Hibiki

The DGS Hibiki – Hibiki Tokkun Daisakusen! game site has been updated with tokuten information and a desktop wallpaper has been added as well. The special pouch included with the limited edition version of the game will feature an 8-bit design of HiroC and OnoD. No information is given about the contents of the special talk CD. The 2010 calendar you can get with pre-orders will feature 20 pages with images of all the game characters and also have a new illustration of HiroC and OnoD on the cover. A sample image (most likely the cover) can be seen on the website.

As discussed on DGS #133, there were many leftover CCP goods from DenFes so they’re all up on A&G’s web shop. The only item not available is the Nyaa san no Shippo Strap as that was the only one that sold out. They didn’t say aloud how much they’ve fallen into debt but it sounds like they’re pretty deep in the red. Hibiki goods will be sold at Animate stores starting November 5.

And now for a review of the latest chapter of DGS Hibiki from SYLPH vol.9. Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve written a chapter review. In the previous chapter, Black Hibiki appeared and threatened to take over Hibiki. They challenged HiroC and OnoD to see who can help the most otomes within a week.

SYLPH Vol.9

Bookmarks

The cover of this issue features Kuranoa. Furoku included a Kuranoa drama CD (OnoD voices Ichi) and bookmarks from the DGS Hibiki game.

In this latest chapter, HiroC and OnoD are given an assignment to help Tsukasa practice soccer. Tsukasa has no confidence and doesn’t want to hold her team back in their big match next week so she asks for HiroC and OnoD to be her practice partner. Tsukasa improves but still feels she’s not good enough and wants to continue practicing, but HiroC is in a hurry to help as many girls as he can to win the challenge against Black Hibiki. He turns down her further request for help and when she

Level-headed OnoD

insists, he gets mad, saying that they have a challenge they can’t afford to lose either. OnoD, on the other hand, is much more level-headed about the entire situation and even tells HiroC that it doesn’t really matter if they lose against Black Hibiki. He says that HiroC’s behavior is the worst right now and that he has no right to wear the tsunagi (jumpsuit). This sets HiroC off and the chapter ends with HiroC grabbing the neck of OnoD’s shirt.

I thought the end of this chapter was very well-written. HiroC is usually the calmer of the two but this time it’s HiroC who loses his cool and OnoD shows his more mature side. To put it bluntly, HiroC was a jerk. It’s nice to see OnoD take the spotlight once in a while and I’m excited for the next chapter! Vol.10 will have DGS Hibiki on the cover and include a report on DenFes. It will be released November 21.

Information, Reviews DGS

Daily Single 9/9

OnoD’s Kinmokusei single moved up on Oricon’s daily single ranking. For September 9, 2009, it is ranked #5. At this rate, it just might show up in the top 10 of the weekly single chart!

My copy of Kinmokusei just arrived today so here is a short review.

I got the first press, which comes with a 12-page special booklet. The lyrics are written on a separate sheet not attached to the booklet. The booklet is nice but personally I don’t think these are the best photos of OnoD. He’s a little hit or miss sometimes when it comes to photos and I think the photos here are somewhere in between. I absolutely laughed when I saw the photo on page 9. It’s just… yeah… If you’ve seen it, I think you know what I mean. It’s rather CK, haha. I can’t help but chuckle when I look at it. The back of the obi has a photo of a crosswalk scene with OnoD at the other end. I thought that was pretty nice touch since most of the time the back of obis are blank.

As for the songs, I LOVE THEM!! Kinmokusei has a really catchy melody and as usual, OnoD’s singing is great. I reeeeeeeally like the second song, Tori no Yume. It’s very otona ppoi

Kinmokusei

(adult-like), similar to Real no Nai Sekai on Kazahana.

There is a PV for Kinmokusei and you can watch part of it at the beginning of AniSon Plus #60 (2009/09/07). The PV is pretty cool so I hope it will be released on DVD sometime. Perhaps when OnoD’s second album comes out? (The PV for Manatsu no Spica, which was originally only streamed via mobile, was included on the DVD for Kazahana.)

キンモクセイ
Price: JPY 1,200

7 used & new available from JPY 776

Here is an interview with OnoD regarding the upcoming Lantis Matsuri.

In other news, guess who got lucky and scored tickets via lottery for Kiramune Music Festival! Now I just need to somehow get to Japan in November…

News, Reviews Ono Daisuke

Daily Album 8/25

HiroC’s debut mini album Hare no Hi has finally been released. As one would expect, it hit the top ten of Oricon chart. For daily albums, it is #8 for August 25, 2009. Congratulations, HiroC!

I’ve already listened to the CD and watched the DVD. HiroC’s singing has improved significantly and while it can still use some work, I think he did a very good job. I especially enjoyed Yasashii Kaze and my diary. The DVD includes a PV for my diary, a making of video of the album, and a couple commercials.

Hare no Hi goukaban

The PV is cute but it’s rather obvious that he’s just lip syncing, hehe. I really liked the making of video. It’s narrated by HiroC and he talks about the hardships of producing the album, etc. You can tell that a lot of work was put into making Hare no Hi, and that’s something to be appreciated. You have to remember that HiroC doesn’t particularly enjoy singing and he admits that it’s not his strong point. In fact, the very first thing he says at the beginning of the making of video is that he is a voice actor, not  a singer. The CM portion was just a couple 15-second commercials. I wonder if any of them were shown on the big screen at the UDX building in Akihabara. I’ve seen SuzuKen’s, Hirakawa’s, and Irino’s PVs on there.

