Hayate no Gotoku Season 2

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-03-29/hayate-the-combat-butler-anime-second-season-leaked

Looking back on the first season, i think HnG started rather strongly with it's wacky humour but went into a slump about 10 eps in since you can only do parodies for so long before the bleeping gets really old. It's not exactly like Gintama where there's at least a plot and the parody episodes are not as frequent but really make me LOL when they do come along.

i kind of adjusted my expectations for the show halfway in and it felt like the show got better somehow. Maybe it's just bcos it coincided with increased Maria fanservice which definitely helps any show. Towards the end of the season, i found myself looking forward to Hayate every week, expecting a light comedy that doesn't guarantee any lols but would definitely bring a few chuckles and moe moments without fail.

i'm pretty much looking forward to the second season, bcos even if it totally ran out of gas and the gags got old, at least there's more Tanaka Rie.

Here's hoping season 1 ends with a bang tomorrow.

Mr Bunny's in the sky...

... waving a bunny hand down at them; The Moon is so big, “Oh God damn!”

Thought Kyoto's bunny was a bit too pink and happy so i gave Mr Bunny a new look to match the mood of the After Story.

Clannad Season 2 Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH5lRXF5q8w.

There's a better quality one on Tokyo Toshokan, but there's nothing much to see really. I mean half the footage was ripped from the first season's OP and it's only 15 secs long. So we get 7.5 secs of new footage featuring Nagisa glomping Tomoya rather aggresively and Ushio hiding behind a door.

At least it serves to drive home the message that NAGISA IS GOING TO DIE!!!!

Tanaka Rie Fanboying

This is old news but Tanaka Rie is in the cast for Eve no Jikan, a Sci-fi anime movie which premiered yesterday. I’m not sure what it’s about, since I ‘m too lazy to try and decipher the movie’s homepage, but it appears that Rie is playing some android character. Oh, and the movie is rated 18+ only. Several other seiyuu that I like are in the show too (Satou Rina, Sawashiro Miyuki, Sugita Tomokazu), so I’ll probably watch it if it’s available here later (or when someone decides to sub it =p).

Off the top of my head, the only spring series that I remember having Rie in it is Macross Frontier. There might be others but I’m not checking so that I can be pleasantly surprised later on. With Kimikiss having just ended and Hayate as well as KimiAru coming to an end this weekend, the only Rie shows that I’m following will be Mnemosyne and whatever's coming up. Of course there’s Burst Angel and Azumanga that’s currently on TV but I only watch them on and off.

Rie mentioned on her blog that she’s been plagued by pollen and heavy rains recently. Just a few days ago, she had her umbrella blown out of shape outside the Nippon Broadcasting System building (she co-hosts ミューコミ, a late night radio show, on Thursdays).

That’s her in the studio with a box of Monster Hunter Portable 2ndG on her head. Apparently she's still mad over it. I don’t know who the other guy is and I don’t really care. (Ok, he’s actually the regular host Yoshida Hisanori, who also voiced Aspergillus Niger in Moyashimon.)

She also mentioned that she’s into flowers lately, which inspired my origami post. My Japanese is really sucky but she seems to be saying that she enjoys talking to them. 0_0

Random picture from around her birthday back in January. Lucky cake...

And Nekomimi Rie from her birthday concert.

Evangelion: 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone

Watched the new Eva movie yesterday with my old Chemistry tutor (henceforth referred to as Nikuman), who has never heard of Evangelion before. I was kind of worried that the movie would bore me if it was just a recap, but thankfully the pacing was quick enough to keep things interesting. And the new look angels were rather awesome, especially that cube guy (I forget its name. It’s been what, 10 years?). The spruced up action scenes were great too (Loved Unit 01 with the gatling gun. Brings back memories of KOSMOS.) The plot, on the other hand, was just as confusing as before. I’ll illustrate this point using my conversation with Nikuman after the movie.

