#ginger records

Title: Zanzou Slow Motion (残像スローモーション)

Author/Artist: Janome

Shop: CD + Manga

Release Date: 2021/05/28

Cast:

Furukawa Makoto x Nakazawa Masatomo

Eguchi Takuya

Satou Gen

Tadokoro Hinata

Yasuaki Takumi

Matsuoka Yoshitsugu

Ichikawa Aoi

Yanagi Kouhei

Karino Sho

Synopsis:

What happens when two rival directors who hate each other's guts are forced to share one roof? And what if one of them has a secret he's been harboring for years? Throw in a shared love of movies, BL manga, and an accidental kiss, and you've got the next heart-pumping love story in Midorigaoka High and the sequel to Twilight Out of Focus 1. Jin Kikuchihara, third-year director, main actor, and president of the film club, and second-year director Giichi Ichikawa see eye-to-eye on very little. Jin is flashy, flirty, and focused on keeping everyone happy, while Giichi expects the best from himself and others, and will compromise nothing to see his vision through. Constantly at each other's necks, the two can hardly stand to be in the same club. But what will happen when family trouble forces them to live in the same room? Will their shared interests bring them closer as friends, push them further apart as rivals, or something else entirely?

Review Proper

I love Tasogare Outfocus, but this is actually my favorite Janome.

The second installment curse strikes again!

UGHHHHHHH THIS WAS SO WHOLESOME. Don't get me wrong, Tasogare Outfocus is written pretty decently, but I really don't like how Janome just glossed over Hisashi's SA and grooming like that. It reminds me a lot of Etude vol. 1. I can still get over Etude vol. 1 'cause it's not that uncommon to see in sports and Ichi-san's deal with Futami was given some closure in 2, but given how short Tasogare Outfocus was, Hisashi felt like he just lmao byed his teacher. 😔Doesn't help that it kinda doesn't matter anymore in overlap even though it hasn't been long since it ended. Is my son Hisashi really okay now? 🥹

I'm old, so DK BL doesn't appeal to me that much anymore. It's also hard to find good DK rivalries nowadays that aren't just about fucking or delinquents. Zanzou Slow Motion, however, just checked all the right boxes for the category: simple, no drama, and no loose ends. That coupled with Janome's element of touch?

And can we talk about this monologue?

Ugh.

I will say Jin's suspenders, Ichikawa's snatched waist, and the ABO shout-out greatly influenced my decision too. Y'all should get suspended in high school, not wear suspenders!

Onto the technicalities...

I don't think I've heard these two co-star before (or I just don't remember), so I was a bit skeptical especially 'cause last I heard Makonyan in a DK was in, well... Given as BLCD!Ritsu. And where else did we hear Yuuma star in a DK too? Yuuma as Anime!Ritsu. We just had Given Anime!Ritsu in Tasogare Outfocus being somewhat friends with Ichikawa and now we have BLCD!Ritsu (thanks to ecargmura for catching this!) trying to romance him. They used very different tones for Ritsu, but the vibe was the same overall. THEY'RE THE SAME PERSON. Makonyan and Nakamo also played tops in the last works I heard of them (Makonyan as Takaba in Kurui Naku and Nakamo as Yakumo in Nu:carnival), so I was concerned about a lot of things. Thankfully, however, instead of Makonyan going for his Ritsu tone or his lighter Kimitte Yatsu for a more youthful vibe, he went all shounen in here lmaooo.

His bwakame was so funny it reminded me of this:

I love roasting Makonyan more than any other seiyuu out of fondness, but I'm really proud of how far he's gone. He's gotten so much better in his delivery, and it's obvious in his budding anime career, too.

But...

I didn't expect there would be improvements in his bedding techniques too...

What the fuck was that? HAHAHAHAHAHA. WAIT. No, y'all don't understand. I have most of this man's r-18 otome CDs and BLCDs, and I have never heard him this... this hot before???? Jin is such a smooth flirt, so I had some expectations on the delivery, but FURUKAWA MAKOTO HISSES. HE HISSES!!! SIR IS THIS APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR FOR A HIGH SCHOOL BOY??? THEY DON'T EVEN SHOW THEM DO THE DO FOR MORE THAN A MINUTE??? WHERE WAS THE NEED?!

