j1m0ne's blog

I haven’t even ordered the Trickster CD yet, hah. But er yeah, there’s a reason for that – it’s Hari Raya celebrations over here and there’s no way in hell I’m letting any of my packages sit in shitty Malaysian post office’s depots while the postmen stuff their faces with chicken wings. God knows where my CDs would end up (most likely some bush in some remote village down in Johor or something).

Anyway, quick first impressions of Trickster.

-They kept in the a capella bit at the end of Trickster, thankfully. It sounds as good on record as it did in the PV. Pretty much the same goes for DISCOTHEQUE.

-I like Trinity Cross. Fans turned off by Trickster & DISCOTHEQUE might find it more to their taste – it’s a bit like Tears’ Night, one of my fave Nana songs ever. Seems a bit of a waste to use Trinity Cross for a shitty show like RosaPan *weeps in despair*

-Overall Trickster is probably the best seiyuu single CD release in 2008 so far though there aren’t many other contenders really. It’s much better than STARCAMP EP anyway.

-Shame Nana/record company somehow always manage to choose stupidly competitive weeks to release in lolz. Have fun trying to outsell:

Happy Birthday. NEWS
-Johnny’s. Nuff said.
Previous single first week sales: 201,266 (SUMMER TIME)

Ashiato. BAReeeeeeeeeeN
-The shittiest name for a musical project, ever. It’s a collaboration between GReeeeN and BACK-ON. GReeeeN’s latest album has sold over 700,000 copies.
Previous single first week sales: 186,097 (GReeeeN – Kiseki)

Aisho no Mizumi. Hikawa Kiyoshi
-Everyone’s favourite enka singer.
Previous single first week sales: 60,047 (Genkai Funauta)

Natsu no Kakera. Aqua Timez
-I love Aqua Timez (aka gay pop music); if charts were lined up by quality rather than sales then they would be No.1. Ain’t gonna happen though. Watch PV on Youtube.
Previous single first week sales: 55,233 (Niji)

Saiai. KOH+
-Second collab between Fukuyama Masaharu & Shibasaki Kou, Saiai is the themesong for the Yogisha X no Kenshin movie (sequel to Galileo dorama). I actually quite like Saia, much more than I did Kiss shite which was used in the dorama. Watch PV on Youtube.
Previous single first week sales: 54,639 (Kiss Shite)

STARCAMP EP first week sales: 37,353

Good luck, Nana!

I’m bored of every third hit I get being from someone searching for ‘trickster’ + ‘nana’ + ‘torrent’. Shoo, go away.

I’ve been listening to Marunage on and off for the last 12 months, but with me slowly working on an Ueda Kana profile I’ve been poking around some more of the material on offer and thought that some of the stuff that follows is just way too silly not to pass on.

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these radio-oriented posts. Good way to pick up useless seiyuu trivia though!

Warning: Long post. But first of all, a short intro to Marunage.
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A few notes and observations on seiyuu involved (or not involved) in the upcoming autumn anime season.
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Skipped covering the summer season for various reasons, but I’m back with a watered-down guide to the autumn (or fall, depending which side of the globe you live in) anime season. The aim is not to help you decide what to watch, but will instead serve as a quick, to-the-point guide listing miscellaneous information (staff, music etc).
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MOON PHASE reports the cast of SHAFT’s upcoming adaptation of the Maria†Holic manga.

Apparently the role of Miyamae Kanako, voiced by Hirano Aya on the drama CD, has gone to Sanada Asami (Dejiko in Di Gi Charat) for the anime version. Er, I didn’t think Aya’s voice fitted Kanako (yuri, nosebleed) in the first place but I’m even less certain Sanada’s does. I keep thinking of Jun from Rozen Maiden’s voice, which is not good.

Seiyuu for Shido Mariya (sadist trap) and Shinouji Matsurika (foul-mouthed maid) remain the same – Kobayashi Yu & Inoue Marina respectively. I’m hoping Sawashiro Miyuki will be in too, she was fantastic on the drama CD.

Anime will air in winter 2009. (Still rather empty) official site here.

Quick piece of info for Marimite and in particular Inoue Marina fans – the latest episode of Marimite radio is up so go check it out on Animate.tv (press bright orange PLAY button).

The highlight is the second part of the Chocolat & Portrait sidestory (one of the best parts of Marimite methinks) where Shoko & friends steal into Lillian High School and she meets Tsutako for the first time. Rosa Foetida (Eriko) also appears this time, in the ‘chasing Shoko around because there’s a cleaning tag on her uniform’ bit :3

I think Marina’s voice fits Shoko’s character well, I loved the scene with Tsutako where Shoko talks about how she hates having photos taken of herself. “At this rate I’ll never get married, I can’t even take an ‘omiai shashin’!” and “Even if I do get married, I’ll still have to take wedding photographs!”

I hope Chocolat & Portrait get animated, but I won’t keep my hopes up if Marimite 4 turns out to be just 1-cour.

Some of the dialogue between Ueda Kana (K) and the show’s guest Inoue Marina (M):

What would you (like to) do if you were reincarnated as a man?
M: (If) I was reborn as an ‘ikemen’, I want to be ‘popular’ with girls. I want to make them ’serve’ me.
K: But you can do that (make them ’serve’ you) even now you know.
M: I don’t understand. That’s weird…weird eh? (Pause) But yeah, I want to do that even now.
K: What, have girls serve you?
M: Mmm yes (laugh) I want to lead girls on (laugh)
K: But you’re already popular with the girls, you know.
M: What, in my present ‘form’?
K: Yes, in your present ‘form’…and you would be too if you were reincarnated as a guy.

Umm… yay for yuri undertones? So yeah, Inoue Marina wants to build her own harem – form an orderly line please.

What do you look for in a man?
M: Hmm… I’d prefer the conservative type? Someone who doesn’t smoke, since my dad does and I hate it. (Someone who) Doesn’t gamble, and who’s compatible with me food-wise, someone whom I can have a coversation with and so on. Or someone who will tell me that everything I cook tastes good!
K: I’d like someone who does things to the extreme – either they gotta be better at games than me or they don’t like the at all. It’d be awful if he was the ‘in-between’, halfway-house kind of person…
M: So what if the guy really liked games but wasn’t as good at them as you?
K: Well normally guys would be shocked by such things (girls being better at games than them) wouldn’t they?
M: There aren’t many people who are better at games than you are, are there?

All conversations involving Ueda Kana inevitably lead to Video Game Land. I discovered that as much when researching Kana for the profile I’m doing for her (Rejoice, Kana fans )

Words of the Day
omiai shashin: formal matchmaking photos [a portfolio of photos for prospective suitors] (お見合写真)
ikemen: good-looking guy (イケメン)
motetai: want to be popular (モテたい)
haberasetai: want to make [one] serve (侍らせたい)
kyokutan: to the extreme (極端)
chuutohanpa: unfinished, halfway (中途半端)

These are the kind of situations when I salute the kimo-ota for dragging out all sorts of shameful news that no doubt the people involved have been trying to sweep under the carpet =D So we do get some sort of verification on one of the many 2channel rumours – that Hanazawa Kana has had a boyfriend since she was at least 17.
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