‘TV Setouchi + Big West + Ashi Productions = My fav trio’ had said a friend of mine, and indeed these three make the best shows when they join. Legendary Idol Eriko is the proof. If you’re familiar with the shoujo anime series, Magical Angel Creamy Mami, you should be able to follow us here. These two shows were made for the same purpose: to promote the singer who did the vocals for the main character. With Legendary Idol Eriko, this was Eriko Tamura as herself and with Creamy Mami it was Takako Ohta as Mami (and Yuu Morisawa). While Magical Angel Creamy Mami was a commercial success, Studio Pierrot failed in various ways where Ashi Productions simply aced.

While subbing the last seven episodes of the Creamy Mami for L-E, we got a decently good impression regarding how the subbers and viewers felt about the show. While most of the viewers loved it, for us subbers, it was no less than a curse. There was one thing that bothered most: Yuu/Mami (and especially Yuu!) had an annoying pitchy voice which was not only a pain to the ear but frustrating to time subtitles to as well (well… one reason for the ‘curse’).

While I understand these two series are not fully comparable due to the stories and nature of shows being different, and especially because one is mahou shoujo while other is down-to-earth slice of life story, some comparison still applies. First of all, let us look at how voice actors were chosen. In Creamy Mami, Yuu/Mami’s voice was done by Takako Ohta herself who was not only new a emerging idol singer but new in the industry herself. She was not a professional voice actress, not even an amateur one. She had had no previous experience with voice acting. The result: a singer with no voice acting background doing the voice of a show’s main character. Having her do the voice of the main character was also Studio Pierrot’s way of ‘promoting’ her songs. In using the same person for both the voices and vocals, Pierrot was not exactly successful. Technically speaking, fans did love Ohta, but a large number did detest Yuu’s voice.

Ohta’s official website (which no longer exists) had some interesting content regarding Ohta’s stance on Creamy Mami. While she did remember having worked on the show, she made a mistake while saying the title. She said ‘Magical Girl Creamy Mami’ (or something along those lines) not on purpose, but simply because she did not remember it. Not much of a surprise though; she hated the show and wanted to forget about it. I am not sure if she ever did voice acting after that but once she did sing as Mami on TV, although half against her will. The reason was simple; she knew if was not her whom the fans loved, but Mami.

This is where Ashi’s approach made a substantial difference. Legendary Idol Eriko had a total of four idol characters and each character’s voice was done by a professional voice actor, not a singer. Of course, each voice actor had to alter their voice to make it sound as close to that of the respective singer’s as possible — especially because of raw vocals — and most of them did succeed at that, as they had the expertise. The result was fabulous. Rei’s voice actress, Naoko Matsui, did an excellent job in making her voice match with the singing voice of Maiko Hashimoto, the vocalist for Rei’s songs. Akiko Yajima did a decently good job with Eriko’s voice, except her voice had a higher pitch compared to the singing voice of Eriko Tamura. Yet, the difference between the raw vocals in the anime and the voice in the actual songs is not easily spotted unless you know they are being done by two different people.

Of course, the other point is that although Legendary Idol Eriko is mostly a fictional story, the main character was Eriko Tamura herself and not a fictional name. So, by doing this, they introduced and promoted Eriko Tamura, the idol— not just her songs.

Nevertheless, it must be mentioned that Studio Pierrot’s approach was not bad for the show, just not exactly great for the purpose (at least in the 80s). The same approach was used for Full Moon wo Sagashite in 2002 — fictional character becoming idol singer via magic, voice and songs done by the vocalist — yet the show was done extremely well and went onto becoming a superhit amongst anime lovers, enjoying extremely high ratings. The vocalist and voice actress for Full Moon’s songs - Myco from Changin’ My Life- did an excellent job with both.

Idol Angel Welcome Yoko was a similar show created by the same trio and featured Yoko Tanaka, while her voice was done by the famous voice actress, Mika Kanai. While the similarities between these two Ashi Productions shows are obvious, many believe this particular show lacks substance and are not overly impressed by it. In fact, Ashi created Idol Angel Welcome Yoko as a ‘lite’ version, or a less serious ’sequal’, of Legendary Idol Eriko. While Legendary Idol Eriko is most true to real-life as it shows the dark sides and struggling that do not exist in Idol Angel Welcome Yoko, the latter was intended to be that way for the audience who preferred lighter and emotionally less intensive/exaggerated plots.

There will be more on the different ways in which Ashi combined reality with the fictional world of the series in the days to come. Keep checking back from time to time!

Disclaimer: We have not done any research work to arrive at the information written above. Nor have we verified the authenticity of some of the more obscure details. The information above is simply a personal analysis based on well-known facts. Part of the content may be inaccurate. If you are planning to post the content elsewhere or use it for research purposes, use it at your own risk.

