j1m0ne’s blog

Minakami Nao, apparently. The Kagoshima-born, just-turned-twenty lass is the new voice of Puchiko (of Di Gi Charat fame) and happens to be enrolled in Tokyo University aka Todai, the school that oh-so many normal human beings strive for but fail to reach. She’s rumoured to be attached to the science department.

Minakami Nao (みなかみ菜緒), or Sakamoto Nao (坂元菜緒) as she was known then, won an open audition at the start of the year to find a new vocal talent for Puchiko. The poor girl’s come under fire on the anals of the internet for only winning because ’she’s cute and she’s in Todai’. Yes, I’m sure that’s 100% true. I’m rather amused that someone who hasn’t even properly debuted has already generated that much hate. Some people really have too much time on their hands… bitter Sawashiro Miyuki fans, maybe?

Personally, I think Nao looks like a cross between Tanaka Rie and Kugimiya Rie… I’m not quite sure that’s a good thing! She’s already gotten herself a nickname (Naosuke), and a fervent fan appears to have written up her wiki page, complete with bad Engrish.

L-R: Minakami, Yazawa, Akesaka

I should mention that since Di Gi Charat is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Broccoli felt a need to replace the original trio of Sawashiro, Sanada Asami (Dejiko) and Hikami Kyoko (Usada) to inject ‘a fresher feel’ into the characters. Open auditions were held for Puchiko and Usada (now voiced by another newcomer, Yazawa Rieka) but the relatively more experienced Akesaka Satomi (Nano-Nano Pudding in Galaxay Angel II) had already been cast as Dejiko. So far, only radio shows, character CDs and the Nima Nima flash animation have been forthcoming - maybe a new anime is in the offing, who knows?

In on the yuri action already

I don’t care much for Di Gi Charat, so fans can make what they will of how Minakami compares to Sawashiro Miyuki. Her singing (on record) is not bad though.

Talking about schools - there’s a thread on 2channel (声優の学歴) that lists seiyuu’s educational background; what university what seiyuu attended and which department they were in. Goodness knows how many of them are true, but I did learn that Ito Miki was in Humanities in Tsukuba University, Matsuki Miyu did environmental studies at Keio University, Iizuka Mayumi is a law graduate from Hosei University and Ohara Sayaka studied English literature at Aoyama Gakuin University. Attempts to find fellow economists only turned up Akimoto Yosuke, who graduated from Hosei long before I was born. The majority predictably, only managed up to high school or studied some useless art subject in some unheard of university. Guess a good brain is wasted on seiyuu work, eh?

Anyhow, I do hope to hear more of both Minakami and Yazawa (who’s also studying in some unnamed university) in the future. I’m always on the lookout for fresh meat faces after all.

Read:
Naosuke’s blog
Yazawa Rieka’s blog
Akesaka Satomi’s blog

Posted on September 7th, 2008 under seiyuu, みなかみ菜緒 • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback