(CR) White Album (All Episodes, 1-26)

[Kaoru Chujo]

I've made a little blog post with recent pics of Aya and Nana together.

But having looked at this in some detail, I'm inclined to generally agree with houkoholic's post from last June about this not being a major production. The director is an episode director doing his first full show, and the writer has a long and spotty past, working as much on the visual side as in writing.

As for the music, Aya is clearly just "along for the ride," since she is doing neither the OP nor the ED. No doubt she will be involved in character CD's, Lantis permitting. She works with Lantis, while Nana and this show are working with King.

Strangely, my sense of their comments in their respective blogs (Aya, Nana) is that Aya is more enthusiastic about the project than Nana is. Maybe that's a false impression.

I do go into this with some trepidation. Aya and Nana have such different styles as seiyuu: Nana is more professional, better at simulating what emotion is supposed to sound like in anime; Aya is better at communicating real emotion, in a kind of method-acting way. I am afraid that they will just manage to make one another sound bad.

Nevertheless, having seen Dynasty's scanlation of the prologue chapter, I am eager to see how the story and the anime work out.

[JagdPanther]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Gee, I thought this would be an anime about John, Paul, George and Ringo, not some silly idol singers.

I'll go back to watching Yellow Submarine now.

Seriously. LOL

That's exactly what I thought, too.

[musume_no_hoshi]

Yay for a new Nana Mizuki single, lets hope it'll sell better then Trickster ^_^'' Although somehow I really doubt it'll sell better.

I just have a feeling they just decided to use Hirano Aya because they picked her name out of the hat, I would have at least expected her to sing the ending. Lets hope her performance would make me take that statement back

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by musume_no_hoshi

Yay for a new Nana Mizuki single, lets hope it'll sell better then Trickster ^_^'' Although somehow I really doubt it'll sell better.

I just have a feeling they just decided to use Hirano Aya because they picked her name out of the hat, I would have at least expected her to sing the ending. Lets hope her performance would make me take that statement back

They probably picked her for name-recognition and fan appeal, and for the way the story echoes her and Nana's real lives. But there was almost certainly an audition, in any case. My sense is that she really wanted the role. I am a huge fan of her seiyuu work (and not of Nana's), but she and Nana have such different styles that I fear the worst.

The sound director, who will likely work with the seiyuus, is Shioya Yoku, a long-time seiyuu who was sound director of Welcome to the NHK, Basilisk, and Yoshimune. I wish it were a bigger-name sound director. And the director is doing his first show. But I, too, hope they will surprise me.

[Julius Firefocht]

Let us not be so pessimistic about White Album. The anime does have lots of good things going for it, at least from what I can see. Nana and Aya acting as idols together in a single show is already a big enough draw factor for most fans.

This is pretty much the most anticipated anime of the next season anyway. I doubt the higher-ups will let this screw up. Or at least, that is what I hope..

[Bathory Area]

The name of series like The Beatles s album.

[Peanutbutter]

First on my list for the next season of animes.

[guest]

Is this yuri or not (or not even close)?

[rg4619]

Originally Posted by guest

Is this yuri or not (or not even close)?

Nope.

From what I hear, the gist of the story is that the protagonist is in a relationship with a debuting idol singer. However, due to complications that arise (busy schedule, etc.), he finds himself drawn to other girls, including a top idol at his girlfriend's agency.

Emotions flare up as the protagonist struggles with fidelity and as things get tense between the heroines. Those who hate that kind of story might want to stay away........

[kyouray]

Chara-design of the others characters.

[Lyrical Flandre]

I can't imagine Hirano playing the role of Yuki.
She has acted tsundere characters such as Haruhi and Mei or talkactive characters such as Konata,
while Yuki seems to be reserved.

I think she is suitable for the part of Rina rather than Yuki
Anyway, Both of Hirano and Mizuki are very popular since they are good singers not to mention good actors.
I'm looking forward to listening Yuki and Rina's songs

[Julius Firefocht]

Hirano will probably use a varient of the voice she currently uses for Minato in Akasaka. That sounds about right.