NOTE: This article simply analyses the approaches of two production houses on the same goal. It is in no way a personal judegment on either of the shows. Magical Angel Creamy Mami is a famous classic shoujo anime and there are many fans around the world who loved it. You may read further to know more about the impact and influence of the show on viewers. If you are a shoujo anime and mahou shoujo fan, especially fluff loving, you may want to consider trying it out. Do remember, fansubbers can be biased by the fact they are subbing it/having to sub it/have had to sub it.

If you would like to add to the information above or found any content of the article to be inaccurate/ambiguous, please leave a comment or make a thread in the ‘blip’s tech garage’ board in our forums. It will be appreciated.

It is little known that Legendary Idol Eriko is actually based on a real-life singer by the same name. Tamura made her debut as a teen idol singer the same year (1989) with the opening them of the series, ‘Namida no Hanbun‘ (Half My Tears). Oddly, her real-life debut was a lot similar to her debut in the anime; it was very sudden and surprised people around her. She was always known to have a beautiful smile and hence the ‘perfect idol’, who loved cats and baking sweets. The anime was a made to promote the career of this cute singer, who then ruled the nation with her heartwarming performances and charm. Her favorite artists, the renowned Japanese singer duo, Chage and Aska, acted as her inspiration: ‘My dream is to have Mr. Chage and Aska listen to my songs’.

Earlier in the 80s, the well-known commercial success, Magical Angel Creamy Mami, was made for the same reason: to promote the career Takako Ohta. However, there are some big differences in the way the two different studios decided to promote their respective singer via the same means, which he have analysed here.

Tamura was not only a leading teen idol of her time (nickname ‘TamTam Elilin’) but went on to becoming a very successful actress in Japan, probably becoming more successful as an actress than as a singer. She moved to the US later and is currently living in LA. Making her Hollywood debut in early 2006, it has now been made public that she is to play the role of a Japanese princess, Yaeko, in the upcoming season of NBC’s superhit show Heroes. Beating even Miss Universe, Riyo Mori, over a very tough audition, our heroine continues to thrive in her career. We have included a ‘Info‘ section (as you can see on the panel above) which contains links to sites about her and will be listing our articles and hopefully a Eriko Tamura photo gallery soon.

Taken from the MetaPhysics Blog:

Once she was known as Legendary Idol Eriko, a fictional anime series based on her own pop success in Japan around 1990. But Eriko Tamura suddenly disappeared in 2001, moving to Los Angeles instead to break into Hollywood. Six years on, the 34-year-old actress-singer has snagged what is arguably her biggest role to date - a Japanese princess in the new season of the hugely popular sci-fi series Heroes. Little else is known about her character, but she could possibly be the next Japanese breakout star of the show, after Masi Oka, who plays the time-travelling dude Hiro Nakamura. Eriko’s name was announced last week as part of the new cast line-up for the upcoming second season of Heroes, reported Reuters.

Until now, she has only dabbled in minor roles in small-time films, directed by Joel Silverman last year.She writes a blog entitled Eriko Tamura’s LA Diary, chronicling her daily life and how she goes for various auditions. Eriko is also a host and producer for the LA-BASED JATV (Japan America Television) and she travels to Japan often to participate in ad hoc projects. Back home, she used to be ranked alongside ’90s pop idols Rie Miyazawa and Chisato Moritaka. She had shot to fame with her debut in 189, after winning a singing contest two years earlier. She had 10 albums and starred in 15 dramas and was once the face of cosmetics giant Kanebo. In an interview with the US-based Asiance magazine in June last year, Eriko said that she hopes to maintain her profile in both countries.

“I have has a successful career in Japan, but I am just beginning to find my way here in Hollywood,” she said. “Hopefully in the coming years, I will be more involved in LA and less involved with Tokyo. However, I don’t ever want to fully leave the Japanese market. I’d always like to have a foot in both countries.” But she knows it would not be easy. She acknowledged that “there are a lot of really talented Asian American actors and actresses vying for the limited roles available”. Heroes could be the edge she needs to make a more lasting impression. But when it comes to men, Eriko said at a movie premiere in Tokyo last year that she still prefers to date Japanese guys.

Meanwhile, Miss Universe Riyo Mori, 21, is also hoping to ride on the Heroes wave. Riyo recently revealed that she auditioned to play Masi’s new love interest Yaeko in the new season, reported Associated Press. “I’ve never acted before. I went to the casting audition and read a script in English and Japanese, and they said it was really good. So I hope I can be in the show.” It is know known yet if she has won the role, but the ballerina who lived in Canada for three years did say that “I have a samurai soul”. And the new season of Heroes has a lot to do with the ficitonal samurai warrior Takezo Kensei, who is Hiro’s childhood hero. Intriguingly, he is played not by a Japanese talent, but American actor David Anders of Alias fame.