I listen to a fair number of anime/seiyuu related radio shows every week, depending on the amount of free time I have. My Japanese is nowhere near perfect, but I know enough to not be completely bewildered listening to them. I mostly only listen to shows related to anime I’m watching/intending to watch, unless I’m a fan of the seiyuu involved. Here’s a selection of shows I’ve been listening to in 2006:
1. Kana.Yui.Yukari no Kashimashi Radio (ended)
This aired for more than a year, starting in October 2005. It was painful listening to this at times; with three high-pitch voiced girls screaming at each other it tended to give me a headache. The show is divided into three parts; starting off with ‘Hazumu no Kadan’, which features Kana Ueda reading a short reader-sent in piece about a flower (remember Hazumu’s an avid gardener). The second part is the usual letter reading and free talk, and the third part is alternated: for the first few months it was either ‘Onnanoko no Jouken’ (The Conditions For Being A Girl) or ‘Docchi ni Suru?’ (This Or That), then in the latter half it was either ‘Dore ni Suru?’(Which Will You Choose?) or ‘Kashima Koukou Nazo Kenkyuubu’ (Kashima High’s Riddle Solving Club).
Onnanoko no Jouken is basically readers sending in their ideas on what makes a girl a girl, and the Docchi/Dore ni suru? is where the three seiyuu have to choose between 2/3 choices of a given theme (ie Which of the following goods would you put your name to? 1.perfume 2.cars 3.a cocktail). The Riddle Solving Club is exactly as the name says; Horie, Tamura and Ueda getting to show how stupid they are by trying to solve sent-in riddles and questions. One of my favourite episodes was #45, with the question ‘犬は英語でdog、猫は英語でcat、ではかっぱは英語でなんでしょう?’(Inu wa Eigo de dog, neko wa Eigo de cat, de wa kappa wa Eigo de nan deshou?). Of course, otaku who have watched too much anime would know the answer straight away. Messrs Yui Horie and Yukari Tamura struggled, giving rather random answers as water child, green man, turtle and monster until Yukarin had a sudden brainwave and blurted out the correct answer ‘Raincoat!!!’ Horie redeemed herself later on by giving the correct answer for ‘Who is the author of 東方見聞録 (Toho Kenbunroku)?’ [Marco Polo]
Overall I really enjoyed the program, mainly due to the camaraderie between the three seiyuus, who did actually sound like they were having a good time. There were also a couple of monthly podcasts hosted by Asano Masumi (Ayuki) & Shintani Ryoko (Jan-poo).
2. Radio Animelomix – Higurashi no naku koro ni Koborebanashi-hen (Fridays, http://www.animate.tv/digital/web_radio/detail_089.html)
The main program airs on normal radio, so no chance of hearing that. This is a short outtakes show featuring Nakahara Mai (Rena) & Kobayashi Yu (Satoshi), where they read a few leftover mails and talk about generally irrelevant things. The best bit about the show is the omake corner ‘Gahaku’ (Artist), where Mai-chan has to guess what Yu-chan’s drawings based on the Higurashi universe are depicting. Good lord, I never knew anyone who could draw as bad as Yu, it’s mortifying. I know she’s well known for being bad at it, but her pictures for this show really take the biscuit. Though it’s really sweet how Yu keeps apologizing to Mai for her bad art. Mai’s got 3.5 points so far, (1 point for each correct answer) and she’s gotten pretty close on a few occasions (with loads of hints along the way). I’ll do a follow-up post about Kobayashi Yu’s drawing skills.
3. Utawarerumono Radio (Mondays, http://www.onsen.ag/)
A show so popular that it ground Onsen’s servers to a halt, Utawarerumono Radio features the two main personalities Yuzuki Ryoka (Eruruu) and Koyama Rikiya (Hakuoro), both first time radio hosts. Seriously, it doesn’t matter what the heck the corners are about; Yuzuki can carry the show by herself. She’s loud, playful, and generally mean to all the female guests on the show, berating them for getting too close to Koyama (except Miyake Kaya (Touka) who guested on an episode where Rikiya wasn’t around). Episode #6 with guest Kirii Daisuke (Oboro) was most notable for the incident where Rikiya wore a Hakuoro mask on air and Yuzuki made all sorts of….strange sounds. The episode where Koyama Tsuyoshi (Kurou) subbed for Rikiya (#10) was memorable as well, with him spouting all sorts of rubbish and Yuzuki trying to cover/censor everything by repeatedly playing/singing the intro for ‘Musouka’. Tsuyoshi also made up a horrendous ‘Utwarerumono’ song that goes ‘Utawareru~mono, oretachi utawareru~mono’ which has been since been sung by other guests such as Miyake Kaya and Suara.
