UtaPri senpai fans fear not! We WILL get our senpais - eventually.

Senpai fanart

Yes, you've heard me complain about the lack of senpai air time in the currently airing Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000% (here and here). But there is no need for despair! A source from twitter tweeted the following photo, and the main point being that the senpais will appear in the second half of the anime! Just some more things to look forward to in the coming month!

Pumpkin's Palette: Houtsuin Yamato (Devil Survivor 2 - the Animation)

峰津院大和

After 12 hours of work I am over this project. I love Houtsuin. Maybe because Suwabe voices him. Haha.

Initially did a non-background version,
and then it really hurt my eyes while staring at it,
so I just threw on a really simple bg.
I really need to learn how to draw nice bgs.

PSotD - 遥か、日常の中で

Title: 遥か、日常の中で (Haruka, Nichijou no Naka de)

Artist: Inaba Hiroshi (CV: Suwabe Junichi)
Year: 2013

Notes: I swear I posted about this before, but I can't seem to find the post. Maybe I dreamt that I posted it. This is the OP song for the anime Cuticle Tantei Inaba. It's such a hilarious anime. Of course I'm biased because Suwabe voiced the main character (Guhehehe). I love this song Suwabe's voice so much. I think I play this song at least once every two days.

Not entirely related to the song/anime, but have a compilation picture of sleeping seiyuus.

DDL: here

Gackt to release two 'best of' albums in July and new song chosen as image song for Japanese version of ‘Silent Hill: Revelation 3D’

GACKT’s new song, “CLAYMORE“, has been chosen as the image song for the Japanese version of movie, ‘Silent Hill: Revelation 3D‘.

“CLAYMORE” features GACKT’s mysterious and powerful singing voice. It perfectly matches the movie’s atmosphere which takes place in a city that’s surrounded by ash and fog. GACKT’s new song can also be heard in the trailer for the movie. The horror film is an adaptation of the popular game, ‘Silent Hill‘, and it will open in theaters on July 12.

Furthermore, “CLAYMORE” will be included in GACKT’s new best-of album that’s set for release on July 3rd. There will be two best of albums, "BEST OF THE BEST vol.1 -MILD-" and "BEST OF THE BEST vol.1 -WILD-". More details on the album will be revealed through his official website in the coming days. But you can guess from the titles that the first one will probably include soft and melodious songs while the second one will include his heavier works.

Source: jpasia, tokyohive

PSotD - Thank you

Title: Thank You

Artist: Miyano Mamoru
Year: 2013

Notes: Second song from Mamo's latest single Kanon. I'm still very in love with this song. The chorus is so catchy and the lyrics are so beautiful. Just in case you missed it, I translated this song a while back, you can read the lyrics here.

Have a crack picture of the UtaPri princes, which includes Mamo.

DDL: here.

Hijirikawa's character single ranked 1st!!

Okay I consider this as breaking news!!! Masato's character single jumped from rank 5 to 1st rank on Oricon's ranking chart on its second day of release. My biggest biggest congratulations to my dearest blue-haired prince.
Edit: Reaching 1st in the Oricon charts is a first for UtaPri songs. Even the single Maji Love 2000% with ALL the princes at its peak reached #2.

PSotD - Ray of Shine

Title: Ray of Shine

Artist: Kuroko Tetsuya and Aomine Daiki (CV: Ono Kensho & Suwabe Junichi)
Year: 2012

Notes: (Sadly) The only Aomine song that I liked out of the Kuroko no Basuke Character song series. I just didn't like how Suwabe used his voice as Aomine.

DDL: here

Genius phone screen lock idea

As a hardcore fan of Masato, this is one of the best ideas for setting the screen lock on my phone. You can find these cute Masa expressions from Masa's episode of UtaPri 2000%, that is episode 4.
Source: twitter

Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000% - Episode 6 [v.P]

My 3 picture summary, no make that 4.

2000% would date this guy.

Hijirikawa's character single ranked 5th on first day of release

Hijirikawa Masato's (CV: Suzumura Kenichi) character single from Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000% was released on Wednesday and has been ranked 5th in the Oricon CD ranking.

