There are some seiyuu that I like. How and why I like a particular voice talent can vary a lot between any given two person. Some of them I like because of the characters they voice. Some because of the performances they put on in the shows or games they are in. I like some because of their TV/radio/Niconama/stage personality. I like some for their solo music artist careers. Some I like for their singing. I like some for their style/looks/presence. I like some for their background or personal story. Some of them are just really funny. Among other things. It really vary a lot, and it should not be a surprise that there are a plurality of reasons why I like the ones I most favor.

Some people make elaborate rankings, or lists, or whatever, to track who they like. It’s a basic nerd/otaku tendency, I suppose. I do too, usually in the form of guest request lists for conventions in NA. But that list also takes into account my estimation of the maturity of the seiyuu in their career (will they be able to open up to a crowd overseas), their affiliations (are they easy guests), and how they would handle a bunch of young Americans at an anime con (eg., what would they do when “Nico Nico Knee” comes up in a panel, etc). I’ve been meaning to write up some kind of mega-list at some point, for that purpose. The rationale behind it would be to make it easier for con organizers to know which seiyuu are good picks and worth going after. It would add considerations based on affiliated agency, the type of work they’re known for, among other things.

But, that’s work. Work I don’t quite have the time for. But maybe we can crowd-source it in the near future.

Next best list, I guess, is a list of seiyuu that I’d fly to see domestically. The reason is basically, I have some skin in this game–it’s not just lip service. Where your treasure is, your heart is also, I suppose? But it’s a lot more nuanced than that too. For example, some seiyuu I might not estimate much in my affections, but I would try to fly and see just as a matter of repping them, because they might not be all that popular with an oversea crowd. Sometimes a certain person’s coming to a country by itself is worth the trip. With sufficient amount of care, fans and nerds can build enough context, and meaning, of everything their cherished idols do.

By domestically in the last paragraph, I count Hawaii and Alaska in these I suppose. So, thus the list below. This is entirely a different list than just seiyuu I like, but I guess I do like all these to a degree? “Degree” enough to list? And in no particular order:

