SOS Voice Actor Discussion and Appreciation

[Noppapana]

she sure looks thin in that pic
damn those lucky japanese .....
*cries in the corner*

[FatPianoBoy]

She looks too thin, you mean. I'd be concerned about her health and consider the possibility of *gasp* an eating disorder

[Question]

Am i the only one who thinks that Kunikida sounds exactly like Haruhi from Ouran Host Club? Its like they have the same seiyuu speaking in the same style.

[eggplant]

Went to the Wonder Festival Winter 07 today, and among many things, saw the Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu stage featuring Chihara Minori (Minorin, who voiced Yuki).

The show started off with her singing Yuki's SHnY character song Yuki, Muon, Madobe Nite. Although this event was dubbed as a SHnY one, Minorin was dressed normally, which dampened the mood, but then again, I suppose it would be asking too much for her to cosplay as Yuki (although I'm looking forward for everybody to dress accordingly for the March 18th concert).

Since the Wonder Festival is a trade show dealing with figurines, the stage commemorated the release of the figurines for the SHnY girls, which Minorin was quite impressed with the finished product. She requested a figurine of her real-life self, to which Magnum Watanabe, president of Max Factory, complied (I remember Hirano Aya asking him the same thing last summer).

Hm, no wonder Minorin was in street clothes. She then proceeded to sing her latest single Junpaku Sanctuary and its coupling song Peace of mind ~Ningyo no Sasayaki~. It seems like Minorin is getting better and better at singing, and her looks are improving everytime I see her.

What was disappointing was that Minorin didn't sing the Yuki version of Hare Hare Yukai, something I'm sure the people attending the event were expecting.

This event, being a 30 minute stage showcasing figurines, it was more than obvious no announcements regarding the second season of SHnY was made, something I'm confident will take place either during the March 18th concert or at the Tokyo Anime Fair on the 25th (which I'm going to both and will report as well).

On a completely off-topic note (not that there was any appropriate thread to discuss it), the stage featuring the new figurine+drama cd+configuration book title Shuraki looked impressive, something that's bound to be animated in the future. I received a complimentary promotion CD containing a short version of the songs by the main characters played by Koshimizu Ami (Nadja, Nina in Mai-Otome, Tenko in Kamisama Kazoku, Karen on Code Geass) and Iizuka Mayumi (Kasumi=Misty in Pokemon, Makoto in Kanon).
By clicking, you can listen to the respective songs End of the Destiny and Kakegaenai Mono..

[Kaoru Chujo]

Thanks, eggplant, for the report from Wonder Festival. I remember seeing some pics of Minorin all alone with her guitar singing on the street about a year ago. Your comment about her looking better every time you see her tallies with what I see in photos. Quietly, quietly, she climbs the ladder. I first noticed her in Lemon Angel Project one year ago, with that foreign voice she herself described in an interview as hard to do.

I really look forward to your report from the big show on the 18th. Aaya has been posting pics of herself practicing the guitar....

[Noppapana]

wanna guess who the kanon cosplayer is ?
the first who guessed it, gets a cookie from me

[Dagger]

It says Tomokazu Sugita's name on the picture, so...

[FatPianoBoy]

Originally Posted by Magus IX

It says Tomokazu Sugita's name on the picture, so...

Beat me to it

[Samatarou]

You know, he looks just like Aya in that pic.....

[Skane]

Okay... that was just traumatising.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Photos from last Wednesday's rehearsal/costume fitting for the Suzumiya Haruhi live event later this week. Hirano Aya in aqua, Chihara Minori in purple shirt, Sugita Tomokazu in black. Possibly Ono Daisuke in jeans and Gotouza-sama a la meido:



Photos from Akiba Blog. Faces obscured because it's an unofficial shot.

Here are some shots from Aya's blog: (l-r) Aya ready for rehearsal, rehearsal hall Saturday, Aya tired out from rehearsing, Aya with stomach medicine:



Of course everyone expects they're going to announce the new Suzumiya Haruhi season at the event, probably for the fall.

[Noppapana]

i still dont understand why kind of show they are going to perform
is it a dance , singing or talk show ?

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Noppapana

i still dont understand why kind of show they are going to perform. is it a dance , singing or talk show?

All of the above, I believe. It will likely have dance and music production numbers, skits, and talk. It's going to last 2-3 hours or so and will be in a hall that holds 2500 people. Almost the entire main cast -- ten people or so in total -- will be involved, along with musicians.

