episode 2 was a little slow but good overall, no complaints.

I liked episode 2 a lot.
What I liked the most, Aka's "rejection" at the end, proving she ain't an easy girl at all. That's how I was imagining her, and that's how she is, after all :)

I also liked the humor of this episode and the little character development as well. Maybe, since an ep. is 10 mins long, too much time was used for the whole commercial/casting part (10 mins formula shows a side of its flaws), since it was obvious that Aka were to get the part (it's spoilered in the Opening too). But still, the overall was really good, and Sakai Kanako's qualities as VA were just great. Yes, I love her :love: , and Aka as welll :)

Here's also a pretty nice Aka's wallpaper I've found

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3...10246el.th.jpg

By the way, I'm also glad that Matsumaru-kun revealed his better side, he seemed an horny jerk on episode 1, while here we got how he actually he cared about Aka. Yes, that "teleport" scene at the end spoiled a bit his image, as well as his ego I guess :heh: , but for the sake of the show, it was needed ^^

My guess is that REC will be one of the most pleasurable surprises of 2006 (as for low expectations combined with high results). ;)

Sorry for double post but I didn't feel like merging this one with the previous ^^

It's true. In each OP they put 3 Audrey Hepburn's frames.

In episode 1 we had:

http://www.webalice.it/sovrans2080/g...manholiday.gif ---> Roman Holiday

http://www.webalice.it/sovrans2080/g...aka/ep1-02.gif ---> Funny Face

http://www.webalice.it/sovrans2080/g...03-tiffany.gif ---> Breakfast at Tiffany's

In episode 2 there were the same frames of episode 1, just in different order and with a different background (first Breakfast at Tiffany's, second Roman Holiday, third Funny Face).

Episode 3 brought new frames. Especially one I particularly adore from Breakfast at Tiffany's where Audrey Hepburn has her beloved cat lying above her neck. Then another one from the same movie, and then one from My Fair Lady.

http://www.webalice.it/sovrans2080/g...aka/ep3-01.gif ---> Breakfast at Tiffany's (Check here)

http://www.webalice.it/sovrans2080/g...aka/ep3-02.gif ---> Breakfast at Tiffany's

http://www.webalice.it/sovrans2080/g...aka/ep3-03.gif ---> My Fair Lady

----

I've also watched episode 3. Very nice, I'll post some thoughts later.

Why? Do you think we'll have more than one season ?

The manga has enough content for more than one. Another season simply depends on the success of the anime.

Awesome, i hope they do that with The Children's Hour, and have the manger, or that other girl that would rock..

I love this show. It's so much better than most of the other shows out this spring. It's been awhile since I've seen an anime that I can't wait to watch week after week. Can anyone comment on how this show is doing in the ratings?

I watched the first two episodes last night, and I'm hooked. It's so refreshing to see anime for grown-ups!

Personally I didn't find their sleeping together at all rushed or unnatural - on the contrary, I thought it was a touching example of two adults finding comfort together in an unusual situation. OK, perhaps Matsumaru was being a wee bit opportunistic, but I don't think he "took advantage" of Aka's need for company. What should he have done, walked out on her and said "we mustn't, we'll regret it in the morning"?

(Thinking about it, the only other anime I've seen that treats sex in such a mature way would be Saikano - it's a nice change from panty-shots and giggling innuendo.)

I also liked the slice-of-life detail in ep2 - kind of like Azumanga Daioh for salarymen :) (This screencap is so going up on the noticeboard at work on Monday!) It's actually quite interesting seeing how a CM audition works - I think the series has the makings of a charming "little anime", like Haibane Renmei or Someday's Dreamers.

I wonder if there might be more than 9 episodes in the boxset - Amazon list it as having three discs, and if Google translated the page right then it contains all the broadcast episodes plus some that haven't aired. This seems like an odd thing to do, but ¥5250 per 36-minute disc would seem a bit pricey even by R2 standards. Then again, the "not yet broadcast" bit might just refer to the ED sequence and creditless OP/ED - can any fluent readers clarify things?

And speaking of merchandise, it's great that they're including the CM from the show on the Cheer single. Can't stop listening to OP... Must buy single... :love:

Out of insane boredom, I introduce to this thread,

The REC / Audrey Hepburn movie episode title guessing game!

Up until now, every episode of REC has borrowed the title of an Audrey Hepburn movie.

Episode 1 - 第一話 「ローマの休日」 - "Roman Holiday"
Episode 2 - 第二話 「麗しのサブリナ」 - "Sabrina"
Episode 3 - 第三話 「暗くなるまで待って」 - "Wait Until Dark"
Episode 4 - 第四話 「ティファニーで朝食を」 - "Breakfast at Tiffany's"

And thus, with 5 episodes left on the current airing schedule, it is time to hedge your bets! What, dear readers, do YOU think the next five episodes will be titled?! (note: you don't HAVE to guess with movie titles, but... look at the trend up until now!)