• IDOLM@STER 765Pro AllStars+ – For franchise reasons. They can come in single or duos or whatever… (13)
  • Hirata Hiromi, Nakamura Eriko, Wakabayashi Hiromi, Nigo Mayako, Kugimiya Rie, Asakura Azumi, Numakura Manami, Imai Asami, and Takahashi Chiaki are probably more of a draw for me than Hara Yumi, Shimoda Asami and Hasegawa Akiko, since I got to see them at cons already. Still would seriously think about flying to see Asapon, even if it’s for the 4th time…
  • Yeah, I will try to see Takita Juri too, but she’s not likely to be an oversea con guest.
• Hase Yurina or whatever name she goes by these days… naturally for reasons above.
• Kuwashima Houko – One of my earliest Yes-Fly list items.
• Kana Asumi – Late 00’s brightest in my opinion…
• Hanazawa Kana – Still really cool for a con, especially now. Especially since I’ve yet to really see her anywhere.
• Mizuki Nana – Just for the spectacle. How many people have her on their Yes-Fly list? Can’t just be me right? To me going to see Nana at a con is more for that fact, rather than going to see Nana, since her dome lives are not that hard to get into.
• Mitsuishi Kotono – Not sure if she’s on my list anymore but why not. These Showa idol types are great to see in person and I would try to go see her again if I could.
• Tamura Yukari – Oh man. But not really high on my list and other than nostalgia boosting her…
• IDOLM@STER MILLION STARS – After missing Miina last year I’m definitely kind of hurting. So especially now with ML3rd under the belt I feel this is where I’m most vulnerable. (37)
  • Top tier: Pyon, Koro, Mochi, 10ch, Nansu, Aimin, Stef, Ueshama, Popotan, Yunkon, Miina, Suwa, Mikku, Maple, SEED, Suzie, Rieshon, Ibuibu, Kotorin, Keiko, Chouchou, Ashu, Bei, Machico, Rally, Aberika, and Rikanee
  • Almost top tier: Yuucha, Zekki, Yukke, Yuiton, Pirami, Kakku, Denchan, Chakichan, Hamasaki Nana, and Atsuhime
  • This is terrible in that I’d fly for all of them, the difference is how easy I can talk myself out of it.
• Taketatsu Ayana – I like her, I don’t even know why. Definitely someone I want to see in person at least once (more).
• Sphere – Especially Ayahi and Aki, but probably also Tomatsu and maybe even Minako?
• Ohashi Ayaka – Why not, Red Leader of HoriPro.
• M.A.O – Kaomoji jai nai yeah. All-around talent.
• Cinderella Girls – These I like mainly because of their IM@S work, so rather not clutter the list…
  • Riccasama, Iida Yuko, Waki Azumi, Aoki Ruriko, Matsuzaki Rei, Yamamoto Nozomi, Igarashi Hiromi, Fukuhara Ayaka
• Yoshimura Haruka – She’s kind of mysterious so I want to get a better look.
• Ousaki Chiyo – Been rooting for her in a long while now, such adorable personality.
• Uesaka Sumire – She’s kind of OP, so it’s worth visiting an event with her in it, especially in the States where fashion is a big deal.
• Tsuda Minami – Slowly becoming my YRYR oshi.
• Kurosawa Tomoyo – Kinda sad of not seeing her last year…regret?
• Wake Up, Girls! – Insta-fly in this case actually, but I may be hard-pressed if it wasn’t the full team…or at least if no Myu.
• Kayano Ai – Another long-time favorite I guess.
• Sakura Taisen – At one point in my life it would be pretty close to Hanagumi, Pari-gumi and NY-gumi. But now it will take some careful consideration. I think Yokoyama Chisa might still be on the list just as the poster-girl for the franchise, but my connection to the lot of them has more to do with how much time has changed my mind and eroded my feelings for the characters. To keep it short, let’s just say 5-6.

PS. BONUS ROUND

• Saki Fujita – Because I need to complete my Manabi Straight collection? And she’s great too.
• Certain seiyuu at certain cons. North American cons are cool for various reasons, and these kind of events are found nowhere else. But even so not all cons are equal. For example Chihara Minori at NYAF was one thing, but she would be a draw for me at a different con if there was less competition and more access.
• The people at Animazement. I would fly to see them if not for the conflict of various IM@S guests at Anime North. Or the fact that it’s in driving distance/and I can carpool, so flying is often not necessary…

I still dig fhana, now that their sophomore studio album is out. I gave it a spin or three, and what keeps true are its bright, open instrumentals. And now that I know what they sound like live, I can easily imagine what it sounds like in that context.

To explain, fhana is possibly the first anison band that I felt a distinct need to get audiophile-y on. There’s a dimensionality to their sound in the live that just doesn’t show up on home audio unless you really game for it. It’s like hearing four sources of sounds that just go at it with each other, rather than what two speakers or however many that goes into your ear in an average listening situation. There’s this thoughtful interplay in some of their songs that just don’t translate well on a recording. In some ways hearing a new fhana studio album is almost like just getting a sample and knowing you are not getting the full meal. I feel plugging my meager K7xx into that Orb amp isn’t going to make any difference.

The best track on the album is the title track, What a Wonderful World Line. The PV is right below->

Unfortunately, I think as a whole this album is not as enjoyable as their Lantis solo debut album, but musically I already hear the necessary twist and turns that comes within expectation of a healthy, developing, ongoing artistic effort. Maybe what I’m hearing is just how things go with a band that is making music for the sake of it. Maybe it’s deliberate. To start, the sound doesn’t betray, and it stays true to what we know as fhana, if albeit less punchy than it used to be. Towana’s vocals is as impressive, but it doesn’t quite explodes for me the same way; rather, her always-full-thrust voice runs a little more than it used to be, grates a little harder at those same registers. The instrumentals fade a little compared to what it used to be; some of the tricks are no less obvious the second time around, and it’ll be up to you to find either comfort or repetition in them. And I think fhana accounts for all this by mixing it up, giving Sato more vocal room (no other reason to explain why that track is in the middle of the album) and more stylistic variety between tracks. Even The Seed and the Sower, which is probably a good example of what to expect from this CD, comes in more as diversion, a falsely familiar, same-sounding, but somewhat different experience for a climax.

It’s kind of like being in the sun a little too long?

But these are sophomoric changes within expectation I think. Grading it on a curve, This Wonderful World Line still comes out ahead of the pack. Which is always to say fhana is really neat in that they exist as an anison band, who write music for anime and games. Maybe you can see it as a handicap, but I think that’s the undercurrent of their artistry. It can’t be easy writing for hire for committees of banks and media conglomerates on projects involving hundreds of people and embrace that as your main thing as an art.

If you like progressive jpop and anime music, please listen to fhana and you can iTune their albums on the JP or US stores. It’s a on CDJ here, the LE comes with a Blu-ray with their Lisani footage and some PVs. I think the full verdict on this one is still not finalized because some of these tracks will likely grow on me on repeat. Well, guess our mileage will vary.

PS. Breaking some ground, fhana recorded an all-English track with What a Wonderful World Line. It’s also the most Japanese thing ever, by that I mean the meaning and expression in the song. Penned by Lynne Hobday. Have a look. Every time I hear it I want to MST3K it.

Last year’s post here.

I-I put this post’s title with year and season n-not because I want to update it on a schedule, OK? B-baka.

If I was savvy I would write this as a change log style but keeping it indexed only is easy and neater. Regardless, CTRL-F or Command-F is your friend.

As always, there will be Producer bias because, well. Nonetheless I’ll try to make it helpful for myself, which invariably includes just about everybody. Reveal: I wrote it up last year as a futile attempt to jot down some nicknames, but it became a good incremental step to accomplish this year’s list, which is just a less incomplete transliteration of the imas-db CV page with some stuff added to the end. As with last year I omitted a lot of older seiyuu nicknames. That said, this is not even complete so whatever?

All changes are after the jump.

Core IM@S

• Akky/Akki – The (recently) married and with-child, Hasegawa Akiko. Plays Miki.
• Asapon – A high end nickname for her is like “Shimoneta” because Shimoda Asami is like that. the CV for Ami/Mami is also playful.
• Azumin – Asakura Azami. Yukiho’s second CV. Best known otherwise in her High School DxD and ChuuniKoi roles.
• Chiaking – Takahashi Chiaki, or Azusa’s CV. See also King. See also “JPY” or “Juicy Party Yeah”???
• Eririn/Eriko – Nakamura Eriko plays Haruka.
• Haramii – Hara Yumi. Lately Takane’s CV’s new nickname “Hanyanya” has gained steam, but it has yet to stick.
• Hirorin – Hirata Hiromi plays Makoto. Also see Kaachan.
• Jurikichi – Takita Juri, or Kotori’s CV. The second 765Pro mom.
• Kaachan – Somehow Hirorin gained this nickname because she was pretty public about her early goings of being a new mom. TBD how this nickname will stick with multiple buns in the oven in the near future!
• Kami – Wakabayashi Naomi, or Ritsuko. Mom #3.
• King – It’s actually just the next stage of Chiaking.
• Kugyuu/Kugimi/etc – Kugimiya Rie, you know her.
• Mingosu – Imai Asami, CV for Chihaya. Just a side note but Mingosu is often a suffix (see: Asamigosu, Eromingosu, EriMingosu)
• Nunu/Nu – Numakura Manami, CV for Hibiki. Nuuuuuuuu.
• Sensei – Often refers to Nakamura in this context but in general this is a flexible nickname in all cases.
• Yurishii – Hase Yurina. The original Yukiho CV. Also goes by Ochiai Yurika. Retired from IM@S back in 2010 or so.

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