If you loved FUNimation's original dub of Slayers, you'll be pretty excited to know that the first four episodes of Slayers Revolution is available on the company's YouTube channel-- because it features the same dub cast!Yes, you can once again (or for the first time) enjoy Lisa Ortiz as fiery flat-chested mage Lina Inverse, Eric Stuart as her stalwart if somewhat stupid sword-bearing companion Gourry, and Michael Sinterniklaas as the often-mysterious Xellos, along with Jay Snyder-- Phoenix's Guzuri and the live-action Cutie Honey movie's Black Claw --as detective Wizer and Colleen O'Shaugnessey ( Bleach's Nel Tu, Digimon's Sora) as the strange furry creature Pokota.Of course, if you favored ADV's dub from the OVAs, featuring Cynthia Martinez as Lina, you're a bit SOL there-- but you should probably still check the new episodes out. Why not? They're free!   They're also not embeddable, so I can't just place them here for your easy perusal, but here's a trailer to make up for it  <object height="518px" width="640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hTf2FH5TrVA&amp;badVar=0xb1b1b1&amp;badVar=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed wmode="transparent" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hTf2FH5TrVA&amp;badVar=0xb1b1b1&amp;badVar=0xcfcfcf&amp;hl=en_US&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="518px" width="640px"></embed></param><param value="transparent" name="wmode"></param></object>
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Another year has come and gone. I thought I'd first look back to see how I did on anime I'd planned to watch in 2009.Minami-ke Okaeri -- I completed the series.Slayers EVOLUTION-R -- Again, I was able to complete the series. Still waiting for it to come out on DVD (though Slayers REVOLUTION will be out this year).Keroro Gunsou -- Did I even blog this? I see that I did a little bit at the
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Takagaki Ayahi 高垣彩陽 is 4' 11" of talent and hard work. And over the past two years, she has become one of the better seiyuu actresses around.She brings alive the laconic young killer Ein in Requiem for the Phantom. She made Nina Antalk the emotional centre of Chrome-Shelled Regios. Before that, she helped create an amazing romantic innocent with Noe in true tears.And the role that first got my attention was the mature Otome in Da Capo 2 SS. Especially her powerful emotional expressiveness near the end of the series. Ayahi can be a bit melodramatic, but the emotion works. (click photos to enlarge; mouseover for captions)Her ability is being rewarded with more and more roles. She has nine roles this year, and this fall will star in Sasameki Koto and will have an important role in Sora no Otoshimono.And don't be surprised if she gets a real recording career. She graduated from a music college in Tokyo, with a major in operatic singing (hear her opera voice in the Da Capo 2 interview, below). Sony made her part of their group Sphere, composed of Tomatsu Haruka, Toyosaki Aki, Kotobuki Minako, and Ayahi. I found some of her earlier work rather stiff, but her character song album as Ein from Phantom is excellent.Personal databorn 25 October 1985; 23 years old.150.8cm (4'11")from Tokyoagency: Music Ray'n (Sony)blood type Anickname: Ayahi, Ayahii, Ayahimeshe uses her real surname, not a stage name, because she likes it so much. She says it gives a feeling of fighting (tatakau) and energy (genki-ness, like a kid, a gaki).backgroundcomes from a large familyattended a girls' school from kindergarten through high schoolin kindergarten, wanted to be Sailor MoonLina Inverse's incantations in Slayers made her think that seiyuu could be magicianswhen she was younger she once wrote that her career goal was to be a seiyuu, but she gradually drifted over to a greater interest in musicgraduated from music college in March of 2008becoming a seiyuuher interest in seiyuu work revived after she saw Gundam Seedshe qualified at a series of Music Ray'n auditions in 2005-2006she only took the audition due to a friend's encouragement, and barely made the deadlineshe got her first role a month later, in 2006her first named role was Tsubaki in Ouran HS Host Club (2006)her first starring role was Ruchia in Venus Versus Virus (2007)Video clips of Ayahi's roles:<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IJJzhMlS6hY&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IJJzhMlS6hY&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>rolesshe has a fairly wide acting range, from little kids to romantic teens to gentle weak girls to elder sister types to proper young ladies to boyish girls to serious young womenshe uses her voice well, but it is not particularly distinctivemajor roles: Ruchia (Venus Versus Virus), Jasmine (Deltora Quest), Otome (DC Da Capo 2), Feldt Grace (Gundam00), Noe (true tears), Tsubasa (Kyou no Go no