Me: You were sleeping just now.
Nikuman (who had slept only 1.5 hours the previous night): Yeah, for a bit at the beginning. The action scenes were good.
Me (staring at the screen as the cast list rolled): I never knew Ohara Sayaka was in this.
Nikuman: Who?
Me: Never mind.
Nikuman: Why didn’t they kill the thing locked underground?
Me: The Evas were cloned from that.
Nikuman: They could have killed it after cloning the Evas.
Me: I dunno.
Nikuman: Why are the angels attacking humans?
Me: I dunno.
Nikuman: Who’s the guy at the end?
Me: He’s an angel.
Nikuman: So the angels came from that planet?
Me: I dunno. That scene wasn’t in the original.
Nikuman: So how did the original end?
Me: I dunno. I think everyone died but no one knows for sure.
Nikuman: So I’m not the only one who doesn’t get the plot?
Me: Ya, I think so.

That said, it’d not actually as bad as I have just made it out to be. Since this is just the 1st installment in a series of four movies, there’s still plenty of room to flesh out the plot and explain some mysteries. And there were already hints in this one that they’re going to finally unravel the mystery behind the angels and Human Instrumentality. Some clues that weren’t in the original include the revelation that Lilith had made some kind of deal with Nerv, and that Shinji is being deliberately driven towards Rei by the Nerv commanders. Can’t wait for the next movie.

Btw, I just saw this on ANN. This is like reading about Kyoani giving us an instant Clannad remake with enhanced CG starfishes instead of the After-story or Tomoyo H-OVA.

And if you're lurking around on my blog, Nikuman, i'd appreciate it if you said hi or something so i know whether i can badmouth you in the future.

Dumpling Big Family (団子大家族 Doujin Lyrics)

Some time ago, my 7 year old cousin came over asking for help with a school assignment. It was suppose to be a poem. The cousin had somehow decided on the title "Cookery Pookery" but no one had any idea what it was suppose to mean, including the cousin. In fact, that title sounded rather vulgar in dialect.

i thought about it over a lunch of curry chicken and came up with this:

Once there was a cookery,
Which served nothing except curry.
It smelled so bad like *censored*
Thus it was called The Pookery.

Obviously, the cousin refused to submit that for homework, so back to the drawing board we went. She was rather adamant about keeping her homework squeaky-Odex-level clean, and i can't write poems unless it's vulgar. We were at an impasse. (Not really, since i could have just left her to die but i thought i'd be nice to kids for once.)

Then, a brainwave hit me. Why not just pinch the lyrics for Dango Daikazoku? It's clean and wholesome with a sophistication level befitting a 7 year old and, most important of all, her teacher would never know it was plagiarised. Well, if the teacher recognised it, he/she would probably break out into a fit of "puhi-puhi"s and award a grade of AAA+. I definitely would.

So did the teacher get a Clannad-gasm?

No... because we ended up submitting a poem about a little slime climbing a lime. Ya, totally wasted, i know. But i got the English "translation" done anyway, so here it is. It's set to the TV ver. Dango Daikazoku tune.

Dumpling Big Family

Dumpling, Dumpling, Dumpling, Dumpling,
Dumpling Big Family.

These 2 lines were censored away
For implied dumpling orgy.

Everyone, everyone get together,
Very big family.

Stupid Baby Dumpling is always surrounded by happiness.
Grandpa and Grandma Dumplings are plagued by drowsiness.

Best of friends, the Dumplings
They link their hands and dance round and round the place in a gigantic ring.

Building Dumpling City on Dumpling Planet
Everyone surfing on the Net. (Sorry, couldn’t make the original line rhyme.)

Mr. Bunny’s in the sky, waving a bunny hand down at them;
The Moon is so big, “Oh God damn!”

Very happy things
And not so very happy things;
Everything is found in this thing.

