CD Reviews Captain Animate: Tres Blanc Kazuhiko Shimamoto/MOVIC Marine Entertainment Language: Japanese The second in a trilogy of drama cds about Captain Animate (Anime Tenchou Anizawa Meito), Tres Blanc is a vehicle for getting the main casts of Weiss Kreuz and Gensoumaden Saiyuuki on the same cd. This cd is a treat for the anime fan because it is about the battle for Animate store boss Anizawa Meito to be the best at selling anime goods; it is full of anime-related in-jokes and puns. In this drama, Anizawa is ordered to form a Visual Kei band with the bosses of the other Animate stores, but he is thwarted by his complete lack of understanding of Visual Kei music as well as by the efforts of the rival Darkmate corporation. (An example of Visual Kei is the band Malice Mizer, which makes lavish use of goth costuming in their performances.) To counter Animate's Visual Kei unit Tres Blanc, Darkmate has come up with the "Rorishota Kei" idol unit Bee Mash. "Rorishota" refers to Lolita Complex/Shota Complex - i.e. it is made up of three androgynous, pretty young boys. This drama is not meant to be taken at all seriously, as is obvious by the overdone melodrama and self-referential moments (e.g. the characters played by Seki Tomokazu, Miki Shinichirou and Koyasu Takehito get to meet Weiss and Tres Blanc appears on Yuuki Hiro's radio show). I found this was often a difficult cd to understand due to the high speed at which the jokes were delivered and the amount of unfamiliar jargon, yet I still enjoyed it a lot. The cast is made up of top seiyuu and the performances do not disappoint even though most of what they are doing is extremely silly. The main cast is as follows: Anizawa Meito: Seki Tomokazu (Weiss Kreuz, Vision of Escaflowne) Dougenzawa Touya: Koyasu Takehito (Weiss Kreuz, Gundam Wing) Denki Gai: Miki Shinichirou (Weiss Kreuz, Vision of Escaflowne) Hikaru: Yuuki Hiro (Weiss Kreuz, Arc the Lad) Raiba Ryuu: Seki Toshihiko (Gensoumaden Saiyuuki, Gundam Wing) Wataru: Ishida Akira (Gensoumaden Saiyuuki, Slayers) Mel Rose: Hirata Hiroaki (Gensoumaden Saiyuuki, Digimon) Yuzuru: Hoshi Souichirou (Gensoumaden Saiyuuki, Argento Soma) Most of the character names are puns: e.g. Denki Gai is "Electric Guy" and Raiba Ryuu is "Rival." Seki Tomokazu gives a characteristically energetic performance as the high-strung protagonist Anizawa, and Seki Toshihiko is melodramatically evil as the rival Raiba Ryuu; Yuuki Hiro is hilarious as the crybaby idol Hikaru and Miki Shinichirou plays a wonderful otaku as the bishoujo robot-obsessed Denki Gai. Hirata Hiroaki plays the enthusiastic LA Animate store boss Mel Rose, who speaks a rather interesting mash of English and Japanese. There are only two songs on this cd. The first is the short opening song "Anime Tenchou" (sung by Seki Tomokazu), while the triumphant finale has all eight of these well-known seiyuu singing together in the catchy song "Double Dear." The cd jacket has character descriptions and comments from the seiyuu as well as the uniquely retro manga art of creator Shimamoto Kazuhiko. And for those not up on their Gundam references (which abound) there is an explanation of some of the jokes. The cd comes with a small sticker sheet. I was somewhat disappointed that there were no cast pictures included as well. The timing of the release of this cd is quite interesting, considering that the Saiyuuki movie is due to hit theatres soon and after a hiatus Weiss will be releasing a new drama cd next month. Obvious marketing ploys aside, this cd is a rare treat for fans of either show and for anime fans in general. This one would be fun to see animated, though I do not expect it ever will be. As it is it made me laugh a lot, and I was not getting even half of the jokes. For hardcore otaku this one is a must. (Jen Bomford)
ariel-chan18