Voice Actor Choreography, Sound Effects & Original Soundtrack
Casting selections for V.a's like many Madhouse productions was great. Even though there's such a vast amount of characters, I strongly do feel that almost all of the casted v.a's offered great performances. The transition between the younger middle school Chihaya/Arata/Mashima to the older high school students was seamless, and all were casted well. Along with the most important characters being casted well, the whole range of supporting characters v.a's also had great performances. Due to the vast amount of characters and accompanying voice actors, I'd just like to talk about a few v.a's that I found gave the most notable/numerous performances as well as my personal favourites. Though keep in mind nearly all, if not all the v.a's casted gave great performances, so it's rather heard to chose. In any case, along with my favourites, main character performances will be included as well.
Asami Seto as Chihaya AyaseUnfortunately, I haven't heard many of Asami Seto's performances. The only other case she was when she was casted in another Madhouse production Death parade and of course the entirety of Chihayafuru. Thankfully, I've immensely enjoyed both productions, especially her performances in both starring roles, in this case, as both the middle school & older high school student Chihaya Ayase. This is a really great coming of age story, so naturally, seeing/hearing Chihaya at a young age as well as in present time as a high schooler was a memorable and nostalgic progression of maturity.
This of course happens as well with both Mashima Taichi as well as Arata Wataya. I feel Asami Seto's performance was phenomenal, when it came to heated and competitive moments, friendly conversation, or general antics, all around not only did she give great performance, but Asami being selected to star a Chihaya was indeed a great choice. Also switching from a younger Chihaya, to an older Chihaya also was a seamless transition. Not Only does she have the versatility to sound child like, she can also be serious, confrontational as well as youthful and silly, or perhaps girly sometimes. Though I've only seen a few of her roles in anime, she's truly an expressive and versatile voice actor, great stuff all round.
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| Ayahi Takagaki |
Mamoru Miyano as Mashima Taichi(Ayahi Takagaki as Younger Mashima)
Unlike Asami Seto, Madhouse decided to switch it up with voice actors when it came to a matured Mashima and a young middle school Mashima Taichi. Ayahi Takagaki only got a few episode worth of performances as the younger Mashima, since he and others grew up.
However, she did a great job being a childish, brash, and confident middle schooler, who was seemingly jealous as well as confrontational and competitive. Mamoru Miyano, on the other hand took over from then on when Mashima grew up into a teenager ready for high school and has the majority of screen and performance time as Mashima. His role was as the straight man, mostly casual and easy, though serious and loud when supporting his team mates and angry and heated when frustrated. I definitely do think Mamoru's role as Mashima was strong and commanding, though at the same time he's also able to modulate his voice to have a softer and more causal tone. A great casting selection
Yoshima Hosoya as Arata Wataya
(Yuka Teresaki as younger Arata)
What I find I find interesting is when a Japanese voice actress reprises a role as a male character - And can actually pull it off. In this case, the young Arata is voiced by Yuka Teresaki. I see how it makes sense that it may work however, due to Yuka Terasaki voicing a prepubescent Arata, and she does a great job.
In fact, Yuka Teresaki does a great job playing a more silly, less serious and of course playful version of the older Arata, while still being snarky and well mannered to make a seamless transition to the older high school Arata. Yoshima Hosoya's role for the remainder of the Chihayafuru anime however is more stern, disciplined and serious. It does indeed match the stable and collected mindset that he has though, so having a more monotone, an unmodulated and less dynamic voice fits the mild pretty well. However we do see some rare moments when Arata gets upset or angry, when he looses his usual composure. Well suited for the role, but just a decent performance on his part, though this may be due to the somewhat lacklustre dialogue he's given. Though I do understand though, that this is precisely what Madhouse was aiming for when it came to his general character traits. So in the end, I do think the younger Arata's performance by Yuka Terasaki is somewhat more lucrative in my opinion.
