October 7th, 2009: I've been meaning to update this for a while, but I didn't have time =/

So along with the return of the blog there came the news that Tatsu's been working on a new project, he's part of the band OLDCOEX (here their MySpace) and they're releasing a CD on October 21 *~* Can't wait to get my hands on it!

This seems to be totally the kind of thing Tatsu's been looking for; he's said before that he likes rock and that's the direction this band takes. Plus R.O.N. (who wrote Tatsu's first singles) is part of it, which makes me excited because that guy's awesome and I liked his past collaborations with Tatsu.

Also, I want to recommend this LJ community focused on Tatsu, since there's someone who's taking the time to translate Tatsu's blog entries to English. Speaking of the blog, he deletes the old entries and what he writes there is a reminder of his brutal honesty (which I think is part of his charm) sometimes... and he's mentioned he's gotten messages from overseas... which reminds me I haven't sent any messages yet!

September 2nd, 2009: Tatsu's official site is back up! XD

August 4th, 2009: One member added :P

Also, now that I'm able to check it out after a while, I see that Tatsu's site is now "under construction". So I guess they're fixing the bugs! XD

Sorry about not having been able to reply e-mails v_v

June 16th, 2009: ;o Not too many news, since Tatsu's last important anime role was in Kuroshitsuji, where he got to play a recurring character. Then I think it's time for me to get over my lazyness and create a Games section for once, for that's where Tatsu's been really active lately (and also in BLCDs). He got recently cast for one of the main roles in Lucian Bee's Resurrection Supernova, an otome game by the same company that produced VitaminX, and also featuring an all-star cast.

April 16th, 2009: I guess I'm still thinking about the last year, because I keep writing 2008 instead of 2009... Tatsu keeps on being very active on the BLCD front, but there are still not too many news regarding other stuff such as music or anime. I really like BLCDs, but I hope he'll do something else too! I miss hearing his voice on anime, and he's definitely still not focusing on that right now... I miss you! ^w^

January 31st, 2009: Added a new member :)

January 17th, 2009: Happy New Year! Added a new member :)

Will update the list of Drama CDs when I overcome my lazyness. There aren't many news except that Tatsu's appeared in some episodes of Kuroshitsuji, which means I will have to update the Anime section too - this is also when I am able to overcome my lazyness, of course ;o

November 15th, 2008: Happy (belated) birthday Tatsu! So yeah, it was Tatsu's birthday last Tuesday. I don't think anyone will mind that I'm late XD
This week's DCGS radio (which gets posted on niconico every friday) was interesting; its main theme was Tatsu's birthday. Horie Kazuma and the other co-host, Suzuki Yuto, read letters they had written to Tatsu for his birthday. While Suzuki Yuto's letter was very correct and the polite kind of letter you'd expect from a kouhai, Kazuma's was very personal and full of emotion to the point that he broke in tears while he was reading it. Surprise... or not? ^_^; Tatsu didn't seem to know how to react, and Kazuma ended up apologizing profusely for crying. Also, on his blog, when mentioning Tatsu, Horie Kazuma talks about him with a sense of devotion that is a bit surprising. Plus, it comes from a person who 7 years older than Tatsu. The way he talks about him makes you realize that Kazuma sees him as a special friend who's done a lot for him. It's sweet.

Speaking of DCGS, the character album is very nice! Tatsu's song is catchy, and his voice sounds a bit different, deeper and (sorry, I HAVE to say this) sexier. However, it made me think it's been a long time since we heard a song that was totally his or written especially for him (that would be Otoken's Yumebito, written by him).

One last thing. I never cared about Pokemon, but Tatsu's a very special guest in its newest series, Pokemon Diamond & Pearl. I say a very special guest because he got a role that is not just some random background character, but one that is pretty important and popular in the games (of course, I didn't know about this - I don't get along with games), but it hadn't been introduced in the series so far, Jun (the main "rival" in the Pokemon Diamond & Pearl game). He's appeared in the last three episodes so far.

November 4th, 2008: Added a couple of bits of trivia, which I had been meaning to add for months. The first one has to do with the reason why Tatsu's photobook is called "=" (EQUAL). One of the reasons is that when put vertically, the = symbol looks like the number 11 O_o (and I thought *I* was reading too deep into the eleven eleven subject) and his birthday is on November 11th (11/11 ---> 11 EQUALS 11) so the whole thing regarding that number is kind of special (well, yeah... thus the name of this site).
The "=" also has to do with a sort of "what you see is what you get" message. The interview where he mentions this can be found on nico nico. Also, with this on mind it's easier to see that in his photobook there is more meaning in the angles, sequence of the pics and stuff than it first meets the eye... It's quite interesting, actually.
The other bit of trivia is that Maeno Tomoaki, who played the main character in Toshokan Sensou and co-hosted the Toshokan radio show with Tatsu, attended to the same seiyuu academy as Tatsu, and at the same time too XD

Ah, one of these days I should fix this site so that it will look better on Firefox... XD I use Opera, and I had checked it on other browsers, but never on Firefox. Yay...

