Coming to Appreciate Another One of Itou Shizuka’s Songs

Mostly an incoherent post but anyway…

Whenever we think of seiyuu, our thoughts almost certainly lean towards their acting caliber – how well they’re able to manipulate their voice into portraying a character’s personality and the situation they become involved in. Most seiyuu are credited for their acting, a number of them more for their singing, several for both, and some for…neither. Then there are those that come packaged with other kinds of um…appealing qualities, like Fukui Yukari whose live programs make me laugh for all the wrong reasons UeHiiHiiHiiHii~ *covers face*. Nevertheless when it comes to seiyuu singing, I tend to group them into two odd groups for preference – seiyuu whose singing I like due to their 1) music; and 2) voice.

Examples of Group 1 would be Mizuki Nana, Nanri Yuuka, and Chihara Minori. Nana-chan fans would already know she’s a stellar powerhouse in the seiyuu music scene. I love both her voice and the music that accompanies it so it’s no surprise that majority of her songs already contains the winning formula. Yuuka is another seiyuu whose singing I grew fond of when she teamed up with Kajiura Yuki as FictionJunction YUUKA. Kajiura’s compositions are probably what invoked the real magic in Yuuka’s voice. It’s only when the unit was formed did I start to devotedly follow their, or to be precise, Yuuka’s musical career. Some of her tiaraway songs were good too, but it’s the FictionJunction ones which really struck a chord with my interest. As for Minorin, her music contains a subtle yet commanding presence. She has a nice voice and can sing technically well but repeated playbacks of her songs still depend on whether the composition and arrangement are suitable for her. If done right, they definitely leave a lasting good impression.

Group 2, several seiyuu whose singing I love based purely on their voices alone are Sonozaki Mie, Minagawa Junko, Sakamoto Maaya, Hayami Saori, Ikura Kazue, and Takamori Yoshino. They are the ones whose songs I would listen to even if they go A’cappella. In fact, for the first three, it’s their singing voice which caught my attention first, followed by their acting voice. I only learned they are in the seiyuu business after buying their albums and reading their profiles ^^;. I’m slowly beginning to like Kitamura Eri’s singing voice too, when she uses her regular tone and doesn’t force it too much. “Rasen” and “Yume Oboro” remain my current favorites by her. Her Hyakka Seiran mini cover of “Ao no Requiem” (Samurai Deeper Kyo OP) is pretty good too.

Right, onto the main point of this post, which is about Itou Shizuka.

Itou is one of my favorite seiyuu, as she is to a great hoard of fans far and wide. She first snared my interest when she acted as Akiha, the imposing tsundere sister of protagonist, Shiki in the Tsukihime TV series. It was not long after when she was given the role of Hasekura Rei in Marimite, did I find myself completely captivated by her voice. It’s no surprise as to why she is hailed by many as one of the best female seiyuu of her generation. She has proven to be fairly versatile and very expressive in her tone which ranges from Tsubasa Chronicle’s Chun Hyang to Marimite’s Rei. I love her ojousama-like roles the most, for instance KimiAru’s Shinra – deep, sexy, dignified, and possibly her best forte trait…
Seductive.

Nice nuance~

Her higher, confident tones such as those of Hayate no Gotoku’s Hinagiku and El Cazador’s Nadie are starting to grow on me too. And who could forget Wirhelmina’s “MuuMuuMuu”?

Moreover if voice service isn’t enough, Shizu-sama has earned herself a legendary reputation for her real life adventures, which usually involve LOTS of drinking and of course, flirting, kissing and molesting her female co-workers…or any cute girls within her arms’ reach.

Up to her usual hijinks, with Gotou Yuuko. If anyone could tame Gotouza-sama, it’s Itou.

Boobs groping seems to be her No.1 pastime; she likes those which are big but not gigantic, ideally size D; Ueda Kana has affectionately called her the “Boobs Sommelier” due to her extensive knowledge of many, many seiyuu’s breast shapes and sizes; and her favorite victim is Watanabe Akeno who Shizu-sama describes as having “feel good” assets i.e. defined by her as having the sensation of water balloons. She also has a fascination in stroking butts, which led to repeated incidents involving a certain Kugimiya Rie; the latter feeling rather amused, according to Shizu-sama anyway.

When “attacking” her prey, she prefers to use her hands but can resort to employing tools when the opportunity arises

Disciplining Inokuchi Yuka (Itou’s pet), partly because of Yuka-tan’s consecutive slip-ups during previous recording sessions (reading the wrong scripts and missing her cues for the title calls), and partly because she wasn’t paying attention to Itou addressing the issue. Later Yuka-tan promised to be careful and made sure the following recordings will be a success.

Aside from seiyuu, cosplayers like Ako-san are also given exceptional treatment

Shizu-sama had been caressing Ako-san’s butt since a while back, and was glad she didn’t get told off for it. Earlier on, Yuka-tan had asked Ako-san if the latter was feeling hot due to the summer weather and the costume. Ako-san replied she’s feeling very hot which prompted Shizu-sama, in a sexy voice, to suggest for her to strip; all this while hugging Ako-san’s waist and teasing to unbutton her costume.

