Welcome Home: Sweet Countryside Life with My Dialect Girlfriend

There are quite a few audio works out there themed around "a girl who speaks in dialect," aren't there? They stick firmly to a specific dialect, whether it's your hometown dialect or one you're not familiar with, and you get to be lovey-dovey with the girl. That's a really nice thing. But thinking back on it, haven't you ever had the experience of your dialect getting mixed up as you spend time talking with different people? I have. Maybe that's why the dialect of this work's girlfriend, Meiko-chan, felt so incredibly familiar and real to me, giving me a sense of comfort like I could just relax and spend time with her without putting on airs. Just listening to Meiko-chan's voice is cute enough, but on top of that there's shampooing, drying her hair, and getting your ears cleaned while the faint sound of rain plays in the background — a relaxing time filled with wonderfully satisfying ASMR elements, plus the sweetness of being lovey-dovey. It's just a happy, calm, sweet time passing by. What I especially loved was the "surprise ear-blow" while getting your ears cleaned. She blows on your ear with a "fuu, fuu~" and laughs, "Caught you off guard, didn't I? (lol)" "You let your guard down again (lol)." I was writhing around thinking, "Aaaah, she's just too cute!!"... Equally as much as I loved that, I really loved the "sweet, lovey-dovey whispering while lying together in bed." This one is just insane. "Insane" is the only word for it. This track is packed with nothing but happiness... Meiko-chan speaks to you in her own unique blend of various dialects mixed together, and it made me think that I'd probably answer back in my own personal mix of Osaka, Aichi, and Ehime dialects — thinking about things like that, I found myself completely immersed in the sweet, lovey-dovey feeling of living together with Meiko-chan. I want to keep responding "I'm home" to her "Welcome home" over and over again.

I listened to this because it's a "dialect girlfriend" work by Ichinose Rito. The "dialect girlfriend" genre has become something you hear about often in audio works, but I really liked the natural conversation that comes from not narrowing it down to one specific dialect, combined with Rito-san's soft way of speaking. (Well, since I'm from Tohoku to begin with, I can't really tell the subtle differences between dialects anyway, lol.) Also, the various sound effects are really well made — the pleasantness of sounds like the carbonated shampoo and ear cleaning, combined with Rito-san's voice, induces drowsiness at an abnormal level (lol). The work description said "You'll sleep well," and that's no lie. Also, the sound effects at the beginning of track 1 — the sliding door opening, the sound of tea being poured, the sound of a teacup being set down — personally really got to me. Thanks to that, I was instantly pulled into the space of being together with Meiko-chan (I imagined the living room of an old house in the countryside). And on top of that, Meiko-chan is just incredibly cute throughout all the tracks. She's sweet, but also has a bit of an older-sister vibe, which creates a really nice sense of intimacy. The part of her character intro that said "good at getting along with the neighborhood cats" really struck a chord with me too. I just love girls who animals take a liking to (lol). Both Nijihashi Sora's illustrations and Rito-san's acting made me think, "Yeah, I bet cats would come up to her while she's relaxing on the veranda," and she came across as a really charming girl. I wonder if Meiko-chan will get turned into a series like Shinonome Kanata-chan? I hope she does. This was a really lovely work that made me look forward to the next installment.

・Overall impressions Since this is a healing-type work, I tried listening while falling asleep, and I ended up soundly asleep by track 3. This work is about an hour total, with each track being roughly 13 minutes. I think you can fully enjoy the voice and sound. The carbonated shampoo sound has gotten a real power-up, so I want you to give it a listen at least once. ・Regarding "02. Let me shampoo your hair" Carbonated shampoo itself has appeared in past works too, but I was surprised at how much the quality had improved compared to then. It really sounds like your head is being shampooed, and it feels great. ・Regarding "03. Let me dry your hair" She rubs your head vigorously with a towel, and this sound felt so good... I fell asleep right here, so I can't really think of any impression beyond "it felt good." ・About the dialect It was a dialect with a western feel. Kyushu-ish, maybe? Probably a hybrid dialect. It gave off a great atmosphere of spending a relaxed time with your girlfriend out in the countryside. Cute.