Section updated: trivia

October 4th, 2008: Ok, so last month I turned 25 (oldness) and I realized that this site had turned 2 years old... O_O A lot of things have changed since I started it, but I guess the most important one is that after Tatsu's confession at the time of Break a Cage, I started to see him under a different light. I respect him more for wanting to change for the better and pursuing what he really wants. At that time he also said, "I don't want to sing lies". So even though I wish he would release a new solo work soon, I understand that things need some time sometimes. I guess anyone who's been through difficult times can understand this.

And well, I updated the drama CD section. Still too lazy to add a games section. I'm not into games and I've never been, so I pay little attention to this area :D~ I'm the kind of person who was never able to pass the third screen of the good old Super Mario, so I guess that's self explanatory. And seriously, I'm not exaggerating, I don't know what happens after the third screen. As for other type of games, when I try I usually get bored very easily and just give up on them, with only a few exceptions (there's only TWO games I've been able to finish, both of them graphic adventures). Oh well. I guess that saves me a lot of money. And I'm never stressing over wanting to get a newer console (actually, I've never had a console of any kind)! Just how awesome is that? XD

Also I should have added a couple of things in the radio section, but I didn't. A while ago, Tatsu started a radio show for mobiles, so unless you're in Japan (and I'm not) there's no way to listen. Anyway, in anticipation of the upcoming otome game DC Girl's Symphony, a new web radio show featuring Tatsu has started. It gets posted on niconico. Games and BLCDs seem to be the areas where Tatsu's actually been most active lately. The new anime season is starting and he's nowhere to be seen! ^^; I wonder if is it that he doesn't want to do anime for now? Or if it's a matter of auditions? Or is it that anime doesn't pay well enough? Or is it that he's looking for a role he really likes?
Ok, since I seem to be inspired for ranting, I'd like to mention that I find the increasing amount of BL works interesting. The two most well known reasons as to why a seiyuu goes into/increases their work in BLCDs seem to be:
1. To advance faster in their career
2. Money
Let's take Fukuyama Jun as an example. Fukuyama's "breakthrough year" (2005) was marked by an inmense amount of BLCDs. It was then that I started to notice him, because you could NOT not to notice him.
Whether you like it or not, BLCDs help you build a fanbase when you're not having too many opportunities elsewhere. As you build a fanbase, you also start to get more attention and opportunities. Now that Fukuyama's popularity is at its peak and he gets important roles in anime, his BL jobs have significantly decreased. He's of course not the only seiyuu who has benefited from BL.
In the case of Tatsu, I would think he's got a decently strong fanbase among the Japanese fandom already, but has failed to do things "his way", which he claimed it was his goal, and has been "stuck" for a while.

Speaking of BL, this month I had the chance to listen to the Narita Ken/Tatsu BLCD Himitsu no Gomibako de Koi wo Shite. It might not have been the best BLCD ever, but there’s a report on the intercommunications website with some funny pics: here (change hxxp into http :D)
Listening to this CD I couldn’t help but to notice Kaji Yuuki’s uber cute voice. He plays a supporting role. To my amusement, in this report thingie Tatsu comments that Kaji Yuuki (who sounds –and looks!– a lot like a girl) is “cute as a small animal”. Kaji also plays a role in another Tatsu BLCD, Name of Love. I'm a bit traumatized by a sort of Kaji/Tatsu scene there though XD (but the actual pairing in this CD is Ono Daisuke/Tatsu).

Anyway, this makes me remember something I wanted to say about sources. This is actually the first time I have felt like following someone’s career closely. I ended up finding it unexpetedly entertaining, but a bit confusing when it comes to organizing the information. So when adding new data, the idea is to take the information from magazine interviews, freetalks, radio shows, sites related to the releases or events. I will not post as a fact something from, say, 2ch or even wikipedia.
The ONLY case in which I take in consideration "second hand" sources is in the case of specific events when I have to rely on reports from people who attended. If there's something I find interesting or meaningful from one of those reports, I check that everyone is reporting the same fact, since you know how tricky can it get when there are different people writing about their own impressions. I don't take one person's word as a true fact.
But for example, it happened once that I read a report where the girl talked about something interesting that Tatsu had said. Since that was the only "source" I dismissed it, because I thought maybe she had gotten it wrong, but later Tatsu himself mentioned the same thing in a radio show. I guess that girl was the only one who had paid attention :P Also, many event reports and online interviews usually end up getting lost in the deeps of the internet which is why sometimes it's useful to save some webpages :D~

.... When did this rant became so long? I guess procrastination is a good source of inspiration for pointless monologues XD~

Section updated: drama CD

August 24th, 2008: Updated the following sections: anime (adding a couple of minor titles), drama CD (adding six BLCDs) and radio.
Some of these days I will create a games section... but I really don't fancy the idea of start counting how many VitaminX related things are there out there...

