2007-04-19, 21:15 | Link #1 |
Just call me Ojisan
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: U.K. Hampshire
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Lucky Star - Voice Actor Appreciation & Discussion
The purpose of this thread is to discuss, critique and idolize the Voice Actor cast of Lucky Star. 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:
(Thanks to Catgirls for the above intro) |
2007-04-20, 07:02 | Link #2 |
♪~ Daydreaming ~♪
Graphic Designer
Administrator Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Italy
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Lucky Star - Seiyuu Cast
Hirano Aya as Izumi Konata
Spoiler:
Endo Aya as Takara Miyuki Spoiler:
Katou Emiri as Hiiragi Kagami Spoiler:
Fukuhara Kaori as Hiiragi Tsukasa Spoiler:
Konno Hiromi as Kogami Akira Spoiler:
Shiraishi Minoru as Shiraishi Minoru Spoiler:
Hiramatsu Hirokazu as Soujirou Izumi Spoiler:
Shimizu Kaori as Tamura Hiyori Spoiler:
Maeda Konomi as Kuroi Nanako Spoiler:
Kosuge Mami as Takara Yukari Spoiler:
Minori Chihara as Iwasaki Minami Spoiler:
Sasaki Nozomi as Patricia "Patty" Martin Spoiler:
Nishihara Saori as Narumi Yui Spoiler:
Hasegawa Shizuka as Kobayakawa Yukata Spoiler:
Inoue Kikuko as Hiiragi Miki Spoiler:
I'll update the list and submit the pics of the missing characters (or better quality ones) once they'll actually appear in the show
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Last edited by Pellissier; 2007-04-20 at 07:35. |
2007-04-20, 10:56 | Link #3 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 67
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Konno Hiromi has taken quite a step up from voicing a dog/thing/potato/thing...
and I hadn't connected at all that Shiraishi Minoru was playing himself... so to speak.
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2007-04-20, 23:27 | Link #4 |
気持ち悪い
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: New Zealand
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This might get me labelled a fanboy, but what the heck...
I know there's been some grumbling about Hirano Aya's casting as Konata, and accusations of her being brought in as Market-Friendly VA of the Moment. But I'm absolutely loving her work with this character - so far Konata's personality, character design and voice have matched up perfectly. In fact, I'm struggling to imagine Konata any other way. As a Haibane Renmei fan I have a lot of respect for Hirohashi Ryō, so I feel like I should buy the drama CD just to hear her interpretation of Konata. How do the two compare? (And yes I have watched ep2, so I fully appreciate the irony of this question ) |
2007-04-20, 23:50 | Link #5 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 67
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i don't think there's anything wrong with Hirohashi's rendition... but frankly I think Hirano mutters more like I envision Konata muttering and Konata's karaoke is sublime apocalypse with Hirano.
OTOH... I wish Hirano would play the part a bit more growly. The other VAs are fine, I particularly enjoy the teacher with her in-character lousy-fake Kansai affectation.
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2007-04-20, 23:53 | Link #6 | |
Banned
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I don't know enough about the others, but they are doing fine I think, though I would be lying if I said I'm not worried about Chihara Minori. She is like the polar opposite of Hirano-San and lacks any passion in her roles. Even when she's not playing a quiet girl character I find she doesn't seem to be trying hard to emote at all (Which may be why she keeps getting cast in those roles). She's also not particularly talented I find, so this is something I'm not really looking forward too. |
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2007-04-21, 01:27 | Link #7 | |
Gregory House
IT Support
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And heck, if I hadn't know already that Konata was Hirano Aya, I would've never recognized her. And I have quite an ear for identifying VAs.
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2007-04-21, 01:46 | Link #8 | |
Banned
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Tell me who this is though. I just want to see if you know an ear for Male Seiyuu as much as for female. No cheating. Then just chill and take in the fact that maybe somebody doesn't feel Aya Hirano is as experienced as others do. Keep in mind I also come from an 80's and 90's anime background so my people are in an entirely different generation of Seiyuu. The people I'm most familiar with and have come to respect over time don't include Yui Horie, Aya Hirano, etc. yet. Give it a while. |
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2007-04-21, 01:52 | Link #9 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 67
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Well... compared to Gotou or, say, Yu Asakawa --- Hirano is a little sprite, still not battleship class.
(I kind of miss Yu Asakawa, haven't seen her listed in a while) Listening to Hirano do "haruhi" versus "konata" scores her some points in actually being able to do different characterizations (they're really very little alike). I'm more impressed by VAs who can actually do different voices or different personalities. If Hirano doesn't blow a gasket under the corporate stress to soar --- she'll really hit her stride in about five years. Gomen, but I just feel like she *nailed* Konata's karaoke style.
