#Image Character: Miyu OKamoto

[skirak]

The Ultimate Introduction to Hosoya Yoshimasa Part 1 [Everything you should know about Hosoya Yoshimasa #3]

37th Birthday Special

10 February, the ultimate day as a certain baby turns 37. Time really flies... I still remember creating posts for his 36th bday last year in my main account @akaskira

This is taken from a Chinese source: PukiWiki 

Translated by me!

Introduction

Source: 新R25 Interview (Japanese)

Hosoya Yoshimasa [細谷佳正]

Born 10 February, 1982 in Onomichi, Hiroshima.

Height of 175 cm (5 feet 7), Blood Type B

Left hander.

Was a member of Mausu Promotion till 1 July 2014 and has been Freelance since.

Nicknames include Yosshi (used by Ono Yuuki), Posoya-kun (used by Sugita Tomokazu)

Called Hosoyan by fans and Hikasa Yoko

According to himself, has rarely been given nicknames.

Favourite food includes sea urchin. Likes to drink but doesn’t smoke.

Likes ghost story and horror movies but gets scared as hell in haunted houses (click for link!)

Probably can see ghosts - many colleagues have heard real ghost experiences from him.

Okamoto Nobuhiko once said he wanted to go to haunted house most with Hosoya as his reaction is interesting

In the world of Male seiyuu Singers, he is considered to be of mid-high ranking.

Used to do busking and released his own songs.

Sang albums for character Shiraishi Kuranosuke in “Prince of Tennis”

The first album “Medicine or...?” got 7th in Most Daily Played and 10th in Most Weekly Played. The second album “Poision” achieved 3rd in Daily and 6th in Weekly [Oricon Style]

CD or LIVE, his performance is worth a praise. His condition has been good since his first performance, “Prince of Tennis Hundred Song Marathon”. He then received praise for his singing plus dancing in FESTA 2009, and also is the first from Prince of Tennis to have his very own solo concert and album in 2010.

Doesn’t really sing as his characters, so the songs you hear are all his own style.

Seiyuu with the same experiences as him include Tsubasa Yonaga, Kaji Yuuki, Okamoto Nobuhiko etc.

One of Mima Masafumi (Director of audiography)’s favourite seiyuu. It’s like wherever there’s Mima there’s Hosoya

Experiences

High School 

Used to be in fencing and acting clubs, and quit fencing for acting.

Was in a leader position in acting, but didn’t know whether to pursue it.

After that, watched “Martian Succesor Nadesico: The Motion Picture - Prince of Darkness” recommenced by a friend and decided to be a seiyuu as he was inspired by Yamadera Koichi’s character.

Voiced in the remake Space Battleship Yamato 2199 as Katou Saburou, fulfilling his dream of voicing with Yamadera.

Achieved Best Supporting Character Awards in 2014 and 2016 tho he has no luck in MC

Characteristics

Has a natural mid-range voice, therefore often gets cool / calm Sports Captain roles. To other people, Hosoya can also be seen as a man who’s calm with few words.

Because he started as acting in Western works, he’s better at “natural calmness” performances rather than exaggerated.

Mostly voices young characters from straightforward to cold ones. Also can voice as some bad “Uncle” (Ixion Saga DT as Pet)

Basically after Takamatsu Shinji’s (animator) favourtism, his image has disappeared (this is a compliment)

Maybe because Hosoya’s tone is a little plain (Hey!!) he rarely voices as MC but as supporting roles (MC’s friends etc)

For some reason, always voice some “big Brother” characters and recently, 80% of his roles are muscular guys

Accepted more roles as he grew popular.

Voiced as an insane character in a game “Princess Arthur” and received praise for it.

Before that, also voiced incanely in “Edel Blume” but the game wasn’t good so it wasn’t popular

Common traits of his characters: glasses, prideful, disses, dialect.

Real person is a helpless dork which is totally different from his characters, so may surprise people who don’t know him well.

Started by dubbing in Western shows / movies, so isn’t known in ACG (Animation, Comic, Game) community until his role as Shiraishi.

One of the few who dubs a lot in both ACG and Western films, where he voices in almost every season.

Often receives dialect roles (Osaka, Fukui, Hiroshima etc). Says that his voice is like a plain Ochazuke (rice with tea).

Has very few R18 works.

In BLCD, only appeared for a passerby and never a seme/uke role.

With the exception of Miyano Mamoru and Irino Miyu who both have acting backgrounds, Hosoya being famous even without a R18 character is considered as really special.

People may mistake Hosoya as voicing in more shoujo themed anime due to his popularity with women and large variety, but he actually focuses more on dub and shonen works.

Hosoya EVERYWHERE

In 2016 October, he accepted roles from 12 more works out of his normal ones, and with different varieties as well.

Probably because of overperformance, he hurt his throat and took a break from 23 April 2017 to August 2017.

Personality

Speciality: plays guitar and likes shooting

Is bad at technology so doesn’t have Twitter or personal blog (except link)

Known as the most woman-like male seiyuu.

Ogata Megumi: “Among male and female seiyuu, the one with most girl powers is Hosoya Yoshimasa.”

Actually also wants to be popular so often asks tips from other male seiyuu

A member of Mizuki Nana’s female team

Proved by a lot of people that he loves to talk about love.

Self-claimed masochist. Is actually also very masochistic

Gets nervous easily and sweats a lot. When he’s nervous, he always speak incoherently / stammers so he’s often teased by others.

Always at the bottom of the food pyramid.

In Free, was bullied by “predators” Miyano Mamoru and Suzuki Tatsuhisa.

Nobunaga Shimazaki: “Sorry—”

Hosoya: “We’re not gonna lose like this!!”

Masafumi Mima: “In Knb, 50% of seiyuu were new and perhaps to calm their berves they decided to tease someone. That someone is Hosoya. Even though he’s the captain, his reaction when bullied is priceless.”

Known as the natural dork, which often comes into topic when he’s not around.

Has a weird way of thinking sometimes.

Often leaves audience and cast speechless (and is usually made fun of later), but can tell he means what he says, and usually still has a good relationship with others.

Likes to not look at the camera in pictures, affecting people around him. Fans have also started to imitate it.

Easy to go along with and humble.

Often calls person with “san” behind and uses respectful language (formal)

Depending on atmosphere, he does call people by their first name and vice versa.

People he calls first names include Ono Kenshou, Osaka Ryota, Ishikawa Kaito etc.

“Will go crazy in unreasonable situations” - Hikasa Yoko

Too many sports roles. Fans often say he can “hold an Olympic on his own” and those roles are still renewing.

Some include tennis, Basketball, baseball, soccer, Volleyball, piano, drums, judo, karuta, Swimming, rugby, ice skating.

Fans often check if he’s voicing in new sports anime - and it’s a common habit.

Seems to also notice himself and talks about doing them sometimes.

Relationships

Male Magnet.

Attracts both senpai and junior’s appreciation.

Accidentally stepped into a gay bar and was almost harassed.

Even Fukuyama Jun, who doesn’t work with him much, would mention him from time to time.

Kamiya Hiroshi: “He’s a good kid who’s too serious.”

Has many hidden fans in the industry. Ishikawa Kaito has played his songs directly from his phone before.

Others

Likes girls who’s younger but mature big Sister type omg that’s me

Seems to like... boobs, D-cup in particular.

Had a defect where he was born with six fingers on his right hand but had the extra surgically removed.

Was a fan of the manga “Ushio and Taro” so was very happy when he voiced Akiba Nagare in it.

To be continued

I’ve kind of run out of space so I’m going to do a separate post later. For now, I’m so glad I decided to rewatch anime or I wouldn’t have found out about this adorable dork who made me who I am. I just came back from Japan after studying there for about 4 months, and it had just been the best knowing we were in the same country, breathing the same air, almost living in the same city. 

While I didn’t manage to go to a Hosoyan event, I would definitely go at least once just to “meet” and see him live. 

I love him with all my heart and wish him the best in everything.

[secretlyviola]

Wake Up, Girls!: the Black Sheep of Idol Anime and International Perceptions of the Japanese Idol Industry

Wake Up, Girls! as an anime is probably one of the best and most accurate representations of the real life Japanese idol industry that I've seen thus far. So much so that after completing it, while keeping the crude humor of the show in mind, I struggled with how it wasn't more popular both domestically in Japan and overseas where I live or why word wasn't spread about it more widely. Now, granting & considering the fact that the structure of the show is confusing (1 movie, a TV anime series, 2 more movies, and then the most recent 2nd season which concluded this past winter) I can understand why it has low viewership and interactions compared to other idol-related shows like the various Love Live! and Idolm@ster series that seem to be booming or at least doing better both domestically and overseas. With that in mind, I wished to do a bit more exploring into possible reasons other than these that would address some of its setbacks and at the same time encourage people to give the series a fair chance.

What's Missing?

The thing that I'm noticing most about the deficit in Wake Up Girls' (WUG's) interest mostly has to do with its promotional material.

To start, WUG does not have a mobile game like it's competitors; or rather it did and now will again after some time. The first game unfortunately failed due to possible competition from Love Live! and similar rhythm and gacha games releasing the same same year. The girls' characters do have a feature on a console game called Miracle Girls Festa which shares an engine with the Hatsune Miku Project Diva series. However, a new game involving WUG has not seen a release since then,(other than appearances in other games) which in the rat-race of mobile idol gacha games has put them at a stark disadvantage of the discovery and interaction of their characters. This is, however, on the horizon to change in the fall with the release of their newest mobile game. I'm not able to talk much on this as a data point simply because it isn't released and doesn't really have any gameplay other than a few promo videos.

