Seiyuu counting sheep to help you sleep..

From Wiki, counting sheep is a mental exercise used in some European and Latin American cultures as a means of lulling oneself to sleep.

What if your favorite seiyuu count the sheep for you?

The CD series is called 羊でおやすみシリーズ (Hitsuji de Oyasumi Series, lit. Sleeping sheep series), released under Honey Bee label. It’s been around for quite long, the first CD released on April 2007, and up until now it already spans 2 seasons (total 22 CD) plus some collaboration releases.

I’ve noticed the adorable sheep drawings since last year, but I just knew what they actually are not too long ago.. maybe because most seiyuu featured are male (so I’m out of the demographic). ^^;

So the idea is the seiyuu will count sheep one by one, while occasionally checking whether you’ve already asleep or other small talk. The best part is that they’re trying to be in-character, depends on the theme/concept for that CD. Anyway I was curious, and since it’s quite cheap (about 1,500 yen each) I purchased these two volume:

Hitsuji de Oyasumi vol. 6: Nenai to Punpun
(lit. Cannot sleep and .. punpun? It means either “strong smell” or “being furious”.. what?)

Seiyuu: Tamura Yukari (sheep 1-200), Saito Chiwa (sheep 201-400)
Concept: Yukarin as quiet, cute little sister. Chiwa as a tsundere-ish, energetic little sister.
Listen (CM): [audio:hitsujicm-1.mp3]

Hitsuji de Oyasumi vol. 9: Anata no Soba o Hanaremasen
(lit. Don’t want to leave your side)

Seiyuu: Inoue Kikuko (sheep 1-300)
Concept: Kind but playful older sister.
Listen (CM): [audio:hitsujicm-2.mp3]

I’ve tried listening to them to my sleep, and both worked since I am such a pig don’t have trouble sleeping.. but I particularly enjoyed vol 9 because I love being lulled to sleep peacefully with a forever-17-year-old older sister lol.

Other than the two I bought, the other series feature male seiyuu, or female seiyuu specialized in voicing young boys (like Minagawa Junko, Paku Romi.. heck, they even get Kugimiya Rie to voice tsundere shota). Naturally I thought we don’t get more female seiyuu because there’s no way the kimo-ota sleep while listening to, say, Mizuhara Kaoru’s sexy onee-san voice? I know it will have just the opposite effect on me, lol. I mean, could you?

But then, isn’t it the same with their current target audience: fujoshi? I don’t know how their minds work, but I don’t believe they use this CD purely to cure insomnia too. ^^;

In that case, I can has Mizuki Nana pls? ;_; I’d buy the CD in a heartbeat. Actually Noto Mamiko can make a good version too, she doesn’t have to count sheep to make me asleep with her voice, lol. Or maybe Chiba Saeko. Or Tanaka Rie, Itou Shizuka, Inoue Marina.. whoever other than Minorin, bwahaha.

Anyway, I was halfway listing the other version seiyuu/concept but figured many fangirl blogs already covered them very well.. and not that I’m interested anyway. Some concepts are spot-on: prince, butler, shota, childhood friend.. but some are just weird: Company president and his secretary? Salaryman? Tsundere Takahashi Hiroki? Good-for-nothing? (though I say it fits Hirakawa Daisuke just well, go and die Makoto)

But I must say the extra-arc release featuring Wakamoto Norio is way too amusing to pass (“Ore wa nemukunaaaai..” LMAO). I wonder what kind of dream you get from listening to this CD to sleep.
Listen (CM): [audio:hitsujicm-3.mp3]

Check out the official website for more info and other CM. If you want to buy it, afaik only Amazon sells all CD.