Participate by posting a reply in the following format:
Episode 5 - "blah blah"
Episode 6 - "blah blah"
Episode 7 - "blah blah"
Episode 8 - "blah blah"
Episode 9 - "blah blah"

Well then! Have fun guessing! <_<

Yeah... there was a post on the TBS's REC website BBS where a TBS official appeared to mention that the Boxset would include an extra, un-aired episode (in addition to the ED, which isn't broadcast on TV due to time restraints). So maybe the production plans have changed? Who knows... It'd be nice to get a straight answer, but as others mentioned in this thread, it may depend at least partly on how well the show does in ratings and in stores. We'll see...

My Fair Lady and Funny Face are obvious.

Actually episode 5 and 6's titles have already been released:



I don't know if they'll keep at the film titles thing the whole way.

So, well, we've still got 3 eps to guess at. Get at 'em! >_>

awesome i cant wait, i havent read the manga, so my imgination is going to run wild... until this ep is shown

OK, ep. 2 was much more believable. Kind of pathetic, but still believable. Matsumaru made a serious mistake here. Red may have said one time doesn't make them lovers, but even if they were, or even if she'd looked him in the eye and said "let's ****", acting like that was asking to have his head smashed through the wall. She seemed to have a good opinion of him too, and while she probably regretted last night a bit, she couldn't regret it too much, or she wouldn't be so frankly asking to live there a bit longer. He clearly had made some points with her, and he just threw them all away. It seems like one of the requirements for an anime/manga male lead is that he be an absolute imbecile who knows even less about the female mind than real men do.

Well, I sort of think about this situation differently. If you're going to live with someone, then certain things are expected unless prior arrangements are made to the otherwise. Now, if the other part of "living together" wasn't in her plans, then she needs to... Hit the road Jack! ;)

(Otherwise, she's just using him as a source of housing with no real commitment whatsoever and preventing him from finding someone else.)

Deep down She probably does have some kind of feelings towards him.. but maybe she's just to scared to go with them? Ah well.. seven episodes left, plenty of time to see something happen with there so called relationship. ^^

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/151...18947fr.th.jpg

From Megami magazine, Aka can sure turn on the charm.

Please remember, this is one day after every spec of Aka's property(aside from a pair of pjs and a pillow) burnt to the ground. She has absolutely nothing, and no money to go looking for a new apartment. In this case, "living together" doesn't fit the bill quite as well as "boarding" at someone's place. While I suppose she should offer eventual monetary compensation for the room and board, it is frankly cruel to expect this girl to give her body as payment, especially when she's merely taking him up on his own, no string attached, offer.
All the same, I do suspect Red was initially expecting an intimate, potentially sexual, relationship. Otherwise, she would have seemed at least somewhat embarrassed asking to stay with him longer. In the end, Matsumaru just ruined his own relatively good chances, and got himself some hefty expenses for the fixing of the wall and probably his teeth.
Oh well, all I really want to know now is the meaning behind the wicked grin in the preview of ep3.

More ways to support Rec with your hard-earned yen:

Character Song CD : CDJapan - Amazon JP

Drama CD #1 : CDJapan - Amazon JP

NB: I'd trust CDJapan's release date for the drama CD more than Amazon's.

Episode 4 was the one I liked the least until now.



A new frame appeared in the OP:

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/2...holiday8di.gif

This is "Roman Holiday", desu! :D
The other two Hepburn's frames were repeated (for the recording, the one with the cat from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and the one from "My Fair Lady")

Ok I'm quoting myself >.< lol

The manga is still ongoing in Sunday GX, so volume 5 is not the last volume.

ep 4

Okay... I Officially Like This Anime now..... the two characters make me smile and it does remind me a lot of the old Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn type of movies.

Hopefully with Honey&Clover and REC... we'll start seeing much more of this "more grown up" type of storyline.

I just love hearing the OP of this anime! Btw, I just made an Onda Aka animated GIF on my spare time ^_^ here it is:

http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/5...aaka0021ox.gif

The gif itself is quite good ;) , but why to choose a scene with Aka crying ? :)
I couldn't never make a gif of her sad, I want to see her always happy and smily ^^

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/4780/aka1v47jh.gif

As here, from the OP. .. I originally made this to use as my avatar, then I chose the one I have currently, so this is freebie :)

But if there wasn't that, this story wouldn't exist, or not in the way it is now. I think it was very important to the story.

Well, to be honest I really don't know why but probably because it gives me a big impression over the joyful cheery character that she is, it seemed impossible for her to cry, that's how I would've thought about her if I didn't saw the first episode dontya' think?

episode 5
 

OMG Aka is kawaii! And strong, too. Really enjoyed this one, simple as it was: Aka gets a role in an ero-game and is too embarrassed to do the voice properly. Good facial expressions on Aka and her manager, coupled with good voice work.

