[BLCD] Eien no Shichigatsu

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Eien no Shichigatsu

Pairing: Konishi Katsuyuki x Shimono Hiro

Cast:

Shimono Hiro as Saito Ryuusuke
Konishi Katsuyuki as Tachibana Shun’ichi

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Story:

Engaged Tachibana Shun’ichi is suddenly reunited with a close upperclassman from University, Saito Ryuusuke, at a drinking party celebrating his engagement. With Ryuusuke getting drunk, Tachibana is forced to bring his old friend back home with him. There, Ryuusuke asks Tachibana if they can play Lovers. Unable to refuse Ryuusuke, Tachibana ends up becoming his fake lover for a month.

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The story sounds totally ridiculous doesn’t it? After reading it, I was sure I was in for something hilarious and on total crack. Well, I turned out being wrong. Despite itself, Eien no Shichigatsu (which ironically translates to “Eternal July”) is a fairly realistic and could-possibly-happen drama. I’m not saying there isn’t comedy though. There’s a lot of that in Eien … the character interaction between Ryuusuke and Tachibana is so absurd. I find myself laughing every time.

Characters:

Tachibana Shun’ichi: Our seme voiced by KoniTan is a pretty laid-back, go with the flow kind of guy. He just wants to live a peaceful and quiet life. He is engaged to a pretty and kind girl named Yukari who is the daughter of his boss. Basically he is a really successful guy and although he’s lax and not-really-out-there, he’s extremely kind and caring.

Saito Ryuusuke: A total enigma. My first impression of him was a overly outgoing guy who easily makes Tachibana join in on whatever idea he thinks up. He’s extremely happy and loud but that’s just a façade. Deep down, he’s frail and weak. To hide it, he’s able to easily lie to others. His father left when he was around eight and his mother was sick causing him to abruptly leave University to work and support his mother. Afraid he might one day take away everything from Tachibana, he cuts all ties with him without saying a thing.

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I haven’t found a Drama with a pairing I liked this much for a long while. The chemistry and relationship between Ryuusuke and Tachibana is just really fun and beautiful … you would understand after listening to it, really. It’s also been a while since I heard Shimo-chan’s voice and this drama just reminded me how damn good he is at his roles. Most of the time, Ryuusuke’s a out-there guy with an energetic voice … which is just like Shimo-chan’s normal voice. Yet, in the emotional scenes, Shimo-chan manages to easily change the mood from comedic to serious in a second. Unlike some other seiyuus, you’re actually affected by the change of mood and you sometimes honestly want to cry. The thing with most seiyuus with a cute voice is that they don’t easily handle the serious and emotional scenes but Shimo-chan is able to and he does it without you noticing. I can think of one scene in the drama where Ryuusuke was laughing happily and the next he sounded like he was going to cry. In that scene, I couldn’t help but love how Shimo-chan did the transition and I went “THIS is why I love him so much” … Plus there’s his aegi which made me all giggly inside as usual. Oof. Total blush material right there. Last thing, despite his voice, Shimo-chan plays a really believable senpai. In most dramas where the senpai is uke, said senpai never sounds like the senpai. Here, I could easily tell Shimo-chan was older … somehow.

Shimo-chan aside, KoniTan blew me away as well in this. I remember thinking “WAS KONITAN ALWAYS THIS GOOD!?” numerous times after some scenes namely the one where he tells Ryuusuke not to disappear suddenly anymore. He used a totally cute begging voice I never thought he could use. It was a scene where I swear KoniTan could’ve become the uke. I always knew how good KoniTan’s skills were in reality … it’s too bad I can’t easily recognize his voice (I’m trying to find how though …)

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Overall:

Despite the ridiculous-sounding premise, this drama is definite must-listen. The story is beautiful and the voice-acting will blow you away … at least, it blew me away. Then ending is particularly ridiculous but overall it’s a really great listen. There’s drama/angst, comedy and things that don’t make sense … which is basically everything a good CD needs.