Okay, so we know there are people like Yukarin, who lights up her fans with gothloli gear while doing a typical routines during her concerts on stage. Some of us even like that. Seeing Nana Kitade in real life, for instance, was a bit of a LOL I didn’t know they’re like this for real. But “WHAT THE HELL” was my reaction when I stumbled upon Rika Morinaga’s various web pages. And Function Code.
OMG. Just look at that. “She’s gone visual kei?” What have I been missing? Well, on one hand, not a whole lot. I was never a big Bjork fan, for starters (ok sorry that’s a low blow). Check out Function Code’s MySpace for some samples. See for yourself what sort of thing they are. If you’re even more adventurous, try out SPEED-id’s myspace, which is the band Morinaga latched on to.
OTOH what I have been missing is sort of “the exception” to the norm. First off, Morinaga is also a model and “underground” stage actress (think Takarazuka Revue-type) on top of her voice acting and musician roles. And Function Code, when I first saw that, it struck me as “Hey, that reads like dempa. But it looks like Visual. And it sounds really weird.” It’s so weird, in fact, and honestly influenced by sources so atypical to the seiyuu-idol-pop concept that is bizarre.
It’s so unique, that it has to be something she was into before she broke open onto the fast track to seiyuu fame-dom. She’s not famous by any means today, but seeing her live in a couple DVD extras makes me think she could go pretty far, if that’s what she wants to do. I’m not sure the details how Function Code is going about, if it’s going to stay in a “lol we’re produced and maybe we’re in indie music limbo, maybe not” kind of a thing, but it’s bound to be interesting. At least, if the image galleries on her site are of any importance.
Right now, however, I’ll just lay back and enjoy the fun roles she’s taking up: Souseiseki, Yu-ri, Mamiina, Matsuri-chan, and what have you. I’m sure soon we’ll actually have something even more wonderful.
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