The December issue of Newtype just arrived at Kinokuniya today. Here’s a summary of the news and information that interest me.
Release Dates
- 17/11 – Suzuka Vol.9 (Manga)
- 23/11 – Destination / FictionJunction YUUKA (J-Pop Album)
- 23/11 – Usotsuki Alice to Kujiragou wo Meguru Bouken / Yui Horie (J-Pop Album)
- 23/11 – Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl (PSP Game)
- 25/11 – Hello / Haruna Ikeda (J-Pop Single)
- 07/12 – Kamigami no Tasogare / ALI PROJECT (J-Pop Album)
- 07/12 – Sore wa Toki ni Anata wo Hakemashi, Toki ni Sasae to Naru Mono / Youko Takahashi (J-Pop Album)
The title of Yui Horie’s new album reminds me of her 2001 album “Kuroneko to Tsuki Kikyuu wo Meguru Bouken”… I know that it’s quite clichéd how every other J-Pop artist is naming albums using English words/phrases, but at least you don’t get this whole string of stuff that 90% of your non-Japanese fans can’t pronounce. I’m also very looking forward to Suzuka Vol.9, ever since I spoilered myself by flipping through a recent issue of Shounen Magazine (which Suzuka is serialized in) and saw the scene where Suzuka…nevermind.
Seiyuu Ranking
This issue of Newtype also comes with the 2005 Seiyuu Popularity Rankings. I shall only type out the female list here, since I don’t recognize most of the male names… ^^;; I’ve added one of each person’s anime roles in brackets.
- Megumi Hayashibara (Rei Ayanami)
- Rie Tanaka (Lacus Clyne)
- Houko Kuwashima (Stellar Loussier)
- Yui Horie (Naru Narusegawa)
- Maaya Sakamoto (Hitomi Kanzaki)
- Naomi Shindou (Cagalli Yula Athha)
- Mamiko Noto (Yakumo Tsukamoto)
- Nana Mizuki (Shinobu)
- Mai Nakahara (Mai Tokiha)
- Megumi Toyoguchi (Winry Rockbell)
Mamiko should be higher. I shall not complain about Maaya-sama’s fifth position, since she hasn’t exactly been doing much voice-acting in the past few years. Megumi can still hold her top position even after giving birth and retiring. I’m pretty happy with Houko’s third placing. ^^
NewWORDS
There is also this one-page advertisement about a new magazine called NewWORDS, which is being billed as “Newtype for adults”. The same people are doing both magazines and NewWORDS will still cover anime and games. However, it will focus more on things like mainstream movies, lifestyle and tech. The first issue will be a special issue to be released on 25/11 (Fri) and comes with a UMD video of Blood+ epsiode 1.
Quite interesting. I think I’ll give the first issue a shot.