So another year, another AniSama. As previously mentioned, I chose only to attend Day 1 of the event due to lack of interest and funds for Day 2 – as it turns out, I didn’t miss too much on the Sunday apart from KOTOKO’s surprise guest appearance.

I chose a seat on 200LV on what I deem the ‘Haruka side’ ie the left side where she normally lines up on stage (230扉 for those familiar with the layout of Saitama Super Arena). Prior to the event though, I decided to grab some goods. I wasn’t hopeful of landing anything Sphere-related and too true, everything was gone by the time I arrived at around 1pm – all the other artist booths had plenty of stuff to offer though, and Sphere’s was the only one that had put up the ‘Sold out’ sign and shut up shop. Still, I snagged a pamphlet & three Evo shirts (1 red, 2 black) for myself, townberry and rinerei. Actually, berry had requested a red Fire shirt but I decided to be horrible and bought her a red Evo (which she had described as ‘fugly’) instead but…Sphere wore it for encore. So yeah, I’ll take that one thanks very much.

Crowd-wise, most were wearing one of three shirts – Sphere, GRANRODEO or JAM Project. There was also a good number of GirlDeMo fans in attendance, a few Minami followers too. I found it rather amusing to be sitting next to a fellow Sphere fan in a purple Osaka shirt (yay, Mina fan)…with me in my orange Aichi shirt (yay, Haru fan). The girl next to me was waving a green Minorin SAL tour light throughout, I assume she borrowed it from the guy she came with.

Onto the live, which started right on time. After some tribal acrobatic stuff (this kinda paled in comparison to the Cirque du Soleil show I watched earlier in the week…) we were off.

1.Rescue Fire//JAM Project + Kuribayashi Minami
They usually kick things off with a fiery collaboration and I thought the trend was killed this year when I saw JAMPro emerge singing some high-octane song that I couldn’t recognize even if my life depended on it. I mean, I had no idea Minami was there until the last 30 or so seconds of the song, and I don’t think too much of my section noticed either. I thought it was Makkun…

2.only my railgun//fripSide
3.LEVEL5 -judgelight-//fripside
Top batter this year was fripSide, which is a great idea in theory with their energetic Railgun songs. Nanjolno didn’t quite pull off the songs 100% though, there were a few vocal issues but I enjoyed the performances immensely. The slots bit that threw up surprise guest appearances from Magi Toshihiro, Maggy Shinji and Magi Shiro was pretty funny, and even funnier was the MC sequence that followed. Magi Shiro offered Nanjolno a magic trick – he’d turn the grass in his hands into flowers a colour of her choice, so she picked…山吹色 (a sort of gold colour) LOL. Shiro looked a bit flustered and said they’d run out of yamabuki-iro flowers for that day, then Nanjolno picked pink and he didn’t have that either…and made her settle for red ahahahaha. Fun sequence that totally made me laugh. And yes, Sat-chan is awesome (I just have to mention him) with his YOU’RE ALL LEVEL 6 YO.

4.Alternative//angela
5.Separation//angela
6.Aoi Haru//angela
I was scratching my head wondering what song atsuko was singing until the first bridge…oh Alternative, damn. Nope, not a fan of that song at all. Her singing is angelic and crystal clear as always, but I felt it was wasted here even if I totally expected it to be performed. Then atsuko injected a bit of schmaltz talking about their 7-year journey before launching into Separation, which was beautiful. I did have an ‘eh?’ going through my head though, since I believed Aoi Haru was a must-perform song this year and they surely couldn’t be ending their set with a ballad. And they didn’t disappoint, performing the song with much gusto, accompanied by their many dancers. My personal highlight of the night for its awesome crowd interaction.

7.Tooku made ~infinity~//Takahashi Naozumi
8.Clover//Takahashi Naozumi
Yay, time for the girls around me to start screaming Nao-nii! I was excited to see him for the first time even if the experience did end up making me question my femininity. I feel so manly having seen Nao-nii move in the flesh! Unfortunately I think his set featured a fairly weak selection of songs – I know he’s got new material out and he’s totally pandering to that whole infinity ∞ theme, but neither song really got me going. I really would have loved to hear something like Time Capsule or anything from his rockin’ back catalogue. That doesn’t change the fact that I think Takahashi’s the best male seiyuu performer out there with his strong rock vocal though.

9.Tsukishirube//Nanri Yuuka
10.Shizuku//Nanri Yuuka
I have to admit I was totally unprepared for Yuuka so early on in the night, when the opening bars of Tsukishirube played I could feel my heart beating very, very fast – back in the day (tiaraway/Nanrietta era) I had a major crush on/obsession with her and I think those feelings have never truly died, even if they’ve subsided a lot. I’ve never seen her quite so pretty, with her detached-sleeves kimono outfit simply stunning – just couldn’t take my eyes off those bare shoulders. And oh yes, the performance – it was standard Yuuka, which means 100% perfect.

Shizuku is her next single from the new .hack production and I can tell you it’s a fantastically stirring song (is this Kajiura?) that will be worth the wait for its November release. Also, gotta mention her very cute MC where she seemed typically dazed – she mentioned that she had almost no memory of last year’s AniSama where she had participated as a secret guest with the rest of FictionJunction after being hit by a wall of cyalume lights rising from the front platform to sing Akatsuki no Kuruma. I’ll also give Yuuka the prize for most bimbo moment of the night – ‘Isn’t it great that today’s weather is so nice?’…Nanri-chan, we’re not at a beach you know.

11.Dear My Friend~Mada Minu Ashita e~//ELISA
12.Real Force//ELISA
She sure is one pretty lady, is our dear ELISA. Totally knows how to work a crowd too, what her hilariously narcissistic antics where she got everyone to shout DAISUKI DA!! at her. Awesomeness. Not to mention an absolute tease for hinting that she might sing her upcoming single but then cutely going ごめんね～ for not doing so XD Damn, I would’ve totally fallen for her on the spot if not for a tiny problem – I hate all her songs (except HIKARI). ELISA call was fun though…

13.Gyakkou//Ishikawa Chiaki
14.Ruisen//Ishikawa Chiaki
Once I saw a bunch of dueling swordsmen on stage front I knew Chiaki was coming – the Sengoku Basara links ensured that these two songs would be performed so I was well prepared for them. Gyakkou is still a little uncomfortably anti-climactic for me even if the erhu is heavenly, but Ruisen made up for it. Her MC was amusing too, I can’t quite remember the exact content but I do recall her chastising the crowd like little schoolchildren, heh. Still fairly disappointed that there was no collabo with Yuuka…think of the Kajiura possibilities!!

15.Find the blue//Itou Kanako + Shikura Chiyomaru
16.Sky Clad no Kansokusha//Itou Kanako + Shikura Chiyomaru
The second real buzz of the night for me (after Yuuka) – I missed Kanako on Day 1 last year so I was determined to see her this year. Her set started with a guitar solo by her 5pb boss Chiyomaru, although Find the blue is not quite what I would’ve chosen – I wanted Fetishism Ark. After an MC that can only described as ‘weird’ and Nitroplus-oriented (talk of ChäoS;HEAd & Steins;Gate), I could’ve sworn I busted my lungs screaming when Kanako said she’d be singing Sky Clad, I really love that song. Her singing is nowhere near perfect live (plus, she looks scary), but Chiyomaru’s uptempo songs always ensure a great atmosphere.

17.Bad Apple!!//Masayoshi Minoshima feat. nomico
Before I even had time to sip my water I was back on my feet once the opening beats of Bad Apple!! started. I had been directed towards a hilarious live performance of the song just a couple of days before AniSama but thankfully, nomico’s rendition this time around was not quite so crack-fueled. In fact I can only describe it as DAMN AWESOME, as good as you hear it on record. My section of the crowd seemed to have a few Touhou fans who recognised and loved the song, and it was a total blast. And yes, that video was played on the main screen during the song.

18.Braveheart//THE GOMBAND
19.Black★Rock Shooter//THE GOMBAND
He’s a sharp looking dude (kinda looked like Eiji Wentz if I stared hard enough) but I just can’t get into crappy Jrock – he also overcooked his vocal a few times and ran out of breath. My first sit-down of the night.

20.Tori no Uta//Lia
21.My Soul,Your Beats!//Lia
As much as I love Tori no Uta, I’m not sure I wanted to hear it live – it drags on for ages and ages and I couldn’t wait for it to be over…before I remembered that she’d be singing that dreaded Angel Beats! opening song that I detest after that. I’m not a fan of her weak voice either, so I kinda spaced out here…

22.Alchemy//Girls Dead Monster (marina)
23.Crow Song//Girls Dead Monster (LiSA)
I am NOT a fan of AB! at all so I was struggling to keep awake during Alchemy but once the perky LiSA turned up on stage it all changed. What a great MC that was, so playful and lively! Her performance was steady and strong too, with the crowd responding loudly during the chorus calls. Song still sucks though.

24.Brave Song//Lia x Girls Dead Monster
As expected, AB! collabo….but the GirlDeMo version of the ending song is fail in many, many ways. I wanted to facepalm, this was the only piece of music (apart from Ichiban no Takaramono) that I loved from the soundtrack so to hear it massacred with a half-assed rock version that robs the song of its soul and emotion was a little dispiriting. They didn’t sing particularly well either, sounding more like a bad duet between American Idol contestants. Oh, and they all talked about crying while watching the show…I did too! They were tears of laughter though.

25.Butterfly Kiss//Yonekura Chihiro
26.WILL//Yonekura Chihiro
Wow, Chihi’s kinda far back in the set this year! I hoped for Butterfly Kiss and that wish came true so I can have no complaints. WILL was great too, even if she’s done it before in a past AniSama – classic anisong is classic. Her MC was looooooong though, rambling on and on about her life and career etc etc. It’s her 15th anniversary in the business next year! Overall, Chihi’s set was my favourite of the night mainly because…

27.Yuzurenai Negai//Yonekura Chihiro x Tamura Naomi
…holy crap, Rayearth OP with secret guest Tamura-san!!!!!!! Almost everyone in my area shot up straight when the opening line was sung and we all screamed our lungs out. Again, one of the major highlights of the night.

At this point, I had mentally ticked off all the artists that had appeared and knew who was coming. Sphere, right?!?!?!

28.Crystal Energy//Kuribayashi Minami
29.Meiya Kadenrou//Kuribayashi Minami
30.Unreal♥Paradise//Kuribayashi Minami
NOOOO, MINAMI WTF. Sorry, I still think MuRay are really pushing it with their demands. I am aghast that Minami came ahead of Sphere in the set – for cryin’ out loud, she’s a mainstay of the AniSama brand and one of the principal songwriters….anyways, I think I wasted all my energy on cheering for Crystal Energy, a song dear to me for its links to the Mai-HiME/Otome franchise. Don’t care about the other two songs though, never liked the Katanagatari OP from the start.

31.Now loading…SKY!!//Sphere
32.Super Noisy Nova//Sphere
33.Future Stream//Sphere
I knew it would be Sphere now, they really can’t put them after RODEO or JAMPro so I already had my yellow lights at the ready. I already talked about this in length on the Soup post I linked at the start, but I guess I’ll elaborate further here – I did go to AniSama for them after all. NauSuka was hilariously messed up from the moment they were raised on the front platform wearing the PV outfits – you could tell none of them were comfortable performing the song. Ayahime was the best IMHO, being the consummate pro she always is. Minako totally missed her 真剣になったら？ line (2-3 seconds of silence is VERY obvious), leaving Ayahi to pick up the pieces. Haruka meanwhile, was out of it during the second verse/bridge parts and mucked her よ〜するに恋の魔法終わらない line by singing an entire beat behind the music (at least she remembered to sing?). God only knows what to blame, the AniSama debut demons or the fact that they’ve never played with a proper live band or that they just plain suck (I think it’s a combination of all three).

It thankfully got better after that as they moved to the main stage to perform their signature tune Super Noisy Nova…and straightaway I felt the difference between hearing the song at AniSama and at a Sphere live – the atmosphere is different and kinda…dead. Lasso dance was almost non-existent in 200LV I think. Personally prefer blue lights for SNN but oh well, lots of people using UO anyway. Anyway, a short MC later and we were on to Future Stream…and again, hardly any white lights. Thank God Sphere didn’t sing REALOVE:REALIFE, that would’ve been a terrible choice for AniSama as all the girls do is stand static behind a microphone trying (and failing) to look sexy. That would be an awesome mood killer.

34.Yokubou∞//GRANRODEO
35.ROSEHIP‐BULLET//GRANRODEO
36.Once & Forever//GRANRODEO
I have no idea what went on here, I was so drained after Sphere that I spent the entire RODEO set sitting down and texting townberry.

37.MAXIMIZER//JAM Project
38.TRANCEFORMERS EVO//JAM Project
39.HERO//JAM Project
40.GONG~SKILL//JAM Project
By this point I just wanted to see the group song and go home. I apologise, no matter how much I force myself I really don’t like their songs. I have no fiery anisong spirit burning in me etc etc

Encore/Group Song
41.RE:BRIDGE~Return to oneself~
Ummm this sounds familiar…oh yeah, it’s last year’s song LOL. This passed me by rather quickly…and as usual, half the mics weren’t working ho-hum. For those who didn’t watch the Nico stream, Sphere were paired up using two mics – Aki and Haru on one and Mina and Ayahi on the other.

Then we got the individual MCs, starting with Sphere on the far right. Tomacchan was the appointed spokesperson for the night which made me orz cos she’s always professionally dull – I wanted to hear Aki talk D= Of the rest I remember Katsu-don’s Sieg Zion speech the most fondly, also KISHOW introducing his band as ケフィア (pun on Sphere) and Nomico’s cute talk.

42.evolution ~for beloved one~
…No, I’ve not really listened to this year’s theme song so I was kinda spacing out. It’s a bit of a shit song isn’t it?

I didn’t stay for the parade and walkaround, preferring instead to beat the crowd to catch a train home – Saitama’s more than an hour away from where I stay after all. So yeah, AniSama done for another year. I can’t say I’m too enthusiastic about going for next year’s event, but you never know. Put Sphere on the bill and my chances of going are always going to exceed 50%!

She often talks about the type of person she would like her ideal husband to be. Unfortunately not even Jesus could fulfill her criteria methinks.

Current list of criteria of Akesaka Satomi’s ideal partner:
・Able to do all housework (cooking, laundry, cleaning) and is good at explaining how
・Is reliable enough to keep household accounts tidy
・Possesses ‘good’ economic strength (ie. is rich)
・Is good at handling money
・Comes home everyday (if on business trip, keeps in touch regularly)
・No bad habits relating to alcohol or women
・Likes children
・Doesn’t have allergies to cats or dogs (ie. likes animals)
・Eating habits must be compatible
・Likes Shiina Ringo (rock singer)
・Age-wise, anywhere between the same age and 10 years older is OK
・At least 175cm tall (medium build – neither too thin nor too muscular)
・Preferably the second son in the family (eldest sons are no-nos)
・Future home must either be a house in the Tokyo metropolitan area or in the heart of Saitama (around 10 minutes’ walk from station, has garden)
・Willing to have 4 kids (2 boys, 2 girls)
・Wedding ceremony to be held in a small church in Warabishi, Saitama with honeymoon being a 1-week trip to Switzerland
・Must have a stable career and not keep changing jobs
・Addresses his wife as 奥方 (okugata, this is how daimyo’s wives were addressed), allows himself to be called by his first name only
・Is able to play musical instruments
・Has a kind personality
・Must not work from home (should spend at least 3 hours per day outdoors)
・Knows how to take care of the elderly
・Has 20/20 vision
・Skin is neither too pale or too dark
・Will wait patiently and not put on an annoyed face even if it is 2 hours past the agreed meeting time
・Is OK with only riding jet coasters and teacup rides at amusement parks
・Possesses a chef’s license

This is Ake-chan. Any takers? She can’t cook, cleans her room once in a blue moon, collects tons of manga and practically relies on her mom for everything. She’s around 160cm tall and has dreadful vision (wears contact lenses), is a bit airheaded and never stops talking, but she can at least claim to being very good at drawing – some of her 4-koma work has been published in Dengeki Bunko Magazine.

Satomi is signed to Spacecraft Entertainment, the same agency as Hirano Aya. Her career path however, closely follows the likes of her seniors Nanri Yuuka and Chiba Saeko as well as her peers MAKO and Hasegawa Shizuka more – Ake-chan joined child acting troupe Nansho Kids at the age of 13 and rose through the ranks gradually. Nowadays her focus is almost exclusively on anime-related work – her more popular roles include Chrome Dokuro in the Reborn! series and currently, Futaba in Mitsudomoe.

She’s actually a really fun person, as indicated by her lively Twitter account…where she recently spazzed over the fact that Nishikawa Takanori (aka T.M.Revolution) started following her. Also a popular radio host, Akeko holds a slot on the ChoRaji Girls radio series and has a strong association with Broccoli properties, being the 2nd gen voice of Di Gi Charat as well as the voice of Nano-Nano Pudding in the Galaxy Angel series.

Still, as a wife…I think I’d rather have (randomly) Toyosaki Aki. At least I know she won’t poison me like Ake-chan nearly did to Iwata Mitsuo…

Finally got my hands on a copy of Kobayashi Yu’s 2nd photobook two.love x one.love. After the disappointment of the first PB, I was rather apprehensive about this one but was convinced to take a chance on it thanks to the fact that sabra were the ones handling the photoshoots. The name ’sabra’ did ring a few alarm bells for me given how risqué some of their gravure can be (re: Takahashi Chiaki’s Juicy Dancing) but the inclusion of a DVD and the promise of bare thigh flesh swung it for me.

Quick pics (apologies for poor lighting) and comments follow.

I don’t quite know what the point was of labeling this ‘the world’s first reversible photobook!’…well yeah, you can flip it from either way but in the end it’s just a bunch of photos collected in a book, doesn’t matter which end you start from.

The PB has 80 pages, around 7-8 of which are interviews or ads while the rest is pure gravure goodness. There’s a lot of themed photoshoots with varying levels of sexiness/cute factor, in around a dozen different costumes and settings. Being sabra, I’d say about 70% of the book leans towards the sexy part – which is good in that I don’t think cute suits Yu very well.

Yu did start off her showbiz life as a magazine model so there’s no real problems with the posing or expressions, plus it helps that she’s got such a well-defined facial bone structure that looks good whatever angle you shoot her face from. Not to mention her lovely legs. Still, the styling (or the altering, god only knows) sometimes distorts her face that I can’t even tell it’s Yu herself sometimes.

The quality of photography is good, if you compare it to say…Tomatsu Haruka’s first photobook (I know, poor comparison). All the shots are clear and crisp, no weird lighting effects. Obviously everything’s been digitally touched-up to perfection, removing the mole on Yu’s right cheek from EVERY single shot is already the most jarring thing that you’ll notice straightaway. It’s even more obvious when you compare the shots in the book to the behind-the-scenes footage on the DVD. For what it’s worth, Tomatsu’s face (markings and all) wasn’t altered as much as it is here…but that’s professional gravure shoots for you.

There’s one or two segments I could’ve done without – the blonde wig/lolita one was pretty awful, the pigtails one wasn’t my cup of tea either. Otherwise, I think it’s a very decent selection of shots, revealing enough to be sexy but not too much to be skanky. It might not appeal to non-Yu fans though, she can be quite the acquired taste – in looks, voice acting and personality…

…as are her art skills! Here’s her attempt to draw the Tokyo Sky Tree (which she wasn’t even aware of the existence of). There’s 2 pages of her art, the other one features ’sketches’ of Doraemon and the recent World Cup amongst other things. They’re all the same sort of traumatising testicle-ish pictures, FYI.

There’s quite a lot of casual-ish shots too. I quite dig these few pages, that ‘just got out of bed’ sort of dressed-down open shirt look is something that greatly appeals to my inner oyaji. Yeah I like my jutting collarbones and belly buttons

Though I am admittedly quite ドM and certainly wouldn’t mind Yu whipping/binding/lashing/caressing me with a chain, rawrrrrrr.

And here’s a few quick caps from the 16-minute DVD that’s included with the PB. Here’s Yu starting off everything with her usual nose-to-knee bow.

In the palm of her right hand, Yu holds the key to the will of the universe…

Yu rues leaving her brain in her freezerbox at home. The DVD is just footage of her going through the shoots, there isn’t a whole lot of dialogue (thankfully?).

You won’t want to know the consequences of not listening to Yu’s commands…possibly. So do it, NOW.

2♥1♥ is only ￥2,625 (or ￥2,500 on CDJapan) a pop. With a DVD thrown in for good measure, there’s no reason for Yu fans to not grab a copy for themselves. I deliberately excluded all the best leg shots for that purpose XD

This is becoming a rather regular occurence by now but yeah, I won’t be around for a couple of weeks while I traipse around in sunny Tokyo. For the record, it’s my 5th trip in 15 months (and by November, it’ll be 6 in 18). Excessive much? You don’t have to remind me.

Anyways, I’m actually going to AniSama Day 1 after all albeit with less enthusiasm than I had before Sphere @ Budokan was announced. I nearly ended up not going at all but the prospect of seeing fripSide, Itou Kanako etc and oh yeah, Sphere XD was strong enough to push me to grab a crappy ticket to go for the 28/08 Saturday date. But honestly, the line-up this year is pretty threadbare. No Hocchan, no Aaya, no Suara. Blame the whole Girls’ Night thing I guess.

