Review: Planetes

Being Asian, the "real" New Year's has never been as important to me as the Lunar New Year (for 2009, it's on January 26th), but I guess Planetes is a pretty good series to have reviewed for the new year regardless. I was thoroughly impressed with the depiction of space here: it is amazing, and everyone that considers themselves any kind of sci-fi fan should definitely check it out. It's the future, guys!

A lot of people seem to recommend Infinite Ryvius for those who like Planetes, probably because Goro Taniguchi directed both of them and both deal with space, but I'm having a hard time moving on with the former. I'm four episodes in, can't relate to any of the characters, and don't really feel moved towards caring about their well-being. It's kind of frustrating. I think finishing it might depend entirely on how much I want to review it because I hate reviewing series I haven't seen in their entirety; it always feels like I'm missing something that way.

The series I'm breezing through now though is, surprisingly, Ouran High School Host Club, lol. I've avoided the series thus far mostly because the premise didn't interest me. I hear their fanbase is pretty annoying too, but I don't really concern myself with that usually. As it is now, I'll probably be finishing off the series tonight and hope to have a review by the time classes start again on Monday. v_vV I'm flying to New Orleans on Friday though, and carpooling the ten hours from there to Savannah on Saturday, so maybe not. We'll see! I'm sure nobody cares but me! 8D Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Nodame Cantabile Paris Chapter

Finished up the season finale on Christmas Day, so here's the review for Nodame Cantabile Paris-hen. It wasn't quite as awesome as the first season, and I'm still a little confused as to why it's only eleven episodes long because it could have easily been longer, but I'm excited for the third season. Why does it have to wait until Fall 2009 though? So far away. ;3;

Oh, well. I'm thinking of checking out that TV drama in the meantime, especially since two live action movies are coming soon too.

It's kind of weird switching off between this and Planetes though, lol. I'm halfway finished with that and will get that review in by New Year's if I'm lucky. Read the rest of this entry...

As Long as it Isn't Code Geass R3: Spice and Witch

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Code Geass is an epicly popular franchise in hard economic times. Why shouldn't they milk it for all its worth? It's pretty much guaranteed that everyone's going to watch whatever they put out anyway. It doesn't matter whether they loved it or hated it; curiosity trumps everything. They'll watch it. I know I'll watch it. I don't want more; I was very happy with the ending and really want to just leave it as it is, but I'll watch it anyway.

The final illustration drama is already supposed to address more of what happens after the ending, actually, but the new announcement makes it seem like they have something more up their sleeves. So what'll it be? Another season? A summary-type movie/OAV? Side-stories or spin-offs? Prequel? SEED Supernova-style crack shorts?

I will accept all of above except the sequel option. I absolutely do not want a third season. Taniguchi, you bastard, you said this was the end of the story, and I'm going to hold you do it. :| I loved the ambiguity of the ending. I want to believe that Lelouch is dead. I don't want a third season calling it either way, especially since he pretty much has to be alive for a third season because it's his story. A third season wouldn't work without him. I do not want to follow the adventures of C.C. and L.L. through the countryside. Seriously, do not want.

The other options seem more reasonable anyway since they all require less work. A summary-type condensed release seems like the most likely path to me. It would probably work like all the summary movies they did for Gundam SEED/Destiny, which I think did pretty okay (not sure though, and I'm too lazy to go look it up right now). Side-stories illustrating what the rest of the characters did after the series would be okay since they'd probably be short and wouldn't require Lulu's resurrection. A prequel would probably be the most interesting since there are still tons of holes left in the mythology and mystery of Geass, and we never did find out C.C.'s real name. To make up for her having to live forever, we could explore her past! Sounds good to me. I'd definitely be up for some crack shorts too. It wouldn't be hard considering the series was some 50% crack anyway.

It's more wait and see, I guess. I don't know why I keep hoping that Sunrise doesn't pull a Sunrise though. It's like hoping for a Gundam series without giant robots and war. Read the rest of this entry...

Grandma Got Run Over by These Pikachu

They like to hide in trees, and I've trained them to attack fat bearded men that come in the night with gigantic sacks of toys. Pikachus, volt tackle~.




One of my brothers picked up a shitton of bootleg Pikachus from China this summer. ...Yup. There are more pictures here.

I'll be out of town for a few days, but I'm not expecting much of an anime-related haul from the family (er, or anything else, really). I know I have a Leafeon plush and a Lelouch Figma waiting for me back in Savannah though. v_vV Read the rest of this entry...

Wait, wait. Raijin-Oh!? Really!?

I saw "Anime Midstream" come up in the titles of a blog or two on my feed today, but didn't pay much attention until I saw Anime Vice's post about it, and that's only because "Raijin-Oh" caught my eye. No one else mentioned that part. ...Probably because no one else knows what the hell Raijin-Oh is.


Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh is an old 90's kids' super sentai mecha series (you can watch the opening theme here). It's also one of the first anime series I've ever seen way back... in the 90's. I saw it as a hilarious Chinese dub. It was amazing. I have many fond memories of it. And it's apparently been picked up by some new company called Anime Midstream. It's amazing to me that something so old, random, and obscure should be licensed out of the blue, especially by a newbie company, and especially in the middle of this economic crisis. I love Raijin-Oh, haven't seen it in years, and would love to revisit it, but there's a lot about this license that concerns me. Taking a peek at Anime Midstream's website was all it took.

Even before getting to Anime Midstream, Raijin-Oh's age is very obvious. It's not like the shiny stuff kids like to watch on TV these days. As such, I don't think it has a place in the market for today's children; besides, for a new company, the chances of them getting a broadcast deal are slim to none. There's no way a toy deal is going to come out of this either. The designs are simply too old. The only people that would want watch this are old(ish) geeks like me, and even that's limited by the by the number of people that either already know of this title or are curious enough to check it out. The DVD-only market is a tricky business, especially if you don't have a marketing budget to speak of.

And everything about Anime Midstream gives off a bad, bad impression:

1) According to a quick whois query, their domain was registered on December 11th, 2008. That's only four days before their press release of the license. Kind of fishy. I wonder what kind of impression Sunrise got when they entered into negotiations with a nobody company with no website? Since it's such an old title, maybe Sunrise doesn't care, but even so.

2) Their website layout is a free template. A poorly implemented and clashing one at that. The web designer in me is crying.

3) They have a site counter! A crappy, oldschool cgi site counter! God! I haven't seen one of these in forever! They remind me of the Internet in the 90's, right up there with blaring midis, repeating backgrounds with unreadable text over them, and cheap animated gifs! Are they shooting for a site from the time period their license is from??

4) The text under "Who We Are" is terrible. It has crappy grammar and crappy wording in general. I want to attack it with a red pen.

5) The blurb they have about Raijin-Oh under "Series" is copy-pasta'd from Wikipedia. Good job, guys.

6) A call for auditions in voice acting? Does this mean they want to dub Raijin-Oh with an amateur cast? On one hand, it's interesting to see a company reach out further from the talent pool so we don't see the same names appear over and over again in anime, but on the other hand, it basically says they have no budget whatsoever.

7) Donations!? It astounds me that they're asking for donations. Donations is something starving artists ask for, and even starving artists (usually) have the decency to ask for commissions, not hand-outs. It's even worse that they're straight-up telling you that a $5 donation can get your name on a DVD. $5 isn't a lot. Maybe it'll be a tiny, obscure, extra section of the DVD, but even so! $15 for a short message? I also get the feeling they aren't expecting much in the way of donations which is why they're willing to give back for so little. That's just depressing.

8) Their contact address is a gmail address. Come on. Can't you set up the mail server on your two-week old hosting account?

I was really excited about this for about five minutes. After looking at Anime Midstream's website though, I'm pretty damn sure that this is never going to come to pass. There's no way a dub's ever going to get produced, and even if they go for a sub-only DVD release, I can't imagine that a lot of retailers will want to carry something like this, especially if they don't have a clear audience. No one wants series like this right now. The otaku community is getting all excited about near-simultaneously releases, what with the upcoming Kurokami and Naruto Shippudden; they don't want a nearly two-decade old series for kids. It'll be interesting to see what ends up happening, but there shall be no vote of confidence from me. Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Gundam Wing: Episode Zero, and Why I Hate Comcast

Here is my review for Gundam Wing: Episode Zero. I meant to do it earlier when I was reviewing all the rest of my GW manga, but Episode Zero must be special since I still own it and I sold everything else. I really want to go rewatch Gundam Wing now, but all I have is some ghetto VHS tape of the final five or six episodes... and there's no longer a working VCR in the house. I do have Endless Waltz, so I guess I could watch that, but I wanna see the series, man. Then again, maybe I should just go rewatch Gundam SEED (for the fifth or sixth time) instead since I do have access to that, and I'm supposed to be filling in the SEED wiki portions of Anime Vice while this fellow does Wing.

And now it's time for my rant about Comcast even though I'm sure that there isn't a single person that would sing praises for them!

My family swapped from Time Warner to Comcast for phone and Internet services since, apparently, Time Warner stopped service in the area. Why? I dunno. To give Comcast a total monopoly!? This seems to be the case! Comcast is notorious for its shitty customer service, and this is compounded by their shitty service in general! For the last week, our Internet has been up and down and down again. It was mostly just an annoyance at first because it would glitch off for a minute at a time every half hour or so. Then it turned into five minutes. Then I noticed that certain sites I'd try to visit would be arbitrarily blocked. A lot of blogs. Things on my blogroll would be blocked mysteriously with a "401 site blocked by administrator" notice. A Google search for "proxy" wouldn't loud. Then the blocked sites would reappear. It was very puzzling.

Saturday night, the Internet was down for at least eight hours. Sunday evening and into this afternoon, the Internet was down for twenty. I couldn't even leech off the neighbor's wifi because everyone else is on Comcast too (well, that and more and more people seem to have gotten the grasp of security-enabled networks)! It's utterly ridiculous. Oh, the phones were down too, but I don't use the landlines, so that didn't bother me. Calls to Comcast directed us to crappy customer service agents reading off manuals that didn't have any better advice than "reboot your machine." When pressured for better measures, their responses were "we can't help you if you don't follow our instructions." Excellent.

In the last day, I've played 38 games of Freecell and won 23 of them (60% yay!). I'm not even going to tell you how many games of Solitare I played (and lost). It's funny how the Internet is often considered a distraction, but I honestly can't get any work done unless it's there. My routine is to work for a few and surf for a few. Ten minutes of work for five minutes of surfing. Sure, sometimes I get into something and end up online longer than intended, but unless it falls into repetitive checking of email, I don't really consider my online activities to be completely useless. I'm sure it wasn't always like this, but I'm too ADD now to concentrate on anything for prolonged periods of time without Internet breaks. Dependency? I guess, but it usually isn't bad. I get stuff done. Honest.

It's just those days when the Internet isn't there. Curse you, Comcast. Curse you and your monopolizing ways. Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Gundam SEED C.E. 73: Stargazer

Finally saw this OAV the other day, so here is the review. I'm still kind of surprised at how good it was. It's good enough that I'm actually considering checking out the Astray spin-off stuff, which I'd avoided before mostly because the Astray girl characters were annoying as hell, but I guess they wouldn't really be using those characters anyway (right? right?).

What I really want though is either for someone to license and release the Gundam SEED Destiny: The Edge manga series or for someone to freakin' finish scanlating it. I usually just say that I deny Destiny's existence and don't treat its events as canon, but I guess I'm still desperate to find something that takes that shitty storyline and makes it (somewhat kind of maybe) tolerable. From what I've read of The Edge, it seems like it has that potential. Of course, part of that is natural just because The Edge's retelling focuses entirely on Athrun's POV instead of jumping onto Shinn's sorry sobstory. Athrun being my favorite character from the series probably helps too. :\ Still, if the Astray side stories can get translated, then why not The Edge? (Probably because everyone finally realized that no one likes SEED in the States and doesn't care, probably.) Read the rest of this entry...

Reeves Confirmed as Spike?

Being on TOKYOPOP's mailing list sure brings interesting news sometimes. According to this most recent email, it seems like Keanu Reeves as Spike Spiegal is a sure thing:

Spike and friends are blasting off on a new adventure as plans for a live action film adaptation of TOKYOPOP's Cowboy Bebop have just been announced! Keanu Reeves (The Day the Earth Stood Still, Matrix trilogy) will star as Spike Spiegel with Erwin Stoff (I Am Legend) to produce.

Of course, TP can't be considered a reliable source as they have nothing to do with the film at all. (I love how they claim Cowboy Bebop as their property.) They're just using the tidbit to promote the Cowboy Bebop manga they have. The article they link doesn't explicitly cast Reeves as Spike either (or at least, it cites an interview that's already been torn apart by the aniblogosphere and the general consensus seems to be that he really wants the role, but it isn't a sure thing yet).

