[1st episode] Shirokuma Cafe

That one's a bit late and I have no excuse except for the fact that I didn't have work (since most of my reviews have been written at work lately DURING BREAKS ... probably, well at least during the breaks I gave myself)

Shirokuma Cafe is the story of a Cafe owned by a Polar Bear in a society where humans and talking animals live in perfect harmony. Main character seems to be Panda though, a very lazy animal trying "very hard" to find a job and stumbling upon the Café by chance

It may sound weird written like that and sure enough it is, not that I mind, I wouldn't be myself anymore without my love for the weird.

The story seems like a regular slice of life. I have however no idea in which channel it airs but have heard people saying it was meant for kids. Which I do not agree with. 
I know it's cute and all, it has big plushie like animals, but I don't really think children would appreciate it that much beyind the cuteness, we're talking about adult characters there, even if they're animals, so I guess that'd be a good example of something having several layers. 

As for the characters, I have a little problem with the kind of voice FukuJun uses for the Panda. I do like however Sakurai Takahiro and his passive agressive tone as the bear as well as Kamiya Hiroshi as the penguin even if (because) it reminds me of Beelzebub in Yondemasu-yo Azazel-san and that I find this simple fact absolutely hilarious. 

It probably won't turn out to be the greatest thing ever but I'm enjoying that a lot anyway

Do you have a fandom bias?

Pyro posted a blog post about her fandom bias, the small facts that can transform a show you're not interested in at all into a must watch.
She talked about hers and asked about ours, it actually made me think a lot so that post will be my answer.

The only problem is : I'm pretty sure I am forgetting things but it will have to do.

- Seiyuu
A good seiyuu cast can hold me through the most boring of shows. Almost. (Well, there are things that are beyond saving, even with my favorite seiyuu)
It did get me through Uraboku, which is everything but good, and on the other hand my fascination for people like Kamiya Hiroshi is the thing that made me start Angel Beats for example.
As such, it has good and bad sides.

- Yakuza
Sadly, this is the bias that is always, always used against me to make me read BL manga.
On the other hand, it made me discover stuff like Gokusen which I would NEVER have checked otherwise and became my favorite drama of all time (since both the manga and the anime version suffer from horrific art)

- Yuki Kajiura (and a few other composers)
In an anime I am very sensible to music and I can tell Yuki Kajiura or people like Sawano Hiroyuki are the composers as soon as I hear their music in an anime, a great soundtrack helps me finding the show enjoyable.
And if it wasn't for Yuki Kajiura I would never have checked Madoka or Fate/Zero.

- Sengoku Jidai
Rather than Sengoku Jidai I have developed over the years a soft spot for Akechi Mitsuhide, probably one of the less likeable warlord of the era and I feel obligated to watch every single anime featuring Sengoku Jidai in the hopes of seeing him.
And you have to admit the era has a lot of potential, in terms of battles, in terms of interesting politics and in terms of colorful characters.

- Narita Ryogho
I like this man and how he writes and how good and faithful the anime adapted from his works are. I'd watch anything if he's somehow involved. I'd watch anything if I know he's watching it as well. (Wouldn't have tried Tiger&Bunny if it wasn't for him, I'm forever grateful. And he's watching Fate/Zero and seeing him stay up so late to fanboy about it is adorable. I love Twitter) (AND I WANT A SECOND SEASON OF DURARARA!!) (AND ANOTHER ONE OF BACCANO!) (AND FOR HIS OTHER BOOKS TO BE ANIMATED!)

- Psychopaths
You probably already have noticed my love for, well, rather questionnable characters. Tell me there's one in something and I'm watching whatever you were recommending.

I don't even have that many. I thought I'd come to find many more considering the amount of stuff I watch. Oh well, guess I'll just blame curiosity.
Anyway, I'll ask the same question she did back in the days (because that post slept for quite some times in my drafts), what are YOUR fandom bias?

[1st episode]MajiKoi

The season has barely started and this is already the second anime I wasn't at all interested in but check anyway. I think I'm doomed.

Summoning my greatest courage and not even remembering what the hell this was about. (I did read it though, I just forgot) I watched this. MajiKoi for short because I forgot the actual title too.
In the end it turns out to be some kind of harem anime in which the main protagonist already confessed and was rejected by his older sister and they're all going to a school where conflicts are solved by school wide fights.

To be honest, I don't even know what to talk about when it comes to this anime, because ... nothing happened.
Well, they all fought against each other and I didn't even figure out who belonged to which team.
From the look of it, it doesn't seem like it'll be mindblowing either.

Too many character, so many I don't remember their names aside from Kuki Ageha and Kuki Hideo and that's only because we share names. But at the same time, after 3 months of Idolm@ster I don't remember all of their names either. Guess that MajiKoi will share the same fate.

Putting the whole incest part aside (because I, myself, am a big sister, I'd freak out) it's nothing revolutionnary, school setting, martial arts and cute girls.
The only redeeming point of the anime? Its cast, especially concerning the male characters, Kamiya Hiroshi is voicing the main one, there's Katsuyuki Konishi, Yusa Koji, I heard Koyasu Takehito and Nakamura Yuuichi was priceless as Hideo.

To sum it up, I normally wouldn't watch it, but it has Kamiya, as a result and very reluctantly, it makes it to my watchlist.
Though it'll be the second thing to be dropped if really I can't keep up.

[Summer 2011] Seiyuu top 10!

Remember last season's "voices hit or miss" post? Well, I decided I'll do things differently for Summer, mostly because I realized there was no point to rant about Kishio Daisuke for each show I'm watching. I don't like him. I think you got it.
Then, came the second question, do I still consider shows that started back in Spring? Do I consider shows that are going to run until Winter? In the end, after lots of talking with myself (and, I'll admit it, heavily influenced by the fact I was listenning to a radio show with Morita Masakazu as a guest), I thought : screw it! I'll consider everything!

So, in the end, the only shows I'll leave out (officially) are Beelzebub and Gintama. Sorry Sugita, I still love you!

10 - Ono Daisuke 
I have to admit I'm usually not much of a fan of his because his voice is usually very flat. That works perfectly for characters such as Huey (Dantalian no Shoka), but sometimes he surprises me like he did with Shizuo, and so he did as Yondaime. That's why he's there, because I didn't think he'd pull it off that well.

9 - Suwabe Junichi
As usual, he's perfect as the ambiguous villain in Natsume Yuujinchou. We won't talk about his singing in Utapri because that was terrific for everyone but he did well as the rich boy who's only thinking about girls.

8 - Mamoru Miyano
Once again leaving Utapri aside (even though his version of Amazing Grace was really pretty) he was just too perfect as Okarin in Steins;Gate. So perfect I didn't realize it was him at first.

7 - Nobuhiko Okamoto
He's everywhere, I just can't leave him out and I have to admit that while I was wary of him when I first read  Ao no Exorcist's castlist, he does a good job as Rin.
And he did fit Origami in Tiger&Bunny pretty well in my opinion. On the other he isn't special at all and tend to piss me off a bit in Kamisama Dolls. And he shouldn't sing. At all.

6 - Fukuyama Jun
Same as above, I didn't expect him to voice Yukio in Ao no Exorcist, I knew he'd pull it off because it's FukuJun but I didn't think it'd fit that well.
And then there's Rikuo in Nurarihyon, he really does that kind of dual personnalities well. And during this second season he appears more as night!Rikuo so I can hear his deep voice more. I'm happy.

5 - Kana Hanazawa
She's one of my favorite female seiyuu, ever, but well, before her character in Kamisama Dolls appeared she wouldn't have made it to the list. I love her, but I'm not a fan of her cute voice, so yeah, when she came down from the sky and started using her deep voice, I started fangirling.

4 - Kamiya Hiroshi
He's Natsume guys! Natsume is adorable!
He's Mephisto guys! Mephisto is such a twisted and interesting characters.
And the voices of both these characters are quite different. He's good, you can't deny it.

3 - Yusa Kouji
I don't even know why he's so high up the list, he's the young version of Nurarihyon in the eponym anime and Lunatic/Yuri Petrov in Tiger&Bunny. He sounded so evil and so nice, both at the same time.

2 - Ayu Matsuura
She voiced Rin in Usagi Drop. It was perfect. She's 10 years old.
That's all I have to say.

1 - Morita Masakazu
Sadly, he doesn't get many roles in anime (guess he must be busy with Bleach) but, I was stunned by his performance as Barnaby. When I checked the cast when it first started I admit I was a bit weirded out, first I didn't recognize him and second, I never thought of him as very good.
How wrong I was.
So, he's in first because he's the first seiyuu who made me cry so much with the tone of his voice alone. He'd better get more emotionnal roles (in anime) instead of his usual fighting addicts.
Too bad he speaks so fast on radio shows. But I can make out he's adorable all the same.
(And damn, guys, I have a surprise for you, as soon as someone uploads that damn song somewhere on the internet, it gets posted here, it's too epic! (and hilarious) Full version out on October 19th)

[1st impressions]Towa no Quon

Ever mistook one anime for another, even if during a split moment? That's what happened to me with movie.
Twice.
The first time was when I heard the music. I thought I was in Gundam 00 (and the setting didn't help, we were in a military HQ). Obviously, both OSTs were composed by Kawai Kenji.
And there I thought : good point for this movie.
The second time was when I first saw the hero in battle gear. I wondered, what the hell is that, a suit? It's night so I don't see very well, wait, is this a yellow and blue color combo?! TIGER, what are you doing there?
And, obviously, it was wishful thinking, there was no way it could be him right? I thought there was a chance the character designer could be the same too (because damn was he similar to Zetman) but nope.

Anyway, I guess you want to know what the hell is Towa no Quon about.
Pretty basic if you ask me, some strange powers awaken in young people, two factions are opposed, the ones who want to destroy them and the ones who want to help them.

To be honest I think there's more to this than just what is in the summary, and while I understand this is only the first movie of a serie of 6, who the hell is Towa?
Quon is the hero-Tiger-look alike (First time I've ever been thankful Kamiya Hiroshi isn't voicing anyone in Tiger&Bunny, I would have died. If only from the confusion) and Towa seems to be ... a tree?
As things stand I'd guess they're somehow related and she (I assume it's a she) was transformed into a tree by something. Still, I'd like to know much more. I'm interested.

I mentionned I thought I was in Gundam before (Ah, I heard Miki Shinchiro too, must be another reason ^^) but, it's much simpler than a Gundam, the good and the bad guys are clearly defined from the very beginning. The battles on the other hand are always about saving (or at least trying to save) one person whose powers just awakenned (there are a lot of different sorts of powers by the way, and not only battle related, to be simple and continue on the serie "but which anime I am watchin again", they're NEXTs), the battle are led by a few guys sent to the battlefield and strategy is being held somewhere else.
The bad guys use cyborgs who apparently used to be human (one of them is voiced by Kotobuki Minako) and the good guys only have two people able to fight, mainly Quon and an Amber look alike (that was a Darker than Black reference, please don't mind me)

It's something I'd recommend, it's not that long for a movie, 45 minutes, there are a lot of things to uncover (and names to remember because I won't go far if I just remember their seiyuu or give them names from other anime).
The only problem is, last time I was excited about a serie of movies I ended up being disappointed (*points at Break Blade*), but for now I have faith.

30 days seiyuu meme! Days 01-10

I've been sent that meme over at Tumblr so I thought I'd post it over there, you can never talk too much about seiyuu anyway ^^

Day 01: Your favorite male seiyuu
Kamiya Hiroshi! 
Doesn’t it come as a surprise?
Strangely enough I fell in love with him when I first heard Itoshiki Nozomu, I bet it’s quite unusual ^^

Day 02: Your least favorite male seiyuu
Kishio Daisuke. 
For no particular reason, I just really dislike his voice. 


Day 03: Your favorite female seiyuu
Can I say it's a tie between Kana Hanazawa and Maaya Sakamoto? 
It's a shame Kana Hanazawa is mostly cast on cutesy roles because she's so awesome with that deep voice of hers (Kuroneko I'm looking at you!) and I was so impressed by the variety of ranges she displayed as Shiro in Deadman Wonderland. Aaw want more psycho!Hanazawa. 
Maaya Sakamoto has even a wider range, she can do cute, she can do normal, she can do boys and the psycho kind too (damn, watch Hellsing Ultimate, she's only in the 4th episode, but damn, the presence <3)
They both can sing and they're both damn cute. So yeah, a tie!

Day 04: Your least favorite female seiyuu
Kobayashi Yuu, she's versatile too but her voice simply grates on my nerves, she should stick with voicing boys, my ears like that better. 


Day 05: A seiyuu you’d watch in anything
Any of my fave? Well, except if it means I have to watch One Piece, there my friends I declare it's off limit. But aside from OP and overly long series I'd watch anything for the seiyuus I love. Which isn't a bad thing in itself, I watched a lot of things I wasn't overly interested in and ended up loving in the end. 


Day 06: A seiyuu that always makes you laugh
Tsuda Kenjiro! That man is hilarious. Really, whenever I just hear him on free talks or see him during events he's always making me laugh, he's just so funny I can't help it. 


Day 07: The seiyuu you recognize the easiest
Well, if I know their name I recognize them more or less instantly, because it means I heard them in a lot of shows before and am familiar with their acting and their different tones. But I tend to recognize the ones I like the less even better.


Day 08: the seiyuu you recognize the hardest
Normally I should be able to tell at least that I already heard someone somewhere, even if I can't always name them, so it's not exactly that I don't recognize him, actually I do, except for this show, it's just that my ears spent one season of SoreMachi looking for hints to decide if yes it was him as the Obachan (and I'm still not sure) so it'll be Sakurai Takahiro 


Day 09: A seiyuu you’d rather not watch in anything
Let me take some times to decide who I hate more between Kishio Daisuke and Kobayashi Yuu and I'll tell you. Not that I have much of a choice though, they seem to be loved by everyone else so even if I don't like them I won't avoid a show I think I'd like. 


Day 10: A seiyuu that creeps you out
It's more a problem of acting and of being cast pretty much everywhere as THE villain but Hayami Shou is creepy. Especially if you have watched Sengoku Basara where he voices Akechi Mitsuhide who's pretty creepy even when he doesn't speak (no wonder he's my favorite warlord of the period ^^), if he was only the villain that would be OK, but no, he has to be a villain who cries things like "Aaw feels good, again, again" while being killed. So yeah, now he's forever creepy.
(I'd actually recommend the first season of said serie for his character only ^^)