Anyway, more Kamiya this weekend at CharaHobby! OnoD too!

PS You can see what the Black Hibiki cellphone strap that will be sold at CharaHobby looks like at the SYLPH editor’s blog.

News, Reviews Kamiya Hiroshi

First off, DGS koukai rokuon (public recording) in CharaHobby 2009 info.

The recording will take place on Saturday, August 29 at 13:30. There are three ways to get seats at the stage area:

• Postcard
  Send a postcard with your name, address, age, and phone number to Bunka Housou
• SYLPH
  Buy SYLPH Vol.8 (7/22 out) and send in the application form
• Animelo
  Apply via the Animelo mobile website

You can apply using all three of these methods, but it’s limited to one entry per person per method.

Aside from the tshirt CCP, there will also be goods for HiroC, OnoD, and Kousei Suwa. They drew a lottery to see who would do what and HiroC drew “Kamiya Hiroshi no hatsukai no aji candy” (Kamiya Hiroshi’s first love-flavored candy), OnoD drew a keitai (cell phone) strap, and Kousei Suwa drew nabeshiki. Once again, HiroC’s bad luck at drawings comes through again, haha. The tshirts will be sold via mail order so those who can’t make it to CharaHobby won’t have to worry.

And now, time for some reviews! I will review the new OP/ED single, My Dear Girl!, the latest chapter of DGS from SYLPH vol.7, and a little late but I will also review the first DGS CD, Dear Girl ~Stories~.

Read more…

Information, Reviews DGS

Dear Girl~Stories~響 1 (シルフコミックス)
Price: JPY 630

12 used & new available from JPY 62

Hibiki vol.1

The DGS Hibiki comic was so popular that they had to reiprint it! Ukkari juuban! (Careless second printing) OnoD says it wasn’t ukkari (careless), though, and that they’re reprinting it because it sold well.

The reprint contains a different obi that will only be available until the end of May. Rare obi! Obis usually don’t change because it costs more money to print a different one, but we all know how DGS tends to use its budget, hehe. On the first obi, HiroC wrote, “Ono kun said something good!” and OnoD wrote, “Already a best seller!” On the new obi, HiroC wrote, “Ono kun said something good again!” and OnoD’s response (even though he wrote his comment before HiroC) was, “Already a second printing!”

…Yes, the only difference between these two are the obis.

Reviews DGS

Original Entertainment Paradise “おれパラ”ライブDVD
Price: JPY 5,387

16 used & new available from JPY 5,180

Mosu! This is the live DVD for the Original Entertainment Paradise (aka OrePara) concert held on December 28, 2008, presented by Lantis. It featured Morikubo Shoutarou, Ono Daisuke, Suzumura Kenichi, and Iwata Mitsuo. Since this is a DGS fansite, I’ll just cover OnoD’s portion.

Ono’s set list comprised of Prism, Sora, Amaoto, Diamond Dust, and Manatsu no Spica. At the time of this live, Diamond Dust was a new song since Kazahana hadn’t been released yet.

The set was excellent. Personally, these are some of my favorite songs by Ono so I really enjoyed seeing them sung live. He opened with two songs and then had a little introduction segment. I like when he sings Amaoto live because he gets so into it that it looks like he’s going to cry. During the short break between Amaoto and Diamond Dust, he had to take a drink of water and the audience yelled out “kawaii,” to which Ono replied with HiroC’s line, “Kawaii tte iu na yo (Don’t call me cute),” and then continued to drink his water with a straight face, haha. Of course this made the audience say it even more and then he admitted, “But now that I’ve reached 30 [years old], I’m kind of happy when people say I’m cute.” Haha! OnoD, kawaii~!

OnoD sings very well live, and he knows how to get the crowd into it. At the end there was an encore with all four artists singing Nemuru Monotachi he, which is a song on Iwata’s mini-album CORE. They got the audience into it and had them sing the lines “bokura umaretekita yo” and “itsuka waraiau tame ni.” When they were calling everyone out, Ono was about to get started without SuzuKen who was still offstage. SuzuKen came out with an “Ono hidoi yo~ (Ono, how mean!)” Oops! .^^; They then compared each other’s tshirts and totally ignored Ono’s “もす。(Mosu.)” shirt, haha.

The making movie on the second disc was fun. OnoD was really nervous. It’s amazing that these guys can stand in front of hundreds, or even thousands, of people and sing and talk. It certainly takes a lot of guts. At they end, they showed a bunch of fans yelling out “OrePara saikou!” and stuff, and there was even a group of guys! Haha. One of them had a Mosu. shirt on and another even had a DGS shirt (OnoD white)! A Dear Boy!!! Actually at the beginning of the live after they had gone through introductions, Iwata called out to all the guys in the crowd and noticed the guy with the Mosu. shirt and yelled at him, “‘The hell you wearin’ a Mosu. tshirt for!? Wear mine!!” Ono laughed and bowed and thanked, hehe.

Overall, an entertaining DVD though perhaps a little pricey if you just want it for OnoD.

Reviews Ono Daisuke