[Kaoru Chujo]

Spoiler for ep1:

Pretty good start. Hayate and Getsumen To Heiki Miina meet Lucky Star. The pace and easy comic timing of director Kawaguchi Keiichirou, a manga with pop culture references to work from, and a few hints of Lucky Star, such as Hirano Aya doing Kaoru as a high-energy version of Konata. I admired Hayate, but the humor wasn't really my style and I gave it up after a few eps. I loved Lucky Star, but this is nowhere near as deep, at least so far.

As for Hirano, I'm not sure. The steam-whistle voice is not my favorite, but it's clearly what she and the director decided on, and what it does have is irresistible force, augmenting Kawaguchi's urgent rhythms. On 2channel, some people say that Hirano's voice sounds out of place, and some people say it is the only interesting voice in the show. I think they are describing the same thing, except that some people like the good but rather bland work of Shiraishi Ryouko and Tomatsu Haruka, and some like Hirano's take-no-prisoners excess.

hi no ken jebus complained about Kaoru sounding too "saccharine and high-pitched," and said she was "obviously a tomboy character" and should be played that way, but in an interview, the mangaka has said that she is both a "mischievous princess" and "a young tomboy monster princess who is the future beautiful and charismatic queen of the demons," and that although she's rather masculine, he wanted her voice to be feminine. He also wrote that she is a complex character, a comedienne who gives an impression that she could grow up to be involved in some romantic tragedy. Hirano was his first choice for the role, and he had confidence that she would handle it. I hope he still feels the same way. My impression was that this may be a case of a tsundere who is all tsuntsun for the first few episodes and only gradually becomes more dere, as part of the movement of the show. We'll see.

As for the OP and ED, I loved them both, especially the singing. I don't believe I have ever heard better singing from a seiyuu group. Both were at least as good as Kotoko's final OP for Hayate (which I watched a bit of for comparison). The ED comes out as a single late in May, and the OP late in June.

Kaioshin: Are you sure about that idea that Hirano's popularity "in the West" is based on that voice-switching parlor trick? It was one of the things that helped bring her to the attention of a wider Japanese audience, however, I will agree. And I've skimmed 2channel, and to me the opinion seems pretty well split between the anti-Hirano forces who hate her work and people who think she did a great job. My own opinion isn't so clear, as I wrote in the spoiler. As for the substance of your criticism (over-sold, etc.), I think it's a reasonable point of view in general, just something I personally think is made up for by other aspects of her work, such as inventiveness and power. One thing I'll say about her performance here: there's no way you can ignore it, lol. It does bother me when you post criticisms before you've actually watched an episode, but I doubt watching it will change your opinion. Anyway, there's some top-notch "lolis kicking ass."