Ohisashiburi!  Minna genki?

So over ten years ago, when I was a fledgling seiyuu otaku, Hitoshi
wrote up a report for the "Startling Odyssey II event" at Tokyo Toy
Show.  You can find the original version here:

http://www.tcp.com/~doi/events/kikuko/so2-toy94.html

Unlike almost every other event report on his site, this was all in
Japanese.  He had written that he had hoped to have the English
translation online "Hopefully before the end of 1994"  The end of 1994
came, and no translation, but the message was changed to "end of
1995".  End of 1995 came and no translation.  I told Hitoshi of this,
and he changed it to "Hopefully before 2000"

I e-mailed Hitoshi about this in 2001, and he changed it to "Hopefully
before 2095"  Seeing as he probably wasn't going to translate this in
my lifetime, I figured I would do it someday myself.  But it remained
a low priority in my life, and it remained undone...

Until today!

Behold, the event report ten and a half years in the making!!!

(all mistakes are my own)

Inoue Kikuko in
Ray Force Startling Odyssey II Evil Dragon Wars Event
Tokyo Toy Show (Makuhari Messe)
14:00-15:00
Guests
Inoue Kikuko (井上喜久子)
Cost
Free
Report version 1.0 by Hitoshi Doi, 1994.06.09 (Japanese version)
Report version 1.0.1 by Joe Petrow, 2004.11.02 (English version)

At 14:00, the lady moderator for the show came onto the stage and
provided a simple introduction to the game.  Then Kikko came out as
the ending theme for Startling Odyssey II played in the background.

Kikko's hair was styled in flowing curls, and she wore a black and
white long dress.  Her upper half was black, and the lower frilly
skirt part was white.  It was very pretty.  She grasped a hankerchief
tightly in her hand.  Kikko told the crowd, "Konnichiwa!"

They mentioned that pictures and video taking were forbidden, but
plenty of people were ignoring this and taking them anyway.

From there the moderator introduced Kikko.  Electra from Nadia, Tendou
Kazumi from Ranma 1/2, and such.  She has also appeared as the
voiceover in many foreign films.

Although there was lots of different talk about the game, there was a
lot that I was unable to follow.  Kikko played the character Julia in
Startling Odyssey II.

Kikko said "When I read the scenario for Startling Odyssey II, I
thought that this had to be interesting."

"Some people had some very funny and amusing ad-libs, and doing it was
a lot of fun."

"The main character was Inoue Kazuhiko.  We are always asked, 'Are you
siblings?'"

"I co-starred with (somebody who's name Hitoshi couldn't hear) and
Tendou Yuri (or Yuka?).  It was fun working with the members I am
always with."

She mentioned that the Startling Odyssey II ending them was made to
match with Julia's feelings.  The moderator also mentioned that there
will also be a CD with the game that will also have the ending theme
on it (Hitoshi could not hear the name of this song. ;_;)

From there, Kikko sang this song.  It was very hot, and during the
interlude Kikko turned around and wiped her face with the hankerchief.

The moderator returned to the stage, and asked the crowd not to use
flash photography.  Kikko also warned the crowd.  But the flashes did
not stop.

From there they started the Question Corner.  They selected four
questions from a previously submitted questionaire.

Q: When did you learn that you were a fish in a former life?

A: "Ever since I was little I wondered why it felt so natural and made
me so happy to swim in the ocean.  I thought that was curious.  During
my high school second year summer vacation, all of the sudden I had a
memory from the distant past, 'Oh, I was a fish!'  I wasn't sure that
I was a manbou (kind of sunfish), but I was definitely a fish."

In some weekly pictographical I saw an incident (Hitoshi isn't sure of
the details) about manbou, and there was a picture of a person
stepping on a manbou that brought tears streaming down my face, so I
guess I was a manbou after all.

Q: Do you play the games you perform in?

A: "Before I never played any games.  But I've started playing them
now.  It's very interesting...I've felt a little afraid because once I
start playing I am unable to get myself to stop.  I think that I'll
only play for 5 or 10 minutes because I have work the next day, but I
have so much fun that two hours seem to pass in an instant.  When my
voice appears I clap my hands as kind of a "there it is!" kind of
feeling."

Q: What is the most powerful scene in Startling Odyssey II?

A: "Well, the ending is quite powerful in nature.  To give a deeply
moving feeling to the person who does it to the end..."

Q: What is your schedule going forward?

A: "My next album (CD) will come out in September.  I thought I would
only release one in my lifetime, but this will be the second...the
planning for the next album is kind of a secret, but this will be a
little bit surprising..."

"I'm also making karaoke.  Today some studio is taking the music
'oke'.  I think this is something that you can look forward to and
want to get for yourself."

"Also there will also be a video in connection with the album."

At that point somebody held out a CD, to which Kikko said "Arigatou gozaimasu".

From there the moderation held out the "Okaeri Nasai" ("Welcome Back")
single and announced that it would go on sale on 6/17.

Kikko: "Okaeri Nasai" is an image song from NHK's "Montana Jones".
The B-side is "Youki na Osakana" ("Cheerful Fish")  The first album
had "Yuubi na Osakana" ("Elegant Fish"), so this one is the Latin
Version.

From there Kikko sang "Okaeri Nasai" (about three and a half minutes)

When the song ended, a call for Kikko was answered with "Doumo
Arigatou"  When the moderator came back on the stage, Kikko said "But
I made some mistakes..."

From there the "Present Corner" began.  First was a signboard
("shikishi")  Kikko pulled questionaires from the box one at a time.
When she took the first one the moderator asked "What number is it?",
to which Kikko reploed "Um...where is it written?"

(the number was written in small letters on the upper right corner)

When she found it she said "Number 45"  And then 7, "a good omen
number...100.  I can't read the name though...sorry", 6, 4, 37, 20.

From there the next present was a signed poster.  21, 50, 16 (not
present), 19, 12, 22.

Next was a video.  Kikko had signed these videos on the case.  85 (not
present) "Mr. Ishi's number 65.  Congratulations!", 60 ,47.

Next was a card (or perhaps a set of picture postcards?) that were
also signed.  79, 81, 8, 99, 9 (not present), 24, 30 (not present),
44.

Next was a game "Star Blazer"  The game was signed on the CD case.
60, "Mr. Doi's number 87.  Congratulations!  Over there", "Last
one...very suspenseful..number 11!"

This ended the present corner.

Kikko's parting message:

Thank you very much for so many of you gathering here today.  I really
think that game work is very interesting.  It's fun when my own voice
appears, and I would be very happy to think that I can meet you all
through playing this game.  We're all having fun playing this, so
please try it yourself.  If you have any thoughts on this please
definitely send them to me.    I still can't do games very well at
all, so I think I would be very happy if you could teach me how to do
well.  Thank you all very much!

From there Kikko went to leave the stage.  But then a person from the
first row got up halfway on the stage and gave Kikko a huge picture
(about the size of a poster)

 - Joe