#and also...VOICED BY NATSUKI HANAE???

[melzzles]

currently obsessing over the nier:automata anime and 9s...

[lostxmelody]

i will never be able to put into words how amazing it is to have hanae natsuki play mikoto

[mel0deon]

thanks to @seventeenlovesthree ive gain more of an understanding into dynamics in the og digimon cast that i really appreciate.

however, i am on an ensemble stars deep dive so its also really interesting. especially concerning natsuki hanae’s voice acting in it.

for taichi, he usually uses a deeper part of his regular speaking voice. singing voice is similar, in retrospect. it starts on A3.

for hiyori, he definitely puts on airs. like, once your familiar of what changes. it puts things in perspective. its slightly nasalier. the deepest note he sings is in Faith Conquest, which is F3. this song is also known for its high note which is E5.

lyric wise though, their character songs are interesting. in the case that I believe that it could be swapped and it would fit. hiyori literally means weather and he uses it as a pun.

fantastic days would follow the pattern from the previous character songs.

for their friendships, the long lasting relationships happened when they were younger. both around the age of 11. taichi with the 99 digidestined and hiyori with nagisa.

theyre both characters that are symbolized by the sun. and that turns complicated as they get older.

in the most important situations, as of tri-onwards taichi is known to overthink and hesitate to act. in saga, hiyori overthinks and in turn doesnt warn jun about whats going to happen in the event.

yknow i would have a lot more data but tri and kizuna are trauma piles. and i would have to make the full on character analysis posts on my other account to make a difference and include more.

[5-pp-man]

Sakamoto Days voiceclaimssss

[last-answer]

i love going thru va wikis nd being like "hey holy shit i know that role !!"

[good-beans]

Hi and welcome to another episode of Goodbeans is shocked and thrilled to find out two characters are voiced by the same actor

[ladsofsorrow24]

the jojofication of chainsaw man anime...

[astrxealis]

good morning to mikoto kayano (more like afternoon now but shh)

[icharchivist]

What do you mean he is voiced by Suzuken

Hey

Hey, come back

I SAID WHAT I SAID

(and the guy with long black/blue hair is voiced by Sakurai)

I'VE BEEN HAUNTED FOR DECADES OKAY.

[ceruleanpunch]

love bumping up the speed to 1.5/2x when a bit sucks in sol/romcom/etc ani like. cease this nonsense immediately

[thinkin-bout-milgram]

Hello! If it’s okay, I’d like to know your thoughts on the Trikoto theory (3+ alters). I think it’s a cool theory! And pretty likely, honestly. (Here’s a document about it in case you don’t know what I’m talking about. I didn’t make it, and I unfortunately don’t know who did, I just found it in another blog)(I really hope that link works lol)

Hey FF! I was wondering when you might send something in. Not the topic I expected, but I'm here for it!

I've definitely heard of this theory before. I can't say I know for sure where it originated, but I've always been under the impression that a blog called @bertrandcaillet started it as they're the first one I saw talk about that theory and they told me about it a while ago. They've since deactivated, though, so I can't really check with them to see if that's true.

I think the trikoto theory is interesting, and I fully agree with what's said on the document about how it would be nice if Milgram is showing a system with more nuance than just having two alters.

That being said, I personally don't believe this theory for a number of reasons. I'm going to do my best to explain why here. I do want to say going into this that while I do have extremely minimal psychology teaching (as in, undergrad psyc MINOR), I do not claim to be that educated on DID or similar struggles. So, anything that I say will be focusing much more on Milgram as a piece of media from a writing standpoint, because that's what I have much more extensive experience in.

I will say that I am very aware that most systems have more than 2 alters. That being said, I think I also remember from my psyc class that the average number is, like... 16? I'm not at my dorm right now and that's where my notes are, so I can't check, but I remember specifically thinking about it in the context of Mikoto and trikoto theory, so I'm pretty confident it's Above Three. That means that either way, it's not like we're doing The Most Common Number, so I think two versus three is largely irrelevant on that point.

