Sawashiro Miyuki 沢城みゆき has joined the Theatre Gekidango (Theatre劇団子) comedy troupe. The group performs live and creates video comedy sketches that are shown on TV.Miyukichi (her nickname) performed in their Harukanaru Yama de Yahoho 遥かなる山でヤッホッホ (I think that means something like "Off to the Distant Mountains, Yohoho!") last November.The show was also broadcast on Sky Perfect satellite TV for several days in January."Gekidango" is a play on words, involving gekidan ("theatre group") and dango (a kind of sweet dumpling). Viewers of Clannad will be familiar with the dango, which is featured in the ED.The group's irreverent comedy style reminds me a bit of Saturday Night Live, Second City, or even Monte Python. One of the group's members, 31-year-old Takahashi Kazumi, says her rebellious period hasn't ended yet -- and will never end. I think that's the group's style. You can see a sample of their work (without Miyukichi) on YouTube. That sample doesn't require much Japanese. Other samples require more.One of the group's recent podcasts is a welcome party for Miyukichi and another new member, Shiraishi Yuuka.Miyukichi is one of the top actors among current seiyuu. She got her first role as Petit Charat at 13 in the public audition for Di Gi Charat. You can see a video of those auditions on YouTube (part 1, part 2).At 22, she has already played in over 75 anime series, including such roles as big sister Iina in Kokoro Toshokan (when she was 16), Mint Blancmange in Galaxy Angel, Shinku in Rozen Maiden, Ibara-hime in Otogizushi Akazukin, Aruruu in Utawarerumono, Claire in Red Garden, Reika in Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun, and Hagino in Blue Drop. Not to mention large numbers of OVAs, movies, dubbing, drama CDs and music CDs.There is an excellent video compendium of her roles on YouTube.She is known as a quiet and serious person, who is always studying something, from swimming to story-telling to cooking. She is now a university student as well as a working seiyuu.She is also known as someone who does not hesitate to correct other people's mistakes, even people who are older than she is. I think there may be a lot of herself in Shinku.The pictures here come from her page on a Theater Gekidango fansite. Fans have commented about this last picture (right) that it shows Miyukichi's tongue is extremely long. All the better to create the amazing range of voices you can hear in the video compendium of her roles.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

I earnestly thought taking a long break from this series would allow me to enjoy it like I did when it first started. However it’s almost like there is no entertainment to be found anymore. Sure, it’s not a horrible series, but every episode delivers the same thing. While this certain one had a little [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

I admit I never was a fanservice fan. I dropped Goshuushou-sama Nimomiya-kun after the beach episode, and I never finished series like Love Hina and Ichigo 100% completely. While Rosario+Vampire is at first glance, another typical fanservice harem show, it did manage to catch my attention quite well.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

The fan service starts 15 seconds after the anime begins when a school girl rides her bike, as the wind blows cherry blossoms and skirts. The main character of the anime Tsukune Aono rides a bus in route to his new high school, Tsukune failed to get into high school with his friends but his father picked up an acceptance letter dropped by a priest, so Tsukune is going to Yokai Academy, as the bus enter a tunnel his cell loses the signal when his cousin was trying to warn him about the new school. The bus drops him off in front of a pumpkin headed scarecrow next to a blood red sea. As he approaches the school through a forested graveyard, fellow freshman Moka Akashiya accidentally runs him down with her bike. The beautiful girl is attracted to Tsukune because of the scent of blood from his nosebleed. She reveals that she is a vampire and sucks his neck giving him a hickey instead of the traditional fang marks. Moka asks if Tsukune dislikes vampires he replies that they are unique, in her delight she knocks him down pleading that he become her friend. When they arrive at school their homeroom teacher Shizuka Nekonome points to the school rules on the blackboard, revealing that everyone who goes to the school is a Yokai (monster) and any humans caught will be killed instantly.Fan service, comedy and vampires sounds like Karin another vampire comedy from 2005, this one expands on the theme by adding the cat girl teacher and monster classmates, an orc is featured in this first introductory episode. Next week we meet the succubus. I enjoyed the first episode but we’ll have to wait and see if they have a good storyline or it’s just going to be fan service heaven. The anime is based on a manga by mangaka Akihisa Ikeda, I’ll post scanlations of the first chapter in a few days and if you'd like to see this storyline but prefer little to no fanservice wait for the manga. I’d recommend this anime if you liked Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun or Zero no Tsukaima or the above mentioned Karin. If you don’t like shows with fanservice this would be a good one to avoid.Download the first episode of the English fansub here.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

So the Fall Anime season ended a while ago {I don’t really know ‘when’ since I haven’t been keeping track -_-} and that means that the 12-14 episode anime are ending their life-spans, along with the 24-26 episode anime from last season. I find it easier to make a batch posts like this rather than [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Well, I haven't blogged Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun for awhile, so I thought why not? This episode showed mostly girls (Mayu and Reiko), with a bit about the past. I'm starting to think maybe it was Mayu who was the little girl who kissed Shungo. Why? Well, Mayu seems to have had long hair in the past, while Reiko had short hair.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

I only recently watched this show, I’ve had it for a while but never got around to watching it for some reason. So, in a fit of boredom I started to watch it, and it’s bloody funny. It follows the same style as Girls Bravo with it’s fanservice level, big boobed girls and weirdness. Yet unlike [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Despite the fact I found this episode much more tame in humor in comparison to the wacky structure of the previous ones, it was some how much more funny to me because the jokes were in a neat order. At first, I found that the episode was beginning to bore me solely because it was [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Man, this song and Furefurepponpon! are too damn addictive >.<. I think I’ve racked up like a 100 repeats for Yubikiri and 150 for Furefurepponpon! already. Anyways, here’s the lyrics to Yubikiri as well, which is kinda nice after you get used to it. I still love the chorus part of Yubikiri a lot, the [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Seriously, addictive song. I’ve listened to it at least 40 times already since yesterday >.< A friend of mine, geister, takes all the credits for doing the transliteration of the song. I only did some QC checks and arranged the lyrics according to the original sheet. That being said, this song was surprisingly pretty long on the [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)