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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.

Anitama.com standard Marunage (アニたまどっとコムstandardまるなげ) is a 60-minute radio talk program airing on Radio Osaka and on the internet at the Anitama site, hosted by Ueda Kana and Shimizu Kaori. There was talk of the show ending its run after its first-year anniversary, but it’s proved popular enough with listeners to have been extended, thanks to all the people who bought the DVDs and merchandise.

The term Marunage (丸投げ) actually refers to a controversial practice within the Japanese private sector where major construction companies who win large building projects, completely outsource the work to smaller subcontractors, typically for things like building condominiums etc, which can often be more trouble than they’re worth.

But that’s not really the point of reference behind why the show Marunage is called Marunage. Rather, it is a deliberate, wholesale ripoff of a certain other radio show (which has since ended its run) featuring a certain popular seiyuu called Noto Mamiko. Er yes, Marunage (まるなげ) is a blatant copycat pays homage to Marunabi!? (まるなび!?)

The great thing about Marunage is that Ueda and Shimizu are very, very frank – they talk about whatever they want with no real pressure to focus on any specific topic. And that can be a problem sometimes though – with 60 minutes to fill, 40 of them can be full of garbage chat about snowboarding or cats or whatever.

They do often dish a lot of background dirt on seiyuu going-ons, auditions and all the juicy stuff that we don’t otherwise get to hear about. There are constant jokes about Shimizu’s weight, Ueda’s obsession with Okama (the illustrator, not the slang term) and so on; plus they share a similar circle of friends within the business so there are a lot of in-jokes and industry references that would probably baffle casual seiyuu fans.

To give you an idea of the sort of odd listeners Marunage attracts – a couple of episodes ago, somebody sent in a mail with the following:

Sender: [something]
Radio Name: [something]
Address: Can’t be bothered
Gender: Male
Message: Test mail from mobile phone.

Marunage is also quite possibly the first and the last show that will ever allow a seiyuu to mention the word 獣姦 (jukan; bestiality) without censoring it. Thanks to her tendency for stupid/controversial comments, a female listener wrote in to ‘praise’ Kana-chan for successfully shattering the soft-spoken impression of her that she’d gotten hearing her voice Hayate in Nanoha A’s.

There is a very dedicated person who puts up the highlights of Marunage shows every 5 episodes or so on Nico Nico Douga, they’re great to watch by themselves as he/she/it has great knowledge of all the in-jokes and often puts in related omake bits from other shows. Highly recommended!

Brief translation of some dialogue, S denotes Shimizu Kaori & U Ueda Kana.

When somebody said ‘This is the first time I’ve sent in a mail’:
S: Ooh, we’ve taken away somebody’s ‘First Time’.
U: You mean their mail ‘cherry’?

A listener suggests songs for a potential cover songs album.
Listener: How about Marunage Yukai?
U: Why not Kumori Oame Yukai (曇り大雨愉快)? [Translates to Cloudy Heavy Rain Happiness - play on Hare Hare Yukai]
S: Yeah that’s good. The Melancholy of Ueda Kana (植田佳奈の憂鬱).
L: Or maybe Marunage Sailor Fuku?
U: Why not Marunage Gakuran? [gakuran are boys' uniforms]
S: Or Motteke! Gakuran?
U: Or perhaps Hagitore! Gakuran (剥ぎ取れ!学らん) [translates to Tear it off! Gakuran]

On Auditions & Rivalries
A question arose: Who do you consider your No.1 rival?

S: I lose to Kobayashi Sanae (in auditions) a lot LOL. We actually auditioned for each other’s roles in Nanoha (A’s) as well – she tried out for Signum & I tried out for the Book of Darkness. I’ve been told that it’s not that our voices sound similar, but more our acting style apparently. I mean… if you were trying out for a role that Sanae-san was also trying out for, wouldn’t you think that it’d be impossible (to win the role)?
U: Er well, our paths rarely cross so I wouldn’t quite know…
S: There’s also someone, who you’d think was pretty strange because we don’t have much in common (in terms of voice), but I seem to fall to Kugimiya Rie quite often too.
U: Eh?
S: Like Shana, hahaha. I tried out for that – although when I was auditioning, I knew that my voice definitely did not suit the role. I tried my best to sound cute but I ended up failing as expected.
….
S: There was once though, when I had actually won an audition (for a child role) but the producers came back later and said that they’d decided to hand the role to somebody else.
U: Eh, why?
S: Well, they came to my house and told my mother that my face was too fat.

Ideal Marriage Proposals
Somebody dragged out an old anecdote of Ueda Kana once declaring on a program that she’d prefer to be dragged straightaway to a wedding ceremony rather than be proposed to. A few months later, when Chihara Minori was a guest on Marunage they asked her the same question.
Go get Adobe Flash Player!
U: So Minorin, what would be your ideal (marriage) proposal?
C: Ehhhh, me? I’d be alright with a ‘normal’ one!
U&S: What is a ‘normal’ one? (We) Wanna hear (your version of) a ‘normal’ proposal.
C: Mmm… something like ‘Come into the same grave with me?’ would be fine.
U: Ehhhhh. Try saying that one more time, in a cute.. I mean, a cool manner?
C: (Coolly) ‘Won’t you come into the same grave with me?’
U&S: Kyaaaa! Kyaaaaa!! We’ll go, we’ll go in (with you)!!
C: That kind of thing would be nice.
U: Now, did everyone remember that? It won’t work unless you say that!
[followed by pointless talk of the possibility of mother-in-law also being in the same grave]
.

S: I met (Watanabe) Akeno-chan the other day… it’s been some time since I last saw here. Apparently she’s been on some diet & she is so pretty now (after losing weight). I touched her boobs.
U: Akeno’s amazing.
S: Those are some boobs, aren’t they?
U: When we’re talking about boobs, Akeno & Paku(Romi)-san are the best. They’re the only ones who’ve got boobs that are soft all the way through.
S: Ehhh. I’ve never really gotten to work with Paku-san before.
U: You should say “I heard this from Ueda Kana, apologies in advance!” & go ahead and cop a feel next time you see her.
S: Really? Ooh, I wanna meet Paku-san… but for me, Asakawa Yuu is the best.
U: Ah, Yuu-neesan.
S: It’s not just her boobs, her whole body feels nice. She’s a good woman.

On Seiyuu Playing the Yuri Game
1. Shimizu Ai & Nakahara Mai
U: Why don’t we just say Shimizu Ai & Nakahara Mai and leave it at that? They did do ‘that’ after all (referring to that infamous Strawberry Panic ending song scene).
S: Yeah, I happened to see it on TV and I was all like OHHH!

2. Nabatame Hitomi
S: Well, for Naba & (Ito) Shizuka-san – it [the concept of yuri] seems to surprisingly be OK with KenPro (their agency). Or maybe it’s just Naba who’s OK with it. She’s always saying all sorts of risque things on radio shows making the staff members worry if it’s alright to carry on, but she’ll then say that there’s absolutely no problem with it.

3. Noto Mamiko
U: It’s a little harder for Mami-chan…
S: Ah. Osawa Agency… they’re a bit stiff.
NOTE: Osawa Agency mainly provides narrations and have a hi-brow, serious sort of reputation. If you ever noticed, they’re the only seiyuu agency to not provide online profiles for all their talents.

4. Koshimizu Ami
S: I think Ami-chan is OK.
U: Yeah I think she’s OK for now.
S: Because she’s freelancing (Note: this episode was recorded before Koshimizu joined Production Baobab in late ‘07).
U: There’ll be a lot of people willing to back her up!

5. Mizuki Nana
S: And ah.. Nana-chan. Nana-chan… it’d be tough.
U: Awww, isn’t Nana-chan cute?
S: Won’t someone try to find a way to move Nana (in that direction)? No volunteers?

Opanpon
Listener: On another net radio programme, Ueda-san unashamedly made a dirty joke by introducing a listener by the name ‘Opanpon’. Do either of you actually know what ‘opanpon’ means?
U: Mmmm, no.
S: (Reads) “Feeling that it was unfair that male genitalia had its own cute little name (o-chinchin), the Saitama(?) Education board took it upon themselves to impart equality upon female genitals. A public appeal for suggestions led to the declaration of ‘o-panpon’ as the new shorthand name for a vagina”.
U: Eh, what show was that?
S: Something with Asano (Masumi)-san apparently.
U: Ah, that (referring to the Shigofumi radio show). But this guy must’ve done it (having the username Opanpon) deliberately… how lewd.

Fooling Nabatame Hitomi
While on Marunage, the pair called up Nabatame Hitomi to play a joke on her only to get an answering machine.
**Please leave your message after the tone**
S: Ah. Hi, Naba! It’s Kaori here. There was something I wanted to discuss with you over the phone… I’m thinking of quitting the seiyuu industry by springtime… I’ll let you know the details when I meet up with you. Sorry..
**End of recording**
U: LOLOLOLOL.
One week later…
U: So, did Hitomi contact you or what?
S: Yeah, she did. After the recording finished last week, she gave me a call right after we parted on the way home. I ended up ignoring the call and it went to voice message mode and I heard her saying “I got your call… Are you OK…. What happened?” in such a gentle voice I felt guilty. Naba then rang again, and I was all like ‘Crap, what am I supposed to do’ & I quickly mailed her ‘Sorry, I’m on the train now. I’ll tell you the day after tomorrow’.
U: Hohoho.
S: And so when I went to recording two days later, the first thing I did was apologise to her. And she was all ‘Ah, so it was nothing after all’.
U: Did she see through the joke then?
S: Well apparently at the end of the message left on the answering machine, there was this voice in the background saying ‘Did we get all that (recorded) in? LOLOLOLOL!’ so she was rather confused about whether to believe what I was saying or not. Guess we didn’t put down the phone fast enough *hahaha*

Top 3 Places for a Date
S: No.3 – Yokohama. No.2 – Odaiba. No.1 – Disneyland. What about you Kana?
U: No.1 – Net cafe.
S: WTF do you do in a net cafe?
U: Play video games?

Gosh, that was longer than I thought it’d be. Hopefully someone out there gets some fun out of this.