According to Famitsu, Shinjiro Atae– member of AAA (All-Around Attack) is going to have a role in World Destruction, the anime chunk of Sega’s newest multi-media project (first date for the show is here.

Apparently it’s part of a “seiyuu challenge” that the members of AAA are taking part in– titled “We Wanted To Be Seiyuu Too!” So Atae (pictured above) and Chiaki Itou, also a AAA member, will play roles in the show– it sounds like Itou will play a character named Nadeshiko, who explains the mystery of the name of the “World Destruction Committee.”

The members of AAA all have pasts as actors and dancers, but they’re particularly interested in the difficulties of conveying character and emotion with only the voice.

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I wouldn’t exactly call myself someone who follows a lot of the seiyuu information, but there are a certain handful of them whose voices I’ve come to know and love– and one of those is Rie Tanaka, who rook up residence in my heart by playing the sarcastic, glasses-wielding, weight-obsessed Yomi in Azumanga Daioh, who is going to be a guest of honor at NYAF!

But god knows she’s been in something like every anime ever produced since then: Chii in Chobits, Lacus Clyne in Gundam SEED, Maria in Hayate the Combat Butler, Suigintou in Rozen Maiden, and the list goes on and on…this season she’s playing Minna-Dietlinde Wicke in Strike Witches.

And she’s not just a seiyuu; she’s an amazing singer and she has even worked sound production for a few series, such as Nodame Cantabile and the upcoming sci-fi drama Tytania. She’s written columns for Newtype and a few seiyuu magazines, and has also hosted several TV and radio programs.

…Excited? Me? What ever makes you think that? ♥

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If yesterday’s announcement of Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka’s eroge-to-anime adaptation excited you, AnimeSuki’er Siegel Clyne’s cast list for the show may blow your mind.

Heroine Yuuhi Katagiri, a spoiled princess-type character, will be voiced by Rie Kugimiya (Fullmetal Alchemist’s Al Elric, plus every tsundere character you’ve ever loved). Meanwhile Aya Hirano is taking on the role of Minato Nagase, the younger sister of the main character who is “cool” but very affectionate to her nii-san.

The other heroines are:
- Marina Inoue (Zetsubou-sensei’s Chiri Kitsu, and Gurren Lagann’s Yoko) as Tsukasa Kiryuu
- Ryou Hirohashi (Bamboo Blade’s Tamaki, KimiKiss’s Sakino) as Nagomi Shiraishi
- Rie Tanaka (Azumanga Daioh’s Yomi, Gundam SEED’s Lacus Clyne) as Shiina Mizuki
- Erino Hazuki (ARIA’s Akari) as Mikoto Tachibana
- Emiri Katou (Lucky Star’s Kagami) as Karen Ayanokouji
- Kaori Fukuhara (Lucky Star’s Tsukasa) as Aya Nijou

And a few more characters:
- Akira Ishida (Gundam SEED’s Athrun Zala, Naruto’s Gaara, Nana’s Shin) as Fuyuhiko Nishino
- Rikiya Koyama (Kamen no Maid Guy’s Kogarashi, Hajime no Ippo’s Mamoru Takamura) as Seijirou Sugishita
- Yuu Kobayashi (Zetsubou-sensei’s Kaere Kimura, School Rumble’s Lala Gonzalez) as Sai Fujimiya

This is also the cast for the Playstation 2 port of the game (NOT the cast from the original PC game). Pretty impressive, hm? We still need a cast member for the protagonist, though.

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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?

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Twitch has word of a few of the cast members for Mamoru Oshii’s newest film Sky Crawlers, all of whom are actually potentially known to a regular Hollywood audience: Rinko Kikuchi (of Babel, who also did a voice for Genius Party in ‘07), Ryo Kase (of Letters from Iwo Jima, and also Mayama in the live-action Honey and Clover movie), and Chiaki Kuriyama (Kill Bill, Battle Royale; also acted in my favorite jdrama’s movie Kisarazu Cat’s Eye: World Series as Ayako and Mizuho in Ju-On: The Curse, aka The Grudge).

