One of the longest running seiyuu radio shows around, Mikako@PayoPayo (Mikako wa Payopayo) has been on the internet airwaves since April 2001 and is still going strong with more than 300 episodes to date. The show is hosted by the moderately popular Takahashi Mikako, whose more well-known roles include Yamada in Honey & Clover, Ren in Erementar Gerad and Sadaharu (the frickin’ huge dog) in Gintama.

The word ‘payopayo’ doesn’t actually mean anything - first-time guests almost always ask ‘What does it mean?’ and get a vague answer in return. Payopayo is the normal greeting used throughout the show, and when guests are first introduced Mikako will say “XXX-san, Payopayo!” and XXX-san will have to reply “Payopayo!” Responses range from the madly enthusiastic (Shiraishi Ryoko, Horie Yui) to the incredibly embarassed (Inoue Marina, Kobayashi Sanae). During recordings of Nagasarete Airantou, Chiba Saeko (who voices loli Ayane) would insert ‘payopayo’ whenever she had to do ad-libs, making the rest of the cast burst into laughter.

The format of the show itself is divided into three parts:-
1. Mikako no Hitoshaberi (Mikako Talks By Herself) - basically Takahashi reads and answers listeners’ letters.
-Click: Answering letters followed by saying the phrase ‘click click’ (No, I don’t know why either)
-Kyou no sanbonbashira (Today’s Three Pillars): More answering of letters. Name is derived from a tale where a lord tells his three servants to go fetch only three pillars to complete the construction of his mansion, on the condition that each of them must carry two pillars each. Get it? Answers on a postcard……
-Opayoripayo!: Normal futsuota.

2. Neta hagaki shoukai (Material Postcard Introduction)
-Shinjin payo! (Newcomer payo!) - Takahashi & staff make up pen-names for listeners.
-Meigen payo! (Words of Wisdom payo!) - Listeners send in memorable moments from past Payopayo episodes.
-Mokugeki payo! (Witness payo!) - Listeners send in tales of Mikako sightings.
-Payopayo saiban! (Payopayo Trial!) - Name is derived from Gyakuten Saiban aka Phoenix Wright, which Takahashi is a massive fan of. She puts on her ‘Lawyer Mittan’ persona and passes judgement on listeners.

3. Guest payo! - Guest(s) corner. Usually they’re seiyuu who are working with Takahashi at the time, sometimes mangaka or singers. They spend about 20-odd minutes talking about current projects that the guest is involved in, plus reading listener mails. This is the corner I’m most likely to listen to, depending on the guest - there are some who make regular appearances (i.e. Chiba Saeko has been on the show around 5 times). The last few months have seen guests mostly from Nagasarete Airantou, Nanoha StrikerS and Wellber no Monogatari appearing.

There are also live recordings of Payopayo every few weeks, for which animate.tv subscribers can view the videos (non-subscribers only get to hear the audio).

A quick run through the last 3 episodes which you can still hear on the site:

#317 - Horie Yui

This is the first time that Horie has appeared on Payopayo, Takahashi actually personally sent her an e-mail requesting her to come (it’s usually done using the more formal method of contacting the manager). They first met during Infinite Ryvius (in 1999) when Horie remarks they were both ‘really small’. Hocchan & Mikarin (what Horie calls Takahashi) get on pretty well, trading fashion tips & making small talk - they actually sit next to each other during recordings for Idolmaster, Nagasarete Airantou and Zero no Tsukaima 2.

The rest of the chat was mainly about Horie’s current projects - promoting her new single Koisuru Tenkizu, Aice5’s final single & live and her goth/VK group Kurobara Hozonkai’s Comic Market 72 DVD single plus…..sunvisors LMAO. A few months ago on Hocchan’s own Tenshi no Tamago radio show she had asked listeners to think of goods that Kurobara Hozonkai could produce and sell at Comiket. Suggestions were mostly mundane (photobooks, CDs) apart from the sunvisors - the listener had even sent in her own drawings of them. I really thought Hocchan had abandoned the idea of making them (she didn’t think anyone would buy them), but I guess she changed her mind. They cost ￥1,500 (around $13 each), so if you’re in Tokyo this weekend….

#316 - Nakahara Mai (live recording)

Takahashi and Nakahara are both on the I’m Enterprise agency, and are currently working together in Nanoha StrikerS and Idolmaster. Incidentally, during the first StrikerS event in April the seiyuu were divided into two teams - the Nanoha team and the Fate team, of which the former was comprised only of I’m Enterprise seiyuu (Takahashi, Nakahara, Tamura Yukari, Ueda Kana and Saito Chiwa). Fate’s team were the leftovers (Mizuki Nana, Inoue Marina, Sanada Asami, Shimizu Kaori & Yuzuki Ryoka) ^^;

So what do we learn about Nakahara this time? Let’s see….. she auditioned for two roles in Nanoha StrikerS - Tia and ’somebody small’ (she thinks it was Agito), she’s formed an unofficial anti-Monster Hunter club with fellow seiyuu Morinaga Rika & Toriumi Kousuke and she’s a hikikomori (going out for lunch is annoying!). Mai mentions that she likes repetitive games - she’s currently playing The Sims 2: Pets, and Mikako remarks that during the StrikerS recording breaks she and Yukarin ventured over to see that she was playing it on her DS, had a look - and declared it to be extremely boring ^^;

#315 - Shiraishi Ryoko

First time appearance for Shiraishi (fondly nicknamed Uryocchi by fans - you can actually see that injoke in episode 20 of Hayate no Gotoku! during the karaoke scene) on Payopayo. Takahashi and Shiraishi first met during the recording of the first season of Nanoha, but didn’t get to talk much as their characters didn’t have scenes together (Mikako voiced Chrono and Uryocchi Nanoha’s older sister….whose name escapes me).

They also had a brief discussion about their favourite manga - they were both Ribon readers in their teenage years. Both are big fans of Yoshizumi Wataru - especially Marmalade Boy. Shiraishi even managed to get Yoshizumi-sensei’s autograph from a random draw during an event for the Marmalade Boy anime (about 13-14 years ago), which Takahashi was jealous of. Years later when Ryoko had already become a seiyuu, she met Yoshizumi at a can/goo (they sang the theme songs for the anime adaptation of the Ultra Maniac manga) live show and got to confess her love for her ^^
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This week’s episode (updates every Thursday) will feature the Hachikuro gang - mangaka Umino Chika + Kamiya Hiroshi (Takemoto) & Sugita Tomokazu (Mayama) have already been on the show 7 times, with the last 3 accompanied by Hamada Kenji (Nomiya). Sugita is always a riot with his impressions and jokes ^_^