manga log

You should all know the storyline of YYH by this point, and if you don't you suck (yes, you do), so I'll skip that. Basically this CD features a 45 minute drama about the Yusuke v. the Hiei, Kurama, and Gôki gang battles, and a 19 minute dramatization of the Kurama and Hiei side story, Two Shots. There are some exposition about what happened to Yusuke before this drama CD begins and he is appointed Reikai Tantei, but it probably won't be a good idea to listen to this without knowing his backstory beforehand.

The seiyu. Sasaki Nozomu (Yusuke) doesn't sound at all like he used to, and it's really really weird to hear Yusuke being so deep and serious all the time. Actually his voice here fits my personal image of Yusuke better, but the comical side of Yusuke is almost completely lost, which is a bit of a shame. Hiyama Nobuyuki (Hiei), I think, acts better now than he did in the anime, and doesn't seem to be forcing his voice to be as deep as it was in the anime, which I love. I was a bit disappointed that he doesn't have a high-pitched evil laugh like the good-ol' crazy villain that he is here, but oh well! Chiba Shigeru (Kuwabara) only appears briefly, but sounds exactly like he did in the anime, and I love him and his voice so very much. I hope he'll have lots of lines in the second volume. I'll probably be flamed by Ogata Megumi fans and Kurama fans alike for saying this, but ... Ogata sounds exactly like she did in the anime, as far as I recall, and she reminded me that I never liked Kurama's voice in the first place, haha.

As for the supporting cast. Fukayuki Sanae (Botan) sounds exactly like she used to, which is great. Amano Yuri (Keiko) sounds more laid-back and grown-up here which I personally find refreshing, since I disliked Keiko's high-pitched squealing in the anime. She doesn't sound like a 14-year-old anymore, though, which might annoy some people. I loved Wakamoto Norio (Gôki) here, and he reminded me of the voice of some other character I also loved but couldn't quite place, so I looked it up and it turns out he also voiced Chû in the anime! I love Chû and his voice, especially the way Wakamoto kinda rolls the words on his tongue. Honestly, I liked Gôki's voice the best on this CD (your mileage will most probably vary). Tanizawa Kumiko (Shiori) left no big impression with me. Matsuoka Yuki (Kitajima Maya) was surprisingly cute and I loved how the sentenses just spurted exitedly out of her mouth; very Maya-ish. Nishikawa Ikuo (Hedoki) had a voice you would expect from a vomit-formed low-life scum of a yôkai, but I really didn't like Katô Osamu (Yatsude): I had imagined Yatsude to have a deep and more matter-of-fact voice, since I didn't think he seemed very stupid in the manga.

As for over-all quality of the acting, I liked it. But that probably has much to do with how I think this media (drama CD) complements YYH much better than anime. What I enjoy most about Togashi Yoshihiro is his pace and tempo, like the quick bantering between the characters and the swift and effective panel-work in the battle scenes. I feel the anime dragged on too much, and while that's a general problem with anime based on shonen/battling manga, I felt it ruined the style of Togashi's works even more than it ruined other works. (Or I could just be hugely biased.) 45 minutes to cover the whole storyline with the Gôki v. Yusuke battle, the Kurama storyline, and the Hiei v. Yusuke battle is a wee bit too short, yes, but still better than dragging it on for three and a half 25 min episodes, if you ask me.

I do have a lot of complaints as well, though. The overtly explanatory lines, like Botan's "Yusuke, look! Keiko-chan is hanging from the ceiling!" (what, like he wouldn't have seen her dangling there?) makes the production seem a bit ... cheap. I realize that the Gôki battle isn't very important to the over-all storyline, but I was disappointed when Yusuke defeated him too easily. I hate that they changed some of the lines and grabbed lines from other places in the manga and pasted them in randomly: Kurama's lines from a flashback of Hiei's much later in the manga were pasted into the end of Two Shots instead of the poetic way the manga ended, and since I loved how the manga version of TS ended, I haaaaated the end of the drama version. I also disliked that they made Kurama fight with his rosewhip here. The image I had of young-Shûichi!Kurama clashes majorly with Ogata's acting, too ... in TS it was very interesting how Kurama's expression changed drastically from when he's speaking to Hedoki (cruel) to when he turns around and talks to Maya (gentle), but Ogata's acting doesn't convey this at all. I rather like how she's gentle and teasing yet so very seme towards Hiei, though. Hahaha, yay for seme!Kurama.

Most of all, though, I missed Koenma-sama and Atsuko-san. They had lines in the manga, you know! Meep.

Lastly (yes, this piece of ramble will have an end), a few complaints about the booklet.

Ouch!

OUCH!!!

Reportedly they also wrote Keiko's name wrong in one place, but I couldn't spot it. But ouch.