Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)
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The Transformers: Kiss Players (トランスフォーマー キスぷれ Toransufōmā Kisu Pure) radio drama was a segment of the Japanese radio show Lyrian Moe-tchao, and began airing on 3 April 2006 in Japan and ran for 38 episodes. Each weekly installment of the show featured a one to the three-minute story narrated by one of the voice actresses who played the three main characters in the series. The radio dramas are in-continuity with the Kiss Players manga, and together they form the whole story of the Kiss Players line.
In the first week of October, the format of the show was revised, and the entire half-hour show became Transformers: Kiss Players Transformers News Center. Now broadcasting at an earlier time, but still starring the same trio of voice actresses, the show included a brief introduction explaining Transformers to new listeners, a "Tell Me Please! Transformers News Center" section during which TakaraTomy employees or related professionals discussed Transformers news with the voice actresses, and a section in which the actresses ad-libbed dialogue based on reader-submitted scenarios.
When the series transitioned into its second year at the beginning of 2007, the loss of the manga made the radio drama a lot more pertinent, and the segments shifted from inconsequential ruminations to a continuous time-travel plot that was by necessity aired in the correct story order (and was incredibly fanwanky). The format of the show remained the same (one actress performing a short 1- to 3-minute-long segment), save for the 51st and final episode, which aired a day earlier than normal thanks to a sporting event and featured all three actresses performing together. Alas, episodes 38 to 51 were never collected on CD.
| Kiss Players episodes | |||
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CD collections and bonus episodes
The weekly installments of the Kiss Players radio drama up to #37 were collected on CDs packaged with the Kiss Players toyline.
- Episodes 1-5 were included with Convoy × Melissa.
- Episodes 6-10 were included with Atari × Autorooper.
- Episodes 11-20 were included with Hot Rodimus × Syaosyao.
- Episodes 21-30 were included with Autorooper × Atari.
- Episodes 31-37 were included with the Sparkbot x3 set.
The first four CDs also included ten-minute-long special bonus episodes. Most notably, after the first-year story ended with a cliffhanger (and the first episode ever to feature all three voice actresses) in the third week of December 2006, the bonus episode included with the Autorooper × Atari toy set released to stores the following week brought the tale to a close.
| Kiss Players CD episodes | |||
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Tokyo Toy Festival live performance
An additional Kiss Players audio adventure took the form of a live script-reading by the three actresses at the 2007 Tokyo Toy Festival on March 18. Taking place between episodes 41 and 42, the story is set somewhere between the conclusion of season three of the original Generation 1 cartoon and the beginning of The Headmasters. The reading was accompanied by thirty new pieces of color art produced by Yūki Ōshima specially for the occasion, illustrating the events of the tale.
Cast
| Kiss Players | Autobots | Others |
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Notes
- When originally broadcast, the 2006 radio plays (Episodes 1—38) and CD dramas were released in an order that did not reflect the actual chronology of the larger storyline. In March 2007, a complete timeline of the entire 2006 Kiss Players series was printed on the back of the Kiss Players Sparkbot x3 multi-pack set's box, in which all of the 2006 radio plays were completely rearranged in chronological order.
- Five months later, the Kiss Players/15 Go! Go! compilation volume published in August featured a "Kiss Players Complete Story List" that expanded upon the timeline included in the Sparkbot set, arranging the entirety of Kiss Players in chronological order, but with minor amendments made to the first timeline. This finalized chronology is used in each episode's article.
