Well, I really don't think Kasahara would like Asahina - I'm pretty sure he unconsciously likes Doujou. That guy might be near perfect, but, as Kasahara said, perfection doesn't mean she could love him. This show isn't really something I can give a lot of important events on... it's mostly things regarding one army versus another, but it's still really fun to watch. What's more fun is when Doujou has arguments with Kasahara... I'm not being sadistic or anything, but you gotta agree that what she says to him and his responses to it to conceal some sort of fact (e.g. protect her) is a bit droll.
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It’s rant time. (And yes, there are massive spoilers ahead, mainly for Macross Frontier, Toshokan Sensou and Code Geass.) Pretty much every spring 2008 series broke my heart in one way or another. I now have a very long list of exes. Code Geass R2 Breakup because: That end killed Lulu/C.C. I actually stopped watching this about halfway through [...]
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SAWASHIRO Miyuki 沢城みゆき is a great seiyuu and a strange bird. She spends her time reading, likes classical music, dresses older than her 23 years, and speaks gently, but with great confidence in her own opinions.She started in anime at 14 (born in Tokyo 1985.06.02), and has been working ever since. She graduated from university earlier this year, and now is branching out into live theatre.At an age at which other seiyuu are considered newcomers, she is a seasoned veteran, with 110 anime roles under her belt, including her first role of Puchiko in Di Gi Charat, and her most famous role, that of Shinku in Rozen Maiden. She was Claire in Red Garden, Hagino in Blue Drop, and Shinkuro in Kurenai, and has important roles in three new shows that start this week.She describes herself as "terribly laid-back," and speaks softly and carefully in interviews (such as this one). She seems fairly serious and controlled, but has a dry wit and a wonderful happy laugh.But she tells people exactly what she thinks, without regard for age or experience. Some older seiyuus (Kaneda Tomoko, for one) have been taken aback by her pointed criticisms. So has the director of Kurenai, who said plaintively that she kept changing the lines he had written.Miyukichi (her nickname) is among the most versatile of all current seiyuus. She can play everyone from little girls through young men to mature women, and from flying cat-boys to sleepy nature goddesses, and her voice can be everything from sweet to harsh to sexy.Some people call her a jack of all trades and master of none. I think that is because she is so versatile that you can't identify her with one particular voice. But it is true that there is something so under-control about her work that it can seem dry. She is not so much a pretty voice as a fine vocal technician who is a good actress and becoming a better one.rolesThe role that really turned me on to her work was Hagino in Blue Drop (2007), but she is most famous for Puchiko in Di Gi Charat (her debut role, 1999) and Shinku in Rozen Maiden (2004). (mouseover photos for captions, click to enlarge) Her Claire in Red Garden (2006) was also outstanding, as was her Shibasaki in Library Wars (2008).She was Mint Blancmange in Galaxy Angel, Kagura in Onegai My Melody, Ibara-hime in Otogijushi Akazukin, Shinkuro in Kurenai, Reika in Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun, and the landlady in Hidamari Sketch. I could go on and on. There is a list of some of her roles at the end of this piece. Here is a video digest of her main roles. She has prominent roles in three interesting shows this fall season: she plays Kotoha in Yozakura Quartet (starts Thursday), Satoru in Linebarrels of Iron (starts Friday), and Aoba in Kannagi (starts Saturday).careerSawashiro-san's career began in 1999, when she was 13. At a public audition for the lead role in Di Gi Charat, she impressed the producers so much that they gave her the role of little Puchiko in the show. Even at the audition (YouTube), you can hear the energy, range, and precision of her voice, and can see how self-possessed she seems for someone so young.She kept working, getting more roles year by year through high school, then burst forth with 24 roles in 2006. That has dropped back to a somewhat