***

i tried to limit myself to a 7 year old's vocabulary. So how's it? Good? Any suggestions on how to fix that line about the Internet? =p

Roses are Red, Sofas are Beige

Today, i shall showcase a useless skill of mine: Origami Roses.

Step 1: Take the KFC catalogue that the friendly postman has stuffed into your mailbox and place it nicely on the table like so.

Step 2: Cut out a strip from the catalogue length-wise like so. Try not to use the pages with the discount coupons bcos you never know when you'll be eating at KFC. The width i'm used to is about 2 cm. You can make it wider, you'll just get a "taller" rose. Btw, you can use a longer strip to get a bigger rose, but that is the longest we can go with our KFC catalogue.

From now on i'll be referring to the Left and Right end of the strip so keep the orientation of your strip the same as in the picture, unless you're left-handed, in which case you might want to reverse the Ls and Rs. It's not a must though, some steps are just easier to perform with the master hand. (But the off-hand might be good once in a while too, just to spice things up.)

Step 2: Fold the Left end of the strip diagonally inwards and downwards like so.

Step 3: Now fold the Left end inwards like so. Notice it's not the same strip as just now. It's just a continuity error, so don't go tear yourself another strip.

The top view should look like this.

And the front view like this.

Step 4: Now roll the the Left end inwards like a popiah. if you don't know what's a popiah, you can roll it like a chee chiong fun, or a cigar, or a swedish "klämma" with surströmming, potatoes and red onion on a "tunnbröd" with butter besides a glass of milk.

Strange that after rolling it like a popiah it now looks like a Cornetto ice cream cone.

Step 5: Wrap the strip that is dangling out of your Cornetto cone around your Right thumb. Your thumb will serve as a "mould" for the petals from now on.

Step 6: Now fold the part that has been moulded round your thumb down slightly so that it stays in shape. The fingers on your left hand should move to help hold it down.

Step 7: Do the wrap round your thumb thing again on the next portion of strip that is now sticking out, rotating the cornetto towards you so that the petals you are folding go round the cornetto.

Step 8: Repeat the previous step again and again until you get something like this or you have run out of paper strip.

Side view looks like so, with a stalk sticking out. But i'm sure you would have noticed the stalk by now since it's just the remnants of the cornetto you've been holding with your left hand the whole time.

Step 9: Take your last bit of strip (about 2 cm or so), and wrap it tighly round the stalk so that it stays there, preferably permanently. You could tie it up with a piece of wire or staple it down, up to you.

There, finished.

From the top.

And the side.

Mini preview of what a bouquet would look like.

Cost of an entire bouquet of 999 roses? Zero dollars.

Perfect for upcoming birthdays/anniversaries/valentine's/Mother's day when you're short of cash. I've no idea what would happen if you gave those to a guy though. And now i feel so sorry for making fun of Tanaka Rie's photography. i threw up blood to come up with those out of focus pictures. Need more EXP.

Clannad Has Ended (Sort of)

So Clannad ends at 22, with the next few eps being extras.

I've no idea what to say abt the last ep except it doesn't feel like the show has ended. This particular Key adaptation feels rushed and incomplete. "Anticlimatic" would be the word to describe this. Sigh... All that unrealised tear-jerking potential.

Kyou & Ryou's story got screwed, Tomoyo's arc got screwed... Sigh... The only characters who got proper arcs were Fuuko and Kotomi. Fuuko! Of all people!

Sigh... The tear-jerkiness probably peaked in ep9 at the end of Fuuko's story. Kotomi's arc was rather bah, probably cos i screwed it for myself by listening to the drama cd which spoiled the teddy bear suitcase at the end.

Tomoyo's "arc" was a footnote. Sigh... All i can remember of Kyou's story is the PE storeroom and her Haruhi impersonation during the basketball match, but then again the match was part of Nagisa's story wasn't it?

Sigh... i feel cheated.

But looking on the bright side, i did get loads of Kyou-service so...

YAY!!!!

