What’s good Broseph Stalin, and welcome to my read-through of Chapter 172: Miho and Naho in which I feel peace, and a little weird, because we’re at the end. We’re at the end. Oh God it’s finally here.

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Miho and Naho

Number 7: Miho Azuki

Miho introduces herself to the camera and her number. She thinks about how every word she delivers brings her one step closer to their dream.

She delivers the lines: Kaya’s refreshed by her delivery and has never heard her sound this way before.

She continues with her delivery. Fukuda’s team thinks she’s doing well. Yasuoka thinks Goda was good too, but that she sounded forced due ot her age. Fukuda wants his teammate to kindly shut the fuck up with the play-by-play.

Ishizawa is floored by her performance.

The anonymous chatboard thinks she’s doing really well, even though they’re amateurs. Others observe that she’s showing off that she memorized the script. Others think it’s just a flex on her part and she’s just a showoff. Some point out, rightfully, that memorizing a whole 5-minute scene is fucking crazy.

Others think it’s a shame she has a BF

A Mistake!

Meanwhile, Ehara watches her perform approvingly. She continues delivering her lines, and everyone thinks she’s doing well until one line:

What is Schwarz?

Otsuki sees the problem: she made a mistake. She said Schwarz instead of Weiss. Ishizawa’s thrilled. The anonymous board immediately assumes she made a mistake because everyone else said Weiss, and that she’s just showing why she should have had the script on hand.

Otsuki thinks Miho’s cooked: the anime staff do not want someone making mistakes. Oy

Konaka and the Sound director catch the error, and the Sound Director can’t overlook it; he asks the team to admit to the error so as to keep the voting fair. Ehara, however, thinks it is unlikely she would make a mistake like that. Ehara rummages through volume 1 of the manga and makes a discovery.

Miho gets to the part of the script she’s rehearsed the most, and Saiko sees it:

I don’t care, I’m sharing:

Everyone feels like that was exactly how the line felt in the manga. Ishizawa panics: she made a mistake. She’s cooked. Nobody will allow an easy mistake like that to pass.

She thanks everybody, and Miss Mai Kitani is ushered up to get ready.

A Mistake?

Otsuki congratulates Miho on her performance, but mentions she failed as a VA when she messed up her line. She chastises her further for not bringing the script with her and acting in a ridiculous manner. She did that and made a mistake. Hard to forgive.

After Kitani’s reading, it’s number 9, Miss Nakia Yagi. First, however, the director wishes to comment that the schedule people after Number 9 (number 9 number 9 number 9) will be pushed back.

Otsuki thinks Miho’s goose is cooked.

Ehara appears on screen and notes that the audition will continue, but he would like to say something. Ishizawa, Kaya, and the boards believe Miho’s fried, as well.

He mentions the incorrect mention of Schwarz instead of Weiss. Kaya’s shocked: Miho made a mistake?

Ehara then cops to the truth: they made a mistake, and he would like to explain. They used the lines for the script for the Jump edition of the chapter in the magazine; that was a misprint that was corrected in the tankobon. It is clear, in context, that Schwarz is the correct character referenced in the scene. Because Miho performed to the graphic novel, she will not be penalized.

And because this was a mistake on the animation team’s part, the others will also not be penalized.

(fuck yeah)

They do, however, request that people use Schwarz instead of Weiss, going forward. He also apologizes to the viewers and Ashirogi for creating the script without proper research.

Otsuki, now with egg on her face, moves the goal posts: she should have informed the staff of the mistake. Miho agrees—Ishizawa’s furious. The Anonymous board is at odds with each other on this development, and cannot come to a consensus about whether Miho did well or not.

At the studio, Ashirogi thinks Natara is cute, and hypothesizes that she was put last because of her popularity. Saiko (I assume) thinks it was randomized, though.

With that, the three-hour public audition comes to an end.

Goda is It

At the audition, everyone is thanked for their hard work. Goda is surprised that Miho did so well. Otsuki thinks it’s down to her or MIho. Natara is confident her popularity will win her the whole thing.

The Sound Director Commends everyone on their performances. Another performer asks for a word. She found Miho’s script untouched. Miho apologizes for leaving it so carelessly.

The bespectacled actress notes that she didn’t notate the script and didn’t seem to read it at all. She assumes collusion between Ashirogi and her for the edition. That’s why she did so well. Not her skill, passion, and desire to marry her partner of 10 years.

