World of M #131 – Guest: Takayama Minami

I’ve been waiting for this all week…

水樹奈々のＭの世界 #131 （2012,01,28） ゲスト：高山みなみ

I was grinning the entire time when listening to this. Why? BECAUSE TAKAYAMA MINAMI IS GUEST THIS WEEK ON WORLD OF M!!! <– When I capslock abuse (which I don't do very often), it shows how excited I truly am. XDD;;

If you’re wondering why I’m so excited, it’s because… well, it’s TAKAYAMA MINAMI.
Ok, so that doesn’t answer any questions (even if I think it should).
Because ran told me (a while back) that, apparently, not everyone knows who Takayama Minami is (which came as somewhat of a shock to me)…

…But unless you’re really young, I would think most J-pop fans have heard of Two-Mix / Mix Delta. Gundam Wing fans, especially, should recognize Two-Mix as the group who did the openings for GW.
Minami-san is the lead vocal in Two-Mix.

For anime fans in general, you would have likely heard her voice on Detective Conan (as Edogawa Conan), Pokemon (as Hiroshi), Shaman King (as Asakura Hao), and many, many other well-known anime. From her more recent roles, she can be heard on Digimon Xros Wars (as Kudou Taiki) and Senki Zesshou Symphogear (as Kanade).

As a Mizuki Nana fan…
As a casual Two-Mix fan…
As a anime & seiyuu fan in general…

How can I not be grinning when I hear them together on World of M this week? And I’m not the only one. If the giggling and laughing from Nana-san is an indication of anything.

Let’s get on to the actual program…

The way Minami-san introduced herself was cute. She modified quotes from characters she has played in the past to fit with World of M. It got Nana-san all hyper too. XDD

Nana-san then briefly mentioned the happenings from last week. The way Minami-san showed up outside the studio (and later came inside the booth and hence why we heard her say ‘hi’ — which got ME all excited last week too) to say ‘Happy Birthday’ to her. Nana described her feelings as “waaah~ kyun~” when that happened. XD

After that, they go a bit into their history. The first time they met was at the recording site for Shaman King. And that was… 11 years ago. 😮 Minami was a little surprised to realise it has been 11 years already, and commented on how time flies. They worked together on several anime after that as well, specifically mentioning the “one morning anime where they fought.” Lol. I’m guessing that’s Precure? XDD And of course, there’s the most recent Senki Zesshou Symphogear where they formed a (music) unit… where Minami-san plays Kanade, who is the strong and onee-chan type of character, whereas Tsubasa (Nana-san’s role) is the serious yet nervous type.

Speaking of onee-chan, Nana takes this chance to talk about how Minami is very much like an onee-chan. The cast for Symphogear is largely made up of younger seiyuu and so Minami-san took everyone out for a meal and played games in order to know each other better. Nana said she was really happy she did that.

Because if any of you remember the talk with Konishi on World of M back in June 2011, you will remember that Nana-san (being new and unexperienced at the time when they did the recording for Shaman King) was quite intimidated by merely being in the presence of so many well-known people in the industry.

Nana recaps briefly on how Konishi told her to join them for lunch (“Oide yo!”) when he saw her sitting alone in the restaurant. She distinctly remembers how, despite being happy that she’s eating with everyone after the invite, she was extremely nervous to have been sitting beside Takayama Minami and Hayashibara Megumi. XDD At that, even Minami-san comments on how, looking back now, Shaman King was made up of an amazing cast. XD

Taking everything that Nana has spoken about what happened behind the scenes with Shaman King, I can’t help but think that perhaps the recording for Shaman King marked the beginnings of a change. While Nana is thankful for Konishi to have asked her to join everyone else for lunch, she is also thankful for the words of encouragement Minami and Hayashibara Megumi gave her back then.

“It’s all right. The fact that you have the script means you’re good to enough to voice act. Don’t hold anything back and go give it your all.”

^Aww~ Anybody else other than me grinning widely at this?
Nana-san then mentions how the situation is very much like that one scene between Kanade and Tsubasa in Symphogear.

On the topic of Symphogear, they take this chance to introduce Gyakkou no Flugel, the duet between Kanade (Takayama Minami) and Tsubasa (Mizuki Nana).
I laughed at the way they introduced it.

Minami: Are we going to say it like this or are we going to say it like this?
Nana: We are going to say it like this

^Lol. Total whut moment here… yet oddly cute. XDD

Onto the song… I will confess that I haven’t checked out Senki Zesshou Symphogear. And despite knowing about this duet and looking forward to it, this is the first time I’m hearing the song.

