Chihara Minori on Her Way to New York

Chihara Minori is in the air, on her way to New York for the New York Anime Festival.

This picture was taken at Narita airport at 2:30 pm Thursday, Tokyo time. That was 1:30 am New York time. With a flight probably leaving around 3:15, and a probable flight time of just under 13 hours, she should be arriving just after 3 pm this afternoon, New York time.

From her blog:

At Narita Airport

2010.10.07 Thursday

I've set out for New York on the afternoon flight!!
I'm looking forward to lots of things at the New York Anime Festival
It's my first time in New York -- what will it be like, I wonder?
I definitely want to see the Statue of Liberty
My heart swelling with the promise of many meetings, I'm happily off
It's a long flight, but I'll do my best

NOTE: Literally, she says "meet the goddess of freedom," which I now realize is the Statue of Liberty. I liked the "meet" there.

Seiyuu Videos: Yuuki Aoi on TV Aged 9-10

Yuuki Aoi got an early start in show business. She was apparently already with the well-known child performers' agency, Central Children's Theatre, when she was four.

We know for sure that when she was nine and ten, she had a regular role on the TV show Appare Sanma Dai Sensei.

She was then called by what is probably her real name, Yabusaki Aoi. A young Hanazawa Kana had been on the show before her.

The set-up was a classroom of kids, with a "teacher" (Sanma-sensei) eliciting cute remarks from them. Ao-chan was excruciatingly cute and self-absorbed, a real little performer. And even then you could hear how precisely she spoke, and how she played with words.

There used to be one video from the show on YouTube, but it now appears to be private. A Japanese fan has just posted two more, and here they are:

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Yumeiro Pâtissière Professional -- Characters/Seiyuus Pics/Info

Yumeiro Pâtissière's second season starts Sunday. The story begins a couple of years after the end of the first series, with Ichigo returning from two years of study in France to become a high-school freshman back at St. Marie Academy in Japan.

Most of the characters remain the same, but as you can see from the pictures below, they look at least two years older. Here is a characters/seiyuus page, with pics of the characters and their seiyuus, as well as info about each seiyuu.

Check out Hanabusa, in particular, who has become pretty stylish. And see the new character, the American Johnny McBeale, who may become a rival for Ichigo's affection. Surprisingly, he is played by veteran seiyuu Suyama Akio, who was Hige in Wolf's Rain. His sweets spirit, Maize, is voiced by Chihara Minori.

Ichigo's erstwhile cooking rival, Lemon, has a larger role in this series. She is played by the underrated Ise Mariya. And Lemon's sweets spirit, Mint, is played by well-known 15-year-old idol Ogura Yui, who was Ringo in a couple of early episodes of the first series.

As YuiKaori, Ogura and fellow teen idol Ishihara Kaori did EDs for the recent Kiss X Sis TV series. And Ogura's dancing was digitized as the basis for Hatsune Miku's dancing in Project Diva. Both Ogura and Ishihara are with the Up Front agency, as is Misawa Sachika (Cafe).

Taketatsu Ayana -- Suddenly a Star

Suddenly, over the past year, Taketatsu Ayana has become a star.

In the new autumn season, the 21-year-old seiyuu will be in eight shows: five new series, two OVAs, and a continuing series. Photos of her are spreading through the Web. And she will even appear in a film.

In April 2009, when K-On began, she was almost a complete unknown. In fact, "Aya-nyan," as she is known, did not even appear in the show until episode 8 (she plays Azusa, otherwise known as Azu-nyan).

Ayanyan had auditioned to be one of the four original main girls in K-On, but was picked to play the next-tier character Azusa -- a moe but capable younger student -- and helped turn her into a fan favorite.

At the time she was beginning K-On, Taketatsu-san had already debuted in the first OVA for Kiss x Sis, the very ecchi "incest comedy," which she has also helped make a successful franchise. In complete contrast, since last fall she has been playing a tiny fairy in Yumeiro Pâtissière, a show entirely without that kind of fanservice, and mainly aimed at little girls. It, too, is successful, and is now entering its second year.

Ayanyan's voice doesn't stand out, but her moe tones somehow also convey a bit of strength and attitude, so she can create a character that is moe, but more than moe, like Azusa.

Ayanyan mainly does children and teen girls, but can also do bossy characters (this season as Mio in MM and Kirino in Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai), or tsundere characters (Miria in Jewelpet Tinkle). She did a wonderful job as gentle, docile Nozomi in Mayoi Neko Overrun -- deeply moe, but not the childish kind of moe character that Toyosaki Aki does so well.

Here are pics of some of her roles (mouseover photos for captions):

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