4. KujiUn Radio~Ai to Ami no Rikyoin Gakuen Seitokai~ (Thursdays, http://lantis-net.com/kujiun/)
I haven’t been listening to this recently as my interest in the KujiUn anime series has sort of died. The radio show though, is fairly entertaining despite my lack of affection for Nonaka Ai. True to the name of the series, there are no set schedules for each program and instead, the two personalities Koshimizu Ami and Nonaka draw lots to first decide who is in charge of drawing the Kuji for the episode, then further lots to decide what corners are featured. There are 7 corners altogether; a mix of dull, interesting and plain weird. I would guess that most people’s favourite segments would be ‘Speech Unbalance’ (tongue twisters) and ‘Kujibiki Recipe’. The latter can produce hilarious results; first they draw lots to decide how many ingredients to use, then they draw the ingredients randomly, put it all in a blender, whip up some disgusting concoction and consume it on air. They then have to give the recipe a name. Here’s an example of a recipe from one of the earlier episodes:
Recipe name: Aki sakidori
Ingredients
———————————
milk
orange juice
kurozu (black vinegar)
sanma (pike)
kimchi
Hakata-mentaiko (marinated pollock roe)
Yes, it was pretty bad.
5. Radio Pumpkin Scissors Kochira Rikujo 3-ka Hosokyoku (Thursdays, http://www.onsen.ag)
Hosted by Ito Shizuka (Alice Malvin) and a rotation of cast members (Miyake Kenta [Orland], Ueda Kana [Stekkin], Suzuki Chihiro [Machs] and Chou/Nagashima Yuuichi [Hunks] so far), the Pumpkin Scissors radio show doesn’t particularly stand out in any way. However, the chemistry between the seiyuus makes up for it. Shizuka and Kana are both radio veterans and good friends (as well as drinking partners) so their episodes often descended into random chit-chat sessions. The four Chi-chan episodes were entertaining as well; I never knew he was such a lively and funny guy (with an infectious laugh).
The program is divided into four parts, starting off with the usual ‘Futsuota’ (normal correspondence) corner, followed by ‘Nandemo Fukkou!’ (Revive Anything!). This segment features listeners sending in problems they’ve faced recently and Shizuka and partner think of possible solutions to their questions. Though they often veer off the topic completely…. ‘Alice kara no Hitokoto’ (A Word From Alice) is the next section, where listeners send in possible phrases that Alice might say and Shizuka reads them out in Alice-mode. The last corner is ‘Kimi koso Kizoku da!’ (You’re The Noble!), where listeners send in anecdotes of (weird) people they think should be nobles. Shizuka and co. read them in mock-posh voices, and then evaluate each candidate and give them a ‘royal’ title.
Other shows I sometimes listen to:
Mai to Ai no Dengeki G’s Radio – Strawberry Panic! Oneesama to Ichigo Soudou
(Tuesdays, http://lantis-net.com/stpani/)
To be honest it’s rather dull, but I’m a Nakahara fan so I stuck with it. The best corner is the ‘Ane-senryu’ (Older Sister Comic Haiku) shorts, which are mostly vomit-inducing minute-long mini-dramas featuring an onee-sama and imouto in all sorts of yuri-yuri situations.
Maria-sama ga miteru Web Radio (ended)
Hosted by Ueda Kana (Yumi), and usually featuring a guest Marimite cast member, they read fan letters, chat, eat lots of nice sweets and drama CD episodes are played.
AsaRaji - Asatte no Houkou Web Radio (Fridays, http://lantis-net.com/asaraji/)
Hosted by the two main seiyuus, Fujimura Ayumi (Karada) & Ito Shizuka (Shouko). There are three main corners; ‘Karada no「Hitori de dekiru mon!」(Karada’s ‘I Can Do It Myself!) where listeners send in things that Karada should be able to do as she’s an adult, and ‘Shouko no Otona no Kaidan’ or ‘Moshimo Negai ga Kanau kara’ (If Dreams Can Come True). The latter two seem to be featured sporadically.
Satou Rina no Ano Sora de Aetara (Thursdays, O-side: http://www.onsen.ag and A-side: http://www.animate.tv/digital/web_radio/detail_043.html)
Satou Rina, voice of Negi Springfield hosts her own radio show. The two shows mostly share the same segments, with only one different corner for either side. Rina has a very sweet voice; great for relaxing to though I doubt anyone other than fans of hers would find the show interesting.
Mikako@Payopayo!
(http://shop.frontierworks.jp/digital/web_radio/detail_037.asp)
One of the longest running seiyuu radio shows, Takahashi Mikako is a good radio host even if I’m not one of her biggest fans. I only ever listen to the guest corner anyway, depending on who’s appearing.
Tactical Roar Koukai Nisshi (ended)
God knows if Nakahara Mai & Ueda Kana really hate each other, but I only listened to bits and pieces of the program and can’t remember most of it ^^; though in episode 33 Fukuyama Jun made a comment where ‘Nakahara Mai will look more and more like Takamizawa (the Alfee guitarist) as years pass’.
Nakahara/Takamizawa - separated at birth?
RGRADIO
(Fridays, http://www.onsen.ag/)
RGTV (http://shop.frontierworks.jp/digital/web_radio/detail_082.html)
Radio is hosted by Tanaka Rie (Lula), TV by Shintani Ryoko (Rachel). The radio show is still in its infancy so I haven’t much to comment on. Ryoko looks good with megane though.
Oh, and I tried listening to the Haruhi radio show but the the three squeaky, piercing voices nearly shattered my eardrums.
