Tales of Encore and other products I missed

(tags CD, Deen, Ichigo Masimaro, DVD region 2)

I bought some CDs today, a holiday in Japan. Huh? Has nothing to do with Xmas.

I never am up to date on these things. I learned of Thyme's new single through the auction of a movie poster. This is three weeks old. I am a fan based on Thyme's opening song for the To-love-ru (とラブる) anime. Very upbeat, nice vocals.

Deen released the Nintendo DS soft Tales of Hearts opening single "Eien no Ashita" (「永遠の明日」) earlier this month as well. It had a DVD of the band with clips from the animated version and the CG version of ToH. I'm not into Tales, but I like how Deen's lead singer's tenor voice and how he smiles when he's doing the PV. Plus as a bonus, the DVD has a (slightly remixed from the PlayStation 2) opening for the PlayStation 1 game Tales of Destiny. Deen also provided that opening music, "Yume dearu you ni" (「夢であるように」). That is my single most favorite game opening song ever, I think, and they claim that this is the first time it is available on CD. Sure, if you don't count the 8cm CD version. This new single could also be my new fav.

I also picked up the drama CD for Kurenai. I don't know what I'm expect with that though.

I visited the Sofmap store twice in one day in order to pick up the new Ichigo Masimaro Encore opening single. They sold the CD single one day early, thank you very much. I got the version with the two minute DVD showing the OVA opening. It's full of win, not that there's anything wrong with that.

I recently won an auction for the Ichigo Masimaro Encore store poster. Basically its the same design used in all the promotions. I guess I just want a little extra reminder in my room.

BTW, it took me 20 minutes to go from inserting a DVD into my PC to actually watching it. I am becoming increasingly annoyed at watching on the PC. Perhaps the drives are dusty.

Books Lashinbang Kobe Sannomiya opens

(tags failure, telephone card, ecsite, doujin, Kobe, anime, manga, character goods, 200803, Shining Wind, Estrian Odyessy, CD)

On Saturday I woke up early but played the FFTA. Then I remembered Books Lashinbang Kobe was opening today. I need to put these things on my calendar. And I need to review my calendar every day. :-/

Anyways I got there 5 minutes before, and the line was somewhat okay, probably about 100 people in front of me. I was able to get in around 10:30 AM. I headed straight for the telephone card (TC) cases which were in the back. It goes without saying that it was packed. I couldn't see over the other people lining up there. I didn't see anything I really wanted, and I started to peruse the rest of the store, bouncing off fellow otaku. Still I didn't want to exit just yet so I headed back to the TC cases again. I then decided to get the two TCs pictured here.

The bottom right TC is that PlayStation 2 game Shining Wind related illustration with beautiful, lovely Kureha in a miko dress. WIN. I've seen it before at Books Lashinbang Osaka and K-Books Osaka and the price is the same over there. Might as well commemorate the shop opening with something special.

The second TC at the middle left is a DS game Etrian Odyssey II (世界樹の迷宮II 諸王の聖杯) which was an exclusive to Akihabara-based game store Messe Sanoh. The game itself was release just two weeks back, and according to the description, it's a "classic RPG" with manual mapping (whoa). Emulate the grid paper on yer DS. I don't care about the game, but I love the illustrations and wallpaper. The illustration theme is receiving a belated Valentine chocolate from the (tsundere?) blond hair gunner (job class) chick. What a cute "Jack Frost" badge. I don't even think she has a name. I scoped this same card at the Telecard Paradise Osaka store for like 4500 yen, so maybe its a deal. Also, the game comes with a soundtrack with that Insert Credit sound artist favorite Yuzo Koshiro (古代 祐三) and others. The cover illustration is again the blond hair gunner. Nice nice maybe I'll get the game nice nice. No.

I also bought some cheep manga: Kyoushiro to Towa no Sora volume 1, and CDs: the Loco Roco single and Angela Aki's "Kiss Me Goodbye" single for Final Fantasy XII. I have the over-sexy Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora CD case holding my Xbox 360 discs, but I never explored the story until now. Also this is the first time I've seen a store selling Quo Card plastic sleeves. Quo cards are a different size than TCs so you can't reuse the TC plastic sleeves for them.