Aaaand trailer, courtesy of Twitch:

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TokyoGraph reports that Anna Tsuchiya, of Kamikaze Girls fame (she played Ichigo Shirayuri), is going to voice the heroine in the new Anpanman movie Soreike! Anpanman: Yosei Rin-Rin no Himitsu. She’ll play the titular Rin-Rin, a fairy and the heroine of the series. It’s her second role as a seiyuu, the first being the lead character in the dub of Herbie: Fully Loaded.

…May your second time around be much, much better than your first, Ms. Tsuchiya. The film opens in Japan on July 12th.

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More important than the website or the visual for the upcoming Slayers Revolution series is the cast list! Megumi Hayashibara returns as Lina, which is undoubtedly one of the most important parts for many fans.

For me, though, the biggest news is the characters that will be back and their returning seiyuu: Yasunori Matsumoto reprises as Gourry; Hikaru Midorikawa is back as Zelgadis, and Masami Suzuki will once again play Amelia.

As some of you know, my biggest concern was that it would be a TV series with nothin’ but Naga. (Eep.) Now that I know that the old crew is back, I am 150% excited about the show!

Though I can’t help but notice: Xellos appeared in a magazine spread, but his original seiyuu Akira Ishida isn’t on the list yet…

Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea has its first seiyuu: on a show called TOKYOFM, pop and jazz artist Akiko Yano announced that she will be voicing Ponyo’s little sister.

Okay, it’s not the main cast, but it’s still kind of neat– as far as I can tell, Yano has never done seiyuu work before.

Canned Dogs reports that at least 17 seiyuu have left Haikyo, aka the Tokyo Actor’s Consumer’s Cooperative Society (a seiyuu agency). No official reason has been given, but rumor has it that the seiyuu are joining forces with Toshiyuki Morikawa, a seiyuu probably best known as Dante in the Devil May Cry anime, or InuYasha’s Naraku, or maybe Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children’s Sephiroth.

Among the seiyuu who have left: Gara Takashima, Cowboy Bebop’s Julia; Daisuke Namikawa, Tsubasa Chronicle’s Fai; and Kouichi Yamadera– a biggie; he was Cowboy Bebop’s Spike Spiegel (and Ein), plus Ghost in the Shell’s Togusa.

Should be interesting to watch!

Hashime links to an extremely complete report on the 2007 Seiyuu Awards (it even mentions what companies are involved with what seiyuu/series, which provides an extra perspective on how *cough* “honest” the awards are).

Mamoru Miyano took home the Best Male Seiyuu award for playing Setsuna F. Seiei in Gundam 00, and Aya Hirano (who got a Best Newcomer award last year) nabbed a Best Female Seiyuu statue for playing Konata in Lucky Star.

Best supporting male went to Hiroshi Kamiya (Gundam 00’s Tieria) and Ono Daisuke (Minamike’s Hosaka– awesome!). But, really? Kamiya over Hiroyuki Yoshino, who plays Allelujah/Hallelujah? Ehhh…

Then there are the best supporting females: Rie Kugimiya for Nagi in Hayate no Gotoku (uh, isn’t she the main female in that show?) and Mitsuki Saiga for (Moyashimon’s Kei).

The best new male awards went to Tsubasa Yonaga, who plays Ren in Oofuri Furikabutte (I keep forgetting that show) and Wataru Hatano, Terra E’s Sam Houston; the female newcomers are Yu Kobayashi (Kaere, aka the blond “returnee,” in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei– WIN!) and Emiri Katou, Lucky Star’s Kagami.

Make sure you check out the rest of the awards for some more familiar names, folks! Though j1mone points out quite rightly that there should have been some Gurren Lagann representatives up there– no Katsuyuki Konishi for Kamina? That character is going to be a really lasting symbol in the anime world. So that’s kinda lame.

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