The Show

Because of the gaming fallout, character discovery and building is almost solely reliant on watching the show. This can be both good and bad. Good, because the group's content is more centralized, but it can severely lack when it comes to more individualized interaction and selecting the all-too-well-known oshimen or "best girl"

The anime itself--as mentioned earlier--is very convoluted in its setup and crude in its initial delivery. If you miss the first movie and just start watching the first season, you can definitely watch the series, but details are a lot more well-rounded when you do watch it.

There are also two separate movies in between the most recent season that are helpful to watch, but that Crunchyroll does not have available for streaming as of writing this, which makes it a bit more complicated to watch without more details.

A general thing to keep in mind while watching is the amount of crude humor that develops throughout the movie and the first three episodes. Without giving too much away to the actual plot, there are themes of sexual exploitation that are present in the beginning of the show. I do see why this may turn some people off to the series since it persists for a majority of the beginning watch time, but I have a firm belief that it is worth pushing through and some parts of it even are good representations of how idols can be exploited in the industry. (It's not all just smiles and friendship!)

"But, why should I watch this?"

If you enjoy Asian idols of any form, I strongly believe it's worth your time. 

Or rather, I could just leave it at that but I know that lack of substance can make people hesitant to try something. So, here's a quick review from 1st movie to most recent season:

The first movie, Shichinin No Idol (Seven Idols, 七人のアイドル) covers the formation of the group through the small Sendai-based agency Green Leaves who sets off to make money by creating an idol group to rival popular powerhouse I-1 Club. (it's essentially this universe's equivalent to AKB48 and it's sister groups) The movie follows the recruiting of Yoshino Nanase, (Member Image Color: Light Blue) a former child model and the group's appointed leader, Miyu Okamoto, (Member Image Color: Orange) a local cafe maid, Minami Katayama, (Member Image Color: Yellow) a joyful and energetic girl who's recruited after winning a folk singing competition, Kaya Kikuma, (Member Image Color: Green) who quit her part-time job at a ramen shop, Nanami Hisami, (Member Image Color: Purple) who aspires to be a stage actress, Airi Hayashida, (Member Image Color: Navy) a timid girl who auditions for the group at the encouragement of her friend and the final member of the group, Mayu Shimada, (Member Image Color: Red) who happens to be a former I-1 Club core member or "center" in the idol world.

The following first tv-aired season covers the girls' activities after debut, inevitably leading to their participation in a high-profile idol competition though their national promotion and with help from a famous producer who wrote songs for I-1. The issues with Mayu's former association with I-1 Club complicate this, as the rivaling group is the host for the idol festival and a large amount of fans are present. How they overcome all of this really emphasizes the level of tribulation that real life idols go through in the industry to get discovered and recognized.

The next movies in between the 1st & 2nd season, Seishun no Kage (青春の影) and BEYOND THE BOTTOM follow a similar plot as the first season, except the girls are challenged with debut under a major agency and the complications that come with that, having to start over from zero, being a one-hit-wonder and do everything that comes with struggling after success, reflecting on the point that sometimes you have to look back to move forward.

The second tv-aired season has the girls moving into the same house and taking on more independent activities to boost the group's overall popularity for their national tour. The show takes a new art and staffing direction than the previous iteration and while doing this, in my humble opinion, retains what's good while cutting a lot of the crude humor that was, at times, unnecessary and honestly almost makes the amount of time building up to the season more worth it.

.~*~.

So is it all worth it? That's up for you to decide. I would personally put it on my top 10 essential anime to watch. While I can't really say it's my favorite, I definitely think that it should be taken for more than it's face value of just another idol anime with fan service. Overall, I can say that I'm glad I invested my time in this series and hope that others may do the same.

Epilogue: "So is there more than that?"

So I can say now that this blog post was actually in progress over a pretty long period of time, written on & off over a period of 7 months. In that time, a lot of things have happened, including the expansion of Wake Up, Girls' sister group, Run Girls, Run (RGR), the announcement of the upcoming mobile game, and--unfortunately--the announcement of the disbandment of the real-life counterpart of WUG, the singing seiyuu unit. (By the same name of course)

To speak briefly on them, the girls share the first name with their animated counterparts and have had group activities outside of the anime including singing for anime openings and endings. They perform both these songs and songs from the show at their concerts. The members each have their own activities outside of the group which includes voice work in other popular Japanese mobile games such as Fate: Grand Order, Idolm@ster: Cinderella Girls, and Tokyo 7th Sisters. This disbandment is set to occur in March of 2019, so if you're going to be in Japan before or around that time, I'd recommend going to see them before time's up. Their live performances are definitely one of their strong points. If you can't make it before, then my point in this post still stands and I still firmly believe watching the show is something worthwhile even if it only changes peoples' perspectives a little.

[aidoru-s-love]

Wake up, Girls!

Miyu Okamoto