おめでとう！

おめでとう！

おめでとう！

おめでとう！

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

Sigh... How long it has been since that other anticlimatic ending...

By the way, i'm changing wallpapers from this...

To this.
Martial Kingdom 2 (天下霸图 贰). It's a Taiwanese game. Got it for RM7. Tujuh ringgit. Of course it's the not so original version. I've been hunting for it in local stores for months, but it appears no one is carrying it. Managed to find MK 1 in the most challenging local computer store though. Bought that one for 19 bucks. (Forgot my membership discount card or it would have been 16 bucks.)

Gameplay wise this game is very similar to Dungeon Keeper and Theme Hospital, only with an Wuxia (武侠) setting and minus the wacky humour. Basically you manage a pugilistic sect in Ming Dynasty China and beat the stuffing out of other sects.

Most of the game consists of watching your disciples scurrying about performing menial tasks like woodcutting or growing vegetables. You can't slap them or strap them to the torture table though, which is a pity.

Kind of fun for a simulation game, but the gameplay can be a bit slow, especially the turn based battles in MK1. On average each battle takes me about an hour to play through. Imagine the boredom when the enemy has 5000+ hitpoints but you're dealing only 100-odd damage each turn even with 10 characters gangbanging him. I haven't played MK2, but i sure hope they did something about this.

So that'll be my wallpaper until someone decides to translate Muvluv. Or until someone decides to animate Nagisa and Ushio's glorius death. Oops, spoiler. =p

Btw again, i cursed myself when i saw the RM7 version of Blue Blaster. Oh well, at least i got the nice box and the instruction manual full of typos.

Mahoromatic

My new favourite meido-san...

Is a kickass combat android at the end of her operational lifespan...

Who decides to live out her remaining days as a combat meido...

Occasionally cosplaying a meganekko...

And providing lots of fanservice.

Ain't she the kawaii?

Art

Kobayashi Yu's Tissue Art.

My Matric Art.

So who's the greater artist?

Oh My Gods...

If you thought true tears wasn't soppy enough...

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-03-17/anime-for-korean-winter-sonata-tv-drama-hit-confirmed

I had a laughing fit when i saw that headline, and i haven't even watched more than half an episode of the drama. Oh well, i kind of enjoyed true tears after all (poor Noe) so maybe i'll give it an ep or two when it comes out like next year or something. Maybe if they got kyoani to animate it....

Nah.

They're better off animating the Tomoyo After H-OVA.

Tanaka Rie's FFXI avatar in Dancer gear. 赤いバラの飾りが可愛い☆ﾐ

I spent the whole day marking high school English exam scripts and couldn't finish up Mahoromatic. (Stuck at ep8) Marking 80+ scripts in one day sucks. Penalizing them for every nitty-gritty mistake was strangely therapeutic though.

HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA....

Truly Asian Trip

Due to unforeseen circumstances i had to leave KL 3 days earlier and couldn't get much ice cream making done. I swept the floor and mopped the toilet though. But, I didn't leave KL empty handed...

I learnt to make delicious milk pudding!! =)

I can't post the recipe here though or i'll get sued worse than if i got odexed.

And that's not the only thing i got. I have managed to add the following titles to my DVD collection:

Maria-sama ga Miteiru (Features Notomami, Itou Shizuka, Ikezawa Haruna, etc. I heard a new season's coming up or something so i thought i'll take a look. Anyway it has lesbians so it can't be too bad.)
Black Lagoon (Toyoguchi Megumi. Action galore.)
Code Geass (Yukana, Koshimizu Ami... Table humping... 'nuff said.)
NHK ni Yokoso (I dunno who's in this one actually, but it looks so wacky i just had to give it a try.)
XXXHolic (Ohara Sayaka, Itou Shizuka... It's by Clamp. My last experience with their work was X the Movie donkey years ago. Just for reference they did Chobits and Cardcaptor Sakura too. Another one with an upcoming season i think.)
Mahoromatic (Kawasumi Ayako!!!! Btw, i dreamt abt her while i was in KL. Dreamt i met her at the supermarket and she drove me home. She was so sweet... =p I think i'm going mad from all the milk pudding and mango sorbet i've been eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner.)
Appleseed Ex Machina (The 1st movie had Matsuoka Yuki but i dunno abt this one)
Vexille (??? Bought this on a whim.)
The Warlords (Chinese movie starring Jet Li, Andy Lau and that Kaneshiro Takeshi. Notice this is the only title in which i can name more guys than girls. Freaking bloody movie full of manly tears. Kaneshiro's sissy-boy face looks bloody out of place in that movie though.)

