Waaaaahhhhhh!!! You guysss!!!!!!! This is the greatest Drama CD ever made. EVER. I doesn’t matter if you don’t understand a single word of Japanese, just run out right now and buy this and listen to it!

Ahem.

It came as a pleasure and a surprise that the Grand Stage series of Drama CDs by étriere was given a second “season” as it were. So I began, as I did the first time, with Volume 1, Grand Stage -Romance Review  (Hiou Akito) ( グラン・ステージ ロマンスレビュー 第1幕「陽央あきと」), starring Ogata Megumi as the tease of Sora-gumi, Hiou Akito.

This is the gayest thing I have ever listened to in my life.

As I suspected it might, the opening theme for the series is now “Hisshou ~WE CAN FLY~” with all five of the otokoyaku voice actresses singing what would be a perfectly respectable boy band song.

The CD begins at an onsen, at which we and Akito share a room…and a bath, then dinner. Then we head into the bathroom for more bathing, and all the while Akito is teasing, sexy, playful and really annoying. She completely gets on our nerves when we say we like her and she jokes instead of taking us seriously. We storm off, angry.

Akito is distressed by her inability to be serious, but she just never really thought about how to be taken seriously before. She meets up with Kazamiya Eru, and the youngest otokoyaku turns out to be wise beyond her years. 

Akito takes us out, then brings us back to her place to wine and dine us. With some sincere effort, she confesses that she likes us too. And we live happily ever after! Yay us!

The CD comes with a printed short-story insert which continues our tale. Akito invites us to meet her family. They are lovely, of course, and so excited to meet us. As we and Akito walk the shore of her hometown, Yokohama, she reminisces about her childhood and her best friend. Miraculously, the best friend shows up and we get to meet Hazuki, who knew Asahi when. (Asahi, the we of the Drama CD knows, is Akito’s real name.) Hazuki and Asahi joke around, talking about the old days. We learn Hazuki was also an otokoyaku for a while. As the day ends, we are very glad to have been allowed into Akito’s life a little bit more. And we walk off into the sunset as a happy Romeo and Juliet.

I know I’m super biased, but holy crap is Ogata-san sexy in this CD. And did I mention how gay it is? 

The final track is Akito singing “Always on my Mind.”which you can enjoy via the official Grand Stage channel on YouTube.

The recent stage show definitely went for the fakey-BL aspect, based on pictures of the production, as I suspected it might. But this CD is pure Yuri. In the short story, Akito is referred to as “kanoujo”, ie., “her,” throughout. Ogata-san uses her voice to smooth-talk and tease through the whole opening scene, leaving this listener with no doubt at all, that this series is meant for us.

Ratings: 

Overall – 9

I am hoping like heck that we get a third series. These are just sooo good. ^_^ And to say that Grand Stage scratches all my itches, is an understatement. It’s got some of my fave voice actresses playing otokoyaku of of a musical revue troupe, romancing their female partners, on a Drama CD. It’s perfect!