Archive for the Drama CDs & Audiobooks Category


Drama CD: Love Gene Double X (恋愛遺伝子XX )

October 7th, 2011

The  Love Gene Double X (恋愛遺伝子XX ) Drama CD was included as an extra in the special edition of the first volume of the Love Gene Double X manga (which I reviewed in August 2011) Like the Haru Natsu Aki Fuyu Drama CD, this CD was essentially the manga volume performed by voice actresses. For people who like to hear characters given life, this Drama CD will suit nicely.

All the men of the world have died and women have rebuilt society along a new version of gendered lines. There are ADAMs, and there are EVEs. ADAMs are given the privilege associated with male roles and EVEs are the women of the world.  The story follows the arrival of Koshiro Aoi at the extremely elite school of Kingdom, her subsequent run-ins with the elite of the school and how she infiltrates the school leadership in order to take it down from within.

As I’ve repeatedly said, I have a LOT of problems with the premise, but also have great hope for the  resolution, as long as the creators are allowed the time they need to do what they *obviously* plan on doing with the story.

But, more importantly, and in the context of what I said about the GIRL FRIENDS Drama CD about CDs adapting a visual medium to a verbal medium) how is this as a dramatization of the story? Pretty good, actually. All the actresses do a decent job of their roles.  Taketatsu Ayana (K-ON!‘s Azusa, Yuru Yuri‘s Mikarun) sounds, I dunno, a bit girly as Aoi, but very thankfully, there is no attempt to masculinize the ADAM’s voices. So, after my initial surprise, she sounded perfectly normal in her role. Hikasa Youko (K-ON!‘s Mio, and a number of roles in other Yuri-ish series) actually sounded perfect as Kokonoe Sakura.  The only voice that didn’t work for me was Gotou Youko (Hiro in Hidamari Sketch) as Erika-sama. The character is over-the-top and she played her way over the top. It was meant to be too much…and it was.

The one downside to this Drama CD was that if you were not already familiar with the series, the brief set up might not be enough to fully convey the backstory. On the other hand, you can only get this Drama CD with the manga, so go read the manga first. There, problem solved. ^_^

Ratings:

Overall – 8

This was enjoyable as a performance of the manga, with a good dollop of service, and didn’t increase my frustration with the overall setup meaningfully. In fact, if anything, it served to convince me that the downfall of this system is the only possible resolution to the story.





Yuri Drama CD: GIRL FRIENDS (ドラマCD GIRL FRIENDS-ガールフレンズ)

September 29th, 2011

Because manga is primarily a visual media, I’m always fascinated by the transition of a manga story to Drama CD. Where something like Maria-sama ga Miteru is primarily communicated in words, a story like GIRL FRIENDS is first and foremost visual. And this manga, as good as it is, would  probably make a relatively dull anime, as most of the “action” exists only in interior monologue.

The GIRL FRIENDS Drama CD (ドラマCD GIRL FRIENDS-ガールフレンズ)does a decent job of balancing story framework and character development and, as a result, becomes something slightly different than the manga itself.

The manga starts off, (if you recall from my review of Volume 1,) as a catalog of fashionable girl interests. Hair, nails, clothes, etc., are the primary focus, and Mariko’s interest in Akiko grows from that. Because we’re listening to the conversations on the Drama CD, rather than watching the girls shop, the chapters feel very much like a tutorial. Bearing in mind that the manga ran in Comic High, which is generally targeted to men who want that glimpse behind the gauze curtain of “girls’ life,” this works amazingly well.

Let’s take a step back to the story itself to understand why. Mariko is a quiet, introverted girl. She is studious, has no real friends and generally lives a life of the mind. You know the type – reads during homeroom, lunch and any study periods. She is us. When Akiko breaks past her shell, Mariko finds herself dragged into a world she knows *nothing* about. This is a world in which girls talk about hair, clothes, fashion models, makeup colors and the like, endlessly and with actual interest. Mariko isn’t interested, per se, in the new fall colors for makeup, but her new friends’ interest interests her.

These sections of the Drama CD are the absolute best tutorial on what average girls like that I’ve ever heard. Because there are no visuals, and the spoken words have to provide the actions as well as the words, the dialogue very much sounds as if Mari is receiving training on “How to Be a Girl, 101.” Mariko even considers this, towards the end, as she’s rapidly slipping into “more than friend” feelings for Akiko. She recognizes that she never really had any girl friends before and never really had been socialized, so, she may be overreacting to just having a friend….