Congratulations my enka prince!

PSotD - Hello

Title: Hello

Artist: Kaji Yuuki
Year: 2012

Notes: Following on from what I said yesterday about my favourite seiyuus, here's one of my cute babies Kaji Yuuki. He has such a baby face that I want to squish and kiss. He wrote the lyrics for this song himself.

DDL:

Goodness, I wonder what the time is?

I saw this hilarious post on tumblr and wanted to share it. 

Guess what, tomorrow is Thursday, which means it's *cue drum roll*, that's right, UtaPri TIME!!! Let's hope we get Ren-sama's route.

                         Utapri

              Utapri      ^        Utapri
                             |
     Utapri               |                 Utapri
                             |
Utapri                   o ———->           Utapri

      Utapri                                 Utapri

            Utapri                   Utapri

                          Utapri

good heavens look at the time

PSotD - Darkness Night

There are three seiyuus whose singing voices I absolutely adore. Firstly is Suzumura Kenichi, second is Junichi Suwabe, and thirdly Kaji Yuuki. Of course there are other voices that I like too, for example Kishow (Taniyama), Kamiya Hiroshi, Sakurai Takahiro, Miyano Mamoru and Ono Daisuke. 

Title: Darkness Night

Artist: Karen Guy's (CV: Kouji Yusa & Junichi Suwabe)
Year: 2013

Notes: One of the ending songs used in the anime Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke. I really enjoyed this action packed anime. The voice acting was superb.

DDL: here

[CD Review] Disney Date ~Princes of Voice~ [v.P]

I was going to review this CD a while back, but finally got the time to do it now.

The CD I'm going to review is called ディズニー・デート～声の王子様～ (Disney Date ~Princes of Voice~). There are actually three volumes released to date. I'll review the other two volumes at a later date.

Yes, it's in Japanese (since when (post-high school time) do I listen to anything other than Japanese? lol).

Summary:

What: Japanese male seiyuus singing classic Disney songs, and narrating Disney stories.

Who: Kamiya Hiroshi, Suzumura Kenichi, Fukuyama Jun, Sakurai Takahiro, Sugita Tomozaku, Midorikawa Hikaru, Morikawa Toshiyuki, Seki Tomozaku, Irino Miyu and Yamadera Koichi.

When: Released 22nd Feb 2012.

Where: Official site.

Review:

[YouTube Live Streaming] (5/4 18:30) livetune

Famous Vocaloid producer livetune is having a special performance today (5/4 Sat) at 18:30 (Jpn time) and this program will be streamed live on YouTube in celebration of the YouTube MUSIC WEEK (in conjunction with Japan's Golden Week).
The YouTube channel is at http://www.youtube.com/user/YouTubeJapan
The G+ community can be found at https://plus.google.com/communities/117751180273487217007

[Seiyuu Radio] (5/5: 01:00) Miyano Mamoru's Radio Animelo Mix~Starring~ Round #31

Lately I've been addicted to listening to drama CDs and seiyuu radio (ie. radio talk shows hosted by seiyuus).

Just letting others know, and also as a reminder for myself, tomorrow morning (5/5) at 1am (Jpn time) Mamo's Radio show Round #31 will air and the show will star guest Terashima Takuma in this round. No doubt the topic of UtaPri will come up. You can watch this program here.

Anime review batch [v.P] - Karneval (ep 5), Devil Survivor 2 (ep 5), Yahari Seishun (ep 5), Valrave (ep 4)

Because I'm too lazy to write separate posts for each anime, I'll just briefly jot down my thoughts and feelings with regards to the anime that I watched last night and this morning.

Ep 5 of Maou-sama

Firstly, Karneval ep 5. Finally the story heats up, we get to see Yogi in full action with his awesome vine-whip-swords. He kinda gets his ass kicked by the bad guy though because he's too nice and doesn't want to kill the baddie in their fight 'cause the baddie is an important person to Gareki. We learn that although Gareki acts all tough and mighty, in truth he is really useless... he doesn't have any special weapons or powers to fight against the monsters he hates, and Yogi subtly teases Gareki about his lack of power by telling him to run away with Nai. In the anime more stress is put on the fact that the main goal is to defeat the Vulgra (sp?) monsters, at least in Gareki's viewpoint, and that in Nai's viewpoint is to find Karoku; I found that this clear ultimate goal was missing in the manga.

