#i really love the voice acting of one piece's japanese VA's in general

[thedrumsoflurkernation]

my favorites from the 47 cruise CD. :)

[wataponwrites]

Hi again~ I'd also like to request a "Ship-me-with" if that's okay with you?

I'm a straight girl & I'd prefer a male matchup from YGO (DM)!

Personality: Polite, appreciative, and understanding, yet passive, stubborn, and short-tempered (but I forgive just as easily). I generally don't speak unless spoken to and I'm sort of a loner? I'm just really shy, awkward and prefer my time alone heh :') But I'm still friendly and good-willing towards others tho! I can actually be silly and playful around family. They're very important to me! I can be hard on myself b/c I feel it's needed to improve.

Extra info: I love to draw and especially sing! (I want to be a voice teacher one day!) I also love taking pictures of the sunset & sea because they're so pretty~ Comedies and crime shows are my faves. ISFP & ♏! My style is cute & simple, though sweatpants and sweaters are often a go-to!

So sorry this was long! Definitely take as much time as you need to! Thank you very much in advance!! Looking forward to seeing more of your content~ (*´罒`*)♡

thanks so much for the request! apologies on the wait!! 🙏🏻 this...came out a bit longer than expected 😳

🍓 I Ship You With Yugi Muto! 🍓

Let’s get started! I feel like you guys met through school! It wasn’t love at first sight but, Yugi definitely had a small crush on you. But he didn’t know how to tell you, let alone barely knew you aside from being acquaintances! You guys didn’t really share the same friends either, which didn’t help the situation. But everyday he would try talking to you and getting to know you! Starting with just simple passing phrases and eventually small talk, he was determined to get to know you better! After interacting more and becoming better acquaintances, he asked you to join group of pals, and they welcomed you with open arms! It didn’t take long for them to warm up to you and treated you like you had been part of the group since the beginning! ✨

After becoming closer friends and getting to know you better, he fell in love with you that much more. He could immediately relate to your shy + awkwardness. When you two were first getting to know each other, your conversations probably went something like this -

“Um, hi.”

“Hi.”

“How are you today?”

“I’m good, how are you?”

“I’m good as well.”

“...”

“...”

“Did you finish the homework for today?”

“I did, did you?”

“I did, somehow.”

“Haha, that’s good.”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah...”

It was...a work in progress from you two both being a bit shy and awkward but, you both understood and managed! For him, it was good to know someone could understand how hard it was to communicate on the spot like that! I feel like you two hanging out would be a comfortable silence of you both just doing your own things. He completely respects and understands your need for alone time! If you’re ever in a public area and you just need some time, he will do everything in his power to make sure you are able to get what you need! He has a deep respect, as he also just needs that time to himself and will let you have as much as needed!

After getting to know you more, he decided it was finally time to confess to you, and got advice from his pals. He already had a clear idea of how he wanted to confess but, some outside input was never a bad idea! This all was a bit puzzling to him (yes i am a master at humor), but he felt confident as long as he stayed true to himself! So, here’s how he confessed:

He invited you to the local park that weekend - He had known you liked photography and told you that it had some gorgeous sceneries that maybe you’d be interested in, so he wanted to take you there! Though aside from photos, there was also many other things to do! You guys played DM, worked on your decks together, walked through the park, got some snacks at the local vendor, and some other little relaxing activities. The day was coming to an end though, but Yugi didn’t want to leave quite yet.

“Wait, before we go, there’s something I want to show you, if that’s alright!”

In a little secluded area in the park, if you go there at juuuusstt the right time of the day, you can perfectly see the sunset over the horizon.

“Um, I know you mentioned you liked taking photos of sunsets, so I thought you might like this..!”

After this, he’d tell you he wanted to let you know something and confess his feelings to you honestly and wholeheartedly. He also brought a bouquet for you! Where he had the bouquet this whole time? Who knows. But he had it then, ready to give it you! He was extremely nervous about your response (though he’d never let it show), and would understand and respect your decision to say no, but after hearing you say yes, he was so happy he could cry! He didn’t, but, asked if he could give you a hug. 🥺🥺 Later that night when he got home, he got a ‘Good job Aibou!’ and a thumbs up of approval from Yami Yugi. And maybe even a bit of teasing from him (LOL).

Now, onto your relationship! Dates with Yugi are always so sweet. 🥺 Small cafés, window shopping around the local mall, hanging out at the park, quiet evening strolls, hanging out at the game store, he loves little quiet dates where you can spend quality time together! Even if it’s just you two at home watching your favorite shows together - he loves it. Of course though, he’s down to do whatever you want to do for dates! He’ll always ask you what you want to do first before he gives an idea. He’d also totally take you on little dates to go photograph the things you like!

He’s so happy when you trust him enough to be playful and act silly around him! Just knowing you’ve warmed up to each other enough for you to be comfortable with him makes him so joyous! You two making small jokes and giggling together whenever you remember them 🥺💗

Also - wearing your sweatshirts. One day you let him borrow one because it was cold out that day but - he loved it so much! He always gets so excited to borrow your sweatshirts, they remind him of you and it feels like he’s carrying a little piece of you with him wherever he goes. If you ever decided to give him one he’d cherish it so much!!

Whenever you’re hard on yourself, Yugi’s always there to make sure you don’t go too hard on yourself. He’s always ready to be there to help you and make sure you take care of yourself! He has a problem of being a bit too hard on himself as well, so he wants to make sure you’re taking it easy and will be there to encourage you and has your back! Since he does the same thing though, you two will have to look out for and encourage each other that they got this! 💪🏻

Whenever you draw something for Yugi, he makes sure to handle it with the utmost care. He’ll go home and frame it to make sure it doesn’t get harmed and just keeps them all - whenever you draw for him he’s over the moon! He could also just listen to your singing all day. I feel like Yugi can definitely sing (his japanese VA used to be a singer in a band, little fun fact!) but he’d rather not, he’d much rather listen to you! And if you wanted to coach him, he’d be more than happy! You two doing a little duet together 🥺🥺

Over all, a very wholesome relationship with a very loving guy! 💗 I hope you enjoyed this, and thanks so much for considering my blog!! Have a lovely day!! 🌸🌸

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Kingdom Hearts 3 - Thought Post/Review

When it comes to this game, I have a lot of really positive things to say about it - my experience was overall very enjoyable - but I also have some really major negatives to say about it as well. It was a mixed bag for me, personally. If I were to give this game an a point score, I would probably give it a 7/10.  

This post is going to contain SPOILERS to the rest of my more detailed thoughts will be under this Read More. WARNING: SUPER LONG POST!

Opening - I’m a fan of Face My Fears and I do like the visuals of the opening - they are beautiful, but I felt that while the music and visuals line up for the first half of the opening, once it gets to the part where the visuals start spiraling downward through chess pieces, the music and visuals stop lining up and it makes the rest of the opening feel disconnected. I also feel like the opening was kind of shouting, “Hey! Remember Kairi! Remember her and Sora’s relationship! Remember this character and that relationship is a thing even though we’ve ignored and neglected it for nearly 13 years!” So, yeah...

If I had to rank all the CGI openings, I would still place DDD and KH2 at about equal placement at the top, followed 0.2 ~A Fragmentary Passage~, then KH3, KH1, and Birth By Sleep last. This opening was good, but the series has done better. I did really like and enjoy the video recap that plays before the game starts (with the orchestra version of Don’t Think Twice/Chikai playing in the background) it’s really well done.

Music - Outside of the Toy Story world using the instrumental version of You’ve Got a Friend in Me too much, to the point where I’ve had it stuck in my head for nearly a whole week now, I found the music to be excellent. As I already stated, I’m a fan of Face My Fears and I love Chikai/Don’t Think Twice. All of the familiar background music was there, helping me to instantly get back into the world of KH, while the new background instrumentals for many of the worlds and such were lovely. A lot of the time I found the music really helped to invoke the proper emotions in me, even if the writing was of a scene or moment was poor. So, basically, the music in the game did its part and hit its mark.

Voice Acting - I currently live and work in Japan, so I got the Japanese version because I was too impatient to wait for the delivery of the English version. I do miss the HJO and David Gallagher for the voices of Sora and Riku, it doesn’t quite feel the same (David adds a softness to Riku, especially when he is talking about Sora, that Miyano Mamoru just doesn’t), but the VA work itself was all really good! It also made me realize that a lot of my issues with characters like Xigbar (who I’ve straight up just found annoying) or Aqua (who I was always just largely indifferent to) are mostly due to their English VAs. Xigbar character was far more bearable for me and actually a bit interesting in Japanese, while Aqua’s Japanese VA actually had me invested in her character. 

