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Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio moves forward again to start a new season, meaning is it time for a rerun of “What is this plot” coming up?” The episode opens with Yasumi and Yuhi visiting the house by Asaka, their ever-exhausted and completely relatable writer, which certainly got me excited. Will this new story feature my favorite gremlin somehow? Shows that Yasumi is used to the “Damn, do you live like this?” way of life; perhaps the series will delve into some of the background details shared between them. Sadly, no such luck since seeing Y&Y cleaning Asaka's apartment and preparing her breakfast to appreciate resolving their flood of drama was just an open framing device start to recap the story and the status quo so far, then move on to…whatever this plot is going to be about.
What's clear is that our dynamic duo's role as Twitter protagonists was resolved pretty much as it usually does: the discussion escalated to the stage of backlash to the backlash and incitement the incident was moved from. I can understand why their respective agencies think the so-called scandal can be resolved without much effort. It's probably the smartest thing the show has done to date, if only because it makes Voice Actor Radio able to properly focus on that voice work for the first time in a while. Yasumi and Yuhi return to being the sole architects of their careers, navigating strict staff direction and intimidating work environments.
In that respect, the somewhat winding road the article will take explores Yasumi's auditions and to a new role that could be intriguing. Her interactions with skillful sound director Sugishita kick things off right from the start as she has to read lines that are different from what she expected. Things escalate when she doesn't get that role but is instead offered a role in another show — the mecha anime that Yuhi is currently starring in, no less. Attentive audiences can also easily grasp what's going on, as those who crafted Yasumi's roles thought she might be more suited to playing a villain than a heroine. It's a career turning point in the series and I won't complain when I hear the mean voice of a cool looking gyaru. It even alludes to the recurring concept of professionalism among people in this world, as Yasumi is determined to buckle down as much as necessary to get the role.
Unfortunately, before that turning point, Voice Actor Radio couldn't help but Voice Actor Radio it up. I swear, the order in which this show lays out plot points sometimes feels inside out. There's an extended scene of Yasumi trying to figure out why Yuhi is distant from her, and only after much frustration is the audience informed that the entire preparation and audition process has been was ignored, and Yasumi won the part offscreen!
After all the hype surrounding this change in Yasumi's career and showing how serious she is in working towards it, it's not a bad idea to ignore everything involved in that process for one more bit of time is a confusing choice. The two main characters are irritated with each other. To be fair, that's still the main reason I'm here, but the drama of Yasumi realizing how much Yuhi truly sees her as her rival doesn't carry much weight when I don't see the effort of Yasumi in winning that contention. I can't even appreciate the quasi-romantic significance of Yasumi's complicated feelings of rivalry towards Yuhi because the show can't claim to detail why she got hurt there.
That's not the only place where Voice Actor Radio is downplaying its score and potential. Anyway, one advantage to the show's thin storytelling of not showing how Yasumi won is that it's difficult to tell how well she did. But given Sugishita's famous attributes, you have to assume she deserved it, and she only got the chance in the first place because she came to the role naturally. So her struggles on the first day of filming could easily be attributed to the stress of participating in a popular film staffed by many of her actual idols. That's even the excuse she gives Yuhi for her clumsiness, only to have it thrown right in her face, with the obvious real point being that she's not good enough — for the role which she qualified for twice!
There are some explorations of imposter syndrome and high-pressure work environments in the entertainment space that can be navigated in this context and given the ping-pong table that Voice Actor Radio's plot points play on Well, they could very well come later. But as of now, it seems like a change for the sake of, and I hate to use the term, forced drama. It's an issue that has nothing to do with Yasumi's career trajectory or her rivalry with Yuhi and her standards. It's just there to make her and the audience feel uncomfortable.
Somewhat annoyingly, it almost comes into play in the final minutes of this episode. However they got there, seeing Yasumi suffer from her efforts was evocative, not least because the series has shown that she, i.e. Miku Itō, is an artist. How strong is the performer? But there are so many smarter routes the story could take if this is where it wants to go. The fake mecha anime the characters are creating is only a few minutes into this episode and somehow I ended up more invested in the plot of that show than in the roundabout route that Voice Actor Radio itself took to achieve gets what appears to be its latest major plot twist.
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The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Chris' many sides include rewatching anime, playing rhythm games, and treating himself to way too many Transformers toys. You can find him posting about all of this and more on Twitter his or occasionally dig deeper on the blog.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more companies mentioned in this article are members of the Kadokawa Group.