the M fan club

Meh. Fan Club stuffs. I have no idea how much Fan Club stuff exists. Not being Japanese, and all of that. All I do know is what there is is darn hard to find. I can't even be 100% sure that all of these belong in that category, but even so, I don't know where else to put them. So here seems as good as anywhere.

(That's a good start, isn't it? Gomen).

Firstly my thanks to miyuu17 for the sasayaki CD information and images.

"Sasayaki LOVE MESSEEJI CD"

"Sakarattemo muda da ze. Omae wa ore no onna da." (Arai Tougo)

This appears to be the first of those strangely disturbing (marketing ploy) CD releases on the whispering theme. I have a feeling that there may have been individual CDs released for the characters but whether they exist as different from this or not I don't know.

The CD - in mini-disc format, and running for eight minutes or so - features twenty tracks, giving each of the boys four opportunities to strut their stuff.

Yuusuke manages not to shout. Mikimaro gives the impression of being chatted up by Mickey Mouse. Takagi is...somehow highly insincere in his strangely formal mode of address. Arai sounds a bit like a naughty stalker. And Nakamoto (well, Nakamoto's always cute) is his usual polite self. Though he refers to who he's speaking to as "kimi", so I guess he's gotten over his stepma somewhat (he refers to her as anata).

They do "whisper", I suppose. Mikimaro's is the oddest sounding...though to be honest, I have to simply hand it to the M producers. Phone calls with themselves was not enough. Monologue tracks on solo releases? A drop in the ocean. Voice messages for answer phones and the like? Child's play. Bring on the good ol' romance and get the girls going. Yep. That's Japanese marketing for you. On which note...
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Sasayaki RABU MESSEEJI 2 CD

Obviously the concept was so successful that they kicked off a second time. This CD features five tracks - one for each boy - babbling monologuishly about how much they love the person they're apparently talking to (a nice fuzzy black microphone, no doubt!)

Yuusuke sounds a bit more like himself in this, and Mikimaro less scary, although still bubbly at the end. Nakamoto decides to analyse what love means. Takagi is intensely Takagi. And Arai...yep, naughty stalker again.

Having watched my fair share of neofestas and heard all the screams at the love messages then, I guess it was a logical marketing point. Somehow, I don't think it'd happen in England, mind you...

 

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And finally, the only thing that I have from the M fan club: the Special CD Bulletin from 1998 (with its accompanying club pamphlet).
I don't know whether there were other Bulletin CD releases for other years, whether this was a one off project or what the true situation is. All I know is that it's dated 26th November 1998 and it was released with pamphlet #6 for 1998 (which features the script for the Karaoke Drama as well as an interview with Okiayu Ryoutarou and an advertisment for the OVA soundtrack CD).

The CD itself is an hour long, and features the Seiyuu 'in role' as their characters for the most part. There is a drama segment, "Kimi to koishitai", in which the boys have to read through a script with a girl character (basically five love scenes). The fun of it is that there are no girls to practice with, so they have to read the script with each other playing the female parts (cue Arai teasing Takagi, Yuusuke freaking out, Mikimaro wanting to read for Arai, Nakamoto getting steamed at their lack of cooperation and, finally, Arai changing all the lines when reading opposite Takagi to turn it into an effective BL conversation.

There is also a guest appearance on the CD from the late Shiozawa Kaneto as Kawazoe Haruka, during one of the Q/A sessions. It's unusual for M stuff in that the characters are answering questions not the seiyuu - so there's a lot of interplay going on between them (banter etc) which you also find in the dramas, manga, etc. Takagi also clams up at one point, telling the listeners to 'check out novel number 4 if they want to know more - not that I want anyone to know more."

All in all it's quite a cool release *lol*. Unfortunately its packaging is less so - it's a flimsy cardboard wallet (in fact the seller I got it from wrapped it in extra cardboard to protect it en route because of it). There's one (normal size) CD which is orange, with the tracks printed on the front and the names of the characters and seiyuu printed (in romaji) around the edge. The cast list is printed on the front of the wallet and the tracklist on the back.

Fan Club CD Bulletin Release (inside)