SOS Voice Actor Discussion and Appreciation

[dodgethis_sg]

Originally Posted by Animexcel

right, I made physical contact with her. xD

NERD RAGE NOW OVER 9000.

[Simon]

The live DVD Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou went on sale today, and judging by the queue at Animate Ikebukuro it's off to a good start. I got there a bit after 11am (i.e. about five hours ago), to find people lined up right around the DVD floor and out onto the stairs. Admittedly they weren't all buying SHnG (Lucky Star V2 was also much in evidence, and I heard one bemused customer asking a staff member what the special occasion was), but still it was flying off the shelves pretty fast. I'll be interested to see the official first-day sales figures.

Animate were giving out a nice 24-page glossy photo booklet with each purchase, so I'm kind of glad now that Amazon wouldn't let me order this DVD

On a side note, the live event has taken on special significance thanks to Lucky Star ep15 - I spent yesterday in Omiya taking photos of the street locations they showed before and after the concert. Now I just have to wait until I get back home next week to watch it for myself...

[Kaoru Chujo]

Thanks for the report, Simon. I'll add this link to a piece on Akiba Kakaku with pics of the line-up at Animate in Akihabara on Thursday, when a couple of hundred people were lined up to buy a copy of the new Hirano Aya gravure book that went on sale at 11am. Anyone who bought a copy got a chance for a place in the autograph session with her on Saturday. One blogger posted a photo of the ten copies he bought. Other people bought up to a couple of hundred, clearly with the idea of reselling them. Photo book -- Lucky Star v2 -- SH no Gekisou: quite a weekend. And we (I mean you) were there.

[moyism]

4 hours of awesomeness is the best way I can describe the live concert DVD!

I am, however, a little disappointed in no extras after being spoiled with the Haruhi R2 DVDs. And yea... I spotted er... blue/aqua on Aya during the Hare Hare dance ^^;;

[Kaoru Chujo]

I'm biased, I know, but the Gekisou DVD is just fabulous entertainment. Especially Aya, who has a lot to give and seems to give it all. Chihara Minori has the best voice -- her first number was wonderful -- but Aya can really move and gets things rocking, in her bold "at the edge of my abilities" style. And with her tight T-shirt that read "Did You Cum Twice, Too?" And with her highly abbreviated skirt in the numbers with Minorin and Gotuuza-sama. And with her uncontrolled weeping at the end.

The audience was another star. Boy, were they having a good time, with their light-sticks and their chanting and their heartfelt roars of approval, like at the end of Aya's Bouken Desho Desho, or when the women rose up from below the stage for Hare Hare Yukai, or after Aya had thanked them through her tears.

The numbers I liked best, in addition to Hare Hare Yukai, which was the climax of the show, were Aya's solo numbers in the concert segment, including God Knows and Lost My Music. She played rhythm guitar, but her playing couldn't really be separated from the playing of the band behind her, which had its own rhythm guitar. She looks good playing, though, lol.

Actually, I think my favorite bits were any close-ups of her face, and the times she spoke with the crowd. Especially when she was more-or-less unscripted, like when her guitar pick broke and her dress strap came off. Or when she tried to hit Sugita for mentioning that she was crying. So sue me.

I thought the DVD was put together simply but very well, with what looked like at least three cameras: in the middle of the hall, off to one side nearer the stage, and on a track that passed right across in front of the stage.

The three SOS-Dan women really got Hare Hare Yukai and their other dance routines down pat. Impressive. Can't say the same for Sugita in the five-person version, lol. Aya showed her pedigree as a member of an idol unit by the sharpness and certainty of her movements: not as good as the back-up dancers, but good.

The guys were amusing: Shiraishi Minoru, Sugita Tomokazu and Ono Daisuke. And Matsuoka Yuki benefited from the crowd's love for Tsuruya-san (she was also crowd favorite Setsuna in Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora, in case you'd forgotten). Also performing were nimble-tongued Kuwatani Natsuko (Asakura-san), and Aoki Sayaka (Kyon's sister). Matsumoto Megumi (Kunikida-kun) worked with Shiraishi as the master/mistress of ceremonies for the evening. (By the way, Ono Daisuke is doing an outstanding job as Kazuya in Kaze no Stigma.)

Random Curiosity has got some screencaps up, with a review to come. The DVD is available for $55 from YesAsia.

[leungw]

I just finished watching the DVD. I have to agree with the previous posters. Excellent concert.

However, there's a small thing that bothers me a little. The last few songs with the three ladies, including Hare Hare Yukai, seem to be pre-recorded and not performed live...? Did anyone else notice...?

[dodgethis_sg]

Yes, they were. I think they decided that it was impossible for them to do The Dance and sing at the same time without being incoherent.

[W-General]

I got my friend who's in Japan right now to buy me the Gekisou DVD.
He's still looking for the Gravure album for me.
Hirano Aya is so hot (heart)



The Gekisou concert totally puts the pathetic AX concert to shame.
Shame on you, AX.

[moyism]

^ if you mean Aya Hirano's recent photo album, you can buy that as well from YesAsia

Feel like shooting myself after Kaoru Chujo's link to YesAsia to get the DVD. Could have saved like $25 on the S&H! doh! (Hopefully will have the DVD in the next day or two)

[Kaoru Chujo]

According to Seiyuu Watch, the Gekisou DVD was ranked #8 on the DVD charts for the day it came out. This doesn't sound great -- Code Geass DVD7 was #1 and Lucky Star DVD2 was #3. But for some reason, Oricon didn't put the Gekisou DVD in its music DVD chart, but rather in the general chart. If it had been in the music chart, it would have been a runaway #1, since the #1 music DVD only sold enough to rank #15 in the general chart.

EDIT: This piece shows the "sold out" signs for the DVD in many stores in Akihabara. Gamers won't get a new shipment until Wednesday.

It was also announced recently that Hirano Aya will have singles releases for three months in a row, starting in October. And there were announcements giving details of three new Lucky Star releases, which I will describe in that show's music thread.

And I had no problem with them lip-synching the heavy dance numbers at the end. It was more important to get the dance right. I suspect it was not perfect, anyway, since on rewatch, I see that there are not a lot of wide shots that would show whether they were in synch or not. They did sing in their earlier dance numbers.

[houkoholic]

Originally Posted by dodgethis_sg

Yes, they were. I think they decided that it was impossible for them to do The Dance and sing at the same time without being incoherent.

Meh, obviously they just couldn't get enough time to reharse for it. But it's disappointing to me that it seems they never tried to get it right. They've been lip-syncing HareHare since Animelo 2006, yet I know Chihara Minori can sing and dance Harehare as I've seen her do it in her own personal concert last year all by herself in November, so the question then is: who out of the other two can't?

To me though, this DVD was actually disappointing and it seemed that minimal effort was put in it in terms of organisation and production. Most of the singing performances were not up to scratch, including Chihara Minori's (I've seen and know she can do much better, which makes it even more disappointing and me craving a proper release of her concert even more). The skits relied more on the quick wits and wackyness of the 3 male seiyuus than actual planning or coordination (though otoh that gave me plenty more respect to the guys), also a 4:3 letter box concert DVD is something that other labels would do 2-3 years ago. It's still a fun watch, but it's underwhelming and undeliverying DVD to the quality I'm used to. Overall below the par other concerts out there right now, not quite worth the money I paid for.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by houkoholic

...so the question then is: who out of the other two can't?... It's still a fun watch, but it's underwhelming and undeliverying DVD to the quality I'm used to....

That other person would be Gotou Yuuko, clearly. She looks like she moves well, and could dance well at a party, but doesn't have the neat movements of a real dancer. There is no way on Earth that Aya couldn't do it, as you can tell just by watching the precision and sureness of her moves. I'd better try to see some other concerts, if this great entertainment wasn't up to snuff. Nana? Hocchan? Who? This was quite superior to the bits of GA concert I've seen.

[houkoholic]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I'd better try to see some other concerts, if this great entertainment wasn't up to snuff. Nana? Hocchan? Who? This was quite superior to the bits of GA concert I've seen.

Out of seiyuus concerts, I would most definitely say Nana and Yukarin are easily the top performers live as well as putting out the better DVDs, and I'm surely not the only one preaching their amazing concert skills. Not to mention the record breaking concert Live Museum which was also put on DVD very recently. If you think 2500 people waving light sticks is a lot, check out 5 times the amount of people doing that instead.

Having been brought up on a steady diet of Nana and Yukarin concerts as well as having attended numerous other famous singers like Sakamoto Maaya (coupled with Kanno Yoko), Chiba Saeko, KOTOKO and Shimokawa Mikuni's lives and heck even Chihara Minori's awesome personal ones, not even counting the huge events like Animelo, or the super witty Lyrical Parties (but equally as flawed in organisation as this Gekishou which I have criticised), it's becoming hard for me to accept things that are second rate.

For full on anime/game related concerts performed by seiyuus complete with drama acting, dancing and singing, nothing, absolutely NOTHING, tops Sakura Taisen musicals, which are renouned for its top quality production even amongst the professional musical circle in Japan. It makes this concert looks like child's play in comparison.