For the sake of clarity, I'll be using the names in the doc (Akakoto, Midokoto, Aokoto), but I only personally believe that two of them (Akakoto, Aokoto) exist. I've taken to calling them Orekoto and Bokuto, but for this post, Akakoto and Aokoto it is.

At its base, my problem with trikoto theory is that I don't see a lot of evidence for it. Most of what I've seen has been talking about the implications of it if you assume it's true, but I've just never really been convinced in the first place. I'll just go through some of the main reasonings real quick:

The RGB Colors

I do acknowledge that I'm very much not a visually oriented person, so the color shifting is something I'm less inclined to notice. However, while the background of the room is blue and the train station and apartment are pretty green, I don't feel like there are ever really any red backgrounds (other than when the headspace becomes red as ooposed to blue). Because of that, I have a hard time believing that the backgrounds themselves contribute to the idea that there are three. I definitely think the red/blue coloration in the eyes and such are indicating different alters, but I don't think that specific fact supports there being three of them.

The Voice Changes

This might be a me issue, but I only really hear two different vocal inflections. I understand the point about there being some harsher (?) sounding vocals that don't have the growl, but personally, I still think the tone matches the one described as Akakoto enough to count. Similarly, the parts towards the end that are picked out for Midokoto ("I'm probably not to blame," etc.) actually sound more like Aokoto to me even if I do try to track the three voices.

I'm hesitant to go too hard in believing the different voices because to me, doing so would severely limit the amount of control Natsuki Hanae would have over the emotions he wants to put into the song. The vocalists in Milgram do a fantastic job at using specific vocal intonations to convey deep layers of emotions in their songs. I feel like it would be very limiting to only be able to use certain vocal effects (ex. growl) in specific places due to the limitations of the characters. If there are two, the two voices are far more separate, which gives more space for customization within the bounds of each voice.

This is also a little bit iffier on evidence, but there's the Es cover of MeMe. I don't know how much Yurina Amami knows about Mikoto's story and the entire video is in grayscale, so take all of this with a grain of salt, but to me, I feel like Es uses two voices here, not three. Notably, they even have a bit of vocal growl on the "switch" and on "split and half, make that heart beat," which are both squarely in the Midokoto tone. They do still have the two voice split, sounding a bit more apathetic and aggressive in the Akakoto parts and cuter in the Aokoto parts. To me, that signifies that there's suppose to be two voices going on, not three, but you could argue that that's just Es' perception of Mikoto, so it's not decisive or anything.

Mikoto Fighting Es

Yes, in his first audio drama, Mikoto is able to beat Es up until Kotoko stops him. Yes, that's inconsistent from what we've seen from Futa and also t2 Amane. I agree that that's because the Milgram rules only apply to one or more alters, and thus any others that may exist can get around the rulings. We saw this between trials, too, with how Mikoto (seemingly Akakoto at the time) was able to avoid being restrained despite his guilty verdict, likely through the same loophole.

(Side note: this implies to me that Milgram's system for restraining guilty prisoners is, like the protective barrier around Es, somewhat magical and isn't a physical thing. Thus, if we were to, say, vote Amane as guilty, I am fairly confident she would be unable to harm any other prisoners, as we've already seen the barriers are able to prevent her from attacking others. I still lean Amane innocent anyways, but I wanted to point this out.)

Anyways, I don't think that this is actually evidence towards trikoto theory because it works perfectly fine with just the two of them. Aokoto is the prisoner in Milgram and Akakoto isn't. This doesn't necessarily mean that Aokoto is the one who was fronting while the murder happened, though; the rules of Milgram just necessitate that the prisoner is involved in/related to a death. It can be indirect.

I think that that's exactly what Milgram is asking us with Mikoto. The question is, how do you fairly hold a system accountable? Can you blame one alter for the other's actions?

Milgram loves to complicate these, and I can see the appeal of a complication being learning about a third alter. Personally, I think it's much more likely that the route Milgram is taking is looking at how much knowledge the alters have about each other and asking how much Aokoto would have to know to make him an accessory to Akakoto's murder plans. It could go either way, though.