And there goes all of my salary for the month of February. If you haven't noticed, quite a bit of those are Odexed. =) I think i'll eventually end up with a tonne of Sunrise and Gonzo DVDs. Sadness.

I'm still in Johore btw, won't be back for a few more days. Finally found an internet connection, so i'm updating.

ICE MONSTER

I'm now in KL, capital of Truly Asia, eating mango pudding for free at a nice little shop called Ice Monster.

That link is to the Taiwanese site since the boss of the Truly Asian branch didn't have a site of their own. I think she is just lazy.

And i'm helping out with R&D Ice cream btw.

You

あなたは今何処で　何をしていますか？
この空の続く場所にいますか？

今まで私の心を埋めていたモノ
失って初めて気づいた
こんなにも私を支えてくれていたこと
こんなにも笑顔をくれていたこと

失ってしまた代償は
とてつもなく大きすぎて
取り戻そうと必死に
手を伸ばして　もがくけれど
まるで風のように　すり抜けて
届きそうで　届かない

孤独と絶望に胸を締めつけられ
心が壊れそうになるけれど
思い出に残る　あなたの笑顔が
私をいつも励ましてくれる

もう一度　あの頃に戻ろう
今度はきっと大丈夫
いつもそばで笑っていよう
あなたのすぐそばで

あなたは今何処で　何をしていますか？
この空の続く場所にいますか？
いつものように笑顔でいてくれますか？
今はただ　それを願い続ける


***


I decided to type it out since that Higurashi video with the lyrics is too bloody. Ok, it's nothing compared to say, Mnemosyne, but a machate vs baseball bat duel is still pretty distracting when you're trying to sing along.

Watched the 2nd ep of Mnemosyne a few days back. Rie doesn't appear in this one, but Mimi (the other Rie) was feeding Rin (Noto Mamiko) vodka mouth to mouth so i guess it's not a bad episode. And Rin had to dig a thumbdrive-like thing out of her informant's, urm, orifice, which was interesting. i don't think thumbdrives were around in 1991 right? i still remember playing games on 5.25 inch floppies. And i have like 10 times more RAM now than i had hard disc space back then. Listening to Mimi rant about that PC with the 16 bit 40MHz CPU, 128 Mb RAM and 300Mb Hdd sure cracked me up.

(I went back to watch that digging scene again. It's not like i'm interested in the anatomical excavation or the naked boobs or anything, just checking if it really was a thumbdrive. No, it wasn't.)

Talking about the 2 Ries, Kugimi won Best Supporting Actress at the Seiyuu Awards for her role as Nagi. Haha, the real heroines of Hayate no Gotoku are Maria and Ayasaki Hermione you see. Nagi is a supporting character. And i still can't believe Choco Coronet won for Best Actress. I was rooting for Nodame... I wouldn't have minded if Hirano won best singer for Sora Ga Ai Deshou or Chala Head Chala though. =p

One more thing. There was a Misuzu look-alike in Clannad 19. One of Sanae's students. She appeared at about 15:55. It might have been Kawakami Tomoko who voiced her too, haha. I would make her do it if i were in charge. I mean she did go down to record 2 lines as The Girl anyway.

Tanaka Watch

Tanaka Rie spent the previous weekend playing Monster Hunter again. And she managed to obtain the complete 祖竜装備 (Ancestral Dragon Equipment), whatever that is. That is a pic of her party that day, consisting of some of her non-seiyuu friends. She's 2nd from the right.

Rie's rendezvous with her lesbian lover yesterday. The cafe was recommended to her by Ikezawa Haruna. Ok, i lied. That's her cousin, Minori. (No not that Minori.) Anyway, my point is good genes run in the family.

Btw, Ikezawa seems to be some kind of foodie who likes recommending restaurents to people. This is the 3rd time this week thatRie has thanked Ikezawa for her recommendations on her blog, referring to her as Ikezawa Haruna-sama at one point.

Rie at the date with her cousin. Photo taken by the cousin. If you look at the background you will notice that they swopped seats to take the photos. Just thought it's a very girlish thing to do. The photo of her cousin looks a bit overexposed but this one looks fine though. Which might say something about Rie's photography skills. =p

This is just a random pic of Rie telling you to bring out your pink Zaku Gunpla and Suigintou figures for the Hinamatsuri.

The Legend of Zunderella - Part Three

CHAPTER NINE

DONG!

"OH SHI-!"

Zunderella was squatting in deepshit alright. She didn't have enough money to cover the Taxi's midnight charge so she's going to have to get on a cab before the twelfth “DONG!” or walk all the way home.

DONG!

"I have to go!"

Actually she could have asked the prince for a lift and the parting scene could have been all romantic like the one with Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. But since Zunderella is a sticker for fairy tale traditions, we're getting this shitty scene. Blame her if you want.

DONG!

"But I don't even know your real name yet!"

DONG!

"But I told you already!"

DONG!

"I forgot!"

DONG!

"I'm -”

DONG!

"What? You’re a Dong??"

DONG!

"NO!! ARGHH!!! I give up! I really have to go! Bye! Ciao! Sayonara!"

DONG!

"Wait up!"

DONG!

"NANNY NANNY POO POO! YOU CANNOT CATCH ME!"

DONG!

"But I’m still holding on to your silicon padded push-up bra that i accidentally ripped off as i was clinging on to you for dear life while you swung from chandelier to chandelier fending off the shape shifting monsters with your toothbrush and you maintained the squatting posture throughout that action sequence!"

DONG!

Zunderella probably did not hear that last one, for by the twelfth “DONG!” she was already safely inside a taxi and on her way home.



CHAPTER TEN

The following day, the headlines of The Recent Thing That You Write On Or Wrap Things With read thus:

"PRINCE SEARCHING FOR BRA OWNER
The Prince is currently searching for the owner of a silicon padded push-up bra. The Prince reportedly accidentally ripped off the bra as he was clinging on to the owner for dear life while she swung from chandelier to chandelier fending off shape shifting monsters with her toothbrush and she maintained a squatting posture throughout that action sequence. The palace has decreed that all must submit themselves for bra-fitting in order to identify the mystery owner. The public is advised to remain at home and await further instructions while the Royal Bra-fitter makes his rounds."

The whole country was now buzzing with excitement. Women, and non-traditional men, all over the land are now dizzy with the prospect of marrying the prince. Do note that nowhere in the announcement was it mentioned that the mystery owner will be marrying the prince. For all they know the mystery owner could be wanted for High Treason, Unnatural Sex Acts and Crimes Against Humanity.



CHAPTER ELEVEN

It was now Zunderella's turn to get fitted.

Lili, Lulu, Lala, and of course, Tes, anxiously await their turn. Wily old Tes, aware of the fairy tale convention that the true owner must be the last one to try on the bra, had arranged the line-up such that Zunderella went first and she herself last.

Zunderella's fingers trembled as she reached around to clasp the bra.

It was the moment of truth.

...

...

...

"Eh?"

