Seiyuu ka-! chapter 2 summary
Released in Hana to Yume issue 15, 2009.
At Hiiragi Academy, students come to fulfill their ambitions and dreams. It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes students are scouted for their talents in the school. This is exactly what happens with Hime.
Producer Yamada, the famous producer of the hit "Idol Unit AQUA", finds Hime and offers her his business card. He compliments the first-years' performance, especially the prince's performance. He tells Hime that she would be perfect for playing a brief role of a host in an upcoming anime program. Hime is still beaming with excitement.
Narration: { The students who are scouted have two answers. "I'll do it", and... }
Hime: "Okay. I won't ^.^"
Narration: { Hime Kino (age 15) of the first-year voice class. For the first time at this school, an enrolled student has quickly turned down the scout. }
When Mitchi hears what she's decided, he is quite disappointed and insists that she call the business card right away. Shou reminds Mitchi that if anyone should be giving advice, it sure as hell better not be him because he chickened out and ran to the bathroom before their performance. As Mitchi is regretting his mistake, Shou puts a collar around Mitch's neck, ties a rope to it, and attaches the rope to his motorcycle. Shou says it's punishment and chuckles as Mitchi panics.
Tsukino mentions that their performance was really enjoyable and, for a yet unknown reason, apologizes to Mitchi. She reveals that the reason he became really sick before the performance was because she put a curse on him for not letting Hime have the role she wanted. She laughs. He freaks. (^.^)
Tsukino knows exactly why Hime turned down the producer's offer. Hime wants to be the voice of a Lovely Blazer one day, so being the voice of a male host would be no good for the start of her career. Hime thinks that if she's placed as a guy, then she'll always get nothing but male roles. (This is her own unexperienced opinion.) Mitchi and Shou bluntly point out that she can't make a cute voice, so that makes no sense to them.
the next day at school, students spot the 4 dropouts and congratulate them for winning first place. They point out Mitchi and assume he was the one who played the prince. Mitchi is startled and tells them that it was actually Hime, but she denies it and pushes all the credit to Mitchi.
Hime has decided to throw away the time she played the prince. She's determined to focus on developing a cute voice so she can be scouted for it one day.
In explanation to readers, Hime lists all the essential classes that the seiyuu department has: speech and mouth movements, voicing acting practice, broadcast practice, vocal performance, dance practice, more performances, business introduction, announcement practice, and text practice.
Moreover, as being students of the academy, students have the opportunity to see celebrities everyday. Two in particular are the Idol Unit AQUA two: Shuuma Kawai and Mizuki Haruyama from the acting department. People from the business also step into the school. Hime daydreams of the day when she'll be scouted for her magnificent voice.
Hime hears girls squealing over Senri Kudou, a new male seiyuu on his rise to fame and happens to be in the same class. Of course, it's not him that she's interested in, but his mother, Sakura Aoyama. This woman was the same woman who helped her as a child when her dress was ruined. She's the one who also inspired her to become a seiyuu.
Hime becomes frustrated when she remembers Senri dissing her obsession over Sakura Aoyama, but remembers when he helped her in the Snow White performance. She admits she doesn't understand him very well, but she ought to say thanks to him. When she greets him, he glares at her and walks away. This completely confuses Hime and makes her wonder what she ever did to him to get that kind of reaction.
In one of her classes, Hime is scolded for making her voice sound more and more unpleasant each time they do a procedure. Hime nervously explains that she's trying to improve her cute voice for a scout.
Miura-sensei: "That's 10 years too soon for someone who can't even get one breathing technique correct!!"
Hime acknowledges her inexperience, but is determined to improve all the way. She practices her pronunciation and voice exercises with Tsukino and increases her physical stamina by running before school everyday. However, things seem to never go right, seeing as one day she tries out her cute voice while giving an older man his dropped handkerchief and she sounds like some old 45-year old man.
That night, Hime's sister Akane cries in pity for Hime's misfortune. She blames all of it on her own perfection, but hugs Hime and says she's special too. Hime thanks her, looking as if she thinks it's all a little over exaggerated.
