Since she's already the subject of so many of my 'Misc' posts I just thought I'd do the deed and get her profile written. This is probably the easiest one I've done so far as my brain is full to the brim with useless Kobayashi trivia anyway, I'm a keen fan of her voice work... amongst other things.Vital StatisticsName: 小林ゆう (Kobayashi Yu)Date of Birth: 2nd February 198?Hometown: Tokyo, JapanAgency: Holy PeakHeight: 168cm/5'4.5''Blood Type: OHobbies & Skills: Dance, Singing, Tissue artKey Roles: Dandoh Aoba in DANDOH!!, Sakurazaki Setsuna in Negima series, Lala Gonzalez in School Rumble series, Sarutobi 'Sa-chan' Ayame in GintamaI guess you could describe Kobayashi as 'a dumb blonde', though she met her match recently in Saint October co-star Fukui 'I can talk to trees' Yukari, who probably makes Yu-tan sound like Einstein. But Kobayashi has a lot else going for her; of the younger new seiyuu she probably has one of the most versatile voices, is a competent singer and makes an interesting interviewee too.Kobayashi's already voiced a fairly wide range of characters (young boys, sexy oneesan) and the sample on her agency profile (see links below) is a great example of what she can do, though my favourite is the daijin (大臣 - minister) voice she used for a radio program - you can hear it in the clip below from Animelomix with Goto Yuko-hime (Mikuru from Haruhi).Early onKobayashi worked as a model before being signed by her talent agency Holy Peak - she certainly has the height and the legs for it. She'd always harboured ambitions to be a seiyuu and even now says that there is nothing else she'd rather be doing (or maybe she has no contingency plans...).The first role Kobayashi auditioned for was Setsuna in Mahou Sensei Negima, but her role as the titular character in golf anime DANDOH!! actually made it to TV screens first as did bit-parts in Samurai 7, Starship Operators and the Gunbuster 2 OVAs (all in 2004).Negima + SetsunaSecchan's probably still the character Kobayashi's best known for, and got her a nomination for Best Newcomer in the Seiyuu Awards. She even took up kendo in preparation for the role. I guess Setsuna's similar (in some ways) to her other beloved character Lala Gonzalez from School Rumble; tough exterior, soft insides. Except Lala is twice as violent and about ten times uglier....I think quite a few Negima fans were initially apprehensive at the casting of so many unknowns, Kobayashi included. Setsuna was more or less a minor character to start off with anyhow, and the Xebec anime was a botched job that didn't really portray her that well I thought. But manga Setsuna's popularity was on the up during the Kyoto arc and she reigned supreme for a couple of the character polls.... so much that she was elevated to main status for Shaft's version of the anime. Which meant that Kobayashi got to participate in much of the promotional activities & live events for the show including hosting an event for the NegiPon!? (a special edition Negima!? 30GB iPod) by herself.CurrentlyThe character she voices that I'm most impressed by is Sacchan in Gintama, the near-sighted, masochistic & a tad insane kunoichi whose greatest dream is probably to get her pert tush whupped by Gintoki with a thorny whip. She's got various AMV tributes to her awesomeness on Youtube as well. Too bad she only pops up sporadically in the show, and when she does it's usually in the silly comedy episodes. She's also in Touka Gettan as Shouko, is one of the Goth Loli Detectives in Saint October (ending this week) and has the lead role in the frankly, rather rubbish Yu-Gi-Oh wannabe Bakugan Battle Brawlers.Up NextSayonara Zetsubo-sensei is the one to look out for, and being a SHAFT adaptation of a gag manga I don't expect to understand any of it without looking them up ^^; Yu voices a character called Kimura Kaere (is she modelled after Kimura Kaela?) who apparently is bilingual, has a nice body and can't sing. She's also in Baccano! but I don't expect that role to be very significant giving the huge cast that they have. I wonder if she's going to turn up in Higurashi 2kai (she voiced Satoshi in the first series). Further on in the year, Yu has a supporting role in Dragonaut (slated to start airing in October).RadioYu's