PUTS THE GODDAMN FU IN FURUKAWA MAKOTO ALRIGHT!

First it was Ono Yuuki, now it's Makonyan. Is Nakamo's ass really that good that his tops go all in???

I admittedly don't have a lot to say about Nakamo because that man always slays. I was afraid that Makonyan would overpower him during their Netflix and chill, but as soon as I had that thought, Nakamo pushed back like??? THEM SHAKIRA HIPS DON'T LIE!

HOW DO I LEGALLY MARRY GINGER RECORDS???

I didn't read the scan or the official English release 'cause I actually had the raws, so I can't vouch for the translation. As for faithfulness to the manga, however, I need to stress that there were a lot of rearranged events and cut dialogue. One notable instance was Ichikawa's message for Jin. It was placed after their kiss in the last chapter, so I believe that these changes are quite significant. It is still possible to read the manga while listening to the BLCD, but I suggest reading the manga once first so you're aware of which pages you need to jump to.

Title: Tasogare Outfocus overlap (黄昏アウトフォーカス overlap)

Release Date: 2021/06/18

Shop: CD + Manga

Author/Artist: Janome

Cast:

Uchida Yuuma x Matsuoka Yoshitsugu

Nakazawa Masatomo

Ichikawa Aoi

Yanagi Kouhei

Otsuka Takeo

Furukawa Makoto

Satou Gen

Tadokoro Hinata

Synopsis: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Review Proper

That's it. That's the review.

Y'all know I love Janome and this series to death, so I won't be talking about the plot. Am I looking forward to the anime? No.

Yuuma and 2gu-2gu slayed their roles as usual. I can't believe this wasn't nominated during chil-chil 2022. What a huge disservice! How are y'all nominating Takasaki Boscos and Momose Ans on that shit and not Janome?! Yuuma was nominated for 16th best seiyuu for Hisashi and landed right after Matty, but I think he deserves to place higher.

I MEAN, HELLO???? THE NIPPLE PLAY ON HIM???

I don't know what to feel when the normies think of Yuuma as Kaveh and not Mr. Sex-on-Legs himself. I love Yuuma as Alhaitham's a bottom, but Hisashi's just—UGH! He's so sexy one minute, then so soft the other. 🥹

I don't plan to listen to Taiyou-kun, but 2gu-2gu should've been nominated for this instead. 2gu-2gu's range as Mao is just insane. It's also funny that he sounds more like Etou-san than Yuuma lmaooo. I am obsessed with Yuuma as Hisahi ngl, but 2gu-2gu was the star of this BLCD.

UGH.

I really want to marry Ginger's casting director. They don't miss. 😌

I will say that it was a struggle to read the manga along the BLCD. I was a very good girl these past few years 'cause resisted the urge to read the manga beforehand, but my resistance might've added to my struggle lmao. I was jumping from page to page 'cause I didn't know where the BLCD started (actually starts in chapter 3 of the overlap tanko). I wouldn't have been confused if I read the table of contents, but I clearly can't read.

Title: Ikigami to Donor (イキガミとドナー)

Author/Artist: Yamanaka Hiko

Shop: CD + Manga

Release Date: 2021/12/03

Cast: 

Nakajima Yoshiki x Saitou Souma

Yamashita Seiichirou + Kawanishi Kengo

Kobayashi Chiaki

Yashiro Taku

Komada Wataru

Hayashi Miho

Shiozaki Tomohiro

Higa Ryosuke

Abe Ryouma

Torashima Takaaki

Oota Kensuke

Nakashima Takuya

Fujita Mami

Miyama Mari

Souya Kazuki

Synopsis: 

"Your blood and flesh, all of it is mine." An ikigami and a healer, together their souls support each other, blooming into love...

In the distant future, ordinary teacher Yoshino learns that he is a "donor" for the strongest species, the "ikigami." These warriors are tasked with protecting the country. "The unique ability of a donor is to use their bodily fluids to heal ikigami." Yoshino learns this fact and is shocked. Thus, Yoshino is forced to live with Kidou... At first, he is like a beast, demanding Yoshino's bodily fluids, but slowly, the underlying loneliness begins to show...