I think they're just jumping the gun on that announcement, but I don't think I really care at this point.

I said in July that I'm willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt on his potential as Spike. At the very least, I'm comforted by the fact that Reeves is a genuine fan, which should seriously help him adjust to the role should he get it. I don't know enough actors to be able to suggest a better suitor anyway. But since the rumors of July seem to be holding pretty well for the most part now, I'm wondering if the bit about Bebop's production being accelerated for a 2010 release is going to end up being true also. If that's the case, I really want to know who'll be signing on for the rest of the cast, as well as who'll be directing it.

I think Jet would be easy enough to cast for. He's the most archetypal of the lot. Ed and Faye I'm worried about. I can't decide who I'm worried about more.... probably Ed since she needs to be very androgynous and very quirky to work right. I'm also wondering if they'll be able to secure a trained Corgi for Ein? Or would a different breed be easier? I don't expect them to cover everyone's origin stories, and Ein would be pretty easy to cut out completely if it came down to it. (So would Ed, for that matter.) Hmm. Honestly, there's a lot that can be sacrificed with Bebop since the series is so episodic. If they want to incorporate the ending, then it's more Spike's story than anything else. I guess we'll see. I'm cautiously excited about this. Read the rest of this entry...

First Look at the Art of the DOGS OAV

So it seems that Jump's launched a web site/portal/promo page for the DOGS anime (I can't tell exactly what it is since I, uh, can't read it), and it includes our first look at the promotional art for the OAV, which could be indicative of the style they end up with in the actual animation. My first thought is the realization that there are going to be a lot of sacrifices. Miwa Shirow's style is very detailed, super clean, but occasionally chaotic. He also uses a ton of spot blacks, which is something I think almost always loses its charm when color is added (just take a look at Watchmen; hunt down the inked pages and compare them to the colored ones).

My second thought is that those character designs look pretty generic all of a sudden. From left to right: Badou looks a bit more feminine and flamboyant than I'm used to... I think it's his face? I don't know, but I miss the camo pattern on his coat. Haine actually doesn't look that bad. His proportions are full of lulz, and I really don't know what's going on with that left arm of his, but honestly, Shirow has some funky proportions sometimes too. Naoto is pretty unimpressive, but I don't think that angle's helping. Her face looks kind of off, and I can't see the detail that needs to be on the hilt of her katana. Mihai probably looks the best here. His face is spot on, and the rest of him looks passable.

Really though, it isn't that bad. The characters are far from being bastardized, and the background looks pretty good too. In any case, it's just promotional art. How the animation ends up remains to be seen, and that's the important part, right? This might be the first time a manga is adapted into an anime as I'm reading it, so I can't say how purist I'll end up being, but as far as first impressions go, I'm reasonably pleased. At least I don't have to worry about the voice cast.

(Hattip: DOGS LJ Community)
Read the rest of this entry...

TOKYOPOP's Got a Live Action Deal

Live action adaptations of anime have been getting a lot of coverage lately. Since that official trailer came out, I've given up on Dragonball, or I should say Dragonball Evolution. Piccolo being green is its only redeeming point, but considering that's how it should have been all along, it's not really redemption after all. I was a skeptic all along, but originally, I'd been planning on humoring it and going to see it in theatres anyway because hey, it's Dragonball. I'll go to make fun of it, but I still would have gone. Not so much anymore. Considering our flailing economy, a few laughs that will undoubtedly turn into uncontrollable tears isn't worth the ticket price.

That live action Cowboy Bebop movie got a lot of headlines today because it looks like Keanu Reeves really wants that role as Spike Speigal after all. I'm still skeptical about it, but after all the disastrous news for Dragonball, but was a little cheered knowing that Reeves is a fan and hopes to preserve the original integrity of the anime.

Now, TOKYOPOP just sent me an email exclaiming that it's got a deal for a live action adaptation of Priest, one of its manhwa properties. Apparently, it's something that's been floating around for a while, but now it's got a shiny new director I've never heard of so there's new life to it. I'm not familiar with Priest, but it's Western horror and vampires. Not really something I'm particularly interested in, so I can't decide if it's better suited for Hollywood than, say Dragonaball. If Twilight's any indication, I guess vampires have a place. Western horror? I dunno. Crappy remakes of Japanese thrillers seem to be big, so even though this is Korean, maybe that appeal will still be there.

I never liked the idea of TOKYOPOP restructuring and making that New Media division. I still think it's pretty stupid and pointless of them to try and expand into new areas when their core market is suffering so much. I suppose licensing out a property doesn't really require much effort on their part, but I'd like to think that they have some hand in production to keep the property from deviating too much and going to hell. So I'm not sure how much I actually want TP to succeed in this endeavor because I just want them to go back to focusing on their manga. They don't need a New Media division if they keep laying people off. I really can't see this movie being a huge box office success though, even if it stays pretty low budget and B-list like it feels like it will.

It's probably too early to be speculating, anyway. I wouldn't be surprising if this title continues to flounder around the next few years, if it gets finished at all. Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Gundam 00 (first season)

Well, I finally got around to marathoning through Gundam 00, so here's the review for season one. I'm still a little behind in the current season (I'm on episode 8), but I'll probably be caught up by tonight. I'm pretty disappointed with the series in general right now though. The first season's ending was terrible, and the second season so far hasn't really made up for it. I really wish they had just cut out half the nonsense in the first season and filled it with all the relevant stuff they're trying to fit into season two. They could have ended the series in 25 episodes, and it would have been better. I guess I should wait until the second season's done to pass final judgment though.

But seriously, I'm getting so sick of Sunrise's Zombie characters. I was going to write a rant about it, but it seems even writing about it pisses me off, so whatever. 8| Raaaaage. Read the rest of this entry...

Bandai's Almost There with Kurokami

Well, that didn't take long.

When Viz broke the news about streaming Naruto Shippuden, I began counting the days until someone would announce a near-simultaneous release for a new series as opposed to an established series. Now, less than a month later and after a good bit of hype, Bandai announces that its new license is Kurokami, an anime based on a Korean manhwa (licensed by Yen Press) set to start airing next season! Apparently, it will also begin airing on IATV next season, with each episode airing in Japan, South Korea, and the United States within 24 hours...dubbed! That's definitely a huge surprise. To think that they actually dubbed off of pencil tests and unfinished animation just to be able to get this release together on time. That's all kinds of wow. The domestic DVD release is supposed to follow the airing, so it's likely we'll get the DVDs around the same time as well.