Ni), Nina Antalk (Chrome-Shelled Regios), Ein (Requiem for the Phantom), Aresta Blanket (Charger Girl Juuden-chan), Sumika (Sasameki Koto) skill and talentvery studious, memorizes a script perfectlycarries a notebook and writes down things older cast and staff saymakes and organizes notes about each production and each characterseiyuu usually check a script by whispering through it; she surprises people by speaking it out at full voiceother seiyuu say she really gets into her role, becoming one with itTomatsu Haruka has praised her vocal range, nimble tongue, and pronunciation and breathingHisakawa Aya has said, rather cryptically, that Ayahi is just what a seiyuu should beInterview re Da Capo 2. Watch for her singing a bit of opera around the 6:00 minute mark. The interviewer nearest Ayahi is Sakai Kanako, who starred in REC:<object width="420" height="339"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/xag78d"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/xag78d" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="339" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object>personalitystaff and seiyuu say she is majime (modest, serious, and polite)she gives coworkers presents and cards, particularly for birthdays and Valentine's Daynatural and direct, approaches problems head-ona bit of an airhead at times; Taniyama Kishou says she should be the Tokyo representative in the World Airhead Championshipsshe herself admits it's a bit true, but apologizes to the real airheadsfriends with Chihara Minorieasily moved to tears, often crying at events and on radio, and especially at anime wrap-up partiesa terrible cook: there are stories about her not being able to peel a boiled egg, and failing at making pancakes; she says she just needs more practicethe pancake story got included as part of Nina's back-story in Regioscarries a large bag and surprises people by pulling all sorts of things out of its jumbled interior familyvery close to her family, always talking about her motherlives with her mother and younger sisterher mother checks everything she writes on her blogher grandmother does her hairet ceterashe is very concerned with the roles she plays; at a live event, she went on and on mentioning the minor roles that were not included in her Wikipedia entry, and described her feelings about shows she had unnamed roles in.she considers it very important to sing a character song in character: for Regios songs, she had pictures of her character and a script set up in the recording booth.she says she is an otaku for her own shows, getting books, figures, etc.fell in love with the Toyama area, where true tears was set and where the show's PA Works studio is located; other seiyuu call her the "ambassador for sightseeing in Nantou" (a city in the Toyama area)on 2channel, there are almost 12,000 posts in her main threads; but there are also several hundred in anti- threads, criticizing her voice and acting ability, as well as her dark skin and supposed common manner. It's true that her dark skin sometimes makes her look like a tanned Japanese "gang girl." So does the fact that she sometimes seems to use a lot of make-up.she likes to wear her hair piled up high on her head, to make herself seem tallerSphere (l-r) Tomatsu Haruka, Kotobuki Minako, Takagaki Ayahi, Toyosaki Aki:music2009.2.15, at Music Ray'n Girls Spring Choco Matsuri, formation of Sphere was announcedat 23, Ayahi is the group's oldest member: Tomatsu Haruka is 19, Kotobuki Minako 18, and Toyosaki Aki 22.singers Ayahi likes: Honda Minako 本田美奈子, KOKIA. She did Honda's signature tune Amazing Grace at the Music Ray'n Girls Autumn Harvest Festival event, and KOKIA does OP1 and ED2 for PhantomKOKIA wrote the music and lyrics for two Gundam00 character songs Ayahi will release October 21Sphere's debut event:<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xmS8QhEnpL0&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xmS8QhEnpL0&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Good TV interview with Sphere:<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/g0l7tu-lOx0&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/g0l7tu-lOx0&amp;color1=0xb1b1b1&amp;color2=0xcfcfcf&amp;feature=player_embedded&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>non-anime workdubbing: three roles, including the female lead in the movie 10,000 BCa role in a stage musicalten radio shows, four of which are continuing (Takahashi Daisuke and Takagaki Ayahi's Nightly Hustle, Web Radio Planet Sphere, Phantom Radio, Canaan radio)roles in eight games (none adult), including leading roles in Da Capo 2 Plus Situation, and Dungeons & Damroles in four radio dramas, including the online voice comic ("vomic") Sugars links:official siteblog Anime News NetworkJapanese Wikipedia video clipsTV show with Shiraishi Ryouko and Nabatame HitomiTV show with Nazuka Kaori and Iguchi Yuka for true tearswith Tomatsu Haruka in a promo for an “audio novel”with Iguchi Yuka in a TV interview re true tearsseiyuu visit Toyama, location of true tearsinterview re her debut in Venus Versus Virusinterview with Sphereinterview re recording Regios EDCast in:2006 Ouran High School Host Club (TV) as Female university student (ep 17); Kamigamo TsubakiPocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl (TV) as Chinatsu (ep 76)Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori (TV) as Kitazaki (ep 18)2007Deltora Quest (TV) as JasmineGakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! (TV) as Student (ep 10); Sweets Student (ep 3)Venus Versus Virus (TV) as Nahashi RuchiaToward the Terra (TV) as AlteraKenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho (TV) as Oyamada Asami; Nanjou Karena (ep 8-13)Baccano! (TV) as Lumiere Sylvie D.C. II: Da Capo II (TV) as Asakura OtomeMokke (TV) as Aida (ep 22)Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun (TV) as Ninomiya Shungo (young)Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (TV) as Feldt GraceRental Magica (TV) as Female Student; Male StudentAyakashi (TV) as Natsuhara (ep 6)2008true tears (TV) as Isurugi NoeAllison & Lillia (TV) as Meg (ep 23)D.C.II S.S. ~Da Capo II Second Season~ (TV) as Asakura OtomeNet Ghost PiPoPa (TV) as Yukiya KarinWagaya no Oinarisama (TV) as Hashimoto Shunta (ep 22)S.A. (TV) as Yamamoto Megumi; Takashima household Maid C (ep 12); Yuki-pon (ep 11)Slayers Revolution (TV) as Girl (ep 13)Battle Spirits: Shounen Toppa Bashin (TV) as SuirenYozakura Quartet (TV) as Tatebayashi MizunaJigoku Shoujo Mitsuganae (TV) as Moriyama Jun (ep 3)Macademi Wasshoi! (TV) as PaltiaKyo no 5 no 2 (TV) as Kawai TsubasaMobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season (TV) as Feldt GraceSkip Beat! (TV) as Miya2009Maria-sama ga Miteru 4th Season (TV) as MiyukiZoku Natsume Yūjin-Chou (TV) as Sui (ep. 2)Chrome Shelled Regios (TV) as Nina AntalkPhantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~ (TV) as EinCharger Girl Ju-den Chan (TV) as Aresta BlanketCANAAN (TV) as NeneZan Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei (TV) as Oora KanakoSora no Manima ni (TV) as Minami SayuriSora no Otoshimono (TV) as Satsukitane MikakoSasameki Koto (TV) as Murasame SumikaKyou no 5 no 2 Takarabako (OVA) as Kawai Tsubasa2010 Hanamaru Kindergarten (TV) as HiiragiStaff in:2008S.A (TV) : Theme Song Performance (OP/ED2)Battle Spirits: Shōnen Toppa Bashin (TV) : Theme Song Performance (ED2)2009Chrome Shelled Regios (TV) : Theme Song Performance (ED)Hatsukoi Limited (TV) : Theme Song Performance (OP - Sphere)Charger Girl Juuden Chan (TV) : Theme Song Performance (OP)Sora no Manima ni (TV) : Theme Song Performance (OP – Sphere)(lists from Anime News Network)Music CDsVenus Versus Virus Character Vocal AlbumDC Da Capo 2 Character Songs v.6true tears Image Album "Tears...For Truth"true tears Character Image Song CD "Another World" (DVD6 extra)S.A. Character mini-AlbumS.A. ED2Kyou no Go no Ni BGM Collection Sound Festival Chrome Shelled Regios: character songs 1 and 2 "Yasashii Uso" (from Chrome-Shelled Regios)Dungeons & Dam Audio Collection"dear-dear Dream" (Battle Spirits Shounen Toppa Bashin)Requiem for the Phantom character maxi single "Inspired by Ein"Canaan Insert Song "China Kibun de High Tension"Gundam00 Voice Actor Single "Inori" and "Justice"Fight Ippatsu Juuden-chan ED "TeCh=NoloGy"Ragnarok Online 7th anniversary song (Sphere) -- "Kaze wo Atsumete" and "Brave My Heart"(list from Neowing and 2channel)upcoming eventsLantis Matsuri (27 Sept) - SphereTokyo Asia Music Market (23 Oct)Ragnarok Online World Championshiup 2009 (1 Nov) - SphereSphere Colorful Concert (10 Jan 2010)(list from 2channel)Ayahi sings (streaming audio) the Regios ED Yasashii Uso, as back-up singer to Chrome Shelled (studio musicians).
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Comic Natalie seems to have word that Tsutomu Mizushima-- director of several of the Crayon Shin-chan films, as well as Ookiku Furikabutte, the Genshiken OVA, Kujibiki Unbalance, and xxxHOLiC (among others) --is set to direct the upcoming anime Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku.Unfortunately I had difficulty confirming the information anywhere else; the only other mention I saw of it was at Anime Maker Sendenman, who also didn't cite a source (though they also claimed that Yoshikazu Iwanami ( Ah! My Goddess, Blood+, Slayers Revolution, etc.) would be sound-directing the show).So for the time being this is officially a rumor, albeit a plausible one. Natalie also notes that it is still unannounced whether Mudazumo will be a TV series or an OVA.You may remember Mudazumo as the anime that features former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as a mah-jongg player, taking on the likes of Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush in the ongoing games.
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So, a fourth season of Slayers was announced years after the third season ended, and you didn't understand what all the fuss was about. It was just some old show, wasn't it? Not even close! Slayers is probably the best fantasy comedy anime ever made, and to no Japanese reader's surprise, since it's based on Hajime Kanzaka's uber-popular light novel series (over 30 volumes to date!). But a lot of younger fans may never have gotten a good shot at watching Slayers. It is an older show, and less focused-on, so by the time the new seasons (Slayers Revolution and its followup, Slayers Evolution-R) started, it'd be too much trouble to catch up on the canon, so I think it got shrugged off.However! I recently noticed that the first (and second) seasons of Slayers are currently up on Hulu. At the moment it's dub-only, as it looks like FUNimation doesn't have the digital-streaming rights to the sub version just yet, but Slayers has a pretty solid dub-- Lisa Ortiz does a good job of voicing Lina Inverse, even (in my opinion) mimicking Megumi Hayashibara's pitch and style. (Note: she did the TV series dubbing, but Cynthia Martinez did the OVAs and movies.)So, the plot: Lina Inverse is a pint-sized and young sorceress of immense power. Sometimes she uses that power for good (she's always willing to save the world), and sometimes for...not so good (when she's pissed off, hungry, or greedy...which is most of the time). Throughout the first season she's joined by a rather dumb but skilled swordsman named Gourry , who assigns himself to be her bodyguard. Along the way they make any number of friends, including the emo chimera Zelgadis and the would-be-superhero, Princess Amelia . Each season features wacky adventures, growth to the impressive world-setting created by Kanzaki (think D&D-- black mages, white mages, dragons, etc), and eventually a world-saving quest of some kind.I know it might be daunting to want to try since there are now five TV seasons and all those OVAs and movies-- I'd say to start, skip out on the OVAs/movies entirely, and just take the show one episode at a time. Starting with the first. And if you like it, you can move on to the second. And if the whole first season is enough for you-- and I'm betting it won't be --then you can stop there. (And if it's not, hey, the second season's available too!)To get you started, here's that first episode, and here are all the rest in the first season . Enjoy! <object height="296" width="512"></object><embed src="http://www.hulu.com/embed/5V2mAxrKtyHyJfb0zkAyIA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="296" width="512"></embed> 
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(Left) Lina from Slayers Next, 1995; (Right) Lina from Slayers Revolution, 2008 Ever since all anime switched from cel animation to digital animation back in the early 2000s, there has been some debate among fans about whether story/character quality has decreased even though animation techniques have increased… Although I became an anime fan around when cel animation [...]
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anime!anime! has the nominees for Animation Kobe's 14th annual theme song awards, for which voting has also just opened up. Here are the nominees:Macross Frontier, TriangularSlayers Revolution – Plenty of GritMinamike – Keikenchi Joushou Chuu (“Gaining Experience Points”)Zettai Karen Children – Over the FutureCLANNAD – MegumeruSo, I wish ED songs were eligible as well as OP songs, because I liked Diamond Crevasse (Macros F's first ED) better than the OP, not that I thought it was bad. I also can't help but feel like Slayers Revolution got nominated because it's Slayers and Megumi Hayashibara...it's a good song, but not great.Of these, my favorite is actually Zettai Karen Children's Over the Future. It's snazzy and catchy and, if you know the lyrics, totally adorable.But why should I keep blathering on the matter? Here's all five of the songs on YouTube so you can share your own thoughts.  Macross F - Triangular: <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eQEthcuk0zw&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eQEthcuk0zw&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></param></object> Slayers Revolution – Plenty of Grit: <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oHGZaunFjN4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oHGZaunFjN4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></param></object> Minamike – Keikenchi Joushou Chuu: <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RG4do-nZkqU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RG4do-nZkqU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></param></object> Zettai Karen Children – Over the Future: <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IZLRrtzM4v4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IZLRrtzM4v4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></param></object> CLANNAD – Megumeru: <object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GGr4oX9vTS8&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GGr4oX9vTS8&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></param></object> Okay, dish. What's your favorite, what's your least favorite, and what do you think will actually win?
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Everyone knows Slayers the Anime right? It is a series with that famous powerful sorceress called Rina Inverse that…er, wait a minute…It is “Lina Inverse” right?…No, It is Rina Inverse…I am telling you…It is Lina, not Rina…whatever. Italian Rina Inverse Figure That´s the eternal discussion among some anime fans I heard around and it is not surprising. [...]
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While taking the 2nd-half of Slayers Revolution and turning it into a separate series may have been a marketing ploy on the part of the Japanese, I decided that I didn't mind this if the writers continued to attempt to shift the anime in line with how the novels are. So how did things go? Well, the alignment with the novels continued and there was one nice teaser, but in the end it was a mixed
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Shabranigdo is beginning to revive in the beginning of thirteenth and final episode of Slayers Evolution-R, “Zero Hour: The one that destructs!”, after Rezo opened his eyes using Pocota’s body. But Rezo’s primary goal is not to regain his sight or even revenge against Lina: with the fragment of Shabranigdo intertwined with his own [...]
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