Sounds to me as if Sakai Kanako is as good as this good early role suggests. I've seen her in TV interviews and featured in a seiyuu magazine, too. She's both pretty and talkative enough to become a personality, I think.

Liked Aka's manager's voice: Toyoguchi Megumi, who was Sei in Marimite, Nishino in Ichigo 100%, and Saya in Black Cat.

Also Miriallia in Gundam SEED and GSD.

argh....... must.... wait.... patiently.....

ep 5

Episode 5 was really good :)



New frame in episode 5 OP!
It's the third one of the set, from the movie How to steal a million (1966, by William Wyler)

Here the original:

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/2387/images5pb.jpg

Here the adaptation:

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/859...million4do.gif

Megumi Toyoguchi also did Winry Rockbell in FMA. Pretty strong role this one.

Your site wins :D. Linking to lots of Tanaka Rei pics wins even more.

There should be a club for debut seiyuu who get it right on the first go. It's not a very long list, but it's greatness in one place. The qualities needed? same as anyone else: the ability to emote, be in character and show tremendous range. They just do it earlier :heh: Sakai Kanako and Sayuri Yahagi qualify for hitting all points.

But the crisis in ep5? Need to get the raw now, sometimes delivering a botched performance is more difficult than a one good...

Wow, ep 5 was kind of funny... and not in an entirely brain-fluff kind of way, it was interesting to see Aka having to accept the fact that she'll have to do erogame voices if she wants to earn money as a seiyuu, and that she's already lucky enough as it is. I'm currently enjoying the dynamics between Aka and Matsumaru very much in that it's a little quirky due to their, uh, first experience... yet they can be very amiable about work and can give advice to each other. :)

Also, I increasingly find the voice work of Matsumaru and his producer dude to be quite good, especially Matsumaru. Somehow it feels natural (still can't get into Aka's voice, except her serious voice). Perhaps because the seiyuu really feels for the character and is acting it out for real. Same with the female producer. She sounded like she was really giving honest advice.

I got the impression she wasnt doing it for the money- but for her jimusho.

They are kindof pressuring her to do it so that she provides them with revenue-
and she seemed like she'd rather have not done it.

"work is work" so you just have to do what the boss says sometimes i guess,
even if it doesnt match up to your dreams.

The timing for Rec ep 5 couldn't have come sooner...just confirmed a lot of questions from this thread:

http://forums.animesuki.com/showthre...t=28856&page=3

I didn't know that Yoyogi Animation Institute was also a seiyuu college. I coulda sworn it sponsored a couple of anime....and its interesting to realize a couple of my faves, including Noto Mamiko came from there.

Is it just me or do I get the feeling seiyuu colleges are at least 75% female students? Now this would totally justify the craploads of harem anime and erogame-based anime nowadays just to provide jobs to even a small percentage of these poor souls.

What I admire though is the solid seiyuu industry Japan has. America almost has a seiyuu industry (which coincides with LA and NY stage actors), but its important to realize most countries couldn't give a rat's ### to whomever dubs their animation--its either live actors or nobodies (and neither usually works well as competent voiceover actors).

What's really dumb with this show is that it's a show about a seiyuu, they even present the voice/phonetical drills, the vocals/throat maintainance with gargling, but they forget to draw Aka such a simple thing as a scarf. I mean, it's freezing cold outside and she's walking around with an opened jacket and even when she has it closed, she has her neck exposed to the cold weather.
I have some experience with singing and that just spells s.u.i.c.i.d.e in a vocalist's profession.

The girl is young. When she gets hit it'll be a learning experiance :heh:

Reading some of the behind the scenes stories of real life seiyuu at work [eg: Tanaka Rei getting her co-stars in Rozen Maiden to push her around before working on the series climax], I'm amazed by the level of professionalism exhibited at times. Especially if the scene calls for something difficult and emotionally traumatic. Looking back at all the titles I've seen, it's usually a big wtf moment that will make a break a story. The training and spirit required to emote with voice only is pretty hard to imagine. So I am thankful when they have taken the trouble to show what goes on behind the curtain.

EP5 has about killed my illusion that the sound stage for a h-game dubbing is filled with perverts. They are just like everyone else working for the daily bread.

Anyway, now that I've seen more of the show I have to say that Kanako Sakai landed a pretty well plum role. Think about it, the chance to voice Audrey Hepburn [well, her lines that is :p]- this woman was one of the best character actresses in her generation. Tremendous range and control, she scores for being in exactly who you see on screen.

Kanako as Aka is so far pulling off her character and as a screen legend very well. She making the most of an opportunity to display the sort of skill it takes others years just for people to notice. Her switch between voices is flawless, so I hope to envision many good things from her in the future :D.

Oddly enough, these "half" episodes don't feel rushed at all. Maybe because it's completely driven by character and I love them enough not to be distracted by the duration.