No, I have no interest in Day 2. Or should I say, I have no interest in fighting with the hordes for Day 2 (not that I can afford to go). Gosh, why did they put Minorin, Yukarin and Nana on the same day D= I think Crush Tears is the only act that day I had remotely any interest in seeing but oh well. I can live without seeing them.

Goods-wise, I’m amused by the AniSama stuff on offer this year (first-aid kits, ration sets) but won’t be buying. Sphere have apparently got T-shirts and towels on sale and I’m willing to bet that they’re the same ones from Lantis Matsuri last year haha. Actually I don’t have that particular set so I might pick one up if there’s any left by the time I get there.

Predicted setlist
angela: Aoi Haru, Alternative
Ishikawa Chiaki: Gyakko is a must. There’s a chance she might sing the new single もう何も怖くない、怖くはない, some fans think she will do See-Saw’s Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru. Chances of duet? Maybe with Nanri Yuuka…
Itou Kanako: Pick 2 from fetishism ark, A.R. and Sky Clad no Kansokusha. I’ll be fine with those, hoping for fake me is likely an exercise in futility.
ELISA: Dear My friend, Real force. Possibility of Railgun connection collabo with fripSide? You never know.
GirlDeMo: Crow Song, Thousand Enemies, Little Braver (one will be duet with Lia maybe?)… Er, I think I have given up on this. I really cannot recognize any of the AB! songs apart from Ichiban no Takaramono & Brave Song…
Kuribayashi Minami: Meiya Kadenro, Unreal Paradise + 1 other song… maybe United Force.
GRANRODEO: Dunno their songs. They’ll prob get 2 + a collabo…
THE GOMBAND: Braveheart. I think he will only get one song, if another one the Black Rock Shooter Gom version
JAMPro: I have no idea, don’t know any JamPro stuff. Errr the Transformers song?
Sphere: Now loading…SKY!!, either Super Noisy Nova or REALOVE:REALIFE. Some ppl think NauSuka might get cut cos it’s not very AniSama-ish. I think they will sing it cos it’s the newest single…
Takahashi Naozumi: Rashinban, the other song is harder to predict. Nao-nii might go for Time Capsule but he might also choose something older…Kaze ni Natte or Kimi ni Aete Yokatta? Difficult to say.
Nanri Yuuka: Tsukishirube. Odyssey is possible but maybe a FJ YUUKA song like Honoo no Tobira is also likely.
nomico + Masayoshi Minoshima: Ehhh, gotta be Bad Apple right? I don’t think they’ll get more than 1 song. If they do, I hope nomico does Shichaimasho lololol.
fripSide: Only my Railgun, LEVEL 5-Judgelight-
Yonekura Chihiro: Your guess is as good as mine. Somehow last year she managed to come out with two of my favourites (Yakusoku no Basho e & 10 Years After), this year… maybe Butterfly Kiss and Just Fly Away. Who knows?
Lia: My Soul, Your Beats!, maybe Toki o Kizamu Uta + duet with GirlDeMo. Please not Tori no Uta lol

As always, there’ll be surprises collabs. I try not to think about it too much and let whatever that comes, come.

Apart from that one day, my trip will be a very normal, very regular holiday, filled with hanabi taikai, fruit picking (maybe) and the highlight, going to see Cirque du Soleil ZED.

-I want to eat Blue Hawaii かき氷 wheee!
-I am not looking forward to the noisy cicadas orz.
-Randomly, I am sad to find out that HMV Shibuya is closing its doors next week – it was a regular haunt of mine for the latest in Japanese pop and indie =_= There’s always Tower Records, but somehow it’s just not the same…orz.

Recommended
Senkou no Night Raid OST. Kadokura Satoshi & Hakase Taro

Grabbed this cos I’m a follower of Hakase, although his involvement on Senkou amounts to little more than composing the one track and producing the rest. Most of the good stuff comes courtesy of Kadokura though, who’s better known for producing the pop sounds of Southern All Stars and Hotei Tomoyasu. I didn’t get too far with the Night Raid anime but I can totally get behind the soundtrack, which has an impressively varied mix of pseudo-Chinese music (sounds more like BGM for a mahjong computer game really), rockier Bond-like themes and the beautifully forlorn, melancholy violin/er-hu tracks.
Highlights: Tsuioku, Machikaze, Asia

Bungaku Shojo Soundtrack ~Tsuisou Ongaku Musique du film~. Itou Masumi

Curiously using her real name her, but this is still vintage Nanase Hikaru stuff. It’s like she took all the best bits from her Da Capo works, threw in a bit of Gift and sprinkled some Kimikiss here and there to get a soundtrack that’s at times ponderous, at times whimsical, but never fails to be beautiful. One of her best works yet.
Highlights: Mokuren no Shita de~Deai~, Fuyu no Bungeibu, Futatsu no Inori

FAIRY TAIL OSTs. Takanashi Yasuharu

This took me by surprise, I wasn’t expecting such a vibrant soundtrack from a shonen anime I didn’t give more than 2 episodes before dismissing as trash. Admittedly I have paid little attention to Takanashi’s output in the past – Jigoku Shojo bored me and I never watched Naruto Shippuuden, plus his work on the currently running Shiki is just…weird, to put it lightly. FAIRY TAIL is a very different proposition though, and has plenty of points that appeal to me – an Irish influence (recalls Haketa Takefumi) on the slower and more lighthearted tracks, rock opera for the battle themes, occasionally a mix of both. A rock version of Pomp and Circumstance! How much more silly can you get, haha. Very enjoyable stuff, one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard this year (so far).
Highlights: Mahou Hatsudou, Yousei Shippo, Shishi no Seirei
Listen: FAIRY TAIL Main Theme

Tokyo Mono Hara Shi Soundtrack. Kitajo Atsushi & Tsuchiya Kenichi

I acquired the soundtrack for Atlus’s PSP game, a spin-off from the Tokyo Majin franchise, for a singular purpose (the vocal tracks by Tomatsu Haruka) but it was good to see my money well invested regardless. It can be a bit jarring to have two different people working on a soundtrack, but Kitajo & Tsuchiya make it work here with a grandly composed, traditional-style (think flutes, shamisen & shachihoko) score that spans two discs and 50 tracks. There’s a bit of variety here too – jazz, Koshiro Yuzo-esque funk and Indian-influenced tracks amongst them. It’s just a pity that it had to be Tomatsu (instead of say, Fujimura Ayumi) singing the theme songs since her vocals are just atrocious, especially on Kirifuda. Thankfully she does do well enough on Izanai no Uta, which is the centerpiece of the soundtrack with its yearning melody and is re-arranged in various instrumental forms. Lovely.
Highlights: Tsuki Shiro Me de Tsuyoi Furiru, Matsuribayashi.Kaimei no Ba no Shirabe, Izanai no Uta
Listen: Hounoumai. Susabi no Nomitama (below)

Average, Worth a Listen
K-ON!! Soundtrack. Hyakkoku Hajime
Just because it’s better than the first season’s hopelessly abysmal soundtrack doesn’t automatically make this good. I don’t really think the tracks are all that great by themselves anyway, it’s just watching the show on a weekly basis that breeds familiarity with stuff like one more tea? and Futari no Sekai. In fact the best tracks are the two kids’ songs – Toyosaki Aki’s singing is truly something to behold (snigger).