Secondly, Devil Survivor 2 ep 5. I'm glad that Ureu got more air time this week, and we saw some interaction of Ureu and Houtsuin when they were still children, and learnt that Houtsuin was a rich snob when he was a child. A big revelation that Houtsuin is the real bad guy of the story. He wants to create a world where the most powerful and intelligent person (aka himself) will be the ultimate ruler of the world, and so he has a cold personality where he is happy to eliminate anyone who is "worthless" and powerless. The battle BGM is really intense. What bugged me in this episode is that they never explained how certain characters (aka Hibiki) obtained yet another super duper powerful monster. Also, I expected Jungo's voice to be much deeper... but instead we get the voice of a very timid guy. Another thing I noticed was that the art appears to have "degraded" in this episode... lack of funds and time?? This kind of thing frequently happens in animes though.

This dude is called Jungo 

Drop of art quality 

Thirdly, Yahari Seishun ep 5. I hate rom coms. I don't even know why I'm watching this show. It's not great in my opinion, it's not exactly mind blowing, perhaps I'm only watching it because Eguchi is voicing the main male lead. However, it does leave some space for you to think about what the meaning of your life is, why humans desire to create social bonds, or in some cases why we choose to sever certain friendships, what exactly does it mean to be a family, what kind of sacrifices do we make for the sake of family? Anyhow, we get a new ED song and sequence, and the highlight of episode 5:

Fourthly, Valvrave ep 4. There's so many twists and turns in the storyline. I don't know who's meant to be the good guy or bad guy any more.

My hottie. Hands off!

When I see bishies...

They're mine!! So HANDS OFF!
But being the generous person that I am, I shall allow you to have a peek at them too.
Presenting the boys from Ao no Exorcist - megane style.

Click for larger image.

Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000% - Episode 5 [v.P]

So this time round I didn't take too many screencaps because I wasn't too hyped about this episode, after all it's Ittoki's route and Ittoki is my second least favourite character, the last place belonging to Cecil. But the highlights being:

*Kira Kira* (aka sparkle sparkle) Otoya.

Wouldn't mind getting these Care Bears.

So it appears that the anime routes are going to follow the listing of the CD releases. This episode being the 3rd character release is the red-head-idiot Ittoki Otoya. Ack- Otoya's voice still bugs me, why is it so whiny and annoying? (lol)  

It feels like Season 2 is half about Cecil growing up to be a big boy in the entertainment industry. Ittoki and Cecil do a live variety show, Cecil is surprised that people enjoy his performance, then idiot Camus is like "Of course you'd be successful because I'm your teacher!"

Then stupid Haruka gets lost and accidentally bumps into Otoya who is visiting his old orphanage, and she learns that Otoya's mum died when he was young and he doesn't know who his dad is (... yet, until you play the game then you find out his dad is           ), and then the kids at the orphanage are like "Haruka's Ittoki's girlfriend" and Ittoki's all blushing idiotically not fully wanting to deny that claim. Now that I think about it IttokiXHaruka may be the perfect pairing because you have two airheads together (lol). 

I'm loving the variety of clothing the boys are wearing this season, in almost every scene they have a different set of clothes. 

It's so darn obvious that Ittoki's head over heels for Haruka. They go into the haunted house, she gets scared, he holds her hand and eventually hugs her *perfect* And then (RAGE) just as Otoya is about to confess to Haruka, guess who cblocks him. CECIL. Stuff you Cecil. Get The Fudge Out. No one wants you.

Eeeee Otoya's song is so... Otoya (lol) so cheerful and makes you feel good. I really like his song... except his whiny voice.

Special guest appearance - Care Bears! (lol). 

