Akira used the remote control to turn on the living room TV and then glanced at the old-fashioned clock hanging above the living room. It was just eight o'clock, and it was almost time for the anime to air.
Switching to Asahi TV, the previous reality show prank program was just playing its credits. The next broadcast was the classic anime "Star Pretty Girl," where Neon elementary school students transform into heroes of justice and fight evil forces.
Although classic Sailor Moon and the famous line 'In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!' did not appear in this world, similar works did, and the lines subtly changed to 'In the name of the stars, I'll punish you!'
And this anime, Star Pretty Girl, was a spin-off. Although it had been airing for a while now, it was purely original and had nothing to do with the original work.
The original work featured a protagonist group composed of high school girls, but in this children's anime, they became elementary school students, and they were the classic red, yellow, and blue trio.
This was the origin of magical girl anime!
However, it was still a very orthodox work at present, without any dark, profound, or cruel elements. It seemed that this world's Urobuchi Gen had not yet started to exert himself.
When Akira first discovered this anime, even though the characters and plot were unfamiliar, there was a strangely inexplicable sense of déjà vu.
Although Star Pretty Girl had only been airing for five years in this world, Akira always felt that this anime should air for another twenty years…
Because this was just Precure!
One of Toei Animation's Big Three anime, airing for twenty years, spanning eighteen series, and featuring the most magical girls!
Incidentally, the other two were Kamen Rider and Super Sentai.
"Shion, you need to watch carefully. This is your 'textbook'."
"Yes!"
Afterward, the two quietly enjoyed the anime.
After the opening, which Akira found quite retro, the main story began. Since it was an episodic series, the plot of each episode was very clear, so even if one didn't know the characters, they could still understand the story.
This episode was about the cool, high-class young lady character in the protagonist group, referred to as Xiao Lan, who had never participated in commoner activities, specifically a summer festival. She attended the summer festival with the hot-blooded protagonist Little Red and the intellectual supporting character Xiao Huang, having a great time at various stalls. As a result, she let her guard down and was victimized by a ring-toss stall owner disguised as a villain, starting a ring-toss duel.
Because of the villain's ability, if the ring didn't land, the clothes on the body would be mortgaged…
Holy cow! Which genius scriptwriter came up with this plot! It's simply… amazing!
But is it really okay to broadcast such a plot in a children's anime?
Perhaps the production team also realized that more adults watched magical girl anime than children.
However, there was no exposure, and no one was actually stripped naked; only the underwear was confiscated, so it was actually a very plain scene, not even counting as fan service.
Moreover, the elementary school magical girls' embarrassment at losing their underwear was more cute than lewd, so it was still fine… it should become the Neon youth's initial enlightenment anime in this world.
Afterward, the cunning character Xiao Huang discovered a loophole in the rules, and Little Red's brute strength broke the villain's ring-toss ability.
Then came the classic and traditional transformation! Battle! The power of friendship! Defeating the bad guy!
Finally, everyone enjoyed the summer festival's grand finale fireworks and made a promise to watch fireworks together again next year.
Until the ending credits finished playing, neither of them said a word.
Miyako watched with full concentration, completely entering a state of flow.
Akira patted her shoulder, woke her up, and asked, "So, what do you think?"
"Hmm… I thought this kind of anime was just for kids, but I didn't expect it to be surprisingly interesting…"
Miyako never watched anime before and wasn't very interested in the two-dimensional world, mainly because she didn't have many opportunities to encounter these things.
When she was in junior high, the girls in her class often ridiculed otaku who watched anime. Miyako didn't look down on boys who watched anime, but she also felt that anime was for children and didn't understand why boys would like to watch those anime so much.
It was more 'lack of understanding' than 'prejudice,' which is the general perception of anime by outsiders.
However, after watching just one episode of anime today, her perception of anime completely changed.
If she had watched anime when she was little, would she not have lived in fear every day, like being in a prison…
Because she could gain spiritual support from anime…
"No, I wasn't asking for your thoughts on the anime. I was asking about the voice acting of the protagonist trio. What do you think?"
Miyako then came back to her senses, realizing that she wasn't there to enjoy the anime but to learn voice acting. She carefully recalled the lines of the characters in the anime and expressed her most intuitive feeling.
"It seems like all three of them have a slight sense of incongruity…"
"Very good, very sharp."
Akira was very satisfied with her answer. For an amateur to hear something off was quite talented.
Then he began to explain the more detailed points to Miyako.
"The Voice actor for this episode's protagonist, Xiao Lan, is very experienced. She completely grasped the character's personality, and her emotional control was just right. It's just that her voice line is a bit too mature… meaning she sounds a bit too old, not like an elementary school student."
"Although you can tell the Voice actor has tried very hard to lower the age of her voice, perhaps due to the Voice actor's own age combined with her natural mature voice, she can only achieve this level, but it's already very impressive."
"She should be an experienced Voice actor with over ten years of experience. If she could lower her voice line by about two years, it would be impeccable."
Miyako nodded, saying with sudden understanding, "I see… indeed, she sounds more like a junior high school student."
"Right? Then, looking at Little Red, her problem is exactly the opposite of Xiao Lan's. Her voice line is very suitable, but her acting is too poor. Her acting skills aren't great, and many parts are flat. I estimate she's probably a newcomer who just debuted."
"However, for a newcomer to get such an important role means that she should be a newcomer that her Voice actor agency wants to strongly promote, and the anime director probably gave her this opportunity out of respect for the agency."
"Plus, the unique immaturity of a new Voice actor just happens to fit Little Red's clumsy and reckless personality, so a little flat reading is fine. Anyway, the audience of Star Pretty Girl has a very high tolerance and won't cause a fuss over such a minor voice acting issue."
"Moreover, Star Pretty Girl is a long-running anime, and Little Red will get practice during the voice acting process. If the Voice actor is ambitious, she will get better and better at voice acting in the future. Of course, all of this is based on the premise that her voice is indeed suitable for this character."
Akira spoke clearly and logically, and Miyako listened carefully.
"What about Xiao Huang? Can you tell what Xiao Huang's problem is?"
"Hmm… I can't quite put my finger on it… but I can feel that Xiao Huang's voice acting seems a bit… monotonous? Oh, sorry, I'm an amateur, daring to comment on a professional Voice actor…"
"No! You're right!"
Akira's eyes lit up. He didn't expect Miyako to discover such a detailed problem.
Is the S-rank talent Soul Performance at work?
Genius! This is genius!
"Xiao Huang's problem is not in her voice line or experience. Her voice acting is actually fine, and her voice is very suitable. If a hundred people listened, a hundred people would think there's no problem. So where does the monotony you feel come from?"
Miyako was completely captivated by Akira's words. Her curiosity was fully piqued, and Akira's affirmation further boosted her confidence.
He said she had no problem!
"The answer is lack of passion!"
"I estimate that Shiori's Voice actor is also a very professional and experienced Voice actor who has been working for many years, but she herself probably has no interest in this anime, so she failed to fully grasp the deeper personality of the character, which resulted in her voice acting being fine but unable to touch the character's soul."
"If she herself were also a fan of this anime, she should be able to give people the feeling of 'That's her!' But unfortunately, this professional Voice actor is just doing her job. Although that's not really a problem, a capable director would probably find it a bit regrettable."
"Many times, whether a character's voice acting has soul is just that little bit of passion… So in this industry, getting a job you like is a very fortunate thing."
Miyako looked at Akira with immense admiration.
"Akira-kun, you're amazing…"
"Heh…"
How many years do you think I've been watching anime?
I'm an old-school otaku!