Manga Review: Voice Over! Seiyu Academy #1 by Maki Minami
Hime Kino isn’t much like her name would imply (“Hime” means “Princess.”) She’s clumsy and tomboyish, and none too bright. Plus, she’s got a voice like a gravel pit, that only gets worse when she tries to sound cute. But she’s a huge fan of the Lovely Blazers magical girl anime series of series (basically a thinly veiled Pretty Cure) and especially the first star of the show, Sakura Aoyama. Seems that Ms. Aoyama helped Hime out of a jam when she was little, quoting the show. So Hime’s dream is to become a seiyuu (voice actor) and star as a magical girl on Lovely Blazers.
So it is that Hime has come to Holly Academy High School, which has the nation’s top voice acting program. Because of her odd voice and lack of proper training, Hime is placed in the “Stragglers” group with a ragtag bunch of misfits. Plus Hime becomes very irritated with Senri, a naturally talented voice student who is Sakura Aoyama’s son, not that he seems to appreciate it. Senri is moody, and seems to blow hot and cold towards Hime…when he can remember who she is!
Of course, this not being a grim and gritty manga, Hime discovers that she does have the potential to become a talented voice actor–in male roles! How is she ever going to get that cute magical girl role on Lovely Blazers?
As I have mentioned before, one of the neat things manga does that American comics don’t do as well is series about people pursuing a career. Readers can learn all about what it takes to be a firefighter, or an anesthesiologist, or in this case a voice actor. (The manga creator was inspired to do this after her previous series, S*A, got animated and she met the voice-over people.) For this series, the author has chosen the “enthusiastic rookie who doesn’t have the skills yet” version of the plot line.
Hime is specifically a little dim, which justifies the mistakes she makes and the need to give her info dumps every so often. And irritable, so she’ll clash with the guy who is the obviously set up love interest. This makes her seem pretty generic shoujo manga heroine, except for her voice, which the reader will have to imagine. The Stragglers are pretty likable, but seem to have two character traits each, and it’s unclear if they’ll get more depth.
As opposed to Senri, who as the rival/love interest, is shown to have multiple facets and a backstory we will be learning about over the course of the series. This “boy who the girl can’t get along with, but will eventually warm up to her” subplot also feels pretty generic. But other bits feel fresher, such as the idol duo with one member who is unreasonably jealous of his partner’s attention.
The art is decent, and if the school uniforms seem overly busy, that’s deliberate and editorially mandated.
The primary audience for this series is teen-aged girls, but anyone with an interest in voice acting or voice actors should be able to enjoy it.