[Doraneko]

I enjoy the manga quite a lot so I can't really get the reason for the level of pessimism in this thread ^^;;.

Granted, it is not some epic work that will redraw the landscape of the industry, like 99% of everything out there in Japan. It is just a cute romance story up to this point, with two interesting heroines of contrasting backgrounds and personalities.

But then anime tends to throw in twists and turns at the most unexpected times, and with the mangaka for sola working on this, who knows when shit will start hitting the fan... (or is this my wishful thinking ^^;

And for the seiyuu issue of course picking seiyuu with CD sales in mind is nothing ground-breaking either in the anime industry. As long as they deliver what they should deliver than I would not mind too much. But then, Rina is the quirky type and Yuki is the more silent type of girl. My ideal selection will have Aya and Nana swapping their roles.

(The more I think about it, the more it seems like the rationale behind the seiyuu selection is that Yuki is a new, budding idol, like Aya, while Rina is already a well-established professional , like Nana.)

P.S. anyone interested in the story can grab a copy of Dengeki Daioh, where the manga has been serialized for quite a few months.

[Westlo]

I see this taking the battle standard from Macross Frontier as the new rallying cry for shipping fanwanking. Also Kaoru Chujo I really don't see how Nana and Aya are going to clash.. but I'll guess we'll see in a few weeks time.

[Nikusu]

Can't really underestimate Hirano. She is the Daughter of 20 Voices. Of course like you pointed out Lyrical, she's popular because of she's a singer, but she also has a pretty good range on her voice acting. I'm a huge Hirano fan so I'm probably a little bit biased.

[kyouray]

Screenshots on Dengeki Online.

[Bathory Area]

Looks quite decent. Apparently setting of this show has changed to "1986" ... Yes, 1986. To emphasize the distance between the couple (no cell phone, limited way to contact, etc.) Hmm.... I know this show will invlove some singing... I wonder if they will sing 80's songs?

[Blue-kun]

I can't even start to imagine Hirano singing some 80s song.

Actually, scratch that. Just remembered this. Hirano Aya plus two other girls doing a cover of a really famous song by REBECCA. Hopefully, if she ever does sing 80s again, she'll be able to make it sound a bit better after all these years.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by Lyrical Flandre

I can't imagine Hirano playing the role of Yuki.
She has acted tsundere characters such as Haruhi and Mei or talkactive characters such as Konata, while Yuki seems to be reserved....

Then you must watch some of Daughter of Twenty Faces, or even of Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka, or the episodes of NANA where Aya appears as Layla. Those are all fairly reserved and quiet characters.

And Westlo, I guess the way I see these two seiyuu is a bit different from most people. To me, Nana-chan is highly professional, giving exactly the sound and impression that would be normal for a character -- but not with much convincing emotion. Aya, on the other hand, is not as technically perfect, and can sometimes sound pretty unnatural (e.g., in AkaSaka), but somehow conveys emotion very well, to me. Those are the styles I hear.

In singing, too, I find Nana-chan strong and technically perfect, but uninteresting. Aya is the exact opposite: she is just gradually working her way toward competence, but her music is almost always interesting and enjoyable, for me. For me, she is best with the harder or jazzier songs (could Love Gun and Neophilia have come out in the 80s?) she has done, whereas Nana does what I hear as show tunes. I am eager to hear what they will do, both as seiyuu and as singers. I just don't want Aya's style to make Nana sound boring and Nana's style to make Aya sound incompetent.

And Westlo, I hope there is no flood of Macross-style "shipping fanwanking," lol. "Romance in Macross" is one of the most depressing threads I've ever participated in (big mistake).

But I don't want anyone to think I'm not looking forward to this, I read a bit of the manga and thought it was well done. First broadcast, Saturday January 3, 26:00 (i.e., 2am that night).

[Bathory Area]

from "New Type Magazine"

Spoiler for Morikawa Yuki and Ogata Rina: