The last Kotaku heard of Chiaki Takahashi, the voice actress canceled a book of underwear photos because of the earthquake. But that was April. This, this is not.
This fall, Takahashi—who voiced Litchi Faye Ling in BlazBlue, Azusa in The Idolmaster, and numerous erotic game characters—is making her debut solo single. Takahashi won't be wowing fans with her singing. She'll be doing it with her ass shaking.
While many voice actresses, such as Aya Hirano, have "pure" images, Takahashi has never been afraid of showing skin and wallowing in her sexuality, even releasing a boob mouse pad for fans.
Takahashi is the anti-pure idol, failing every test of innocence and chastity, and is the antithesis of naive girl next door.
In the past magazine pin-ups have knocked ten years off her age, listing her as being in her early 20s as opposed to her early 30s—the result of Takahashi joking about her age while on an Idolmaster radio program.
Takahashi's reputation was built on the game and anime characters she voiced, but it was her sexy photos that brought her to a wider audience. Sex sells, Takahashi knows that.
However, the voice actress did not become content with being voice actress turned pin-up, which is perhaps why she stated in early 2010 that she was giving up the wearing-skimpy-clothes-in-photos bit. "I am not a pin-up model," she blogged at the time, adding that she wanted to try modeling, but it wasn't her thing. These remarks seemed odd when it was later revealed she had a new collection of pin-up photos planned.
Perhaps modeling wasn't Takahashi's raison d'etre. Perhaps she always wanted to be a singer, and she did cut her teeth on music as a member of pop outfit Aice5 and had a debut song last year. This fall, Takahashi is releasing her latest solo single, a cover of Spankers' "Chupa Rico", an ode to clubbing, Chupa Chups, and screwing.
Chupa Chups are popular in Japan—ditto for clubbing and screwing. A cover makes sense. Takahashi is releasing the tune on Avex, which is one of Japan's biggest dance and pop labels and home to pop princesses like Ayumi Hamasaki.
The original video is wall to wall sexual innuendo, complete with requisite banana eating, lollipop sucking, whip cream spreading, phallic water guns, and bare butts.
Yet Takahashi's video, with its floor licking, ice dribbling, sucker sucking, and ass shaking comes off as more explicit—more unsettling, even. The reason why is that the original Spanker video provides breaks from the explicit sexuality, whether that be a fat dude, a Ferrari, or crowd shot.
In the Takahashi version, sexual imagery hits the viewer over the head, cut after cut. There's no repose. It's relentless. And Takahashi looks as though she's appearing in one of those soft focus Japanese image DVDs. That, or she's ready to turn back time on a battleship.
Chiaki Takahashi's "Chupa Rico", dubbed "Konya wa Chupa Rico" (Tonight Chupa Rico), goes on sale October 5 in Japan, reports Ota-suke. The track's accompanying music video is one of the most explicit Japan has seen in recent memory. For a voice actress who's made a career out of sexy photos and sexy characters, it's par for the course.
Takahashi might have voice acting chaps chops, but this fall, Japan will decide if she's got the popstar ones.
Check out the NSFW "Konya wa Chupa Rico" and the original "Chupa Rico" in the gallery above. There are ass cheeks as well as licking.
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You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at bashcraft@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.