A little while ago a friend sent me a fascinating, if confusing (and more than moderately traumatizing) Japanese visual novel called Kichiku Megane, after learning I was interested in the main plot's premise. I had also heard its opening theme ("Under the Darkness" by C.G. Mix) on YouTube and loved it, and to this day I maintain that it's the best theme song for any game I know.
There are several sites you can visit to learn more about the game, so I won't spend time discussing it here except to say I learned five valuable things from KM:
1. Pomegranates are evil.
2. Glasses are very evil.
3. Strawberry shortcake should never be eaten if you don't remember putting it in the fridge, because it is concentrated evil. On a plate. With whipped cream.
4. If something is physically impossible, turn it into a dream sequence with an omake.
5. Omakes are evil.
That being said, I have to say I was incredibly impressed with the voice acting. Between the language barrier and an often fragmented translation, I occasionally found myself relying on voice inflection and emotion alone to figure out what was being said. They matched the character personalities perfectly, catching even subtle complexities well.
I find it interesting that none of the seiyuus have the game listed in their resumes, yet none of them used a pseudonym for it, nor was their participation in the project a secret. Are eroge games just par for the course in the life of a Japanese VA--something done in between mainstream work, acknowledged but never emphasized?
/digression
Anyway, I ended up searching online to see what else the seiyuus had done, and was amazed at the sheer number of projects many of them have completed. For the sake of focus and brevity, I'm concentrating on the main four actors. To give you an idea of their distinctive voices, I'm including links to four episodes of mainstream anime that they've each worked in.
1. Daisuke Hirakawa
He probably had the most...uh..."interesting" role in the game as the protagonist, using a higher range for his Normal Katsuya voice and a much lower range as Megane Katsuya--or, as I called him before I knew his name, "Mr. Dead Sexy". I found him fascinating because he ended up doing a few scenes that required both voices (and this is where the phrase "physically impossible" would come in.) In Chocotto Sister you can hear his higher range, which he's apparently called on to use a lot--he was also the protagonist in the School Days anime, which I wouldn't recommend for those who like happy endings. In any case, Chocotto Sister's not really my kind of show, but if you can get past the two or three panty shots at the beginning, it's kind of cute.
2. Koji Yusa (sometimes spelled Kouji Yusa)
He played Mido, the 32-year-old director of Katsuya's parent company, who probably ended up being my favorite character in KM...and, sadly, the most abused. Yes, he was an egotistical jackass for half the game, but how could anyone actually like the way he was treated for the other half? There's payback, and then there's outright sadism. My grumblings aside, his voice is probably the easiest to catch immediately in nearly anything I've heard. Here in Amatsuki he plays supporting character Kon Shinonome, who shows up after 3 minutes or so (the one with a lollipop in his mouth.) Haven't seen too much of it yet, but all I can say is .hack//Sign apparently wasn't the first to come up with the idea.
3. Hiroki Yasumoto
Played Honda, Katsuya's college friend and co-worker. Another distinctive voice, particularly when the character is angry. He's been in several shows, ranging from comedy to some rather dark dramas. Here he plays a supporting role as the amateur manga-ka Justice (the tall character with light hair and glasses), in the firmly tongue-in-cheek comedy Doujin Work. The thirteen episodes are half the length of regular shows, clocking in at just under 14 minutes each. (NOTE: instead of episode 1, I used episode 4 since that's where he seems to show up the most.) Oddly enough he's playing another childhood friend, and Justice sounds exactly like Honda--especially when he's upset.
4.Makoto Yasumura
Played Katagiri, Katsuya's office supervisor and probably the gentlest character of them all (which was nice, although he could have grown a slightly firmer backbone.) Another VA with a stunning number of shows on his resume. Apparently I actually heard him in an anime first before hearing him in the game, but it didn't hit me for a while. That anime was REC, sent to me by a good friend. Upon viewing the series a second time, Matsumaru sounds a lot like Katagiri as well, just younger and possessing the aforementioned backbone.
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Now playing: Dido - White Flag
via FoxyTunes
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