"Aya Museum" Hits Charts at #4

On its first day on the charts, Hirano Aya's compilation album, "Aya Museum," stands at #4 on the Oricon album chart.

It is behind albums from Lady Gaga, Unicorn, and capsule. And it is just ahead of an album from Bigbang, and Kugimiya Rie and Shimoda Asami's "Idolm@ster Master Artist 2" album.

Some otaku may hate her, but she continues to make money as an entertainer and personality.

"Leaving home this morning"

Read more »

Hirano Aya Live Streamed Broadcast Tomorrow

To publicize the release of her new album, "Aya Museum," Hirano Aya will appear in a live streamed broadcast about 16 hours from now.

The broadcast will be on Wednesday evening at 7pm, Tokyo time. That's 6am New York time, and 11am London time. The stream should be available here, or from here. Aya says the time may vary a bit. "Aya Museum" will include all her singles, and selections from her albums.

In a recent interview, Aya says she plans to tell all in a four-volume autobiography issued over five years -- starting when she is thirty, six years from now. She continues to appear on various TV shows, mainly as a personality, but also as a singer.

Here are some fairly recent images. First, the covers of the premium, special, and standard editions of the new album, then some gravure shots and pics from her blog. Is it my imagination, or has she gained a bit of weight? I hope so, since it might indicate that her health is better. (Click photos to enlarge.)

After "Liberty Leading the People," Eugene Delacroix.

Read more »

Two More Ways of Judging Seiyuu Popularity

Hanazawa Kana

Here are a couple of ways of judging seiyuu popularity: number of hits on Japanese Wikipedia over the past three weeks, compared with total number of posts on 2channel for the same group of seiyuus over the years.

The figures reveal a number of things. For one, Hanazawa Kana is extremely popular. For another, Mizuki Nana's popularity is undimmed.

Perhaps most surprising, the new seiyuu playing Menma in the current anime Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai, Kayano Ai, has suddenly become very popular.

And my own current seiyuu of interest, Yuuki Aoi, is also of interest to many people in Japan.


Number of hits on Japanese Wikipedia, May 1 to May 21, 2011:

1	Hanazawa Kana	155004
2	Mizuki Nana	94712
3	Toyosaki Aki	92054
4	Kayano Ai	85057
5	Kugimiya Rie	79348
6	Yuuki Aoi	76473
7	Hirano Aya	75986
8	Tomatsu Haruka	74751
9	Kitamura Eri	73532
10	Itou Kanae	72285
11	Hikasa Youko	66464
12	Kobayashi Yuu	66020
13	Noto Mamiko	65091
14	Sawashiro Miyuki	63823
15	Taketatsu Ayana	62211
16	Tamura Yukari	61362
17	Inoue Marina	57388
18	Satou Rina	57147
19	Asumi Kana	56462
20	Hayami Saori	55428

Cumulative number of threads on 2channel up to May 22, 2011, for that same group of seiyuus (each full thread =1000 posts):

Read more »

Seiyuu "Best Eleven" Soccer 4-4-2

Here's a seiyuu "best eleven" Japan soccer side, as selected by the bassist for the rock group Unison Square Garden:

	Yuuki Aoi		Hanazawa Kana
		Yukana
	Koshimizu Ami		Kitamura Eri
		Sawashiro Miyuki (central midfielder)
Saitou Chiwa	Mitsuishi Kotono		Hayami Saori	Fujita Saki

 Takagaki Ayahi (keeper)

coach: Koyama Rikiya

So that's Yuuki Aoi and Hanazawa Kana up front doing the scoring. Yukana is right behind them in the middle, and Koshimizu Ami and Kitamura Eri are on the wings, with Sawashiro Miyuki orchestrating the whole thing. In the back line, doing the defending, are Saitou Chiwa, Mitsuishi Kotono, Hayami Saori, and Fujita Saki. And Takagaki Ayahi is in goal.

Of course I like this, since eight of the eleven "players" are among my favorite seiyuus, too: Ao-chan, Kana-chan, Yukana, Amisuke, Miyukichi, Chiwa, Hayamin, and Ayahime.

Unison Square Garden's bassist Tabuchi Tomoya and guitarist/vocalist Saitou Kousuke were appearing on the Myu-Comi Plus radio show on All-Night Nippon on May 10. After the show, Tabuchi sketched out his side on the back of his radio script:

Read more »