more manageable 16 and 17 roles in 2007 and 2008. Her agency is Mausu Promotions, which also represents Ono Daisuke (whom Miyukichi calls "O.D.") and Ishida Akira.controversyThrough this past summer, 2channel has had a running argument about comments made by Matsuo Kou, the director/writer of Kurenai, in which Miyukichi starred as the male protagonist Shinkuro. The director said she did not address him with the proper respect and kept changing the script.But listening to the radio show on which he said it (nicovideo), it sounds to me as if his comments were made in good humor. And now Matsuo-san has chosen her to star in his new show, Yozakura Quartet. In fact, she appears to be his favorite seiyuu, having acted in his other shows Rozen Maiden and Red Garden. He probably first met her when he was a unit director on Galaxy Angel. personalityTanaka Rie says that on the set of Rozen Maiden, Miyukichi always seemed to be the chairman of the group, even though the other seiyuus were older than she was.And she is evidently fairly free with her opinions of others' approaches. "Sawashiro-san really scolds me," Kaneda Tomoko once said.There is a series of features on the Blue Drop DVDs (YouTube) in which Miyukichi interviews director Ohkura Masahiko (left) and mangaka Yoshitomo Akihito -- and manages to talk as much as either of them.She gives the feeling that she is outwardly mild, but inwardly clever and challenging. She seems an irresistible force, like water.She dresses older than her age, and sometimes wears seriously frumpy outfits. She does not always look as pretty as she is -- although I like all these photos, anyway. And she has had many different hairstyles, some fairly awful, as she makes extreme and but usually fruitless efforts to disguise how (beautifully) broad her face is:Bits and pieces:she does not eat meat, but does eat fish. she has one sibling, a younger brother. she likes classical music. she went to a college in Tokyo, but we don't know which one or what she majored in. her English pronunciation is passable, and she has spoken English in a couple of her roles, for example in the second ED for Red Garden.when she played the eldest sister in Kokoro Toshokan, she was the youngest among the seiyuus. friendsHer closest friend in the business appears to be Sanada Asami (below, left), who won that long-ago audition to play Di Gi Charat. If you watch video #4 of the audition, Asami is #12 and Miyukichi is #15. They have now been together in several shows over the years. She is also supposed to be friendly with such seiyuu as Nazuka Kaori, Koshimizu Ami, and Sanpei Yuuko, as well as Kugimiya Rie, Kobayashi Yu, Tamura Yukari, Tsuji Ayumi, and Kimura Haruka. She and Yukarin have been seen in close conversation at an event, knee to knee, stroking each other's hair. She has also been friendly with Gotou Saori, her co-star in Rakugo Tennyou Oyui, although there are rumours that they have fallen out for some reason. talentMany people have recognized her talent, but a quote from top seiyuu Seki Tomokazu stands out: "Make no mistake, this is a being who will take the seiyuu world somewhere."She is an excellent vocal technician, with a wide range of voices and intonations and the ability to use them at will -- despite the fact that she never did go to seiyuu school. And now she is concentrating on dramatic acting, as you can hear in Red Garden or Blue Drop or Kurenai.I'm sure a director can feel confident that she will produce a good voice for almost any character. But I think she's still finding something that will make her roles more memorable. I have a hunch that Miyukichi has only just begun, and will be showing us more and more in the years ahead.She joined the comic theatre group Gekidango late last year, and has been in three of their productions. To see a bit of what she is doing on the live stage, go to this page and click the little TV screen near the top right of the page for a brief video. The photos below are from the theatre group's site: videostalk for Seattle Gekidangoquick digest of roleslonger digest of roles part 1 part2 part 3 part 4at Di Gi Charat audition -- full audition here (she appears in part 1 at 7:45 and part 4 at 2:50)song with Shintani RyoukoGekidango stage performance (click TV screen near top right of page)YouTube search pageon Kurenai radio #8 (audio only)with Fuken Misato at Strike Witches OVA event Roles (selected):(1999) Di Gi Charat (TV) as Puchiko/Petit Charat(2001) Galaxy Angel (TV) as Mint Blancmanche(2001) Kokoro Library (TV) as Iina(2002) Pita Ten (TV) as Higuchi Kotarou(2004) Rozen Maiden (TV) as Shinku(2004) DearS (TV) as Khi(2004) Onegai My Melody (TV) as Kogure Kakeru(2005) D.C.S.S. ~Da Capo Second Season~ (TV) as Kudou Kanae(2005) Pani Poni Dash! (TV) as Serizawa Akane(2005) Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid (TV) as Xia Yu Lan(2005) My-Otome (TV) as Sara Gallagher(2006) Utawarerumono (TV) as Aruru(2006) Otogi-Jushi Akazukin (TV) as Ibara-hime(2006) Red Garden (TV) as Claire Forrest(2007) Les Miserables - Shoujo Cosette (TV) as Beatrice(2007) Nodame Cantabile (TV) as Chiaki (young)(2007) Kamichama Karin (TV) as Kujyou Kazune(2007) Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (TV) as Maria Taro Sekiutsu(2007) Dead Girls (OAV) as Claire Forrest(2007) Naruto Shippuuden (movie) as Shizuku(2007) Blue Drop: Tenshi-tachi no Gikyoku (TV) as Senkouji Hagino(2007) Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun (TV) as Houjou Reika(2007) Shugo Chara! (TV) as Yoru (Ikuto's shugo chara)(2008) Kure-nai (TV) as Kurenai Shinkurou(2008) Library War (TV) as Shibasaki Asako(2008) Hidamari Sketch × 365 (TV) as Landlady(2008) Strike Witches (TV) as Perrine-H. Clostermann(2008) Yozakura Quartet (TV) as Isone Kotoha(2008) Linebarrels of Iron (TV) as Yamashita Satoru(2008) Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens (TV) as Aoba Tsugumiroles by type:110 anime roles50 games (no ero-games)15 dubbing roles2 stage performances9 radio shows, two current51 music CDs (for characters, not in her own name)98 drama CDsanime roles by year:1999-12000-22001-32002-52003-72004-82005-102006-242007-162008-17plus 17 OVAs and movieslinksagency pagevoice samplesAnime News Network page (complete list of roles)Wikipedia pageJapanese Wikipedia pageGekidango theatre group pageMiyukichi's posts on Gekidango blogcurrent 2channel threadfansite (last updated 2007.12)
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And the goodie from Japan is… my new Toshokan Sensou cospa shirt! (Big thanks to usagijen and her officemate!) It’s the most expensive t-shirt that I ever bought, thus far (about 3300 yen all in all @_@) and the first imported item I bought from Japan. I got the shirt’s small size though it’s [...]
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Another relatively light week of anime; however, I was able to finish one of my favorite shows from the spring season, Library War. The scores: Zero’s Familiar S.3, episode 8 – 10/12 A Birdy the Mighty Decode, episode 8 – 12/12 Perfect Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 6 – 12/12 Perfect Xam’D: Lost Memories, episode 7 – 12/12 Perfect Natsume Yuujinchou, episode [...]
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Sometimes I get the feeling that people can pluck thoughts out of mind. This occurs most often when reading XKCD but this time I get the distinct feeling that the people behind Library War probed my mind to see what type of series I would like to watch. It’s like they knew I read Fahrenheit [...]
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This news got past my TS radar, and was brought to my attention by fellow Toshokan Sensou evangelist fan haya5hi of Akiba-Station. Basically, Toshokan Sensou bags the stellar 星雲 (Seiun) award in the recently concluded Japan SF (sci-fi) convention Daicon7, an award whose awesomeness I won't be able to fathom had I not read haya5hi's post about it being a semi-illiterate and all lol. Congratulations to ToshoSen and of course, its author Hiro Arikawa, for bringing us this wonderful novel. I promise, I'll get to reading ALL of it after I finish studying for JLPT1 also because I'm currently sidetracked with reading the Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu novels >.>
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Library Wars took the badass premise of War and had to ruin it with Libraries. What’s next, Homework Dinosaurs? Income Tax Lesbians? Indian Food? The lousy first impression doesn’t end with the title. I rarely skip an opening sequence in this golden age of crappy yet catchy j-pop intros, but honestly, if I want to see [...]
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I've enjoyed this show from the start, but episode 8 was a minor masterpiece. It combined story, acting, character design, animation and backgrounds to create a really memorable anime episode.This show is at a higher aesthetic level than any other current show, with the possible exception of Kara no Kyoukai. Director Kobayashi Osamu has always had a unique touch, but he seems to me to be excelling with this simple show. The pacing is so good that silences seem to surround events, both aurally and visually, putting them into something like a sacred space.The widespread criticism of the show's photographic backgrounds and simple animation style is completely misguided, in my opinion. I guess the contrast between background detail and foreground simplicity may not work for some people, but it works in spades for me.The rich reality that the backgrounds give us is matched by the subtle expressiveness of the animation. A slight change in a single line gives a character a whole new expression. This is character design that works.The original manga was drawn by Yoshizuki Kumichi, but I'm going to give the credit to young animation character designer Yoshigaki Yuusuke, and to director Kobayashi Osamu. Kobayashi apparently discovered him when he was an animator on Kobayashi's BECK, and used him on Paradise Kiss, as well. This appears to be his first full character design job, and I do suspect he worked closely with the director to develop the designs.Here is the lead character, Sora, from the manga:Critics have decried the show's use of detailed static photographic backgrounds, in part because it seems to them like cheating. As far as I'm concerned, animators should seek the cheapest way of producing the effects they want. That is how they help their studio survive and produce more anime. And these backgrounds are more involving and atmospheric than almost any others I have seen.If judging anime on the basis of how much work went into them made any sense, the critics might be right. But in fact it's the aesthetic effect that counts. Not every great anime has to be in super-detailed Kyoto Animation style.The voice acting is outstanding. Hanazawa Kana's super-moe voice embodies Sora's combination of uncertain innocence and confident magic. Maeno Tomoaki as the male lead is also impressing me. He is a youngish seiyuu who made a big impression as Doujou in Toshokan Sensou, and he is making a big impression on me here. And it seems directors agree: he went from one unnamed role in each of 2005 and 2006 to seven roles last year and already 15 roles, three of them fairly major, in 2008.And we have Inoue Marina, Takahashi Mikako, Koyama Rikiya and Namikawa Daisuke -- all seiyuu who have starred in other shows -- as supporting cast. Marina is giving us her somewhat fakey, stiff tsuntsun voice, but as you hear more of it, it becomes more and more riveting.Sound director Nagasaki Yukio was music director of BECK and sound director of Itazura na Kiss. He has also been a producer and music director of other shows. I have to give him some of the credit for the voice acting, and but the wild sound is also excellent in this show, and the music is outstanding.The OP by Thyme and the ED by micc are both wonderful, and just the kind of melodic, emotional music I like. They both come out in Japan next week.One thing many people complain about in all of Kobayashi's shows is the way he uses long shots and even shots of the sky to save money as people talk behind them. This is clearly a money-saving ploy, but it is also real art, in my opinion, especially in this show. It makes the voices rise into the foreground, so they have their full effect.Like all the others, this episode was written by lead writer Yamada Norie. And it was storyboarded by Kobayashi himself. He has at least co-storyboarded every other epsiode, too. The episode director was long-time animator Arakawa Masatsugu, who has been animation supervisor of a couple of dozen episodes of Crayon Shin-chan, and did a lot of work on the ARIA shows.There is a good summary of this episode on the Subculture Anime Blog. If you like shows that convey emotions and relationships delicately and subtly, watch this episode. The larger Zero raw includes the TV commercials that ran on-air. This makes it all the more fascinating.
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While I'm still in a Toshokan Sensou novel reading slump mode, it looks like a group of enthusiastic TS fans finally decided to join forces and translate the awesome novels for other fans and cynics to see. Thanks to AniSuki member Kakulukiam for the heads up, otherwise I wouldn't have known about this project which started out a month ago. Now you guys can read it and see the true Library War for yourself~ :3
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