July of Fumiko Orikasa
More like the whole summer but since Ichigo Mashimaro and Pani Poni Dash! didn’t start until late June/early July, I figured the month of July was good as any to declare as “the month of Fumiko Orikasa.”
Hearing Fumiko Orikasa’s take on certain characters got me thinking, and not in the productive meaningful way. I’ve kept my short analysis only on two characters, where as the other two I’ll just lightly comment on Fumiko’s handing of their voice.
So here we go:
I’ve come to the conclusion that Miu Matsuoka (from Ichigo Mashimaro) and Himeko Katagiri (from Pani Poni Dash!) must be siblings or at least close relatives considering how off-the-wall the two act. Take Miu for example, her logical thinking is beyond what anyone can guess. She has bouts of sanity but those are few and far inbetween while most of the time she does what she wants with little regard to those around her. Meanwhile Himeko, while not as crazy as Miu, also beats to her own drums always going off on wild tangents that most of her other classmates can’t figure out. The two girls are mostly harmless, at least to themselves, but questions about what exactly is inside their heads surely offers for more indepth discussion at another junction. For now, it is safe to say that both females are to be handled with kid gloves else one wants to be on the receiving end of their antics.
If Miu’s and Himeko’s unique ways of thinking aren’t enough, one can also take in the fact their affections center around only one individual. In Miu’s case, the poor soul is Nobue while Himeko has Becky (Rebecca) to torment. The two girls’ affections, although cute in its own way, is a double-edged sword usually resulting in more trouble than its worth for the recipient. In Nobue’s case, she usually takes Miu’s troublemaking as is but a good beatdown to the floor is always ready as needed. Becky, unfortunately, because of her young age only half the time can deal with Himeko as the situation warrants; the other times being saved by her other students from Himeko’s affections. Are Himeko’s and Miu’s unholy obsessive fondness towards one female person a cry for love? Not getting the attention wanted from either their mother or female sibling(s), the two girls veil for that same attention from someone else close to them. Or maybe the two young girls are starting to show lesbian tendencies much to the joy of yuri fans out there? Perhaps though, Fumiko Orikasa’s two comedic characters are simply that: comedy characters. No psychology needed. No deep moving backstory that somehow has scarred either Miu or Himeko into the girls they are now. Just quite merely two comedy characters out there for the enjoyment of the audience, whom both happen to be voiced by Fumiko Orikasa.
The readers out there, if there are any, can be the final judge on this one.
Enough weird strange very off-the-tangent blogging for now. Moving onto a more normal character and writing, Rukia Kuchiki (from Bleach) voiced by Fumiko is a kick to hear and watch. Fumiko really makes Rukia a treat to hear, especially how she handles Rukia deep almost formal (if oldish?) way of talking. Well, that is when she’s around people she trust. Otherwise to everyone else she’s just a highly geki high school transfer student (Fumiko uses her Pacifica-ish voice from Scrapped Princess) whose Japanese is somewhat questionable (that being referenced from all the manga she “studied”).
Fumiko is probably at her best when Rukia has to fake being “normal” and when easily surprised or countered in arguments. Just hearing Rukia obviously fake her real way of talking is hilarious as it sounds too weird even to someone like me with pitiful japanese listening skills; god knows how Fumiko doesn’t crack with laughter from talking like that. The other time mentioned, when Rukia is easily countered in arguments, is also hilarious as it sounds strange when Rukia “rythm” is off while still trying to argue back in her deep almost manish voice. Really don’t know how to describe it other than one has to watch Bleach to understand. I guess I’m just trying to say that Fumiko does a excellent job in portraying the many faces of Rukia that I doubt newcomers could easily do.
The last Fumiko Orikasa role I’d like to mention is Meyrin Hawke (from Gundam SEED Destiny). I don’t know if she really has much affect on the role but the few lines Meyrin does get when not related to battle have been interesting to say the least. From the few humorous lines to get Athrun’s attention to showing Meyrin’s slowly break-out personality (as exemplified in episode 36 of Gundam SEED Destiny), Fumiko does yet another fine job in portraying a character with so little lines.
Maybe, however, the only real reason I wanted to include Meyrin in the list is because she shot up in the rankings of popular female GSD characters after letting her hair down and “taking one for the team” (Athrun) by getting wet and naked!