As in the anime, it’s the night of the group date that changes everything, irrevocably. After falling apart watching Akko with the guys, Mariko and Akko end up at Akiko’s place. After Akko drinks too much and falls asleep, Mari kisses her, then spends the rest of the week excoriating herself for it. Even after Akko laughs it off, Mari-chan realizes that her feelings aren’t just friendship.

The Drama CD comes to an end, as Mariko admits to herself that this is, quite probably, love. So, this CD covers chapters 1-10 of the manga.

There’s still a fair dollop of silly service in this story. Perhaps in some circles it is common for girls to kiss one another and feel each other up, but I can tell you that that never happened with any group of friends I had growing up. And we were on all sorts of sports teams, camp, school gym, which meant dressing and undressing in front of one another. No groping, peeking, breast size comparison….none of that ever went on anywhere I was. So, I’m still marking all that in the fanservice column as something things boys would like to think girls do.

The CD technicals were quite good. Everyone did a very decent job of voicing their characters. It was all very natural. I found Mari’s interior monologues (which were absolutely necessary to the story) a little cringe-making at times, but that was also necessary to the story. There is one short extra comic insert in the CD case, no cast talk track, though.

Noticably, this was a really long Drama CD. I had to drive quite a distance yesterday and listened to this CD for most of the trip there. Easily an hour, probably more. That was a pleasant surprise, as Drama CDs more commonly tend to be in the 30-45 minute range.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

I wasn’t sure how well this story would translate to Drama CD (I think some series are more suited than others, obviously) but overall found this to be a more than acceptable adaptation of what I considered to be a very good manga about first love.





Hayate x Blade Ultra Drama CD Sanban Hoshi! Hyuuryuu Tsumeawase (はやて×ブレード ウルトラドラマCD さんばん星！ 漂流つめあわせ)

August 12th, 2011

Hayate x Blade Ultra Drama CD Sanban Hoshi! Hyuuryuu Tsumeawase (はやて×ブレード ウルトラドラマCD さんばん星！ 漂流つめあわせ) broke my head. Just seconds ago, I could feel it go “pop.” I’m pretty sure steam came out of my ears, too.

As with the first two of these Drama CDs, the 3rd of the series follows three shinyuu couples as they do utterly ridiculous things in the utterly ridiculous, mutually exclusive ecosystems that surround Tenchi Gakuen. We already know from the manga that there is a mountain behind the school (from Volume 11 and Volume 12.) We also know from the first of this Drama CD series, that that there is a jungle wilderness, and so, it should really come as no surprise that there is a beach as well. As the title translates to something like “An Assortment of Drifting” it should also not be too surprising that this CD follows our principles as they wander around these ecosystems aimlessly.

Hitsugi and Shizuku (and Tatewaki) go to the beach, where Hitsugi tortures Shizuku by crafting nefearious plans and tortures Tatewaki by torturing Tatewaki.

We are then allowed to enjoy an extended visit with Sid and Nancy that begins propitiously with Sid composing a little ditty about being hungry and ends up with her unpropitiously being eaten by a giant snake. (Clearly our Yuri military force needs Giant Snakes. We’ve had them in many of our best series!) Sid worries that Nancy will leave her, but when Nancy rescues her from being eaten, she realizes that she will never get that kind of fun with anyone else.

Next up, Akira and Sae. Is there a more typical couple in all of Tenchi? Akira’s butchy grumpiness, Sae’s complete unconcern for anything except having a little fun at Akira’s expense and her ineffable cheerfulness in the face of hardship, like being stranded on a desert island….and even a very little Yuri-service for the Akira x Sae fans out there. Very little.

And in the end it was all one of Hitsugi’s nefarious plots. ^_^ But that wasn’t what broke my brain.

What broke my brain was the very final seconds of the CD as Tatewaki does her rendition of being the phone clock. You remember that, don’t you? From the days before cell phones? You’d call the number and a woman’s voice would say, “When the tone sounds it will be Eleven-thirty and 45 seconds in the morning,” then the tone sounds. Then she’d say, “When the tone sounds it will be Eleven-thirty and 50 seconds in the morning,” and it would repeat endlessly all day. Well, you haven’t heard it done right until you’ve heard it done by Tatewaki. /pop!/ ~(^_^)~

There is a mini-comic that, if I were to live in Japan I could get by order from from this CD, but since my chances of getting here are small, so I won’t be able to review it. If anyone does nab a copy, let me know how it is!

Ratings:

Overall – 9 just for Sid singing about how hungry she is. And Giant Snakes.

