Hime struggles with her role in Cruel Octalia.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Maki Minami
Translation/Adaptation: John Werry
What They Say
Hime Kino’s dream is to one day do voice acting like her hero Sakura Aoyama from the Lovely ♥ Blazers anime, and getting accepted to the prestigious Holly Academy’s voice actor department is the first step in the right direction! But Hime’s gruff voice has earned her the scorn of teachers and students alike. Hime will not let that stand unchallenged. She’ll show everyone that she is too a voice acting princess, whether they like it or not!!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Having gotten Shiro (Hime) and Senri to be buddy-buddy, Minami-sensei now uses Shiro’s career to drive a wedge between them. Hime’s behavior pretty much validates her decision to distance herself from Senri. In one scene, she tells Senri she can’t come over and winds up bursting into tears. Two chapters later, she glomps him in front of his apartment. To be honest, her girlish behavior is so obvious Senri should either figure it out or get weirded out by his guy friend’s behavior. Instead, he gets pretty weird himself, first forcing himself to be cheerful, then undergoing a massive makeover.
But despite the blow to his delicate emotional constitution, Senri is able to accept the reason Shiro’s staying away. He focuses on removing the barriers that are keeping them apart, which is more than I can say for Hime. At this point, she really can’t be considered a super-amateur. She’s got an agent, has had all sorts of training and help, and has actual work experience. To see her flailing around the recording booth made me want to throw her out rather than cheer her on. So it was refreshing when Senri lashes out, telling her to shape up or quit. And because this is a shojo title, his yelling is exactly what Hime/Shiro needs to suddenly deliver an amazing performance.
Inspired by Shiro’s progress, Senri makes progress in the social arena. This of course takes place at school, and Hime’s eager to help by inviting him into her circle of friends. Considering the difference between Senri’s talent and that of the Stragglers, I expected mob comments/backlash when they team up for the class project. Instead, Minami-sensei focuses on Hime’s inability to keep from spouting out everything she’s learned about Senri as Shiro. It’s meant to be funny, but when she blabs his address to everyone, she truly and honestly sounds like a stalker.
Extras include embedded author’s remarks and three bonus mini-manga.
In Summary
Hime distances herself from Senri to reduce the chances of being found out as a girl. Sounds logical enough, except she gets so emotional over it that it’s counterproductive. The focus quickly shifts to Senri’s social awkwardness, and Hime’s determination to do something about it. She is living up to her Lovely Blazer philosophy by doing so but she’s so sloppy going about it that Senri would have to be an absolute idiot not to figure it out soon.
Content Grade: C+
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: April 7th, 2015
MSRP: $9.99