WHY IS CAMUS THE ONLY SENPAI THAT GETS AIR TIME!? (arghghghghgh) In fact, he got less than 1 minute air time. Pathetic. I want the other senpais too!! Anyway Ittoki's character is growing on me, the only thing I dislike is his whiny voice. 

Kurusu Syo's character single ranked 4th on first day of release

Kurusu Syo's (CV: Shimono Hiro) character single from Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000% was released today and has been ranked 4th in the Oricon CD ranking.
Congratulations my shouta prince!

[Drama CD] Counting sheep... and that's all you do

Having trouble sleeping? Just love to count sheep? Want to learn how to count to 400 sheep in Japanese? Want to listen to your favourite seiyuu count up to 200 sheep? Want to hear them get annoyed/sleepy while counting up to 200 sheep?

Well my friends this series of CDs 羊でおやすみシリーズ "Hitsuji de oyasumi series" is just the perfect thing for you!

You can download them here.

Info about the CD series found here (in Jap).

Have fun counting sheep with your favourite seiyuu!

GACKT needs your help!

GACKT THE BEST OF THE BEST Vol. 1 page on gackt.com is asking for our help!

GACKT wants to know which song fits different situations the best. Songs that rank highly may appear on the Best Album that is currently being recorded.

The form is all in Japanese, and each box is translated as follows:

1. A song to listen to when driving
2. A song to listen to when you have just broken up with your partner
3. A song to listen to when facing a new challenge
4. A song to always sing at karaoke
5. A song to listen to when you have just started dating
6. A song to listen to when you fall asleep
7. A song to listen to when feeling down and sad
8. A song to listen to when you want to be energetic
9. A song to listen to when you're feeling happy
10. A song to listen to together with your family
11. A song to listen to when you're tired
12. A song to listen to when you're stuck in a bad situation
13. A song to listen to when feeling lonely
14. A song that is difficult to sing
15. A song to listen to together with your lover

The form is HERE!

The first box is your name (nickname is okay)
The second box is your DEARS membership number (if you aren't a member it is okay to leave this blank)
And then each song selection has two boxes - the smaller box is for the song title and the bigger box is for your reason.
The only mandatory box is your name, so you can complete the form without any reasons and leave spaces blank, if you want.

Deadline is 30 April 2013, 12pm (Japan time)

My dilemma: 15!! Only 15 songs!!?

Source - GACKT Official site

Pumpkin's Palette: Kaji Yuuki

梶 裕貴 (Kaji Yuuki) is one of my favourite male seiyuus. He has voiced characters such as Haruyuki (the fat guy from Accel World), Ouma Shu from Guilty Crown, Yokodera from HentaiNeko (currently airing), Totsuka Tatara from K, Alibaba from Magi, Eren from Shingeki no Kyojin (currently airing) and Satoru from Shin Sekai Yori, just to name a few. 

I absolutely love his voice and the songs he sings!

I think overall this took me slightly less than 4 hours. Pretty happy with this work.
I struggled so much with his right hand. 

The WIP version.

KyoAni announces new swimming anime 'Free!' to air in July 2013

My friends, today is an excellent day. Not only was the preview for Ren's song released (it's so tasty), but KyoAni just made (one of) my dreams come true!

Yes, that's right, remember that sexy PV about four young pretty boys taking their shirts off and showing off their hot bods participating in the school swimming team? KyoAni just announced that it is officially an anime and it will be airing in July 2013! The anime is called Free! It is based on Kouji Ouji's High Speed!, an honorable mention recipient in the 2nd Kyoto Animation Award in 2011. Hiroko Utsumi of Animation DO is directing the anime, and Masahiro Yokotani is supervising the scripts. Futoshi Nishiya is designing the characters, and Tatsuya Katou is composing the music.

The main cast is as follows:

Shimazaki Nobunaga as Nanase Haruka,
Suzuki Tatsuhisa as Tachibana Makoto, Haruka’s childhood friend,
Yonaga Tsubasa as Hazuki Nagisa, the freshman,
Hirakawa Daisuke as Ryugazaki Rei,
Miyano Mamoru as Matsuoka Rin the rival!

Watch the promo video as well!

Edit: Offical website here.