G Senjou no Neko II

Author: Miyagi Tooko Format: Manga, Blcd H-level: None Plot: Artwork: Characterization: Overall:

Story

In the first CD, Narukawa Riya (CV: Kamiya Hiroshi) was picked up by Ikeda Atsushi (CV: Morikawa Toshiyuki) after he fainted in front of Atsuhi’s house. Since then, a strange relationship developed between the black Riya and Ikeda. At the same time, at school, the white Riya continued to be bullied and harrassed by his upperclassman Kousaka Haruto (CV: Hiyama Nobuyuki). The second CD began with the introduction of a new character: Narukawa Saki (CV: Hirakawa Daisuke) who was really Riya’s uncle and a renowned pianist. He came to examine Riya’s condition because Riya seemed to have “double personality”. At this time, Riya was preparing for the concert because he was the school’s representative as Kousaka backed out from the competition. Riya was anxious in the beginning but Kousaka relieved his tension by squeezing his cheek :roll:. The concert was a success and Riya was surprised to know that Atsushi actually came to attend the concert. He ran to meet Atsushi outside the hall but he slipped and fell into Atsushi’s arms. All the time, Kousaka was watching him. When Saki realized that Atsushi actually knew about Riya’s both personaltiies, he offered Atsushi to work as a male maid in the Narukawa residence and to look after Riya. Atsushi accepted the offer and started his life as a live in male maid. During the time Atsushi was at Narukawa’s residence, only the black Riya showed up all the time. The cute and selfish little cat soon attracted Atsushi romantically and the latter even had erotic dreams. In the meantime, Sugiura (CV: Tomita Yumiko) overheard the conversation between Saki and Riya’s teacher and realized the fact that Riya had two personalities. She then revealed the piece of information to Kousaka. Actually, since meeting Riya for the first time when Riya transferred to this school, Kousaka could not keep Riya out of his mind.

One day, Saki called Atsushi to bring Riya to his concert. It would be hard but Atsushi managed to bring black Riya by promising him junk food in return. At the concert, Riya wanted to go to the restroom and there, he met Kousaka who questioned him about his relationship with Atsushi. It was the first time black Riya met Kousaka face to face and he wanted to run but in the end he could not and ended up quarreling with Kousaka. Kousaka also told black Riya that he loved Riya but the Riya he loved was the white Riya and this had nothing to do with the black Riya who got angry and said Kousaka slept with white Riya just to get revenge because he was not as skilled as Riya in terms of violin. Kousaka was pissed and punched black Riya. Atsushi then came and defended black Riya and the two rivals confronted each other for the first time on the issue of Riya. Kousaka warned Atsushi that since he already slept with the white cat, Atsushi should keep his hands off Riya. However, the black Riya ran away depressed. This is because he did not like Kousaka and he did not like his other personality either. The nice, white Riya did not know about the existence of the black Riya but the black Riya knew everything. To cleanse (?) himself from the scent of Kousaka, he asked Atsushi to sleep with him. Atsushi agreed in the end but he could not go all the way because he realized he loved Riya but Riya did not love him. Riya only used him to forget Kousaka or his other self. In the end, the white Riya returned after 10 days and was scared because he had never lost memory for such a long time. The weak Riya was even more shattered when his father ordered him to go to study in New York immediately. Not knowing what to do, Riya cried in Kousaka’s arms when he happened to meet him again. At the same time, Atsushi also wanted to stop living in Riya’s house. What would happen to this triangular relationship? TO BE CONTINUED.

I know my synopsis is short because I would like to spend the rest of the time highlighting the FAILURE of the script. Unlike the first script, the second script is AWFUL because it removed CHUNKS from the manga. Here’s what’s removed (roughly) that I believe are VITAL and should not have been removed.

1) When black Riya came to return the key to Atsushi, he actually said the white Riya slept with an upperclassman, in the CD, Atsushi immediately said that was a lie. However, in the manga, Riya actually said he could not forgive Atsushi first and then Atsushi said THAT was a lie because Riya continued coming back to him (or to his university). Riya then blushed and ran away. So, in the CD, it seemed Atsushi said Riya was lying when he mentioned about sleeping with an upperclassman but in the manga, Atsushi said Riya was LYING when he said he could not forgive Atsushi. What a big difference THAT makes!

