When starting a new series by an author that one’s read before, one hopes that it’s better than the last – no matter how good the last series was, or at least as good. Unfortunately, in the case of Voice Over! – Seiyuu Academy 声優かっ! (Seiyuu Ka!) by MINAMI Maki 南マキ it’s not as good as S.A. S・A スペシャル・エー was. The characters, especially many of the secondary characters, are mostly unmemorable and many look too much a like. The story, while it has some original points, reminds me in many ways of at least two other better manga (one shojo, one shonen – can you guess? hint – both published also by VIZ). It’s surprising it lasted 12 volumes, not as long as S・A スペシャル・エー lasted (17 volumes and sequel for a total of 18 volumes).
Also, the emotionally abusive parent(s) (hints that there may be more than one of the characters with severely dysfunctional families – I’m only 5 volumes in and may not finish) could be handled better.
However, if you’re a cat lover, you will love all the cats and Catherine’s Diary. Unfortunately, there are so many cats, that in real life it would also start to be considered an abusive situation. There are tons of stories in the news all the time of people taking on too many discarded animals than they can take care, which then becomes a form of abuse as the animals don’t get the attention, if not the food and clean conditions (although in this case they do get the food and cleanliness) that is needed.
The idea for the series, based on voice actors, is a good idea, but from what I’ve read so far the material is not all that original. Also, the story is a gender bender and it seems to be turning into a reverse harem, which can get to be boring at times if not done properly. The comedy is not as much as one would hope for in a comedy.
seattlekifujin 