05.30.07

Inuyasha Drama CD: Aka to Shiro no Utagassen!

Posted in Anime Products, Images, Videos, & Mp3s at 6:10 am by Yumeka

Wow, I can’t believe they’re still making new Inuyasha CDs! Actually this one came out in April, but still, it’s been over three years since the anime ended! 0_o And they’re still keeping all the old seiyuus together? Methinks that means there’s a good possibility for a new anime series in the works =) Maybe they’re just waiting until the manga finishes ~_^ Since Inuyasha has been losing its popularity over the past few years, I’m always on the lookout for new IY products to satisfy my obsession ^^ I heard about this CD a while ago…I just kinda forgot about it until a few weeks ago =P Better late than never I guess! Anyway, read on to see the track listings, my review, and brief synopsis of the CD, and also to download a RAR file of it…

Review: This is actually the first anime drama CD I’ve ever bought or even listened too. It was kind of strange just hearing the voices and sound effects without seeing any animation (you gotta use your imagination for that ^^) but I loved it! Surprisingly, using my very limited knowledge of Japanese, I was able to understand a good amount of what was going on, and a lot of the parts were quite hilarious XD It also reminded me how much I miss the IY anime and also how much I love the IY seiyuus! ^.^ They’ve gotta be the most talented group of voice actors I’ve ever heard – each of them matches their character perfectly and you can tell they love their job too ^^ Even though the anime has been over since 2004, they still haven’t lost their touch at all!

Synopsis: Using my intermediate level of Japanese skills, I was able to understand maybe about 40% to 50% of everything that happened in the story…more than I thought I could actually ^^a Basically what happens is Inuyasha and the gang face off against this youkai that’s using the power of a Shikon shard and stealing people’s voices to use for energy. It can also switch voices too. LOL, there’s this one short but hilarious part where Inuyasha’s and Kagome’s voices get switched, as do Miroku’s and Sango’s. Hearing Kagome talk with Inuyasha’s “yakuza” speech and Inuyasha use female speech, etc., was just classic! XD Anyway, in order to get a chance to fight the youkai and get the voices of a local village back, they had to engage in three “word games” with the youkai. The first, that popular Japanese “end catcher” game (I knew the name of it, I just can’t remember now XP) where you say a word or phrase and the next person has to take the last vowel or syllable of that word or phrase and quickly make their own, and so on. It was hilarious because Kagome kept getting the “o” sound and what word did she use? “Osuwari!” of course! XD (much to Inuyasha’s displeasure). The next game was solving riddles I think (couldn’t really understand much of it) and last, a tongue twister. LOL, that was the hardest tongue twister I ever heard! (but our talented seiyuus pulled it off great ^^)

Sesshoumaru, Jaken, and Rin are also in the story. Jaken and Rin have a few cute/funny moments where they sing, and praise Sesshoumaru of course. I think two versions of this CD were released; this one (Inuyasha’s version) and Sesshoumaru’s version, so I think Sesshoumaru’s might have more of his side of the story included on it. Anyway, you’ve also got your subplots too – in the beginning of the story, Kagome gives Inuyasha a gift (a bell/charm thing I think) that can supposedly grant a wish. But later, when Shippou and the others start teasing him about it, he gets totally flustered and throws it away! Kagome gets mad and runs off on them, only to get kidnapped by the voice-stealing youkai, but of course Inuyasha and the others come to the rescue, Inuyasha having recovered the bell too (I think he also uses it to help him find the youkai when they’re fighting it in the mist). After they take the shard from the youkai, it goes back to its original form (and ends up being smaller than Shippou =P), the voices return, Inuyasha and Kagome make up, and alls well that ends well ^_^

There’s also one last bit of comedy on the final track where the village that they saved has some sort of singing contest and Shippou enters. Using the tune from Kagome’s song (”Tatta Hitotsu no Yakusoku”) he sings a short but hilarious remix of it, where he literally sings about Inuyasha not knowing anything about women and Miroku “stroking” Sango XD

Download and track listing: I’ve uploaded a RAR file of this CD here (it’s a good 125.5MB so be warned). Just to make it clear, this CD does not contain any actual songs. It’s a drama CD of just audio and would probably only appeal to someone who’s a fan of the Japanese version of Inuyasha and/or someone fluent in Japanese or learning it. Anyway, sorry I couldn’t give proper names to all the tracks in the file (they’re all called “Track 01,” “Track 02,” etc.) so I’ve included a list of all the tracks below. If anyone wants to submit translations of them, that would be great ^_^

Track 1 is just the typical Inuyasha introduction used in the later episodes of the TV series. Tracks 2 to 22 are the main story. Tracks 23 and 24 are commentary by the seiyuus. I couldn’t understand much of what they were saying (I was hoping to hear something about a new anime series ~_^) but they were just talking about how the series is over 10 years and how they’ve all gotten older since then too XD They also did some more tongue twisters ^^ And lastly, tracks 25 and 26 are the funny epilogue featuring Shippou’s little song.

Well, hope you guys enjoy the CD. If anyone wants to submit English translations of the tracks, the booklet, or any part of this CD, I’d be very appreciative ^_^

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