Hime explains that Akane has always been better at everything when it came to looks and manners. She's even been scolded by her own mother for not being "hime-like". It was Sakura Aoyama that saved her at that point in her life, calling her a real princess. At that time, Sakura was the voice of a Lovely Blazer. She made a promise with her that one day she would become a Lovely Blazer and help someone, too.
Hime spots Producer Yamada's card and looks at it again. Yamada had told her earlier to take his card just in case she changed her mind about taking the role. There's one problem Hime has with the situation now besides not wanting it. It seems she can't even make the prince voice that she made earlier, no matter what she tries. It makes her depressed and sad when she remembers how happy the students were with that voice.
Hime thoughts: [Now that I think about it, this is the first time anyone has acknowledged me so much. But what I want to do is not be the voice of a guy, but the voice of a cute girl. That's why I won't call that business card."
--------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile in the city, Senri has just finished his work for the day. One of his coworkers asks if he's eating with everyone, but he apologizes that he can't due to school the next day. When he's gone, his coworker states that Senri wouldn't anyway because he takes no interests in anybody or anything.
While walking home, Senri comes across an abandoned kitten in a box meowing at him. What does he do? Takes it home, where 8 other cats are there to welcome him home, of course (XD)
Narration: {Senri Kudou (age 15). A guy with a soft spot for small animals. Particularly cats.}
As Senri holds the kitten (who is thanking him in kitty talk), he remembers how he saw Hime when he arrived at the broadcasting room. She was terrified because Tsukino and Shou had passed out after hearing her prince voice and nobody was there to finish the performance with her. In his POV, she looked like a petrified and sad cat meowing for help.
Senri is annoyed that he did something so useless, helping her like he did. In his mind, he ought to knock useless people down without holding back. He really doesn't care for her in the end.
----------------------------------------------------
Days and days pass, but there's been no sign of another scout coming, which overwhelms Hime. to add to that, Hime is still made fun of for her strange voice, and Senri seems to dislike her even more. One day when she hands him some papers, he glares at her and yanks them out of her hand and then refuses to look in her direction. She's still quite confused.
When she's alone, Hime practices the Snow White role in the script. She heard that recording oneself helps improvement, but when she hears her scratchy, broken old woman voice which is supposed to be Snow White, she's let down and realizes just how bad it is.
Much to Hime's surprise and Senri's bad luck, he happens to walk near her unexpectedly. Hime also remembers someone telling her that practicing with a skilled person could help her improve. But she's skeptical about asking for help from someone who's not only no fun to be around but someone who obviously hates her.
As she's thinking all this through her mind, Senri watches her actions nervously. She has a blank look, then turns her head, but then turns and stares at him. Senri is confused and then starts sweating when her staring brings out a staring, curious kitty representation behind her. Now shaking, he asks what she wants and tells her not to stare.
Hime is happy that he at least spoke to her, noting that he really has a great voice. Still, she's nervous about asking him for help, but takes a chance.
Hime: "Could we read the script together...?"
Senri has a sickened expression.
Senri: "No."
Senri turns away from her and walks away, while Hime looks like hope is lost.
Hime thoughts: [Just as I thought. It's no use...]
Senri turns around to look at her and sees her with such a sad face. At the same time, he sees her kitty incarnation behind her crying and letting out a sad meow. He can't resist this for a second! He turns around and tells her to lend him the script for 10 minutes. She immediately beams with happiness and relief and thanks him. This reaction really shocks him. (Dunno if it's just for her gratitude or just how adorable she looks here ^.^)
During their practice, Senri plays the evil witch. During his turn he portrays excellent alluring actions expected from the witch, sending chills all through Hime's body. She's absolutely amazed that Senri is so skilled that he can make an old woman's voice with no problem.
she's so distracted that she doesn't realized that it's her turn to say her lines. Senri snaps her back, which embarrasses her and causes her already horrible cute voice to come out even worse. Senri becomes angry with her and asks if she's even taking this seriously, which she is.
