Random Seiyuu Rumours

Trawling Japanese forums netted some fishy trivia.

Rumour #1
Goto Yuko uploads pictures of herself bathing onto her blog.

To verify its veracity, I plowed through a hundred of her blog posts and found this:
Verdict: True, but I somehow felt cheated.

At least I found these as well.
Rumour #2
Noto Mamiko’s pantsu fell onto the balcony of the apartment downstairs when she hung them out to dry. She was too embarrassed to go ask for them so she left them where they were. This happened while she was still a trainee in seiyuu school.

I couldn’t verify that rumour with DNA sampling or even a pic of the garment in question, so these will have to do instead.
Verdict: I sure hope it’s not true. Poor Mamimami…

The mini-auction that followed this post on the forum was hilarious though. I think the bid for Mamimami’s pantsu went up to ¥40,000.

Rumour #3
Tanaka Rie has secretly married ZeoiNagePotato.

From left to right: Rie’s simple and elegant wedding dress; Rie just before boarding the shuttle for their honeymoon to the moon; Rie channeling her Maria persona as she enjoys her new life as Mrs. ZeoiNagePotato.

Verdict: 100% True. I should know.

Rumour #4
Horie Yui’s room is so dirty she dared not call the repairman when her air-conditioner broke down. Btw, Mamimami has got a pigsty of a room as well.

Does she look messy to you?

Verdict: This rumour is confirmed by Horie’s Wikipedia page, and we all know Wiki is the Most Reliable Source on the Internet. Anyway, women are messy, so it’s no surprise.

Rumour #5
Annual incomes:

Yamadera Kouichi ¥20,000,000 (Foreign movie dubs, Talent work)
Minaguchi Yuko　　　¥14,000,000 (Popular veteran, TV narration)
Inoue Kikuko　　¥12,000,000 (Veteran)
Horie Yui　　　¥12,000,000 (Higher fees due to popularity, CD royalties)
Tamura Yukari　　¥12,000,000 (Ditto, Concert earnings)
Mizuki Nana　　　¥10,000,000 (Ditto)
Seki Tomokazu　　　　¥8,000,000 (Popular)
Nogawa Sakura　　¥8,000,000 (CD, Concert earnings)
Kouda Mariko　¥8,000,000 (Ditto)
Iizuka Mayumi　　　¥8,000,000 (Ditto)
Tange Sakura　　　　¥8,000,000 (Ditto)
Suzumura Kenichi　　　¥6,000,000 (Popular)
Minagawa Junko　　　¥6,000,000 (CD earnings, popular)
Noto Mamiko　　 ¥6,000,000 (Narration in ads for big businesses)
Kawasumi Ayako　 ¥6,000,000
Mitsuishi Kotono　　　¥5,800,000
Hisakawa Aya　　　　¥5,500,000
Toyoguchi Megumi　　¥4,700,000
Noda Junko　　　¥4,100,000
Saito Chiwa　　　¥4,000,000
Shintani Ryoko　　　¥3,600,000
Sakurai Takahiro　　　¥3,500,000
Kaneda Tomoko　　　¥3,500,000
Sanada Asami　　¥3,400,000
Nonaka Ai　　　　¥3,400,000
Kawakami Tomoko　　¥3,400,000
Enomoto Atsuko　　　¥3,400,000
Asano Masumi　　　¥3,200,000
Tanaka Rie　　　¥3,200,000
Matsuki Miyu　　　¥3,200,000
Sawashiro Miyuki　　¥3,100,000
Hirohashi Ryou　　　　¥3,000,000
Kuwatani Natsuko　　　¥3,000,000
Takahashi Mikako　　¥2,800,000
Kobayashi Yumiko　　¥2,500,000
Shimizu Kaori　　　¥2,400,000
Itsuki Yui　　　¥2,300,000
Fukuen Misato　　　¥2,200,000

Verdict: Who would’ve thought Belldandy’s earnings might be twice that of Yakumo’s? Where the hell did they get these figures in the first place? The figures column looks like a sine wave rotated 90 degrees though.

Lucky Star's Back!

Kagamisumi, your prayers have been answered. An OVA has been announced for LS. Here's a pic of the ad carrying the announcement. News article at ANN is over here.

Not much has been revealed yet, the studio, cast, release date, number of episodes etc, are all unknown as of now. After a quick look through various forums, it appears to me that there are generally 3 types of responses to this piece of news:

1) "Yay!"
2) "Is it by Kyoani?!"
3) "Where the fuck is Haruhi 2?!?!"

I think Kagamisumi will agree most with this guy though:
19 ひなたちゃん(9才) 2008/05/05(月) 18:47:44.27
かがみん以外ｲﾗﾈ (I want no one else but Kagamin)

We'll be getting more details on 10 May, so just sit tight till then.

Female Seiyuu Appearances 2005-2008

Number of anime appearances by female seiyuu from 2005-2008, listed in descending order. Numbers in brackets are for roles in 2008. Appearances in movies and OVAs not included (i think). Koped from here.

73　Noto Mamiko（14）
72　Watanabe Akeno（8 ）
66　Ohara Sayaka（7）
60　Kawasumi Ayako（5）Itou Shizuka（7）Kugimiya Rie（13）
58　Saito Chiwa（12）
57　Sawashiro Miyuki（8）
53　Kuwashima houko（8）
51　Ueda Kana（10）
50　Yukino Satsuki（5）Nazuka Kaori（12）
47　Toyoguchi Megumi（5）Kobayashi Yuu（7）
46　Hisakawa Aya（1）Kawakami Tomoko（5）Minagawa Junko（5）Satou Rina（12）
45　Chiba Saeko（8）Nabatame Hitomi（6）
43　Saiga Mitsuki（7）Fukuen Misato (5)
42　Kaneda Tomoko（2）Inoue Kikuko（3）
41　Horie Yui（7）Kadowaki Mai（4）Takahashi Mikako（7）Kobayashi Sanae（7）Hayamizu Risa（5）
40　Kobayashi Yumiko（6）
38　Koshimizu Ami（6）Shiraishii Ryoko（8）Yuzuki Ryoka（4）Katou Emiri（10）Neya Michiko（6）
37　Matsuki Miyu（4）Tamura Yukari（5）Yukana（5）Nakahara Mai（6）
36　Mizuki Nana（4）
35　Inoue Marina（8）Arai Satomi（7）Park Romi（7）
33　Fujimura Ayumi（9）Nonaka Ai（4）
31　Goto Yuko（7）Hirohashi Ryou（2）
30　Kaida Yuko（5）
29　Yahagi Sayuri（7）

I have no idea how comprehensive this list is, but it appears Mamimami rules the world of female seiyuu. No surprises there i guess. I’ve added a pic of her and her ichigo there on the right to like, celebrate her victory or whatever.

Need to point out that it's just a count of the number of shows though. Doesn’t matter whether a show had 3 or 300 episodes, it still counts as one. Kind of like Legolas fragging the elephant. And I believe the list even includes appearances as Passerby A and Female Student B, which explains the unexpectedly high numbers for relative newcomers like Katou Emiri who spent a few years playing various nameless roles here and there.

Btw, by my count, Tanaka Rie just missed making the list with 20+ shows.

Tower of Druaga Episode 5

Just as i thought the series was steadily sliding into mediocrity, along came ep5 to deliver a comedic knockout on par with Fumoffu. Plus, the Gonzo guys finally got it into their heads to enlarge the credits' fonts so that they're now actually legible on the streamed version.

I won't spoil the gags, but be prepared for boobs, penises and THE ROPER DANCE. Oh, and watch out for Mamimami's shota, for no reason other than it's Mamimami. It's like she's playing nothing but shotas this season.

This ep totally bumped Druaga up my watching priority list by a good 10 places or so. Please excuse me while i go watch the whole episode again.

Candy☆Boy

First episode of the new Candy Boy series has been released on niconico - raw of course, but several groups have already got their subbed versions done. So glad the original 10 minute promo video for the song was popular enough for them to make 7 more. Yay!

This new episode was just as entertaining as the original, and just as yuri. =) Kana and Yuki are such a goofy couple i can't help but laugh. Just look at the opening scene with Kana trying to wake Yuki. Sakuya gets more screentime this time round and she's still a scheming stalker, but somehow more adorable.

We get more of the same lazy animation from this installment, lots of stillshots and panning, and i don't think they gave a damn about matching the lip flaps. But with such cute character designs, who cares?

What i liked about the original was how short yet effective it was, and this new episode lived up to expectations. My sole complaint is that the new theme song isn't as awesome as Candy☆Boy (the song).

Here's the official site with the niconico link. Character bios and pics are under the "キャラクター" tab, and there are 2 pages of manga under the "Specials" tab. I'm having a hard time reading the handwritten Japanese on the manga though. The "で"s look like "Z"s with sweatdrops.

School Rumble 3rd Semester

A promo video featuring Koshimizu Ami and Mamimami is now up on the official site.

It seems like episodes 25 and 26 of this new season will be bundled with the limited first edition of manga volumes 21 and 22, which will go on sale on 17 July and 17 September respectively. (If my Jap reading skill is not sucky enough to get it wrong that is.)

I thought this is kind of weird, since a quick look at the calendar tells me that the summer anime season should be starting around the beginning of July. Which means episode 25 will be released on DVD when the TV run is just 2 or 3 episodes in? That’s assuming SR3 airs in July, and that there’s a TV run to begin with. ANN has ominously labeled SR3 an OVA – I hate OVAs simply because they make me wait months (or even years) between episodes. *cough*Hellsing Ultimate*cough*

To sum it up, we are likely to see ep 25 before the series even starts, which isn’t a big deal really (see: TMOSH), so, ya, I have no point. Ami said recording work is already underway, I’m just secretly hoping they’ll crank out 3 episodes a week from now until July just in time for ep 25’s release.

Ya right.

And about it being an OVA: if this is true it’ll be the longest OVA I’ve seen in my very short life. Bet you 15 bucks ANN made a mistake. But hey, who knows? There might be some info on the page labeled “Broadcast News” at the SR3 official site, but I’ll have to say it’s very well hidden among the random stuff though.

I really hope SR makes it into the summer line-up, can’t wait anymore. First ep should be about Valentine’s Day if they’re following the manga closely. Yakumo’s handmade chocos!!! Too bad it’s for Harima, and he’s too busy stalking her cockroach sister. Wait… was that a *spoiler*?

Oops.

Other sequels on summer wish-list: Clannad After Story, HnG2, Marimite 4.

Lucky Stripes 1 - 树干

Does Kagamisumi remember that military slice-of-life doujinshi idea that we cooked up last year? The one with the Lucky Star cast doing National Service in BMT? Remember how the project was consigned to the recycling bin because we couldn't find an artist?

I went ahead and drew the first installment of this Lucky Stripe 4koma.

Enjoy.

(To refresh your memory, Konata is the PC, Kagami the PS, Tsukasa and Miyuki are sergeants, the doujin drawing girl is the medic, Shiraishi the sole recruit, and i have forgotten the rest.)

Halfway through i decided to cheat and just draw the heads. Saved a hell lot of effort.

We didn't decide on a name back then, so i took the liberty of titling it "Lucky Stripes". Stars are for the bigshots. This strip is about the rank-and-file men in green, hence "stripes".

There won't be a second installment any time soon. In fact, we might not have one at all.

I can't bear to butcher those cute girls anymore with my drawing. =p