Of course, this doesn't exactly follow the groundbreaking Naruto announcement in that this title won't be streaming online. A near-simultaneous dub is certainly a more impressive feat, but on a channel that not a lot of people get? I don't know if my family gets IATV here, but I know for sure that the cable my college supplies isn't going to have it, so there will be no way for me to catch this on TV. Kurokami was one of the few series I was actually planning on watching next season, so this is really disappointing. But there's this to consider too: if the whole point of near-simultaneous releases is to deter pirating, why would Bandai skip an online streaming release?

I don't have a poll to confirm this, but I suspect that a vast majority of the otaku population that cares enough to watch series as they air in Japan prefers subs over dubs, or these days, even streaming over broadcasting. I've always felt that dubs/broadcasts were more suitable for the more casual fan who will turn something on because it's there and convenient. They aren't the ones that will sit around in the wee hours of morning Sundays waiting for the next Code Geass. The ones that have been clamouring for near-simultaneous releases are not the causal viewers. Okay, so maybe not many casual viewers would even bother with a channel that isn't Sci-Fi or [adult swim], but I'm predicting now that Kurokami will still be pirated significantly because 1) there won't be an official online stream, whether subbed or dubbed, 2) not enough people who want to watch the series have IATV.

Come on, Bandai. Give us an online stream too...?

Regardless of whether they decide to or not though, this is amazing news. We just keep taking more and more steps towards what everyone wants, and that's exciting. At least the DVD releases will be pretty on top of each other, right? I'm thinking it won't be long until someone else does a near-simultaneous online stream for a new series though. In the meantime, if subbers decide to sub this, I'll probably still be getting Kurokami that way. :> Read the rest of this entry...

Review: 5 Centimeters per Second

Finished my review for 5 Centimeters per Second. This marks my 40th review on MAL, and I'm just about to edge into the top 10 of the Most Helpful list. A silly and self-important goal, I guess, but everyone likes to feel relevant now and again, right?

I'm not really happy with how I reviewed this movie though. It's hard to convey mixed feelings when numbers are so impartial. I might just need to watch this movie again and revise the review after that, I dunno. (I overthink these things, I'm sure of it.) I've lost a lot of friends since everyone parted ways for college (what is a Facebook friend, really?), so maybe that's why I had such a snarky attitude towards some parts of this film. The characters made it seem too unrealistic, which is a damn shame because the topic is so relevant. It's ironic that in today's super-connected society, people are as isolated as ever.

Nostalgia is a terrible thing sometimes. Read the rest of this entry...

First Impressions: Kokia's Christmas Gift

Christmas Gift
Kokia's 8th album
12th November, 2008

I've not heard much about Kokia... most likely because I haven't seen all too many series she's done music for. She did a song for Origin: Spirits of the Past, but it must not have left a very big impression on me because I can't remember it at all. In any case, I was looking for Christmasy music and came across this album, so I figure I'd give it a shot. I love my Christmas music, and I love my j-pop, so this has to be good, right? Here are my thoughts from an hour of just sitting and listening to music:

TRACK 01: Amazing Grace (YouTube it)
Kokia's voice starts off eerie and soft, but it really does have a beautiful quality to it. Her notes are high and very sustained -- her trademark ability, apparently -- giving it an even more surreal quality. There's a soft echo in the back, almost like a canon, but it fades out too quickly... oh, wait, there it is again after a brief silence. It still fades in and out, but it's really interesting sounding when it's there. Beautiful violin solo, keeps the mood nicely. It's creepy, but it's pretty soothing too. Good music for a quiet evening.

TRACK 02: Hallelujah (YouTube it)
Soft voice and piano intro. The lyrics are... in English? Very, very beautiful voice. Soft and controled. Wow, I'm really loving this voice. I've heard a good number of songs called "Hallelujah," but this is definitely different from all of them. It doesn't feel like a church song; hell, it doesn't really even feel religious to me. Just hopeful. The piano melody in the back is really pretty and the general feel of the song reminds me of some American indie folk stuff... or perhaps even a less dramatic version of Regina Spektor? Kokia's English is flawless as well. No stumbling, no accent. It's gorgeous.

TRACK 03: I'll be home for Christmas
Gentle piano and strings into, sounding more like traditional Christmas music now. English lyrics again, but her accent's starting to show just a little. There's still a pretty Western feel to the song though, and the accompanying music probably plays a big part in that. For some reason, I can imagine this song playing in time with an old 80's or 90's cartoon Christmas special. Something sweet and quaint. Or perhaps an oldschool Disney movie? Something out of Pinnochio.

TRACK 04: We three kings of orient are
Saxophone~. Familiar melody, familiar lyrics. I can't get over how perfect her voice sounds. English is crisp, and if I didn't know better, I'd just say it was an American singing. This is music to wait for Santa Claus to. It's been a long time since saying up late was a rare occurance for me, but if I was going to fall asleep waiting for someone, this would be pretty damn good music to do it to. There's a mystical kind of urgency to Kokia's tone here; it works really well with the song. The sax and piano are great together, and I can imagine this being played in a classy lounge late at night, after most of the patrons have left. Don't you love it when music gets you imagery like that?

TRACK 05: Christmas Medley
Hmm, starts with children laughter. Kind of creepy... oh, shit. Wow. Bouncy piano. Bouncy, cheerful singing. Quite a contrast! It's still soft and kind of muted, but it's definitely upbeat. Her accent seeps through a bit more for "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," but it's not very distracting. Easing into "Let it Snow," still very cheerful. Very cutesy, child-like voice. It's almost disturbing how young she sounds here, but there's a weird... lack of innocence kind of feel to her tone, if that makes sense? She almost sounds like a little boy in "The Little Drummer Boy"! My mind! It's blown! "The First Noel," has a nice echo/pseudo-canon in it, along with some sweet bells in the back... goes into "Jingle Bells," rather abruptly. Definitely a subdued kind of tone to a normally very upbeat song -- kind of weird, but it works with the rest of the songs here. Transition back to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is a little better, but maybe because I'm expecting this weird, muted bounciness now. Pronunciation of "Santa Claus" is kind of like "Santa Clothes," lol. ...Or, she's pronouncing it with a British accent, which I guess is completely feasible. o_o; "Silent Night" on a marimba or something now. Good ending, good collection. :3

TRACK 06: Teo Torriatte (Let us cling together)
Japanese lyrics for the first time on the entire album! Goes back into English again though. More and more I'm getting a British tintkind of feeling here. I like the steady piano beat in the background of this song though it doesn't sound particularly festive... but then it disappears and her voice gets a little livelier, goes back to that hopeful kind of mood. Very pretty voice -- love those sustained notes.

