seiyuu3

Announced at the Tokyo Game Show in 2006, Bandai Namco’s next generation RPG offering, Trusty Bell ～ショパンの夢～ was a tantalising prospect. Even more enticing was finding out that Hirano Aya had been cast as the female lead character, Polka. But that was then and this is now. Fast forward 9 months, Trusty Bell is out and we, here at seiyuu3, have seen and heard more than enough of Hirano Aya.

There are some roles that Hirano Aya is very suited to. Haruhi springs instantly to mind. However there are roles that she clearly cannot do right now. And Polka is one of those.

Polka is of the tragic archetype. Struggling to be accepted, “make herself useful” as she puts it and most heart-wrenchingly, she’s dying from an incurable disease.  You want to feel for her and empathise knowing her situation. But early on in the game Aya’s characterisation, which is to say her “default voice”, starts to become at odds with Polka’s character. Now all those people who love her breathy, throaty, Hirano Aya specific noises will adore this game because that is exactly what Polka sounds like for the entire game. But that’s issue here. We’ve all heard it before. It doesn’t always suit the role she’s given. And after all, we want to hear acting. The hallmark of great voice acting is only realising who played that role when reading the credits at the end. And I’m afraid Aya just isn’t there yet.

This is not to say Aya won’t ever get there. In the earlier parts of Trusty Bell there are glimpses, moments where she hits the mark and shows potential. However, disappointingly, those were few and far between. And so her performance ends up serving as much more of a distraction from the game experience and takes away from an otherwise solid cast.

I wouldn’t say this is entirely her fault. Bear in mind the recording for Trusty Bell was probably done more than 6 months ago and possibly in amongst her many other roles she was cast in. After witnessing most of those over the last few months, I can say this: Aya is getting the variety of roles she needs to develop her acting, but I believe she’s just doing too many at the same time. She simply can’t give enough time developing her voice for a particular role before she’s whisked away to another studio and yet another character. Her schedule is insane. And her hospitalisation earlier this year can probably be largely attributed to that. I blame Kadokawa and Lantis.

She needs a break. I need a break. Some recent moves by Lantis may suggest that they actually realise this and we might all get some much deserved relief. And this will be good because despite the fact that Aya really grates right now, I do want to see her develop her acting and amaze me again. Time will tell.

As for Trusty Bell the game, it has it’s own problems.

Above all else, the music is excellent and the art and character designs are simply beautiful. Other highlights include appearances from Kuwashima Houko and Orikasa Fumiko in the form of Voila and Serenade. Their character designs quickly becoming my favourites.

Beyond that it’s hard to stay positive about this game. The biggest mistake you can make about Trusty Bell is expecting too much. A lot of people rail against this Tri-Crescendo game for being too short and too easy. They do have valid points but I firmly believe that NBGI are targeting a much younger audience than your seasoned RPG gamer. This is reinforced by the ending cutscenes where there is an obvious “message” and “moral to the story”. In that light, the execution makes a lot more sense. The battle system is action based and simple. The world is small and practically guides you where you need to go next. You can pick and choose your encounters and the best equipment is usually given to you. It’s child’s play.

All in all, it’s still an entertaining way to kill 30 odd hours but the story may leave you wanting for substance. The hardcores should definitely look elsewhere.

Sega’s latest addition to the “Shining” series – Shining Wind – just went on sale on Thursday last week. Some of you probably also know that there is currently an anime in the spring season line up called Shining Tears X Wind, the names are no coincidence as the two titles are in fact closely related. While the anime tells the story from the point of view of the hot-blooded Souma (Hoshi Souichiro), the game tells the story from the slightly more timid Kiriya (Ishida Akira). Although some minor execution of the story from the different perspectives do not entirely agree in continuity, the two do seem to be designed from the ground up to compliment each other in painting the entire scope of the plot. While these types of simultaneous cross-media promotion had always happened in the forms of anime/manga/drama CD, a cross promotion between anime and game is an interesting evolution to this formula as no doubt they have realised that there is major cross-over between the two demographic of anime watchers and gamers. It’s a hook that worked on us at seiyuu3, as we have found ourselves putting the mediocre anime back on our watch list, and finding the experience much more enjoyable then when the two works were taken separately.

For the gameplay, the real time action-based battle system of the game is fairly straight forward and is easy enough to not punish the casual players, which is a logical move as the point of the game is really about moving the plot forward rather than dwelling in the RPG battle mechanics. There is a visual novel like element which let the player engage in unlocking mini story-arcs of the characters in the team in order to level up the character’s “Soul Blade”, which are said to be a materialisation of the owner’s emotions. The mini-arcs are not even limited to females, so some fangirls who are into pairings will no doubt get a kick out of it as well (though I’m bothered by the beastialities). It’s not an entirely new concept game design wise mixing strategy with adventure, personally I find it like they took some Langrisser and tone down the battle system and topped it off with a little Sakura Taisen. The result is a game that’s neither hardcore battle nor hardcore adventure.

Of course, this franchise first came on the seiyuu3 radar in no small part due to the extravagant seiyuu cast. Practically all of our top favourite names are here – Mizuki Nana, Horie Yui, Kawasumi Ayako, Kuwashima Houko, etc., the list goes on and on. The opening theme song Heart-shaped Chant by Nana-chan (available on the Secret Ambition single), a great song as it is, had now found a permanent spot on the daily playlist. It had also became a ritual to sit through the opening animation whenever the game is fired up for play.

For those wondering about the banner art, it’s a campaign run by Sega which gives sites hosting the banner art a chance to win some seiyuu goodies. Yes, we want those, badly. ;)

I think we still got somewhat of a scoop on this.

Hirano Aya is set to appear in Namco’s newest RPG for the Xbox360! Called 「Trusty Bell～ショパンの夢～」 (Chopin’s Dream) Aya plays the lead female role of Polka in what looks like to be a sleeper hit for the 360 and possibly the beginning of a new franchise for Namco.

It’s not been announced on the official page yet but visiting the Microsoft booth at the Tokyo Game Show,  there was no mistaking her when they played the preview trailer. Seconds later, it was confirmed when her name was credited on screen.

I’m very excited about this for a lot of reasons. The game actually looks really good, not just graphically but gameplay-wise too. The battle system appears to be a blend of Grandia and the Tales Of games. The encounters are visible in the field and battles are action based. The visuals are bright, lush, vivid with some beautiful cel-shaded animation for the characters. Of course I’m looking forward to hearing what kind of performance Aya will give us.

Keep an eye out for this one!

 Last Friday September 22, houkoholic and I were lucky enough to score tickets to the first ever orchestral concert for Japan featuring music from games. 「ファミ通 Presents PRESS START 2006 －SYMPHONY OF GAMES－」. Held had Bunkamura’s Orchard Hall in Shibuya, the concert featured pieces from popular japanese games such as Metal Gear Solid 2, PoPoLoCrois, Mother, Outrun, Zone of Enders, Ys, Romancing Saga, Monster Hunter, ICO and of course, Legend of Zelda.

Conducted by 竹本泰蔵 Takemoto Taizou, it was night of acoustic bliss as these familiar melodies were wonderfully recreated with the audio harmony of the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert was also littered with guests from the games industry such as designer 桜井政博 Sakurai Masahiro and composers 植松伸夫 Uematsu Nobuo, 伊藤賢治 Ito Kenji, 大島ミチル Oshima Michiru, 近藤浩治 Kondo Koji, 甲田雅人 Koda Masato, 酒井省吾 Sakai Shogo, 柴田徹也 Shibata Tetsuya to name a few. Each came out to talk a bit about each piece and what they were currently working on.

So what does all this have to do with a seiyuu blog? Well, one of the highlights of the night was the fact that the concert was hosted by none other than 田中理恵 Tanaka Rie. And did she look particularly fetching that night in her white evening gown. Rie was there to introduce each of the guests and announce each of the pieces as “Navigator” for the event. And I believe there are some very good reasons they chose her. First of all, she has the looks and an air of gracefulness about her. She also possesses a certain elegance in her elocution. And best of all… she is one hardcore gamer!

Rie has played nearly all of the titles that were featured and to hear her talk about the games there was no doubt that she really played them. I was impressed and a little surprised. I knew that a lot of the seiyuus are avid gamers but this was nothing short of prolific. All of this warrants closer inspection.

Rie has also blogged about the concert herself and is most generous by posting some nice photos of herself in that evening gown. Click for joy!

Update: Yes, I stole one of her pics!

Yukarin signed her own NDS and gives it away as a draw prize for the magazine Gemaga. 

Whoever wins this is probably going to be one very happy Yukarin fan. 

Annoucements here and here.  

Mizuki Nana will be playing the heroine Rebecca Straison, and from the character description Mizuki Nana won’t be playing the dizzy type but rather the thinker in the group, though there’s still going to be a bit of tsundere in there, which seems to be the current fad. 

Anyway I’m not that familiar with the Wild Arms series.  I’ve played the very first Wild Arms on the PS but never gotten very far, other than that I’ve watched my friend played 3 on the PS2 for about half an hour and that’s about it.  I’ve never gotten interested in the psuedo-Wildwest theme of the series so I’m not entirely sure whether I want to play this one or not, even though that Nana-chan is going to be in it. 

The game is currently scheduled for a winter release in Japan.   So I guess the single for the theme song won’t be out until after the game goes on sale.  One thing that I am surprised though is that Nana-chan was chosen to do the theme song, as the Wild Arms franchise is a fairly well known property of Sony Computer Entertainment, I would’ve though they would look into their own talent pool from Sony Music Entertainment or even get more 15 year old idol-wannabes off the street to prompt the hell out of.  But hey, I’m definitely not going to be the one to complain about this decision, plus with Nana-chan’s reputation for upbeat songs I’m sure she’s more than capable of handling this job.

This is a bit of old news but Horie Yui is going to be in the new Zegapain game that’s coming out on July 27.

Called 「Zegapain XOR」, Yui will play the character of 「ミオ・レディネス」 Mio Readiness. Mio is selectable as one of your support pilots amongst others. I’m not a particularly big mecha game fan and the original Zegapain didn’t really impress when I saw it at Tokyo Anime Fair, but after playing the demo of Zegapain XOR on Xbox Live, I found it quite enjoyable. The controls were not unweildy like the last game and it didn’t take long to be kicking some ass.

I’m also keen to see how much of a role Yui will get to play in the game and if the story will be enthralling enough to take an interest in the franchise. If I’m not mistaken, the character designs for the game are by the same designer as Mai Hime which is nothing to complain about. And the anime is done by Sunrise who generally produce quality work.

In all likeliness, I’ll find out next Thursday when I pick it up, if not for the gameplay then certainly for the voice.

在察看安琪莉可TV時才發現，8月份出的劇場版竟然9月份要出PS2遊戲。官網已經出來了，但是還沒有放出太多實質性内容。（只能看到一些一代的人設和新CG，還有小史的語音“そなたに、きっと会えると思うていた。”） 在此正式歡迎櫻井孝弘さん加盟Neoromance的豪華聲優陣容~~ \=O=/
官網：http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/ps2/maihitoyo/

Ange的TV版這邊，也終于快要盼到開播了。除了固定的守護聖大人們，也很期待主役Ange的本名陽子小姐的表現。在宮崎駿影片《側耳傾聽》(Whisper of the Heart) 中擔任主役的她，會帶來一個什麽樣的Ange呢？在官網的日記裏，提到似乎是很自然感性的聲音。與過去三石琴乃小姐的Ange對比會大不同吧。

雖然人物頁只有介紹神鳥的九大守護聖，但既然是4代安琪的故事，應該是神鳥與聖獸的守護聖都會登場吧，也就是說會有20位以上的人物…… 又是一場聲音盛宴。唯一殘念的是，鹽澤兼人先生不能復生 ——對安琪莉可的FANS來説是永遠的遺憾了。

官網：

Thank you sent for my introduction, みんな、よろしくね~

近期除了玩那隻Xbox360的滾動百合XX滾動玫瑰XX之外, 就是玩這隻PS2游戲.

雖然本身是十足Gundam迷的我, 但是以Bandai一路以來出的Gundam游戲的質數之”高”, 這隻游戲本來是不打算買的.  今次會買當然不為甚麼 – 當然又是cast作怪了.  這隻游戲有由衣又有奈奈, 當然要買來玩(聽).

由衣在游戲擔當的是一位在育成模式中原創的通訊員, 其次還負責游戲多部份的旁白和說明指導等的對白.  一向的糖衣由衣聲, 沒甚麼特別好說.  而奈奈擔當的是育成模式中的第二世代女主角, 對就是MS駕駛員.  因為育成角色可以從三種性格 – 熱血, 溫厚和冷靜 – 中選擇其一, 進而影響游戲進行中說對白的語氣, 所以對我這個奈奈控來說實在是再好玩不過的東西了! XD 

唔, 第一輪選”熱血” – 不錯, 一向中氣十足的奈奈叫喊當然不會差得去那, 不過當熱血MS駕駛員又好像熱過頭?  其實不如去玩超級系(G Gundam? XD)可能會更好一點~~~~

第二輪選的是”冷靜” – 這個值得推薦!  真的好有MS駕駛員的感覺.  特別是那句”遅い!”好正啊!  對上某自護Ace時說這句實在是臨場感十足! XD

第三輪的就只剩下”溫厚”了 – 不知道是不是寫對白的那個腦袋有問題還是太惡趣, 竟然是一個天然呆的性格!  那個在名詞後加上”さん”的小女孩口癖真的是不知道要笑好還是哭好. 沒有這游戲的人請想像一下奈奈用瓶妖的くるる口氣說這句台詞 “拜託了, Gundam先生!” ~~~~

甚麼? 游戲本身好不好玩?  誰理這種東西啊 (茶) 

sent: I stumbled across this a couple of days ago and wanted to blog about this but I’m really not sure where to begin.

*houkoholic watches the clip*

houkoholic:  I’m equally lost for words, but then again this isn’t totally unexpected.

sent: I guess we should mention that both Yukarin and Hocchan are part of the cast for Rumble Roses XX. But I still think there is something wrong with this image.

houkoholic:  Brief recap: Yukarin and Hocchan used to work together as a unit called Yamato Nadeshiko, and in several internet based votings by seiyuu otaku, they were voted as the number 1 yuri couple.  So I guess you can say that Konami provided the perfect tools to make the otaku dream come true.

sent: After finding Yui’s character so easily, I thought it was mystifying that Yukarin was nowhere to be found, especially for a Konami title. Having her voice the Edit character is sheer brilliance though. And hilariously amusing. It didn’t take them long at all.

houkoholic:  In fact it only took them 2 days from the release day of the game to come up with these videos….

*sent watches video clip again*

sent: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… ah it’s still really funny. But still so wrong…

houkoholic: And no, we have not tried this out ourselves, absolutely not. *puts on innocent-looking face*

Sources: yamanakowa.net, desireforwealth.com