Now if I could just lay my hands on that NariKenxTatsu BLCD soon! XD~

August 21st, 2008: Not too much has been happening! With Toshokan Sensou over, Chocolate Underground is at the moment the only anime where Tatsu can be heard. And without Otoken all that's left are the guest appearances in other radio shows. I hope he'll get to be somewhere in the upcoming season. Now one of these days I'll get over my lazyness and update the drama list, since I have to add quite a few BL titles to it :P

June 21st, 2008: Otoken is ending this month! =( Sadness!

Anyway... a new Tatsu BLCD came out last month, and apparently he plays seme! :o The uke is someone I confess I had never heard about, some Kobashi Tatsuya *insert lame joke here*.
Tatsu also got a supporting role in another BLCD, Chocolate no You ni. And he'll be playing uke to NARITA KEN in August. He's sure been really getting a lot of BL action lately XD YAY!.
And of course, more and more and more VitaminX stuff keeps coming out. Gosh, why don't they just turn it into an anime? At this rate, it wouldn't surprise me if they do it sometime soon. Ok, maybe it's just wishful thinking... but they totally should :P

In other news, apparently Tatsu mentioned in last month's Trouble Maker event (where he was one of the special guests) that he'd be getting an official home page soon (it's about time!). I hope he gets a blog, too! :P

And last, a bit of gossip for a change, because there's a rumour circulating the net concerning an alleged romantic relationship between Tatsu and Toshokan Sensou's Inoue Marina, which seems to have come from (where else than) 2ch, and the neverending discussion there on whether it's true or not is starting to get really annoying (but somehow funny XD). Anyway, it seems that the Toshokan Sensou radio show is tons of fun, and Maeno and Tatsu have been making reeeeally weird comments regarding their female castmates. If that's where the "foundation" of the rumour is, the rumour should go more along the lines of a Tatsu/Marina/Maeno threesome XD
Hohoho, nevermind what's going on for real, seiyuu really know how to tease their audience :P

April 30th, 2008: I have to admit, Toshokan Sensou is SO not my type of anime. Last year, I actually managed to watch Dancouga Nova although the quality was not exactly the best, but in this case... the female character annoys me too much. Tatsu's chara is pretty cool though, and he does a nice job using a deep but soft and somewhat sweet voice :P
I find it sad that this is the only anime where he can be heard this season, although it's actually better than not being able to hear him ANYWHERE (like in last two seasons). And he'll also be part of the cast of the upcoming Chocolate Underground, which is being promoted as "the first anime made for mobile phones". It's actually based on Bootleg, a novel by British author Alex Shearer about a group of people who start to illegally distribute chocolate after its circulation is forbidden by a government concerned about the health of the citizens. Well, that sounds crazy XD I suppose it could be cute, if well done. In 2002 there was a mini series from the United Kingdom based on this story. That situation portrayed there is like my worst nightmare, BTW!

And before I forget, Tatsu's job in the BLCD Toukasei Renai Sousa last month? Not bad, actually! Better than in Unbalaced Heat (although I enjoyed more listening to UB xD)

Sections updated: anime, drama CD

March 14, 2008: There's no really big news this month except for a radio drama he's taking part of and the announcement that some more VitaminX stuff will be coming out soon... which is not surprising at all xD

Anyway, I put up a new layout, which is actually kind of like the same but with a different picture (maybe someday when I have the time and the skills I'll make a better one). The picture is one of my favourites from Tatsu's photobook. The photographer is Herbie Yamaguchi :P The pics I like the most are the ones in which Tatsu doesn't seem to be posing for the camera.

This month Tatsu's new BLCD comes out, let's see if he got any better at playing ukes... Listening to Unbalance na Netsu was kind of weird, I must confess that I had imagined his chara's voice deeper and that I got confused in the ecchi scenes. It's like, you know, he has this tendency to sound like he's being the uke and not the seme, but at the same time in this case that approach is understandable XD
As for the rest of the cast, Hatano Wataru does an amazing job and Toriumi Kousuke is an experienced pro and one of my favourite seiyuu, so if we talk about performances, I'd say Tatsu still has a long way to go... and the best way to get better is with by practicing! (aka doing more BLCDs xD)

February 9th, 2008: Should BL fans be glad or afraid? Tatsu will be playing an uke to Yasumoto Hiroki in a BLCD due to be released next March. The last time he tried his skill as uke was also his first... and only time playing an uke until now, and that was in 2003, in "Oi! Tanaka-kun". Back then his performance was... how to say it delicately? Bad. Really bad. But for a 19-year-old to have the guts to do it... well, it's certainly an attitude that deserves some respect xD

He's also supposed to start playing a regular role in the new anime Toshokan Sensou, which starts in April. And I say "supposedly" because he was also supposed to play a regular role in Kamichama Karin (an anime which BTW I ended up thinking it was kinda cute), and his character appeared only 3 times (even though he was in the opening and got a character song O_o). Anyway, it's good to see him back in the anime world (or maybe he had a real big pile of bills to pay, xD)

Some people in Japan already got their Tatsu photobooks, even though the official release date is February 14th. I wonder when will I get mine? *sigh*

January 29th, 2008: Added some trivia. I crossed upon an interview made at the time of the release of Turn of My Life, where Tatsu mentions some interesting stuff, for example that when he was younger he wanted to be an architect. He also comments on the process of becoming a professional seiyuu, and on how it was hard for him to cope with the job at the time of his debut in DEAR BOYS, among other things (someday when I learn more Japanese I'll be able to understand better xD).
The original article can be found here:
www.animate.tv/school/A01_7.php

January 25th, 2008: Tatsu's photo collection has now a name, it'll be called ?=? (EQUAL... or actually, EQALE according to the Studio Warp website xD You never know!). It's coming out on February 14th, I hope I can get my hands on it soon :D Some days after, a couple of events celebrating the release will be held.

January 20th, 2008: Happy 2008! XD Looks like Tatsu keeps neglecting anime and taking just a few jobs, most of them consisting only in continuing his work in the franchises he's already involved with, VitaminX primarly.

I wonder if the reason why he's been taking so few jobs is that he's doing something else or what? If we don't count the (few) drama CDs he's been taking part of, he hasn't accepted a new job in NINE months. And I don't think he's pregnant (LOL).
Given the things he explained when Break a Cage came out, one could think that maybe he wants to give a different turn to his career, for example focusing it more around music or doing something new, but there hasn't been a sign of any kind of new individual works coming out either, unless we count the photo collection. Maybe he still needs time to work on some issues before actually moving on to another stage. Is he taking the time to think about how to re- organize his career, is he actually working on something we still don't know about or is he just taking a break?

Anyway... coming out next month there's the BLCD Unbalance na Netsu, where he'll be seme to Hatano Wataru... interesting, isn't? Actually I was hoping it would be the other way around, since Hatano is much better at doing seme voices than Tatsu, but the characters they'll be playing kind of fit them, so I'm looking forward to it.

Sections updated: trivia, music, anime, drama CD

December 1st, 2007: New CELL DIVISION stuff coming out next year, and also a picture collection of Tatsu is due to be released next February, but he still seems to be kind of idle and hasn't been really taking new jobs.

October 1st, 2007: Tatsu quit the radio show Trouble Maker, and since the CELL DIVISION radio corner ended, Otoken is actually the only place where he can be heard now. Is he he leaving old stuff behind in order to start a new project or just taking a break? Hmmm...
In other news, a DVD containing the live VitaminX event which took part earlier this year will be coming out this month.

September 5th, 2007: KimuTatsu You Can Do It! and Kamichama Karin's character song have been released, but since March, Tatsu hasn't been taking any new jobs, only continuing to work in franchises he was already attached to (with the only exception of a small role in Happy Happy Clover this season). However, two new drama CDs are to be released this month, though he plays a supporting role in both. More info to be added soon.

July 3rd, 2007: I loved Break a Cage, because it makes you feel there is so much emotion put on it, and after knowing the story behind the song I got to understand why. There's a lot of reasons why this is different from Tatsu's previous singles. Not just the rythm is heavier, but the lyrics (by RON, in BaC's case) talk about something he went through not too long ago.
By the time VOICE came out Tatsu started to feel uneasy to the extent that his mental instability (by his own words) reached a point that made him end up in a hospital seeking for help, diagnosed and prescribed with psychiatric medicines.

Though he hated this and it was very troublesome, he says that now he is OK, he wants this single to be a sort of new "starting line", because he wants to sing songs that reflect his own feelings and start building his career from zero (he got a new manager too).
That's... the conclusion he came to after his first album was released and he started to rethink some aspects of his life, the image he was giving, the way he was feeling, the things he was doing.

So... well, that was unexpected (kind of!). I'm not talking about thinking that he was going through such pain but about the fact that he made it public.
I hope everything goes well for him, I'm looking forward to his new works ?

Sections updated: music