The seiyuu industry churns out so much new talent each year that it's hard to keep up. Shake a tree and a new seiyuu falls out. Every new anime season turns up some unfamiliar names and I'm always scratching my head and thinking 'Who on earth is that?'When I first started watching anime people like Noto Mamiko, Ueda Kana and Shimizu Ai were still relative unknowns ; and it's been quite a ride watching them progress from voicing support characters to regularly headlining anime series. Likewise it's been cool to see some like Nazuka Kaori, Shimizu Kaori, Koshimizu Ami, Hirano Aya & Irino Miyu grow up from awkward-looking teenagers to 'proper seiyuu' ^_^It doesn't always turn out that way though - there've been some seiyuu I thought might go on to bigger things but never really did; Yoshida Sayuri, Asano Ruri, Katou Nanae, Tasaka Hideki & Hoshino Takanori have sort of fallen in between the cracks and haven't quite had the sort of impact I initially thought they would.Anyway, here's a list of 10 seiyuu I think (or blindly hope) that in five years' time will have achieved success of Noto Mamiko proportions ^_^ The brick wall I faced doing this post was finding half-decent pictures of the seiyuu since most of them haven't been around for too long. And the list appears to heavily favour the girls... where have all the talented young guys gone? ^^;; Note: I deliberately left out Kitamura Eri & Inoue Marina, cos I don't want to sound like a broken record talking about them all the time...1. Yonaga TsubasaOne of Ken Production's biggest young hopes - Yonaga is one of the most recent graduates from their seiyuu academy School Duo (also attended by other KenPro heavyweights like Nabatame Hitomi & Itou Shizuka). Already he's landed two lead roles (Ren in Ookiku Furikabutte & Shingo in Gigantic Formula), something many of his seniors (Kakehashi Atsushi, Mogami Tsuguo etc) haven't quite managed to do. It probably helps that Yonaga's voice is pitched pretty high (to me, he sounds a lot like Sakaguchi Daisuke) & hence he's able to voice young male characters. Actually if you listen to the voice sample on his agency profile you'll find he's got reasonable range. Looking forward to hearing more of him in the future.2. Tomatsu HarukaHer debut performance as Corti in Polyphonica left a good impression on me even if the show itself didn't. A mere 17-years old and still in school, Tomatsu commutes to Tokyo from her Nagoya home every week for seiyuu work. Haruka-chan is............SUPER HYPER GENKI. Just listen to Polytalk (Kari), the mini shows she hosts on the Polyphonica website - she's like an Energizer bunny ^^; Tomatsu may be young but she manages to hold her own against all her experienced costars, her chats with Konishi Katsuyuki and Satou Rina were pretty fun. She also had a small role in Bokurano as Daichi's sister Futaba, and do look out for her next major role in Moetan as Ink's classmate Sumi (she also sings the opening theme with Nazuka Kaori & Tamura Yukari). I have high hopes for Haruka ^_^3. Hasegawa ShizukaTechnically not a newcomer; like Hirano Aya (they're both signed to the same agency Space Craft, which also has Chiba Saeko & Nanri Yuuka on its books) the 18-year old Hasegawa made her anime debut in Tenshi no Shippo back in 2001 when she was just 13, but she's been a child model since.... she was born ^^; Since she was 2 months old in fact (she mentioned this on Takahashi Mikako's radio show, who called her Dai-senpai) though she only signed up to Space Craft when she was three. Mainly voices young girls - Ruru in the Futakoi series, Tomohane in Inukami!, and currently Yukino in Airantou & soon to be in Lucky Star as Konata's cousin Yutaka. Shizuka likes eating bananas with mayonnaise on top, she's said that a few times on various radio shows now ^^; Plus she has the most infectious/irritating laugh, depending on how you look at it.4. Kakihara TetsuyaHe's maybe less of a newcomer now after all the publicity he got on the back of his surprise win in the inaugural Seiyuu Awards, but Kakihara only made his debut in 2005 as Bright in Futagohime. Born in Germany, the 24-year old is a graduate of Amusement Media's seiyuu training school (classmates include Kadowaki Mai & Hatano Wataru) and is now signed to 81 Produce, one of the bigger seiyuu agencies around. His voice is like Yonaga's, a bit higher than most male seiyuu but he can do serious characters like Mercutio in Romeo X Juliet in addition to the screaming shonen