[W-General]

You shouldn't complain too much. This entire concert DVD is already 10x better than the actual Anime Expo concert. Which is a complete failure compared to this.

I heard Jam project put up amazing lives though. I wish I can see them live.

Originally Posted by houkoholic

Meh, obviously they just couldn't get enough time to reharse for it. But it's disappointing to me that it seems they never tried to get it right. They've been lip-syncing HareHare since Animelo 2006, yet I know Chihara Minori can sing and dance Harehare as I've seen her do it in her own personal concert last year all by herself in November, so the question then is: who out of the other two can't?

To me though, this DVD was actually disappointing and it seemed that minimal effort was put in it in terms of organisation and production. Most of the singing performances were not up to scratch, including Chihara Minori's (I've seen and know she can do much better, which makes it even more disappointing and me craving a proper release of her concert even more). The skits relied more on the quick wits and wackyness of the 3 male seiyuus than actual planning or coordination (though otoh that gave me plenty more respect to the guys), also a 4:3 letter box concert DVD is something that other labels would do 2-3 years ago. It's still a fun watch, but it's underwhelming and undeliverying DVD to the quality I'm used to. Overall below the par other concerts out there right now, not quite worth the money I paid for.

The one they lip synced was the full version of hare hare yukai.
The short encore version was actually sung along to (per Japanese Gekisou Wiki)

Like I said for the AX failure concert: love for Hirano Aya and Haruhi more than makes up for any incompetent concert organization. When I watched some of the Gekisou DVD rips, I literally felt like I was transported back to June 30, 2007 5:00PM, Long Beach Convention Center, California. Even though it was a dinky 19" Computer monitor I could not help but stand up and and jump up and down in my apartment, cheer along to the recording, waving my pencil-as-imaginary glow-sticks. I must've looked like a total idiot - thankfully I was the only one in the apartment at the time.

That's how much I love Hirano Aya. To me, 6000 yen is nothing compared to showing my littlest bit of appreciation and love for Hirano-san.


By the way, my friend in Japan reported to me that he has purchased the H photobook for me. So all is well.


Also, Gekisou was not the only time Chihara Minori forgot her lyrics. She forgot a couple lines at AX2007 as well from the second verse from Yuki, madobe, muon. Maybe she could use some more practice in that song .

Originally Posted by Simon

Animate were giving out a nice 24-page glossy photo booklet with each purchase, so I'm kind of glad now that Amazon wouldn't let me order this DVD

Ah I guess that's what my friend got me. He told me he lined up at Animate and got some special booklet thing. Any idea what it looks like?

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by houkoholic

Out of seiyuus concerts, I would most definitely say Nana and Yukarin are easily the top performers live as well as putting out the better DVDs.... If you think 2500 people waving light sticks is a lot, check out 5 times the amount of people doing that instead....it's becoming hard for me to accept things that are second rate....

I've had a chance to see the first half of Nana's Museum concert and maybe I can now understand where you're coming from. The level of professionalism and organization is much, much higher.

But that does not make it more entertaining, for me. In fact, the big Las Vegas-style production numbers tend to turn me off. I prefer the simpler style of Gekisou. And it may just be my preference in music, but I had trouble getting into any of the music except the bit in the middle where Nana was alone on a stool with a simple guitar background.

I'm sure it has partly to do with my inadequate experience of these kinds of shows and this kind of music, but I do find myself preferring the more intimate feel of Gekisou. Nana certainly seems a nice person, elegant and charming, but her style makes me feel more at a remove. That's partly because I'm following Aaya so much more closely, though, I expect.

I liked the energy and intimacy of Gekisou. Depending on the wit of the male seiyuu was a good thing rather than a bad thing, in my opinion, for the sense of immediacy it brought. And Aya's always seeming just at the edge of her abilities gives a feeling of immediacy, too. Her energetic dancing was fairly riveting, as well.

It probably connects with my enjoyment of rougher, more amateurish seiyuu work. The smoothness of the top pros is sometimes too smooth for me, and seems unreal. I'm probably missing some of the nuance of the Japanese, but that's how I feel.

Anyway, thanks for the tips. I'll keep looking around to get more glimpses of this art form. And yes, 12,000 light sticks is pretty impressive. Like the ocean.

[houkoholic]

Originally Posted by W-General

You shouldn't complain too much. This entire concert DVD is already 10x better than the actual Anime Expo concert. Which is a complete failure compared to this.

Actually I should (and do in their surveys) complain, otherwise how else would they improve? I think it's safe to say that unlike many people here, I go to a lot of events in person as well as purchasing the DVDs for archiving since I'm living in Japan. Going to concerts and events is almost a monthly activity for me, and during busy seasons such as the summer and winter holidays I go to 3 or 4 a month, thus I want them to do better because I've aways gave them a lot of my money.

I heard Jam project put up amazing lives though. I wish I can see them live.

They're, without a doubt, absolutely amazing live artists.

The one they lip synced was the full version of hare hare yukai.
The short encore version was actually sung along to (per Japanese Gekisou Wiki)

This may be the case during the day, but the DVD recording does not sound anywhere like a live performance as it was very artifical, perfect "studio" sounding. Not even a perfect live performance can sound that articifical. Even the Wiki quotes that there is lip-syncing.

Like I said for the AX failure concert: love for Hirano Aya and Haruhi more than makes up for any incompetent concert organization.

If any concert is judged on how easily I splurge into fanboy mode, then no concert that I've been to, or will go to in the future, will ever be a failure. Since if I don't like the artists in question I would not spend thousands of yen to go to their concerts or buy their DVDs, that's just common sense. Like I said, this concert is fun to watch, but to go and then fanboy over any concert without objective criticism is IMO actually doing a great injustice to these people, as my true intention is to get more people whom might otherwise not know them to see how talent these seiyuu can be. Preaching to the choir (ie the fanboys whom are already converted) is no fun and ultimately pointless. That, and it just gives those business guys more reason to exploit the fans if we just eat up all things they put out.

That's how much I love Hirano Aya. To me, 6000 yen is nothing compared to showing my littlest bit of appreciation and love for Hirano-san.

Before I moved to Japan, I've spent literally thousands of dollars per trip to fly across contients to attend concerts. If you want fanboy love, I think when I say I qualify for "f-ing crazy otaku" it would be pretty hard to dispute. But like I said above, it's against my personal integrity such that I'm not going to do that. Also I've been buying seiyuu concert DVDs for a long long long time (my first DVD was of Iwao Junko's live concert, that was more than 7 years ago), if the production is bad such as this DVD (6000yen for two below average compressed 4:3 letterbox DVD with no special package, no lyrics booklet etc, which are all fairly norm for other seiyuu concert at this price point), then I'll call out on it.

[houkoholic]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I do find myself preferring the more intimate feel of Gekisou.

I think you're confusing cheap production with intimacy.

I've attended events that only had 20 people, all the way to ones which involve tens of thousands, I've even went on a fanclub onsen trip. I can tell you that intimacy is merely determined by how many times you make eye contact (or think that you've made eye contact) with the seiyuus. For example I could be tucked away at the back seat of a small event blocked by two big otakus in front and I will certainly not feel any more intimate than getting that awesome front seats I got in Animelo 2007 despite the artists singing to tens of thousands. The Gekisou event is a fairly standard event by most measurement in terms of seiyuu interaction with the audience. The Gekisou DVD made it up in this area with good video direction (lots of nice close ups, nice slow panning shots etc), though the video quality is not quite there.

As for energy, I've been to a lot events, if you're a fanboy of the series then I dare say any seiyuu events will feel like Gekisou because of the fanboy glasses. Seiyuus jumping around chanting "hey! hey!" as they sing pop songs is standard fair. I've never been to one which doesn't involve that, well except for the Sakamoto Maaya concerts, but then again her songs are not pop-style songs either.

In Sakura Taisen musicals, some the seiyuus literally come out to the foyer area to shake your hands when you're standing in line waiting to go in. They move around the seating during breaks, they taught us how to do the Gekitei dance, THAT'S intimatacy. At Yukarin concerts Yukarin leads us doing Mexican waves with her melomelo stick, she asks audience questions that leads into talks etc, that's also way more intimate than anything I've seen in the Gekisou concert too. Yet on the other hand they also maintain a very high standard of professionalism while performing. That's really what marks a great event.

I liked the energy and intimacy of Gekisou. Depending on the wit of the male seiyuu was a good thing rather than a bad thing, in my opinion, for the sense of immediacy it brought.

Immediacy is not really a good thing. One false move and everything goes to hell (ie the AX SOS fisco), they were lucky the guys were fast-witted, on the ball, professional and are great friends off stage so they made a great tsukkomi combo. There are events where the people aren't as quick-witted and the conversation just stales, or someone comes up with an awkward question and ruins the atmosphere. As I've said, this gave me more respect for the 3 male seiyuu themselves rather than the organisation of the concert.

It probably connects with my enjoyment of rougher, more amateurish seiyuu work. The smoothness of the top pros is sometimes too smooth for me, and seems unreal. I'm probably missing some of the nuance of the Japanese, but that's how I feel.

There is nothing wrong in enjoying amateurish work, afterall amateurs have their place in the industry. However these people here are not amateurs, and it is bad when you've seen these people performing at professional level before then seeing them falling back into amateur level, then it's time to say "no that is not acceptable". The industry has operated long enough that a certain standard should be met.

[W-General]

十七曲目：ハレ晴レユカイ-ｱﾝｺｰﾙTVｻｲｽﾞ　（涼宮ハルヒ、長門有希、朝比奈みくる/平野綾、茅原実里、後藤邑子）口パク＋平野だけ生歌

The wiki lists Hirano as actually singing it.

I'm not chastising you for making suggestions or comments for improvement. I'm just saying that as a super fanboy, I am very easily satisfied, given that I don't live in Japan (and probably will never will, because that's counterintuitive given my career choice).

You might be a bit more picky because you've been to much better concerts than this. I have only been to a few, and they all took place this year at AX, and they don't live up to the standards of even the poorest held concert in Japan. For me, the standard on the Gekisou DVD is too good for me already. But yes, I am prone to fanboying - even though the AX concert sucked big time, I still jumped up and down and cheered like a madman, bumping into many other people at the same time.

If I devote such energy to a third-rate concert like the AX concert, I am sure I'll pass out right on spot if I go to a concert in Japan.

But I agree, watching the performance - the guys, Sugita, Ono, and Shirashi, really shone through. I hope they'll come to America sometime, and Shirashi can do a "wawawa wasuremono"

[Kaoru Chujo]

Interesting posts from houkoholic, as usual. But I'll cavil a bit anyway.

The intimacy in Gekisou was partly, as you say, from the camera-angles, but I guess I was really talking about two things: the smaller scale of the staging, compared to the Nana concert; and the informality of the presentation. The informality is an aspect of lack of professionalism, perhaps, but when everything is well scripted, a show can seem dead, at least on TV. I'm just talking about my reaction to two videos, since I don't have first-hand experience to be able to judge the show as a live event.

I disagree that immediacy is a bad thing. It is a bad thing if you set up conditions that make failure likely. But in this situation, they had the right people in place in the right situation to make it go. That's well-planned immediacy, like any TV talk show. And when it works, it gives a lot, at least to me.

The fact is that in anime voice work I do sometimes prefer less polished work to the work of the most polished pros. The old-time pros have everything down pat, so that it sometimes comes off dead to me, even when they are putting the most life into it. The worship of jouzu "skillful" and the horror of heta "unskillful" is one of the things that I like least about anime criticism. "Skill" and "art" are two different things. I listen to Saitou Chiwa recently and I imagine that she is trying to be professional and it is ruining her uniqueness. "The industry" is very important, since it produces so much great stuff, but any in-group can develop its own artificial standards.

On the other hand, please keep letting us know how things compare, and doing your best to improve the level of entertainment. It was my glimpses of the GA2 show on YouTube earlier this year that actually opened this world to me, so I have a lot to learn about it. Certainly, being a fan of Aya and the show makes a big difference in how I see things.

One thing I've asked elsewhere that you may be able to answer: do the performers and the audience actually know what the words on Aya's shirt mean, and what is their reaction to them? In North America, I doubt any performer but a pretty lewd rocker would wear such a thing.

[eggplant]

Let me put in my 2 cents.

I went to Gekisou and bought the DVD (haha, I saw myself) as well, and because I got to experience the event both from a firsthand and objective perspective, I consider it to be one of the best events I've ever seen in my life, dating back to the 70s when I was an avid rock fan.

Yes, the performance wasn't top notch, even subpar compared to other seiyuu related shows I've previously seen. But for Gekisou, that's not an issue, as the significance was in having the event.

The atmosphere in the venue was that of excitement, energy, and satisfaction, a pinnacle landmark for the Suzumiya Haruhi franchise. Yes, ths staging was crude, at times painful to watch, but did the audience care? On that day, anything went, and what the performers did was deliver what the people wanted to see: Real life Suzumiya Haruhi, not some well scripted and rehearsed show.

Call me arrogant, but I even consider the concert to be a privilege for those who attended, and the videogram a chronological recording of the events that took place.

Thus, I understand if people weren't satisfied with the DVD, since it won't reproduce what the people who were there on that epoch making day went through. Both the concert and DVD comes with a price tag, but to me, it was priceless.