Tag Archives: kaori mizuhashi

Ogiue Chika + Satan = Oshino Ougi

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Throughout Nisio Isin’s Monogatari series there has been a mysterious character whose motivations and origins are difficult to grasp. Oshino Ougi, who purports to be the niece (and sometimes nephew) protagonist Araragi Koyomi’s Hawaiian shirt-wearing mentor, seems to come out of nowhere and has a knack for planting thoughts into people’s minds and for getting them to unconsciously open up. Is she just a manipulator or something more? Given the series and its author, the latter is more likely, though either way what Ougi reminds me most of is the biblical devil, whose half-truths are designed to deceive men into making grave errors.

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What stands out to me most about Ougi, however, is how much she resembles Ogiue from Genshiken. She has deep, black eyes just like Ogiue’s from the first series. She has a hair style similar to Ogiue’s when she lets it down, especially Ogiue’s look during Nidaime. Ougi also has a similar chest size and overall figure, and the fact that she’s sometimes a boy (in terms of sex, gender, or something else? It’s mysterious.) reminds me of Ogiue’s overall tomboy demeanor.

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Drawing this comparison even closer is the fact that Ougi and Ogiue share the same voice actor, Mizuhashi Kaori (Mami in Madoka Magica, Laharl in Disgaea).

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Check out this Ougi fanart by artist Dowman Sayman as well. Given the way they draw Ougi, especially her nose, she looks even more like Genshiken‘s fujoshi president.

Is it mere coincidence? Most likely yes. Even so, whenever I watch the currently-running Owarimonogatari and see Ougi, I can’t help but think of Ogiue Maniax’s namesake. Maybe that’s why Oshino Ougi has become my favorite character in the series.

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Mizuhashi Kaori and Tohoku-ben

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Mizuhashi Kaori is one of my favorite voice actors, and not just because she’s the voice of Ogiue. Her range is quite impressive, and it often makes it difficult to initially figure out that a character is indeed her. As for her role as everyone’s favorite fujoshi character, Mizuhashi has talked before about how she had to learn and practice Ogiue’s Tohoku dialect, not being from that area.

This makes her recent role in Nichijou (aka My Ordinary Life) all the more interesting. Playing the angel character in the bizarre “Helvetica Standard” skits, in episode 9 she tries to teach a demon how to pronounce “chirashizushi,” a dish which is comprised of sushi rice (i.e. vinegared rice) with sashimi on top. Think of it as a pile of deconstructed sushi. Try as she might though, the demon slurs all of the syllables in a distince Tohoku-ben fashion, turning “chirashizushi” into “tsurasuzusu.” “Sushi” when spoken in Tohoku-ben sounds like “Susu.”

I have no idea if this influenced her hiring as the Helvetica Standard Angel, but I think it makes for an interesting circle, going from having to learn Tohoku-ben to successfully play a character with that accent to playing a character who is trying to teach another character not to speak in that fashion.

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