It's too bad I decided to get the stuff late, because I was only able to get the exclusive clear file pictured above. If I was perhaps 10 minutes earlier, I could have got the exclusive TC (with slightly more horndog illustration, rawr). Doh. I really wanted something related to Kobe because heck I live here. The illustrator is 憂姫はぐれ先生（サークル：WIRE FRAME）. I suppose this link is NSFW, but it's not up now.

There seems to be some other specials, centering on telephone cards. Goodie. Take for example this one, a Card Captor Sakura TC set "celebrating" the re-release of the manga a year or two ago. I did check the price. Each card is 3_5000 yen +. A little steep, don'cha think?!?

I went to the store again this Monday evening and there's a healthy crowd of people there looking and buying. I was hoping that the Kobe-only exclusive card was available, because net auctions rip hard. No luck.

Here begins another store relationship. This location does seem to have a lot of interesting things and good selection, for now. I do hope they expand their TC selections. I want more stuff with daishi (台紙, lit. card backing) and more all ages stuff like Di Gi Charat. I am not interesting in the eroge TCs even though they are rawr.

Next Season next month: Kimi ga nozomu Eien OVA 2 delayed; CDs

(tags anime, DVD region 2, Kimi ga nozomu eien, failure, CD)

I wondered why the second episode in the Kimi ga nozomu eien Next Season OVA series (君が望む永遠～Next Season～) was not at the shops. The first episode left me hanging.

It turns out that it will be delayed a month. Aww please. :-/

The above picture shows the "stamp rally" cards for Kiminozo and Kodomo no Jikan (こどものじかん) DVD sets. I should bring the Kiminozo card when purchasing the second and third OVA DVD. BTW, I don't understand why Bandai now is officially stepping in with a full-set purchase incentive.

Underneath are some cheep bargain bin anime related CDs I picked up today. 500 yen each, can't beat that. The first is 2006 anime Angel Heart opening song "Battlefield of Love" by Asami Izawa (伊沢麻未) I five-starred Izawa's ending song for the 2005 anime Eureka Seven called "Fly Away", so seeing her in the bargain bin was kinda sad. She has that J-R&B soulful sound, smooth.

The second CD is the opening and ending themes of the PS2 game Binchoutan Shiawase Goyomi (びんちょうタン しあわせ暦) featuring Isako Saneyoshi (さねよしいさ子). What would you do if you saw a girl with a charcoal stick on her head? Hahaha. Anyway, Saneyoshi sang the opening and ending songs for the 2005 anime Peto peto san. I five starred her "Kaeri michi" (帰り道, lit. return path). Her voice is really wierd, like Halko Momoi wierd. I think moe or iyashikei when I hear her.

Okay, the caffiene from the cafe latte drink should be wearing off now. Time to level up some guys in FFTA and then level up my piss-shot and sleep skillz, respectively.

Screech, screech: recent seiyuu cd buys

(tags seiyuu, anime, music, CD, failure, manga)

I've always had a stack of CDs I haven't ripped, and I can't figure out how to motivate myself to get through them all. Mostly they consist of anime/manga drama CDs and character song CDs. But if it's purely music, rippin' is totally effortless.

I watched (田村ゆかり) Yukari Tamura's recent live concert DVD at a shop. It is really annoying to see her look down at her feet every few seconds. Anyway, I happened to find a song I liked from her. I couldn't figure out the name of the song though. So (therefore?) I got her "best album" Sincerly Dears, but still a sucker for completeness so it's the DVD + CD version. This is not a recent release, however. After listening to the CD, the only song I liked was "douwa meikyuu" (「童話迷宮」, lit. fairy tale maze), the song from the anime Akazukin (おとぎ銃士 赤ずきん), which I already had. I like her deeper "grown woman" voice than her "Nanoha" voice, when singing. Another example is "kagayaki no kisetsu" (「輝きの季節」, lit. bright season) and "fukashoku-na ai" (「不可触な愛」, lit. untouchable love). Perhaps I need to give the new songs a chance, because my other 5 star songs from her are "Nanoha" like.

