Hocchan aka Horie Yui started her two-day live in Budokan yesterday. Looking at the blog posts from some of the seiyuu who attended:

Tanaka Rie: 由衣ちゃん超可愛かったよぉ(*´д｀*)

Tomatsu Haruka: ほっちゃんが可愛かった

Shitaya Noriko: とにかく可愛くて、カッコ良くて！！

Takagaki Ayahi: とにかくほっちゃん可愛い！！！

Kotobuki Minako: ほっちゃんが可愛かった

Shimoda Asami: ほっちゃんが可愛くて、やたら楽しかったです！！

Asumi Kana: ほっちゃんがかわいくてやたら楽しかった！！

Nabatame Hitomi: 『ほっちゃん可愛かった～』(私は普段「ほっちゃん」と呼んでません(笑))

Chihara Minori: それにしても可愛いかった…。本当に可愛かった。こんなに可愛い人は世界に一人しかいない…

CONCLUSION: Hocchan probably can’t sing to save her life but hey it’s OK, she’s cute!!!

The only person who bucked the trend was Hikasa Yoko, who said 素敵な方ですよね、堀江さん(>_<) instead....... are? 'Hocchan is wonderful'?? Is that it??!??!?

Oh, and Chiaking's birthday rap wish for Hocchan. Hocchan turns 17 today!『堀江 由衣』san（リーダー）のお誕生日ですYO(^з^)-☆!!

…by the way, the Hocchan cookies look friggin’ small. Or maybe the bag is Godzilla-sized.

*Pics pinched from Asumin & RieRie’s blogs

Aoki Sayaka as Amakase Minatsu

Jeebus. Why anyone would let her Sayaka near a mic is beyond me. I approached the Amakase CD with much dread after previous bad experiences – Kyon’s sister and whichever character she was in SHUFFLE! had pretty awful songs. And I felt even gloomier after listening to Rainbow Banana, a song as bad as its title would suggest and Shhh! Secret Mind, or as it should be known, Shhh! Sayaka’s Singing Sucks. I think it’s fair to say that Nonaka Ai and Noto Mamiko would sound like Celine Dion if they had an Aoki Sayaka standing next to them.
Verdict: Uruchai, uruchai, uruchai.

Nanjou Yoshino as Tsukushima Koko

I had never heard Nanjou singing before this but I knew that she used to be signed to RAMS, an agency that has produced a few seiyuu/presenters with half-decent singing abilities (Nogawa Sakura, Miyazaki Ui, Oumi Tomoe etc) so I wasn’t too worried about how badly my eardrums might get affected unlike Aoki Sayaka. After listening to Koko’s CD, I can say that Yoshino’s singing actually isn’t too bad. In fact, I liked it a lot more than I expected to.
Verdict: Pretty good, but might need a bit of oil or grease to fix that tiny squeak.

Takagaki Ayahi as Asakura Otome

I’ve mentioned before that I’m impressed Ayahime’s singing – she’s got a voice that run-of-the-mill anime music won’t do justice. Currently studying vocal music in a Tokyo university, she likes opera and theatre. Too bad she hasn’t gotten many chances to show off her vocal chops as yet. Now that she’s starting to gain a bit more attention with her roles in true tears (Noe) and Gundam 00 (Felt Grace) those opportunities will come along sooner. For now, you can either hear her singing that ‘aburamushi’ song from true tears, or hear a snippet of her attempt at opera from Ura Starchild below:

Verdict: Da Capo! Da Capo!

Chihara Minori as Shirakawa Nanaka

I think we all know all about Minorin’s singing abilities already. Suffice to say, she is the one with the strongest vocal pedigree amongst the 6 girls. Unfortunately, Nanaka’s generic pop-rock songs don’t do anything for me. Makes me wish that if Minorin had made it big earlier, what Shirawaka Kotori’s songs might’ve sounded like with her singing them instead of Horie Yui.
Verdict: Good, but needs better songs.

Horie Yui as Asakura Yume

Oh goodie. Another Da Capo, another Horie Yui character. Granted, I do not like Hocchan for her vocal abilities alone, which are flimsy at best but I guess there’s a certain charm to her voice. Or it could be a really annoying screech, depending on who you are.
Verdict: Hocchan is Hocchan. You’ll either think her voice is sweeter than treacle or as grating as nails on a chalkboard.

Okajima Tae as Yukimura Anzu

No evidence of whether Oyaji…I mean Okajima-san can actually sing or not. I don’t think she’s even sung on record before. All I know is she’s actually a 50-year old salaryman trapped in a woman’s body. I’m actually quite fond of Tae and her partner in crime Kawaragi Shiho (Kotonoha & Sekai in School Days respectively), also known as the Kimo Oyaji (Disgusting Old Men) duo, who let their tongues run wild on Radio School Days and have to be censored with buzzers. Since I survived a grand total of one episode each of School Days and D.C.II, I cannot tell if Oyajima’s voice acting is any good. At least she’s not obsessed with her younger brother, unlike a certain (Kimo)Kawaragi.
Verdict: An unknown quantity. We’ll find out in 3 weeks time if Oyajima is closer to Minorin or Sayaka in the ability-to-break-windows-with-shrill-singing stakes.

The others….
Ito Shizuka as Kosaka Mayuki – Shizuka-sama is better off not singing. Doubtless she has improved over the last 5-6 years but when those songs from the earlier albums she did with Nabatame Hitomi come up on the Foobar random button, I cringe.
Asakawa Yuu as Mizukoshi Maika – Not too bad but like Ito Shizuka, I’d prefer to hear Asakawa talk than sing tbh. Her singing voice is pretty monotonous and is apt to send me to sleep.
Mizuhashi Kaori as Sawai Maya – Never had a favourable opinion of Mizuhashi’s singing, which I’d compare to a deaf mouse.
Yanase Natsumi as Hanasaki Akane – I have only the songs Yanase did for ef (she voiced Shindo Chihiro) as any sort of evidence of her ability to sing. They sound OK anyway.

As a note, the next two character CDs (Nanaka & Anzu) will be released on 27th February followed by another two (Yume and Otome) on 9th April. They just had to put the two main ones as the last ones T_T And no, I don’t think Sakurai Yoshiyuki will get to sing any songs – Asakura Junichi never did either.