And a couple of weeks ago…

Leave it to Shinra to give Anastasia a marvellous birthday present. Seme Left: The Yuri Meister/Harem Queen; Uke Right: Chiaki Mahiro (it was her birthday btw).

So… What about Itou’s singing?

To be honest, it’s all right, just not groundbreaking fantastic. Not Mizuki Nana class, but not as bad as some other seiyuu. I’d put her in Group 1; needs good music as an accompaniment. I’ve listened to a number of tracks by her, most of them being image songs where she has to perform them using her character’s voice, but I find myself often passing over the more recent ones after listening a few times. Somehow, Itou, moderate to fast beats and light melodies don’t go well together, save for a few. I blame my weird preferences in music too. Hence, I decided to backtrack the timeline a bit to get this.

Asatte no Houkou Character Image Album – Komorebi Diary ~Shouko Hen~ (Sunlight Diary ~Shouko Compilation~)

I initially bought it after a fellow Yuumao fan led me to a sample of “a direction of the day after tomorrow”, which I really, really like. I was ignorant enough to have overlooked it in the first place due to it being another image song album but since Yuumao’s song was bundled with it as a bonus track, I went ahead and got it anyway, along with some other loot (The Karada Compilation album featuring Fujimura Ayumi as Iokawa Karada; also containing Suara’s “Namida Gumo” as the bonus track, one of Suara’s best songs imho. I’m strongly wishing she would perform it at this year’s Animelo but chances are slim).

8 tracks – three were monologs, two were the image songs, two were the instrumental version of the songs, and the last one is a special complement to the album (Yuumao’s song). If you’re familiar with the premise behind Asatte no Houkou, you won’t be surprised at how the songs are performed – one is sung by the child image of the character, the other the adult image. “Surikizu to Yuuyake” (A Graze and a Sunset) is the child image song of Shouko, and it’s one that is backed by your typical light-hearted melody. Itou does a commendable job trying to suppress her voice to sing like a half-peppy adult in a child’s body, but her tone is too low to make it sound believable. However, it’s her adult image song, “Modorenai Shouko” (Irrevocable Proof) which won me over with its passionate lyrics, and slow rock arrangement. Itou’s style of singing in slow songs didn’t change much, but the way she expressed herself in every word, in pain, sadness, irony and frustration, makes for what I call a splendid in-character performance. If you recall some of the events that transpired in the Anime and relate them to the lyrics, the song draws out the inner emotions of the character very well. This is probably just me, but I think Itou is quite suited to singing moderately slow songs. I like some of her past soft rock tracks like “Kagerou” and surprisingly, even “Yoru wo Koete” (maybe just the chorus for this one). She can also hold her own with acoustic style and semi R&B such as “Rainy Pain” (not sure whether R&B is the right description for it). So, if you haven’t heard Itou’s deeper end of the voice spectrum in singing, I recommend getting the Shouko Compilation album.

BUT! Out of all of Shizu-sama’s songs, I still think, hands down and no contest, her best song is her crack song which she wrote and sang on Yabou Jinja, entitled “Kotaete yo!” (Answer Me!). It’s a parody of a children’s tune called “Inu no Omawarisan” (Police Dog), and it was directed towards dedicated to her “husband” in real life, Nabatame Hitomi, most likely as revenge against Naba-sama’s own earlier parody song in which she sang about her love for Noto Mamiko and called Shizu-sama her “old wife”.

Lyrics (if you feel like singing along):
Ipputasai no Hitomi-san
Anata no honsai dare desu ka?
Mamiko ni bakkari katamuite
Saikin, aijou usureteru
Shizuka wa furu* nyoubou
Watashi no me no mae de iu keredo
Kekkyoku watashi tte
Hitomi ni totte tsugou no ii onna?

Translation (done to be palatable in the yuritastic sense, not necessarily accurate):
Hitomi-san the polygamist,
Who is your legal wife?
You’re always favoring Mamiko
Lately, your love for me is fading
“Shizuka is my old* wife”
Though you say that in front of me
In the end, am I still
A fitting woman for you?

Naba: Noooo, that’s kind of awful! Why did you make a song like that?
Shizu: Well, that’s because… I’ve been feeling lonely. You called me your “old wife” in front of me.

* “Furu” = “Old”, but can also mean “Second-hand” lolol.

Btw, I transcribed the lyrics by ear so if there is any mistake, do correct me. My listening skill sucks anyway. Heck, I’m even prone to mishearing words in my native language and English. ><

Few good ones as there are, I’ll be looking out for more of Itou’s songs in the future. Ah… Brilliant singing or not, guess it doesn’t matter to me after all. Itou Shizuka-sama, you’ll always be my Heroine!! Acting, singing, and sexually harassing-wise!

Do you have any seiyuu whose music/singing you like?