BL CDs - Not for the Faint of Heart!

Warning: NSFW - Adult Content

(If you read this blog, you know I rarely present adult content – but I’m not kidding, this post is truly NSFW)

My recent interview with Mew on seiyuu fandom reminded me of that amazing subset of Japanese drama CDs – the boy’s love drama CD, complete with sex scenes acted out by the seiyuu.

I did a post ages ago on anime music videos as art that discussed a Hikaru no Go BL doujinshi set to music.

In the past few days, I’ve been watching BL drama CD clips on You Tube. Here’s one from a manga called Deadlock (USE HEADPHONES IF YOU’RE ANYTHING OTHER THAN ABSOLUTELY ALONE IN THE ROOM):



As usual, the comments on the video are almost as entertaining as the video itself, starting with the uploader’s helpful note:

"SMEX starts at 6:05 onwards."

And other comments:

"amazing!! those HD moans are just too amazing to my ears !!! xD .."

"BY THE GODS this left me with the biggest fan girl nosebleed I have ever gotten"

"Excuse me, but I cannot seem to find the: "So amazing my ovaries exploded." button..."

Even funnier are the comments referring to the seiyuu Kouji Yusa and Kouichi Touchika. Yusa is known for playing Gin in Bleach and Shadow the Hedgehog in Sonic the Hedgehog among other roles, while Kouichi Touchika is probably best known for playing Neji in Naruto.

Thus the following comments:

"My ears are… bleeding. Neji WHY?!"

"LOL! So Hinata… what do you think of Neji making these sounds? XDD"

And my favorite:

"Shadow the Hedgehog just did Neji Hyuuga. DOUBLE WIN"

Apparently, BL drama CDs are based on BL anime, BL manga and BL light novels as well. In other words, they’re not always related to well-known BL anime and so we’re probably not familiar with most of these stories in the west.

There were no explicit visuals in the above clip, but that’s not the case with the following two videos, so I’m just going to give you the You Tube links.

Here’s Tori and Chiaki from Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi (SAME HEADPHONE WARNING APPLIES):

Tori and Chiaki

Once again, the comments are priceless:

"omg i bet this so awkward for voice actors lol"

"Straight male voice actors who can make such noises are like gods… How do you even make such noises?!?! They must be holding in the laughter"

And my personal favorite:

"I didn’t know some of those noises came out of humans."

And finally, a kind of fan tour-de-force: a Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi BL drama CD matched line for line by a fan video maker to the manga, which has been fan-translated into English. It’s a long clip, very sweet and romantic, consisting mostly of Ritsu Onodera remembering his first time with Takano when they were teenagers. There are some explicit images (as well as audio) toward the end, and then it jumps to ten years later where Ritsu is now a junior editor under Takano the senior editor at Marukawa Publishing.

Ritsu and Takano

You know, I have to say that watching and listening to these videos is equal parts exciting and embarrassing and kind of laugh-inducing. I write m/m erotic romance so you’d think I would just zero in on the exciting, but it’s hard not to imagine the seiyuu in the studio and what their expressions must be like when they’re recording these things.

Toshiyuki Morikawa was a guest of honor at Anime Expo some years ago, and at his panel a fan noted that he was known as “the King of BL” and asked what he thought about acting in BL drama CDs (apparently he’s done tons of them). Morikawa said he enjoyed them; after all, “acting is acting and BL acting counts as acting too.” He was very easy with his answer, which I thought showed a mature acceptance of the entire BL universe.

You need fortitude to even listen to BL drama CDs, so I imagine BL voice acting is not for the faint of heart. Morikawa must have a particularly strong constitution. ;) As for me, I’ll return to You Tube to look for more BL clips soon. XD

The Missing Day - New Release

I'm pleased to announce the release of my new short story, The Missing Day.

For more information, please visit: Bell River Publishing

A Shinji, a Hothead and a Boy Soldier

A Shinji, a hothead and a boy soldier walk into a bar and… no, it’s not the start of a joke. ;)

Three animes are at the top of the list for shonen adventure this season—featuring three very different protagonists.

Valvrave the Liberator has been described as a cross between Gundam and Code Geass. In T.C. (True Calendar) 71, much of humanity lives in space colonies. The first episode shows the neutral colony of JIOR being attacked by the Dorssian Federation, right in the middle of Shinji’sHaruto’s confession to the girl he likes, Shoko.

Shoko runs to help a stalled motorist in the path of the invasion and disappears in a blast. Enraged and full of grief, Haruto jumps into the cockpit of a huge mysterious mecha named Valvrave to take his revenge.

As Haruto tries unsuccessfully to start the mecha, he frets and cries and bemoans the fact that he always fails at everything (as meanwhile—the computer screen directly in front of him is flashing a “Yes” or “No” question the whole time). Haruto finally notices the screen and clicks “Yes.”

The mecha takes off and Haruto defeats his enemies… Okay. It’s pretty standard stuff so far, but Valvrave takes the usual shonen mecha premise and does a few really strange things with it.

By calling Haruto a “Shinji” I mean of course Shinji from Evangelion—the teenage mecha pilot who set the standard for whiny shonen protagonists. Although to be fair—episode two does show Haruto manning up in an unexpected way, so maybe there’s hope for him yet. (He does shed tears again in episode two however. ;))

The Dorssian Federation’s stylish uniforms and grand imperial building designs definitely bring Code Geass’s Britannian Empire to mind; and like the Geass Power there’s a paranormal element that came into play right at the end of episode one that had me saying: “Well… I certainly never expected THAT to happen.”

Moreover, a new and entirely different supernatural event occurs at the beginning of episode two involving Haruto and the enemy soldier L-elf that had me going, uh, WHAT?

And I’ve never seen glossier-looking animation. The characters are glossy to the point of almost glowing. I’m not sure what effect the animators are going for with this, but well, it is quite pretty. XD

The thing with Valvrave the Liberator is that despite all this—or maybe because of all this—it’s incredibly fun to watch. It’s teenage angst plus mechas plus the first paranormal element I can’t name or I’ll spoil it, plus the second paranormal element I can’t name or I’ll spoil it. The producers’ attitude with this anime seems to be, “It’s a train wreck, but isn’t it gloriously FUN to WATCH?” And you know what? It is.

Attack on Titan is the most highly-anticipated shonen series of the season.

Humans live in cities behind giant walls that were built to keep out the Titans, enormous humanoid figures that like to eat humans.

Eren sees his mother get eaten by a Titan in episode one. He’s a fairly normal boy before this event, but afterward becomes an off-the-rails hothead who vows to kill every Titan out there.

The visuals are excellent, and while the previews promise exhilarating action sequences to come I was surprised that the first three episodes were all set-up. The first two episodes are flashbacks to the first attack of the Titans when Eren was young, and the third (after a timeskip) shows Eren and his friends training to become soldiers. I kind of expected them to get into the main plot more quickly than this.

We’re only at the beginning of the series, of course, but Eren’s personality hasn’t endeared me to him so far. He should develop over the course of twenty-five episodes, but for now I’ll continue to watch for the visuals and the story and see where things go from here.

Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet is the shonen anime that impresses me the most so far this season.

Led is a 16-year old combat mecha pilot for the Human Galactic Alliance. In the midst of an enormous space battle against a race of alien beings, Led and his talking mecha Chamber fall through a kind of black hole distorting time and space and wind up on Earth.

Earth has been swamped by gigantic oceans following an ice age melt-off, and humans live on old battleships like islands surrounded by nothing but water.

Led awakes from hibernation and, with his talking mecha translating for him, communicates with the citizens of Gargantia, a fleet of ships. When Gargantia is attacked by pirates, teenage girl Amy asks Led to help. Led and Chamber wipe out the pirates, to the horror of the Gargantians who didn’t expect him to actually kill people.

After Led and the Gargantians start to understand each other better, Led assists in another fight and this time wins the Gargantians’ gratitude and respect. However, he doesn’t understand their words to him—“thank you”—even when Chamber translates them. In the life he came from, no one ever said this to him before.

When we first see Led he’s an efficient killing machine with an expressionless face, giving monotone responses to his commander even in the middle of a crazily escalating space battle. He’s a boy soldier, a child forced to become an adult before time.

He doesn’t know how to react to the cheerful Amy at first, but gradually starts to open up to her. His cold gaze when he kills the pirates reminds us that this is who he’s been; but Amy and the warmly engaging citizens of Gargantia are drawing out who he could be.

Gargantia is a wonderful adventure with a protagonist you can pull for and respect. The contrast between Led and the Gargantians provides a conflict that foreshadows the end: will Led become more human and capable of intimacy with others, or will he revert to being an emotionless boy soldier with a frozen heart?

***

Finally, in deference to the For God’s sake stop reviewing shows when only one or two episodes are out! anime club on MyAnimeList, I will… forego attaching the “Reviews” label to this post. XD

Interview with Mew - On Seiyuu Fandom

When I first got into anime I never expected to become a seiyuu fan. I didn’t understand how American fans could be that much into seiyuu, especially if they didn’t know Japanese. Suffice to say, I soon caught the bug as well. ;)

I think my first seiyuu love was Akira Ishida as Hakkai in Saiyuki, and from there I’ve gone on to have countless other favorites. As I’m not fluent in Japanese, it’s been difficult for me to get a sense of the role that seiyuu play in the Japanese entertainment scene and what seiyuu culture and fandom are like in Japan.

I came across Mew’s Hibiki blog one day on the Internet. Hibiki is a blog about Dear Girl ~Stories~, a radio show hosted by two well-known seiyuu, Hiroshi Kamiya and Daisuke Ono. I read Mew’s accounts of attending “seiyuu events” that are held across Japan, and my interest was piqued.

“Mew” is an American fan of Japanese seiyuu who currently lives and works in Japan. She graciously consented to being interviewed about seiyuu culture and seiyuu fandom from the unique perspective of being a bilingual fan who lives in Japan.

Q: Tell me a little about yourself.

A: Hi. I'm a Vietnamese-American born and raised in California, U.S.A. Like many others, I got hooked into anime during the Pokemon craze. Soon after majoring in Japanese in college, I moved to Japan in early 2010 to teach English, and after a year changed to my current non-teaching job. I've been a seiyuu fan for over 10 years, and see many years of continued fandom in my future.

Q: How did you become a fan of Japanese seiyuu?

A: Fushigi Yuugi was my first “real” (as in non-TV broadcasted) anime, and the seiyuu in that series somehow caught my attention. I had very little Japanese knowledge at the time but bought a few Fushigi Yuugi-related CDs on eBay, which I later discovered were bootlegs. ^^; My first favorite seiyuu was Hikaru Midorikawa, the voice of Tamahome, but I couldn't really tell you how I became a fan. It just happened and before I knew it, I was hooked.

Q: You’ve been a seiyuu fan for 10+ years. What was it like to finally move to Japan and live where the seiyuu live and work? And how did you find out about all the things seiyuu fans can do in Japan and start getting into it?

A: It's a great experience, and of course I enjoy having easy access to everything. I think everyone needs to remember though that when you move to Japan, first and foremost you're here to work, not play, but after all that hard work is done, you can go out and treat yourself by indulging in your hobbies.

I learned about seiyuu events pretty early on in my fan career. When I looked up information about Hikaru Midorikawa, I found out that he was part of a seiyuu unit called E.M.U with whom he held events and performed at live concerts. I had my first exposure to seiyuu events after I eagerly got my hands on the home releases of those events.

Q: Voice acting in America isn’t considered as important as live action acting, whereas in Japan seiyuu can have huge fan followings like “regular” actors do. Am I correct in my impression that seiyuu are viewed by Japanese fans as being on the same level as film and TV actors?

A: Yes, in fact just recently (April 11), Mamoru Miyano appeared on Music Japan, a music program broadcast nationally on NHK, so some seiyuu are definitely breaking into the mainstream. Nana Mizuki, for example, has participated in the last two Kohaku Uta Gassen, which is NHK's annual year-end music program that's watched in millions of households throughout Japan.

There are some really hardcore (for better or worse) fans that practically worship their favorite seiyuu. A little while back there was a false rumor that Daisuke Ono had gotten married, and one “fan” posted on 2ch a photo of a bunch of Ono's CDs that they had broken because they felt he had “betrayed” them. Not everyone is extreme like this, of course, but they do exist.

Q: I’m curious as to what the lifestyle of a successful seiyuu is like. Are they celebrities? Can they take the Metro or stop in at a conbini to buy an onigiri without being approached by fans?

A: By their fans they can definitely be treated like celebrities, but I think most of them have no problem doing everyday activities in public. I've heard of some seiyuu sightings, and a couple of my Japanese friends have had them before, but I think most of the time people don't dare approach them when they're in public and prefer to just watch from afar. Seiyuu also often wear masks when out and about so it could be that they're not noticed. I've sometimes imagined what I would do if I ever saw a seiyuu in public. I would want to greet them but would most likely chicken out. I think most fans would react the same.

Q: Who are some of the most popular seiyuu in Japan, and why do you think they’re so popular?

A: I could give you a laundry list here as there are many who can be considered popular, but just to name a few, for the males I'd say Hiroshi Kamiya, Takahiro Sakurai, Daisuke Ono, and Tomokazu Sugita. Kamiya's won the Most Votes Award twice at the Seiyuu Awards now so one could argue that he's among the most popular. I'm not as familiar with female seiyuu, but I often see in magazines Nana Mizuki, Yukari Tamura, and Yui Horie.

As to why they're popular, everyone has their own reasons for liking a particular seiyuu, be it their voice, looks, or acting, but I suppose it's mainly a combination of all three.

Q: Your blog Hibiki focuses on Dear Girl ~Stories~, a radio show hosted by seiyuu Hiroshi Kamiya and Daisuke Ono. A lot of seiyuu host radio shows in Japan, a fact many American anime fans are not aware of. Can you explain a little what these radio shows are about?

A: It's pretty hard to explain because not all shows have a running theme. In the case of DGS, the first corner, or section, of the show is where they read letters from listeners. Listeners send in a variety of mail, from topics relating to the personalities or what was previously discussed on the show to topics that are completely unrelated. For example, in one of the episodes, a listener wrote about how they went to karaoke and ended up having muscle sores the next day. They asked Kamiya and Ono if they've ever gotten muscle sores from activities where you wouldn't usually get them. This led to an episode a couple weeks later where they recorded the show in a karaoke box and sang karaoke.

Some other shows, such as Radio 2D LOVE hosted by Wataru Hatano and Takuma Terashima, have a set theme that they don't often stray away from. In this case, the theme is “2D” so most of the time they chat about the latest anime, manga, and games. It's basically a show hosted by two otaku geeking about what they love most.

A good radio personality is someone who is able to talk about a wide range of topics that may or may not relate to themselves or their job, and does so in a way that makes it interesting for their listeners. So what are these radio shows about? In a word, anything.

Q: On You Tube, I’ve seen clips where the casts of various animes appear before live audiences and perform scenes from the series. But there are also live shows where seiyuu just appear as themselves and perform skits or music in groups they’ve formed with one another. You’ve written about many of these seiyuu events on your blog, and while they sound entertaining I’m a bit unclear on the context for these shows. Can you elaborate on how these events got started and what they’re about?

A: There are many different types of events. Some are related to an anime or game, while others commemorate the release of a CD or DVD. In the world of Japanese voice acting, seiyuu aren't just people behind the scenes who provide voices for characters or voice-over narrations. Seiyuu are entertainers, and these events are about entertaining the fans.

I suppose when you look at the big picture though, it all boils down to promotion and marketing. The event could be to promote a certain release or series, or to promote the seiyuu themselves so that people will buy when they come out with something new. All this promotion takes place while providing entertainment for the fans.

Nowadays it seems to be a trend to include event ticket lottery applications with BDs/DVDs and CDs, so in order to have a better chance at getting a ticket, some people will often buy multiple copies of the release, though not always completely willingly. While this marketing tactic is quite effective, it can be a nightmare on fans' wallets, but we suck it up because these events are fun, and they are pretty much the only opportunity to see our favorite seiyuu in person.

Q: I heard there was one seiyuu event where they performed 100 songs(!) from The Prince of Tennis. What are some of the most unusual events you’ve been to or heard of that involved seiyuu?

A: Ah, yes, the Tenipuri 100 Song Marathon. I haven't been to any unusual events personally, but there is a series of events called Omaera no Tame Daro hosted by Toshiyuki Morikawa and Nobuyuki Hiyama where they and the guests at the event will cross-dress. The next event is in May and Tomokazu Sugita, Wataru Hatano, and Takuma Terashima will be guests. I'm a huge Hatano fan and would love to attend but unfortunately I'll be back in the States at that time. =( Friends who have attended Omaera events before always tell me how much fun they are.

Q: I’m always amazed, though I guess I shouldn’t be, at how so many seiyuu have beautiful singing voices. Who are some of your favorite seiyuu singers?

A: My personal favorites include Hiroshi Kamiya, Daisuke Ono, Tatsuhisa Suzuki (who had a solo career but is currently providing vocals for his band OLDCODEX), Kenichi Suzumura, and Miyu Irino.

Q: Drama CDs were a new concept to me when I first got into anime. I didn’t understand the appeal of just listening to voice actors play their roles (and not knowing Japanese obviously didn’t help). Now I get why they’re so popular; they expand the universe of the anime and what the fans love about the story.

Another aspect to drama CDs is that when they act out love scenes, they really act them out totally, meaning the seiyuu voice-act explicit sex scenes. This is a completely unknown concept here in the U.S. Do you know how this got started in Japan? Also, are there any seiyuu who refuse to do sex scenes in drama CDs?

A: You're probably referring to the “karami” scenes in BL dramas. Such scenes may exist in other genres, but if they are then I'm not aware.

I'm not sure how this started, but the early BL dramas were not as explicit. The “sound effects,” if you will, were also quite sloppy and not as realistic as they are now. What can I say... Sex sells?

It's pretty well known that Masaya Onosaka will not perform such scenes. I believe he's publicly voiced his distaste for BL in the past and will interrupt people if they start gravitating towards the topic. There are also some popular seiyuu who have never performed in a BL drama CD, such as Mamoru Miyano. I'm guessing it's partly a decision made by his agency since they might not want something like that on his resumé, but no one knows for sure.

Q: Boy’s love is popular in Japan, and many manga and anime include fan service in this regard.

I wonder if this leads to fans sometimes imagining seiyuu as being paired up. For example, there’s a funny clip on You Tube where Tomokazu Sugita and Yuuichi Nakamura are singing on stage, and every time they look at each other or their hands accidentally touch you can hear a thousand girls in the audience shriek.

I’m sure the seiyuu are aware of this. How do they handle this with the fans—is it openly acknowledged or do they pretend they don’t notice? ;-)



A: Yes, some fans do pair up seiyuu, and doujinshi that feature such pairings exist as well. I've also seen photos edited so that it looks like one has their arm around the other, or that they are very close to each other. While I do enjoy BL, I am personally quite against pairing up seiyuu and other real people. I believe that the line between 2D and 3D is not one that should be crossed as it is rude to the people involved. That aside, I'm sure the seiyuu are aware of what goes on, but it is not something they talk about. Some actions might be a “service” to the fans, but I don't believe that it means they want to be paired up or is any indication that they approve of it. I know I wouldn't want people imagining me doing indecent things with my co-workers or friends.

Q: What are “idols” in Japan? The term seems to refer to a specific kind of celebrity. Are any seiyuu considered idols?

A: An “idol” is definitely something that seems to be unique to Japan. It refers to a popular celebrity, often a singer or actor, who appears in a wide range of media that is seen by the general public.

I'm not really familiar with the idol scene, but I guess seiyuu like Nana Mizuki may have attained idol status. Her CDs often rank very high on the Oricon charts and she has the ability to sell out some of Japan's largest venues, including Budokan and Tokyo Dome. As I mentioned before, she's also appeared on NHK's annual year-end Kohaku program. I don't think there are too many seiyuu who have broken into the mainstream like Nana Mizuki though.

Q: Something I’ve always wondered is whether there are seiyuu who do live action acting, and live action actors who also do voice acting. I would think attractive seiyuu like Mamoru Miyano and Daisuke Ono would have film/TV careers as well as seiyuu/singing careers. Do the two types of actors ever cross over to do the other kind of acting?

A: Yes. Miyano was in the movie Wonderful World, which was actually directed by fellow seiyuu Daisuke Namikawa and has a cast consisting of seiyuu. Similarly, the movie Kami Voice also featured an all-seiyuu cast with Yuki Kaji and Wataru Hatano in the leading roles.

Off the top of my head, Kensho Ono went from live-action acting to voice acting. He was in many stage plays, a couple Taiga dramas (annual year-long historical dramas that air on NHK), and more before landing his voice acting breakout role as Tetsuya Kuroko in Kuroko no Basket.

Many seiyuu also do stage plays. Gekidan Hero Hero Q Company is a group that includes a few seiyuu such as Tomokazu Seki, Katsuyuki Konishi, and Miki Nagasawa. Their stage productions sometimes feature seiyuu that are not associated with their group, such as Ryotaro Okiayu.

Q: Finally, are Japanese seiyuu aware that they have fans in the west?? We may not be able to communicate our appreciation of them due to the language barrier, but we love what they do in their anime roles. =D

A: Yes, most definitely! I think most of the foreign fan base is focused more in Asia, but they are definitely aware that they have fans throughout the world, and sometimes when they ask at events where everyone is from, they might ask if anyone came from abroad.

On Hibiki I often organize projects to send fan letters to Kamiya and OnoD. It's just one of my efforts to bring together foreign fans and the seiyuu they love, and let the seiyuu know that they've got support all over the world.

Q: Thanks so much for your time and your answers. :)

A: Thanks for having me! I'm honored to have been chosen to represent English-speaking seiyuu fans. ^^


Mew’s Links:

Hibiki - http://hibiki.boyscloud.net/dgs
Hibiki Twitter – http://twitter.com/dgshibiki
Hibiki Tumblr – http://dgshibiki.tumblr.com

Twitter – http://twitter.com/crosswithyou

The Unlimited - Review

One of the best series of winter 2013 was The Unlimited – Hyobu Kyosuke.

The Unlimited was a spinoff from Zettai Karen Children, a 51-episode comedy series from 2008-2009. There’s quite a few crossover characters from that universe who appear in The Unlimited, so a look at ZKC is first in order.

Zettai Karen Children (Absolutely Lovely Children, English title Psychic Squad) tells the story of The Children, three young girls with a high level of ESP or paranormal abilities.

“Espers” are viewed with extreme suspicion by “normal” humans, discriminated against in society—and captured by government organizations that secretly experiment on them and try to turn them into weapons. Against this background, two groups with somewhat similar aims but completely different methods conflict with each other based on a prophecy of a future event.

Kaoru (Aya Hirano – who also plays Hyobu as a boy in two flashback episodes) is the leader of The Children and specializes in psychokinesis. Kaoru, Aoi the teleporter (Ryoko Shiraishi) and Shiho the psychometric esper (Haruka Tomatsu) are introduced to Kouichi Minamoto (Yuuichi Nakamura), a hapless 20-year old, in ZPC’s first episode. Minamoto is their new “handler.”

The Children are under the protection of B.A.B.E.L. (Base of Backing ESP Laboratory), founded by Fujiko Tsubomi (Yukana).

Fujiko was the daughter of Baron Tsubomi. During World War II, the Baron adopted a young esper boy named Kyosuke Hyobu (Kouji Yusa). Both Fujiko and her new younger brother Kyosuke showed high-level esper abilities, but Kyosuke was particularly talented.

At the end of WWII, Fujiko, Kyosuke and the other espers being trained by the Japanese government were betrayed by Captain Saotome, the non-esper human who led their unit. All except Fujiko were murdered, including young Kyosuke who was shot point-blank by Saotome himself. Kyosuke came back to life and slayed Saotome, vowing revenge on all “normals.”

Fujiko escaped and later formed B.A.B.E.L. in collaboration with the same government officials who ordered the killing of the espers. B.A.B.E.L. seeks to create a world where espers and normals can live together in peace. Kyosuke saw Fujiko’s action as a betrayal and the two siblings have been at odds ever since. Fujiko, now in her eighties, and Kyosuke keep themselves young-looking by the use of ESP which works in all aspects except for their snow-white hair. Kyosuke remains small and slight in build, as his body was stopped in its development at the moment he was killed as a teenager.

Kyosuke Hyobu formed his own esper organization, P.A.N.D.R.A. Viewed by most as a criminal organization, P.A.N.D.R.A. actually rescues espers who are being held in captivity and used by governments and other entities. Where B.A.B.E.L. as an official organization is constrained in how they can proceed, P.A.N.D.R.A. as a rogue organization has no such restraints. Hyobu carries out his missions using whatever methods he sees fit.

Toward the end of ZKC there’s a time skip and The Children are now teenagers.

The future event that was prophesied is that an adult Kaoru will lead a worldwide esper revolt against normals—with Kyosuke Hyobu. B.A.B.E.L. is aware of the prediction and so is Hyobu, who has waited for Kaoru to mature so they can start their revolution. Through the years he has also fallen in love with Kaoru, calling her his future “Queen.”

Against this backdrop, The Unlimited begins its story.

In episode 1, Hyobu allows himself to be captured and sent to a special island prison for espers. His mission is to rescue Yuugiri (Nao Touyama), a little girl—and a very powerful esper.

While in prison, Hyobu is befriended by a Japanese-American named Andy Hinomiya (Junichi Suwabe).

Andy is half-esper and half-normal with an unusual ability: he can nullify ESP powers. When Hyobu rescues Yuugiri, he invites Andy to come with them and join P.A.N.D.R.A. However, Andy is actually a spy sent to infiltrate P.A.N.D.R.A. by the U.S.E.I., an American black ops organization.

On board the Queen of Catastrophe, P.A.N.D.R.A.’s ship, Andy secretly transmits reports back to headquarters while ingratiating himself with the espers. Little Yuugiri takes a liking to the friendly American and Andy feels genuinely protective toward the young girl. Though he loathes espers, Andy begins to realize that P.A.N.D.R.A.’s mission is at least somewhat justified and that good espers do exist.

When the U.S.E.I. orders Andy to steal the “brain” of the ship—the literal brain of an esper dolphin named Ihachigo—the American hesitates. Hyobu confronts him in the engine room and Andy finds out that not only has his cover been blown, but Hyobu has known all along that he is a spy.

The Unlimited is one of those series where each episode is so good, you almost hold your breath to see if the next one will disappoint—and it never does. The story is tightly scripted, with no filler-type scenes, and with the right balance of action scenes, exposition, character and relationship development. For example, all of the cute scenes showing Andy and Yuugiri bonding seem like filler, but their relationship is actually critical to the plot later on.

The story is built around Hyobu and Andy. It’s hard to explain without revealing too much, but each man changes as a result of the other and it’s clear at the end that neither will be the same after this.

The character designs are awesome. Hyobu’s small frame—perversely, he wears a school uniform which makes him look even younger—combined with his white hair gives him the image of a wizened pixie. As for Andy, he’s the most attractive male character design I’ve seen since Hijikata in Hakuouki.

Andy is also appealing in another sense. He’s a throwback to a particular kind of American male lead you used to see in post-WWII movies: open, blunt, awkward in social situations, and an innocent abroad with a good heart. Junichi Suwabe manages to pull this off even when Andy is undercover as a spy; you never dislike Andy, not even when he goes in a direction you know is wrong or is slow to see the truth.

And by the way - if it sounds like faint strains of boy's love are lurking in the background here - this is official art from The Unlimited:

So no, you're not imagining things. ;)

Finally, the music is amazing. Not only the opening and ending songs, but the cool and jazzy background music in the action sequences, which sounds like it could be from a 1960s James Bond movie. Plus, the producers had fun with the openings and endings. For the first three episodes and final two episodes that take place in America and Europe, the opening (“The Last Resolution” by Emblem) is sung in English; for the middle episodes that take place in Japan the song is sung in Japanese. For the last two episodes, the opening credit sequence is given wildly-colored psychedelic special effects that foreshadow Hyobu’s out of control psychic energy in the final episode. And the ending songs are sung by the seiyuu for Minamoto and Sakaki, and Hyobu and Andy as duets.

Like K earlier this year, The Unlimited – Hyobu Kyosuke is now on my DVD to-buy list. Sentai Filmworks has Zettai Karen Children, so hopefully they’ll license The Unlimited for a North American release.

My Anticipated Spring 2013 Watchlist

Here’s my list—so far anyway—of what I plan to watch this spring.

Arata Kangatari is about Hinohara Arata, a high school boy who enters a fantasy world and switches places with Arata, a boy with the same name from that world who then comes to Earth and takes Hinohara’s place in school and in life.

Hataraku Maoh-sama: Satan comes to Earth to rule the world!! However, first he needs an income, so he gets a job at a fast-food restaurant.

A very funny premise. Funimation has announced they’ll be streaming this.

Karneval: Nai has lost his memories, but has a bracelet from Karoku, the only person he recalls. The bracelet features one word: “Circus.” Nai is rescued from danger from Gareki, and the two then travel in search of Circus.

Circus turns out to be a shadowy national defense agency that seeks out and destroys “Possessors,” beings with special abilities. Circus also presents actual circus shows, apparently as a cover for their secret activities. (Reminds me of the tag line for Weiss Kreusz: “Florists by day… ASSASSINS BY NIGHT!”) A great cast (Hiroshi Kamiya, Mamoru Miyano, Daisuke Ono, Yuuichi Nakamura, Koji Yusa and Souichiro Hoshi, whom we haven’t seen in a while) and an interesting premise.

Shingeki no Kyoujin: Man-eating giants rule the planet, and the remnants of humanity live in a city with extremely high walls. Once the walls are breached, young Elen swears to destroy the giants and defend humankind.

Valvrave the Liberator: A Gundam-like premise, with 70% of humanity living in off-Earth space. When the small neutral nation of JIOR gets pulled into a conflict between Earth’s two great powers, young Haruto and his school friends get involved, eventually piloting mechas called “Valvraves” that can affect humanity.

There are two other series that haven’t a hope of getting picked up in the U.S., but if they do I’ll watch them. Otona Joshi no Anime Time is a series of stories about women and their romantic and other relationships.

The other series I’d like to see is Asian Risshiden, which is about being a salaryman in Japan.

Crunchyroll has picked up Valvrave the Liberator, and hopefully will announce more of the above titles in the next week or two. I’m also thinking about having another source of streaming anime to turn to and I’ll post about that soon.

Supporting the Industry - What I Did in March 2013

I went to Digital Manga Publishing's warehouse sale in March.

They had a lot of books for sale. The books and other items were laid out in a huge room. On the floor, all around the edges of the room, were stacks of yaoi manga for $1 each. In the middle of the room there were a number of long tables, all stacked with yaoi manga, novels and other books on sale for $4 each.

At the end of the room there were a few three-shelf carts with hentai books, and some tables with anime merchandise (not as much as I expected actually).

The main focus, though, was the books. So many books... And there were a number of collector's box sets for sale as well. For example, a special two-volume Astro Boy box set was available for $4. Serious collectors and those with eBay businesses should come down to Gardena if DMP ever does this again, truly.

First, I bought Yashakiden, volumes 3 and 4. I was the editor on the Yashakiden series and now I only need volume 5 to complete my set. (In case you're wondering, DMP used to send me the books I'd worked on for free, but that was before the recession and their current financially-pinched situation.)

As an added treat, DMP put a few free items in the bag just for coming to the sale:

The Kiss of Fire art book by Youka Nitta is an amazing free gift - it's one of the most popular yaoi art books out there.

I picked up a special hardcover edition of the first volume of Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi:

And of course, bought some yaoi manga and novels:

I've been waiting forever for DMP to get volume I of Right Here, Right Now back in stock, but as of the time of the sale they still didn't have it, so I gave in and bought volume II even though I've never read the first volume:

Right Here, Right Now is about a modern day Japanese guy who gets transported back in time and falls in love with a samurai warrior. I love that sort of thing. ;)

Finally, they had some Japanese art supplies and manga how-to books for sale:

My total cost for this big haul was a mere $25. o.O

Is this the end for Digital Manga Publishing? I certainly hope not. I freelance for them but I don't have any inside information here. As another fan said to me, a warehouse liquidation is never a good sign, but DMP has survived through a number of ups and downs and is still in business today. Let's cross our fingers and hope that the no. 1 purveyor of yaoi titles makes it through this rough patch and continues to supply fujoshis with our favorite kind of books for years to come. ;)