I Suppose Her Surname Isn't Supposed to Be Spelled "Ai-City." . . .
After re-watching "HEART," I took the time to look around the ICE official site. There wasn't any information about Ishida's casting, but there was a brief interview with AKB48. Apparently this is their first time doing voice-acting. It seems odd that, despite the fact that they're out of their element but know each other well, they would choose four of them as four of Ms. Landsknecht's five henchwomen and one as a member of the other faction. (The odd eishi out is also the only one who doesn't have a Japanese name, interestingly enough.) I also was interested early on in the fact that two of the eishi have names that are colors; one of them is Ms. Landsknecht's chief supporter, and in "RULE," the other ends up being Ms. Alpaia's. Incidentally, Ms. Alpaia's first name is officially "GIULIA," so apparently she's Italian, despite the fact that she's blonde. That seems to be a stereotype about Europeans.