プリムラの庭

So the small IRC community I live in and group of friends I chat with. We have been in this new craze about the NicoNico Singer [chorus]. There are many different singers and many different groups comprised of these singers. The NicoNico Singers are doujin singers (fan singers) that mainly sing vocaloid songs, occasionally you will hear them singing with vocaloids. At times their solo versions are added together with others to form the chorus versions. Other times they purposefully form an actual chorus group. If you do not know what NicoNico is; it is short for Nico Nico Douga. Nico Nico Douga is a Japanese video sharing sight much like Youtube. In my opinion Nico Nico is much better than Youtube. Getting back to the Nico Nico Singers then, there are many great voices out there and some less to be desired, but all in all a very entertaining group of people. I will post some videos of some songs that I enjoy and also list who my favorite Nico Nico Singers are.

*Note* ~For those of you who are new to seeing Nico Nico Chorus videos. Each singer has a character associated with them and their name printed on it. When the character either shows up or is highlighted that person is singing. The characters are not static to a specific person so pay close attention to the names on the character. Enjoy~

Favorite Male Voices: Clear, ぱにょ(Panyo)

Favorite Female Voices: ルシュカ (Rushuka), 花たん (Hana-tan), うさ (Usa), ヤマイ (Yamai)

Various Nico Nico Artists – Last Night, Good Night <– All time favorite and Clear’s voice is outstanding in this

Rushuka – sign <– I think she has one of the best female voices ^^

Hana-tan – Hope <– I think she sounds like Olivia when she did inspi’ Reira

Yamai – Just Be Friends (piano Ver)

Panyo – From Y to Y

Clear – When Love Ends for the First Time

Series: Hidamari Sketch (ひだまりスケッチ)

Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life, School Life

Animation Production: Shaft

Number of Episodes: 12

Synopsis:

Yuno has been accepted to her dream school: Yamabuki Arts High School. To attend the school, Yuno moves and starts to live in a small apartment building named the Hidamari Apartments located near the school. Once there, she starts making new friends like her classmate Miyako and the second year students, Hiro and Sae. Surrounded by good friends, Yuno starts moving towards her dream of being an artist.

Source: Anime News Network

Main Characters and Cast:

Yuno: Kana Asumi – Yuno is our main character. She finds her self as a beginner artist when others see her as an excellent artist. Yuno has a very enjoyable personality and is a well developed character. Kana Asumi has had a few major/primary rolls in other anime series, but has only casted in a handful of anime titles.

Miyako (Miya): Kaori Mizuhashi - Miya is the neighbor to Yuno. She is a carefree and energetic character. Miya is another well developed character with a unique personality. Her unique personality made her one of my more favored characters in this series. Kaori Mizuhashi did an excellent job making this character likable. Her play on Miya’s unique personality was brilliant. Kaori has done many major/primary rolls in a lot of anime series and has been in the indusrty for quite awhile.

Sae: Ryoko Shintani – Sae lives on the first floor and is a short story writer. Her character is the smart yet introverted type. Her character was fairly developed, but could have been developed more. Ryoko Shintani has done a fair amount of casting for a good handful of series. She did a great job with this series and her character. She made her character believable.

Hiro: Yuko Goto – Hiro is the neighbor and good friend to Sae. Hiro is always watching what she eats, but still loves eating sweats. I would describe her personality as mother like. She is always caring for others and looking out for everyone. Her character was not as developed as it should have been. I would have liked to see more about Hiro’s character.Yuko Goto is a very well known seiyuu, she has had many major/primary rolls and always does an excellent job. Yuko did an excellent job with this character as expected.

Yoshinoya-sensei: Miyu Matsuki – Yoshinoya is the teacher to our main characters. Yoshinoya is a cute, cosplay loving, clueless character. Her character is well developed and very likable. She was probably my favorite character from the series. Miyu Matsuki did an excellent job with this character.

Personal Thoughts:

I enjoyed this series a lot. All of the characters were likable and cute in their own ways. The animation was a bit hard to get used to at first, but it grows on you. It is a very simple animation style. The opening and ending themes were enjoyable as well. I would recommend this series to people who enjoy comedy and slice of life series. On of my favorite moments of the series was when the girls were watching water drip into a bucket. My question is how bored were they?If you have seen this series or plan on watching it I hope you enjoy[ed] it. 

Personal Rating: Rating:

Opening: Sketch Switch – Kana Asumi, Kaori Mizuhashi, Ryoko Shintani & Yuko Goto

Ending: Mebae Drive – marble