[BLCD] Scarlet

Scarlet

Pairings: Sugita Tomokazu x Nakamura Yuuichi, Hatano Wataru x Suzuki Chihiro

Cast:

(Scarlet, main story)

Nakamura Yuuichi as Akio
Sugita Tomokazu as Ryou
Toriumi Kousuke as Yamamoto

(One Night Stand)

Hatano Wataru as Toki
Suzuki Chihiro as Harumi

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Level of Understanding: 2
Karami Level: Mild

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Scarlet was the most awaited BLCD since the pairing was announced. Well, at least to those who knew that You-kyan and SugiTomo are close enough friends to practically be considered lovers in the seiyuu world. Of course, I only learned that myself when I read sunglass-san‘s post on Random Seiyuu Fangirling. I’m going to brutally honest in this review about my critical opinion on Scarlet. I’m going to sound harsh, but in truth, I really did like this drama. Same with DEADSHOT really. But I was … kinda disappointed. (I always end up disappointed in things I expected too much from, sigh)

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(spoilers in the summary)

Summary:

Scarlet:

The main story, Scarlet, is about Akio who’s dating a really beautiful guy named Ryou. He’s beautiful yes, but Ryou is a really pathetic guy who fails at being a human being. Due to his personality, despite having Akio, Ryou is unable to turn down the other girls who ask him out. Akio tolerates it because he loves Ryou so much that he refuses to lose him even if he isn’t number one. One day, it turns out that there’s a girl that Ryou was considering marrying and after being threatened by said girl, Akio cuts his ties with Ryou and completely ignores him whenever he tries to get near. It gets to the point that Ryou actually tries to KILL, yes KILL, Akio because he decided that if he can’t have Akio then no one can.

Fortunately, Akio lives and recovers. Ryou stops cheating on him and becomes a faithful puppy seme. Happily ever after. Hur hur.

One night Stand:

Harumi is always watching Toki in the short time they have in the elevator together in the morning at work. He doesn’t call out to him. Harumi just watches. Because, after all, Toki is a really important (and far-away) person. One night, Toki shows up at a gay bar where Harumi was. Harumi takes the opportunity to invite Toki to a hotel; a one night stand. That was enough for Harumi but the next day, Toki greets him good morning. Afraid, Harumi ends up taking the elevator at a different time from then on to prevent from seeing Toki again. Eventually, Toki shows up at the gay bar again … and happily ever after as well. (By the end of the drama, Harumi is able to greet Toki good morning, which is totally cute)

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I’ll start with Scarlet. I was surprised. As in really surprised when I heard SugiTomo’s voice. I mean, whoa. It’s like a failed beta version of Mihashi’s way of speech. Honestly, I didn’t like it. I’m glad SugiTomo didn’t have much lines or I’d be annoyed. But he’s character was really cute, I’ll give him that. I probably would have liked it more if Sugita used a voice more like Ed’s bat-version (Hakushaku-sama series) added with a pathetic tone instead of a self-conceited one. You-kyan was great. Akio was another “passive wife” type but okay, I’ll stop from complaining. If only Akio was a little more strict on Ryou, we’d have a relationship that’s really close to Abe and Mihashi except Ryou isn’t voiced by Yonaga and if Ryou were voiced by Yonaga, I’d have real live Abe x Mihashi and I’d die of a heart attack. But I digress …

Voice-acting wise, I was disappointed, which is sad because I was looking forward to this for the seiyuu. But the story and characters were great. Beautiful and I would have enjoyed it more if SugiTomo’s voice in this wasn’t so annoying.

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One night Stand, on the other hand, was greatness. I love stories surrounding one night stands and this one was a beautiful one. Harumi was extremely cute. I love you Suzuki Chihiro, you’re a totally cute uke and I want more of you. And Hatano impresses me again with his ability to voice cool characters. He’s such a childish dork in RL that I forget how good he is at portraying cool types. I loved everything about this oneshot, so I’ll stop here. It was awesome and I enjoyed it more than Scarlet.

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Freetalk

You-kyan and SugiTomo disappointed me again. What?! Just normal talk? No insanities? I’m sad. I’m really really sad. Hatano and Suzuki were great though. I loved it when Suzuki brought in his Tarot Cards and Hatano was all excited over it. So damn CUTE!

Overall

I said everything I could possibly say. I enjoyed the drama but there was something lacking in both SugiTomo’s and You-kyan’s voices. Hatano and Suzuki were awesome though. So do I recommend this? Yes I do, because of One Night Stand and Scarlet’s story. More One Night Stand because it had story and great voices.

Please don’t shoot me. (I’m probably reviewing Kaoru Maniac next, look out for that one)