However, she did a great job being a childish, brash, and confident middle schooler, who was seemingly jealous as well as confrontational and competitive. Mamoru Miyano, on the other hand took over from then on when Mashima grew up into a teenager ready for high school and has the majority of screen and performance time as Mashima. His role was as the straight man, mostly casual and easy, though serious and loud when supporting his team mates and angry and heated when frustrated. I definitely do think Mamoru's role as Mashima was strong and commanding, though at the same time he's also able to modulate his voice to have a softer and more causal tone. A great casting selection
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| Yuka Terasaki |
Yoshima Hosoya as Arata Wataya(Yuka Teresaki as younger Arata)
What I find I find interesting is when a Japanese voice actress reprises a role as a male character - And can actually pull it off. In this case, the young Arata is voiced by Yuka Teresaki. I see how it makes sense that it may work however, due to Yuka Terasaki voicing a prepubescent Arata, and she does a great job.
In fact, Yuka Teresaki does a great job playing a more silly, less serious and of course playful version of the older Arata, while still being snarky and well mannered to make a seamless transition to the older high school Arata. Yoshima Hosoya's role for the remainder of the Chihayafuru anime however is more stern, disciplined and serious. It does indeed match the stable and collected mindset that he has though, so having a more monotone, an unmodulated and less dynamic voice fits the mild pretty well. However we do see some rare moments when Arata gets upset or angry, when he looses his usual composure. Well suited for the role, but just a decent performance on his part, though this may be due to the somewhat lacklustre dialogue he's given. Though I do understand though, that this is precisely what Madhouse was aiming for when it came to his general character traits. So in the end, I do think the younger Arata's performance by Yuka Terasaki is somewhat more lucrative in my opinion.
Before I move on though, I do feel I need to mention other great performances I found from the cast as well. I especially liked Hayashibara Megumi's role as the cold and calculated womanly adviser for Fujisaki's Karuta club and as well as Ishizuka Unshou's role as the heated bear like Harada sensei. The various people who voiced the Karuta readers did an excellent as well as beautiful job as well, I'm not sure if they actually got real certified Karuat readers or simply imitated them very well, though none the less, along with the many other great performances from numerous supporting characters, the Karuta readers did a fantastic job as well.
Original Soundtrack & SFX - Thoughts & Impressions
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| Masafumi Mima |
General Sfx is great, could be better like 90% of anime out there, you don't exactly hear clothing of different textures rubbing together every time, or objects of different weights and acoustics. Though Sound Director Masafumi Mima's utilizes a good use of general chatter, ambience, and more atmospheric sounds that we call "room tone". Though like a good slap on a tatanami mat, there's a pretty decent and effective use of aural cue's and general sound effects. Like perhaps when Wakayamiya Shinonbu or master Suou silently takes a card queuing a specific jingle or when a given character is feeling a specific emotion, the sound direction is always depicting and enhancing those particular sequences and emotions. Though I do think a studio such as Kyo Ani is quite a bit farther a head in this category, especially with productions emphasizing sound and music such as Hibike! Euphonium. Though then again, being that precise about sound direction doesn't necessarily make or break an anime and thankfully here, Chihayafuru does a decent job.
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| Kousuke Yamashita |
So in terms of general acoustics and depiction of spatiality in textures and acoustics, While decent Madhouse still has a ways to go comparatively speaking. The soundtrack composed by Kousuke Yamashita is pretty decent as well, maybe not the most diverse catalogue of compositions, but there always used effectively when queuing a set pieces at particular events and moments within a scene. The accompanying soundtracks are always organic, with a great selection of instruments, and a decent amount of variety regarding the general moods of their compositions. Sadly though many of these compositions are just snippets for scenes and are generally not full and diverse bodies of work. Also both Op & Ed Themes are pretty great if you ask me, and despite the general major chord guitar progression they are still nicely light Alt/Pop/Rock Op & Ed themes with smooth vocals and percussion section. Both 99 Radio Service as well as Seto Asami offer theme song performances both on season 1 and season 2.
