I don't remember where I was reading it, but the other day I ran into a blog I don't usually read and there was an article in it that talked about how a certain group of anime fans had a "Gainax principle", which was that any series from Gainax must be watched.

This guy was saying there was also an "Ayako principle": any series which included Kawasumi Ayako must be watched. It was explicitly stipulated that there was no guarantee that the series would be any good, but it had to be at least tried. I think I'll go along with that, because I love her voice.

I have a different one, though. The Inoue Kikuko principle: any character voiced by Inoue Kikuko must be hated.

I have nothing against the woman. She's worked in the industry for a long time, and for all I know she's a saint among women. But damn I hate the characters she's done, or nearly all of them. I started hating her voice with her performance as Beldandy in the original Ah, My Goddess OVA, and her performance as CBD Mami in Hand Maid May, and it's been down hill from there:

Shuko, Angelic Layer
Chitose, Chobits
Rune Venus, El Hazard (one of the less awful characters)
Yayoi, Happy Lesson
Mizuho, Onegai Teacher
Ercell, Petite Princess Yucie
Melissa, Rune Soldier

...and Inarba in UFO Princess Valkyrie. Gack!

I don't hate them because her performance is bad. On the contrary, she shows every sign of being an extremely talented actress. It's because the characters themselves are all repulsive.

UPDATE: Author points out the original post I couldn't find. And it seems that it wasn't Gainax, it was J.C. Staff.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 09:52 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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