Oh, just great. I’m losing interest in this series, as much as I hate to admit it. It’s not the only series that started out rather unbelievable this season. Heck, Nijuu Mensou no Musume had a far worse start, but at least that one has been showing potential. At this point, the sense of adventure [...]
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Anyone out there following Nijuu Mensou no Musume? It started pretty slow but it’s picked up since the 3rd episode and things are getting pretty interesting. Or maybe it’s just me being a fanboy of mystery-detective-phantom-theif and Hirano Aya. The ED-Unnamed World sang by Hirano Aya is pretty good:- Speaking of Hirano Aya, do you love [...]
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I do wish that the creators would show more of Chiko, improving her 1337-skills. Walking on a tight rope isn’t something you just learn overnight, and while I can understand that it’s perfectly possible for Chiko to learn this within a year, I’d much rather see her gradually mastering this skill, instead of vaguely hinting [...]
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Population: you, Aya Hirano, and the manliest thief ever. Thieves are already pretty manly anyway (see: Kokoro Library and Funny Tortoise the Thief), but they are especially manly when they send advance notice of their thieving intent and still manage to fool everyone anyway. Granted, thief shows tend to have this standard plot-generating mechanism, but [...]
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This is Aya's second idol DVD. I guess the first one last fall sold well enough that Spacecraft and Pony Canyon went ahead and made a second. At the moment, a week after its release, it is sitting seventh in sales in the idol DVD category on 7 and Y, and tenth on amazon.co.jp. (click photos to enlarge) There are several separate sequences, each featuring Aya in a different outfit, two of which are bikinis. More flesh is on view than in the first DVD. There is a loose story, with Aya's voiceover, of her meeting someone and going out with him. She sometimes faces the camera as if the viewer were her date.But the most interesting parts of the DVD show Aya playing UNO with some girlfriends. The girls sit around playing cards and talking "girl talk" of various kinds with Aya: about what kind of boys attract her, etc. The camera is on Aya the whole time. Several-minute-long segments of this are used to divide the various sequences. If you've always wondered what her normal voice sounds like (if a seiyuu has a "normal voice"), this may be the place to find out. It isn't the high, speedy cute-girl voice she displays in TV appearances, but the voice of a normal Japanese college student and society girl, it seems to me.These bits are quite informal, and evidently unscripted -- although they probably had the basic direction of the conversation planned out ahead of time. But you see her thinking, and hear spur-of-the moment jokes from her and others. You never see any of the other girls, who may be her manager and stylist, etc.In any case, as usual, Aya comes across to me as a fairly smart, natural, and attractive person. Not a quick-thinking, sophisticated entertainer, but more like an ordinary college student (even though she did drop out in first year, probably due to work pressure). The topics are somewhat interesting and amusing, but nothing deep at all. My ability to understand rapid colloquial Japanese is highly imperfect, though, so I'd be glad to hear from others what impression they got from the talk. I enjoyed the whole DVD, including the bikini pics, but I admit to feeling a bit uncomfortable with the progressive uncovering. Some people on 2channel keep saying she will end up in adult videos. That won't happen, but I hope commercial pressures don't move her too close to it. The idol videos selling more than hers tend to be more uncovered, too. As in her blog, she is determined to show us that she is now an adult. One sequence has her as a stylish woman drinking at a bar -- and also as the bartender. The shooting was done in Guam. They flew her there for a weekend last winter.The region-free 41-minute DVD is available from Amazon Japan (US$28 + shipping) and other sources. But if you just want to hear her work as a seiyuu, I can't recommend too highly the current anime Nijuu-mensou no Musume (it's also called Chico, Daughter of the Phantom Thief, or The Daughter of Twenty-Faces). For me, this is among her best seiyuu work, especially from episode 3 on. Nothing could be more different from Konata. If anything, it's more like a young version of her voice as Layla in NANA.
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I have chosen a slightly odd screencap for this episode because the character featured says nothing and does nothing except eavesdrop on a conversation. I don’t even know her name, although she’s clearly a significant character as she’s in the OP and featured as a Detective Girl in the ED. The point being, though, despite [...]
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Excellent, Chico is already growing up, and this episode skips ahead one year. This episode did well in just being believable enough. While it’s a bit hard to believe that in just one year, Chico would turn from a fragile girl who always stayed in bed into a master knife-thrower and how she has no [...]
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It’s Episode 3 of Nijuu Mensou no Musume, and Chiko, Twenty Faces, and the gang are going on a little ride on a submarine this episode. However, the sub crew turns on Twenty Faces after he finds some treasure, but he has his own trump card: Chiko. Go Straight to the Screenshots | Go Straight [...]
