I think I wasted most of my breath on raving about MURAMASA☆ this week so you know I think something is awful if the review is only one line long. Also doesn’t help that there a lot of high-profile Jpop releases out at the same time…

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I downloaded & watched this interview sometime last year, but didn’t think too much beyond ‘Ah, Tomatsu’s got a very long neck’ until somebody posted it up on Nico Nico Douga. And pointed out the number of times she says the word ‘Ano’. You can try counting for yourself how many times Haruka goes ano…ano… >_> It’s ANNOYING. She also has a tendency to repeat other phrases like ’satesate’ and ’sou desu ne’ (not here). Oh, in case you’re wondering, this interview was for her voicing the lead character Fujiwara Moemi in the audio reading of light novel Joushi Daisei Kaikeishi no Jikenbo.

When I started getting interested in seiyuu about 5-6 years back, my Japanese skills were awful and I could hardly find any info about what all those weird, mind-boggling phrases I kept coming across meant (Afureko…what?). And it bugged me a lot. So I just worked harder at learning Nihongo…

So I’ve been building up my vocabulary over that period of time, but I guess you can never run out of things to learn Now that I know a few more phrases than I did then, I wrote up a short list of common seiyuu-related phrases that you might come across in magazines, web material and radio shows. I hope it helps those who are interested in seiyuu stuff but don’t quite have the language skills required to understand and enjoy all those videos and whatnot.

Have a look (I’ve put a permanent tabbed link up top) if you so feel inclined; it’s not, & probably will never be complete and I’m still revising it as I go along. I also plan on writing up a guide to seiyuu nicknames (their origins blablabla)…eventually.

If you want a great guide to otaku speak, I recommend bangin’s blog. It’s way too crazy for me as I don’t particularly care for all those moe & dere terms mean but if you’re into reading 2channel threads or just want to show off your otaku cred it might be pretty helpful.

日本の皆様、私のブログへようこそ・・・かな？
Welcome to all who are from Japan.

下手な日本語ですみません。
Er well. My written Japanese is still bordering on the ridiculously bad so I won’t try to embarass myself by posting anything complicated in kanji but…

何故かこのブログは２ちゃんねるにリンクしたのをあんまり分からないけど・・・なんか恥ずかしい >_>
…for some reason, somebody on 2channel linked to a bunch of my posts (the Ito Shizuka profile one, the Marina cosplay one, and the craptastic yuri chart). I feel kinda embarassed…Does anyone know how to say ‘This is a sort of satirical blog’ in Japanese?

まぁ、私はただ変な外人ですから、もしこのブログが間違いな情報や記事があるなら許してください。

そう、”私”を使うだから、女の子です。”マレーシアの女性”って事は本当です！

海外もたくさんの声優ファンがありますよ。でも日本語が分かる方は少ないと思います。

とりあえず私のブログに来てくださった方々、ありがとうございます。
これからもよろしくお願いします。
But er…thanks to all for visiting, and thanks to Watch! Seiyuu-san for writing a post about this blog. I’m ready to dig a hole somewhere and hibernate til next spring >_>

Back to regular programming now, starting with a clearing of the Kyoran Kazoku Nikki radio show coverage backlog.

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Phew. Got in last night and unpacked, but now I need to go off to work again! Ugh. My feet are sore from all the walking, I think I need a holiday from my holiday. Anyway, notes and pictures follow.

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Greetings from Tamagawa, Setagaya, Japan! Anyway, only got in around 12am-ish after flight delays, a long queue at the immigration counter and a 30-minute taxi ride from Shinjuku station with a friendly taxi driver who seemed incredibly interested in Malaysian perceptions of Japanese things:

Taxi driver (Ushio-san, so his name plate read): So, is natto the No.1 most hated Japanese thing in Malaysia? [in Japanese]
Me: Er well, we don’t get too much natto in Malaysia really… [in terrible gaijin Japanese]
Taxi driver: So do you eat bread or rice in Malaysia? We in Japan, RICE ONLY! (He said RICE ONLY in English)

Ah well, he was pretty cool though and did give us a handful of coffee jelly sweets and told me ‘Girls don’t say UMAI, they say OISHII!’. And he was about to drive off before I shouted ‘Nimotsu!!’ (luggage was in the boot).

Yawn. It’s 9:30am now and Lawson’s ran out of melonpan so I’ll just have a butter roll for breakfast.

But what I really wanted to talk about is the seiyuu guest list for Kyoran Kazoku Nikki. You might already have noticed the appearances of Nakahara Mai (Chieri the travel agent) and Kitamura Eri (Pierre) but there’s loads more to come. The Kyoran blog listed all the future guests so keep your eyes and ears peeled to hear your favourites in upcoming episodes:
Goto Yuko: Hiratsuka Raicho
Nakahara Mai: Sakurai Chieri
Morinaga Rika: Shinigami Sanban
Kitamura Eri: Nishikura Akeru/Pierre
Minagawa Junko: Ryukotsuji Shu (竜骨寺 柊雨)
Shimizu Ai: Ryukotsuji Tsubaki (竜骨寺 椿姫)
Saito Momoko: Odessa Ei (オデッサ=エイ)
Kugimiya Rie: Mujacky (ムジャッキー)
Ishikawa Hideo: Dekamelon (デカメロン)
Inoue Marina: Madara
Shitaya Noriko: Mirukatopi (ミルカトピ)
Hino Satoshi: Katsura Rindo
Kawasumi Ayako: Dr. Hell
Kawada Shinji: Dr. Gebock (Dr.ゲボック)
Mizusawa Fumie: Momokusa Aichi
Igarashi Hiromi: Tsumiki Shizuka
Kotobuki Minako: Yamaguchi Hijiri

Today, I’m probably off to Ueno and (in an abrupt u-turn), Akihabara >_> Hopefully my next post will contain pictures…

Oh well, before I board a plane some 12+ hours from now I’ll leave you with a video from 12 years ago that features a 7-year old Hanazawa Kana. It’s from the TV show Yappari Sanma Daisensei hosted by Akashiya Sanma, one of the most popular comedians in Japan. Anyway, Kana’s the one with the twin pigtails in the pinkish blouse, and she doesn’t actually do much except sit around and look bemused (someone needs to tell her to press her thighs together though), unlike the other kids who try to kiss and clamber all over poor Sanma =D