Character Designs - LEA/AXEL GOT NEW CLOTHES!!! T-T Of course, it doesn’t happen to the very end of the game and his new outfit honestly doesn’t look that much different from his black coat, but I’ll take it. Xion and Isa’s new outfits were nice too. Honestly, the only character design that I outright dislike is Goofy’s Monster’s Inc one, outside of that, I’ve gotten used to Riku’s new redesign, though I feel like his look has changed the most between the past games and KH3. Though, the Destiney Trio in general all actually look younger in this game as opposed to their KH2 selves, so it is slightly weird/odd in that sense. Overall though, I think all of the character look really great here (and I liked the updated looks for Hayner, Pence, and Olette too!) As for the heartless, nobodies, and unversed enemy designs - they were all really awesome! A lot of the heartless were also just very cute, which I appreciate, and I loved the idea of heartless possessing the toys like we saw in Toy Story. That mid-boss fight with the doll heartless - oh gosh! I LOVED that design so much. I want to cosplay it so bad!! >, Finally, Chirithy was just SO ADORABLE! This is crossing over a bit into story/character stuff, but that scene when Chirithy reunites with Ven - I honestly couldn’t handle that level of cute and heartwarming! Graphics - The graphics are really the standout for me. This game is absolutely gorgeous! The amount of times I just stared in awe at the breathtaking landscapes is innumerable. The characters all look fantastic too - especially Lea/Axel. He is just soooo pretty! They really outdid themselves with making his hair look so nice and soft, lol. The only times the graphics went a bit wonky with me were when Herc would do his stone throw move (the movement and graphics for the stone got weird) and during the heartless horde attacks at the Keyblade Graveyard (the shadow heartless in particular had an appearance and movement that was very clunky and not smooth/natural looking like the rest of the graphics).  That was all likely due to the fact that I was playing on a PS4 through, rather than a PS4 Pro. Everything else looked absolutely fine though, so I am ultimately not bothered by those brief moments.  Exploration and Interaction - These two aspects were a highlight of mine. Even though finding all of the Hidden Mickeys and Chests could be vexing sometimes (especially the last one of either category), I utterly enjoyed exploring the areas and going around taking pictures. All of the little snippets of conversation that you could hear and get from the NPCs in the cities and towns, as well as things like Sora doing tricks with the barrels were fantastic and helped you feel immersed in the world. I also liked how there was always at least one chest that was hidden in a large object that you had to smash in order to get - that was fun. All of these small things helped make the worlds feel more alive and lived in. The use of the Gummiphone and taking selfies and stuff was also such a silly touch (as was Sora’s complete and utter bafflement at using technology, omg, I loved that - it was perfectly consistent with KH2 Sora and his inability to type on a computer - lol). Worlds - I think it is both a bit of a good thing and a bit of a bad thing that I don’t necessarily have a favorite world in KH3. Pretty much every world had some upsides to them and some downsides to them, so none of them really stood out in the same way that, say, Halloweentown did in KH1 or Fantasia did in DDD, but by that same token, that also means there were no worlds that I absolutely hated like Monstro in KH1...though the BH6 world gets a bit close to it...Going through the list:

1. Olympus - I loved traveling through this world - running through the ruined city and helping the towns people, and climbing up the gorgeous Mount Olympus to the even more breathtaking realm of the gods. But, at the same time, I found the constant interruptions of the tutorials to be a bit tedious and they often took me out of the experience a bit. Exploration wise though I really enjoyed this world.

2. Twilight Town - This is probably the closest to the best world for me in KH3. Exploring the center of town and the woods was nice. The theme for Twilight Town is so relaxing and running into characters like Scrooge, Remy, and Merlin there was a delight. I also enjoyed how lively Twilight Town felt and the original story content here was very interesting. It was great to see Sora interacting more with Pence, Hayner, and Olette, too. The only real downside to this world was the fact that it was so small in comparison to the Disney Worlds.

3. Toy Story - I was really excited for this world because I love Toy Story. Seeing Sora interact with the Toy Story gang was awesome. I loved it! This was also one of the worlds that an original story that was built more around the original story content of the game, rather than the other way around with the original content of the game being fit around already established Disney stories. That is something that I liked and wish we saw more of in this game as a whole. 

I also really loved the design of the “girl’s section” of the toy store and the boss fight there. However, I found the first floor of the toy store to feel so empty and I absolutely hated all of the mecha stuff. I don’t care about mecha stuff like that for the most part (there are a few anime exceptions, but they are rare). And fighting them every time I had to return to that world for a missed chest or Hidden Mickey was just...ugh. Yeah.

4. Tangled - The city of Corona is so immensely beautiful and charming, and the wooded areas were amazing to travel through...I just personally hate Tangled so literally all of the cutscenes that involved the Tangled storyline were unbearable for me. I couldn’t wait for that world to be over. Seeing Marluxia again though was nice. I missed his fabulous pink haired self.

5. Monsters Inc. - Seeing Sora interact with Boo was precious, omg!

6. Frozen - One of the themes of Frozen is loneliness, so the fact that Sora, Donald, and Goofy are largely isolated from the Disney characters in this one makes sense. It was a bit annoying to have to go up the mountain three different times and finding Olaf’s body parts pissed me off because I couldn’t find the last body part for a ridiculously long time and I was just like, “I don’t like Olaf enough to even care about this~!” But I always enjoy seeing Larxene and her labyrinth had such a ethereal atmosphere about it. I also genuinely like Anna and Kristoff as a pairing and found their scenes/moments together to be very cute. Sora thinking about Riku in connection to Elsa was also very nice and something that I felt was largely missing from this game. There were a lot of moments like that in previous games, but in this one Sora wasn’t really making any connections like that and it was weird. Finally, even though this world was largely empty as well the comments from Donald and Goofy as well as the interactive aspect of Sora riding the giant snowballs still made the world seem alive, or, at least more so than Toy Story and Monsters Inc.

7. PotC - I found the underwater segments to actually be very relaxing, the underwater landscapes and the beaches were beautiful, I liked the feel of Port Royal, and Sora’s outfit in this world is my favorite in this game. That being said, I’ve kinda lost interest in PotC over the years and the pirate ship battles made initial travel to and from each island a really pain in the butt for me. It sorta ruined the experience. That being said, I did like the idea of Sora being the captain of a pirate ship and using it navigate the world - it made sense and Sora was so happy to be able to do it - but I just personally didn’t enjoy it as much as him, lol.

8. BH6 - I’ve never watched BH6 and I have no desire to. This world is probably my least favorite of the bunch. There were only two parts of this world that I truly enjoyed and those were 1. when Sora, Donald, and Goofy initially arrived and Sora was blown away by the size of the city and was typing a text or something to tell Riku about it and 2. when Baymax taught Sora how to fist pump. That was some golden, wholesome stuff right there. I loved it. 

9. Edit: I forgot to include Pooh’s world! 

So, Winnie the Pooh - I actually liked this world, even though the three different versions of the same mini game aspect left a lot to be desired. I’m not a fan of Winnie the Pooh, generally speaking, but it has always really worked for me within the KH game. There is a calming aspect to Pooh’s world. This time around the world was very small...and I think they did that to show how Sora is growing up. While Pooh and the other’s will always be in his heart, he will always have a lingering connection to them, I think this is probably the last time we will see Pooh’s world in a KH game. I say this because I really felt like this was Sora saying good-bye to his childhood/childhood innocence in a way. And I really liked and appreciated this aspect of the story, since I want to see more of growth and change coming out of Sora in the upcoming games. I liked the stuff with Repliku/Dark Riku, but I really didn’t like the rushed feeling of this world. It was sort of like Monsters Inc. in that way. It felt like everything was a mission that you had to complete very quickly and then right when you finished, you were rushed off to the next segment. The vastness of the city was a bit overwhelming at first, but I got used it and I did slightly enjoy seeing Sora, Donald, and Goofy running around a modern day looking city. But by and large I was happy to be done with this world.

FF Stuff and Side Content - I am a fan of FF games in general and of the FF characters appearing in KH. But I’m okay with the fact that we didn’t get any FF characters in KH3. The story had too many characters to deal with anyway, so bringing in some more would not have done the game any favors. Some fans think that some FF content may end up being DLC. I don’t know if it will or not, but I was okay with the small references and easter eggs that we got. So, if they do add some more FF content stuff, then that is fine by me, but if they don’t then that is fine by me as well.  As for side content like secret bosses or Coliseum fights and such - none of those things ever appealed to me to begin with and there was so much to do anyway that I’m fine with the game lacking these elements. I know many people aren’t though, and I can understand how that could be a bit upsetting. This is another aspect of the game though that I feel there could actually be some DLC for.

Game Play and Gummi Ship - Look, this part is totally bias of me - I know - but I suck at the Gummi Ship stuff so I honestly just hate it. For me, personally, I would have been completely fine if they had gotten rid of the Gummi Ship stuff and just had you go from one world to the next without having to do anything. I would have preferred if the space and time that content had taken up had been used toward story and character + relationship development instead - since this game desperately needed more of that. The game play I enjoyed for the most part, the only bit that I really disliked was the awful pirate ship battles. Ugh. Outside of that, I really liked how KH3 combined/brought in a lot of the game play dynamics from previous games. I don’t really play the games for the battles or game play itself, so I’m not too picky with this. It was fun and enjoyable and it was easy, but hard enough for me. I know for some people it was a bit too easy, but for me it was fine. I know that there have also been some complaints about the lack of Critical Mode and too few Keyblades, but once again, I feel like those are things that could be improved upon with DLC.