TRACK 07: Ave Maria
Kokia's voice demonstrates some really strong, opera qualities here. Notes are clear and beautifully sustained. Piano and violin sound great in accompaniment. The general mood and feel of the music is similar to that of the previous song, but the vocal range is much more impressive. Can't really tell what language this is in, but the song is supposed to be in Latin, right? Not all too familiar with it, but that seems about right to me. Her voice is fantastic regardless.

TRACK 08: It came upon a midnight clear
Funny thing. I'm having a hard time associating this song with "religious" just because I can't really imagine this being performed at a church? Perhaps it's just the solo nature of it. To me, church = choir. Kokia's accent is showing again, but it's easy to just focus on the music rather than the words. I'm not religious myself, so that's mostly what I usually do anyway, lol. I always did like the melody to this song though. Kokia's voice is somehow secularizing it even more for me.

TRACK 09: Seinaru Yoru ni ~holy night
Japanese lyrics return! And an oboe! I love hearing band and orchestra instruments that don't usually show up in songs like this. :3 Kokia's voice is very high for most of this song; this makes lyrics hard to pick out, so I think the overall sound is more important as a result. A variety of instruments definitely helps with that. I want to say there's a harp in here too, but I'm not sure...

TRACK 10: Kokoro no Rouzoku
Soft piano opening. Quiet, almost indistinct voice. Reminds me a bit of how "Amazing Grace'' opened. This doesn't really feel seasonal or festive to me (the last song didn't really either), but it's still very pretty. I suppose I could imagine gentle snowfall to this song, but I might be trying too hard.

TRACK 11: Remember the kiss ~Dedicated to 'new' NY~
Very slow intro. Hm, this might be the first song that kind of annoys me... I dislike it when there are long pauses between words. I'm ADD and lose interest pretty past, so if thoughts are connecting in a timely manner, then I get bored. Song speeds up a little after a while, but even though the lyrics flow a bit smoother, there's this lingering feeling of... "get on with it." Kokia's voice also feels a little plainer to me here -- there's an absence of high, sustained notes, just a lot of dragging words. A chorus rises up in the background at some points, but it never stays long, which is pretty disappointing. Ending is kind of repetitive, another pet peeve of mine. Don't repeat a line more than five times!

OVERALL:
Since I didn't have much of a previous impression of Kokia, I didn't really know what to expect from this, but I was surprised all the same. The style and mood of Kokia's music doesn't really fit with what I think Christmas music should be like, but it's still really, really beautiful. I really, really love her voice -- it has a really pure quality to it that I don't think I hear often enough. So! If you're looking for some holiday cheer, this might be a bit too much on the somber and eerie (well, the medley track might pass), but if you're just looking for some soothing vocals accompanied by deliciously haunting piano ensembles, then this is a great album for that. Read the rest of this entry...

DOGS Anime is 2 Episode OAV

What a huge sigh of relief. Looks like it's going to be the best case scenario and all my fears from this post have been quelled. The DOGS anime will only be a two-episode OAV, which means we won't have to deal with filling in a whole season's worth of episodes with only one manga volume of content! That also means there's a pretty damn good chance that the anime will follow the manga faithfully... so it'll pretty much be an animated version of the sound dramas? Haha. It would be pretty hilarious if they used the vocals they already recorded and just put it to some pretty animation.

It might be too early to be speculating, but I wonder what this might mean for future DOGS anime? It's hard to say how long of a project DOGS: Bullets and Carnage will end up being, but considering it's scheduled to be at volume four by the time the OAV releases, there's enough material to fill up a normal season now. Does this mean we'll eventually see a normal-run series based off Bullets and Carnage? I'd like to think that chances are high...

Random, unrelated thing: I'd been avoiding tagging entries with the exact titles of series because I didn't want to clutter a potential tag cloud with dozens of series' names that I only use once or twice. But as it seems like DOGS is going to be a reoccurring topic for me, I figure whatever. I may go back and re-tag some other series that've appeared several times like Dragonball and Code Geass, but I don't know. What should be the criteria for tagging series' names? Used at least three times? More than that? (Once again, I feel like I worry about the stupidest things. ...Especially since I'm not even using a tag cloud at the moment.) Read the rest of this entry...

Anime Vice, Otaku Sites Competing for Otaku Attention, etc.

Anime Vice launched on what, Friday? Despite the fact that I wasn't initially planning to join at all, I've spent more than a little time on the site since then doing all manner of mostly useless things. Choice is supposed to be a good thing, I know, but I've always disliked that there were so many options when it came to anime encyclopedia and social networking sites. Why do we need so many? Why not just put forth the collective effort to improve what's already there? ANN and Wikipedia are basically my first choices when looking anything up, and I think it's hard to imagine that any other site is going to catch up to their repertoire of information any time soon.

I'm finding myself compulsively filling in the missing pieces that are all over AnimeVice currently, but I'm pulling almost all of my information from ANN and Wikipedia. Summaries will need to be reworded, sure, but all those stats and kanji names and static information like that? Copy, paste, baby. The site is still in its infancy, and I'm sure that eventually, it'll start garnering information that ANN/Wikipedia's collective encyclopedias won't have, but there I pose the question again -- why not just all that new information to one of the aforementioned sources to begin with? Why do we need this all new place for it? Why split up the contributing population more? (As a side note, I really hate how the AV's encyclopedia is organized right now, but I'll give it a few more weeks to develop and straighten out before passing final judgment.)

Of course, there are other merits to Anime Vice other than its information. The news portion I don't consider to be a direct competitor to ANN since it's only half news while the other half is more blog-like, and the news that it does catch tends to break sooner than ANN. The trivia section is retardedly addicting (says me, who's written more than sixty questions for it already). The battle system is interesting, but I got bored of it pretty fast. I don't like the cosplay section since it encourages people to submit cosplays that aren't their own, which makes it difficult to trace photos back to their source. (And once again, I don't see the point in "competing" with Cosplay.com.) The fanfiction section I can see being pretty interesting since the main place for anime fanfiction these days is Livejournal, which I don't think is ideal. Fanfiction.net is still pretty prominent, but the more regulations it adds, the more I think that fanfiction is definitely a niche that needs to be filled in better.