The blind-sided release this time around was (高橋美佳子) Mikako Takahashi's Sweet CD, pictured middle. I like for her parts in Honey and Clover and probably other animes I can't remember. And I thought she was totally hot in one of those H&C interviews. Unfortunately, apart from the up tempo rhythm and the zettai ryoiki front cover, I don't like this CD. :-/ It must be her wavering, quick to clip voice. According to Wikipedia, this is her self produced album, taking about three years to create. On a related note, ever since her character in Hayate no Gotoku was associated with a hamster, I've had a hard time seperating her voice from that image. :-)

I wasn't expecting more than a couple of good songs from (堀江由衣) Yui Horie's latest CD release (pictured right), but at the last count I've five-starred 6 out of 14 songs, with the rest at four stars. It must be the upbeat rhythm and the way she hits those high notes, which sounds so pure. "zutto" (「ずっと」, lit. always) and "lovely everyday" (「ラブリエビリデイ」) stick in my mind. Instead of buying it at Gamers (for a poster and point card exchange) I bought it at Animate (the one pictured below) because B5 paper holder takes up less space (above pictured bottom right).

I also recently bought (茅原美里) Minori Chihara's Message 01 DVD + CD. I couldn't stomach finishing this DVD. She sounds like an dumbass! :-/ Some of her answers to an interview are truly WTF. The above picture is her shop tour at the major Animates. Okay, I'm going to fast forward to the part where she's street singing in Akihabara, according to houkoholic. Oh yeah, it starts at 37:05, all 20 seconds of it, and at 38:42, for a little more than a minute . She sounded so good with her solo rendition of "hare hare yukai" (「ハレ晴レユカイ」, lit. sunny sunny happiness), but the other songs I have of her just don't deserve more than 4 stars.

edit: added Chihara picture

Idolm@ster step 1.9: "Azusa Miura" is Chiaki Takahashi is Tomoko Ishibashi

(tags idolm@ster, seiyuu, voice actor, game, CD)
(originally written 2007-10-07)

I don't boast my voice actress recognition skills because I don't have any. I can't pick out the difference between seiyuu A and seiyuu B if I don't have at least their names. It doesn't help when seiyuu change their name.

Take for instance, Tomoko Ishibashi (石橋朋子). I loved to hear her voice Mizuki from Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. I looked her up in the Japanese Wikipedia and her career seemed to be stalled in 2005. But an #insertcredit regular, kyouji, pointed out that the English Wikipedia version of the page linked Tomoko Ishibashi to Chiaki Takashashi (たかはし智秋). Foreign Wikipedia editors FTW. So that woman that I considered the strange finger-point dancing sidekick in Aice5 is one of my class A favorite seiyuu. Huh.

When I figured that out a couple of weeks back, I first thought, ugh, I'm going to have to buy the Aice5 music, ha ha. But no, the Idolm@ster works have plenty of Chiaki Takahashi. She is one of the regular hosts of the Idolm@ster Radio (アイマスレディオ):

(Pictures swiped from Geemaga blog: 「ゲーマガblog: アイマスレイディオ・舞台裏中継」)
(10/7, 10/14, 10/21, 10/28, 11/4)

I don't make time to listen to web radio so I bought her character CD instead:

She sounds just like the Tomoko Ishibashi I want to hear. WIN! I like most of the songs on this CD except that her singing seems a little coarse at the high end. For example, she did a cover of the PS2 game Final Fantasy XII song "Kiss me Good Bye". While her start sounds excellent, in the end I prefer Angela Aki's original version. She is killer great in dialogue, and the CD's drama parts had me melting. It also helps that my favorite tsundere voice Rie Kugimiya (釘宮理恵) guest stars on this CD.

