I wish someone would make a Rebuild of Kiddy Grade movie
based on the awesome original promo for the series.

I first noticed Hirano Aya when she dropped her normal voice an octave and gave Lumiere in Kiddy Grade an unexpectedly mature voice. After that, I don't think I noticed her again until Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu. That's pretty much when everyone else noticed her, too.

Ayu from the Hyakko OP.

Hirano Aya became so popular after voicing Haruhi that the considerable backlash and stalkerish scrutiny to which she's consistently subjected now was inevitable. Her popularity also led to a lot of miscast roles as she became the new hot seiyuu. She was seeming crammed into every show possible whether she was appropriate for the role or not. (See, for example, Ayu in Hyakko.)

Misa from the second Death Note ED.

But when she's right for it, Hirano Aya is dead on. In the first season of Queen's Blade, it appears they gave her a case of Red Bull energy drinks and just told her to ad lib all her lines as fast as she could. It was magic. Kismet, you could say. Likewise, she was perfectly cast as the Kira-fanboy flibbertigibbet Misa in Death Note. It's largely thanks to Hirano Aya that Misa is basically the only character I actually like in the entire show.

Episode one really picks up when Natsuki appears.

There are rips available now of the My-HiME Blu-ray discs. The episode I watched probably could have been encoded at a higher bitrate, but still looked really nice. It also had an English dub track and a Chinese dub track, but no subtitles. So what are the chances we'll ever see this in the United States? If I understand Blu-ray region coding correctly, both the United States and Japan are in Region A, so I could import the disc, but lacking subtitles somewhat discourages me from doing so.

I'm not just saying that because Natsuki
shoots Mai to test for HiME powers.

I believe Blu-ray theoretically permits the addition of subtitle streams as downloadable content, but I could be way wrong about that and I'm certainly not aware of it being used in practice. There's also the possibility an American company could license this for release and fuck it up royal instead of just doing a bit-for-bit transfer and slapping on a subtitle track. Memo to prospective investors: I want to buy a My-HiME Blu-ray box set even though I already own the seven-disc Bandai DVD box set. Just don't screw it up, and you'll have my money in a heartbeat. (I'm still on the fence regarding Monster for really regrettable reasons, though. Sigh.)

Update: Pedro writes:

The My-HIME blu-ray box does have English subtitles (except for the trailers and the new 4 minute animation). So will the Otome blu-ray box coming in March.
The subtitle and audio options are listed on the Bandai Visual pages for both of them. This box is nice.

http://product.bandaivisual.co.jp/web_service/shop_product_info.asp?item_no=BCXA-0210
http://product.bandaivisual.co.jp/web_service/shop_product_info.asp?item_no=BCXA-0211

If American releases aren't announced soon, then it looks like I'm importing these providing they don't end up costing me a bajillion moon dollars. (Currently about $270 shipped, which isn't outrageous, but is still some pretty serious otaku money.)

But it's not even raining.

Nodame Cantabile fans should remember Nodame's awesome piano bag from the first season. Although not quite as cool, today's KARMABURN CHECK admires Nodame's heart-print umbrella from the OP to Nodame Cantabile: Finale.

Nodame is such a slob.

As far as the show itself goes, Nodame 69 is essentially a continuation of Nodame Cantabile: Paris, so you should definitely watch the earlier seasons first before starting Finale. (This may seem like a no-brainer, but there is a tendency among some viewers to fixate on only the newest, shiniest thing possible.) I happen to think this latest Nodame installment is the best Winter 2010 show, aside from Cross Game and Kimi ni Todoke, both of which started earlier. This opinion may be skewed by my affection for the series as a whole, though. While some may lament the apparent lack of progress in the Nodame & Chiaki relationship, I'm pleased the story takes seriously Nodame's own ambitions and goals that are independent of Chiaki's involvement.

Oh God. Ueda Kana
has TWO devilcats.

I follow three basic types of seiyuu blogs: Self portraits, corporate, and food. Among seiyuu self-portrait blogs, Inoue Marina seems the most adept. Compared to, say, Akiyama Nana, the easy-on-the-eyes idol who voiced Makina from Shikabane Hime, Inoue Marina manages interesting composition and framing in her self portraits, while Akiyama Nana consistently relies on the same trademark pose except with different outfits. Corporate seiyuu blogs such as Hocchan's and Banana Mizuki's can be identified by the mere fact most of the photographs are taken by third parties. Seiyuu food blogs contain, well, daily pictures of whatever it is the voice actress happens to be eating. Among seiyuu food blogs, Ueda Kana is without peer. From the looks of it, nobody eats as well as she does. Nobody. UEDA KANA ALWAYS WINS.