Not too long ago I said on Twitter than I consider Hayashiya-sensei to be the best story teller in manga. I stand by that. She loves her characters, that’s obvious. And as a result, I love them too. ^_^

Hayate x Blade, Volume 14 should hit the shelves any day now…I cannot wait to review it. I have been planning this review for *months!* (^_^)v





Hayate x Blade Ultra Drama CD Niban Hoshi! Tokkuntsumeawase!

April 8th, 2011

We’ve arrived at the 2nd of the new Hayate x Blade Drama CDs, Hayate x Blade Ultra Drama CD Niban Hoshi! Tokkuntsumeawase! (はやて×ブレード ウルトラドラマCD にばん星！ 特訓つめあわせ！)

Like the first of the series, this second Drama CD contains 4 short, funny, occasionally touching vignettes, following one of three shinyuu pairs at Tenchi.

Tokkun is “special training” and, as the title implies, each scenario is centered around some idiotic thing for which a character needs “special training.”

In the first scenario, Momoka comes across Isuzu practicing jumping over the tobibako, the vaulting horse commonly used in Japanese schools as a part of their physical education curriculum. Isuzu tries to get by on Momoka’s “guts” training, but does way better when Michi comes along and teachers her the right technique.

Michi then wanders over to her own shinyuu, Otoha, who is having a crisis. She is, apparently, an ojou-chan who, despite her promise to learn to cook, has never really bothered. With her parents arrival imminent, Michi tries to coach her into being able to make the world’s best meat and potato dish. Now that Michi has suddenly become awesome, she’s really pulled out the stops. Otoha does managed to cobble something edible together, but her parents change their plans and never get to experience it.

The third scenario will make absolutely no sense if you’re not completely caught up on the manga. After her defeat En-Suu has shifted her focus away from kicking ass to…eating. She obsesses about fish, specifically. In this vignette, En-Suu importunes Meiko to help her get better at Japanese. Mei, annoyed at being interrupted while reading tells En-Suu to go figure it out for herself. Which she does. A teacher asks where her cousin has gone, but Meiko doesn’t, honestly know. After weeks, En-Suu returns suddenly. Apparently while she was out looking for practice, she got a job at a sushi shop and now speaks fluent fish with a thick “old guy shopkeeper” accent. This all has to be heard to be believed. ^_^

The final scenario is a revisit of all of the players in various little dribs and drabs.

Once again, not something you’re gonna grab if you’re not already besotted, but if you are – hurry up and grab it while it’s hot.

Ratings:

Overall – 8

The third of the Ultra Drama CDs is already available and features Sid and Nancy, Hitsugi and Shizuku and Akira and Sae. If you are a Hayate x Blade fan and do not get the third Drama CD, I’m revoking your fan club membership. ^_^





Hayate x Blade Ultra Drama CD! Ichiban Hoshi! Zekkyoutsumeawase!

March 25th, 2011

Hayate x Blade Ultra Drama CD! Ichiban Hoshi! Zekkyoutsumeawase! (はやて×ブレード ウルトラドラマCD いちばん星！ 絶叫つめあわせ！) is a series of 4 short character pieces that aren’t tied into any one particular arc, but are in and of themselves really funny and, in the case of the final track, touching.

The title, for what it’s worth, appears to mean something like: First Star! An Assortment of Outcries!

The first track follows Hayate and Ayana as they patrol the school at night. Hayate gets to scream at just about every shadow and Ayana is allowed to trot out any number of grumpy, rude replies – just the way we like her.

The second track follows Jun and Yuho as they track down the real culprit in a series of underwear and bikini thefts. Everyone in the school is convinced that Jun is the criminal except for Yuho…not because she’s being nice, mind you. She just knows this isn’t Jun’s M.O.. The real culprit is found, but it’s not who you might think. ^_^

The third track was laugh out loud funny as Yukari accompanies Maki in a short walk that wanders across cliffs and into the jungle to find a good place to paint from.

The final track is more emotional than the others. Ayana and Hayate have it out over what Hayate really cares about and Yuho and Jun have a tender moment together. To wrap it up we spend a few more moments with Yukari and Maki, who seems to be able to find Yukari’s softs spots instantly.

Nothing here is really moves the story forward and you wouldn’t be getting this if you didn’t already love the characters. But, for the third and fourth tracks, if you *do* love the characters, this is a nice set of side stories that allows you to spend more time with them, get in a few chuckles and even an “awww” or two.

Ratings:

Overall – 8