Obviously.

Goda steps in: Was Miho’s performance subpar?

Goda continues: she memorized the graphic novel, and if she were asked to repeat any other lines, she would almost certainly act them out perfectly, just like the audition. Isn’t that right?

The Sound Director chimes in: Ashirogi was not consulted when they created the script, nor was one provided to them.

They also provide a last note about the results: normally, they would get instant feedback once it has been decided, but since the streaming service wants it to be entertaining, they’re going to announce the winners on the 27th via live broadcast.

Additionally, the event has proven so popular that there will be a TV broadcast as well. The number of votes will also be announced on TV. All votes will be announced at the same time, so please check yourself. They are thanked for their time and participation once more.

Outside, Miho thanks Mrs. Goda. Goda plays it off; Miho’s desire to win the role and practice are the only reasons he’s competitive with Goda. Goda walks off.

Speculation

At Fukuda’s place, Yasuoka speculates it will be between Goda, Miho, Otsuki, or Natara. One of those four. The other assistant thinks that Natara is cute; Fukuda thinks Miho is cute.

Yasuoka teases him for that remark, and Fukuda flips back to “She’s just aight” and then demands he get back to work. They continue discussing the cuteness of the various actresses. Expressing preferences for Natara or Otsuki. Goda showed her prowess admirably, and someone presumably keeps playing up Miho.

Good boy, Fukuda.

Meanwhile, Ishizawa is convinced that Miho’s performance is nothing but popularity, and Natara is going to clinch it for that reason alone.

The anonymous chatboard agrees that the winners will either be Otsuki, Natara, Goda, or Azuki. Most comment on Miho’s stunt with the script and tease about her relationship status with Saiko and her preference for using the graphic novel over the script provided to her. One of her fans calls out their petulant bullshit.

(LOL)

The next day at Jump, everyone’s in high spirits, debating who will win. It’s a four-way race. But Nakano seems to prefer Goda. Miura notices Hattori being grumpy and distant and thinks she won’t be able to chill until the announcement on Friday.

Yup

And the Winner is…

On Friday, April 27th, at 3 o’clock, Shujin prepares for the announcement. Kaya knows the assistants are coming, as is Hattori for the final draft, so if Miho doesn’t get it, it will be majorly awkward.

Oh Kaya.

Kaya orders Saiko to come up and watch the news.

Meanwhile, at Miho’s house, Miyuki tells Miho that Mina wants to watch the announcement, confident in her sister’s victory. Mihoko is a little more reserved about it.

Fukuda and Co. watch the announcement on TV, gobsmacked by the scale of it all.

The broadcast starts.

The announcer welcomes them to the event and specifies that they received 241,728 votes. Everyone did an excellent job. Who will win? The heroine will be announced today.

Stop tickling my balls lady.

She cuts to the chase and the winner…

The new heroine of the Reversi Anime

The voice actress for Naho Minadori is….

by a fucking landslide…

MIHO with 102,801 votes.

WOOOOO THIS FUCKING ARC IS THROUGH

I MEAN CONGRATULATIONS

Saiko and Miho are paralyzed, while Fukuda cheers, Saiko and Shujin Cheer, and Mina and Miyuki congratulate Miho for her hard-won victory.

Miho tears up, as does Kaya. They want to get Saiko’s reaction. But he’s paralyzed.

He collapses on the floor. Kaya’s worried. Did he faint? Shujin notes he’s been tense all day, so it all must have been released. Kaya wonders if he’s okay or if they need to call an ambulance.

He’s glad. Not over the moon, just glad, and perfectly content.

Shujin congratulates his soon-to-be married partner. Saiko is thrilled with Miho’s voice acting skills. Shujin agrees; it was amazing.

Kaya starts crying as the chapter concludes.

Miho and Naho Reaction

You know what? I don’t even care

This was inevitable, and it could have been dragged out. But it didn’t get dragged out. I feel pretty good about it.

Honestly, I think were it not for the moderate rehash of Saiko falling onto the floor in relief, this moment might not have hit as hard as it does. Oh, who the fuck am I kidding?

My boy is getting married. He fucking did it. Woot woot.

Congratulations, Saiko, the fictional human who is not a real person, but to whom I am attached because I have spent six years following your journey.

It is funny to me because it is technically a rehash of the anime announcement. But I like that this is a comparatively chill response, even though it’s actually what he wanted.

It feels like such an honest relief where he was concerned, but now he can just let go and get ready for his marriage, because it is, in fact, a done deal. There are still four chapters left, and I swear to fucking god if we don’t end with some Eiji/Boys competition, I am going to flip mad shit.

But honestly, the story is basically done. So I don’t give a rat’s ass that much.

My boy made it. And it gives me hope for me and my goals. I don’t know why. Maybe because I’ve been afraid that I would never actually finish this story. There were so many literal years where I made no progress or stalled out. And I felt so guilty when I went months and months without writing these read-throughs. And the thought of finishing plagued me.

So I’m relieved, like Saiko, because I’m here. Well, four chapters out, but I can reveal something small to you: just like mangaka, I have a month of content written before I publish these read-throughs. The read-throughs are unedited and my unfiltered thoughts – and I have not read the final four chapters yet. But by the time this chapter is published, I will have. I also don’t edit for spoilers. These are all my unfiltered thoughts in real-time. Although editing this arc has been a bitch because I’ve been so profoundly wrong.

But by the time this read-through is released, I will have been finished with the series for several weeks. W.

But let’s talk about the rest of the chapter before I get so gooey I literally melt.

Miho’s Audition

So, fun fact: I actually held auditions for the film I directed this year, and I had to sift through video submissions. It was for a script I wrote years ago. And I always heard the lines in my head a certain way.

And sifting through those auditions showed me a lot about this incredible sense of vibe. Like, it’s not just the reading of the lines that matter; there is a physical comportment to the way the lines are delivered that resonates with you bodily. And when you know, you know.

And yes, in chapter 165, when this arc started for real, Miho was rehearsing the lines. But I think that double spread was a beautiful way to depict the complicated sensation of someone nailing the “feeling” of the line.

I think if we all watched auditions, we’d get that same sense of variation.

What’s interesting is that the reactions of everybody were focused much less on the successful capture of the characters than on the cuteness of the leads. Which was set up, I know. But that actually makes Miho’s little moment that much more satisfying. Because it sells how hard she worked for this moment to get here.

She’s had to grind it out, and now she’s reaping the benefits of her hard work.

And even though it is now patently obvious she would get placed in an anime, it still wasn’t entirely clear to me that she was going to be placed in this anime – the boys still have two and I’m watching my dreams of PCP getting animated die in real time – but yeah, it makes sense that they would make this the climactic moment.

You don’t really have room for disappointments at the end of the story.

Watch me take those words back in the next chapter.

But aside from Miho, there was also the dynamics of the

Voice Actresses, and Goda

So, if you’re a One Piece fan, the name “Goda” is ruined for you forever because it’s a western nickname for One Piece’s creator, and the fact that they named the veteran actress Goda remains very funny to me.

But her reaction to Miho was the most telling.

I don’t think Goda would have actually gotten it because the story made it clear it is partially a popularity contest, but also, they noted that she was straining her voice to sound younger than she was. And that means she would have done a good job, but it might also have damaged her vocal cords to play that role.

And if you think Voice Actors do not mess with their vocal cords, Bakugo’s voice actor in My Hero Academia has had to take vocal breaks because of the way he uses his voice. He does not actually sound like that in real life. It’s a constructed voice, which is another cool thing about voice acting.

But yeah, I mean, they’re all minor villains – like koogy (man, I thought he was going to be more significant) meant to pose a greater challenge to Miho so that when she wins, it feels earned. But there was still a lot of good character stuff.

Back to Goda, not the one-piece version.

She reacts with a mild disgust or a sensation of being miffed. And that’s clearly because she recognized that Miho nailed the audition, the “mistake” notwithstanding (we’ll get to that, too). The fact that she both compliments Miho for putting in the hard work and also does so as disdainfully as possible is just a lovely bit of character work on her part, and shows that he’s a professional, even when she’s grumpy.

Otsuki, too, provided some nice fodder for antagonism. Her whole brand of being kind of a rancid bitch works because her sarcasm and goalpost shifting make sense based on what we’ve established. Especially during the sequence where she felt the need to chastise Miho for making the mistake. That seems totally in character for someone who is very successful on their own skills and also needs others to feel below her.

And then there was the glasses chick. The voice actress world is tough, so it makes sense that they are looking for any angle of attack to take out the favorite, but it’s also why Goda’s comeback is so satisfying.

Respect the work, man. Respect the fucking work.

Speaking of respecting the work:

The Mistake

So I knew the Weiss line felt a little off, but I didn’t remember until I recalled the chapter where Miho was rehearsing the line and she’s talking with the hero – Satoru – who is the black demon’s avatar. Contextually, it made no sense.

And this sis actually a really fun moment for me because it speaks to the complicated nature of auditioning people. You’re looking for the right person to play the role, and you need a mix of professionalism and the ability to create the emotions the script calls for.

And picking out the right person for the role is as much a matter of how well you read and understand the material, but also how well it seems you will be able to understand the material.

And of course, none of these actresses have had weeks to memorize because they don’t have a strong vested interest in the role the way Miho does. They’re not going above and beyond to read the manga and make sure everything is square. And in some ways, that’s the more reasonable ask of a voice actress who is usually juggling several roles at once.

But it also highlights how harsh this gig is: they have to be able to read the lines perfectly- which is why the script is useful – and they have to be able to emote what the script says based only on the context of the script; they have to be able to gauge how much time the script will take to read.

It’s a lot, man.

And you could argue that Miho is simply doing her job and going above and beyond because of her own emotional needs. But I think it’s just as reasonable to see her going a bit overboard, and that might actually be a turnoff.

But ultimately, what matters in an audition is: are you the right person for the role?

And, at the risk of pointing out the obvious:

This role Was Written With Miho in Mind

You know how I know it? Because her name is fucking Naho, and Saiko couldn’t even just keep the name in the M territory like he did with Mai Annojo.

I bet they named her Naho because they knew this was going to be a chapter title and they wanted to make sure they could pair the names at the climactic moment, so damn sure everyone knew who the winner would be.

But, thankfully, the thing about stories isn’t that they have to track to reality – at least not all the time – and happy endings are allowed.

The only thing that matters is that the story sells those moments as genuine and feels real.

And despite all the bulshit of this last arc, which went on way longer than it needed to, I think the series pulled off what Miho did. It successfully conveyed that Miho was right for the role and gave her all the narrative legwork to sell that.

The Anonymous Board’s shift throughout the arc – and Ishizawa’s horror – really sells that. Now the chat boards are at odds with each other, whether Miho is good or not. She now has supporters and haters. But there is no consensus. And Ishizawa watching the audition with barely concealed horror is a great way to indicate his plan has been foiled.

I would strongly prefer he get clocked, but that would extend this arc further, so I can make peace with him just living with himself.

And that’s a beautiful thing.

As for the horse racing component of it

Its’ Kinda Nasty

SO Yeah, look, I’ve made peace wth the sexism of the series and have chilled out a lot because I only have so much time and energy to be angry about things.

But this felt weird, man.

And like, it’s not unusual or anything. And all things considered – especially in this story – the sexism is more normal and par for the course than some of the other shit we’ve seen.

But I still felt weird in how all these various factions are treating these people like something to bet on. I know people are human, but the four-way tie between who is the cutest and who is the best was just not my vibe, man.

I will admit Fukuda being a bit of a tsundere about Miho was soooo cute, though. I felt like Hattori, though. Just get it the fuck over with.

But Miho has gotten the role. So

What’s Left?

Well, my hope, aside from the marriage, is that we’ll get Reversi’s abrupt early end, or the final ingredient to overcoming Eiji – the narrative has not technically said they are equals yet – and that will be the focus of the last four chapters.

Man, I feel so weird. We’re four chapters out.

How will I feel once this is over?

Maybe we’ll see Team Fukuda at the wedding. But I genuinely have no idea what to expect.

I kinda of expect a little more fallout from this arc, but I hope we move back to manga for the last few chapters.

We’re basically in epilogue ville, though.

So let’s just enjoy the fact that.

Saiko did it. Miho did it.

Mission accomplished.

Mission accomplished.

Stray Thoughts

–Ehara’s a real one. I love that he instantly knew that Miho would never fuck up the line and looked to the manga immediately. And then copped to it. They’re in good hands.

–The Misprint detail was also super cool, even though I didn’t go over it in detail. It’s such a cool thing to realize that Manga are, in some ways, living texts. The art gets cleaned up for the volumes, and any misprints get fixed. It’s so cool.

— I feel so good for my boy Saiko, lie on the floor all you like and dream about your happy marriage. You earned it.

–These chapters are getting lighter. And while I’m all for it on a technical level, I feel so weird having so much less to say, especially after the last few chapters were so dense.

Until next time

Peace