Senri: "The time you played the Prince was way different, though..."
HIme: "I was definitely good then...! I was...So I'll practice like this from now on so I can fulfill my dream someday."
When Hime smiles after talking with him, Senri sees another cute kitty in her expression, kinda sending him into another dimension where Hime is a cat (it seems).
He reaches his hand out and rubs her head, greatly confusing Hime. (She's like, "WTF?") Only a few seconds later does he snap out of it and realize what he's doing. He breaks out in sweat and forcefully pushes her away, only confusing her even more.
Senri: "Y...! YOU WILL...NEVER BECOME A SEIYUU!! NEVER IN YOUR LIFE!!!"
Narration: {Senri Kidou (age 15) loves small animals. And he the extreme tsundere type.}
Senri truly looks crazy^^. He dashes off after declaring this.
Hime screams at him. The tense atmosphere gathers with Hime at the center.
Hime: "...Bastard... I'LL SQUASH HIM!!!"
Narration: {And Hime Kino (age 15) has the huge desire to win.}
Hime takes Yamada's card out of her pocket and calls him. She tells him to give her whatever role he's got.
Narration: {For these two, the day they fulfill their dreams is still very far away.}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Senri is weird. But cute weird. And Hime is adorable. I wanna squeeze her. (XD) Tsukino is freaky, with her soft voice, yet association with black arts. Spooky~~! I feel so sorry for Mitchi, but Tsukino felt that he deserved it. And Shou...is just cool. I think he may be my favorite of the main characters.
Senri has some time in chapter 3 and we get to see another scene like the end of this chapter in chapter 3. After that, Senri disappears. He may be like the Ren Tsuruga character in which you know he's going to be a main character but not for a liiiittle more time.
Just found out that volume 1 is coming out in December. Hope it's scanned. Extras are always cool. And if I don't get HtY scans of chapters 3-5 by then, then the actual volume scans will be much better quality. It's all guuuuuud.
At Hiiragi Academy, students come to fulfill their ambitions and dreams. It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes students are scouted for their talents in the school. This is exactly what happens with Hime.
Producer Yamada, the famous producer of the hit "Idol Unit AQUA", finds Hime and offers her his business card. He compliments the first-years' performance, especially the prince's performance. He tells Hime that she would be perfect for playing a brief role of a host in an upcoming anime program. Hime is still beaming with excitement.
Narration: { The students who are scouted have two answers. "I'll do it", and... }
Hime: "Okay. I won't ^.^"
Narration: { Hime Kino (age 15) of the first-year voice class. For the first time at this school, an enrolled student has quickly turned down the scout. }
When Mitchi hears what she's decided, he is quite disappointed and insists that she call the business card right away. Shou reminds Mitchi that if anyone should be giving advice, it sure as hell better not be him because he chickened out and ran to the bathroom before their performance. As Mitchi is regretting his mistake, Shou puts a collar around Mitch's neck, ties a rope to it, and attaches the rope to his motorcycle. Shou says it's punishment and chuckles as Mitchi panics.
Tsukino mentions that their performance was really enjoyable and, for a yet unknown reason, apologizes to Mitchi. She reveals that the reason he became really sick before the performance was because she put a curse on him for not letting Hime have the role she wanted. She laughs. He freaks. (^.^)
Tsukino knows exactly why Hime turned down the producer's offer. Hime wants to be the voice of a Lovely Blazer one day, so being the voice of a male host would be no good for the start of her career. Hime thinks that if she's placed as a guy, then she'll always get nothing but male roles. (This is her own unexperienced opinion.) Mitchi and Shou bluntly point out that she can't make a cute voice, so that makes no sense to them.
the next day at school, students spot the 4 dropouts and congratulate them for winning first place. They point out Mitchi and assume he was the one who played the prince. Mitchi is startled and tells them that it was actually Hime, but she denies it and pushes all the credit to Mitchi.
Hime has decided to throw away the time she played the prince. She's determined to focus on developing a cute voice so she can be scouted for it one day.
In explanation to readers, Hime lists all the essential classes that the seiyuu department has: speech and mouth movements, voicing acting practice, broadcast practice, vocal performance, dance practice, more performances, business introduction, announcement practice, and text practice.
Moreover, as being students of the academy, students have the opportunity to see celebrities everyday. Two in particular are the Idol Unit AQUA two: Shuuma Kawai and Mizuki Haruyama from the acting department. People from the business also step into the school. Hime daydreams of the day when she'll be scouted for her magnificent voice.
Hime hears girls squealing over Senri Kudou, a new male seiyuu on his rise to fame and happens to be in the same class. Of course, it's not him that she's interested in, but his mother, Sakura Aoyama. This woman was the same woman who helped her as a child when her dress was ruined. She's the one who also inspired her to become a seiyuu.
Hime becomes frustrated when she remembers Senri dissing her obsession over Sakura Aoyama, but remembers when he helped her in the Snow White performance. She admits she doesn't understand him very well, but she ought to say thanks to him. When she greets him, he glares at her and walks away. This completely confuses Hime and makes her wonder what she ever did to him to get that kind of reaction.
In one of her classes, Hime is scolded for making her voice sound more and more unpleasant each time they do a procedure. Hime nervously explains that she's trying to improve her cute voice for a scout.
Miura-sensei: "That's 10 years too soon for someone who can't even get one breathing technique correct!!"
Hime acknowledges her inexperience, but is determined to improve all the way. She practices her pronunciation and voice exercises with Tsukino and increases her physical stamina by running before school everyday. However, things seem to never go right, seeing as one day she tries out her cute voice while giving an older man his dropped handkerchief and she sounds like some old 45-year old man.
That night, Hime's sister Akane cries in pity for Hime's misfortune. She blames all of it on her own perfection, but hugs Hime and says she's special too. Hime thanks her, looking as if she thinks it's all a little over exaggerated.
Hime explains that Akane has always been better at everything when it came to looks and manners. She's even been scolded by her own mother for not being "hime-like". It was Sakura Aoyama that saved her at that point in her life, calling her a real princess. At that time, Sakura was the voice of a Lovely Blazer. She made a promise with her that one day she would become a Lovely Blazer and help someone, too.
Hime spots Producer Yamada's card and looks at it again. Yamada had told her earlier to take his card just in case she changed her mind about taking the role. There's one problem Hime has with the situation now besides not wanting it. It seems she can't even make the prince voice that she made earlier, no matter what she tries. It makes her depressed and sad when she remembers how happy the students were with that voice.
Hime thoughts: [Now that I think about it, this is the first time anyone has acknowledged me so much. But what I want to do is not be the voice of a guy, but the voice of a cute girl. That's why I won't call that business card."
--------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile in the city, Senri has just finished his work for the day. One of his coworkers asks if he's eating with everyone, but he apologizes that he can't due to school the next day. When he's gone, his coworker states that Senri wouldn't anyway because he takes no interests in anybody or anything.
While walking home, Senri comes across an abandoned kitten in a box meowing at him. What does he do? Takes it home, where 8 other cats are there to welcome him home, of course (XD)
Narration: {Senri Kudou (age 15). A guy with a soft spot for small animals. Particularly cats.}
As Senri holds the kitten (who is thanking him in kitty talk), he remembers how he saw Hime when he arrived at the broadcasting room. She was terrified because Tsukino and Shou had passed out after hearing her prince voice and nobody was there to finish the performance with her. In his POV, she looked like a petrified and sad cat meowing for help.
Senri is annoyed that he did something so useless, helping her like he did. In his mind, he ought to knock useless people down without holding back. He really doesn't care for her in the end.