Characters - While playing this game there were so many scenes and moments that I loved. I laughed and cried plenty of times. The scene in the Realm of Darkness when Riku calls out Sora’s name and he appears and then Sora and Riku Reality Shift in order to create the Gayblade and fight Dark Aqua together - my goodness! That scene was amazing as was the fight with Aqua. Another excellent scene was Riku’s moment when he was motivating Sora and protecting him from the heartless. Sora and Riku both get moments when they protect the other and all of this is A++ stuff right there. Getting to see a softer, humbler side of Axel/Lea was great (and the Kairi and Lea/Axel interactions were wonderful!) and Ienzo has shot up on my fav characters list like whoa. In fact, every single interaction between Organization members was wonderful and wish we got more of them! I wish we also got more interactions among all of the characters in general. 

Edit: I also forgot to mention that I loved seeing Yen Sid actually doing something/being useful outside of being the old mentor/info dump guy. His moment was great!

But...there were issues. I didn’t like how the series handled Master Xehanort. I loved how Young Xehanort didn’t really get any sort of redemption. It was refreshing after all of the other characters were kind of “saved” by Sora. It made sense for them, since most of them were Nobodies, but the same sort of philosophy applying to Master Xehanort just left a bad taste in my mouth. The 180 switch in Master Xehanort’s motivation/plans was also....not good, imo. 

I wish Sora got more of an actual character arc. It was there, in bits and pieces, but Sora still largely feels like Sora and that’s just...It reminds me of how Kairi told Sora to never change at the beginning of KH1 and he has largely stuck to that and that is just...not healthy. I really do feel that Sora tends to suppress a lot of his emotions. We saw some of that suppression in this game, I feel, but not enough. 

Next up we have the romance...look, I don’t ship it. I ship Sora and Riku together. That being said, I enjoy polyam Sora, Riku, and Kairi fanart and fanfiction and like 95% of my OTPs are het pairings. One of my OTPs of OTPs is, in fact, a pairing from Square (Tidus x Yuna from FFX - their love story is so amazing - I cry and laugh with them every single time I play that game and I’ve played it more times than I can count, in both English and Japanese). I feel like Sora and Kairi’s relationship has potential, I remember when I first played KH1 back in 2002 and I shipped them together so bad - I cried so much during the ending - but the writing has, ultimately, seriously failed to utilize that. The vast majority of KH3 was focused on friendship. Sora barely even thinks about any sort of romance and he hasn’t thought about romance or even Kairi that much at all in the past couple of games either. Then we get the paopu scene and suddenly there is a shit ton of focus on Sora and Kairi and their relationship. 

This goes back to the issue of showing vs. telling. We get told about Sora and Kairi’s feelings, but the game does a really poor job of showing it. This issue also ties back to poor pacing. Kairi, as a character, should have gotten more individual development and then we should have gotten far more heart-to-heart conversational moments between Sora and Kairi. I feel those are aspects about their relationship that the game really needed to establish first, but just plain didn’t. So the relationship stuff falls apart for me. 

All of Sora’s heavy, emotional moments tend to be with Riku and I honestly can’t even tell you why Sora likes Kairi. I know they are friends...but...what else? Why is Sora so precious to Kairi? Why is Kairi so precious to Sora? We don’t really know. With Sora and Riku I can easily talk to you about their competitive sides, about the jealousy and admiration, and about the journeys they’ve been on and why each cares about the other. With Sora and Kairi...it just feels like they are a thing because they are a boy and girl. That’s it. Their moments together held no emotional impact for me, except for my utmost anger when the series temporarily fucking fridged Kairi for Sora’s stupid, dumbass manpain.

 Sorry, but I fucking hate that trope. It’s sexist and shit and needs to go away. The Sora and Kairi relationship is such a damaging ship, not in and of itself, but due to the execution, poor, underdeveloped writing, and inherent sexism. The scene with Kairi and Sora sharing the paopu fruit was awkward with Riku in the background, it made the moment feel like they were third wheeling Riku (even if that wasn’t the intention of Sora, Kairi, or the writers - it sorta felt that way) and was largely just awkward because of his presence there and because Sora didn’t really feel all that into it. It felt more like he kinda just went along with it. Kairi becomes a damsel in distress again even though she is a keyblade wielder this time and she has talked about fighting and protecting and such. But we don’t really get to see Kairi protecting Sora. 

Instead, Kairi continues to play an emotional support role - a largely sexist role that women and girl characters get stuck in, she gets reduced to nothing more than the love interest and plot device to motivate Sora, and that plot device/motivation also ends up being a literal fucking trophy (No Matter What - Reunite with Kairi) that you earn in the game. I know it’s Japan, and I know that gender inequality and sexism issues run deep here (I live here - I see and experience it quite often), but it is also 2019 and with the creation of female characters like Xion and Aqua, I thought that the series would start actually making some strides with fixing its issues with sexist writing, but sadly, I feel it has only gotten worse. Practically every world in this game had some form of “girl/woman character failing and needing to be saved/protected by a boy/man character.” We also got the fake video game commerical before the Toy Story world that included a damsel in distress and a man trying to save her and Olympus started the whole “manpain to get back strength” idea (Herc and his situation with Meg). 

The sexism in the writing extends to all of the original girl and women characters of KH. Namine is virtually non-existent in the game, Xion shows up towards the very end (in a way that isn’t properly explained and isn’t given the proper time, execution, and emotional strength behind it), Kairi - all of the issues I mentioned above, Larxene - we learn that she was just following “that guy” (aitsu あいつ) so that has the blame shift off of Larxene a bit and onto “that guy,” which denies the series of an original woman/girl character that is unapologetic in their badness and also gives this idea/impression of a woman chasing after/doing something because of a guy, Olette’s character is actually treated pretty well but her personality is lacking - nothing about it really stands out, and finally, Aqua is a master but we still see her getting defeated all the time, doing nothing against Terranort, and then Terra gets told to protect her along with Ven. Ugh. 

I also noticed in the Secret Ending that we saw Sora and Riku, but absolutely no Kairi. uou All of the girl/women characters deserved better writing than this! ( I also seriously hope they don’t try and go down a Riku and Namine route because both Riku and Namine deserve better).

The treatment of women and girl characters in this game really brought down my impression of it. The representation in that area was truly awful. Even with all of those problems though, I did feel that the ending moments were very heartwarming - with everyone on Destiny Islands - and slightly bittersweet when Sora disappears. Riku’s character growth in this game was great, as was his trust and belief in Sora, but I felt many of the other characters didn’t really get much of a character arc or character growth. They all just kinda felt there. Can DLC fix some of these issues...I don’t know, but the fact that I feel so much needs to be fixed by download content is a problem...

Story - As with many KH games the same story issues seem to be present here. First, the issue of telling vs. showing. KH tells so much. The story has gotten so intricate and they have to make the games as “new user” friendly as possible that we often get large chunks of info. dumps which take away from time that could be spent on character interactions (which were severely lacking in this game, but an improvement over pretty much all of the others). 

Next is the issue of integration of original content with Disney content. KH3 did improve on this a bit over KH2 and other past titles, but I still feel like KH1 did this best. Here in KH3 we have worlds that have themes that are much more closely linked to the original story content of KH and to specific characters, but at the same time, I still felt that some of the Disney content was nothing but filler. Filler isn’t necessarily a problem, but in a game such as this with the huge amount of characters and stories that needed some form of wrapping up/sense of conclusion this was not good. Every cutscene really needed to count, but I don’t feel like every one of them did.

The last story issue that isn’t character based, but just general storytelling based, is the pacing. This goes along with the issue above of integration. There needed to be a bit more integration of original story content and it needed to be spaced out a bit more. We got a lot of good story/plot beats at the beginning and a ton at the end, but the middle of the game was severely lacking. I feel we should have gotten some major story act after completing Frozen.

If all of these issues had been properly handled, then I think plot moments like the return of Roxas and Xion could have been better presented (or even explained at all - honestly how did Xion come back? I know a replica was likely used, but that’s it) and the ending could have felt less like completing a checklist. This also could have, possibly, fixed the issue of the series not really fully explaining/showing how exactly Sora returned Kairi and why that caused him to disappear. Though I feel that that likely would have still remained ambiguous because this game set up so many sequel hooks. 

That being said, even though there was a lot of sequel hooks, which I think were ultimately to the determent of the game’s story as a whole, I did find myself intrigued by things like the girl that Isa and Lea were/are looking for, Xigbar being Luxu, and so on. The scene with the horde of heartless that you need to defeat with the past keyblade wielders was also really cool - not only visually either. Those keyblade wielder names were real names of real players of the mobile game! Honestly - how awesome is that! That was an awesome and touching moment for Union X fans. The issue though, is that I found myself becoming more intrigued by the sequel hook stuff than the actual resolution to the current arc and that isn’t really a good thing...

Sequel Hooks - As I stated, I feel this game had a bit too many sequel hooks. I understand that KH3 is simply the end of the Dark Seeker/Xehanort Saga and not the series as a whole, but the ending that we got was just a bit too open ended and I feel it left too many loose ends. There were also a lot of time spent setting up the foundations for the next KH game than there was properly resolving the current arc and that...is a big problem. It may just be the end of a saga/part of the overarching story, but it should still have a resolution that feels like an ending of sorts. This game didn’t have anything like that. It seemed to, but then it did a fake out with Sora. It was really unnecessary to me, since I felt that the epilogue was enough of a teaser alone to hook a sequel. Now, I’m going to feel a need to check out the next game, not necessarily a want, because Sora’s story/character arc was left unresolved in the end, with only a secret ending teaser. It left me feeling intrigued but also largely unfulfilled story-wise.  

Future DLC - Now, from what I understand, there are plans for download content in the future. I’m not really all that familiar with download content stuff. KH3 is the first game I’ve ever played on a PS4 and I’m used to older games where the game that you got on the disc(s) was it. Nothing more and nothing else (unless they released a new game like the KH remixes). Could future download content fix a lot of the issues that I have with the game? It’s possible. It will all depend on how the DLC gets handled and what it will contain/how much DLC we will get. It still probably wouldn’t fix the issue I have with the way Kairi’s character has been treated not only over the years, but in this game in particular, but I feel it could possibly fix a few things and enhance some others. We’ll just have to wait and see though! 

[healer-blissey]

since the remaster theory was basically debunked, here’s some things from the original that should be changed if one ever comes out:

all characters introduced post-madarame should have their social links reworked. every single one of them. makoto and haru’s especially bc makoto’s sl doesn’t even revolve around her growing as a person. that whole ‘im not just gonna do what adults tell me to do’ shit is complete bs bc she still does Just That. haru’s confidant is all over the place and weirdly rushed and flip-flops between ‘you should trust people!!’ and ‘not everyone is trustworthy.’

take out all older woman/mc romances. it’s gross, weird, and completely destroys the characterization of everyone involved, especially ohya and kawakami, who are shown to be good people despite being pedos if you take the romantic route somehow 🙃

take out the homophobic caricatures of gay men in shinjuku. its not funny and this game came out 2017 for fucks sake

similarly, give us a gay and female option. women like to play videogames, shockingly enough, and gay people. Exist.

a p4 situation should’ve been what happened for valentines day if you cheated on your gfs so it drives home the point that cheating is wrong and hurts people, despite what others may think

ryuji in terms of him outside his confidant needs to be completely reworked. his characterization during and post-kamoshida are two drastically different people. he went from someone who didn’t give a shit abt other’s appearances and genuinely being a good person to a superficial perv jackass

in general the plot needs a shit ton of refinement:

the nude modelling sub-plot and yusuke’s creepy behavior needs to be completely removed to avoid him coming off as a piece of shit right out of the gate.

makoto’s entire character needs to be reworked or replaced with hifumi bc a school president who doesn’t change at all with the exception of telling kobayakawa to fuck off (and ONLY him, bc after he dies she goes back to being straight-laced and a COP) is not a rebel. she’s what a failed naoto looks like

haru needs more characterization aside from sweet girl. we need to see more of her vicious and cruel side, which has been hinted at, but never fully explored. could be seen in relation to akechi killing her father, which for whatever reason is pushed aside to redeem him despite him not deserving it in the slightest

akechi should not have been redeemed. Full stop. he caused irreversible mental shutdowns, killed wakaba and okumura, and ruined the lives of both futaba and ohya, giving the latter life-long mental issues. i don’t give a shit if he had an absent father, it doesn’t excuse the fact that he willingly went over to shido’s side without any prompting. he was not manipulated or threatened, he even states himself his reason for hating him is that he was an absentee father. this honestly makes his actions worse in hindsight, bc he did this all for the purpose of getting back at him in such a miniscule and utterly insignificant way without giving a shit abt the people he destroyed in the process. akechi did not deserve redemption in any form, and was not a tragic villain - just a stupid one

the conflict between morgana and ryuji is also completely ridiculous, bc morgana is the aggressor for more than half of the situations presented, and ryuji only suddenly becomes a dick for the sake of this conflict despite only responding to morgana’s below-the-belt jabs in the past prior. not to mention his main reason for getting upset is because ryuji compliments futaba for her superior navigation skills...... which is true, bc futaba persona is a fucking navigator. morgana is meant to be a fighter and only took up a navi role bc no one else could, why the hell would he be better than futaba. honestly morgana was such an unlikeable character, i was actually glad he “died” near the end. says a lot abt the writing of the game if i end up hating a cat :/

Btw shido is also a terrible villain bc of how they shoehorned a puppetmaster trope into his character despite not really needing one. he didn’t need to have a connection to madarame or kaneshiro, everything else was good enough. he’s just so underwhelming as a villain :/

give lasting consequences to the characters? P4 and p3 did this way better, with all character deaths (sans morooka) having lasting effects on the characters and even serving as their primary motivations for some, and in p3’s case answering the primary question posed throughout the game (what is the meaning of death?) with the protagonist’s death, as he found the answer and found meaning in his fleeting life through death. when p5 ends, nothing really changes with the status quo, it’s all wordy bullshit that’s never shown to the viewers and only stated through observations by other characters. not a good thing for such an environmentally driven game

there needs to be more team interactions in non-serious settings. just let them be kids, please. not just for me, but bc we don’t really get to see them acting as a family, their strong bond is something that feels out-of-place and unnatural. this is especially true for haru, bc we are introduced to the interesting concept or her not trusting the pthieves at first. have her watch from the sidelines before eventually deciding that they’re good or whatever and formally become a pt in a cool way. Not just ‘now that morgana likes you i like you :)’

for the love of god, don’t romance-code the strength confidant. i shouldn’t need to explain this

also some more bits that are less pressing and more me just nitpicking:

haru’s voice. her japanese va sounds nothing like her english one, and you would be forgiven for thinking she’s 12 with that voice. an entire layer of her character is removed with her cutesy uwu voice bc her regal appearance and demeanor was meant to contrast her vicious attitude and fighting style. get smoked kid also needs to have a va change - kid sounds like he’s a 65 yr-old granny

morgana does not make a good magician, bc all he ever guides us with is in the tutorial, then he becomes the ‘idk what tf is going on either lmao’ guy. yosuke’s role as a guide in p4 was through emotional means, and serving as the connection between city and country life to the protagonist. he is literally your partner. junpei is your guide to living life to the fullest without being tied down to your past - something vital in such a depressing game like p3, with characters whose pasts define their presents with a very much No Fun Allowed attitude.

the fortune confidant being a fortune teller is just... lazy :/ really?

that’s p much it but there’s a lot more to improve that i just didnt mention bc. This post is long enough already :|

[meimi-haneoka]

“I will not make this simple just because it's a kids show” ~ Morio Asaka x Sakura Tange interview in Newtype 05/2018

Here I am again, with the highlights of another interview with Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card’s director Morio Asaka, together with Sakura Tange (Sakura’s voice actress), as part of the special feature of this month’s Newtype issue. Beware, the post is gonna be long, but please take some time to read it, it’s pretty interesting. As usual, if you mean to repost or translate this in another language, send me a message/credit me, thanks!

- The interview starts with Asaka saying that while Clear Card is a story about Sakura growing and becoming stronger, lately he found himself thinking that she’s become even stronger than he initially thought. Sakura Tange agrees, saying that she initially thought Clear Card would see Sakura gradually becoming stronger. Instead, right from episode 1, she didn't hesitate, took the new key and chanted her Release! spell. Tange was kinda surprised by this and found herself wanting to catch up quickly with Sakura's growth.

- Asaka mentions he wondered how far he should go with the depiction of Sakura and Syaoran's relationship. He says “If it goes too far, it wouldn't be CCSakura anymore...although right in episode 1 they suddenly hugged like that (laughs)” After that, they went back to their usual innocent selves so there's quite a gap, but he understands now that they acted like that because of the time they've spent apart. Tange: “When I saw that hug in the manga I’ve sent a picture of it to Kumai (Syaoran’s VA), and told her "we have a case here!!", and she replied something like "What's that!? My brain can't keep up!". That was definitely a scene that shook both of us”.

- Asaka talks about Sakura Tange's acting qualities, saying that he chose her for the quality of her voice. He emphasized the fact that Sakura Tange's voice had just that perfect addictive something for a life-size Sakura. Sakura Tange said that she didn't try to high-pitch her voice to make her cute, and the fact that she was chosen for this makes her happy.

- They end up talking about the recording process and what's Asaka's role in it, and Sakura Tange points out that this Clear Card arc’s recording is dense of details and demanding for more and more, and it's the first time she encountered such a refined work. Since Tange found the same opinion from the other VAs too, she asks Asaka if all this refined work has a reason behind it. Asaka says that one of the reasons depends on the fact that, in the previous series, the characters used to "be at the mercy of the events", while this time Sakura is a lot more withstanding/resistant, Syaoran knows something and has got his own goal in mind, so when the story gets to the stage where (the characters) will start to put together the puzzle pieces of the story, the acting will become quite intense. Asaka: “Ever since the previous seasons, I decided I would not make this simple just because it's a kids show, and this is gonna be apparent even more in this Clear Card arc.  Although, it may also depend on how my way to direct my shows has changed over the years.”

- When asked if his style changed to match Sakura's growth, he says that this time the percentage of corrections to the storyboard is pretty high. He keeps adding details here and there.  Sakura Tange says she noticed that. She says it's basically the first time she's been constantly told "please play the character this way" while recording, because when playing a character since long time, normally in test stage she would agree with the staff on a general line to follow and then the rest will be left to her in recording stage. Instead here she's constantly guided and it becomes really, really difficult for her. But she also points out that this goes to show just how much love and care they're putting into this work. Asaka says "What will happen from episode 13 will be even harder, though!" and Tange replies "It's pretty hard already, haha"

Tange explains that she's never seen the cards as enemies until now, but rather as friends, so when sound director Masafumi Mima told her, since the beginning of the series, to "hit hard the cards as if you're doing it with hatred and anger" she was very surprised. Tange: “For such a fluffy world view and a story that was kinda simple, she's now getting such raw and life-risking battles (laughs). They're asking me to portray that kind of tension.”

- When asked if that's from the early stage of the story, Tange replies that ever since the beginning, there's this tension like "If I don't do something, everyone is gonna die!" and mentions episode 2 as an example. Asaka takes the chance to point out how even Tomoyo had an hard time in episode 2, so there's the fact that this time they're showing more instances in which the characters are in difficult situations, even to the point that one might think "they're gonna die!". But, Asaka says he doesn't see the cards as enemies and he has no intention to change that. They talk about how the cards this time seems "cold/inorganic" as opposed to the previous cards, and how cute Flight is, though.

- The interview moves on to the favorite scenes among the episodes aired until now, and Sakura Tange mentions the lovey dovey scenes with Syaoran. About this, Asaka says he wants to show the cool way in which he nonchalantly carries on his task. That's the cool side of Syaoran he wants to show, more than the aesthetic side. Asaka: "I can't tell (in details) yet, but in the episodes from now on there'll be plenty of cool Syaoran appearing. At the current stage I don't know how I will portray this, but in my head there's a veeery cool Syaoran".

- They talk about the first opening and ending, with the theme of "transparency" for the opening and the pure white dress as CLAMP's idea. Then Asaka confirms something the japanese animation enthusiasts had already guessed right: he says he left the ending completely in the hands of a "certain person" who did also the third ending of the previous series, "Fruits Candy".

- When asked how the story will develop from now on, Asaka says all the scenarios are already completed, and they're currently working on the last storyboard. As far as he’s allowed to say, the story is finally reaching the core of the big mystery of this series, which is the mysterious cloaked person who appears in Sakura's dreams. Tange: "Since I don't know anything about this, but I'm half anxious, half expecting what is about to come, if there's something I don't understand I think it would be a good idea if I went to ask you for clarifications" Asaka: "Sure, come at any time. Although I might not be able to answer you. (laughs)”  Asaka, never change. :)

[gascon-en-exil]

So Who’s the Queen?: A Chess of Blades Review (Part 1)

A gay male dating sim with a recurring motif of chess references and not once are any of the guys likened to queens. How positively appalling.

That missed opportunity aside, this quick little indie visual novel caught my attention about a week ago and got me invested enough to generate two posts’ worth of discussion. Admittedly this is only the second visual novel I’ve actually played through - the first being the delightfully raunchy Coming Out on Top - but I’ve picked up a bit of other examples of the genre from fandom osmosis and watching playthroughs on YouTube so I’d like to think my reference pool is at least a little larger than that. Despite the apparent lack of a fanbase a few of my followers expressed interest in hearing what I have to say on the game, so here we are. Note that as this is one of the very rare occasions where I’m not presuming that I’m writing for an audience already familiar with my subject I’m going to do my best to avoid major plot and characterization spoilers in the event that anyone wants to check this game out on Steam. I will be talking a fair bit about the lategame sex scenes, but given the nature of Chess of Blades I don’t think anyone will be spoiled to learn that the main character gets up to an assortment of naked sweaty fun with his various love interests. This will be a review in two parts - this one covering my general thoughts on the game’s overall story, themes, and presentation, and the second one on the love interests and their individual routes.

Protagonist Rivian Varrison is a young nobleman of an unnamed kingdom modeled after a vague blend of early modern European nations. The son of a celebrated military strategist, Rivian is sent on his own to attend a week-long celebration for the king’s birthday at a remote royal castle despite his mildly antisocial tendencies and lack of familiarity with court life (and sex, because of course he’s a virgin). During his time at the castle he becomes embroiled in one of several plots by antagonistic forces that threaten to destabilize the kingdom’s foreign relations, and with the help of a collection of men who want to bone him Rivian has to avoid getting murdered, save the day, and also figure out what and who he’s going to be doing with his life once the party’s over. Oh, and there’s a quick handwave in dialogue near the beginning of the game establishing that homophobia is not a problem in this setting. Arbitrary sidestepping of serious real world obstacles, yay!

However, from my limited understanding of traditional yaoi homophobia is not often as much of a concern in the genre as might be expected, and this is one of several elements of CoB that give me the impression that, like yaoi/BL, the game is written with a female audience in mind. Rivian hits all of what I assume are defining traits of an uke intended to be identified with by a female player; he’s a waifish and inexperienced sub bottom with flowing hair and sensitive nipples, all of which come into play in some way for every sex scene. I don’t mind it though, because I just so happen to also be a waifish sub bottom who can find him quite relatable. Not the bits with hair pulling and nipple play perhaps, because I get next to nothing out of either, but I can use my imagination. Suffice it to say that CoB is clearly inspired by the conventions and dynamics of yaoi even if it isn’t always entirely beholden to them.

I wouldn’t even say it’s the sex or those particular dynamics that comprise the main draw of the game, because both the political and romantic storylines offer enough enjoyment on their own to encourage multiple playthroughs in order to see everything. It helps that the main conflict differs depending on the romantic route, and each comes with its own antagonist(s). Characters - love interests included - who act in a certain role in one route may serve an entirely different one in another, or they may not appear at all. At the heart of all the nefarious goings-on lies a shadowy organization presumably modeled after the politically divisive Jesuit order of the Catholic Church minus the religious motivations (the fact that the organization appears to be named after their founder St. Ignatius of Loyola is a dead giveaway), although there’s enough variety in the specific antagonists to allow for more than one reading of what’s really going on with all these murders and kidnappings and such. The distinct but interwoven nature of the four storylines manages to do a lot with a small cast and a compressed timeframe, and while I don’t think you’ll find anything truly groundbreaking in terms of narrative I feel like it would be rude of me to spoil the particulars.

Gameplay is...well...

...just that, really. It’s a series of fifteen or so questions with two choices each that determine which storyline and romantic route you’ll follow and then eventually whether you get the good or bad ending for that route. That’s a bit sparse even in comparison to other visual novels I’m familiar with, but it works well for what it is. The algorithm for determining the romantic route especially is less obvious than you might expect, as it’s impossible to favor one man exclusively at the expense of the others. Moreover, if you don’t favor one man to at least some degree Rivian gets murdered before the plot even gets properly started in a generic bad ending that’s almost comical in how unexpected it is.

Presentation is a bit of a mixed bag. The artwork is serviceable and even quite good at points. but there’s a fair amount of stylistic variation and the NSFW art in particular doesn’t impress me very much. The soundtrack is excellent for an indie game, with fourteen original pieces that all do a great job of matching the tone and atmosphere of the scenes. I have no complaints about the writing apart from the odd typo or awkward phrasing choice, although there are a few quirks I couldn’t help but pick up on. For instance - Rivian, all of the love interests, and several of the side characters get compared to animals at multiple points. In exactly one scenario there’s the implication that this might lead into some offscreen pet play, but aside from that it’s just a rhetorical device. Maybe Rivian is secretly a furry? The chess motif is also less prevalent than I was expecting; it’s actually more prominent in the names and icons of the game’s Steam achievements, rather than in the game itself.

Then there’s the matter of the voice acting. While I appreciate the ambition of an erotic visual novel with multiple routes having full voice acting, the execution often leaves something to be desired for a number of reasons. The most common is that the VAs affect noticeable accents for many of the characters, usually to make them sound posh and refined, and either because of inexperience or because of just how strong the accents can get some of their line reads can come across as stilted or unnaturally paced. Rivian is unfortunately one of the more notable offenders. He’s the character with whom the player is meant to identify, and yet his voice is so obviously affected that it took me some time to stop thinking of him as a parody of a nobleman designed purely as comic relief. I found his voice less distracting in major emotional scenes thankfully, although on that note I also have to point out that the sex scenes are fully voiced as well. This doesn’t help anyone on the whole, not least because of how difficult it can be to authentically vocalize getting your dick sucked or taking a cock in your tight virginal hole. Also...there are sound effects for some of the kissing and blowjob scenes, and I really wish there weren’t. In all seriousness, if you’re audibly slurping that much while doing either of those things you’re either being intentionally sloppy because your partner’s into that or you’re extremely slow on the uptake about what to do with a penis or someone else’s tongue in your mouth. I suppose I should be thankful that we’re spared tonguing sounds during the rimjob scenes or the slapping of balls on ass. It’s worth noting that the option to mute some or all of the voice acting exists, but I stuck it out because there were some performances I genuinely liked and because I was determined to get the full experience - for better or worse. 

Whether what I described above justifies the rather steep price tag for an indie visual novel (because of the voice acting, possibly?) is a personal call, but for what it’s worth I enjoyed my time with the game in spite of those shortcomings and do recommend it for fans of period M/M romance, particularly the kind you’re likely to find in Japanese properties like the ones from which CoB clearly draws inspiration. I feel like I’m getting ahead of myself, though, as this post is going to have a second part. Next time I’ll be critiquing each of the four love interests both in and out of bed, which will undoubtedly make for a fun and extremely filthy bit of writing.

[kuuxkat]

[EN]Seiyuu Bible 2017 - Interview with Uchida Aya

Translated and Typeset by: @kuuxkat / QC by: ~mega @ #teamonibe

Originally Sourced from: 可丽饼小王子  here

Original TL by: 阿暄校对 Original QC by: 乔君 

Images and Typeset by：鸡蛋仔小王子

DO NOT USE THE SUBS FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES!

I would like to thank the CN TL for taking the time and effort to clarify multiple areas in the interview. They are a great bunch so if you know CN, definitely do follow them for more content for Ucchi

Contents under the Cut!

Interviewer: “Nippon Broadcasting System, Inc” Announcer Yoshida Hisanori

The first thought after seeing the proposal for <LoveLive!> was “This is so interesting!”

Relying on her determination to fight hard in the front lines of being a  Voice Actress and a Singer,

Uchida Aya!

 If we are talking about Uchida Aya-san, as expected she is most famous for her performance in the hugely popular <LoveLive!> as the moe-type, healing character with that trademark ponytail: Minami Kotori! In one bound she leapt straight into the spotlight for a huge amount of fans by being a member of μ’s. She took part in 2015’s edition of <NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen>, and afterwards took the stage of the Tokyo Dome and hosted the Final Live which was held for two consecutive days.

 Actually, after taking it step by step, Uchida Aya-san's solo music career had started to pay off. Her first single <アップルミント>(Apple Mint) was released in 2014, and in February 2016 her two concept albums (Sweet Tears/Bitter Kiss) both achieved good results in the weekly Oricon Top 10. (Ranked 8/9). And later in August 2016, she will have hold her own solo concert at Nippon Budokan. Achieving such results barely two years after her solo debut is really astonishing…!

 With an appearance similar to the gentle and generous Kotori-chan, Uchida-san turns out to be super interesting when she speaks, (contrasting with her appearance.)

Her true colors show a more overconfident self, often compared by others to a stubborn child

(TL Note: The CN TL mentioned that the original context was of a “利かん坊” An incorrigible child?)

The atmosphere of the interview was very energetic, and the duration of the interview ended up being double what was estimated initially… so, the contents of this jam-packed interview will begin now...!

​

 ​I want to see Totoro!

 Yoshida: Among the many candidates to be interviewed among the Voice Actresses, this time I told my superiors: “You definitely have to ask Uchida-san to come.”

 Ucchi: Thank you very much.

 Yoshida: But personally, what I really want to know is whether. “Uchida Aya being called an [unruly child]” is really the truth (laughs). But in summary, I feel that you aren’t a “yes-man” who is lacking of opinions.

 Ucchi: I’m definitely not (laughs).

 Yoshida: Interviews with guests who take the initiative are the most interesting after all. If it is possible, I hope that we would be able to get a story as good as Yazawa Eikichi-san’s. (TL Note: Yazawa Eikichi is a very important figure in Japan popular music.)

 Ucchi: I wonder if that’ll happen.

 Yoshida: Speaking of which, this interview isn’t limited to your experiences since you became a voice actress, but will also contain contents from your childhood. Currently Uchida-san is a tourism special envoy for the Gunma Prefecture (1), that means, you are born in Gunma? Did you love anime, manga since you were young?

 Ucchi: I already liked them at that time. When I was young, I especially liked to watch <Kiki’s Delivery Service> and <My Neighbour Totoro>, I kept playing dress up with my sister with the characters from Totoro. My mother told me, at that time I played as Mei and my sister was Satsuki (TL Note: The main protagonist of <My Neighbour Totoro>), and we memorized all the lines. Other characters like Kanta’s Grandmother we left it to our mother. But mother kept getting the wrong lines; it seems that she kept on being corrected by me and my sister with: “It’s not like that! At ‘that’ part it should be like ‘this’”. Each word and line can’t be wrong. I kept rewatching the taped program <金曜ロードショー> (TL Note: A program on Japan’s NTV where they play Animation related programs every Friday.) to the extent that the tape got damaged.

 Yoshida: At that time you haven’t thought of becoming a Voice Actress right?

 Ucchi: In comparison, actually I had more thoughts of “I want to see Totoro” then. Like going around picking up acorns, using a piece of fuki leaf as an umbrella (TL Note: In the movie, Totoro carried a huge leaf as an umbrella), if I discover a circular hole in a log, I’ll poke my head in to look for small Totoro’s etc.

 When I was fourth grade, <Pokemon> was released, and at that time anime and games were a part of life that appears normally, but after I entered junior high there was a huge shift. Classmates in class would be reading anime magazines, and so I got to know some knowledge related to the subject. Before then I didn’t even know Anime would be broadcast late at night.

In addition, besides what I had read before: <週刊少年ジャンプ/Weekly Shounen Jump>, </なかよしNakayoshi> and <りぼん/Ribon>, I got to know from them that there are other Manga magazines.

 Yoshida: It’s just like knowing that in this world there are companies out there which are like Square Enix… something like that? (TL Note: Square Enix is a Japanese video game developer, publisher, and distribution company. It also has a publishing department which serialises <Saiyuki> and other series under its name.)

 Ucchi: Everyone were watching <Prince of Tennis>, <Bleach>, <ONE PIECE> and related Jump series. At that time I went over to a childhood friend’s house to play, as that child’s mother likes them too, so their home is filled with Manga. I’ll go there every day to read manga, and it was there that I first encountered the series <Saiyuki>(2). It is especially popular among the girls, so I borrowed it to read, I didn’t think it’ll be that interesting, in the end I was totally obsessed with it. With that as the trigger, afterwards I even found out that the project have fan clubs too. I previously knew that Idol Groups have fan clubs, I didn’t think that <Saiyuki>’s anime would have a fan club too, and after joining it you could even attend a meet and greet with the voice actors… My friend said: “I will be going, you come along too”, and just like that I was dragged there too.

 Yoshida: Who were the Voice Actors that attended that event?

 Ucchi: Hoshi Sōichiro、 Ishida Akira、Hirata Hiroaki、Seki Toshihiko, these few. When they entered, the entire place rang with screams of support fit for an idol.

 Yoshida: It definitely would be like how you described it.

 Ucchi: Although I did watch Anime and Manga, but when I actually saw in person a voice actor reading the lines live, I still couldn’t help but feel affected by it. And they really looked like they were one with their characters. Afterwards I borrowed from my friend <Seiyuu Grand prix>, and I started paying attention to the names in the cast list at the end of Anime.

Yoshida: So at that time you started having interest in the career of a Voice Actress?

 Ucchi: In Anime Magazines you’ll be able to read ads on training centres and selections, and I got to know that there were ways to become voice actors, and it’s not like how entertainers/actors would be scouted out by talent scouts out on the streets. As previously, I always thought that voice acting wasn't for ordinary people like us, but is a career only for those who were given that talent by the heavens, so after knowing that one could become a voice actor by studying, it’s the first time that I realized the truth (of the voice actor profession).

 Yoshida: It felt like you were being tied to the world of Voice Actors huh?

 Ucchi: When I was in my third year in junior high, I signed up and joined a selection that was published in <Animage>. If I won first place, I would be able to obtain a chance to study for free at “日ナレ/Nichi Nare” (日本ナレーション演技研究所) (TL Note: It’s a voice actor training school that is owned by Arts Vision Incorporated, many famous VAs studied here). After I passed the local preliminaries, I set off for the Nationals.

 Yoshida: Did you go by yourself?

 Ucchi: I only told my family, and I went by myself to take on the challenge. From there I had to go through the Kanto convention before squeezing into the Nationals, alright?

 Yoshida: That’s amazing! Did you have any acting experience before that?

Ucchi: As at that time I only took part in the children’s local theatre club in my hometown, so I was very surprised at the result. In the end when I finally won at the Kanto Convention, I started to feel: “Eh? Maybe I could do this?”....

 Yoshida: So the final outcome was?

 Ucchi: I wasn’t even in the running for the winner or the runner up, just as I was starting to get depressed, I heard: “This time we’re giving away a special prize,” and my name was read out.

 Yoshida: Oh Oh!!

 Ucchi: But as it was a prize decided in the spur of the moment, so there weren’t any additional prizes for it. Even if I did win an opportunity to be an extra (ガヤ) and the privilege to take part in the recording of an Anime, but at that time no matter what I really wanted to win the chance to study at a voice actor school for free. After the selection was over and as I was interviewed, I even said words like: “I am very resigned that I couldn’t win first place” then.

At the summer vacation before I was promoted to high school, I got notified about the opportunity to take part in a recording as an extra, but at that time I had already clearly said that I will attend a volunteer activity that was organized in town, I was taking younger children to a camp and there were clashes in the time table, so I had to push away the recording session as an extra.

 Yoshida: So that is the project that you were unable to debut from. After attending high school, were there any preparatory works that you did to become a voice actor?

 Ucchi: I had forgotten all about that.

Yoshida: Did you attend a normal high school? (TL Note: There are differences between a vocational based high school and the traditional ones)

 Ucchi: Yep, as the uniforms were very cute. So with this as the deciding factor, none of my friends in high school were from the same junior high as I was. At that time I joined the tea ceremony club, but I didn’t have much passion for it. In comparison, I was even more willing to take part in a volunteer group that had been active for 30 over years in my city, at that time I was very passionate about the activities there. And when I go over, I could meet with my childhood friends from other high schools, I was especially happy. So I totally forgot about all the things related to voice actresses.

​

Additional Notes:

1) Gunma’s special tourism envoy for the entire Gunma Prefecture. Ucchi hosts a FM Radio station in Gunma with the title [うちださんのおうっちー] and [内田彩のおひるのほーむるーむ] - a music program that is centred on Anisong.

 2) Saiyuki: A series created by Minekura Kazuya, it was serialised in <G-Fantasy>(Square Enix). Its characters are very bishounen like, and it makes use of many whacky elements, and as such is hugely popular with girls from junior high onwards. It was first animated on 1999 in an OVA and following which, a TV series and Movie.

 ​Graduation and attending voice actress school

  Yoshida: So from when did you start on the road towards a voice actress again?

 Ucchi: It’s on the eve of graduation; I was looking through the information of many different specialized schools. For the beautician and costume design schools, I heard that there were people who after becoming ‘office ladies’, went to take on jobs as a manicurist or designers. If that was the case, I felt that there isn’t a need to rush to study there. What I wanted was to take on a challenge that I “had to do it now”, so I went to enrol in a specialized school for voice actors. As I didn’t have enough money to live by myself, so I had to take a roughly three hours one way journey from my old home in Gunma to attend school.

 Yoshida: If that’s the case, you surely would have took on many part time jobs right?

 Ucchi: I did take on quite many of them. I don’t need to talk about weekdays, but in the weekends I would also be sent to some events too, talking on a handset and all that.

 Yoshida: Did you know Miyamori Sachiko-san(3) from that specialized school?

 Ucchi: Yes. Our personalities match very well, so we became very good friends.

 Yoshida: Currently the two of you are very active in the industry; it’s really quite an incredible chance that let the two of you meet. So from that, I feel that you would have started taking part in auditions along with taking classes in the specialized school, right?

Ucchi: I didn’t do that… in my first year I had the image of an honest and studious model student; I did my best to get the privilege of having lower school fees. Although I did my best at school, but that didn't mean I could debut, as the moment when I thought I could, I'd be informed that the operation of the specialized schools had failed... I didn’t have a choice but to transfer to another training centre, but that too closed down...

 Yoshida: It never rains but pours huh?

 Ucchi: In the specialized school you could see many different agencies’ recruitment qualifications, and among them there was one company, an agency who was recruiting fresh candidates. That would be JTB Entertainment, and that was also the agency of Ogata Megumi-senpai's (Voice of Ikari Shinji from <Neon Genesis Evangelion>). After seeing the recruitment notice I thought that this agency could be a nice choice.

(TL Note: Ucchi is referring to JTB Entertainment Academy which was founded in 2007 and she was one of the pioneer batches of students)

 Yoshida: Why was that?

 Ucchi: Because I felt that if I entered a big company as I am now, being able to stand out among hundreds of other applicants and being selected by the agency would be quite difficult. Since that was the case, then joining a new agency that's just starting out, thirsty for talent, wouldn't that be an opportunity in its own right? If I couldn’t make it even in that environment, that means that I didn’t even have an ounce of talent in this area, so let’s just forget it.

And since the senior that I admired was in that agency too, as I thought about that I decided: Let’s just go there.

 At that time the teachers in the specialized school did advise me to go for other different kinds of agencies, but in the end I still decided that I wish to go to JTB. And with regards to the “Going to a newly founded agency, it’s really a big gamble.” stuff like that, I turned a deaf ear to them.

 Yoshida: At such a crucial time, you made the decision just by yourself huh?

 Ucchi: It’s because there were children who were younger than I am who were enrolling one by one into the school, I was feeling a little anxious as I thought to myself that: “But I’m starting from zero again, huh?” and also at that time I was putting my all working to earn some money. So I moved to Saitama, and I firmed my resolve to work hard and move towards my goal.

​

 The realization on the live set of <おでんくん/Oden-kun>

  Yoshida: After that you finally debuted right? What was your project debut?

 Ucchi: My debut project was <おでんくん/Oden-kun>.(4) Just by chance this project’s sound director Nagasaki Yukio was invited to JTB to teach, and he approached me whether I could do the voice of a passer-by, so I debuted then. This project gathered Tanaka Naoki of ココリコ Kokoriko (ココリコ Kokoriko is a Japanese Comedy Duo consisting of Endō Shōzō and Tanaka Naoki) and many other individuals who weren’t voice actors all, taking part in it. Everyone were all smiles on site, and as they conversed finished the recording. All of these happened in front of my eyes, it was so fun and so interesting to the extent that I couldn’t help but be all smiles the entire time. But, I wasn’t able to finish my voice acting the way I imagined I could… The professional actors could actually create characters which were so lively and interesting, akin to giving them life. Even the few, who weren’t voice actors, also managed this. It’s because they were actors and actresses who had trained themselves in their own technique that allowed them to be able to make every line from the characters seem so interesting. At that time I thought in my heart that compared to them, I couldn’t grasp the trick of it… I deeply understood the harsh reality of the world of the voice actors. I even started beginning to feel that perhaps I didn’t like performing, I wasn’t sure where my hard work was leading to, and I was a little lost.

 Yoshida: You just started out and encountered such negative thoughts? But after this you did receive another job right?

 Ucchi: Yes, I took part in <Munto>(5) a project by Kyoto Animation. The producer for the <Suzumiya Haruhi> and <Lucky Star> series Itō atsushi-san inquired about me after hearing my voice sample. It was my first time having a role as a semi-permanent character, I was cast as the role of the protagonists’ brother.

 Yoshida: Were you cast as a boy?

 Ucchi: Yes, as a boy called Chikara-kun. And along with Aizawa Mai who was cast as the main protagonist and Shiraishi Minoru we performed together in the Web Radio for this Animation. The recording was once every week, and each performance was only for one or two lines. But I was really happy to be able to participate in this project together as one of the hosts for the radio. But as I wasn’t very used to conversing, I was criticized by Lantis producer Saito Shigeru-sensei to say more. (TL Note: The broadcast’s distributor was Lantis, and the Director was Saito Shigeru) In the broadcast program I was being forced to take part in improvised performances, and there were many scenarios where I had to make up replies on the spot, and that was extremely fun.

 Yoshida: I originally thought that Uchida-san would be the type suited to such types (impromptu performances), it looks like it’s actually more of it being stimulated out of you, huh?

 Ucchi: I accumulated lots of very precious experience indeed.

​

Footnotes:

(3)Miyamori Sachiko (宮森 幸子), current stage name is Miyamori Seira (宮森 セーラ). Her current agency is IKUSHIMA PLANNING INC. She debuted as part of the Idol Seiyuu Group “Baby POP School” as one of its new members (2006). She is currently active in the industry as a VA, in stage plays and advertisements.

 (4) <おでんくん/Oden-kun>, is based of the original concept of the author Lily Franky’s <おでんくん> (Published by Shogakukan Inc.). Since 2005 it was broadcasted on NHK’s educational TV Channel (Currently NHK Educational TV)  as <天才ビットくん/Genius Oden-kun> and subsequently released as <天才てれびくんMAX ビットワールド/Genius Oden-kun MAX Bitworld>.

 (5) <Munto> is a project made by Kyoto Animation. The main character Yumemi Hidaka is a junior high student who is able to see the floating islands in the sky. One day a celestial, MUNTO who claims to come from the heavens appears and tells her: “Please save the two worlds…” Ucchi is cast as the main protagonist's younger brother, Hidaka Chikara-kun. The OVA was broadcasted in 2009.

  The first time being casted as a main character in an original series.

  Yoshida: Afterwards, finally you performed as the main protagonist in <KIDDY GiRL-AND> (6).

 Ucchi: That’s right. This time I was cast as a girl. It is the sequel to an earlier series <Kiddy Grade>, but it didn’t have a base to work with, it was an original project. The characters too were also all new. Previously I was very uneasy, but after finishing the recording for one episode, the original creator rated it as “Straight up suitable”, and so I became more relaxed.

 Yoshida: Who were the producers then?

 Ucchi: This project’s director was Gotoh Keiji, and the sound director was Satō Jun'ichI. I grew up with <Sailor Moon> which was directed by Satō-sensei, so to be able to read lines under his guidance, to me it’s really like I owed something a great favor in some way, it really was just incredible.

 Yoshida: Although one might say that it’s being given a favor, but at a crucial turning point, it was you yourself who made that decision decisively. In that project you released a song for the first time too right?

  Ucchi: Yes. I sang the animation’s opening song, and released a CD. And it is because of this project, that I was able to take part in an event for the first time; and at that time it was my first time wearing the same clothes as the character. It really was a project that allowed me to take in lots of experience.

 Yoshida: Before that you liked fashion, right?

 Ucchi: That’s right. When I was attending the specialized school, there were classes relating to fashion. But at that time the teacher told me: “Uchida already has her own “Uchida World”, so there isn’t much that needed to be taught”. It’s the same for hair styles too; I modelled for a beauty salon at Harujuku. I challenged the Wolf Cut and other advant-garde styles, and there were incidents where I couldn’t take part in auditions due to that. (TL Note: ウルフカット/Wolf cut is a hairstyle where your hair crown is cut circular similar to a mushroom shape, but the back of the hair is cut in slightly thinner layers. As the layer of hair at the back of the nape resembles that of a wolf, it is named as such.)

 Yoshida: So you weren’t able to attend auditions due to problems with your hairstyle?

Ucchi: It seems that those with straight and long black hair, those with the delicate feel would be better. So there would have been incidents like this where due to my own wilfulness I would muck things up.

Yoshida: Just in passing, you paired today’s outfit by yourself too?

 Ucchi: Yes. As it’s an interview by <The Nikkei>, there would be young adult readers, so I tried a combination that’s more relaxing.

​

 (6) <KIDDY GiRL-AND> Is original animation set in a sci-fi world in the future where human beings had colonised space and is the sequel to <Kiddy Grade>. Uchida-san was casted as the protagonist Ascoeur. This Animation ran from 2009-2010.

 ​

The possibilities of <LoveLive!>

 Yoshida: Your encounter with <LoveLive!>, it was after <KIDDY GiRL-AND> ended right?

 Ucchi: Yes. I had been under the care of Lantis’s producer Saito Shigeru-sensei before, as I had this layer of relationship it led to me talking with him about the <LoveLive!> project, finally I was given the chance to appear in it. And before that during <KiDDY GiRL-AND> I had experience singing.

 Yoshida: From right at the beginning did you know that this project would be releasing an animation?

 Ucchi: It’s not like that, at the beginning there was only one proposal plan. I had gotten and finished reading a file that had the contents of: “The Minami Kotori that Uchida-san would be performing as would be like this”, but at that time I already felt that this proposal was very interesting. I originally did really like AKB48, and had gone to the AKB theatre at the Don Quijote Akihabara Outlet. (TL Note: There is an AKB theatre on the 8th floor of the Don Quijote Akihabara Outlet.)

 Yoshida: Did you go there to see a performance too?

 Ucchi: I did. During the early days, girls just need to spend 500 yen and they can watch one performance.

 Yoshida: That was the time where they (AKB48) started being well known right?

 Ucchi: On the streets there were trucks driving around which were printed with “AKB48”. I felt curious, so I went with my close friends, in the end after watching one performance I was in idol hell sank so deep that I couldn’t extract myself free…even if it was just the performance itself, it was terrific. No matter the outfit or the dance were very cute. So after receiving this project <LoveLive!>, rather say that I wish to be an idol, why not say that the fact that I was being able to be casted as an idol that made me especially happy.

 Yoshida: You really like idols huh, after performing as an idol anime character, you caused explosive repercussions in society didn’t you?

 Ucchi: It was like that, yes.  But from the beginning the staffs has been very optimistic. At the time when they were first selling the PV, it gave a feel like the girls really existed. They blurred the names of the voice actresses, and they stopped me from releasing news that (I was a voice actress in this program.) But at the start only slightly more than 400 CDs were sold.

 Yoshida: Indeed...

 Ucchi: Afterwards it was revealed at <Dengeki G’s Magazine> (7). I was very happy to be able to take part in a planned project of this particular magazine. (Previously serialized in this magazine) <Sister Princess> is a project that I have always followed since junior high, the first item I bought from Animate was also one of its side-goods.

 I had to take part in a project called <Baby Princess> in almost the same period as <LoveLive!>. When I met Kimino Sakurako-sensei when I was working there, I even implored her to sign an autograph for me. So, if <LoveLive!> was a project that is planned to be serialized in the hands of Kimino Sakurako-sensei, it definitely would be especially interesting! At the very beginning I had a very different expectation about it,

 Ucchi: When <LoveLive!> held it’s very first event, I didn’t know how many individuals would attend, I was extremely uneasy. At the end I heard that the all 80 seats of the event grounds were all filled up, it really shocked me. At that time, I even said words like: “For the people who attended this event here today, I will work hard so they would be able to say in the future that “I was one of the people who had attended this event!”..

Yoshida: And you went to perform at Tokyo Dome, so that is really incredible. But, it’s not just performing for the voices, even you yourself would have to sing and dance right?

 Ucchi: Yes, but I guess it does suit me, right? As I had liked AKB48 before after all. Kotori-chan belongs to a type that has lots of girlish charm, so I looked at AKB48 member Kojima Haruna-chan and used her as a reference. But rather perform by myself on the stage, in the end creating a character through performing turns out to be more fun.

 Yoshida: Whether it’s performing a character, or as an idol you seem to enjoy it both. So naturally the sense of your distance between you and your projects was unusually good right? Speaking of which, your music activities could be called smooth sailing too. After debuting as a singer for just two years, you have already released 4 albums; it really makes one feel at awe. And finally, you will be performing a concert at Nippon Budokan.

 Ucchi: I, right at the start didn’t want to debut as a singer at all.

 Yoshida: And why is that?

 Ucchi: Having a solo event with the name “Uchida Aya”, it makes me feel that it’s unsophisticated/dumpy. I have always been grumbling about how “It could clearly be part of a group or as a member of a band, right?” even till the end. But when I recovered my wits, I discovered that the die was cast.

​

Footnote:

(7) Dengeki G’s Magazine, the first issue was released at 1992, published under ASCII Mediaworks under Kadokawa Dwango Corporation’s Umbrella. It is a magazine that focuses on news for Anime and Games. <LoveLive!>’s manga started serializing here, <Sister Princess> and subsequently <Baby Princess> which Uchida-san took part in are both original projects headed and designed by novelist Kimino Sakurako. Kimino Sakurako herself is part of <LoveLive!> as well.

 ​

Increasing comrades during music activities

 Yoshida: The Album Company is ZERO-A huh? Having a producer like Kudo Tomomi, she can be said to be one of the leading individuals in the industry and everyone knows her. So for Kudo-san to select Uchida-san from the entire group of voice actresses from <LoveLive!>, I find it very fitting, and very interesting.

 Ucchi: Ah well, I have started activities without even realizing it. From my first meeting with the staff, the time frame between the first album and the second album was especially quick too… I have released 4 albums so far, but single record releases are still zero. And there haven’t been any tie-up projects. (Correct up till August 2016)

 Yoshida: Even without a tie-up, you still managed to surge all the way up the Oricon charts right? That’s very amazing! Even if you have results like these, are you still nursing an attitude of unwillingness?

 Ucchi: Yep. I’m not really creating music by myself, I’m just simply singing after all. It’s like all the products were stuck with the label of “Uchida Aya”. Would that cause problems for my image? I really worried about it a great deal, I even cried because of it.

 Yoshida: But, looking at it now, you’ll discover that regardless of those worries, haven’t the audiences accompanied Uchida-san all the way up till now?

 Ucchi: I’m an individual who before doing things is extremely cautious and prudent. But once I actually started doing it, no matter what the result is, I’ll always be happy. With Kudo-san as the leader, the entire staff organized itself to be a very spectacular team; I really hope to let them enjoy being a part of it too.

 Yoshida: Preparing with an attitude of pessimism but when actually doing it, meeting it with optimism huh?

 Ucchi: That’s right. When I’m with <LoveLive!>, as I’m one among many in the group, it should be okay if I do my part right; but in an individual event, one would have to take everything into consideration. The staff members have put in lots due to me, so I feel that I myself have to work hard too. But from the results, by the time I recovered my wits I already have comrades with me.

 Yoshida: In summary it feels like a private firm where the people around you had forced you to the position of president...

 Ucchi: You might have hit the nail on the head. It’s like I received an assessment of “Osh, President! You singing was great.”, “Then I will sing a little then.” - like that. If one isn’t careful, perhaps there would be a feel that I’m being forced to sing (laughs).

 Yoshida: You have the credentials to be a president alright? Those who become presidents are those who are fighting for many individuals, and as you can make the final decision yourself, you have to combine both perseverance and determination.

 Ucchi: Thank you for your praise. First of all I have to work hard to prepare for the live at the Budokan (Happening on August 2016).

 Footnote:

(8)ZERO-A Corporation is a company that was specially set up specially for Anime Music and the Voice Actor market. Besides Uchida Aya, the producer Kudo Tomomi is also in charge of the seiyuu team “petit milady” comprising of Yuuki Aoi and Taketatsu Ayana.