Summer Anime Popularity -- 2channel vs. AnimeSuki

Someone asked if I might be going to do a post on 2channel popularity any time soon. Sounds like a good idea to me. Here are numbers for the new summer season shows. I'll add a bit about popularity on the nearest English-language equivalent, AnimeSuki, and a bit of info about TV ratings.

Of the shows just starting this season, Umineko and Bakemonogatari are the clear favorites on the Japanese message board 2channel, with about 43,000 and 41,000 posts, respectively. Not far behind comes Taishou Yakyuu Musume, a surprise hit at about 31,000 posts. (mouseover pics for captions)

Then there is a big drop-off to Canaan and Princess Lover at 13,000 and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 at 12,000. Aoi Hana follows at 11,000, quite high for either a yuri show or a shoujo show, and this is both.

I'm surprised and pleased at the fairly high totals for Aoi Hana, which is a shoujo-ish yuri show, with much of its appeal centred on nuances of its characters' feelings. It's my favorite show of the season, along with Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. I feel both could develop into anime masterpieces.

It's hard to know how popular Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Spice & Wolf II are, since their threads are continuing from previous series and I don't have access to older threads to see where they shift from the previous series to the new ones. But both shows have high overall totals, with Zan Sayonara at 130,000 posts and Spice & Wolf II at 64,000.

Here are the full lists, down to the first 200 threads on 2channel. The numbers are the number of the current thread for each show. A full thread represents a thousand posts.

New shows
Umineko no Naku koro ni 43
Bakemonogatari 41
Taishou Yakyuu Musume 31
Canaan 13
Princess Lover 13
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 12
Aoi Hana 11
Sora no Manima ni 10
Kanamemo 9
Umimonogatari 8
GA: Geijutsuka Art design Class 7
Needless 7
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou 5
Element Hunters 4
Fight Ippatsu Juuden-chan 4
Ukkari Penelope 3
Kuruneko 1

Sequels:
Zan Sayonara 130
Spice & Wolf II 64

Needless's low-rent version of Gurren-Lagaan has clearly not succeeded in recapturing the magic of that previous show.

The fairly highly anticipated Umi Monogatari is less popular than I expected. The low total of 4,000 posts for Fight! Ippatsu Juuden-chan, despite its rampant fanservice, are a clear indication of just how disappointing that show has been. The same total for the educational anime Element Hunters, on the other hand, is surprisingly high.

By the way, the "someone" who asked about a post like this was Westlo. Thanks for the suggestion.

Now here is a comparative list from AnimeSuki, the most popular English-language anime board. The numbers are number of posts:

Umineko ~6000
Spice & Wolf ~1000
Princess Lover 994
Bakemonogatari 857
Canaan 625
Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 431
Needless 330
Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 271
Aoi Hana 239
Sora no Manima ni 203
Umi Monogatari 189
GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class 159
Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan 157
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou 151
Taishou Yakyuu Musume 145
Kanamemo 90
Element Hunters 39

Umineko's complete dominance is the most striking thing. Of the also-rans, Bakemonogatari and Princess Lover are surprisingly high, to me, although I like both shows, myself. I expected another favorite of mine, Spice & Wolf II to be popular, since the first series was.

It's interesting to see Taishou Yakyuu Musume near the top of the 2channel list, but near the bottom on AnimeSuki. And Kanamemo, which I find entertaining, is in the middle of the Japanese list, but near the bottom on AnimeSuki.

Here is a very partial list of shows for which I can find the actual TV ratings for last week. Most of the new shows are not included:

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (TM8) 3.8% (4.1% this week)
Kanamemo 1.4%
Taishou Yakyuu Musume 1.1%
Element Hunters 1.1%
Umi Monogatari 0.4%

Just for comparison, Saki, which is very popular on 2channel, is at 1.8%, Fullmetal Alchemist and Phantom at 2.0%, Gintama at 3.7%, Doraemon at 10.2%. TM8 will end up in the top ten this week, for the first time since its first episode, and that is a fabulous achievement for a late-night show.

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Summer Season Favorites -- Blue Flowers in an Earthquake

Three episodes in, now it can be said: Aoi Hana ("Sweet Blue Flowers") and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 are my top shows of the summer season. And both are so good that, if they fulfill their promise, they could become anime masterpieces.

Close behind comes Bakemonogatari, and I'm enjoying a number of other shows, too: Spice & Wolf, Kanamemo, Princess Lover, Sora no Manimani, Canaan. I'm even watching Umineko no Naku koro ni with some enjoyment. And the outstanding Requiem for the Phantom and Pandora Hearts are continuing from the spring, as well as Cross Game, Saki, and the underappreciated Souten Kouro.

Aoi Hana is Marimite with kisses. The characters' emotions are shown with at least as much subtlety and strength as in Marimite, but the yuri relationships are more openly romantic.

Protagonist Fumi is wonderfully contradictory: a tall, elegant girl who feels awkward and inferior; a shy girl who speaks the truth -- such as openly blurting out to her long-time best friend that she's in love with a girl.

Near-perfect adaptation of Shimura Takako's manga. Beautiful watercolor art, and a great fanservicey opening animation directed by the director of Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ikuhara Kazuhiko. The show itself is directed by Kasai Kenichi, director of Honey & Clover. That explains a lot.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 throws together three people -- a good woman, a morose young teen, and the teen's angelic little brother -- stranding them in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake.

The characters are realistic and the earthquake facts and aftermath are realistic, too -- at least in the view of the agency in charge of disaster response, which assisted with the production.

Nothing is either rushed or over-dramatized, but the story feels rich in event, character, and emotion. Bright and well animated by Bones. New director Tachibana Masaki did episodes of GITS:SAC and Moribito. Writer Takahashi Natsuko wrote Blue Drop, Tales of Agriculture, and 07-Ghost.

Bakemonogatari is vintage Shinbou Akiyuki, with its complex backgrounds, odd camera angles, and bursts of Japanese text. But the original novel by NisiOisiN gives him some hilarious and fairly deep dialogue to work with.

I love the look of Shinbou's work, but the material often leaves me cold. This time is different, with a continuous flow of bizarre and humorous lines, and characters that are deep and strange.

The ironic tones of Saitou Chiwa bring to life the fascinating main female character, Senjougahara, who has witty exchanges with our former-vampire hero Araragi (played by Kamiya Hiroshi). Now they are working with a little lost snail-girl played by Katou Emiri, helping her (not) find her home.

Koshimizu Ami's amazing performance as the wolf-goddess Horo is the heart of this second season of Spice and Wolf, as it was of the first.

Horo's character is what makes this anime special. Mature, childish, lascivious, wise, alcoholic, kind, cruel, triumphant, in despair.

Amisuke's performance in episode 3 was a masterpiece of anime voice-acting. The fact that her straight man is Fukuyama Jun does nothing but help.

And the world of mediaeval commerce is interesting in itself, with the trades, the traders' associations, and the customs and politics of each town. But what makes the show tick is Horo.

Kanamemo is pure fun. A cast of good seiyuus plays a group of girls who live together and work delivering newspapers.

They are all versions of cliches, but none is harsh or negative, and every one is engaging: the yuri couple honestly in love (Hirohashi Ryou and Endou Aya), the drunken college student yuri wolf (Horie Yui), the tomboy (Kitamura Eri), the tsundere outsider (Kugimiya Rie), the grade-school girl who is the boss (a breakthrough role for Mizuhara Kaoru), and the sweetly brainless moe heroine (Toyosaki Aki, who played the similar role of Yui in K-On). They are all endearing characters, each in her own way.

Episode four wtf-ed us by being a kind of mini-musical, with the characters randomly bursting into song -- largely in tune. We get to hear the quite good singing voice of Endou Aya, who did the voice-acting for Sheryl in Macross Frontier, but was passed over when it came to doing her singing.

Sora no Manimani is another fun comedy, with some astronomy education lurking in the background.

Itou Kanae (Amu in Shugo Chara) proves she is more than just a magical girl. She gives a very strong performance as the irrepressible comic heroine Mihoshi, who is given to delightedly tackling her osananajimi, played by Maeno Tomoaki (Doujou in Library War).

Tomatsu Haruka creates another Nagi-level comic persona as Mihoshi's romantic competitor, Hime. I was mainly looking forward to this show for Hayami Saori, who does a nice job as a mild-mannered senpai ojou-sama, but she is far from being the main attraction.

Princess Lover is a straight-ahead harem comedy. But it has a fairly sensible story, four good female leads, and an excellent male lead. No brainless wimp, our hero is a master swordsman and an intelligent guy who is kind and open to all the girls he deals with along the way. He accepts his good fortune, being taken from a life of ordinary poverty to become the heir of a great family, and does what he can with it.

The girls are an interesting group: the beautiful scatterbrained princess whom our hero saves from robbers is played by Yuzuki Ryouka (Yuki-nee in Candy Boy). The hero's sword-wielding arranged-marriage fiancée is played by Toyoguchi Megumi (Revy in Black Lagoon). The tsundere ojousama is played by Katou Emiri (Kagami in Lucky Star). And the maid is Matsuoka Yuki (Tsuruga-san in Suzumiya Haruhi).

Canaan is the second show from new studio P.A. Works (the first was true tears). The animation, color, and action are first-rate. The story is still a bit confused, but writer Okada Mari (true tears) is beginning to pull it all together.

The two main characters are played by Sawashiro Miyuki and Sakamoto Maaya, both of whom are in top form. The characters, Canaan and Alphard, are miraculous fighters, bitter enemies with a past. And probably both genetically enhanced.

Fans are generally disappointed in Umineko no Naku koro ni, and it is a fairly standard closed-environment murder mystery with supernatural overtones, but the plot moves at a brisk pace, and I am being entertained.
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Memorable Seiyuu Performance -- Koshimizu Ami in ep3 of Spice & Wolf II

Who is the best female seiyuu working today? Some people would say Kawasumi Ayako, others Paku Romi or Orikasa Fumiko, Kuwashima Houko or Sawashiro Miyuki, even Horie Yui or Kugimiya Rie. But I'd like to suggest a new candidate: Koshimizu Ami.

Ami is only 23, but has been working as a seiyuu since she was 16 and played Nadja in Ashita no Nadja. She was Kallen in Code Geass, Tenma in School Rumble, Anemone in Eureka Seven, Tenko in Kamisama Kazoku, Nina Wang in My-Otome, Nodoka in Saki, etc., etc.

She has been in 13 shows this year, with important roles in ten of them. She can do comedy, but she is especially good at conveying intense emotion with her strong voice and high professional skill.

Last year, I thought she should have won the best female seiyuu award for her performance as Horo in Spice & Wolf. Now, in yesterday's episode three of the second series of that show, she gives us a memorable few minutes that I think should go down as a voice-acting classic.

Horo realizes that her homeland has been destroyed, and that her travelling companion Lawrence knew this all along but never told her. She is devastated that all her friends may be dead and her home destroyed, and thinks that Lawrence must have been laughing at her all this while. She feels doubly alone.

Horo speaks softly in pain, then raises her voice in manic laughter, then shouts angrily, before dropping back into sobs, biting off bitter comments. Never once does her voice drop out, no matter how low it goes. Every word is clear. Every emotion is clear, too.


2channel has some praise for this performance, too, both in the Koshimizu Ami thread and in the Spice & Wolf thread.

Ami is a pro. I sometimes talk about seiyuu performances being merely professional, with no deep feeling under the skillful tricks. I can prefer less-trained seiyuus who have what seems to me deeper feeling. But Ami shows what heights can be reached by someone who has both professional skill and acting talent.

I'm enjoying this new season of Spice & Wolf even more than the old one, and not just because there is a tad more fanservice, of the both the fluffy wolf-tail and the human female kinds.

It's just a bonus that Ami is playing opposite her talented friend Fukuyama Jun, as she did in Code Geass. They are good friends. We know from their blogs that she has looked after his cat while he was away.

Some posters on 2channel think they have been going out together for 2-4 years and would even like to get married. Not sure how that would affect their mutual friend Sanpei Yuuko, Ami's close girl friend, whom Ami once "married" for a radio show.
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Requiem for the Phantom -- Characters and Seiyuus, with pics

Here is a characters and seiyuus page for Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom.

This and Eden of the East are my favorite shows of the spring season. With Pandora Hearts not far behind. Phantom gives us a strong story with interesting characters, a lot of forward motion, effective background music, and some elegant violence.



Irino Miyu is the youngest seiyuu on board here, and is doing a bang-up job with Zwei. Takagaki Ayahi, who is not much older, continues to prove her ability, as Ein. I still find the great Sawashiro Miyuki's take on Cal disturbing. I hope that's intentional. Hisakawa Aya is making Claudia the sexiest person in the show.

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Pandora Hearts -- Characters & Seiyuus (great voices, great show)

Pandora Hearts, which began in April and will continue through September, is a terrific show that has attracted fewer fans than it deserves. It has a fascinating story, some good humor, and especially great voice work. Click here for a table showing pics of the characters and their seiyuus.

Kawasumi Ayako is giving what I think is one of the best of her many great performances, as Alice, a young woman trapped in The Abyss, a weird space out of time, her being merged with that of B. Rabbit, a giant black rabbit who is one of the powerful demigod "Chains" who patrol the Abyss. I suppose her character could be called a tsundere, but it is so much more than that.

Her co-star is Minagawa Junko (Ryoma in Prince of Tennis, Cornelia in Code Geass), who plays a young man, Oz Vessalius, who at his coming-of-age ceremony in a vaguely 18th-century setting, is suddenly plunged into the Abyss, and eventually joins Alice as her "contractor."

Add seiyuu like Ishida Akira, Hanazawa Kana, Fukuyama Jun, Ono Daisuke, and Yamaguchi Kappei, and we really have a symphony of the human voice. Ishida Akira is a playful nobleman who is part of an organization called Pandora, which is investigating The Abyss. Kawasumi, Minagawa, and Ishida all give strong and inventive performances that are worthy of awards.

In addition, we have a great OP and sound track from Kajiura Yuki. To me, it sounds like one of her best, and really helps carry the action, of which there is plenty. The OP is so strong that I often find it running through my mind. There are moments in the OP that almost bring tears to my eyes even now, at episode 16.

The animation, by Xebec, has its plus and minus moments, but overall has a very entertaining look, working with ideas from Alice in Wonderland.

Veteran director Kato Takao did Rockman.exe, Buso Renkin, Over Drive, and To LoveRu. Lead writer Sekijima Mayori did Saber Marionette J, Tsukuyomi Moon Phase, Zegapain, and Skip Beat. He is working from the popular manga by Mochizuki Jun.

Week after week, Pandora Hearts comes up with interesting events, good forward motion, and strong characterization. Give it a try. And if you do, here is a table showing the characters and their seiyuus. Click here or on the image below to go to the full table:



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Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 -- Who are those great voices?

The first two episodes of Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 have been outstanding. And the perfect voices have been a big part of the deal.

Hanamura Satomi as Mirai has been particularly brilliant. She did the sullen middle-schooler so perfectly in episode one that many people hated her. And her determination to find her brother in episode two is both moving and real.

Hanamura, 25, is best known for playing Anise Azeat in Galaxy Angel Rune and Kanae, the surfing girl in part two of Byousoku 5cm.

But she has also appeared in live-action films and on stage, particularly as a child and a teen, early in her career.

Kobayashi Yumiko's fresh, open portrayal of little brother Yuuki makes it obvious why she is the go-to girl for young boy roles.

I know her best for her brilliant comedy as Puni Puni Poemi. She also played Sarah MacDougall in Love Hina and Kobayashi Excel in Excel Saga. But in latter years, she has been doing boys: Akira in Dennou Coil, Black Star in Soul Eater, and the young Genji in Genji Monogatari Sennenki.

She is 30, has two degrees in Japanese literature, and has been married for three years. She also does a reasonable amount of dubbing of foreign TV and films.

And Kaida Yuuko is a suitably calm Mari, the woman who helps the siblings after the quake.

She is probably best known now as Shimei in Ikkitousen and Amane in Strawberry Panic. But she does a certain amount of stage acting and a lot of dubbing of foreign films and TV. She voices Neera in ER.

Kaida is 29 and is married to a stage actor. Don't confuse her with her somewhat more famous friend (not relative) Kaida Yuki (Abe in Shounen Onmyouji).
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Hayami Saori in Love Plus "gal-game tamagochi" for DS

Hayami Saori, Minaguchi Yuuko (right), and Tange Sakura star in the highly-anticipated Nintendo DS dating game, Love Plus (Rabupuras ラブプラス) which will come out 3 September.

Minaguchi (Sailor Saturn) and Tange (Sakura in Cardcaptor Sakura) are veterans, aged 42 and 36. Hayamin is 18. As Minaguchi writes: "I'm old enough to be her mother."

After recording a Love Plus CD drama together, Minaguchi praised Hayamin in her blog today: "All three of us are playing high-school girls, but Saori-chan is actually currently in high-school. It's the first time I've worked with her, and she's fabulous! She's a naturally outstanding actress, very together, with a light feeling, and sounds so cute.... I just love her!"

The game is highly interactive. The player chooses a character to aim at and she gradually becomes his girl friend. The girls can interact with the player, using his name, talking about common subjects, and even reacting to various ways he might touch her. The game has been called a "gal-game tamagochi."

There will be a live event for the show when it comes out in the fall. Here is the TV promo. Hayamin's character introduces herself first:



An audio clip of the theme song is now available, sung by the three leads. And there are audio/video clips of each character on the official site's general info page (order: Hayami, Tange, then Minaguchi).

And here are some pics of Hayamin's character, Takabe Manaka:



Hayamin has just finished starring in Eden of the East, is currently a main sub-character in Sora no Manimani, plays minor characters in Basquash and 07Ghost. She will star in Sora no Otoshimono in the fall, as a wish-granting angel who (once again, as in Sekirei) falls from the sky. Hayamin gets another role as a non-human, lol, like Momoka in Touka Gettan, Kou in Wagaya no Oinari-sama, and Musubi in Sekirei. Then she plays Saki again, in the two Eden of the East films, which will come out in November and January.

Hayamin actually finished high school in the spring, but has apparently decided to pursue her career rather than go on to college just yet. 2channel thinks her marks weren't good enough. She can definitely be a bit of a dumb blonde on her radio shows, but seems fairly with it to me.

In Sora no Manimani, we hear her natural ojou-sama voice in anime for the first time. There are differing views on it on 2channel: that it sounds a bit unnatural, and that it shows she has learned to act. To me, the voice is as incredibly beautiful as Hayamin's voice often is, but does seem a little artificial. Perhaps that is intentional, since she's playing a responsible senpai, especially in episode 3.
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Hirano Aya-only TV ep4 -- mangaka's assistant

Another exquisitely amusing hour with Aya. She does some work as an assistant to Zettai Karen Children mangaka Shiina Takashi 椎名高志. And she actually seemed to do a decent job.

Here, from Aya's blog, is a pic of the mangaka with Aya and his staff, including his wife, who is his main assistant:


Aya is holding some of the work she did, which in this case was to add texture ("screen tone") to the character's hair. She also drew radial emphasis lines in the frame, as well as doing screen tone and some inking-in of lines in another frame.

Screen-caps from the show: What are we doing in this residential area? I'm going to be a mangaka's assistant? Can I do that?



The mangaka greets her at the door:


In the cramped studio with the mangaka and four assistants. It is deadline day, and Aya is afraid she will just slow them down:

Filling in black hair:



It took a while to get the radial emphasis lines right:


But after an hour's practice, she did it:


Applying screen tone to Shiho's hat (in her hands). Screen tone comes on an adhesive plastic sheet that you apply to the page and cut out around the place you want to fill in:


This is hardly drawing, but Aya seems to have a steady hand, and was able to do a sufficiently good job with both pen and knife that, as far as we know, her little bit of work will be included in the next volume of the manga.

During the show, she announced that the epsiodes of Hirano Aya-only TV will be collected on DVD, and asked Shiina-sensei to do the cover. He agreed. (No doubt it was a set-up and he had agreed before.)

In other news from Aya's blog, she is now hard at work rehearsing for various live events this summer. With her excellent band:


With Ono Daisuke (left) and Sugita Tomokazu(right):


Wearing her own snazzy sandals:


Taking off her sandals because they hurt her feet:


Watching herself in the mirror as she rehearses:


And still practicing drums, for a later live event. She says she had forgotten how much better the real drums sound than her electronic practice set:


Earlier in the summer, she got a crocheted cap made by Aoki Sayaka (r), who plays Kyon's little sister in Suzumiya Haruhi:


She went to the seaside for a photo-shoot. She's getting used to the sea, and is no longer afraid of the fish:


She stayed in a hotel where she was happy to be able to eat good food anytime she wanted it, and wore a yukata for the first time this summer:


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Kanamemo -- Characters & Seiyuus, with pics

Kanamemo is a yuri-ish boarding house comedy that has flown in under the radar this season. I found the humor just okay, but the sentimentality, moe, and low-intensity yuri were right up my alley.

And the show has one of the most interesting cast lists around: emerging young moe star Toyosaki Aki (Yui in K-On) is surrounded by great voices, from Endou Aya to Hirohashi Ryou to Horie Yui, Kitamura Eri, and Kugimiya Rie. To give you an idea of the tenor of the thing, Aki is a waif who stumbles into the girls' boarding house. Ryou is a genki girl, Aya is Ryou's jealous lover, and Hocchan is a drunken college student who likes to give liquor to young girls.

To keep track of the characters and their seiyuus, I have made a page showing pics of both, and giving a few of the seiyuus' previous roles. Click here or on the image to go to the full page:


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Canaan -- Characters & Seiyuus, with pics

So now I've made a characters/seiyuus page for Canaan, a summer show whose first episode has been getting a strong positive reaction.

The cast includes a bevy of good seiyuus: Sawashiro Miyuki, Sakamoto Maaya, Tanaka Rie, Tomatsu Haruka, Noto Mamiko, Minagawa Junko.... Click here or on the image to go to the full page:



Check out my other recent characters/seiyuus pages: Aoi Hana, Princess Lover, and Sora no Manimani. There are links in the column to the right -->

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Princess Lover -- Characters and Seiyuus, with pics

Princess Lover didn't seem all that promising before the season started. A harem show based on a game. A new director who had only directed episodes of Shugo Chara and Macross Frontier. The writer who wrote the forgettable Telepathy Girl Ran.

But the cast looked intriguing -- Toyoguchi Megumi, Yuzuki Ryouka, Katou Emiri, Matsuoka Yuki -- and this being the first show by a new studio, GoHands, perhaps something might be up. Through one episode, things are looking good. Good action, good characters, decent writing.

Just to keep things straight, I have made a page showing the characters and their seiyuus, with pics and a bit of info about each voice, including some previous roles. Click here or on the image to go to the full page:


The show may just go downhill from here, but at least now I know who's going with it, lol.

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Sora no Manimani -- characters and seiyuus, with pics

The first episode of Sora no Manimani was just released Tuesday. I have been looking forward to it for the sake of hearing Hayami Saori in a new role, and Hayamin was good as the cautious ojou-sama Sayo.

But the star of the show was the star of the show: Itou Kanae did a brilliant job of both the comic and the serious aspects of Mihoshi, the irresistible force.

Here is a table showing pics of the characters and their seiyuus: Kanae-chan, Hayamin, Maeno Tomoaki, Koshimizu Ami, Tomatsu Haruka, Takagi Reiko, Majima Junji, et al., showing a few other roles done by each seiyuu. One voice of interest is that of Chiang Li-Mei, the half-Taiwanese seiyuu, stage actress, writer and director. Click here or on the image to go to the full table:



I enjoyed ep1 quite a bit. Director Takamatsu Shinji (Gintama, School Rumble) gave it good rhythm and momentum. It brought the manga to life.

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Yahagi Sayuri -- Indispensable

When Yahagi Sayuri 矢作紗友里 debuted at 19 as Karin, she knocked me out with her liquid, well-inflected voice.

Now she has been a professional seiyuu for four years. She still has the strong, supple, quite high voice she started with, but the burbling liquidness has been toned down. She has developed a bit wider vocal and acting range and appears to have become one of the indispensables. She had 2 roles in 2005, 7 in 2006, 15 in 2007, 19 in 2008, and so far this year, she already has 13.

Personally I regret her having left some of her unique sound behind, but she is a pro and is making a living by being able to give directors the voice they want.

Her only other real starring role since Karin has been as Kuu in Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora in 2007, in which she was passionate but so ethereal as to almost disappear.

Now, however, like other real pros she is getting more and more second-rank roles, as a classmate or a sister. And she has staked out some profitable territory in squeaky-animal land, with roles like Kyuupi in Otogijushi Akazukin and Suni in Guin Saga.

This summer, you can hear her in Aoi Hana, Fight! Ippatsu Juuden-chan, a ToLoveRu OVA, and the continuing Hayate no Gotoku and Guin Saga.

Here is a compendium of Yahagi Sayuri's anime roles, from YouTube:



I think I hear her expression becoming more natural and her range of convincing emotions and personalities wider. It sounds as if she has worked at her craft.

She is far from beautiful. Kind of homely, really. But homely in a cute way. “Busu” means ugly, and it's hard to forget the surname of her character in Busou Renkin: Busujima (a homonym for "ugly island"). She has an outstanding set of crooked teeth, but I doubt she is thinking of fixing them any time soon, since it might affect her sound.

She's kind of attractive, anyway, isn't she? Especially in motion, displaying her entertaining personality, as she does in this interview with co-star Konishi Katsuyuki from the Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora DVDs:



Like Kawasumi Ayako, she will have to get by on her skill as a seiyuu and her fun personality, rather than her good looks. She and Hayami Saori did a turn together as the sorcerer sisters Ran and Sumire Midou in Koharu Biyori (Indian Summer). In real life, neither one of them is a raving beauty. But they are both prominent young seiyuus working for major seiyuu agency I"m Enterprise, an agency that was involved in scandal just a couple of years ago, but appears to be recovering.

She has also done some dubbing, notably for the Japanese version of Akelah and the Bee.

In her agency profile, she says her interests are reading and watching movies, and that her sport is softball. Her high school had no drama club, so her father suggested she join the softball club. I wonder if she still plays.


Major roles (mouseover for captions):







From Japanese Wikipedia:

She comes from Tokyo, but spent part of her childhood up north, in Aomori. Born 86.09.22 -- now age 22.



In high school, her friends made fun of her high voice, saying it was like an anime. But she had no idea anything like a seiyuu existed until she heard it from them.

A phrase she uses a lot is: "Reawwy?" (maji de ka, a cute mispronunciation of maji desu ka? "really?").

Her nickname, oHagi ぉはぎ, was given her by Inokuchi Yuka, Nabatame Hitomi, and Shitaya Noriko, after she said she wished she had one. An ohagi is a kind of Japanese sweet, made with rice flour and red bean paste (right).

She's good at sewing, earning praise from her co-stars in Net Ghost PiPoPa, Shiraishi Ryouko and Satou Rina, for being the quickest among them at sewing a little bag.

Her seiyuu friends include Satou Rina, Konishi Katsuyuki, Shitaya Noriko, Takahashi Mikako, and Nakao Eri. She was making fun of Satou-san on a radio show, and Satou called her a "grade-school old man."



She's a big fan of the Kamen Rider series, has lots of books and goods, and has become friends with the mangaka.

She calls herself a "crazy girl seiyuu." She is apt to come out with odd comments ranging from romantic outbursts to dirty jokes. At an aquarium once, her comment was: "Looks tasty."







Cast in:

(2005) Karin (TV) as Maaka Karin (debut)
(2006) Otogi-Jushi Akazukin (TV) as Gretel; Kyupi
(2006) Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~ (TV) as Fujikawa Yuuka
(2006) Buso Renkin (TV) as Busujima Hanaka
(2007) Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora (TV) as Shiratori Kuu
(2007) Hayate the Combat Butler (TV) as Segawa Izumi
(2007) Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula (TV) as Amano Utsumi
(2007) Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho (TV) as Nanako Maaya
(2007) Shugo Chara! (TV) as Mashiro Rima
(2007) Indian Summer (Koharu Biyori, OAV) as Midō Ran
(2008) Yotsunoha (OAV) as Yuki Arisa
(2008) To Love-Ru (TV) as Sairenji Haruna
(2008) Net Ghost PiPoPa (TV) as Sobue Hikaru
(2008) Sekirei (TV) as Mitsuha (No.38)
(2008) Rosario + Vampire Capu2 (TV) as Oniyama Tonko
(2008) Ga-Rei -Zero- (TV) as Izumi Mami
(2008) Nodame Cantabile: Paris (TV) as Puririn (ep 1)
(2008) Tytania (TV) as Lira Florenz
(2009) Sora Kake Girl (TV) as Erika; Satchan
(2009) Asura Cryin' (TV) as Ania
(2009) Guin Saga (TV) as Suni
(2009) Fight Ippatsu! Jūden-chan!! (TV) as Iono
(2009) Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana, TV) as Yoko Hon'atsugi

Staff in:
(2009) Hayate the Combat Butler!! (TV) : Theme Song Performance (ED)
(2009) To Love-Ru (OAV) : Theme Song Performance (OP/ED)

full list here (English) and here (Japanese).





Links

Anime News Network page
Wikipedia page
Japanese Wikipedia page
agency home page
YouTube videos 1
YouTube videos 2
current 2channel thread
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Aoi Hana -- Main Characters and Seiyuus, with pics

Aoi Hana is a delightful yuri manga, with fascinating characters and moving relationships. Now director Kasai Kenichi (Honey & Clover, Kimi Kiss) has made it into an anime, and the first episode was both excellent and true to the spirit of the manga.

Helping Kasai get it right are lead writer Takayama Fumihiko (Rescue Wings), and top sound director Aketagawa Jin (Ichigo Mashimaro, Shakugan no Shana, Nodame Cantabile, Queen's Blade, etc. etc.)

None of the main seiyuu cast, Horie Yui aside, are stars. But they are all intriguing choices, as I will outline below, and I trust director Kasai to hire good voices and direct them well -- with the help of Aketagawa Jin.

The OP song by Kukikodan and the ED by Ceui are both gentle and pleasant. The OP animation is by Ikuhara Kazuhiko, the director of Revolutionary Girl Utena and many episodes of Sailor Moon. The whirling dance, the nude scene with flowers, and especially the shot of the girls' legs running together are outstanding.


Fumi (Takabe Ai)



Fumi is a shy, gangling girl who moves back into her old neighborhood just in time for high school. She meets up again with her childhood friend Akira. When they were little, they were inseparable. Fumi was a cry-baby and Akira was her defender and comforter.

Fumi is played by Takabe Ai, 2o, who is a well-known photo idol, TV actress and TV personality. She was good as the star of the late-night supernatural comedy-drama Guren Onna.

This is her first role as a seiyuu, but she has little of the dead voice of a first-timer, and does a nice job bringing the character to life. The voice is softer than I expected, if I expected anything, but it seems perfect to me. Takabe-san's voice adds something to the character I know from the manga.

For sexy photos from Takabe Ai's idol shoots, search Google Images.


Akira (Gibu Yuuko)



Akira is a little live-wire who spreads positive energy wherever she goes. She is in the high school of the prestigious Fujigaya Academy for Girls.

Gibu Yuuko, 28, burst onto the scene in 2005 with roles in five shows, including a major role in Koi Koi Seven. She had eight roles in 2008, then dropped back to four in 2007. That year, she and her partner Ninomiya Yoshimi were promoting their singing duo BooNo.

But Ninomiya quit the entertainment business at the end of that year, and Gibu was left at sea, doing only one seiyuu role the next year. Now she is back with a vengeance, with important roles in both this show and Umi Monogatari.


Yasuko (Ishimatsu Chiemi)



Yasuko is a bold and handsome girl who is the prince of Matsuoka Girls' High.

Ishimatsu Chiemi has had a small number of roles in every year since 2003, under this name and that of Misumi. She was Ellis in Triangle Heart and Michelle in Zero no Tsukaima 2.


Kyouko (Horie Yui)



Kyouko is a classmate of Akira's at Fujigaya. She has an unrequited love for Sayoko.

Horie Yui, 32, is the most successful -- or at least the busiest -- female seiyuu of the 21st century, with over 140 roles in her twelve-year career. Her best-known roles are Naru in Love Hina, Toru in Fruits Basket, and Ayu in Kanon. She already has 15 roles this year.
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