----------------------------------------------------
Days and days pass, but there's been no sign of another scout coming, which overwhelms Hime. to add to that, Hime is still made fun of for her strange voice, and Senri seems to dislike her even more. One day when she hands him some papers, he glares at her and yanks them out of her hand and then refuses to look in her direction. She's still quite confused.
When she's alone, Hime practices the Snow White role in the script. She heard that recording oneself helps improvement, but when she hears her scratchy, broken old woman voice which is supposed to be Snow White, she's let down and realizes just how bad it is.
Much to Hime's surprise and Senri's bad luck, he happens to walk near her unexpectedly. Hime also remembers someone telling her that practicing with a skilled person could help her improve. But she's skeptical about asking for help from someone who's not only no fun to be around but someone who obviously hates her.
As she's thinking all this through her mind, Senri watches her actions nervously. She has a blank look, then turns her head, but then turns and stares at him. Senri is confused and then starts sweating when her staring brings out a staring, curious kitty representation behind her. Now shaking, he asks what she wants and tells her not to stare.
Hime is happy that he at least spoke to her, noting that he really has a great voice. Still, she's nervous about asking him for help, but takes a chance.
Hime: "Could we read the script together...?"
Senri has a sickened expression.
Senri: "No."
Senri turns away from her and walks away, while Hime looks like hope is lost.
Hime thoughts: [Just as I thought. It's no use...]
Senri turns around to look at her and sees her with such a sad face. At the same time, he sees her kitty incarnation behind her crying and letting out a sad meow. He can't resist this for a second! He turns around and tells her to lend him the script for 10 minutes. She immediately beams with happiness and relief and thanks him. This reaction really shocks him. (Dunno if it's just for her gratitude or just how adorable she looks here ^.^)
During their practice, Senri plays the evil witch. During his turn he portrays excellent alluring actions expected from the witch, sending chills all through Hime's body. She's absolutely amazed that Senri is so skilled that he can make an old woman's voice with no problem.
she's so distracted that she doesn't realized that it's her turn to say her lines. Senri snaps her back, which embarrasses her and causes her already horrible cute voice to come out even worse. Senri becomes angry with her and asks if she's even taking this seriously, which she is.
Senri: "The time you played the Prince was way different, though..."
HIme: "I was definitely good then...! I was...So I'll practice like this from now on so I can fulfill my dream someday."
When Hime smiles after talking with him, Senri sees another cute kitty in her expression, kinda sending him into another dimension where Hime is a cat (it seems).
He reaches his hand out and rubs her head, greatly confusing Hime. (She's like, "WTF?") Only a few seconds later does he snap out of it and realize what he's doing. He breaks out in sweat and forcefully pushes her away, only confusing her even more.
Senri: "Y...! YOU WILL...NEVER BECOME A SEIYUU!! NEVER IN YOUR LIFE!!!"
Narration: {Senri Kidou (age 15) loves small animals. And he the extreme tsundere type.}
Senri truly looks crazy^^. He dashes off after declaring this.
Hime screams at him. The tense atmosphere gathers with Hime at the center.
Hime: "...Bastard... I'LL SQUASH HIM!!!"
Narration: {And Hime Kino (age 15) has the huge desire to win.}
Hime takes Yamada's card out of her pocket and calls him. She tells him to give her whatever role he's got.
Narration: {For these two, the day they fulfill their dreams is still very far away.}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Senri is weird. But cute weird. And Hime is adorable. I wanna squeeze her. (XD) Tsukino is freaky, with her soft voice, yet association with black arts. Spooky~~! I feel so sorry for Mitchi, but Tsukino felt that he deserved it. And Shou...is just cool. I think he may be my favorite of the main characters.
Senri has some time in chapter 3 and we get to see another scene like the end of this chapter in chapter 3. After that, Senri disappears. He may be like the Ren Tsuruga character in which you know he's going to be a main character but not for a liiiittle more time.
Just found out that volume 1 is coming out in December. Hope it's scanned. Extras are always cool. And if I don't get HtY scans of chapters 3-5 by then, then the actual volume scans will be much better quality. It's all guuuuuud.