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In their first week on the Oricon music charts, Sakamoto Maaya's Triangular (Macross F OP) came in at #3, while Hirano Aya's unnamed world (Nijuumensou no Musume ED) was #20.Here is a list, from 2channel of the placing of various anime-related songs on the charts over the past week, with sales figures:#3 Triangular - Sakamoto Maaya (Macross F OP, 31,270)#20 unnamed world - Hirano Aya (Nijuumensou no Musume ED, 7808)#22 Sakura Amaneku Sekai - yozuka (Da Capo 2 SS OP, 7396)#26 Dear Prince - Ikemen Samurai (Prince of Tennis tie-in, 6527)#31 Bokutachi no Yukue - CooRie (Da Capo 2 SS ED, 5160)#36 Love Jump - Kuribayashi Minami (Kurenai OP, 4166)#39 Koi no Honoo - Sakakibara Yui (Kanokon ED, 3689)#43 Phosphor - Miyazaki Ui (Kanokon OP, 3096)#48 Chousai Kenbo Sengen - MOSAIC.WAV (Kyouran Kazoku Nikki OP, 2732)Hirano's, Sakakibara Yui's, and MOSAIC.WAV's are the songs that I personally enjoy most, at the moment. The anti-Hirano people once again are posting on 2channel that she's finished and that her fans are crying because she didn't get into the top ten. The more things change, the more they stay the same.But as I have been saying for the past year and a half, she is making one last attempt to be an idol/personality/singing star and it may work and it may not. I don't know what level of sales is acceptable to her backers. I love her recent music, but it doesn't seem geared to the market. Her second idol DVD just came out this week, too. I don't have sales figures for that, yet.
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Okay, we're three episodes into the spring anime season and I have to declare myself. At least I have to stop watching some shows so anime doesn't take all my time.My favorites? Nijuumensou no Musume, Kurenai, and Macross Frontier. None of these are reaching the level of True Tears, Ef, or Blue Drop for me, but they have a chance.I find myself especially eager to see each episode of Nijuumensou no Musume, and not just for Hirano Aya at her best. The pacing is perfect so far, never so fast that it loses emotional sense, nor so slow that I start looking at the slider. All the characters seem to have something inside them: they are people, not just images of people.I like the way secrets are revealed gradually, but without making a fetish of them. There is always something more to be revealed. And quick moments tell a lot, such as the The animation here is actually stellar, although at first it looks quite plain. Chiko's movements in episode 4 when she is cleaning the floor and a window are really something, as is the way her body sways as she gets up onto the seawall carrying a heavy basket. A poster on 2channel said that it looks like a rerun of an old show, and it does. But someone else pointed out that it uses modern techniques to give it this retro feel. Retro plus.The two groups subbing this in English give it two different names: Live-Evil calls it The Daughter of Twenty-Faces, which is a translation of the Japanese title. Sudo calls it Chiko, Heiress of the Phantom Thief, as Anime News Network does.Kurenai captivated me from the start. A seven-year-old girl who has been a virtual prisoner in her aristocratic family's home is rescued by her minder and hidden in the apartment of a young bodyguard called Kurenai, who has a killing blade implanted in his arm. The bold tsundere character of the little girl and the walk-on-eggs caution of her new roommate continue to make for a fascinating relationship.Once again, the direction and the portrayal of character and relationship are what make this show tick. And the voice-acting is continually excellent, especially that of Sawashiro Miyuki as the 16-year-old bodyguard and that of former child actress Yuuki Aoi -- who is actually 16 -- as the little girl.The show is directed by the director of Red Garden, and appears to use the same unusual technique of recording the voices before finalizing the animation. This allows for some very natural conversations, with voices running parallel or interrupting each other. Great effect.I had never seen any Macross show, and I went into Macross Frontier thinking it would be mainly mecha. Instead of that, I get some interesting characters and even romantic relationships, as well as space battles and friendly and unfriendly aliens.I am a total sucker for the shoujo staple of the apparently incompetent girl who will show her strengths as we go on. And newcomer Nakajima Megumi as Ranka's VA intensifies the effect. Endou Aya (Miyuki in Lucky Star, Angie in Neo-Angelique) is suddenly blossoming this year and makes the big singing star Sheryl into another fascinating character.You can add Nakamura Yuuichi's Alto to the list of good performances in this show. Alto was trained to play women's roles in kabuki, and is still called "Princess" by his friends. But his ambition is to be a fighter pilot, defending the Macross space colony. So we get complexities of romance, relationship, and gender. And a huge colony-city in space, making its way from Earth toward the centre of the galaxy.I am also enjoying Vampire Knight, which is a top-notch vampire show, in the league of Tsukihime and Tsukuyomi, and maybe even approaching Hitsuji no Uta, but with a shoujo tinge. It's wonderful to hear Horie Yui playing the young girl protagonist. But equally good to hear Miyano Mamoru as her (unrelated) elder brother and Kishio Daisuke as the aristocratic vampire who once saved her from another vampire.The animation here is not as detailed as in the first three shows, but it is very stylish. And I find