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2007-04-21, 01:52 | Link #10 | |
Gregory House
IT Support
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2007-04-21, 02:06 | Link #11 | |
Banned
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Oh, and once she can cast of the Haruhi (Her Seinfeld curse, a blessing as well as a stigma, a double edged sword for her career if you will) role once and for all and not be typecast by people to that role ("Oh my god she sounds like Haruhi, she did Haruhi, that's Auto-Win") she'll be free. I can almost picture her being like a female Michael Richards with her being called Haruhi (Kramer in his case) during a live appearance and her pleading that she is Aya Hirano and not Suzumiya Haruhi to deaf ears. Until then I wish people would give her a bloody break and not force the idol status or unreasonable expecations on her. You'd think people think she is some sort of supergirl or something, but the fainting spell should be the ultimate warning signal that it's just to much. Sometimes I worry that if she doesn't do the Haruhi role again soon people will start harassing her about it in interviews, e-mails and on the internet. Also, you've got to love her powers of time-travel in getting back to 1985 to do a role in SPT Layzner, 2 years before she was even born. That was amusing, and part of a larger and somewhat amusing case of a misread name kanji. |
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2007-04-21, 02:35 | Link #12 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 67
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Problem for her is the same for many VAs.... the industry LOVES to typecast them because it means the casting exec doesn't have to THINK ... they just go get the same VA for the "quiet girl" each time or whatever.
The VAs have to push hard to show they're versatile.
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2007-04-21, 03:40 | Link #13 |
Yuuki Aoi
Join Date: Jul 2004
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I like what Aaya is doing in this show, and I haven't heard anything like this from her before, but as I keep saying, if you haven't heard her as Layla in NANA, you haven't heard what she can do. It's not particularly naturalistic, but it is very strong as a characterization and in conveying emotion.
Try the first five minutes of episode 35 of NANA. Paku Romi is the first part, Hirano Aya the second. Paku's better, but Hirano's great in the fragile, emotional role of the famous singer Layla. And by the way, that show is like three times the show of anything starting this spring, for me. Just watching that bit again bowls me over. In my opinion, Aaya is a better seiyuu than Gotuuza-sama (Gotou Yuuko), who does fabulous work in a range limited to comedy. Not that I think range is as important as how well one does the roles one has. But I see Aaya growing in every role, just as a young seiyuu should. I feel as if she is only now beginning to come into her own, at 19. Just FYI, she is now apparently doing some announcing, for an NHK educational show about the body.
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2007-04-21, 04:08 | Link #14 | |
Banned
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Even still I think she has occassionally slipped up during her brief period of overwork in series such as Himawari, which I saw one episode with her character in it. You could tell she didn't like doing a boring quiet character and she would frequently slip into the true Genki Aya Hirano. The Death Note role is best just not to talk about. I don't think even Aya Hirano with all her passion can save a character as poorly written as Misa Amane. I'd blame that one on her agent personally, not her. What was the other one, oh yeah Busou Renkin, where we have the Genki Hirano back screeching for her Onii-Chan. For some reason that was hysterical for me as she deliberately overacted it for comedic effect, not in character and not the best role she's played, but again turning lemons into lemonade where possible. |
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2007-04-21, 11:17 | Link #15 | |
Yuuki Aoi
Join Date: Jul 2004
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Quote:
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2007-04-26, 17:15 | Link #16 |
Yuuki Aoi
Join Date: Jul 2004
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Hirano Aya was interviewed for 40 minutes on NHK's BS2 on Wednesday, by the former editor of NewType, who is also producer of Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo. I've made a blog post about that show. They even had Aya do a fascinating mock recording session for some scenes from SHnY. The show was on YouTube for a while, but has been removed.
Nary a mention of Lucky Star. She has only mentioned it once on her blog, that I can recall, whereas Sumomo, Death Note, Manabi, even Eyeshield get mentions. Strange. I am hereby inventing the idea that she's uncertain how well she's doing with the role. On the interview, she said that she felt a lot of pressure being the star of SHnY. Maybe she's feeling that with LS, too. EDIT: A video of the angel-devil photoshoot for the most recent issue of VOICHA magazine is now on YouTube. She's very pretty in it -- much moreso than in the stills -- but mainly uses the super-cutesy artificial high voice that disappeared during most of the NHK interview. She says she was really looking forward to posing like this, although this amount of assuming special poses was new for her. At the end of the shoot, she does mention that she plays Ko-na-ta in Lucky Star and asks people to watch.
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Last edited by Kaoru Chujo; 2007-04-26 at 23:37. |
2007-04-27, 12:20 | Link #17 |
9wiki
Scanlator
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Regardless of performances in other roles, I happen to think that Hirano's voicing of Konata has been a stupendous presentation for the most part. In fact, the only parts I could complain about were times when the animation timing didn't allow for a better presentation.
Aside from just having an adorable and attractive voice (if not speech pattern) for the character, she plays it with an incredible enthusiasm without which the character would be entirely unattractive to the audience. Though the characters and voices are completely different, this is something the Konata role has in common with the Suzumiya Haruhi role: If voiced flat, these characters would be tremendously annoying and aggravating when animated. Instead, thanks to the spirit she puts into their voicing, their nutty traits instead become enthralling. Now I shall run off to make Konata's "Good job!" from the end of episode 3 my text-message ringtone. |
2007-04-27, 14:07 | Link #18 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 67
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Watched the youtube clip Kaoru linked.... it always brings to the fore just how exhausting photo shoots are... you could tell towards the end of the devil-shoot that she was a bit wobbly tired.
She really is pretty cute and the "devil hair" brings her eyes out nicely. I thought I heard her say something like "this looks like something Konata might wear" but not sure about it (I have a lot of trouble parsing that tiny little voice style ... too busy being stupified by the cuteness and channeling the "Dennis Hopper" character in the Animaniacs spoof of Apocalypse Now).
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