Smile-Gang #516 – An Attempt at Normality

水樹奈々 スマイルギャング 第516回

The usual silly opening is not present this week because the first thing Nana says this week was “Let’s do away with the opening silliness.” The reason? They’ve grown. Listeners have grown. They shouldn’t need that anymore. Being adult is srzbsnz. XD

Misato is in no way against that. She obediently agrees with her “Precure-sempai.” XD Smile Precure is officially on air on Japan, and so Nana congratulates Misato on that. She eagerly asks about how everything is going, to which Misato answers, “It’s tough.” Nana ignores that and instead points out that “You get a lot of toys each week!” Lol.

The whole Precure talk really gives off the feeling of ‘sempai and kouhai.’ Nana fondly looks back and talks about how special/different Precure is, what Misato should expect, and reassuring Misato how, even though she can’t match the timing with others right now, she will soon be able to. (Note: I’ve never watched any season of Precure. But from they’re saying, I’m assuming that when the characters pull off their finishing moves, the characters speak at the same time?)

Anyway, Nana is looking forward to the upcoming crossover movie where they’ll be able to be in Precure together. XD

So we move on to the title call… where Misato follows up with a brief talk about pollen (and allergies). As we know, Nana is allergic to pollen somewhat (along with a whole bunch of other things). But not only that. It’s flu season. Misato asks how Nana is taking care of herself… to which the answer is “doing the bare minimum.” Which means she’s not doing much aside from carrying throat drops and avoiding germs as much as possible.

Apparently, the weather is also rather dry, adding more stress to their throats after the pollen and influenza. They reveal that their recording studio is still okay (the staff there probably makes sure the condition is best for their voice actors/actresses), but TV studio is a different story. Nana says she often feels very thirsty at the TV studio.

Despite so many danger to her throat, Nana still refuses to wear a mask. She thinks that’s going overboard, despite Misato telling her that many seiyuu nowadays wear a mask right up until they’re ready to do their recording. Although, part of the reason Nana refuses to do so is due to her desire to “train” her throat (revealed in several interviews before as well as in her autobiography Shin Ai). She wants her throat to be able to adapt, preparing it for sudden changes or overexertion.

Onto the Head Nanau corner — Valentine’s Day.

Nana made less chocolates this year. She made… 50-60! Less than the usual 70-80, but that’s still qutie a lot in my opinion. Misato is obviously given some. They’re heart-shaped (unsurprisingly) and made with chocolate and raspberry. The mumbling you hear from Misato is her saying “umee, umai, oishii!” (all meaning ‘delicious’). There’s also bear-shaped chocolates too. XD
Hilariously, Nana says that the money she spent on ingredients is more than if she just bought chocolates at the store. Of course, the wrapping costs money too.

Nana then ends off the corner saying “I’ll be making more tonight.” We can all guess what Misato’s reaction was, right? “AGAIN!?!? Are you serious?” I think the unspoken question by Misato is: “Do you really need to make so many? O_O” The plan is to make 20 more. ^^;;

Following that is the Quiz Corner, featuring the arrival of the new character. Inori Antonio (who appeared the last 2 weeks) didn’t boost Nana’s luck with the scratch cards at all, so this time they got “Inoue Yoshie” there. (Sometimes, I feel bad for Misato, but often, she’s the main reason why Smile-Gang is such a fun listen XD). The half-singing/half-rapping is absolutely hilarious. XDD

Now about the questions… they are seriously random questions that listeners send in (such as “What’s the funny error message I saw at the store that sells air conditioners?”). I’m going to fast forward through the questions since it doesn’t add to any sort of knowledge. If there’s any particular question you really want to know about, let me know.

The Quiz corner was rather short today. So they go with the usual “Nana-iro mail” to take up time. Someone sends in a mail saying that, recently, when he passed by a Kamen Rider poster, he saw his friend there. He hasn’t seen said friend for a few years, but he would have never ever thought he’d see him as a minor character in Kamen Rider. He asks if Nana or Misato has had similar experiences of seeing friends in unexpected places. Misato says she hasn’t. Instead, she is the one who keeps showing up in unexpected places (according to her own friends). The most recent experience would be Precure. Who would’ve thought she’d appear on Precure? XDD

Jumping over to the ending… Before going to the card scratching, has anyone else reading this watched La Corda d’oro? If so, did Nana’s promotion of her Live Castle x Journey DVD/BD release crack anyone up (besides me)? The “douji hatsubai na no da!” made me immediately think of Lily from La Corda. XDD

Now time for the card scratching. Nana hasn’t won a single yen for the last two weeks (despite Inori Antonio’s “appearance”), would Inoue Yoshie’s appearance have any effect? If Nana doesn’t earn a single yen this week, Inoue Yoshie will have to sing her latest song (Nana’s immediate reaction was “I want to hear it!”) so Misato sincerely hopes that won’t happen. XD
And the result is… NANA WINS 100 YEN!!! Yatta! \(^O^)/

Nana: …But this means I won’t get to hear the new song…
Misato: No no, it’s better this way. It’s much better that “Inoue Yoshie” goes home.
Nana: She was only here briefly and then left. I think she needs to stay longer. She came and I won! So I think she should come again.
Misato: Noooo!
Nana: If I get to hear that new song, maybe my luck will change further!
Misato: Wouldn’t that mean the new song will have to sung either way? Nonono, please take pity on me.
Nana: Song or not, it’s a fact that I won something after she came so she should come again.
Misato: This is the worst…

Lol. I doubt Misato will be let off easily next week. XDD