The last thing is the reviews. I don't know how much Anime Vice is catering to the review readers/writers considering there isn't a tab for reviews on the main menu and considering how ridiculously difficult it is to actually figure out how to submit a review at the moment, but it seems like it could have potential. This probably bugs me the most because I want to keep my reviews in as few places as possible, but I also want them to get as much exposure as possible. I like how MAL works, and I like that it doesn't really have a lot of features that put it in competition with other sites (except AniDB, but I like MAL's layout/organization better, so there). But AV's looking to have a pretty nice community already, so what to do, what to do? Should I leave my reviews "exclusive" to MAL, or should I crosspost to AV? Am I just an idiot for caring about questions like these? Or are there others that share my dilemma?

I hate joining new social networking websites for reasons of simplicity. The fewer websites I'm obligated to check, the better. This is why I hadn't planned on joining AV to begin with. I don't know why I change my mind (oh, wait, yes, I do. I changed my mind because I needed an account to comment on this news item). I also hate that all these social networking sites also have blogging platforms. Come on, why you gotta make this so hard for me? Blogging is great and I'd love the exposure, but I don't want to crosspost my content all over the goddamn Internet! It was bad enough with journal features on every damn art site I use, I don't need this to happen to my anime sites too! (I'm dreading the day ANN finally catches up with the Internet and implements a blogging platform of its own. Oh, woe.)

I'll get off my soapbox now. I have reviews coming up for Gundam Wing; Episode Zero and 5 Centimeters per Second. Look for 'um. :3 Read the rest of this entry...

Fullmetal Airdate, Speculation, and Ranting

Yes, yes, it seems we have a confirmed airdate now. Or, well, not a date. A month. April 2009. Fullmetal Alchemist. I find it curious that it's just "Fullmetal Alchemist" though. There is no "2" tacked on. No subtitle. The ten second clip on the official website doesn't seem to reveal anything new or big (the video's also on YouTube since the website's getting lagged to death by otaku). The character designs are the same as before. Al is still in his armor body. Roy still has both his eyes. If I didn't know better, I'd say we were just seeing a trailer for the original series. What's going on here? Am I going to get my wish after all? Is the ending of the first series and that movie going to be retconned? Are we picking up from halfway through the series and finishing it from there?

Or is this not a sequel at all? Are we starting over completely?

Some people seem to be speculating that this series will start from the beginning, but this time, it'll strictly follow the manga. I haven't seen anything official regarding this yet, so I'll believe it when I see it, but I don't think it's an unlikely possibility. I still haven't read the manga myself, but I might have to soon if this is the case. I think it'll be incredibly weird to go through the anime again with this alternate storyline though -- especially if character designs, voices, etc, etc, remain unchanged. Has something like this ever happened before? Has a series that veered off from its source material gotten redone so that it's now true to the original?

Having this new series follow the manga might be the best way to go. Undoubtedly, there are still leftover populations of manga fans that have always hated the original anime because of all the changes and differences. They'll be happy to finally see the story they loved best adapted into a faithful anime version. The fans of the first anime will probably go along with it... after all, it's hard to argue against original sources, even if they did like the first series better. The first series ended. What can you do? The ending sucked. Do you really want a direct sequel to that? I'm still very much opposed to the idea of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Diary of the Elric Brothers!

Obviously the catch to a faithful manga adaptation is the fact that Arakawa still isn't finished with the manga, and from what I hear, it isn't anywhere near an ending point. If that's the case, then it doesn't really matter how faithful to the manga this new series starts off -- it'll have to start making shit up eventually. What's the point of that? If we're going to have to start walking the same path as the first anime eventually, why even bother right now? Why not just wait until the damn thing's finally, actually finished? And there's also that issue of the repeated material from the first anime that did fit okay with the manga. Are they just going to reanimate it? Or are we going to do an even more severe retcon and pretend a good two thirds of the first anime didn't exist? It seems like getting that kind of continuity across would just be sloppy and confusing.


So what are our options here?

A) Completely new start. 100% faithful to the manga. Reanimate the beginning, don't veer off like the original anime did. ...Make something up when we reach the current point of the manga? Start making filler episodes while waiting for an ending??

B) Do some kind of weird continuity thing by starting off partway through the first anime. Somehow work in the missing material from the manga. ...Make up some new kind of ending??

C) Pick up where the original anime left off. The trailer could just be a "summary" or "reminder" kind of clip that doesn't immediately give away what had been the ending of the first series. May or may not re-incorporate missing elements from the manga? Still has to make up another ending.

D) Completely new start. Fuck the manga! Fuck the original anime! Make something else up entirely!

Seems like the ending is still the most problematic point. No matter if they pick A, B, C, or even D, they have to make something up at some point because the manga isn't done. This is why I've always hated the idea of adapting series that aren't finished. Sometimes it works out okay (slice-of-life things like NANA and Nodame Cantabile probably work best), but often, it's more trouble than it's worth. I mean, Soul Eater is going along pretty spiffy right now, and I haven't read the manga for that either, but I know it isn't finished, I know it's going slow, and I know we're just about to catch up to it in the anime -- what then? What then?

Wait and see, I guess. Wait and see. For FMA, I don't really know what I'm hoping for anymore. (D would be kind of hilarious though.) Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Gundam Wing manga Ground Zero, Blind Target, Battlefield of Pacifists

So I've reread and reviewed Gundam Wing's Ground Zero, Blind Target, and Battlefield of Pacifists. All three are manga that take place between the Gundam Wing anime and the Endless Waltz OAV, and the latter two are written by scriptwriters of the series. These three books, along with Gundam Wing: Episode Zero, were among the first manga I ever bought, but I haven't read them in years... it was really strange going back to them now, especially since it's been just as long since I've seen the Gundam Wing anime. It was kind of nostalgic and kind of hilarious. I didn't realize or remember how pretentious some of these storylines were. :P

I'll be rereading and reviewing Episode Zero soon, and after that, I'm going to be selling them all to a friend. I was really fighting with the idea of letting them go -- like I said, these were pretty much the first manga I ever bought -- but I think after rereading all of them, I'll be all right. Gundam Wing was one of my first major fandoms, so it makes sense that it's hard to get rid of what I own. It makes me wonder what else I'll be getting rid of soon, and it makes me wonder what I'll be getting rid of in the future. I don't buy too many things in general, but I get attached easily. And I'm a packrat. I'm not used to getting rid of things at all. Damn economy, eh? Damn it all. Read the rest of this entry...