They're going to do a live version of Hare Hare Yukai, it is reported, and I expect they will also do God Knows, with Aya and Chihara Minori playing guitar.

For a Galaxy Angelune show in February, Aya and the five or so other members of that cast did several music/dance numbers, both separately and together. You can see some of that by searching YouTube for "galaxy angel-tai". Too many members of that cast couldn't stay on key, however, so it was sometimes painful. Not that the assembled otaku seemed to mind. I enjoyed the happy atmosphere in the hall. We do know that Aya, Sugita, Minorin and Gotouza-sama can all sing on key. And I expect the Suzumiya Haruhi show will have a somewhat more collected atmosphere than the zany Galaxy Angel style.

[Kaoru Chujo]

The show is later today (Sunday) and there is a busy thread on 2channel where people are discussing it. For anyone who reads Japanese, the thread is here. When this thread is filled (it is already the 18th on the topic, a total of over 17,000 posts, and posts are showing up every few seconds), a link to the new thread will be posted in the current thread.

Hirano Aya just posted a picture of a little bell she got in Bali (recent photo-shoot there) and had tied to her cell-phone. She was in the train going to the event and the bell fell off, and she was trying to figure out what kind of omen that was.



This is supposedly a photo of boards in the lobby with messages from the performers.

Here is a pic of a Haruhi hand-puppet being sold on the way to the venue.

The line-up waiting to get in.

One post shows a photo of the display at the venue, saying that doors will open at 3 pm (a few minutes ago), the show will start at 4, and will go to 8 pm.

Photo inside the hall.

[eggplant]

I just came back from the Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou Live Event held at the Omiya Sonic Center(capacity 2,500 seats) in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo.

Aside from the Animelo Summer Ride Outride concert held last summer, where the three Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (SHnY) protagonists appeared as a guest artist, this was the first SHnY based public event. The hype for this one time concert was astounding from the time of its announcement, where thousands of desperate people clamored frantically for tickets, making it a premium item on Yahoo! Auctions. I was fortunate enough to procure one ticket online, listening to the SHnY songs as well as practicing the Hare Hare Yukai choreography from the ending clip from DVD Vol. 7.

The gate for today's event opened from 3 PM, but the souvenir vendors were open from 12 noon, and available to the public. I purchased a program of today's event (cover below), but hordes of people who buying up everything from T-shirts to figurines.


The curtain raised at 4PM, where the first half of the event was a talk session with the cast. Today's MC was Shiraishi Minoru, who played Taniguchi, and Mastumoto Megumi, who played Kunikida. All of the important cast members were present, where the three men, Taniguchi, Sugita Tomokazu (Kyon), and Ono Daisuke (Koizumi) were in charge of the slapstick comedy.

The first corner consisted of looking back at each character's best moments. Director Ishihara Tatsuya and Character Designer/ Animation Director Ikeda Shouko participated as guests, where Ishihara selected each character's best scenes from SHnY. Here's a brief summary:
Kyon: Ponytail moe
Suzumiya Haruhi: Self introduction speech; "God knows..." stage
Asahina Mikuru: The Adventures of Asahina Mikuru; baseball fielding practice
Nagato Yuki: Battle scene with Asakura Ryouko; PC mouse and typing scene
Koizumi Itsuki: Battle with insect; battle with the Shinjin
Tsuruya: Laughing scene in ep. 1 (ep. 00); maid cafe scene
Asakura Ryouko: Taniguchi and Kunikida's comments on how impeccable she is (Bloomers scene); Battle with Yuki
Kimidori Emiri: Consultation scene with Haruhi
Kyon's Sister: Loli in a bag; scene with Shamisen (Ishihara was booed by the fans for not selecting the scissors scene)
Taniguchi: Falling into the pond with Mikuru; imposing on Kyon and Yuki's suggestive scene
Kunikida: Explaining Haruhi's eccentricity to Kyon

The next corner consisted of a short play, in which there was no substantial plot, where the guys were dropping references such as Dragon Quest, Ojamajo Doremi, and Hikaru no Go. The highlight scene was when the SOS Brigade members played their randomly selected instruments, churning out nothing but noise.

After a 30 minute intermission, the second half was the live stage, the set list consisting of:
1. Koi no Mikuru Densetsu (Asahina Mikuru)
2. Bouken Desho Desho? (Hirano Aya)
3. Kazeyomi Ribbon (")
4. Yuki, Muon, Madobe nite. (Nagato Yuki)
5. SELECT? (")
6. Parallel Days (Suzumiya Haruhi)
7. Mitsukete Happy Life (Asahina Mikuru)
8. Seishun Iijanaika (Tsuruya-san)
9. COOL EDITION (Asakura Ryouko)
10. God knows... (Suzumiya Haruhi)
11. Lost my music (")
12. Magare↓Spectacle (Koizumi Itsuki)
13. Kentai Life Returns! (Kyon)
14. Saikyou Pare Parade (Hirano Aya, Chihara Minori, Gotou Yuuko)
15. Welcome UNKNOWN (")
16. Hare Hare Yukai (")
Encore. Hare Hare Yukai (TV Version) (SOS Dan)

Some notable scenes worth mentioning:
Gotou Yuuko was fully dressed in her Mikuru maid outfit (this was the fourth time I saw her this year, and she gets better each time).
"God Knows..." and "Lost my music" was played with a live band (ENOZ), with Hirano Aya playing guitar.
Aya was dancing pretty aggressively, considering her skimpy attire. I think the DVD will cut out the flashing her pantsu scenes (for my eyes only).
Aya sang background vocals on Kyon's song.
Kimidori Emiri and Kyon's Sister did not sing (Boo!).
Kuwatani Natsuko (Asakura Ryouko) practiced "Koyubi de Gyu!" in vain, because she was told to perform COOL EDITION only a week before.
Everybody was dancing and moving, a lot of hard work involved.
Aya broke down in tears at the ending, she was really moved.

All in all, a worthwhile and enjoyable 4 hours of pure Haruhi fun. I am priviledged to be able to witness this commemorative event first hand, but this will be sold on DVD subsequently, so Haruhi fans all over the world will be able to experience the same feeling.

Unfortunately, no announcement about a second season was made, although I'm not dismissing the possibility of some kind of news at next week's Tokyo Anime Fair.

[milKirbi]

Do anyone know where do this pic. come from?

i want a higher resolution and more in this dressing (if there are)

[Mitheor]

Any photos/videos of the event?

[Joojoobees]

Originally Posted by eggplant

All in all, a worthwhile and enjoyable 4 hours of pure Haruhi fun. I am priviledged to be able to witness this commemorative event first hand, but this will be sold on DVD subsequently, so Haruhi fans all over the world will be able to experience the same feeling.

Unfortunately, no announcement about a second season was made, although I'm not dismissing the possibility of some kind of news at next week's Tokyo Anime Fair.

Thank you for this information! I have been waiting for a report on this event for what seems like forever. I'm glad to hear the details of the festivities, since I couldn't be there to witness it in person.

Damned shame about there being no 2nd season announcement, though. I was really hoping that there would be one.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Thanks, eggplant! Great description. You said you'd report, and you did it within hours of the event. Many thanks.

What you say certainly tallies with what's being written on 2channel. Most people seem to have loved the show (and loved those glimpses of Aya's pants - she knows what she's doing). One blogger said it was the best event he'd ever been at. Another said it was great and rated it an 85. Some people found the first half less interesting, some people found it hilarious. In her blog, Chihara Minori talked about being on stage as silent Yuki trying not to laugh at Ono Daisuke and Sugita Tomokazu's ad libs.

One person felt Aya tried too hard in her singing. Someone else thought it was great she had turned from being a poor singer to a good rocker. Personally, I like her singing better when it's more melodic. How was her guitar-playing?

I haven't seen any photos of the event itself yet. It appears people were told not to shoot it and they didn't. But there are some fan-made recordings around. And here are a few shots from backstage or before the event:



(l-r) Aoki Sayaka (Kyon's sister) and Matsuoka Yuki (Tsuruya-san, and also doing a great job as Setsuna in Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora); Minorin, Aaya, and Gotouza-sama; Sugita Tomokazu in costume; Ono Daisuke (Itsuki) and Sugita; sign saying: "Don't use this toilet!"

And milKirbi, there are a number of shots from that photo session around, but I haven't yet seen any as big as the one you posted. I believe they were taken for the "Love Megane" (megane=eyeglasses) feature in Seiyuu Grand Prix magazine. There is a poster of Aya from that session in the March edition.

EDIT: I just noticed that Chihara Minori was the vocalist in a good insert song in today's episode of Manabi Straight (ep11), in which she does not appear except as the band leader at a school festival concert, in a scene clearly referring to SHnY.

[Noppapana]

the fans sure were obedient about not taking pictures
but i think its a matter of time till someone put a film on internet about the show

apparently someone recorded the whole show on mp3
http://shana.imouto.org/haruhi/