Maaya Article in Newtype USA,
Yoko Kanno Tidbit, etc.
Yikes, another long break in between news updates. To make up for the lack of news, I'm Super Sizing this update. This will probably be the last one before the next year, so happy New Year everyone!

I just bought the January 2005 issue of Newtype USA and noticed that Maaya is featured in the "Voice Actress Spotlight" section. The 2 page article is written by a Japanese journalist, which implies it's been translated from the Japanese version of the magazine (there was a Maaya article in a somewhat recent issue of Newtype Japan). For the article, the Newtype staff followed Maaya to a planetarium, which is apparently her favorite place to visit. The article ties the planetarium with Maaya's recent voice roles in Gundam SEED Destiny and Gunbuster 2. The tie-in works well since both anime shows have some aspect of "space" in them. There's actually little text content in the article as the majority of it is taken up by pictures. Look for the January issue of Newtype USA at your local bookstore / newsstand.

Since I know many Maaya fans also follow Yoko Kanno's works, I thought readers would be interested to know that Kanno is composing the music for an upcoming anime titled Sousei no Aquarion along with Hisaaki Hokari. It's no surprise that she's working on the show because Shoji Kawamori is the director. Kawamori has worked on Macross Plus, Escaflowne and Arjuna, all shows which Kanno composed the music for. And since Yoko Kanno enjoys working with Ms. Sakamoto, I think there's a good possibility that Maaya will perform a song or two for Aquarion. Oh yeah, there's a trailer for Aquarion on the official site.

There aren't any new upcoming Maaya cds, however, the Omishi Magical Theater - Risky Safety OST is being re-released in Japan at a lower price in conjunction with the release of the R2 dvd boxset. Maaya sung the anime's ending theme song, "Yoake no Kaze Kikinagara". The single went out of print long ago, so the only way to get the song on cd is by buying the Risky Safety OST. Also, the Gunbuster 2 vol.2 R2 dvd is out on 2/24/05. According to the president of Media Blasters, another company has already licensed Gubuster 2 for the N. American market. That's no surprise to me, I expect a licensing announcement during the summer 2005 convention season (if not earlier).

Maaya in Fantastic Children and Gunbuster 2 Trailer
I noticed the other day on Maaya's official site that she's starring in yet another new anime show this Fall. She's voicing the character of Mel in the upcoming anime, Fantastic Children.

On another note, there's a trailer for Gunbuster 2 on the official site if you haven't seen it yet. Maaya sounds a lot more mature in her role for this show. In fact, I didn't even recognize her voice at first. I had to watch the trailer a few times before realizing it was really her.

Maaya in Gundam SEED Destiny
According to various sources on the net (thanks duckroll), Maaya is providing her voice acting talents to the upcoming sequel anime Gundam SEED Destiny. She is playing the role of a female character named Lunamaria Hawke. One can see a picture of her character on the official Gundam SEED Destiny website. Lunamaria Hawke is the third character from the top.

I never thought I'd see the day when Maaya would star in a Gundam show.

Shounen Alice Unplugged Full MP3
Bandwidth usage has dropped drastically since I implemented a couple changes on the site a few weeks ago. As a result, I can host the mp3 of the entire Shounen Alice Unplugged radio broadcast again. Please do not e-mail me asking for a higher quality mp3. For the time being I will only provide the 64 kbps file. If there's still plenty of bandwidth after rehosting this mp3, I may upload a higher quality version in the future.

See 2/16/04 update for mp3s

Direct Linking to MP3s and Stealing Bandwidth
Over the past couple months, I've noticed a huge increase in traffic and bandwidth usage. Bandwidth doubled between the months of April and May. Based on the web logs, it looks like I've been a victim of the rising popularity of Wolf's Rain and other sites direct linking to my mp3s. Unfortunately, it costs money to run MS.net. I've made two changes to combat this problem. First off, any direct links to my mp3s from other sites are now blocked. Secondly, I've zipped all the mp3s to prevent music search sites (i.e. windowsmedia.com) from direct linking.

If you run your own web site and wish to link to the audio clips here, please link to the appropriate cd or news page. Alternatively, you can host the mp3s on your own site. I do request that you at least credit my site, or better yet, e-mail me for permission.

Maaya in Upcoming Gunbuster 2 Anime
It's been a long time since my last update, and regrettably there isn't any news about upcoming Maaya cds. I do have some good news though. I recently read about Maaya starring in the sequel to the original Gunbuster OAV series by Gainax. On the official Gunbuster site, she is listed as the voice actress for the character second from the top. I'm not a big fan of the original Gunbuster anime, but then again it's been eons since I saw it. Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing Maaya's performance in the sequel.

In other Maaya related news, the first dvd of the N. American release of Wolf's Rain is now out. There's also a Limited Edition version of vol. 1 coming out on 7/6 which includes a dvd box, WR OST 1, and a Kiba plushie. I ordered the LE version even though I already have the import cd.

Wolf's Rain OST 2
The second soundtrack cd to the popular anime, Wolf's Rain, came out last month. I've spent some time today putting together some mp3s and a page for it. Click here for the WR OST 2 page. Hopefully OST 3 is planned because there's still a significant amount of music from the show that has yet to be released on cd.

Shounen Alice Unplugged
Recently Maaya performed a special radio broadcast titled "Shounen Alice Unplugged" on several Japanese stations. The same recording was played on each station, but on different dates. I wasn't expecting to get a chance to hear this radio broadcast since I don't live in Japan, but thankfully some Maaya fan(s) over there recorded it in digital format. The recording is floating around the net in various formats and I managed to snag a mp3 of it.

I've uploaded the recording to this site, but I've cropped the songs since I don't have unlimited bandwidth w/ my web host. I figure most Maaya fans just want to hear the singing anyways, not to mention most people are still on dial-up modem connections. For those of you that want to hear the whole thing with dialogue, I've encoded a 64 kbps mp3 of entire broadcast. Here are the goodies:

• Tune the Rainbow
• Daniel
• Makiba Alice
• Yoru
• Kingfisher Girl
• Hikari Are
• Uchuu Hikoushi no Uta

• Full Broadcast (64 kbps, 26 MB)

As I stated before, I have limited bandwidth on this site, so please be considerate to your fellow Maaya fans and only download what you want to hear. For more details on Shounen Alice Unplugged, check out the The Yoko Kanno Database. Oh yeah, the other woman with the high pitched voice is none other than Yoko Kanno. You can hear her talking about eating cookies about 3 minutes into the broadcast.

Personal / Bio Page Up
I added a Personal / Biography Page to the site. Yup, you read that right. After over 3 years of running this Maaya fan site, I finally wrote up a profile page. No, hell has not frozen over.

In any case, I hope you all enjoy the new page.