The Sky May or May Not be Falling

It's been a while since I've written about the state of the economy and how it's affecting our little niche. In July, the price of crude oil couldn't stop rising and breaking records. Now it seems like it can't stop falling. It's down more than $100 from its crazy peak in July. Before, people were terrified because the high price was slaughtering the auto industry (okay, well, the auto industry is still kind of screwed), and now the low prices are just another sign of economic weakness. Where's the happy middle? Job losses in November are yet another record low, and meanwhile, the stock markets are as volatile and unpredictable as ever.

So I found it a little interesting that some people are still optimistic, at least about the manga industry. Yen Press is doing well, but it did also just come out of a merger. Viz still has it's super shounen bestsellers, but while Naruto is a more popular search term than Angelina Jolie, its place on that booklist is still as unpredictable as the price of oil. I suppose for the times, these companies are doing reasonably well. It doesn't look like any more of them are on the verge of collapse, anyway, and even ADV had some good news to share a few months ago. I think the dwindling economy is forcing a lot of companies to reconsider just which titles they bring over whereas before, it seemed like they were grabbing just about everything that was halfway popular in Japan.

That seems to have led them to somehow skip out on series like Dennou Coil, which deserves much more recognition and attention than its gotten, despite winning significant awards. But considering that Viz has licensed DOGS of all things, I have hope that companies are looking further and harder for titles with underground appeal or popularity. Here's to hoping we'll be getting more of a mixed bag and that this will somehow stimulate readers and viewers? I'm not as worried about the anime side of things anymore since the digital distribution thing seems to have exploded to the point that prominent fansubbers are hanging up their hats, but manga online is a harder proposal to sell.

I'm optimistic in that the manga scene won't be dropping further for the moment, but it remains to be seen whether things will actually pick up. There's all this talk about that $500 billion stimulus package. I'm not sure how much water the idea of using taxpayer money to pay taxpayers holds, but the immediate affect would (hopefully) be more people spending money, which is good news for businesses, which in turn is good news for workers, which in turn is good news for the economy, including our little otaku industry. I dunno. This holiday season is already kind of scary. I lot of people scoff that the luxury goods industry, but things must be pretty damn bad if rich people can't afford to be rich anymore.

Then again, poor people go out to see more movies in hard times, so who knows? Read the rest of this entry...

Review: DOGS (manga)

Finally, finally wrote my review for DOGS.

It was kind of interesting that while I was writing it, I realized that it really isn't as amazing or unique as I sometimes like to think it is. Honestly, I think I fell in love with the artwork more than anything else, but forcing myself to write what I think about the other aspects of the book was pretty enlightening. Funny how that works, huh?

I was thinking about also writing a review for the DOGS side story, Hardcore Twins, but I'm not sure if it'd be worth it. I mean, it's like a 20-page comic introducing two characters that appear later in Bullets and Carnage... would someone really read a review for something like that when it'd likely take less time to just read the comic? Then again, I guess the same could be said for SEED Supernova, which I reviewed out of sheer boredom. Ho hum. Read the rest of this entry...

An Anime Meme

Well, I could fill this meme out, or I can go back to pretending to do something useful and significant. Or I could go finish writing that review for DOGS since I finally got around to rereading it last night (also known as this morning). Despite this being an opinion blog, I don't think I've actually talked about myself all that much on here. Time for some self-indulgence! :3

This picture has no relevance whatsoever to this post. But I want one! D:

• What anime are you watching now?

This is a silly question when these tools are available, but I've just started Nodame Cantabile Paris Chapter, and will probably be taking it two episodes a night until I'm caught up. My brother has gotten me to start Seto no Hanayome, and I've thus far seen two episodes, but I'm not sure if I'll continue. Doesn't really seem like my kind of thing. Last night, we also started Library War and spend the entire first episode making fun of it. I'll probably check the second episode out, but it doesn't look like a good verdict. I saw the first episode of Ghost Hound a few days ago; the brother didn't like it though, so I might finish checking it out on my own later. I'm still undecided on how good it'll be. Soul Eater I'm following as it airs, and Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is enhancing my ADD, so I'm watching an episode every week or so?

• What is your favourite time to watch?

Evenings, anytime between 10pm and I dunno, 5am is usually when I try to go to sleep nowadays.

• And your favourite place?

A chair in front of my laptop.

• Who is your favourite auteur?

This is hard mostly because few people have done multiple series I really enjoy. Let's say Satoshi Kon though.

• Your favourite OST?

Aw, man. Can it be a three-way tie between Cowboy Bebop, Gundam SEED, and Gurren Lagann? But... I also really like Ghost in the Shell, X, and Fullmetal Alchemist's soundtracks too... :(

• What is the most difficult anime you’ve ever watched?

I'm not really sure what "difficult" means. Among the most frustrating were Neon Genesis Evangelion, Romeo x Juliet, and Loveless though. It surprises me that I managed to finish any of them.

• What was the first anime you remember watching?

My Neighbor Totoro as a Chinese dub, followed by little-known Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh as a Chinese dub (it took me years to track down the title of this). After that it was DiC's Sailor Moon dub on Toonami.

• Do you have a comfort show that you re-watch?

Random episodes of Gundam SEED. I used to rewatch Gravitation a lot, but I've outgrown it, I think.

• What is the most erotic anime you’ve watched?

Uh, uh. Code Gayass? :<

• Which classic should you have watched?

Serial Experiments Lain -- I have a poster and have never seen it. Also, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and I've been meaning to finish the original Mobile Suit Gundam. I'm a shitty Gundam fan!

• Which series did you never want to end?

Not to copy the dude who filled this survey out before me, but it's true that all the best series are those with good endings. I mentioned in my review for it that Mushishi deserves a second season, but now that I think about, it's probably good that it doesn't if they've run out of ideas for it.

• What is your most overrated anime?

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I wanted to stop watching it at episode one, but forced myself through another five because I thought that there had to be something there to make everyone go crazy over it. No. There wasn't. The only thing neat about Haruhi is its dance, which I admittedly know.

• Which character could you have an affair with?

If I were in a relationship in the first place, I probably wouldn't have an affair with a fictional character. ;3

• Who is your favourite character?

Currently, Lelouch vi Britannia of Code Geass.

• Which character do you most dislike?

Light Yagami of Death Note, though that's because he was such a well-written asshole.

• Which character do you identify with most?

...Moritaka Mashiro in the opening two dozen or so pages of Bakuman. Not so much after he gets a fire lit under his ass though. :(

• Which anime changed your life?

It's over-said... but Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z. Both helped to really get me into anime in general. Both got me to start drawing human figures more seriously where before I had concentrated almost exclusively on animals. The latter also catapulted me into online communities and was a huge part of my social life from 2000 to 2003. One of my best friends and roommates at the moment I met then... online on a DBZ forum. ;3 (Oh, god, we're such losers. Holy crap.) Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Nodame Cantabile

Finished the review for Nodame Cantabile!

I'm not sure if I should go ahead and move onto the sequel or wait until its finished airing. My brother is still trying to get me to go through more of Seto no Hanayome, but I'm not really feeling it. I want to check out the Nodame Cantabile live action stuff though -- there's a drama and a special out, right? The live action all takes place in Europe though, so maybe I should wait until I finish the anime's sequel? I also kind of want to check out the manga, though it'd be kind of weird without those long montages of music... plus, it's still on-going, so I'd have a lot of catching up to do, only to wait some more. :P Oh, woe. For these series that have run off and seeped into a dozen different medias, how do you choose what to check out and in what order? Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Ghost in the Shell

After years of being a fan of GitS: Stand Alone Complex, I finally got around to watching the original Ghost in the Shell movie. And here's the review. I'm expecting a rush of "not helpful" feedbacks because I reviewed it negatively, hahaaaaa.

I'm wishing again that users on MAL could actually leave comments on reviews so I know for sure why people think some of mine are "unhelpful," particularly when I think I've reviewed in favor of the general consensus, like my Perfect Blue review. I want to know if it's actually something about my writing or people disagreeing with my opinion. Ah, well.

I just finished Nodame Cantabile, so that review should be coming up soon~. Read the rest of this entry...

Japanese Music You Aren't Listening to but Should

A majority of the music I listen to these days happen to be Japanese. Back in the day, my selection was limited to what I heard in anime opening and ending themes, as well as insert songs and the occasional character image song. These days, though a fair selection of my library have performed an anime song or two, there are quite a bit that haven't. And I've been fortunate enough to have gotten my hands on new, fresh-off-the-press artists too. So I like sharing, 'cause sharing is caring, and because it really surprises me that some of these artists aren't better known because they certainly deserve the attention! Three artists in particular I've been a fan of for a while, and it continues to puzzle me that not many people I know listen to them regularly.

First up is ONE OK ROCK, a rock band formed in 2006 with a pretty modern and Western-influenced style. They usually sing in Japanese but are partial to incorporating a fair bit of English into their lyrics. The English is heavily accented, but once you figure out what they're saying, it usually makes sense, so in that regard, it isn't exactly Engrish. Their general style and some of their subject matter reminds me a bit of ELLEGARDEN also, but they're hardly a clone; in particular, their vocalists' voices have very different edges to them. Taka's vocal range is also a bit more varied, I think; he tackles a good range of notes and has some pretty nice falsettos (I'm a sucker for falsettos, yes?). They're a really energetic bunch all around and have a lot of energy. They're something good to listen to when you're working or in a good mood.

ONE OK ROCK currently has three albums, three singles, and two mini albums out. I definitely recommend their first album, Zeitakubyou. "Etcetera" (エトセトラ = Etosetora) is my favorite single of theirs, though it's pretty different from most of their other stuff in that it's pretty emo, lol. I recently got ahold of their most recently album, Kanjou Effect, and will probably be writing up a First Impressions post when I find some time to sit down and listen to it.

ONE OK ROCK Official Website, MySpace, Blog
Recommended Album: Zeitakubyou
Recommended Songs: Borderline, Koukai Yakunitata Zu, Kemuri, Etcetera

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Next is JYONGRI, a j-pop singer of Korean ancestry who is fluent in both Japanese and English and debuted with her first single in 2006. She also incorporates a lot of English into her lyrics, but as she has a much better grasp of the English language than the members of ONE OK ROCK, the mixing of languages is deliciously smooth -- something that always scores huge points with me. Think of Utada Hikaru and Rie fu's English/Japanese songs; they're that smooth. Her Japanese is pretty unique too in that her pronunciation is a little quirky at times; she annunciates a lot of syllables that are usually dropped or de-emphasized in casual Japanese, such as the first "ku" in "yakusoku."

Her style is very upbeat and energetic... sometimes a little coy. She as a really beautiful and powerful voice, and I love her sustained and higher notes. JYONGRI's lyrics are a little lacking sometimes (and it's more obvious because there's a lot of easy-to-comprehend English), but the general emotion and feeling of her songs are sincere enough that that doesn't matter much to me. "Romeo and Juliet," for example, has some of the most cliche lyrics I've ever heard, but her voice is so pretty when she sings them!

JYONGRI has released two albums and five singles.

JYONGRI Official Website, Blog
Recommended Album: Close to Fantasy
Recommended Songs: Possession (Japanese ver.), Let Me In, Yakusoku, YOUR SONG (Short clips of many of her songs can be found on last.FM)

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Lastly...Akeboshi. What? Seriously? But Akeboshi is the guy that did Naruto's first and thirteenth end themes! "Wind" and "Yellow Moon"! How is he unknown? Really though, I don't think enough people have checked out the guy's other stuff, and I like his other stuff much better than the songs he contributed to Naruto. Akeboshi generally has a very mellow and down-to-earth style that people have called folk, but I don't listen to enough folk to really say. I don't know how to categorize this music, but I know it's soothing and calms me down. Music for a rainy day or for the middle of the night. Occasionally, he'll have more upbeat and even bouncy songs, but the quality of his voice still grounds the sound somehow.

Akeboshi also sings in a mix of Japanese and English, but though he studied in Liverpool for a while, his English remains heavily accented -- a bit easier to understand than ONE OK ROCK, but not nearly as clear as JYONGRI? I love the variety of instruments that show up in his music though: piano, something that kind of sounds like a marimba, violin, harmonica, trumpet ...bagpipe. Seriously, what was the last musician you listened to that used bagpipes?

It's also a little off-topic, but I love looking at Akeboshi's blog -- there's very little in the way of text, but the guy takes some really beautiful photographs. Akeboshi has released three albums, five mini-albums, and a single.

Akeboshi Official Website, Facebook, Blog
Recommended Album: Akeboshi or Yellow Moon (EP)
Recommended Songs: Akikaze no Uta, A Nine Days' Wonder, Peruna, Along the Line
Read the rest of this entry...