Some Bonus Points

I think the strongest piece of evidence brought up is the use of threes in Mikoto's design. Other than "they just liked it aesthetically," there isn't much of a counterargument I can make about it. My best one would be that they might be going for a "switching between black and white" type of thing, which would work better with more stripes, but that's pretty weak. I also had the idea that the first character of his name looks like three stripes, which might be a better or worse explanation! You get to decide, I have no idea.

The cake sells me less, though. It's true that Kazui's is a perfect 50/50 and that Mikoto's isn't, but that's because they're representing different things.

Kazui's is half and half because his song is called half, and it could also be a sign of how he and his wife didn't actually connect more in a marriage sense; they're still two fully separate people rather than being a unit.

Mikoto, if he has two alters, is still physically one guy. Mikoto is mostly sitting on the flower designs. I'd argue that the flowers are meant to show Mikoto as a whole: the connection point of the two alters.

That's pretty much all of what I have to say on the doc (in terms of the trikoto aspect, whether I believe it or not there's some good work done in character/lyric analysis that applies to two or three alter theories), but I'll go over some of my reason for why I actively believe there to be two, because there are some reasons.

Reason 1: The Song Titles

The doc explains what the meaning of MeMe is in trikoto theory, but it definitely still works with two, more obviously so. That's not evidence, though, because the trikoto theory has a viable explanation too.

I have no idea what they'd be doing with the song title Double, though. I guess it would be a play on somebody being someone else's double, meaning they're someone like them, which is no doubt part of the song title either way, but I think it's difficult to ignore the meaning of Double that means, y'know... multiplied by 2, or:

But that could very easily be a diversion and we haven't seen the second video, so I'd let that slide. However, that brings me to the bigger problem:

Reason 2: Upright Versus Reversed

AKA, the tarot cards.

Tarot cards can be read two ways, Upright or Reversed, based on the orientation of the card when it's placed/picked up/whatever. I already went over in my original theory (which is pretty outdated, I could do a way better job but I wrote that one literally first out of my milgram thoeries and I hated not having a good name scheme for the various alters) why I believe Akakoto to be the Hanged Man (Upright) and why I believe Aokoto to be the Hanged Man (Reversed).

I struggle to imagine why the devs would pick tarot, something that clearly has two meanings to it, when there are actually three alters. Maybe it'd just be to throw us off the scent, but it feels a bit too intentional to me.

Plus, if it was meant to throw us off, I'd expect we'd get a different metaphor/symbol for the second MV (as we have been with pretty much everyone). However, the association between Mikoto and "reversible" things has continued into trial 2, even before his MV has come up.

I say this because of his trial 2 cover song: Reversible Campaign. Funnily enough, I actually thought this song would go to Kazui before it was announced as Mikoto's, but then I looked again and understood why they wanted it for Mikoto.

My thoughts get confused and fight with each other

Very Mikoto, works for either two or three alter theories. However:

I just want to waver between black and white

It's turned me upside down

There's more that seems to paint Mikoto's mind as a dichotomy, not a... trichotomy? Is that a word? I don't actually know.

The Song Lyrics of MeMe

This is sort of an extension of the above part, but there are also definitely song lyrics in MeMe that sound like they're heavily implying two. Again, you could argue that that's trying to throw us off the scent, but some of them are, in my opinion, actively difficult to justify for trikoto theory.

Split in half, Make that heart beat

I cannot for the life of me understand why any of the three alters would say "split in half" if there are three. I guess if any of them were aware of one of the other alters, but not the other? I don't think that's what was being argued, though, sorry if I missed that.

I’m already the fake one

Little harder to argue this one because I don't know how definite versus indefinite articles work in Japanese, but saying the fake one really sounds to me like there is one fake and one real. If you were just having a moment of existential crisis, in most situations, I think you'd opt for "I'm already fake."

The Mirror

This is sort of the same argument as the tarot cards, but there's also the use of mirror imagery in Mikoto's MeMe MV. Mirrors have two sides and are a reflection. You could use Haruka logic and say that it depicts self reflection, I guess, but considering the reflection acts differently, I think it's much more likely that this is meant to show the two alters.

Conclusion

Hopefully this all made sense? I respect trikoto theory and I could easily be super wrong about it (see also: my original opinions on gay Kazui theory and police Kazui theory), but I've just never really been sold. It's possible my opinion would change if I saw evidence that I felt worked better for trikoto than... twokoto? theory, but personally, I feel like most evidence I've seen for it is still better explained by there being two alters. Let me know what you think, though :)

[merakiui]

Are there any mangas or anime you really enjoy?

Yes!!! :D here are just a few I especially love:

✧ Summertime Render - I LOVE THIS ANIME/MANGA OMG...... I cannot hype it enough. The plot and its twists had me at the edge of my seat throughout. All of the characters have such strong personalities, the villains are really well done, the mystery and action are executed wonderfully, the pacing is great, the setting is amazing, the ost scratches my brain!!! In short, everything about this series is 10/10 for me.

✧ Great Pretender - another series I love to pieces! The backgrounds are so aesthetically pleasing,,, uuuwaaaa. The characters are so memorable, and the plots for each individual con are amazing. I'm left breathless every time because somehow the stakes just keep raising. It's so good!!!!! The opening song is also such a banger?!?!!??!! orz I could listen to it forever.

✧ THEO by Aono Nachi - it's such a cute BL. 🥺 I loved the dynamic between Theo and Rei. Maybe it's because I'm weak to master-servant dynamics, but then I also like how emotional their romance is and how stubborn Rei is. It was really wonderful!!

✧ Marriage to the Wolf by Inui Hana - another lovely BL!! I adored the dynamic between Kaede and Ren. The way they couldn't stand each other in the beginning..... slowly growing closer and softening to each other. The way they're both doing things out of obligation at first because it's an arranged marriage and the fact that Ren is holding back for Kaede's sake...... THEIR BANTER!!!!!! orz orz

✧ Devilman Crybaby (the netflix adaptation) - THIS SHOW. It hurts me every time I watch it. The ost is a banger, the art style is amazing, the way I cried ugly the first time I watched it. The "why am I the only one speaking, Akira?" haunts me to this day. I highly recommend it.

✧ ODDTAXI - the plot and the twist omg!!!!!! And the mystery!!!!! I may be biased because Riddle's VA voices Odokawa and I love anything that Natsuki Hanae does!! His work is always outstanding. The opening is also another banger. I can't say much without spoiling something major, but I highly recommend this anime. It's definitely worth the watch!!!

✧ The Disastrous Life of Saiki K - Saiki K my beloved. It always manages to make me laugh. I love Saiki's character. He's so funny, as is the rest of the cast. Kaidou never fails to make me laugh, especially in the dub. He's so silly. I think about "drowning in inch-deep water isn't easy" every day LOL.

✧ Romantic Killer - AAAAA I LOVED THIS SHOW!!!!! Maybe it's because Anzu is such a relatable female lead to me (but also because Riddle and Leona's VAs voice two of the main love interests hehe). It's so fun! It also handles the serious aspects of its plot really well. I loved Anzu's dynamic with Riri.

✧ Death is the Only Ending for the Villainess - it's been a moment since I've caught up with this manhwa, but I love it!!! The characters are all really striking. Most of all, I really like Penelope's character!!! <3 she's such a strong female lead. I like her interactions with all of the characters.

✧ Toilet-bound Hanako-kun - this manga is everything to me!!!! I absolutely adore the plot and its characters. Hanako and Yashiro's dynamic is really cute. :D I forgot what chapter I left off on, but I remember it left me in shambles. T^T

[miku-meeku]

Ooop you had a Voltage phase~~ Now you gotta spill the games you played👀👀

i thought these ones were kinda neat compared to the other games

also is it really playing if i dont even have money to buy the stories so i just kept reading the prologue over and over again

i mean, i did manage to read some free ones they gave out (and i think i read some stories on yt before)

anws, i won 300 coins for drawing this thing before and won 3rd place lawl (but now i lost the coins cuz voltage inc sux for making ur account get restricted if ur not active for a year smh)

kota is my favorite if its not obvious from my very very OLD POST from when my tumblr used to be a garbage can

my kidself is kringe (did you know kota is voiced by natsuki hanae kyaa)

also theres this game that i used to be obsessed with playing from voltage too (but they shut it down so that makes me...i hate voltage inc bro)

bro i just realised now they shut it down a few weeks after i got into dol, thats nice ig

anws enough of that sobbing from voltage inc being shit like usual, guess my favorite liar character

did you know mf has the same bday as kota

listen chat, i just think hes really neat-

JUST LOOK AT THIS OLD 2019 ART HAHAHAHAHAHA

MY SHIP NAME FOR HIM AND MIKU WAS MIZUSA HELPPP IM KRINGINGGGG

omg now i suddenly remembered, my last art of azu was from 2021 and it was this drawing w childe

if its really not obvious during my liar phase, i was pretty obsessed with azu, i love azu sm (i would scurry thru my old books for liar arts of me and azu kyaa but id rather not cuz it was kinda kringe and id rather not die of embarrassment)

.....maybe just a lil bit..... (bro this was from 2017 good lord)

ight i yap too much, i was gonna start yapping how i had ocs for every single voltage inc game i "played"

you only get these three cuz im gonna be here all day if i blabber about everyone

my forged wedding, seduced in the sleepless city, dreamy days in west tokyo

for some reason, i have a lot of aoi doodles tho

ft other voltage inc ocs who are the same age as her (17 year old mfs)

and here u get old uncover the truth mc (aka miku, literally me) from 2021

to her recent drip in 2023

its just adult miku basically

ight im done fr this time, i yap too much

[naoreco]

And what of my adaptational bitterness?!

Not long ago, I decided to look at some of my favorite FE15 scenes with Japanese voice acting, given how fantastic the English dub is-- and something I picked up in the process is that the scene between Alm and Mycen in Rigel Castle has a couple of interesting changes that I wanted to lay out! Particularly with its most... iconic lines. Major spoilers ahead!

(Note: I'm not a native Japanese speaker, and I'm not entirely fluent, but I took two years of college classes and damn if I'm not putting that all to use here!!)

While I put together a document going through the whole conversation in Japanese and loosely translating it, most of it is generally the same, aside from two bits. You're also not going to get the whole picture just by reading the lines, as the voice acting does a great deal for both sides of this conversation, so I highly recommend you pull up the scene in video form as well.

Now, the first change is pretty brief! Specifically, when Mycen brings up Alm's birth during his whole spiel about how the gods are deteriorating.

Mycen: しかし、そこにアルム。お前が生まれた。(Shikashi, soko ni Arumu. Omae ga umareta.) But then there's you, Alm. You were born. But then you were born, Alm.

Alm: ！！ (*gasp*) ...! What does that have to do with any of this?

The second, more important one, is Alm's reaction to being Rudolf's mercy, and how Mycen responds to that. The exchange goes like this:

Mycen: それが愛するわが子であればこれ以上の喜びはない…… (Sore ga aisuru waga ko de areba koreijou no yorokobi wa nai…) So for it to be his beloved child, he could feel no greater joy… So for that death to come at the hand of his beloved son was… a mercy.

Mycen: ルドルフは、そう言っておった。(Rudorufu wa, sou itte otta.) Rudolf told me so himself. He told me himself that he could imagine no more peaceful end.

Alm: そんな…… 父さん、父さんっ……！！(Sonna… Tou-san, Tou-san…!!) That's... Father, father...!! And what of my peace?!

