While we waited breathlessly for the anime 3rd season OAVs to be released, the cast and staff of Maria-sama ga Miteru were working hard to keep fandom stimulated.

There were, of course, the Marimite Drama CDs that I love so much, and live events were held in which fanboys were able to write haiku as if they were one of the characters, among other things. Also filling in the gaps were web radio programs, which were released on a semi-regular basis at the Animate TV site. The web radio program host is Ueda Kana, the voice of protagonist Fukuzawa Yumi.

In each “episode” Ueda Kana chats with one of the other voice actresses, they eat cake and tea, and giggle a lot. ^_^ Fan mail is read and responded to, and for many of the episodes an original radio drama completes the set. The web radio shows were originally distributed as streaming audio.

The “DJCD”s are collections of the web radio shows, which is especially nice as I know I missed three or four in the middle there.

The segments of the DJCDs are split into the chat with one of the other seiyuu, a segment called “Tell me, onee-sama” in which each VA is asked which character she would pick as the best sister, bride, teacher, high-class woman, friend, etc. And, of course the radio dramas which are often insane and frequently laugh out loud hysterical. If you have seen fanart over the last several months of “Magical Girl Shimako” – the radio dramas are where that comes from.

Along with “Mahou Shoujo Shimako” segments (always sponsored by Satou Sei-sama), there are many and varied Yumi x Sachiko stories that considerably up the Yuri factor between them, and also provide a chance for Yumi to be heard giggling in a terrifying way, and Sachiko to sound scared for her life. ^_^ But the winner has got to be the very wrong story in which Rei dresses in a bear costume in order to appeal to Yoshino. I KNOW I was chortling in a way that made my work neighbors worried as I listened to that one.

You can of course get these CDs through Amazon JP: DJCD 1 and DJCD 2, but in this case, they were part of my questionably large purchase of CDs from Animate in Ikebukuro.

The voice actresses talk very fast (and giggle alot, did I mention that?) but the radio dramas and the “tell me onee-sama” segments are easy enough to follow.

One thing I want to mention, just because I found it fascinating, was that several of the VAs do impressions of other VAs as their characters – and by and large they are very good at it. It’s kind of funny, and definitely fun.

Ratings:

Art – Original covers, to make them more appealing to hardcore fans – 6
Story – Casual, giggly chat, and crazy, yurified dramas – 9
Characters – Did I mention that the Yuri quotient was upped? – 8
Yuri – 8
Service – We have seen fandom and they are us – 7

Overall – 8

Oh, and “roll cake.” That’s all I’m saying about that. If you want to know what I mean, you’ll have to listen to the CDs. ^_^