j1m0ne’s blog

Music Ray’n finally launched a website for all their artists! (10 days ago anyway, but I just got round to writing this up now)…..I’ve been waiting for months and finally it’s here (tears of joy).

Visit: Music Ray’n Official Web Site

Why the heck am I so happy about this? Mainly cos I’ve had this slight (OK, major) obsession with Tomatsu Haruka since hearing her as Corti in the first episode of Shinkyoku Sokai Polyphonica back in April and have been scrounging around for whatever info about her that I can dig up, and the lack of an official site or blog made it a difficult task. I’m now a very happy bunny ^_^ so I’m gonna introduce Music Ray’n and its group of seiyuu to those who’d never heard of them before.

History
Music Ray’n initially started out in 2003 as a small indie music publisher/label before being absorbed by Sony Music Entertainment in 2005. The firm continued managing a few artists such as SunSet Swish and eico before moving on to their next venture - seiyuu and stage artist management.

Auditions were held that year, with Tanaka Rie being one of the judges. Four of the girls who attended them were given the opportunity to provide voice work for an original radio drama within Rie’s co-hosted radio program Yurakucho Anime Town in summer 2006. Not much was heard from the quartet for most of the year, with only one of them (Takagaki Ayahi) having any anime roles in 2006.

In 2007 all four girls made inroads into the seiyuu industry, with Takagaki being the first to land major roles in Deltora Quest and Venus Virsus Virus. Tomatsu Haruka and Toyosaki Aki have quickly followed, and Kotobuki Minako is also making progress with small roles in various anime.

What do the four girls have in common? Youth. Takagaki is the oldest at 22, and Kotobuki the youngest at 16. And arguably, looks too. Not to say they’re drop-dead gorgeous but certainly I can see how all of them could appeal to guys…. I think.

All the girls have started their own blogs, and their profiles on the Music Ray’n site are pretty idol-like, covering all manners of randomness from favourite (school) subject to favoured method of relieving stress to traits preferred in a guy. I’ll cover some of that stuff in the mini-bios below.

There was a Music Ray’n event in Tokyo University yesterday, held as part of the uni’s gakuensai. All four seiyuu attended the event, you can read about it in each of their blogs. I’ve read some fans’ posts on the event and it seemed pretty fun, the girls appear to get on well with each other too.

Anyhow, for now it seems Music Ray’n are focused on promoting just these 4 as they’ve not signed on anyone else since. They’re definitely not your normal seiyuu agency (like 81produce or Aoni), none of their seiyuu have gone to voice acting school. I wonder what sort of plans they have for the girls - to develop them as seiyuu idols, or to focus on voice work? Only time will tell.

The Quartet
Takagaki Ayahi

Name: Takagaki Ayahi (高垣 彩陽)
DOB: 25th October 1985
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Blood Type: A
Hobbies: Illustration, singing, collecting cute things etc.
Favourite entertainers: Shimada Kaho, Ito Eri, Honda Minako
Favourite movies: Disney movies, The Sound of Music
Fave food: Ice cream, chocolate cake
When I was young I wanted to be a….: Actress, seiyuu, Sailor Moon (hahahahaha)
What I’ve been watching on the TV lately: Various things.
If I was an animal I’d be a(n)…..: Animal that moves slowly?
My charm point: Forehead
My aim for this year: Health is most important, and to believe in myself & keep moving forward (even if only 1mm)

My first encounter with Takagaki was in Ouran High School Host Club where she had a bit part as…. Tsubaki? I’m guessing that’s one of Tamaki’s fangirls or something. Not that I thought she was particularly good or anything, it was because I had trouble romanising her name ((彩陽) when entering the info in ANN - luckily I got it right on the first try.

I forgot about Takagaki for a good few months til her name cropped up twice in the 06-07 winter line-up, and both were leading roles - Jasmine in Deltora Quest and Ruchia in Venus Versus Virus. I know little about DQ but at the time, I was pretty cheesed off that the unknown Takagaki was cast as Ruchia, a role filled by Nabatame Hitomi in the drama CDs (likewise, I was annoyed that Chihara Minori replaced Satou Rina as Sumire). That and I still had no idea what she looked like at the time.

The first time I saw pictures/interviews with Takagaki I thought ‘Man, that’s heavy make-up! She’s a Koda Kumi-lookalike!!’ To be honest I didn’t really warm up to her til I heard her singing on the VVV character album - I was blown away. Turns out Ayahi’s enrolled in music university at the moment, specialising in vocal music. I guess that kind of explains why the favourite entertainers listed in her profile are all musical performers/established vocalists.

Over the spring and summer seasons Takagaki only had small parts/guest appearances in Terra e…, Umisho and Baccano! but once again steps into the spotlight in the current autumn season with roles in two high-profile anime. She’s Felt Grace in Gundam 00, though the only thing I can you about that character is that she has bright pink hair and is 14-years old. The other major role is Otome Asakura in D.C.II - I’m pretty sure someone out there is still watching this….. I liked the little of her I heard in it, soft-spoken and cute - very different from the mature voice she used as Ruchia.

Takagaki will voice Noe in the upcoming true tears, another bishojo-game to anime adaptation that has been looooong delayed - IIRC it was supposed to air in 2006 but finally hits TV screens in January 2008. Not a huge fan of the genre, but the music in the trailer (eufonius’ Reflectia) is nice so I’ll give it a go when it hits. Anyhow, Takagaki’s work so far has been solid if not spectacular, I do like it when she does more serious roles (Ruchia, Sylvie in Baccano!) so I hope to hear more of that from now on.

Tomatsu Haruka

Name: Tomatsu Haruka (戸松 遥)
DOB: 4th February 1990
Hometown: Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Blood Type: B
Hobbies: Drawing
Favourite entertainers: ORANGE RANGE, Aragaki Yui
Favourite movies: Pirates of the Caribbean, The Green Mile
Fave food: Sliced ox liver sashimi (レバ刺し), miso, sticky foods
When I was young I wanted to be a….: Ice-cream shop owner
What I’ve been watching on the TV lately: Doramas and variety programs
If I was an animal I’d be a…..: Cat
My charm point: Always being positive
My aim for this year: To be able to balance school and work well

One of the few seiyuu who could go Tomatsu Haruka, 17-sai desu and mean it ^_^ I’ve already mentioned that I like her more than once…. for me, Tomatsu is definitely the best new seiyuu I’ve heard this year. Her debut in Polyphonica as Corti was one to remember, handling both tsundere and mature aspects of the role well. That was followed up with the stupid Sumi (Ink’s self-declared rival) in Moetan - though the anime has ended Tomatsu’s still hosting the very entertaining radio show Moetan Listening Radio with Morinaga Rika.

Haruka’s in her last year of high school so she’s not doing too much work at the moment, she still has to commute to Tokyo every week from her Nagoya home for work commitments. She will be voicing the lead role of Lala on a drama CD based on Black Cat mangaka Yabuki Kentaro’s current Shonen Jump-serialized To-LOVE-Ru, and will be making an appearance at Jump Festa in December. Rumours abound of an anime adaptation starting April 2008, what’s the odds of Tomatsu being retained for the role? Fingers crossed. Also unconfirmed, but there’s whispers in the wind of Haruka being cast in one of the lead roles in Shinbo Akiyuki/Shaft’s upcoming Shina Dark anime which is based on the manga by Mahoromatic creator Nakayama Bunjuro.

Tomatsu’s voice acting abilities remind me a lot of Hirano Aya in terms of range - switching between cutesy girls and sexy o-neesan with ease, though Haruka’s natural speaking voice is less…. shrill and giggly? They have similarly bright and positive personalities too. I thought Haruka’s singing was average on the Polyphonica character CD but the song she did with Morinaga for Moetan (Iyatan.Lovetan) was excellent, but I need to hear more to form a better opinion.

I wonder if Tomatsu will further her studies after graduating next year? I do remember that she said she was rubbish at everything in school except P.E…… Oh well, if she doesn’t that’d be a plus point for her growing legion of fans. And Tomatsu’s so frigging cute she should’ve auditioned for Morning Musume or something….. her laugh is ridiculously infectious. It’s probably strange for a girl to be fangirling over a girl, but I just have this weakness for…. cute things. Y’know, soft toys and the like….. I want to pinch Haruka’s cheeks ^^;

Toyosaki Aki

Name: Toyosaki Aki (豊崎 愛生)
DOB: 28th October 1986
Hometown: Tokushima, Japan
Blood Type: AB
Hobbies: Drawing
Favourite entertainer: Matsuda Yusaku (Onimusha 2’s Yagyu Jubei was based on him)
Favourite movies: Jim Jarmusch and Tim Burton movies
Fave food: Western-style candy, apple candy, sticky foods
When I was young I wanted to be a….: Picture book author
What I’ve been watching on the TV lately: Doramas and anime
If I was an animal I’d be a…..: Koala
My charm point: Naturally curly hair
My aim for this year: To not bump into anybody in a pedestrian scramble (lmao)

The first impression of Toyosaki’s voicing of Amuro in Umisho was that it was bloody weird…. after a while I got used to it, mainly cos Amuro is bloody weird anyway ^^; I didn’t finish the anime and never got around to sampling the radio show she hosted with Nabatame Hitomi, though I did laugh at the cover of the radio CD due for release next year, which was based on a photo of Aki and Naba from one of the episode.

I don’t know an awful lot about Aki except she’s the only one out of the four that is not still living with her parents, but she can currently be heard in Shugo Chara as one of Amu’s guardians Su (the green one) and also in Minami-ke as Yoshino (Chiaki’s friend - the one with short hair). All Toyosaki’s roles seem to be cute characters so far, so I’d like to hear her do something different. She doesn’t appear to have anything lined up soon but Umisho’s already won her a lot of fans, so the future looks bright for Toyosaki.

Kotobuki Minako

Name: Kotobuki Minako (寿 美菜子)
DOB: 17th September 1991
Hometown: Hyogo, Japan
Blood Type: B
Hobbies: Dance, reading, music, watching movies
Favourite entertainer: Audrey Hepburn
Favourite movies: Funny Face, Shrek, Dr. Dolittle
Fave food: Spaghetti
When I was young I wanted to be a….: Kindergarten teacher
What I’ve been watching on the TV lately: News programs
If I was an animal I’d be a…..: Chameleon
My charm point: One-sided dimple, my large forehead
My aim for this year: To be able to express myself honestly

I would be lying if I said I knew anything about Kotobuki. According to her site’s works list, she’s had ‘blink-and-you’ll-miss-it’ roles in Red Garden and Manabi Straight, voiced a member of Kazune’s fan club Kazune-Z in Kamichama Karin and had a role in Production I.G’s Yumedamaya Kidan. Kotobuki’s also had a bunch of small appearances in movies like the recent Oguri Shun-headlining Crows Zero and Shiawase Switch (with Ueno Juri). Time’s on her side anyway - Minako’s only 16 years of age so I’ll be keeping a look out for her in the future.

Posted on November 27th, 2007 under seiyuu • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback