Hanasaku Iroha - Voice Actor Appreciation & Discussion

[Daniel E.]

The purpose of this thread is to discuss, critique and idolize the Voice Actor cast of Hanasaku Iroha. Please remember that the discussion should center on their performances as professional voice actors and not on the show content (which can be discussed in the various Episode threads). Please remember this simple rule when critiquing a VA's performance or reading another forum member's critique:

• Don't take it personally.
  In other words, you’re free to disagree with another person’s opinion, but don’t flame them if they offer a well written and well thought out analysis that differs from your own opinion. Keep it civil.
  
  
• Voice Actors are human.
  Yes, it’s true. They’re human. Therefore, don’t just indiscriminately rip them and their work apart as if they’re inorganic objects. You don’t have to praise them non-stop, but be thoughtful in your criticism.

This thread might duplicate some discussion in the Episode threads, but it can also serve to demystify various VA roles, disseminate VA information (VA Bios, VA photos, etc) and provide cast information of various types as well as discussion about performances.

[Peanutbutter]

Itou Kanae for Best Actress for the role as Ohana.

I'll call it here first!

Initially, I felt Toyosaki Aki was a rather weird choice as Nako, but ep 3 and 4 shows her worthiness to the role.

Tomatsu Haruka's fake Kansai hurts my ears. Hope she doesn't go on that in future episodes.

P.S: Is it now customary they'll put a few of Sphere members in an anime but never all 4 of them?

[Pellissier]

Originally Posted by Peanutbutter003

P.S: Is it now customary they'll put a few of Sphere members in an anime but never all 4 of them?

It's kind of a trend, yeah. However all four of them were in Asobi ni Iku yo! (a bit stretched because while Haruka played a primary character and Aki & Minako two secondary characters, Ayahi dubbed a girl who appeared just a few minutes in the whole series). In that series Sphere sung the OP.

I'm also impressed by Aki's rendition of Nako's character.

[LiuXuande]

I love Aki's Nako... I almost feel like the main seiyuu of this show are trolling us by sharing secrets and borrowing each others' styles because she almost has the Noto Mamiko thing going on.

And I don't know what you're talking about, I absolutely loved Tomatsu Haruka's fake Kansai, I literally flipped out and fell out of my chair. True story

But definitely Itou Kanae is the star, it's a wonderful role for her.

[frubam]

I can't say I'm enthralled with Chiomi doing Minko's voice too much. I especially hate the "shiinei"/"balut"/die line =0<. Clearly it is because I am used to her doing roles like NnA's Jun and Soremachi's Hotori rather than more serious chars like Minko. I think her voice is more fitting for roles that are more comical, since she uses a voice range(like when she's shrilling) that made me enamored with her voice in the first place. A good example is the end of ep 4, when she's choking Ohana. I how I do love that shrilling yell =03. That being said, I still think I would prefer her to branch out and do other types of roles aside from just one type of char though(*coughcoughkugiyamacoughcough*).

[Kanon]

Itou Kanae is simply incredible in this anime. I've always loved her voice, but I was never really a big fan of her... until now. Her energetic performance brings so much life to Ohana.

Toyosaki and Tomatsu are perfect as usual. Tomatsu Haruka in particular is highly enjoyable here.

Omigawa Chika grates my ears as usual... not a bad choice for Minko though. Her voice fits her personality.

[tezu]

Tomatsu Haruka is amazing, I really loved her as Yuina so far (first the fake dialects and then "Oooo---baaa-----chaaa-aaaa--aan") xD I also like listening to Noto Mamiko as Tomoe ~ It's such a nice change compared to her role as Sadako in KnT.

I have mixed feelings about Omigawa Chiaki. Is it just me or does her voice get more high-pitched with every episode? In the beginning, Minko's voice was rather deep (as in "SHI-NE!"), then her voice would occassionally sound squeaky ("Balut!") and in episode 05, it sounded as if her vocal range had increased by an octave ("Tooru-san is so kind blahblah")

[frubam]

Originally Posted by Kana

Omigawa Chika grates my ears as usual... not a bad choice for Minko though. Her voice fits her personality.

When you said her voice fits her personality, that provoked me to look up a video since you could've been referring to Minko's or Chiomi's personality. I assumed Minko's, but I looked it up anyway.

Her natural voice is SO soft and cute =03! I still like her 'grating' voice better though . Hard to see that 'grating' voice coming from a natural voice like that.

[Pellissier]

I'm certainly biased when it comes to my favourite seiyuu, but Tomatsu Haruka is yet again adding a new archetype to her resume. Fake accents, genki attitude, o--ba--chaa--n , and she has had like 2 minutes of screentime in 5 episodes

Originally Posted by Kanon

Itou Kanae is simply incredible in this anime. I've always loved her voice, but I was never really a big fan of her... until now. Her energetic performance brings so much life to Ohana.

Have you seen "Sora no Manimani"? Because Itou Kanae's performance as Miyoshi there (the same energy of a cannonball actually ) was even more energetic than here as Ohana.

Originally Posted by frubam

Her natural voice is SO soft and cute =03!

Is that really her natural voice? Wouldn't have guessed that, I figured it could have been something between Soul Eater's Maaka and Seitokai Yakuindomo's Mitsuba.

Anyway, she used that sweet tender voice once in anime dubbing, as Nazuna in Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu.

[Decagon]

Originally Posted by frubam

Her natural voice is SO soft and cute =03! I still like her 'grating' voice better though . Hard to see that 'grating' voice coming from a natural voice like that.

Hearing that makes me wonder if she uses her natural voice for voice acting and an acting voice for her natural voice... did not expect that at all.

[frubam]

Originally Posted by Pellissier

Is that really her natural voice? Wouldn't have guessed that, I figured it could have been something between Soul Eater's Maaka and Seitokai Yakuindomo's Mitsuba.

AH, it may not be. I must have just been lucky by finding the first couple of videos of her having a soft voice. This sounds soft at times, but still more like her normal voices compared to the one above. Then again, she could have been emulating her character from SYD in those times.


To be honest, I just can't tell .

[Haak]

Itou Kanae is just awesome. I love her sweet melody-like voice. Probably my favourite.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by frubam

When you said her voice fits her personality, that provoked me to look up a video since you could've been referring to Minko's or Chiomi's personality. I assumed Minko's, but I looked it up anyway.

Her natural voice is SO soft and cute =03! I still like her 'grating' voice better though . Hard to see that 'grating' voice coming from a natural voice like that.

Yep, I was talking about Minko. Chiaki seems like a sweet person, but I'm afraid I have no idea her true personality is like

And indeed, her natural voice is very cute. It's a shame she rarely gets the opportunity to use it for work. They always cast her for her "grating" voice, though there was an exception once (she sounded so cute as Nazuna in Hidamari).

Originally Posted by Pellissier

Have you seen "Sora no Manimani"? Because Itou Kanae's performance as Miyoshi there (the same energy of a cannonball actually ) was even more energetic than here as Ohana.

Nope, haven't seen it. I might have become a fan of hers sooner if I had. She sounds so amazing as Ohana. Just hearing her bring a smile to my face.

[matteas]

I really like Itou Kanae's performance as Ohana. She was quite good as Saten in Toaru, I like her as Elsee, but this is by far her best performance, in my opinion. However, nothing can beat Aki's Nako. I am quite biased when it comes to Aki, but she really is great.

Tomatsu Haruka as Yuina is highly enjoyable too. Her accent faking is awesome.

By the way, today I've finally managed to get through to Kissui Inn phone line. It's not easy to get through as it's always busy - people are most likely calling there like crazy - so I tried it today when it was 4 AM in Japan and luckily got through at the third attempt. Hearing Aki's voice from the phone really made my day.

[Rei.K]

Originally Posted by Azuma Denton

Haruka Tomatsu speaking Kansai-ben is kinda weird to me...

Speaking of Haruka, who thinks she's an amazing seiyuu ?
She seems to be quite good at changing how her voice sounds. Although I know a few others can do it well too - Fumiko Orikasa's performance in Bleach comes to mind for instance - I'm always amazed at this.
I'm usually good at remembering people's voices, but Haruka managed to fool me when I realized she had voiced Manami from Asobi ni Iku Yo! at the time I was watching Star Driver in which she also voices Sakana-chan and thus sings the amazing Monochrome insert song.



Anybody watched those ?

... I certainly wouldn't have been able to recognize her unless told so.
Spotting Kanae Itô (who did Eris from Asobi) as soon as Ohana opened her mouth was no problem for me though. But Haruka is a different story.

Changing your voice when voicing a character is one thing, but she also seems to be able to change it drastically when singing, too.

Compare her performance in Asobi's 2nd ED and Monochrome, as well as HanaIro's if you will :


link 1 & 2 removed by Mod (no links to full songs videos)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwKvQaZIHLA

I actually still have trouble telling myself that's the same person even after listening to the songs one after the other, lol.

[Pellissier]

Originally Posted by Rei.K

Speaking of Haruka, who thinks she's an amazing seiyuu ?

Count me in, as I've already said in several occasions she's by far my favourite seiyuu since 2 years ago (starting by her role as Aoba in Cross Game). Although I do find her voice fairly recognizable. I watched the first episode of Star Driver, and in that scene where her character first appeared and whispered, I said "that's Haruka" (didn't even know she was in that show). The only time she would have probably fooled me has been in Geijutsuka, but in that case I knew it was her beforehand.

On a side note, I've moved your post here from the Yuina thread, since it's about seiyuu.

[Rei.K]

Thanks, I actually wasn't aware there was a voice actor appreciation thread.

Originally Posted by Pellissier

Although I do find her voice fairly recognizable. I watched the first episode of Star Driver, and in that scene where her character first appeared and whispered, I said "that's Haruka" (didn't even know she was in that show)

Maybe the voice she uses in Star Driver and Hanasaku Iroha is the closest to her natural voice ? She does sound a bit similar in both ... I have a harder time with her performance as Manami in Asobi, though. That's probably because she used a much more boyish voice I guess

[Pellissier]

Originally Posted by Rei.K

Maybe the voice she uses in Star Driver and Hanasaku Iroha is the closest to her natural voice ? She does sound a bit similar in both ... I have a harder time with her performance as Manami in Asobi, though. That's probably because she used a much more boyish voice I guess

Hmm.. If I have to answer based on the various interviews I've heard her voice would be closer to Manami than Yuina, by a long shot too. She tends to be the charismatic and energetic type in real life, or so it appears from the tv registrations.

Anyway the Hanasaku Iroha ED is not sung by Haruka alone, it's sung by Sphere, a group including her, and what we hear in that minute and a half is mostly a chorus.

[Rei.K]

Yeah, they also did the OP for Asobi.

If her real voice is closer to Manami's, then props to her because that means she alters it a lot in Star Driver and HanaIro.
That's just awesome.

[Pellissier]

Originally Posted by Rei.K

If her real voice is closer to Manami's, then props to her because that means she alters it a lot in Star Driver and HanaIro.

You may want to check her roles as:

- Marui Hitoha in Mitsudomoe
- Kisaragi Yamaguchi in Geijutsuka: Art Design Class
- Nagi in Kannagi
- Hedyeh in Ladies Versus Butlers!
- Lala in To-love-ru
- Msyu (Masyu) in [C] - The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

to see how much her mileage (or voice range in this case) may vary.