types (Simon in Gurren Lagann), plus the 5 inanimate objects he voices in Nanoha StrikerS (some in German). Kakihara's stock has certainly risen since the Best Newcomer award, and he's got a role in GONZO's autumn anime Dragonaut a.k.a. The S.O.S-dan reunion ^^;; And he appeals to the female fans too ^_^5. Fujita SakiTo me she really is a carbon copy of Tamura Yukari both in looks and sound. But I do like Sakki, her blog's part of my daily to-read list and I listen to her weekly radio show/podcast (when I remember). Mentioned in the KitaEri profile that she got a special prize in the V&S AUDITION; after which she enrolled in Nichinare (ARTSVISION's seiyuu training school), graduating in March this year. Sakki had a small role in Yoshinaga-san'chi no Gargoyle as Momo and then got her first major role in Tsuyokiss as Kanisawa Kinu, followed by the imouto-type Yayoi Mina in Tokimeki Memorial and the complete weirdo Momo-chan in Manabi Straight. She hasn't got anything on at the moment apart from that radio show... though she did go to Disneyland with Inoue Marina earlier this month ^^;6. Goto MaiI'm not sure of how versatile Goto is - the sample on her agency profile doesn't really show much range but her voice has got that sweet and soothing feel to it; reminds me a lot of Satou Rina (someone whose voice I could listen to all day long). She could find her niche playing moe characters in visual novel to anime conversions ^^; Her current credits list reads: Asagiri Mai (Tatsuya's sister) in Yoake Mae etc etc and Kohinata Sumomo in Happiness! And up next are roles in Nanatsuiro Drops and ef - a tale of memories which are both anime adaptations of games as well.... guess she's already being stereotyped.7. Fujimura AyumiClockwise from Top Left: Suara, Yuumao, Ito Shizuka & Fujimura AyumiAnother one of Ken Production's bright young stars. Ayu first got in the spotlight with her role as the mighty morphing Iokawa Karada in Asatte no Houkou, though she did have a supporting part in Nishi no Yoki Majo prior to that. Being a first-timer on Asatte, Fujimura mentioned on the radio show how she constantly fluffed her lines (up to 50 retakes once) & was generally a nervous wreck ^^; As Karada she did get to show off her ability to voice both little girls and teenagers and I thought she did a good job on the radio show and singing the character songs as well. Since then Ayu's had a lead role in Bartender, and is now in Touka Gettan as the maid Nene and in Kaze no Stigma as the tsundere joshikosei (with flaming pink hair) Kannagi Ayano.8. Okamoto NobuhikoOkamoto (front, centre) with the rest of the cast of solaFunnily enough, the three guys on my list possess similar sort of voices, squeaky high. Maybe there's a shortage of such male seiyuu, which is probably why the young male characters often end up being voiced by females. Okamoto's debut was in the rather underrated Ghost Hunt as John Brown, the gaijin priest with a funny Kansai accent but he's probably gained a bit more attention as the lead character Yorito in sola. Okamoto will be in Potemayo this summer voicing Natsu Yasumi (which translates to Summer Vacation), who earns my vote for second stupidest character name of the season (after Osana Najimi a.k.a. Childhood Friend from Doujin Work).9. Asumi KanaThe cute-as-a-button 24-year old Fukuokan wormed her way into many hearts with her performance as the similarly cute Yuno in Hidamari Sketch. Signed to Voice & Heart, the same agency as Inoue Marina; Asumi can currently be heard in Gainax's Gurren Lagann as Kiyal (one of Kittan's 3 sisters) and in Bokurano as Kana, the obnoxious Jun's little sister. At the moment, she's also co-hosting Busou Shinki RADIO RONDO with Kitamura Eri (she voices the MMS Angel Type Arnval in the game) and the Hidamari Sketch radio show just finished not long ago. Her blog is updated pretty regularly too.10. Endo AyaI guess her voicing meganekko Takara Miyuki in Lucky Star has gained her a few more fans, but Endo has been under the radar for a while now. First heard her in Okusama wa Joshikousei (for some reason, I quite liked the manga but the anime was a bit of a turn-off) as one of Asami's best friends, then forgot about her until she popped up in Inukami! as Imari (one of the twins). Endo was also on the 'infamous' Oshikari and Kokuhaku CDs and actually formed a unit called Plume with two of the other seiyuus on it, Kawaragi Shiho and Mizuno Manabi - they have a radio show and a blog. She's currently voicing major roles in two spring anime, Noa in the it's-so-bad-it's-good KissDum & of course, Lucky Star. Hopefully she'll get more roles after this....There are a few others worth keeping an eye on; the bubbly Katou Emiri (Kagami in Lucky Star), Hashimoto Mai who sounds really cute, and Nakao Eri (Escartin in Getsumen to heiki Mina) who is bizarre but fun, plus she possesses a deep, scratchy voice rarely heard amongst female seiyuu. Also Kano Yui, Takagaki Ayahi, Sasaki Nozomi, Hatano Wataru, Terashima Takuo, Akesaka Satomi, & some others who in my mind have been around for a long while but are actually pretty new (Yahagi Sayuri, Mizusawa Fumie, Tsuji Ayumi, Kawamoto Naru etc).
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

  Lucky Star 11 begins with the girls talking about the shooting star they saw the night before, and Miyuki stating she’s never seen one before. The girls also talk about what their going to do for winter break (note: in Japan Christmas is a pretty big commercial event, and Christmas eve has become a big [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Hopefully this works better than the last time. I only have Firefox 2.0.0.3 and IE 7.something to test with. I’m extremely impressed with how the video creator managed to keep the various Lucky Star attributes (like Konata’s extremely long hair and short height) and split them into The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya characters. (Tsuruya gets the [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

They worked together in Sumomo mo Momo mo and were co-winners as best young seiyuu in the Seiyuu Awards for 2006. And they seem to have become friends. They had lunch together recently -- after Aaya had finished a Lucky Star recording session -- and both posted in their blogs how much they enjoyed each other.Aaya said Yui was extremely funny -- "but of course she was drunk" (she wasn't). Yui said Aaya is so funny they laughed the whole time. Yui even referred to Aya as "Hirano sensei," which is what you would call a teacher or the master of an art (e.g., a senior seiyuu or a mangaka). Aaya referred to Yui as "Kano," and "Yui-san." (l-r) "The girl who ate the cellphone" (Yui from Aaya's blog; probably a play on words from the animated film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time). Aya from Yui's blog. Note that Aaya has a phone that takes bigger and clearer pics. Despite the quality, the shot of Aaya is one of the Nicest I've seen.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Okay so… In addition to Dennou Coil (love) and Lucky Star (love love), I need more anime to watch. Throw me stuff? Please?
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Based on the responses from the initial Power Rankings post, and because I've watched an obscene amount of anime in the past week for the purpose of providing a better ranking, I’ve updated the rankings and descriptions for each, as well as removed/added shows. Keep in mind that I’m only doing this “reseeding” as a follow-up to the first post – just because a show might have dropped 10 spots doesn’t mean the latest ep really sucked! Subsequent power ranking posts will come about once a month! June 2007 Rank (LW) Title Comment 1 (1) Gurren Lagann A great beach episode that not only elevated Nia to the Tessa stratosphere, but also had Yoko using her much-needed screen time well. Notice how Yoko looked a tad bit cuter this episode? The action remained nothing short of insanity, we saw the dramatic death of one of the prime evils, and there was even time for a haircut scene. In terms of sheer volume of enjoyment, the other shows don’t even come close to this. 2 (4) Lucky Star What’s this…consistency? Even the dialogue-exclusive episodes are really starting to be enjoyable. Whether this has to do with the dialogue getting better (maybe), the subject matter being more interesting (not likely), or just me getting used to this group of friends (there we go), Lucky Star has really, truly, deeply become a special, special show. Episode 11 was pure love. 3 (6) Claymore One way I evaluate anime is how badly it makes me want to read the manga after a cliffhanger – for those who haven’t done it already, this seems to be an issue that becomes more and more prevalent every week. Meanwhile, the anime is doing a great job of keeping it together and keeping it legit – somewhat of a rarity these days so far into the series! More after the jump....
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Summer is officially here, so I’m looking at the various season previews that appeared earlier this week. This feels good, because I am so far behind with watching the Spring shows (excepting Lucky Star) that a fresh start seems really appealing right now! As far as posting goes this summer, I don’t know [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

(Generic Yuki-relevant pic)So, Haruhi's got a video game now.I could rant to fill up this section, but no one reads that, eh? I'm just sectioning off some vague spoilers for the two of you who have not watched Haruhi Suzumiya yet. If not, feel free to continue.It's for the PSP and looks to be a visual novel, with some "revolutionary elements" according to Bandai Namco, the publisher. Not sure how many different ways one can mix up a ren'ai game though: somehow I could imagine it turning out like some of Navel's Really? Really! (a Shuffle series game), where the protagonist has to find and fix errors in the continuity of the universe, or something, i.e. Haruhi retcons the world and it's up to Kyon to fix it. Another possibility is Type-Moon's Kagetsu Tohya (Tsukihime series), where a single day is repeated over and over until the protagonist gets it right. This could be done, for example, with Haruhi's Endless Eight story (book 5), or perhaps a different time period (pretty much everything could work, to be honest). It would take most players, hopefully, less than 15,498 times to get through the path, though.Not much to say on the game yet but I imagine it's about time for a Haruhi game, considering it's meteoric popularity in Japan (didn't the Hare Hare Yukai CD hit #2 or something on Amazon?) and rabid fanbase around the world. PSP seems like an odd choice, mainly because I don't have one, but it makes sense as it has picked up well in Japan (although a far second from the DS) and many other visual novels have been released on it. Plus, I guess, it could always spur sales of it. But the main reason to long for, say, a PC release or something, would be the facilitation of an English translation as despite its popularity among anime fans, the Haruhi R1 isn't exactly burning up Amazon at 4,140th in DVDs.I'm hoping the main drawpoint, of course, is a possibility of a Yuki (OK, I'll be honest, I typed Nayuki first) ending. Or Mikuru, perhaps Tsuruya or Itsuki, if you're into those characters. It'd be interesting but also very difficult to make work within canon Haruhi storyline, i.e. Be with Haruhi or die.Other than that it's time for the world to hold their collective breath on this game, although I have a feeling that it's going to be a 'love it or hate it' thing, in that fanboys will gush all over this game (and we'll leave that as that), while realists will condemn it as a cash-in. Expectations might be a bit high coming into this, kind of like Lucky Star (the anime), which is good and amusing but not laugh-a-minute like everyone expected.It will be interesting though how the storywriting and planning is handled; and how much the game will fit into the canon Haruhi storyline. It's titled "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu" (where have we heard that before?), so it might be based on either the anime or the first book. I doubt Bandai Namco would base it entirely off the first book, as as much as the special powers of the characters could make for decent plot twists, everybody and their brother (and their brother's best friend's cousin's uncle's daughter's invisible friend) pretty much knows Haruhi - at least those that are going to buy the game. So "new" content might be on the way, after all - it remains to be seen whether it will be accepted into general continuity.But in the end, there is plenty of time to pass judgment multiple times (I've only just gotten the news on this 3 hours ago), so the verdict still remains to be seen; but, so far, for noobs like me who speak English, English, and English with a mock British accent, I think I'll have to give this a pass.-CCYP.S. Yay for AnimeNano!