actually done quite a bit of radio work, though it's always in collaboration with other seiyuu; I doubt she could have her own show as it'd probably consist of 40% silence, 40% um-ing & ah-ing and maybe 20% proper content. Thankfully she's frequently paired up with more experienced partners like Kojima Sachiko, who berated her whenever she started quietening down (Oi, say something Kobayashi!), Goto Yuko who spent half her time explaining various phrases & idioms to her and Satou Rina who has the patience of a saint to have put up with her for a year or so on Negima radio.Producers also like to pick on Kobayashi's inability to draw as 3 out of the 5 regular programs she was involved in had special corners revolving around her art. It is a running, though rather tired joke by now but she can't draw to save her life which has earned her the rather sarcastic nickname Gahaku (画伯 - artist, master painter). Full credit to her for being so good-natured about the whole thing and obliging anyone who wants one of her masterpieces.with Nonaka Ai.Trivia1*Probably has the most overprotective parents in the world, who listen to every single radio program she is involved. They also think that driving is an incredibly dangerous act and discouraged her from getting a driving license.2*Probably due to such strict upbringing, Kobayashi is arguably the most polite seiyuu that has ever existed - she always uses keigo no matter if the person she's talking to is older or younger (and always refers to them as ***-san). There was one instance on Negima radio where a listener sent in a request for her to Stop using keigo for the rest of today's show! and co-host Satou Rina forced her to call her Rina instead of Rina-san (she initially wanted Rina-tan) & kept correcting her everytime she slipped back to using keigo. Which was more or less, every other sentence.....3*Had a couple of part-time jobs working at a cake shop and a restaurant but described herself as a hopeless, useless employee (ダメなヘッポコ従業員) and wondered how she never got fired. She once mistakenly sold a wax sample (the kind that they stick in shop windows) of a sweet potato to a customer and got scolded by the manager.4*A bit of a dojikko. Tends to become oblivious of everything else going on around her when she's concentrating on something; often bumping her hands and head into the mics when she's doing radio shows. In a Saint October live event she somehow banged her head into her own birthday cake - luckily for her she was wearing a hat. Oh and she also walked into a lamppost in the street once.5*And talking about dedication, Kobayashi spends most of her off days memorising & reciting her lines at home. Is well known for having regularly practised the 'gorilla sounds' that Lala Gonzalez makes (see video below), and is good at imitating monkeys too. Special Gahaku Corner!-People who bought the Nintendo DS Negima!? game could apply for the special Gahaku illustrated cover called 'Artifact Jacket', which was given away to 100 random 'lucky' winners. The game's site also shows Yu-tan attempting to draw Shichimi and Motsu.-Tissue art! Or so Kobayashi calls it anyway.... the one above was made for the Anime Scramble radio show, and she's also made one for a rather bemused Goto Yuko.... the comment at the end of her post reads - Don't think about it. Just feel it. (考えるんじゃない。感じるんだ。)-The picture above is from her regular column Yu Gahaku no Kore wa Nandesho? from Seiyuu Grandprix where she draws some....object, and readers can hazard a guess at what it is. My first thought was 'That must be a cow '(highlight to see).... or maybe it's a teddy bear with leprosy but the answer was in fact, a panda......Useful Kobayashi Yu links:Official website - White WingPersonal BlogANN Profileperforming Lala Gonzalez' charasong Luchador live (cos I absolutely love it)And yes, I've taken (half of) what tj han said on board and attempted to implement the post expansion thing...but I'm still too lazy to move from Blogger I'm afraid.Oh and blog rolls too, though I refuse to use that phrase cos the childish side of me (the one that wants to point at everything and call it Poo!) can't stop giggling everytime I see it (Hint: read wiki).
(Read the rest of this entry)
(Entry meta)
