone looking for something with a little more depth, no fan-service, and thoroughly depressing, please watch Kaiba.