My thoughts? It definitely reminds me of Two-Mix. Especially due to the style and Minami-san’s voice (who is singing in Two-Mix style too). There seemed to a sharp contrast between their voices at first, but eventually, their voices came together and melded quite well. By the end, I thought to myself, “Kakkoii na…”
——-

After the song, we move to the 7 Questions corner. Minami-san’s thoughts on the corner is as follows:

Minami: Hoi hoi!

XDDD

Nana-san is a little nervous, because Minami actually re-wrote the questions 3 times… She kept thinking to herself “Should I ask it like this? Is it okay if I ask this?” Since the latter put so much thought into the questions, Nana is nervous as to what kind of questions will come forth. XD

The questions (and answers) are:

1) The place you would like to go in 2012
France

2) The one thing you would carry with you on a trip　as reassurance
Acerola Drink

3) A rule that you have for yourself but don’t necessarily make sense to other people
Always put on/take off left shoe first

4) The thing you want to eat now
Curry

5) The condition that the ideal man must possess
The sharing of same interests/feelings/point of view as herself

6) Your 10 year later self
Dancing and singing while still showing navel and legs (LOL)

7) What do you consider to be the a time of pure happiness?
Eating a lot without caring about calories

Hahaha. Yes, we all know Nana-san loves to eat. XDD

Going through the answers, the reason Nana wants to go to France is largely linked to her love for antique items. There are a lot of art museums she would love to visit there. The problem, of course, is that France is a little too far. Minami agrees… And when Nana-san returns to question to her, Minami’s reply was…

Minami: Me? Uh, I like Japan?

Hahaha. She adds, afterward, that if it’s a place she can reach by ground, she’d be willing to go anywhere. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that means she doesn’t like airplanes. Whenever someone asks her if she’d be willing to go overseas (probably for events and concerts), her reply would be: “If I can get there by Shinkansen, I’ll go.” XD

About the question “condition that the ideal man must possess”, Nana-san says that when she thinks something is delicious, she wants the guy to say it’s delicious too. Minami-san points out that Nana is really all about food. XDDD

Nana: I’m sorry, but I’m hungry!

^LOL.
——-

That pretty much brings us to an end for the 7 questions corner. The next corner talks about Minami’s impression of Nana.

She starts off saying that her impression of Nana has changed drastically from when they first met. During the recording for Shaman King, she was always hiding behind people / trying to mix in with the background. She was always nervous and unsure of how to approach others. That same Nana is now a singer who appeared on Kouhaku. She can really see how the accumulated experiences over time has come into play.

Nana-san admits that she was never one to stand upfront. She does what she can and move forward little by little. As time went on and she came to meet more people, she started developing more confidence and thought to herself, “I can do this.” Upon hearing that, Minami points out that having confidence and knowing what you can do is very important. Another important thing is knowing what to ask and who to ask. Sometimes, something that seemingly is difficult can be solved very easily by simply asking someone who experienced something similar. As an advice, Minami reminds Nana that the bonds between people is something to be treasured.
——-

The next and final corner is the Voice Acting corner. Two top class seiyuu… What chaos will ensue? Not much apparently. It was surprisingly normal… Except for Nana-san tripping over the word “situation” when explaining what the corner is about. XD

The request sent in by a 17 year old male is asking them to act as an young energetic girl and use “agepoyo” in a sentence/sentences. Now, neither of them know what “agepoyo” means or how to use the “word.” They hear it on comedy shows, but has never really given it much thought. They don’t think people actually use it in everyday conversations.

Nana gives it a try nonetheless (not that she has a choice). XD

You will have to listen to it as it is not something I can describe. After the laughing and saying that “agepoyo” probably isn’t supposed to be used in that way, Minami-san gives a big sigh. Why? The answer is revealed by a question… Nana asks if Minami has ever played an energetic, excited, high school girl — to which the answer was an immediate “no.” The quick answer led to more laughter. XD

The actual voice acting was hilarious. Takayama Minami is really awesome as a seiyuu. =D

More “agepoyo” abuse follows. They say that they should greet each other with “agepoyo” the next time they meet up at work. Nana says that Sawashiro Miyuki will no doubt look at them weird when she hears them. XDDD
——-

And that’s all for World of M with Takayama Minami.
I’m still grinning, but I should probably head to bed now… XD;;