"Sonna..." on its own is a pain to translate, but the specific meaning isn't as relevant as how Natsuki Hanae says this line. Rather than reacting with even more bitterness because Rudolf's convoluted plan made no room for Alm's own say on the matter - him yelling at Mycen earlier for sending him to kill his own father is about the same already - JP Alm just... breaks down and cries for his father, essentially. And it's this difference in reaction that makes Mycen respond in turn!

Mycen: 泣くな、アルムよ。(Naku na, Arumu yo.) Don't cry, Alm. This is not the time for mourning or self-pity, boy.

Compared to something like "nakanaide" (please don't cry), "naku na" is more direct in just. You know. Telling someone not to cry instead of asking them. So perhaps there's a weight behind those words that I'm missing, but with his quieter and more even tone of voice, and the way he addresses Alm by name, it comes off as a lot gentler than how he scolds Alm in the localization.

Now, why were these changes made? Are they better or worse? I don't know! Sure, I'd like Mycen not to be kind of a dick to his grandson while he's feeling so vulnerable, but I can tolerate it because that's how I first experienced the scene, and their supports say a great deal more about how they feel about each other than a scene where they're both freshly grieving. More than that, though, I think Alm breaking down and sobbing and Alm sticking it to the man both get to something very important about his position here, something that Natsuki Hanae and Kyle McCarley also portray amazingly:

He's way too young for this shit.

[zaenaris]

Shibuya Fest: Tokyo Revengers event with part of the cast (18/06/2023)

Cast : Yuuki Shin (Hanagaki Takemichi), Yuu Hayashi (Mikey), Masaya Fukunishi (Draken), Sho Karino (Matsuno Chifuyu), Tasuku Hatanaka (Shiba Hakkai) Tomokazu Sugita (Shiba Taiju), Matsuoka Yoshitsugu (Mitsuya Takashi),  Hanae Natsuki (Kokonoi Hajime), Enoki Junya (Inui Seishu), Eguchi Takuya (Hanma Shuji), Morikubo Shoutarou (Kisaki Tetta)

Fun fact! It’s the first time Natsuki Hanae and Enoki Junya, respectively Koko and Inupi’s seiyuu, are invited to these kind of events for Tokyo Revengers (they’re in white next to Sugita Tomokazu, in red, who voices Taiju)

Fun fact 2: Hatanaka Tasuku, Hakkai’s seeiyuu, is also in white like the BLACK DRAGON members

See the photos description for more~

Source: the official anime account anime_toman on twitter + seyuu’s acoount

(now artists, if you want to draw the characters like their seyuu, feel free lol)

[yuurei20]

Seiyuu Birthday: Riddle's Hanae Natsuki

Happy birthday to Riddle’s voice actor Hanae Natsuki!

Hanae is having a busy year with roles in over 20 different projects such as:

・9S in this year’s Nier: Automata Ver1.1a anime ・Shen in Undead Unluck ・Natsume Ryu in Paradox Live THE ANIMATION ・Tsuzuki Jun in Opus.COLORs (with Leona’s VA Umehara, Floyd’s VA Okamoto, Silver’s VA Shimazaki and Trey’s VA Suzuki) ・Sasaki Eita in My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 (with Idia’s VA Uchiyama) ・Black Clover: Sword of the Wizard King ・Gremmy Thoumeaux in Final arc BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War (with Grim’s Sugiyama) ・Kashima Ryuuto in “You Were Experienced, I Was Not: Our Dating Story" ・Mashle (With Deuce’s VA Kobayashi and Leona’s VA Umehara) ・Summer Time Rendering: Another Horizon

“Stray Tabby,” Kokonoi Hajime’s character song from Tokyo Revengers, sung by Hanae Natsuki

A short, behind-the-scenes video of Hanae’s first time appearing in a TV commercial

Hanae has also recently been on a world-tour promotion for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (he is the voice of main protagonist Tanjiro)

Hanae is very active on his YouTube channel where he does video game play throughs (mostly horror these days), often with other voice actors as guests.

Here is an older video where he plays Uno with voice actors Ono Kensho and Eguchi Takuya

More here: