The Joy of Seiyuu
[Or, Why Drama CDs Are the Cream Cheese Frosting on the Carrot Cake of Manga]

Since so much of the text in manga is dialogue, it simply cries to be read aloud. What, you can't hear it? Pick up that volume and hold it a little closer to your ear.

KIKOERU DAROU!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?

Now, if your Japanese reading skills are up to par, you can heed this desperate plea yourself. Better yet, if you have a bunch of friends you can sucker into it, you can divide up parts and peform a dramatic group reading, complete with stammering, maniacal laughter, emphatic gestures, and molestation. [Er... forget about that last one... been overdosing on Yami again....] But if you're reading shoujo manga, chances are you'll wind up with a shortage of sexy, deep-voiced guys to do the villains. This is when it's time to call in the professionals.

Unfortunately, the professionals are expensive. ^_^; I don't recommend making drama CD purchases a habit unless you're really into Japanese and/or have a pretty deep pocketbook. If you're studying the language, however, listening to dramas is a great way to work on listening comprehension. If you're already fluent, you can just sit back and appreciate the talents of the folks who make the characters talk. I remember the time I first listened to Subaru's X Character File, and the moment when Seishirou said "Subaru-kun," with a perfectly audible smirk. I nearly jumped out of my skin, and had to turn on the lights to check for cherry blossoms, just to reassure myself that the Sakurazukamori was not, in fact, in the room with me.

What I love about drama CDs is that they give stories and characters life in a way that even anime can't. Maybe it's the immediacy of having those voices in your ear, the sense you get that what you're hearing could just as well be a recording of real people talking, arguing, laughing, gasping, crying. If the seiyuu are well-cast, there's nothing more satisfying than hearing those lines you've read so many times delivered as they were meant to be: with feeling. If the drama stories are original, so much the better. Freed from staring at a visual depiction of events, you have the chance to imagine them fully yourself.

A friend of mine laments the absence of any real equivalent to drama CDs in the American market, since books on tape just aren't the same thing. [Quote, "If they made them for X-Files, I'd buy them all."] U.S. publishers, take note! The public is clamoring. As for me, I'd commit a felony for a Clover drama CD. [Provided it contains Ran saying he'll go and make tea. *heart*]