Do the above women look alike to you? Reeeeally alike? Yeah, me neither. Still, the one on the right– the actress who will play “Aya Hi–no” –is supposed to be enough of a look-alike to play Haruhi seiyuu Aya Hirano, the gal on the left, according to Sankaku Complex.

I think I’d rather watch Hahiru than “The Melancholy of Aya Hi–no,” personally…

…Because she has this awesome sunflower pillow thing made for her by none other than Takashi Murakami himself.

Via Hashihime’s translation of an interview with Hirano while she talks about her role in Nijuu Mensou no Musume (Daughter of Twenty Faces), which is an awesome show. Even as I hate Hirano for having that pillow, I’m really enjoying watching her expand her voice acting repertoir.

Yes, according to alafista a series of Aya Hirano trading cards are in the works. Seven cards will run you ¥525 (about $5.12 USD), and a box of twelve packs of seven will run ¥6300 (about $61.46).

So, the question is: would YOU buy?

Since I’m actually trying to leave the house this weekend (zomg! Hey, it’s for the Degas/Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit at the art museum and the Cinco de Mayo fair at the waterfront), I figure I’d better knock this sucker out so I don’t forget anything.

Anime:
- USA Today has finally picked up on that whole anime being made into movies thing. Now with 100% more Answerman! (ANN’s Zac Bertschy gets a quote in the article.)
- Speaking of ANN, they have word that CoLours, the “multicultural network,” isn’t running their FUNimation channel block anymore. They originally ran a four-hour block, then two hours, and then there was none.

Manga
- Hey, did you know that Naruto sells well? Yeah, so did I.
- The Yomiuri has a special on Astro Boy, specifically the expansion of his franchise with the “fat Astro Boy” designs of Lily Franky.
- Aaand over at Comics Worth Reading, we have a nice State of Josei Manga address from Johanna, who talks about what titles out in the US might fit the bill; commenters have a handful more.
- P.S. FREE MANGA! (And other comics.)

Movies/OVAs:
- Variety tells us about the visualsof Speed Racer, which, as we all know, are sexy. (The question is whether the other aspects of the flick will match up.) Oh, and IGN has three minutes of the film online.

Music:
- Hashihime updates us on the chart status of seiyuu/songstresses Maaya Sakamoto and Aya Hirano (known to me for their roles as two different Haruhis: Sakamoto is Host Club’s tomboyish Haruhi, and Hirano, of course, voices Suzumiya Haruhi herself). But Sakamoto wins out on the sales charts, taking the #3 spot while Hirano is at #20.

Cons:
- Viva l’Obata! Takeshi Obata is hitting up Paris’ Japan Expo, according to anime!anime!.

In Japan:
- Ooh, new category! But Gunota Headlines has word that the Bandai Hobby Center is having a public viewing on May 17-18th, with a Keroro Gunsou stage show and a Gundam 00 seiyuu talk show, among other events.

Misc:
- Given the popularity of 2ch, I can’t imagine how anyone would be surprised that Japanese people favor anonymity when commenting online, but here’s the poll to prove it, from WhatJapanThinks. There’s information on a number of other aspects of Internet use, especially with mobile phone surfing.

Thanks to the zealousness of my half-brother, who is a giant Fist of the North Star fan (seriously), I’ve never really been able to enjoy the show. And now Aya-tan is going to be in an OVA for it.

I’m sort of feeling broken right now. *sniff*

Okay, but seriously, Aya-tan is gonna have an actual regular gig as herself on TV, hosting a 15-minute “after-school ‘edutainment’ TV show,” says hashihime.

Hopefully she will teach the kiddies about aliens, time-travelers, espers, and the hardships of being an otaku.

HashiHime reports that a special site for Haruhi seiyuu Aya Hirano’s three upcoming singles are online, but the article offers a lot more: specifically, gossip that Aya never really wanted to become a seiyuu.

However, that’s all gossip and rumor from someone who claims to be well-informed on the topic, so who knows? Whether she wanted it or not, Aya is definitely on her way to becoming one of the premiere female seiyuu in Japan. And she’s really quite good at it– granted, she’s played very over-the-top characters, so “doing a voice” for them isn’t necessarily as difficult, but she actually sounds different in her roles. If you hear her Haruhi voice and compare it to her regular voice? Or Konata and Haruhi, or Konata and her regular voice? Yeah, biiig differences.

According to Hashihime Aya Hirano– the voice actress who shot to seiyuu superstardom with her role as Haruhi in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, following up with her excellent work as Konata in Lucky Star –has joined Maaya Sakamoto (Ouran’s Haruhi), Yukari Tamura (Nanoha’s Nanoha), and many other seiyuu in having had over 100,000 posts devoted to her on those ubiquitous Japanese message boards, 2ch.

おめでとう、あやたん！