And this also puts to rest who C.T. Veronica was in the duo Exige. I bought the Exige single because of Minami Kuribayashi (栗林みな実), but C.T. (Chiaki Takahashi) Veronica sang so good I wondered who this "gaijin" was. Hehe.

Still, learning that my "hero" has resurrected from a 2005 "death" is great. Now to find more of her work, on the cheep. More fun links: "elder sister Chiaki Takahashi info site" 「elder sister たかはし智秋さん情報サイト」.

A Rie Kugimiya Holiday: assorted CD releases

(tags CD, anime, soundtrack, purchase)

While I'm waiting for "j1m0ne's blog" to actually review this week's anime audio releases, here I am with just the CD covers:

Since this the end of the month close to "paycheck day", there had to be some new releases. And today did not disappoint. This is not all of it, of course. In no particular order: Moetan (もえたん) opening song with Yukari Tamura (田村ゆかり) and others, Potemayo (ぽてまよ) opening song by Mosaic.WAV.

I decided to get Bokura No (ぼくらの) opening song "Uninstall" by Chiaki Ishikawa (石川智晶) because it sounds so cool even though it was released a month ago. I am not watching this anime, though.

Continuing with today's releases, we have Hayate no Gotoku! (ハヤテのごとく!) character CDs featuring Shizuka Ito and my seiyuu of the day, Rie Kugimiya (釘宮理恵). The pink slip is a "stamp rally". If I buy all 6 character CDs at the same Animate shop, I get a paper CD case that holds all the CDs together. Big woop.

Rounding it out is DS game of the moment, Doki Doki Majo Shinpan (どきどき魔女神判) Original Soundtrack CD. Actually there's supposed to be an Animate tokuten, but they'll release it on Thursday. The white slip above the CD is the claim slip for it.

And yes, Ichiko is back with the Zero no Tsukaima Futsuki no Kishi (ゼロの使い魔 双月の騎士) opening song. It came with this square poster, very nice. And finally the special CD for Zero no Tsukaima radio program was released, boasting a mixed format of 30 minutes CD Audio and 540 minutes (!) MP3 audio on the CD data area.

Almost 10 hours (!) of the Kugimiya sound. I'm going moe just thinking about it.

Canvassing after school

(tags CD, purchase, anime)

My main target today was the Card Captor Sakura movie DVD collection, but it wasn't out. Tomorrow will be the big spend.

I was able to buy Kotoko's latest single "Hayate no Gotoku" for the anime Hayate no Gotoku. Today is also the infamous day for the release of the Lucky Star CD single. I haven't watched a single ep, and the music just turns me off.

My new blog habit is j1m0ne's blog. There's a review of all the anime and anime-like jpop released today. This person knows music, or at knows the music and anime I like.

Finally I went to Sofmap just to check. I was able to nab Gurumin (PSP) for 1500 yen. I also scooped up Halko Momoi's CD effort in Lovely Idol called "Variety CD 3 Mai Nonomiya: Lovely de cute nanodaa!". The CD came out in March, but I picked this one up because it's Halko Momoi. It said it came with a poster but the new guy at the counter first forgot to check, then couldn't find it. He called the posse, and I had 3 guys try to find it. One of the older guys came up and said, this is embarassing but well we couldn't find, but the new guy interrupted him because he found it. I noticed it was scratched up as if they used it, but I'm sure this poster's easy to part with.

Spooky: Tokimeki Memorial Only Love CD singles

(tags anime, season 2006/10, CD)

I really like the opening and ending songs from the anime series Tokimeki Memorial Only Love but I was unable to find the opening ones so... Here are the two ending songs:

Actually I picked up the left CD ("from January" it says) at Animate but I didn't know it was the only for the latter half of the series. The right CD is the ending theme for the first half of the show.

The girl with the dark blue hair, pale skin, and red eyes looks really spooky to me. What is it with Konami/Tokimeki Memorial and the crazy hair colors? Still I like watching this series.