"Someday, if I met a donor, could they come to love me? That thought is the only reason I survived..."

Review Proper

I can’t believe Yamanaka Hiko’s been terrorizing me for over twelve years now. OH MY GOD I’M SO OLD. And true to the Yamanaka Hiko brand, this turned out to be another fantasy masterpiece (read His 500 Years of Suffering Romance). This was definitely the type of thing that would do great even without the BL aspect of it. Now, I did have an issue with Kidou being an asshole (he's almost killed Yoshino more than once), so I’m not excusing it. But I do get how and why he turned out to be like that and I'm aware that it's important for his character development. The world-building was great, don't get me wrong, but it's definitely dubcon 2015. I would strongly advise you not to get into it if that's a deal breaker for you.

Anyway, onto the voice work.

Souma used a tone so close to Gucci's that I kept imagining Gucci being Yoshino. Yes, I didn't read the manga while listening to the BLCD. It was like after graduating Karasuno, Gucci went on to become a teacher, then a donor lmao. His Yoshino panics more like Honda-san, however, so my final verdict is that his Yoshino is half-Gucci, half-Honda-san.

This isn't Nakajiki and Souma's first rodeo, but I'm glad to say that their performance/dynamic here is different from Mikeneko and XL Size. I expected Kidou to be a mix of Amano and Anaconbayashi-kun 'cause the former was cocky and the latter was stoic, but Kidou was only 50% of that mix and 50% brooding, suffering, I'll-protect-you top. Am I even making any sense? Again, I listened to the BLCD first, but the sound direction they gave Nakajiki was very different from what I thought he'd sound like after I read the manga. It’s almost like what happened with OnoD’s expressive Hasebe-kun in the Kotonoha BLCD vs the more stoic Hasebe-kun in the manga. 

The voice work of our two leads was 👌. This might just be my fave out of their pairings 'cause the sex isn't over-the-top like XL Size and Mikeneko. I will say that I wasn't completely sold on Yamashita Seiichirou as Shibata-san 'cause I feel like he speaks too slowly, but I'm sure it'll grow on me by the time I listen to their spin-off. KawaKen was fine. My heart broke for him every time Shibata-san rejected him, so it's safe to say he's got Taki-kun down already.

Oh. I did have a slight issue with the sfx too. Why was it so watery??? Lmao. Even r18 otome cds aren't that wet. But it's not so glaring that it'll turn you off.

The BLCD was almost perfectly accurate to the manga. I highly recommend this to those learning mid to higher levels of Japanese. Futekiya has licensed volumes 1 & 2, so please try to support the official release if you can. I'd be lying if I said that I agree with how they translated it so... literally?, but I think it's also important to see how things are translated that way if you're aiming to dip your toes into translation aside from studying the language. For example, they used "Living God" throughout the manga instead of "Ikigami." It's correctly translated, but I personally prefer retaining the original title. You know, like how Viz uses "Kaiju no. 8" instead of "Monster no. 8?"

Title: Nikurashii Kare (憎らしい彼)

Author/Artist: Nagira Yuu

Shop: CD + Manga

Release Date: 2021/07/23

Cast:

Ono Yuuki x Saitou Souma

Morikawa Toshiyuki

Matsumoto Takuya

Matsui Akiha

Maeda Hiroki

Tonozaki Yuusuke

Horie Shun

Sahara Io

Miyama Mari

Kumagai Mirei

Yamane Masashi

Tamano Shouyo

Miki Shinichiro lmaooo so random

Synopsis: Second installment of the series.

Review Proper

My brain too smooth for this. Don't get me wrong—it's good, but I don't have the patience to sit through three CDs of this. 😂 I fell asleep 5 times. A new record!

It would've been better if Hira just stopped talking to me in formal Japanese 'cause it makes my brain crash. He says a lot of deep things when he can't even grasp the shallowest of concepts. I also have a love-hate relationship with Hira's train of thought 'cause how can he jump to all these conclusions but never the right ones? He's still absolutely sad in the head, but idk, I'm here for it lmaooo.

The same goes with Kiyoi. Like boi, you're the only one with half of a functioning brain here, so idk, use it?

Kiyoi: "I don't wanna be with you anymore."

Hira: *leaves

Kiyoi:

Like in the first BLCD, I still can't figure out if I should feel concerned for him or Hira. I mean, if someone I knew had this relationship, I would personally ask both of them to leave each other and see a shrink. 😂 I dare say that their relationship would be the most normal one there is if Kiyoi wasn't such a tsundere and if Hira was just less of a weirdo.

How are we bringing your parents into this already when you have a wack-ass relationship???

But hey, nothing like a good kidnappin' and one mc almost dyin' to solve communication issues, right?

The things you do, Nagira Yuu.

As usual, the voice work is phenomenal. Saitou Souma won as best voice actor for Kiyoi at the chilchil 2023 awards while Ono Yuuki placed 2nd for Hira. There's just something special about Saitou Souma and Ono Yuuki in Utsukushii Kare. Their chemistry is good and so natural! It's like they bring out the best in each other. I especially love hearing Ono Yuuki come undone under Saitou Souma's Kiyoi but immediately get his revenge in disc 3.

I'm already nominating this as Souma's best match up in 2021. Sorry, Makonyan. Let's see if someone else rises to the challenge.

As for the accuracy...

So I've actually tried listening to this back in 2022. Yes, I'm writing this review in 2024, and this is the very CD that caused my burn out lmaooo. From what I read from the trial, it doesn't start the same as the novel, so I was confused. I didn't take the liberty of buying the whole novel, so I'm not sure if they really do have the same content. They do have the same name, though. Idk. Again, Hira speaks in formal/old Japanese, so the struggle made me put this off. 😅 And it just snowballed from there 'cause I'm loyal to my log. I don't keep up with the manga either, but I think the third volume is still at Utsukushii Kare and not Nikurashii Kare.

Long story short, I can't say if it's accurate to the source material, and I won't be able to recommend read-alongs for both Utsukushii Kare and Nikurashii Kare.

The two installments are equally interesting. Both are jam-packed with nicely paced content. I feel more comfortable with Nikurashii Kare, though, 'cause Hira made me uncomfortable in Utsukushii Kare, while it was Shitara who made me uncomfortable in Nikurashii Kare lmaooo. I loved Hira's little character development here, and I wish I could say the same for Kiyoi.😂The comedy and action were also good, and Moririn's presence made it 100 times better. It might not make my 2021 faves, but it's definitely one of the best-produced ones—it won best BLCD at chilchil 2023 for a reason.

Title: Oretachi wa Shinkon-san Kamoshirenai 2 (俺達は新婚さんかもしれない 2)

Release Date: 2021/02/26

Author/Artist: Chishanomi

Cast: 

Eguchi Takuya x Matsuoka Yoshitsugu

Hatano Wataru

Hamada Kenji

Synopsis: Adaptation of the second installment of the same name.

Review Proper

THEY’RE SO MUSHY, I JUST WANNA STAB THEM BOTH AND CRY. My single ass should not have listened to this during the holidays.

This was cute overall, especially when they were having their honeymoon at the hotsprings (nobody tell Nasukawa it’s a honeymoon tho). It could have, quite literally, sent Love Hole 303 on a run for its money with the amount of mush. I love how genuinely oblivious Nasukawa was to everything that he was even checking the components of the bath water when he was supposed to muramura with Kaburagi in the public baths. What a dumbo. I love him.

The second half was a little weird ngl. And I would be lying if I said that Kaburagi didn’t piss me off when he didn’t disclose why he wanted to hide his marriage from Hasune and the fact that Kaburagi just stood watch as Hasune coveted married men. WHAT IN THE WORLD OF HOMOSEXUAL PRON WAS THIS? Hasune’s literally only into married men, the fuck. He was so civil and friendly with Nasukawa before finding out that he was married. I mean, he was so supportive of Nasukawa, even giving him advice and shopping with him to impress Nasukawa’s “lover”. Then when he found out that it wasn’t a lover but a husband—KABOOM. I mean, at least he has control when it comes to lovers and not law-bound couples? 🤷 A man of principle?

And I love how instead of thinking that Hasune was out to get his ass, Nasukawa assumed that Hasune was actually in love with Kaburagi. I ACTUALLY SUPPORT THIS THEORY. NO OTHER THEORY SUFFICES. NASUKAWA FOR PRESIDENT!!!

The voice work, as with the first installment, was divine. ✨ I do have to comment that the actor who voiced the moaning, married sensei who cheated with Hasune was 😬. I mean, what the heck was that? lmao. He wasn’t even credited, but I guess that’s a good thing. We shall just pretend it doesn’t exist, so do try again. Also, don’t you just love it when it gets revealed in the cast talk that Tsugu’s natural voice is deeper than Egu’s? Ugh! Such talented men. And poor Wacchan getting trashed for his role lmao.

Title: Sonna ni Iu Nara Daite Yaru (そんなに言うなら抱いてやる)

Author/Artist: Niyama

Release Date: 2021/04/30

Cast: 

Satou Takuya x Terashima Takuma

Masuyama Takeaki

Takeuchi Eiji

Kobayashi Chiaki

Ichikawa Aoi

Synopsis: 

Two-faced guy who’s only into one-night stands x Beautiful, narcissist ‘Prince’ whose body is more honest than him.

An average office drone by day and gay-magnet playboy by night, Urakawa Shinobu was living it up as a ‘top’ without anybody knowing about his double life. Or that’s how it was supposed to be.

Suddenly, the narcissist Prince of the sales department, Omoteya Hikaru, appears at the gay bar Shinobu frequents. With a half-baked plan to be popular with guys too, Hikaru’s invasion of Shinobu’s favourite haunt is getting in the way of his game. So to regain his oasis, Shinobu decides to make a move on Hikaru: “You’ve been waiting, right? For me to hit on you, that is.”

Review Proper

You know, it’s not an unknown fact that I don’t really like Niyama. I know that it’s not bara, but I’m really not a fan of bulkier men in Japanese manga bc it’s totally not realistic lmao. Anyway, unlike Boku no Omawari-san and Go Riyou, the art in Sonna ni is a bit more toned down (as in they’re less toned), so it was easier on the eyes for me. And because of that same reason, SatoTaku and Takuma’s voices really suited their character more. What I really want to say here is that I’m a fucking Shinobu simp. I GET IT. I GET IT NOW. Say what you want about Shinobu (it’s true he’s an asshole and should be in jail), but like—

Have you seen this man?

Obviously you.

See, I haven’t read the manga prior to this, so I’m still not sure if the reason why I liked the atmosphere so much is because of how Niyama made it or how Ginger produced it (we’ll get to this later). My two cents on the plot would be that I really don’t feel sorry for Hikaru because let’s not pretend that he wasn’t an initially straight man who came to the bar to fish for some innocent gay man to stroke his superiority complex in terms of vanity. 🙄 Listen, did Hikaru deserve to be molested? No. Did he deserve a broken heart? ABSOLUTELY. I felt bad for Shizuma-kun in Therapy Game because Minato was just being a petty little shit, but Hikaru deserves what’s coming to him lmao

Anyway, moving onto the technicality of things—

Putangina? Excuse me? Excuse me, Satou Takuya? How dare you?

Didn’t we just come from Remnant where he was a melty protecc bb Daath? And didn’t I just say that his Asami-san was his best top performance I’ve heard? BRAH. YAMETE. Y’ALL DON’T UNDERSTAND. I fucking died when he voiced Asami-san who wasn’t intentionally trying to be sexy, but his Shinobu here was SEX ON LEGS. I mean, I knew how he’s a master of ad-libs, and I know just how good he is when it comes to messing around in the bedroom because I own an unhealthy amount of his otome cds, but HOLY FUCK—THIS IS THE BEST AND MOST BELIEVABLE PERFORMANCE SATOTAKU HAS DELIVERED IN HIS LIFE (so far bc he likes to surprise me). When I say that he speaks in sex, HE SPEAKS IN SEX EVEN DURING NORMAL DIALOGUE AND WHEN HE’S UNDERCOVER WHAT THE FUCK?

SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO THE TRAILER

Also, can I just say that his Shinobu hits different. And no, I mean that literally. He grunts with purpose. It’s hard to explain, but unlike his peers who mostly grunt for the sake of grunting, he knows where it should come from and relays it in a way that you can really visualize what he’s doing. YES, WE’RE BEING DETAILED ABOUT GRUNTING RIGHT NOW SHUSH. Ginger couldn’t have picked a better actor than SatoTaku because he understands the assignment. SatoTaku, bless his dear heart, obviously gets around, and his performance here is a testament to that. But yo, if it turns out that he doesn’t and it’s all just an act, FUCKING HELL— DOES THIS MAN HAVE UNLIMITED TALENT? 

I’ve listened to so many cds and voice actors, but dare I say that the only other person who came this close to ever doing what SatoTaku did here was Okitsu in Coyote. SatoTaku has, by far, the best performance ever in terms of smut as a top in BL and in otome cds in general. I’m also pretty sure that the only person who can ever top this performance of his is himself. 😩 I honestly hate how SatoTaku’s so underrated in the anime scene and most people just attribute him to Yarichin. Granted, he did a stellar job as Yuri, but y’all are really missing out. But hey, I’m not exactly going to complain if SatoTaku’ chooses to dominate the BL industry primarily while doing anime as a sideline. Also, it’s early, but I know who I’m going to vote for this 2021 for best seiyuu.

As for Takkun,

MY RINTAROU-KUN IS BACK!!!! Tbh, I didn’t actually recognize any of the VAs in the first few minutes of the CD. It took me until he said “daijoubu” that I realized that this was Otoya and screamed (yes, I don’t reread cast lists because I’m a whore). It’s been what? two years since Yamada to Shounen? (look at me, do I look like I’d listen to Hidoku Shinaide?) Takkun still does BL maybe once or twice a year, but things have never been the same post-2015, and I haven’t been interested enough to listen to the stuff he’s done recently (we’re gonna have Takane no Hana later on tho huzzah). It’s nice to know that my bb Rintarou-kun is still as melty on the sheets as ever. Good on Ginger to cast the og clueless tsun-tsun. 

ALSO, SATOTAKU WAS SO EXCITED TO WORK WITH TAKKUN. HE KEPT ON HITTING ON TAKKUN WITH HIS SHINOBU VOICE (that sounded a little like Tattsun’s) LIKE THE MONSTER THAT HE WAS. Like, I know you have a crush on Takkun, but please stop he’s mine. 🔪 🔪 🔪 

*cough*

The supporting cast did great, too. I LOVED THE TWINS SO MUCH! See, aside from being the biggest simp for Shinobu, the other reason why I loved this BLCD so much is the twins! I’m surprised that they got two actors to do them, but they really sounded similar that I didn’t notice! I’d personally be interested in them having their own spin off, and it doesn’t even have to be BL. GIVE ME MORE OF THE TWINS, NIYAMA. 

Now, for the real MVP of this whole shebang: Ginger Records.

My god. Have I ever seen a better production than what they did here? The pacing, accuracy, casting, and IMMACULATE SOUND-ENGINEERING was amazing! I cannot stress enough how perfect the sound-engineering was on here. The bgms were *chef’s kiss*. It was so jazzy/funky, and I’m pretty sure that one of the major reasons why SatoTaku’s Shinobu was so goddamn appealing was because of how Ginger were setting him up. I really only have praises for this BLCD—if that wasn’t already obvious. This is how you should sell smut,  folks. Listen, take away the art, did this have an elaborate or nouveau plot? Heavens no. But Ginger decided to go above and beyond to give it Hollywood treatment, and I am nothing but grateful. Damn, it’s like what they did in Namamono all over again. You really got to hand it to Ginger, the almost always fairy-godmother of the BLCD industry. 👏👏👏

Release Date: 2020/09/25

Author/Artist: Koshiora Tsubame

Cast:

Eguchi Takuya x Uchida Yuuma

Ono Yuuki

Inoue Yuki

Hatano Wataru

Komada Wataru

Synopsis: It’s the fifth anniversary of Rui Tachibana starting his career as a pop star. The girls love his younger bandmate, Hibiki Shinjo, because he’s a man of few words and is very aloof, but he normally delights in bugging Rui. Their manager thinks it’s sweet, like Hibiki’s a little kid… Since Hibiki has a hard time getting up in the mornings, he sleeps over at Rui’s one night before an early photoshoot. While Rui is taking a bath, Hibiki does an internet search for their names… even though they’ve been warned against doing just that. They find a very suspicious-looking, password-protected website, and they can’t believe what they see!! In these fan-created manga, the two of them get up to such naughty things…! Rui’s imagination starts running wild, and Hibiki makes a suggestion… (Renta!)

Review Proper

HAHAHAHAHA I HATE THIS

WHY WAS THIS GOOD?!

If y’all know me and have read all my BLCD reviews (if you have, I don’t know what to say to you), you’d know that I hate idol plots. And I quote myself in my review for Sakura Riko’s Kimi wa Hiniku na Kirakira Boushi: “Let’s not be beating around the bush here, plots like these have only their sex scenes worth noting and I’m honestly so sick of that.” Now, was Namamono any different? HECK NO! 😂 But damn, the execution and writing was everything! It was like Customer Masquerade and Kimitte Yatsu wa Konnani mo! The works I’ve mentioned are obviously better written and I don’t think I would have ever picked the manga up on its own, but when you add the BLCD into the mix, it can stand on the same level!

First of all, JUST WHO AND WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU, UCHIDA YUUMA?! I wasn’t familiar with this tone of his and it just wouldn’t click in my head that this was Yuuma talking. It was only after they began romping on the couch that it really sunk into me. Mans used his Etou-san tone for it! Admittedly though, I did think that Yuuma was using too high of a pitch for Rui-san and I would have preferred that he used something around Hisashi (Tori would be perfect for this role), but it grew on me in the end. And oh my goodness! He’s such a great actor! The way he just switches tones is divine! It sounds so effortless and natural—how are you only 28?! Thank yaoi gods for Uchida Yuuma. 😌

As for Egu, this might actually be my favorite of all his performances so far. I don’t think that there would be anyone more perfect to play Hibiki than Egu. His Hibiki was obviously higher than his Kaburagi and Uruji, but this was closer to his natural voice, so he sounded very natural here. I wouldn’t have minded if this was the tone he used for his Akihiko tbh. Hibiki and Akihiko have similar personalities after all (but Hibiki isn’t that much of an asshole). But speaking of Given, is it just me or does he really sound like Makonyan, I’m-

Again, I didn’t look at the full cast list, so me was shookt when I heard Wacchan and OnoYuu speak. IF THEY AIN’T FUCKING THROW THE WHOLE SECOND VOLUME AWAY. Also, how the heck did y’all get OnoYuu to third-wheel again?! 😂 I was already sad when he third-wheeled in Cupid ni Rakurai 2 and now he gets doggo bro-zoned here?! Where was the need to hurt me like this, Ginger Records?! I couldn’t help but ship YunRuiiii 👉👈

AND OH MY GOD MY KARINOXAZUSA-

I’m such a simp for KarinoxAzusa even though it’s so toxic and I want Karino to die/get tortured. 🤧

But speaking of Caste Heaven, both Yuuma and OnoYuu did their roles so differently from their characters there! 👏👏👏 All of our supporting cast here also did their best and everyone (even the fans) were voiced! Gotta give it to Ginger Records for casting and sound direction! I’ve said this in my releases post for this, but this had perfect casting. Just one look at the cover and I instantly knew that the chemistry and execution would be there. Ngl, I was actually even waiting for this pairing to happen. Thank yaoi gods for Ginger Records. #BLESS But you gotta admit, Tori could have been a shoe-in for Kokonoe-san. *cough*Dakaretai Otoko *cough*

We have great plot execution, perfect voice acting and sound direction, and faithfulness to the original content. I would really recommend listening to the BLCD while reading the manga because it just makes it 100% better! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I will be looking forward to the second volume myself. 😂 This has also since been licensed in English by Renta!, so congrats to sensei!