Drrr!! OST. Yoshimori Makoto
Take the anime out of the music and everything sounds a lot blander, just like how Ikebukuro looks so interesting in the show but is actually a total dud of a place in real life. Personally, I think Drrr!!’s music isn’t a patch on Baccano!’s, and I’m scratching my head at how some of the tracks seem to crib off Muramatsu Ken’s kure-nai score. Maybe it’s my imagination.

Eve no Jikan Movie OST. Okada Toru
Appropriately quaint soundtrack for a quaint anime. Can’t say the music is that interesting but the plus point is that most of them come in under 1:30, meaning you won’t get enough time to become bored with any track before it moves on to something new.

Tatakau Shisho The Book of Bantorra OST. Hirano Yoshihisa
Hirano’s bombastic orchestra style is definitely in full flow here, though at times it was so overblown at times that I couldn’t stop laughing, but I think it’s pretty reflective of the show’s ridiculousness. Two discs is too much for me to take at one go though.

Lord of Vermillion II OST. Sakimoto Hitoshi etc
It’s a really different type of Sakimoto than I’m used to (referring to Valkyria Chronicles & FFXIII), definitely a lot more intense and experimental. Most of the tracks are arranged by other Basiscape people, which means the range of styles is far and wide – you’ve got Arab influences, electronic sounds and what not. I don’t find all of it listenable though, some of it’s just headache-inducing noise as far as I’m concerned. Good in teaspoonfuls.

Seiken no Blacksmith OST. Terashima Tamiya
There’s a couple of good RPG-styled tracks here and there but ultimately the soundtrack gets dragged down by one too many ‘mood-filler’ pieces that may be fine when you want something to fill in a particular suspenseful sequence in the anime, but are dire to listen to by themselves.

Not My Cup of Tea…
Angel Beats! Soundtrack. Maeda Jun & ANANT-GARDE EYES
I was going to write a lengthy diatribe on this but meh. I’ve long resigned myself to the fact that I’m the only person who hates every musical thing to do with AB! and this OST is no different. Repeating the endless bleeps of niku udon would the perfect torture method, I reckon. I guess it’s a sign I should avoid chiptune eh.

Working!! OST 1. Okabe Keiichi
It didn’t seem so apparent when I was watching the show but the music is dull as ditchwater. Just sort of meanders aimlessly through various lame attempts at rock and ska without ever truly finding its purpose.

Fate/stay night UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS OST. Kawai Kenji
The F/sn music has never impressed me, this is equally as boring.

Cross Days Theme Songs + Soundtrack. various
I keep telling myself not to waste my time on eroge soundtracks but once again I fell into the trap. I was hoping for at least some nice vocal tracks from Chata and Riryka etc but alas, they all suck.

Ookami Kakushi OST. Ozawa Takumi
Sounds like a primer for ‘How not to ape Kajiura Yuki’. Seems impossible, but it’s duller than the show it originates from.

Sengoku no Basara 3 Soundtracks. Otani Ko etc
It seems like I’ve heard a million different Sengoku-era OSTs that all fill the same sort of hot-blooded rock/traditional Japanese music template. Doesn’t quite work here though, the songs all seem to meld into one after the umpteenth ‘[insert warrior name] no Theme’. Also a case of too many cooks spoil the broth – there’s more than 5 people working on this and it all becomes an incoherent mess by the end.

Geez, it took me less than an hour to write up stuff for what took me something like 2-3 weeks of nonstop-listening to plough through. Nuhhh.

There’s no malice in my words, some people’s voices just rub me up the wrong way. Taste is subjective after all. Similarly I don’t expect people to like all the seiyuu I like so it’s no use throwing rotten tomatoes at me, I ain’t paying attention lalala♪

Takada Yumi
I already hated her in the Tenchi franchise as the blardy annoying Ayeka but the real killer was her supposedly ’sexy’ boin-boin meganekko Shikijo-sensei in Mahoromatic. If there’s any voice out there that can instantly make my ears bleed it’s Takada’s. That video of her shaking her thing (completely out of tune) does not help.

Fukui Yukari
I’ve been watching her land all sorts of good roles for 10 years and fail to pull any of them off, injecting the same sort of lispy airheaded incoherence to each and every one. First experience was the horrifying Sena Rika in one of my most beloved shows (Kare Kano), which left me incredibly traumatised. Even if I didn’t understand a word of Japanese (at that point). Since then it’s not gotten any better by way of Nia, Nono or Sarah Adiemus, and her current involvement in High School of the Dead makes me rage and wish that zombies had eaten her character. And her pants too.

Omigawa Chiaki
Omigod, Omigawa!! That’s my typical reaction to any show that has her name popping up in the credits list. I can’t fathom how she gets hired (I have an idea that she’s sucking lots of disco sticks) with her voice acting ‘ability’, which is devoid of technique, intonation or phrasing. Hell even her normal speaking voice is annoying. If you look up 棒読み in a Japanese slang dictionary, you’ll find her picture next to it.

Arai Satomi’s shitty Kuroko voice
A bit like Takada Yumi. Except Arai doesn’t have to try hard to be sexy cos there’s no bloody way someone who sounds like a 108-year old toothless crack addict with throat cancer can pull off sexy. Nuh-uh. I wanted to stuff a sock down her throat but hey, her being on hiatus spares me from listening to her voice at least until the end of year. As a plus point, Arai’s boobs are some mountains mmm.

Hoshi Soichiro
The guy’s squeaky man-boy voice has always grated on my nerves for as long as I remember. His supposedly ‘cool’ voices do not work either (thinks of Get Backers’s ladyboy Kazuki). Granted, when he goes into a lower range it’s not too bad but when he does his usual teenage-angsty voice throwing whiny tantrums…. *shreds eardrums with electric shredder

Goto Yuko
Everytime I hear her voice I get a violent urge to take a clothespeg and twist her nose off with it, so that her voice will have to come out of somewhere else but her nostrils.

Chihara Minori
…I don’t think I will ever forgive her for ruining Tenjo Tenge with her shrill performance – forever the phrase ‘Soichiro-sama’ will be associated with the image of a dumbass big-boobed bimbo running around with a lunchbox and chopsticks in her hand. That was some time ago, but she’s done nothing since then that has ever convinced me that she has the tiniest bit of ability to voice act. OK, Touka in Saki was just about bearable. Everything else has been terrible. Thank god for her singing then…

Miyata Kouki
Everytime I hear his voice I immediately think ‘weak-ass, lily-livered, good-for-nothing’. Years of watching him voice that useless Hanataro in Bleach may have a huge influence on that. Sometimes I even forget he’s a guy, especially the way he sings (or attempts to sing) – witness 遙か、君のもとへ…, where even Takahashi Naozumi managed to sound manlier than him. Also a bit biased but I hate the way Miyata looks – he reminds me of Illumi from the Hunter x Hunter series thanks to his rather creepy eyes.

Saito Ayaka
Zomg. I never heard a breathier bunny than Ayaka-most-famous-for-Honey-sempai-but-also-managed-to-ruin-Minami-ke. Her voice is a freak of nature, one that wreaks total havoc on unsuspecting viewers with its nasal qualities. A step up from Kaneda Tomoko in level of annoyingness, methinks.

Sakakibara Yui
Oh lordy. I’m sure I made a comment about her before *goes to dig* here we go! Yui-nyan sounds like she’s permanently on heat when she’s voice acting – like she’s mating with the recording mic, tearing her clothes off piece by piece, purring (un)seductively and pawing the floor while reading her lines. Yeap, that.

There’s also a bunch of other people whose voice acting I don’t care for. At all. Doesn’t mean I hate them though:

Nabatame Hitomi, Koshimizu Ami, Suzumura Kenichi, Sakamoto Maaya, Mizuki Nana, Hirakawa Daisuke, Fujita Saki, Shimizu Ai, Yonaga Tsubasa, Sakaguchi Daisuke, Kadowaki Maii, Shintani Ryoko, Sanada Asami, Ise Mariya, Kataoka Azusa, Mizuta Wasabi, Shirashi Minoru, Sugiyama Noriaki + 色々。 I guess I’m hard to please?

Anyways, I did write a shorter post on this over at Soup but felt there was a bit more in there worth mentioning.

This was brought about by 81produce’s recent announcement that they were launching a new girls’ seiyuu idol project named LISP, consisting of a trio of its own seiyuu Asumi Kana, Kataoka Azusa and Hara Sayuri. My knee-jerk reaction was to laugh and say ‘This whole thing will suck like a hoover hoovering up crumbs!’, particularly given the success rate of such past ventures (for every Aice5, there is a Layla, Plume and a Nabatame Hitomi X Ito Shizuka). You can tell that 81p are putting a lot of effort into LISP – a guerrilla assault through the media with a website, Twitter, even a fanclub at the ready. They’re playing a free event on 23rd September, then ANIMAX MUSIX FALL 2010 in early November alongside Kalafina, May’n and the likes.

It’s obvious 81p wants a slice of the seiyuu idol pie after seeing how the likes of Nana, Minorin, Maaya and especially Sphere (as an example of a seiyuu idol unit) are all writing their own success stories, but I’m not sure how large that pie is and whether any of it will go to LISP. I can see how 81p hoping the ゴリ押し tactics will reap them dividends – get grassroots support, push, push harder, PROFIT?

Now it’s also obvious that a lot of idol groups’ success depends on the marketing strategy, so it’s important to get the correct people backing the project. Who’s behind LISP then? Well they’re managed by the girls’ agency 81produce, we know as much. What’s of more interest is their music label and that…is a mysterious entity known as DIVEIIentertainment. Moca already pretty much outlined what they’re about – NOT a traditional record label per se (ie not focusing on distributing CDs and DVDs) but rather, a multimedia venture that aims to get them ‘closer to the user’ by delivering content to anime and game fans through anime/doujin music, web media and live events. All a bit wordy and vague, but to me it means ‘don’t expect the traditional idol route like all those other big acts, we’re trying a different business model’! It is interesting that they’re taking this ‘everyday communication with fans’ (毎日ファンとコミュニケーションする) approach as other idol acts do the exact opposite – keep fans at arms’ length. So yeah, novel approach. Will it work? Who knows.

Most of today’s successful seiyuu idol acts are on one of two labels – Lantis/GloryHeaven/Mellowhead or Starchild/King Records. Both hold so much clout in the anisong world (think of all the anime sponsored by either Starchild or Lantis) that it seems almost impossible for a newbie artist or aspiring seiyuu idol to make it big without the support of one of these two. I mean, there must be a reason why Sony/Music Ray’n let Lantis handle Sphere’s career instead of doing it themselves – without the anime tie-ups, the connections, the promotion, it’s unlikely the group would have made it to Budokan within 18 months of debuting (hint: Sony are rotten at the seiyuu idol game).

So who’s handling LISP’s music? Avex people – songwriter/producer Ikehata Nobuhito is waaayyy old school ’90s, think Makihara Noriyuki and (the late) Takahashi Hiro kinda old. And ruh-roh, Avex means alarm bells – the only seiyuu-related acts of note to come out of Avex are Chihara Minori and Momoi Halko (sort of). It is perhaps worth mentioning that Minorin’s music career has been fugged up once by her management already and it was up to Lantis to fix that – they did somewhat manage to get it back on track, via an almighty slice of fortune in the form of the Haruhi anime. Well maybe we might get some decent mainstream Jpop out of it, but whether it will sell…I mean, CD sales are where they’re hoping to earn back a bit of their investment, right?

Oh, and another very obvious thing I should point out about LISP is that I dunno where the hell their popularity is going to come from. Asumin’s the only one with anything resembling a steady fanbase and that’s all fine and dandy if you’re hoping to hold live events purely of her producing weirdo cartoon voices but…singing? Dancing? Hahaha. Haha. As for the other two…well. It’s probably known that I don’t like Kataoka at all since she can’t voice act to save her life. Hara? Errrr I profess to knowing zip about her beyond her name, face and voice acting credits. She’d need a huge role in some popular Kyoto Animation anime (a la Toyosaki Aki in K-ON!) to have any hopes of building a steady following, methinks.

Talking about ‘building a following’, here’s a look at some of the past girl seiyuu units and how they worked:

Aice5 (Starchild) – Horie Yui asks a bunch of friends to form a group, success follows (because of her).
Sphere (Music Ray’n/Lantis) – Currently the most popular female seiyuu group. First ever to play at Budokan.
DROPS (Aoni/Starchild) – Aoni gets a bunch of their young seiyuu + one successful idol (Koda Mariko), moderate success.
Mix JUICE (I’m Enterprise/Wonder Farm) – Formed for the anime Wandaba Style, (almost) joke unit. Moderate success.
tiaraway (Space Craft/Scitron/King Records) – Really, a Shikura Chiyomaru vanity project, fixed-term. Not much success, somehow became a cult favourite.
Prits (Starchild) – Unit from Sister Princess seiyuu – yes, including Mizuki Nana. Not much success, briefly reformed for a Nana live show this year.
Purafini (Baobab/Pony Canyon) – Another vanity unit between two childhood friends. Nobody really cared.
Clover (RAMS/Lantis) – RAMS’ failure at trying to rule the seiyuu idol group world. Project imploded after Saito Momoko left RAMS to go freelance.
Nabatame Hitomi x Ito Shizuka (KenPro/Geneon) – Yuriyuri weirdo unit, no success. Because neither is particularly popular, neither can sing and their songs suck.
N’s (Geneon) – Nogizaka group, very moderate success on the back of the anime.
TAMAGO (Starchild) – Formed after Fukuen Misato & Kadowaki Mai worked together on RADIO Animelomix. A project that started and ended dead in the water.
UYAMUYA/exige (Lantis) – Also Wild 3-nin Musume, all projects born from KimiNozo. Moderately successful.
Yamato Nadeshiko (Starchild) – Remembered more fondly than they were thought of during their existence, having been formed after a long association on the SOMETHING DREAMS radio show. Sold few records, but both (Yukarin & Hocchan) went on to become superstars regardless.
Pastel (Starchild) – 7 girls who hosted a Starchild radio show. Members included the then fresh-faced Shiraishi Ryoko and Shimizu Ai as well as Konno Hiromi and Koyama Kimiko. Lasted less than a year before splitting.

So yeah, colour me cynical. It’s DIIE and LISP’s job to change my mind, and I wish them the best of luck with this ‘new’ thing they’re trying out. Still, I favour ARTERY VEIN to achieve more success…

I don’t care if:
1. This is a prelude to a split
2. It’s way too damn early for them to be playing Budokan (but we know rental fees are cheap cheap)
3. I become penniless as a result
4. The live is held on a dead day (ie Tuesday)

I MUST GO TO BUDOKAN! Bye-bye AFA, my plans for you are smashed to pieces (unless you bring Sphere there too)!

Also, new single announcement…but that got swept under the carpet LOL. No release date yetDue 20th October, it’ll be the theme for the autumn Otome Yokai Zakuro anime which Toyosaki Aki is appearing in. I shall go do a HAPPY DANCE now, whilst torturing the mottohadeni chat people who can’t go to Budokan *lalalalala.

There have been studies claiming that each person goes through a moteki at least twice (sometimes thrice) in their lives, and a recent article on livedoor related the experiences of a few young people including a girl who always got rejected during their schooldays but somehow at the age of 27, found herself the recipient of 3 love confessions from male friends.

Thinking about how moteki might apply to seiyuu and their careers – if you look at casting trends over the past 10 years or so you might notice a recurring pattern. Certain seiyuu suddenly become ‘hot’ on the back of one role, with some ending up voicing the same type of voices and characters (think Kugimiya Rie and tsundere) over the next few seasons.

It is hard to sustain such success over a prolonged period of time though, a lot of times you’ll find a previously popular seiyuu making way for their younger colleagues’ turn to be motemote (モテモテ). You can see how Hanazawa Kana is this year’s moteki seiyuu – she already has more leads in 2010 than in 2008 and 2009 put together while 4-5 years ago her Osawa Agency senior Noto Mamiko went through something similar.

There are many reasons why a seiyuu might find themselves in a moteki:

1.Riding the wave
Ah, the benefits of having your name attached to the right project at the right time. Case in point – the Haruhi quintet of Hirano Aya, Chihara Minori, Goto Yuko, Sugita Tomokazu & Ono Daisuke or more recently, the K-ON! quintet of Toyosaki Aki, Hikasa Yoko, Sato Satomi, Taketatsu Ayana & Kotobuki Minako. Unfortunately this is something like throwing a bunch of darts and hoping that some of them stick, you can never really predict what shows will take off with the otaku crowd and what shows will fall flat…especially when auditions for shows are done anywhere between 6-12 months in advance of airtime.

2.Agency decides to push the seiyuu hard
Unflatteringly known in the business as ゴリ押し, or assault tactics. Please ignore how suspicious it is that Aniplex and Lantis-backed anime have various members of Sphere either singing theme songs or all having major roles in the show (*cough Manimani *cough AsoIku *cough Kannagi *cough Occult Gakuin)!

3.Plain luck
Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. Even the best of seiyuu fail at auditions (Kamiya Hiroshi couldn’t get into Minami-ke for example), so just try harder next time.

Some good examples of seiyuu who spent years being irrelevant only to suddenly find themselves in moteki include Kamiya and Fukuyama Jun. I remember the days when they both looked like geeky schoolboys and marvel at how they managed to transform into heart-throbs thanks to Gundam and Geass. Moteki indeed, and they had better enjoy the attention while it lasts – it might not come around for another 10-12 years.

I wish I could resume doing those seasonal seiyuu trend posts I used to do but alas, time is not a forgiving master. It would be nice to be able to do nice little graphs detailing the seiyuu who were most popular (by season) over the last 10 years. I’ll shove that idea into my stuffed box of ‘Things to do before I’m 50′ then!

In the meantime, why not try finding out when your own personal motemote period will be? It might be pretty accurate too, pointing out my level of mote-ness being high at the age of 11 which is when I had my own mini-harem of 4 boys who did my every bidding, although one of them ended up breaking my heart. But that, is another story for another day.

Music Ray’n is a notoriously secretive agency, so not a whole lot is known about the girls and their private lives. These are all pieces of information picked up over the years from magazine interviews, radio shows and blog posts that I’ve merely reordered to make for palatable reading. All of this in the public domain (albeit in Japanese) so no, I don’t have any insider scoop on the girls or where they live or what they had for breakfast yesterday. Actually scratch that, I know there’s a 60% chance that Haruka ate yude tamago from Family Mart for breakfast yesterday.

A quick introduction to the members of Sphere, from oldest to youngest:

This is TAKAGAKI AYAHI. She was a musical major aged 20, studying opera/vocal training when tried out for Music Ray’n. She had always had a strong interest in ‘voice’, both via the voice acting in anime and also through singing in musicals, ever since her school days. Having chosen to pursue singing in college, Ayahi did not think much more of making it in the seiyuu business until she watched Gundam SEED Destiny. Being a fan of the franchise, her fire was reignited and after a friend persuaded her to try out, she sent in a demo tape for the audition just before the deadline passed. After passing her audition, she continued to pursue her studies and graduated in March 2008.

Just as Ayahi is the oldest in Sphere, so she is in real life too. Together with her younger siblings (1 girl, 1 boy) and her parents and various other extended parts of the family, she lives in an 11-person household, sharing a room with her sister and mother. Unlike the other three girls who have had to learn to be independent after upping sticks from their hometowns to move to the capital, Ayahi is born and bred in Tokyo and has had her every little need looked after by her mother since a young age. She can neither cook nor clean, does not know how to operate a washing machine and is not trusted with the house keys because ‘I’ll definitely lose them’. Just how bad is her cooking? Judge yourself from her nikujaga cooking exercise..and watch the chef facepalm. She mentions her mom a lot, even in passing exclamations – if other people say ‘oh my god’, then Ayahi will say ‘お母さん!’.

Despite her domestic hopelessness, Ayahi is considered the most ’serious’ in her work approach amongst the four girls. Endlessly practising her scripts, keeping books of notes on her roles, making sure her throat is in tip-top condition all the time…Ayahi may be a little scatter-brained but if you want professionalism and reliability out of any of the four Sphere members, she’s the one to go to. She’s also the aunt agony of the group, the one everyone turns to for advice or when they want to have a serious talk.

How the other members describe Ayahi:
Aki – Small and cute person. Also very serious, proper and a reliable onee-san.
Minako – Focused, and someone who has a strong heart.
Haruka – The one who’s willing to do stupid things with me (lol).

This is TOYOSAKI AKI. She was studying and working part-time on broadcast radio in her hometown in Tokushima when she applied for Music Ray’n Super Seiyuu Audition at the age of 19. She had wanted to be an actress during her school years, but feared she would be hampered by her distinct cartoony voice, something about herself that she particularly disliked. It was only when a listener to one of her radio shows sent in a mail convincing her to try out for voice work that she auditioned for Music Ray’n. The exact details of Aki’s tertiary education are unknown, but is thought that she graduated from Osaka University of Arts Junior College, having majored in Public Relations and Communications Studies.

