The Maria-sama ga Miteru Special CD, Volume 4 begins with what was a most obvious and silly gag as Nabatome Hitomi introduces herself as Torii Eriko’s VA, followed by Itou Shizuka as Rei, Ikezawa Haruna as Yoshino and then Nabatome-san starts to introduce herself again as the voice actress for Arima Nana to complete the Yellow Rose family roster, but starts to laugh and completely blows the gag. ^_^
This was followed by….sweets! The crackling of plastic and the various “yum” noises will be familiar to anyone who has listened to any of the previous CDs. Also the random conversation about nothing much.
This is followed by the drama Frame of Mind, which really struck home just how *much* Tsutako and Shouko there is in and around the series. Because, we’re *still* not done with them. I keep saying we’ve got all the pieces, but we’re nowhere near the end. ^_^
Frame of Mind covers the mystery of a handful of film cartridges that Yumi received from a 1st-year that say “Takeshima Tsutako” in katakana on them and that Tsutako herself says are not hers. Yumi, Great Detective Yoshino and Tsutako investigate the mystery and find out the criminal was….! We learn that the 3rd-years of the Photography Club are not above hazing the new kid on the block, which will lead into another trick they play in a later story, on the new club president-elect. Man, that Photo Club is tough. ^_^ This story has the added attraction of Yumi’s realization that the Photography Club is not just made up of Tsutako and Shouko.
This drama is followed up by “Souer no Kizuna” where the entire Kibara Family is eerily in synch and they all laugh alot.
Ratings:
Overall – 9
Once more, a hour of fun and another drama to add to the ole mp3 player. When I get the whole series on there, no doubt it will break and I’ll have to start from scratch….. And can you believe that I am *still* not done with the pile of stuff I brought home from Japan three months ago? There’s still a pile of Light Novels and at least two CDs left. Phew.
Yet another thing to add to the pile, and to the ever-growing MSGM playlist. Fun. The radio shows are always silly, but the dramas are always pretty good. I’m still waiting for Parasol to come out before I’ll sit through Rainy Blue.
According to this: http://www.animate.tv/news/details.php?id=1275885420
Parasol comes out on 7/22/10. (Yay.) There’s also a nice series of very short interviews with the VAs. (In Japanese, of course.)
Oh, there’s something coming out this week– the movie version of Maria-sama Ga Miteru is coming out in book form on 6/25. I’m not sure if you’ve already covered it, but in case you haven’t, here’s the Shueisha link:
http://books.shueisha.co.jp/CGI/search/syousai_put.cgi?isbn_cd=978-4-08-601421-2&mode=1
It will be interesting to see how the original gets adapted to the movie form, and to compare it to the condensed anime version. (But I think the most important question is going to be whether they can find a good enough Satou Sei… )