2) The MAC vs. MC joke. When Atsushi and Saki asked what RIya wanted, both times Riya said: “Mac”. Atsushi knew Riya like junk food and so realized he wanted to go to Mc Donald but Saki did not know and thought Riya wanted a Mackintosh computer 😀

3) These are just two examples of the changes. In addition, plenty of Riya’s monologues are removed and that’s horrible. It’s already hard to understand Riya’s psychological inner workings so the elimination of the monologues make it even harder to understand his actions and what’s going on in his mind. If possible, I highly recommend listening to this CD AS WELL AS reading the manga or you will not be able to get the most out of the story.

Review
As I said above the script was a disaster T_T and so if you are really like the original manga (like myself), you can’t help to be disappointed a bit.  However, if you truly like the original manga, you might have stopped listening in the middle of the first CD already because the casting was too FAR from the image portrayed by the artwork.  Having said that though, if you treat this as an independent piece and forget about the artwork for a moment and only listen to the sounds, then this CD is not all that bad.  This is because the music is lovely and the acting is fantastic.  In particular, I think Ikeda and Riya both have powered up since last time and so it’s still very enjoyable!

In the last CD, white Riya was the dominant one and so it sounded a little dull.  In this CD though, black Riya has more airtime and since I think Kamiyan is better at being BLACK Riya instead of white, his performance here is close to PERFECT.  Like last time, his black Riya is still cute and playful but this time there is a touch of weakness in the voice and the change from the strong and fierce black Riya to the lost little kitten, especially in tracks 5 and 6…that’s STUNNING! I can’t remember how many times I repeated the sentence: “Ore to nero”…. it’s WONDERFUL!!! Also during the near H (not even proper H), he slightly made his voice a bit husky.  I know he has the bad habit of flying several octaves higher during aegi but since this is not a full aegi, it’s tolerable and nice.  As for his white Riya…he still sounded a bit too strong in the beginning.  However, in the last track when he was crying in Kousaka’s arms, I thought that was closer to the real white Riya I hoped for.   Well, it’s hard to play two roles at the same time and to change all the time anyway so I’ll say “good job” just for trying.  Not perfect but I’m glad he seemed to have improved from 1 to 2 and so let’s hope he’ll render a even better performance in 3 (if there is one and I hope there is because I’m annoyed at not knowing the ending XDD).

Like Kamiyan, MoriMori also powered up in this second CD.  Probably because I have gotten over the fact that Ikeda is just a 20 year old with a mature voice (well Nakajima in Gakuen Heaven is only 18), I begin to be able to appreciate MoriMori’s acting more full heartedly.  The kindness in the voice is really nice and though I still prefer MoriMori’s oresama voice more, I think I also like his depiction of Atsushi.  In particular, I like the part when Riya told him not to touch his xxx but Atsushi said he wanted to see Riya reaching orgasm ^_^;; (I’m so perverted, sorry).  That’s really wonderful! Although light and and calm, he seemed to say it so naturally (when the actual phrase doesn’t fit Atsushi’s innocent image).  In short, I’m satisfied with him but I would not cast him still if I have the power to cast.

Last time Kousaka was the BIG BAD WOLF and this time he STILL IS.  However, even the wolf has conscience and Kousaka is certainly a BIG BAD BULLY who can be really loving and gentle.  Overall, Kousaka is very lovable this time round but if I must recommend a part to listen, then it’s the end (track 6) when he comforted white Riya.  He did not say the sentence, he whispered… so gently TvT… ahhhh…. okay 100 pt+ up for Kousaka!!!

Excuse me, Hirakawa but I think you have mistaken Saki as a renowned MAMA in a gay bar instead of a pianist ^__^;;…. Saki is just mischevious and mysterious but not gayish like the way he sounded.  I think he  did not grasp the haraguro portion of Saki and that disappointed me a bit.  I think Hirakawa is THE RIGHT PICK but he just did not act the WAY I had HOPED he would act.  It’s a personal preference thingy but nonetheless, it reduced the attraction of Saki.  I can understand why one Japanese reviewer said she could not listen to his Saki’s voice… it’s OUT OF TUNE XDDD.

In the end, I gave the acting a 4-star instead of 5 because of Hirakawa’s character miss (not his fault properly but Abe san).  However, Kamiyan, Hiyama, and MoriMori deserve at least 4.5 star (still room for improvement).  Having said that though, please keep in mind that this CD is EXTREMELY CHALLENGING for EVERYONE and so I think all did a good job because of the high level of difficulty.

Bottomline
If you like split personality and triangular relationships, this is a MUST LISTEN because it’s quite rare that you get a story where the three characters are so lost.  I personally love this story very much.  However, if you are the kind who don’t like to listen to an incomplete story, then please stay away from this manga as we have no idea when the final CD will be released (sigh).