Aki is the younger of two girls, with her 2-years older sister still living in Tokushima with her parents. She remains close to her sister (even though they’re nothing like each other), calling her frequently and buying her Krispy Kreme doughnuts from Tokyo as omiyage when she goes home for the holidays. The Toyosaki family is one that is full of laughter and food, and Aki especially enjoys going back to eat her dad’s home-cooking.

Her father is a great influence in her life, particularly musically – at various junctures Aki has mentioned her love for 60s/70s rock and punk groups such as the Rolling Stones & the Small Faces, and she credits her guitar-playing dad for encouraging her to take up the instrument herself. Although she had wanted an electric guitar, but somehow ended up with an acoustic guitar gifted from her parents, although she never really learned to play until K-ON! forced her to.

She admits that she rarely gets nervous during interviews, radio shows or lives – I think you can see this from those backstage footage videos with Sphere and at the K-ON! event where everyone is a crying mess and Aki’s standing there clapping her hands… She has said that she’s scared of stray cats though (apparently there’s a lot of them running around in Tokushima…). Despite her dreamy, laidback demeanor that most often recalls her Yui character in K-ON!, Aki is very sharp and witty and tends to excel at anything she tries…if she actually puts any effort into it. She has a scooter license, but failed her Nihongo Kentei 2-kyuu exam. She also once took up a (Mizuki) Nana-sama quiz challenge from friend and colleague Kitamura Eri (a diehard Nana fan)…and managed to achieve the same score as KitaEri (3/10) despite knowing next to nothing about Nana. Aki may be Suzumiya Haruhi in disguise, bending the universe to her own will (or so I like to believe).

How the other members describe Aki:
Ayahi – What you see is what you get – Hokkori! (warm & fluffy). Still, she’s got her head firmly fixed on her shoulders.
Minako – She may seem a bit airheaded but she’s definitely someone who turns things over in her mind very quickly.
Haruka – She’s always got something brewing in her mind – ‘Just how far ahead does she think?!’, I sometimes wonder. I admire her a lot.

This is TOMATSU HARUKA. She had no entertainment experience prior to MuRay/Sphere and was convinced by classmates in her hometown in Aichi to try out for a career in showbiz as she spent most of her time doing comedy impressions and imitating teachers and friends. She was 15 when she tried out for both the MuRay auditions and a Toho Cinderella audition, the latter of which she got down to the final 15 in the selection process out of 37,443 girls. Had she won the Toho competition, you might be seeing her in Godzilla movies instead of voicing cartoon characters. After winning her place in Music Ray’n, Haruka was allowed to complete her high-school education in Ichinomiya where she travelled to and from Tokyo for a year before enrolling in university in Tokyo in April 2008. She is currently a final-year student and is hence finding her activities in 2010 a little more restricted as she balances both work and the need to deal with a mountain of report-writing.

She is the younger of two girls, but rarely talks about her sister (except when mentioning that her mom prays every single year during Hinamatsuri that her two daughters will find husbands). Instead Haruka is both a daddy and a mummy’s girl, mentioning her parents frequently in her blog posts, relating tales of present-buying and mail-sending and how her mum comes to Tokyo to visit her. Mr and Mrs Tomatsu also wrote a very warm message for their daughter’s High Touch! photobook, talking about her childhood days. The Tomatsu household keeps a pet pug dog named Momoko, nicknamed Momochi.

Carefree daredevil Haruka was a tomboy growing up, she often spent her afternoons playing rough games with the boys in her neighbourhood and along with her athleticism (she was a school relay runner), that contributes to that adventurous streak she still has up to this day. One of her current ambitions is to go bungee jumping – indeed, she was supposed to do it for a magazine feature just last month but bad weather put paid to those plans. She’s the type of girl who gets along with people easily and finds friends wherever she goes – Toyoguchi Megumi once remarked that she thought the 12-year age gap between herself and Haruka might make it hard to get along but that wasn’t the case at all, praising her for her thoughtfulness (Haruka once bought rabbit-patterned socks for Megu and the rest of the Cross Game cast after Megu commented about how nice they were) and her dilligent work attitude.

How the other members describe Haruka:
Aki – Like sunshine. As long as she’s around, everyone will have a smile on their face. She’s someone who’s got the power to influence the people around her, and I mean that in a good way!
Ayahi – We all say this a lot – ‘troop commander!’ (note: Ayahi says 斬り込み隊長, which is a play on 切込隊長, the handle-name of one of 2ch’s founders Yamamoto Ichiro. The phrase means something like ’someone who’s always at the forefront of things’).
Minako – A ‘powerful girl’. You can get a lot of energy from her.

And this is KOTOBUKI MINAKO, the only member still in her teens. A Morning Musume. fan in her younger days, she strongly desired to become a member of the group but was far too young. Seeing her daughter’s enthusiasm, Minako’s mother decided to help her audition for CM work on local broadcast stations in Kobe, which led to eventual work on Kansai indie films. Minako recalls that she sometimes received rejections from the audition people who told her that ‘you’re too calm for your age and don’t possess enough youthful feeling’.

She was 14 when she applied for, and passed the Music Ray’n auditions and due to her youthful age she was allowed to remain in her hometown of Nagata, only commuting to Tokyo by shinkansen for work duties. Minako recalls the hours spent travelling fondly, which she spent watching films and studying as well as practicing ‘undoing’ her very prominent Kansai accent. This process continued for 2 more years until she landed a major role in K-ON! and the Kotobuki family allowed her to move to Tokyo to pursue her career, meaning she had to complete her final year of her highschool education in the capital. Having graduated just this March, Minako made the decision to forgo tertiary education in favour of focusing on her career.

The younger of two siblings, Minako has a brother 4 years older than her, whose birthday falls 3 days before hers (14 September vs 17 September). A university graduate, her brother helped tutor her throughout her school days and they shared similar interests in music, Minako recalling how they would sit together and sing songs by pop duo Kobukuro. She is also close to her piano-teacher mother, saying that they are very much alike in personality…which means they can be the best of friends one day and arguing the next. Still, she’s somebody she very much looks up to, her confidante and the person she most loves going shopping with. The Kotobuki household keeps 2 pets – a turtle named Guido and a cat named Mint.

Often seen as the most level-headed and しっかり (focused) member of the group, though Minako admits that this personality is let slip when she’s at home and she often gets scolded by her parents and brother for being lazy. She’s also frequently mistaken for the oldest member of Sphere (despite being the youngest) thanks to her ‘onee-san’ looks. Even though giving off a mature air, Minako lapses into occasional ‘blonde’ moments (characterised by Kotobuki Hole) and unwittingly finds herself the butt of many jokes from fellow seiyuu.

How the other members describe Minako:
Aki – Pure and fresh, like a cool, gentle breeze. And at the same time she’s serious, a quick learner and honest.
Ayahi – Very calm and mature. Not befitting of her age, but that’s one of the things I love about her.
Haruka – The person I’m closest to in Sphere. Someone who I can talk to about anything.

Part 3 will take a look at the works of Sphere and its individual members and feature more stats and figures. Stay tuned.