the angst of the story quite persuasive. Hocchan's Yuki is strong, good, daring, and an attractive personality all round. Mamo-chan's Zero is a young vampire hunter with a secret.Kyouran Kazoku Nikki is my surprise hit. Its combination of madcap humor and sweet relationships is entrancing. And there is some great character-creating voice-acting by Fujimura Ayumi and Hirohashi Ryou, among others.My guilty pleasure is Kanokon, which may be the most outrageously sexual fanservice show I have ever seen. Even people who like fanservice are saying it goes too far. And Kawasumi Ayako shows yet another side of her multifaceted talent. The other main fanservice show of the seaon, ToLoveRu, doesn't interest me as much, but the wonderful Yahagi Sayuri is at her best as the hero's real love-interest, Haruna.I expected Neo-Angelique Abyss to be another guilty pleasure, but it is in fact more than that. The new staff (largely from Corda D'Oro) that is producing this iteration of Angelique is giving it better animation, better dialogue, and a plot that is working so far, despite the monsters. Endou Aya is making this her big season, with another sharp performance as the sweet girl who is the strongest mage around, and ends every battle emitting powerful light that flushes away the monsters. And the character design is terrific, including Angie's outfits and zettai ryouiki, and her bevy of real bishounen. Like Vampire Knight, this show gets its bishounen fanservice right, perhaps because the main staff people in both cases are women.Many people would consider any Da Capo show to be a guilty pleasure, but I don't. This second season of Da Capo 2 is starting off much better than season one, with romantic complexity and glimpses into the feelings of the participants. And Yoshiyuki's denseness has not yet gotten out of hand. Add Takagaki Ayahi (Noe in True Tears) as Otome, and you really have something.Real Drive is yet another Production IG/Shirow Masamune tale that I can't help enjoying even when I don't understand what is going on. Production IG's surrender to the commercial usefulness of fanservice has produced some interesting panty shots of the unusually plump heroine. Great animation and character design, as usual.Naisho no Tsubomi has captured my attention, too. It is based on a health education manga for girls, but has been made into an enjoyable slice-of-life anime. The first episode showed the travails of our young heroine as she had her first period, completely unaware of what was going on. The relationships with friends and family are beautiful, and so is the voice-acting, especially by Nazuka Kaori and Koshimizu Ami as the two main girls. Even if this show weren't such good slice-of-life, I might be watching it just for the beauty of those two voices.Allison and Lillia started well, but has become less interesting for me as it goes on. It is seeming too far-fetched and rushes through things that should take longer. We'll see how ep5 shapes up. The character and relationship of the protagonists are what count.Library Wars seemed to have some of the relationship goodness of Planetes at first, and may still, but ep3 was a bit meh for me -- except for the cliffhanger ending.My enjoyment of Itazura na Kiss waxes and wanes. Not a great show, but a great story -- which is the reason why it has come to anime after having already been a manga and two dramas. Maybe the fact that I saw one of the dramas makes this less interesting to me.Net Ghost PiPoPa is another surprise hit for me. It and the new season of Blue Dragon appear to be the most-watched new shows on Japanese TV. The clean look and good adventure story for young kids both remind me of Otogijushi Akazukin. Not something I'll watch every week, but enjoyable for what it is.There are lots of other good shows this spring. Almost everything is watchable. Soul Eater is visually wonderful, but the surface brilliance and humor aren't enough for me -- especially since monsters generally turn me off. I've never been a fan of Code Geass, despite its great cast. And Zettai Karen Children is just finding its feet. More of the emotion behind the characters and less of the stereotypical battles might please me.Wagaya no Oinari-sama has two good things going for it: the characters played by Yukana and Hayami Saori (Momoka in Touka Gettan). Yukana is the female aspect of the fox god who is brought in to protect the household. Hayamin is the clumsy but powerful young priestess who is there to help her and keep her under control. Hayamin, at 16, is growing fast as a seiyuu. Her singing of the ED is already top professional quality. But the story and writing are limping.Golgo 13 has real masculinity: a square-built sniper hero who shows zero emotion as he takes out the bad guys in a show whose dark colors and deliberate direction make it feel classic. Mnemosyne continues to combine atrocious violence with yuri in an over-rich but tasty soup. And Noto Mamiko and Kugimiya Rie sound great.Crystal Blaze, Himitsu: Top Secret, Monochrome, and Tower of Druaga all have strengths, too. Despite the fact I haven't had time to watch more than one episode, I suspect that Amatsuki could develop into something, as well. And Junjo Romantika is true yaoi, with strong fanservice and relationships. Kyou Kara Maou and Nabari no Ou just didn't do it for me after one episode, so I haven't had a chance to watch more.This season may not have the overwhelming excellence at the top that some other seasons had, but it is deeper in good shows than any season I can recall.
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