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

What's the best way to spend Christmas Eve? Sending letters to that fat jolly prawler that breaks into your house and gives you free stuff. Or better yet, watching an episode of a Kyo-plugin show... now with less plugins!I never slept in a bus/train/subway before. Mainly because I tend to avoid public transportation because most of the time the only seats available are covered in dog/baby/old people crap. Only on school field trips but those usually keep me awake. I'm also paranoid I might be violated by those chikan due to reading a description of a very disturbing eroge Rapelay (NFWS!!!). I'm suprised a person drawn like Konata made it through these kinds of things, esspecially in Japan where chikan (obviously) run wild.... Wait, isn't that a little hypocritical? Konata was practically ALL OVER that man (which, by the way, I've noticed stands out amoungst the others lol). Weren't they just talking about how annoying it was when old people lean on them on public transportation? Oh well. That's what makes it funny. Oooh I hate it when that happens! Konata got her seat stolen! That happened quite a few times to me back in elementary school... Go up to sharpen a pencil/get paper for 6 seconds, and then someone's in my seat wanting to "talk to their friends". Pssh. ... Wow, I can relate to Lucky Star. Does that make me a loser?lol Konata and Kagami-sama studied for the same amount of time for once in this episode. 4 hours? Not that long, but it's long for Konata.I loved Tsukasa's facial expressions in this episode, esspecially when she goes like o___o. It's so cute. This whole episode reminded me of the manga for some reason, because usually we get this, but then we get this which looks like this.... Santa Claus is fake?! My dreams are ruined! I thought you loved me Tsukasa! ;___;This scene gave me a good laugh.The inside joke here is that Kagami-sama visits her sister's class a little too much, leading to the students adressing her by her first name. I also see some side characters with actual speaking roles, notably Misao (voiced by Kaoru Mizuhara)! ^^Moé and their fear of dentists... Haha, I just noticed that Miyuki seems to get alot of cavaties. ^^;I got kind of scared for a minute there when Konata sort of implied that she had a date, but I knew that wasn't the case! Santa cosplay ftw.... Is anyone else sort of freaked out that mainly guys go to that cosplay café? Are guys, like, 90% of the population of nerds? Or are they just there to check out the cosplay waitresses?This little boy wants to sit on Santa's lap. /pedo No, I'm not being serious, you sicko.As Hecate would put it, "fill me up with your lovely thoughts" Kagami-sama. I'm still not being serious, you sicko. Actually, no, these comments make me sort of the sicko here... Oh well. *shrug*"But ever since I was little, I've always thought Santa Claus was totally trespassing." That's what I've thought all along. Go Konata! Of course, he gives me free stuff for being a good little boy, so I didn't really mind. He's a respectable prawler.THIS WAS BASED OFF OF YURI SECKS! Haha. I'd love to have a friend like Konata, always making cracks about peoples' breasts and whatnot. X) I'm actually suprised at the size of Miyuki's bust too, that because it's "big", it's because you can actually see them unlike the rest of the Lucky Star cast. *headshot*I actually don't mind whenever my cup noodles get soggy. Why? Because I always have the ability to eat it all up with one chug, and it gives me that feel-good feeling...Did anyone else notice that particular cupnoodle changed from "CURRY" to "SEAFOOD" within a few frames? IT'S A TRANSFORMER GET IT! >:0Here comes my favorite scene out of the whole episode. Konata's dad tries to make clear on who has the authority in the hous because, even though Konata said she'll be coming home late, she came home too late... but then... "Merry Christmas! Here's your Christmas present daddy!"";___; It looked cold outside, why don't you sit down and have a cup of hot tea? I'm so happy I could die." xD To tell you the truth, Konata's dad has given me the biggest laughs out of the whole episode.Sensei was online that night? Kind of hard to believe, because I expected a person like her to...Oh yeah. That's right. "SINGLE". Hmmm... I wonder if Kona's dad would've been available that night. ;)"Oh!""Oh!""Oh!""No!""Yes."Static shocks always get me everytime, when I least expect it."Sutorongaa!!"The highlight of the episode. Konata's dad has algolagnia. Overall, a very fun episode. Two thumbs up. I seem to get very attached to this anime as the days go by.Looks like Akira is going to be in the next episode...(Read more...)
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Hypothesis: the jokes in Lucky Star are curved. Okay, no one is fooling anyone by saying that Lucky Star is a popular show on the air right now. But given its panel-comic format with a dash of slice-of-life, why do people like to look for reasons beyond the show itself to explain its popularity? I’m not [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)