"Too small. Next!", announced the Royal Bra-fitter matter-of-factly. If you're wondering which was too small, he was referring to the bra.

Zunderella's mouth was hanging wide open, probably with shock. She was practically bursting out of the bra that she had fit so snugly into just the night before. How can this be?

Well, unbeknownst to her, she had gained tonnes of Experience Points (EXP) while fighting the shape shifting monsters and had Leveled Up.



CHAPTER TWELVE

Ok, let's speed the story up a bit.

Tes was obviously quite happy that her strategy worked somewhat. But too bad for her, it was Lala who managed to fit into the bra. Not too big a problem though, for the prince is open to the idea of fivesomes, and Lili, Lulu, Lala and Tes entered the palace with the prince and they lived happily ever after.

Zunderella, now rid of her oppressive Evil Stepmother and 3 Evil Older Stepsisters, set out to make a name for herself with her newfound monster slaying skills. She traveled to distant lands, protecting the weak and helping the poor, in the process Leveling Up many times and finding freedom and ultimate happiness, as I had promised earlier.

And that was how the Legend of Zunderella came to be.

Famous as she was, though, one thing about her remains a mystery.

No, it is not her real name.

Her name's Maria.

To this day...

No one...

Not a single soul...

Knows why Zunderella squats.


THE END

The First Sign of The Apocalypse

The End Is Nigh!!! Repent!!!

Ok, i lied.

The title was suppose to be "The First Sign that You've Been Reading Too Many Seiyuu Blogs" but i thought it was a bit too long and unwieldy. Let's just say this post was inspired by a really stupid dream i had a few nights ago.

Hmm... where should i begin...

In my dream i was watching TV. I know that is also a sign that i watch too much TV. Ok.

The programme that was on TV was a Taiwanese awards show. Kind of like the Golden Horse Awards. Don't ask me how i knew it was Taiwanese.

What was really interesting about this particular awards show was that one of the nominees is, of all people, Watanabe Akeno. Only that it's not entirely her bcos she's got the face of Hirohashi Ryou. Don't ask me why i can recognise her as Watanabe Akeno when she has someone else's face, that's how my dreams work. I once dreamt of Noto Mamiko with a face about 3 times more attractive than her current one. (And no, it's not that kind of dream.)

If you're interested in what Watanabe was doing at the show, she was nominated for her role as a tennis player in a Taiwanese drama serial. Don't ask why.

And you know award shows have entertainment segments right? This particular one had several Taiwanese comedians putting up a skit. In Japanese. With Traditional Chinese and Jap subtitles. I mean i could read the subtitles and match it to what i'm hearing. And i remember in my dream i was thinking "Oh, so the Taiwanese are good at Jap. Actually not surprising since they used to be a Japanese colony or something".

Then came the commercial break.

I only remember one commercial and it was a Mazda ad. I'm quite sure i've never seen this ad before in real life because it featured Watanabe Akeno (again with the face of Hirohashi Ryou) speaking Mandarin. By the way, she was telling me in mandarin to visit Japan. (FYI, Noto Mamiko was the one who provided voiceovers for a Mazda ad in real life.)

After the the break was a performance. Guess who came on stage?

Chihara Minori.

She had her own face though. I was quite sure it wasn't a Jeanette Aw who had put on 5 kgs.

This is what Chihara would look like if she lost 5 kgs. =)

But i like her the way she is now so it's better if she didn't try to diet and look like Aw. If only she would do something about her sickeningly nasally voice.

As i was saying, Chihara came on stage and was going to sing. But there was some kind of technical glitch and the background music wouldn't play. Chihara was like "oops" and shrugging her shoulders on stage when some backstage guy walked up and handed her a set of headphones. She put on the headphones, which i assumed was playing the music, and started to sing. But before she was done with the first line the music came back on.

Yay.

I can't remember what song she sang but i remember it being very familiar cos i was singing along. And it wasn't one of her own songs. Probably Shimatani Hitomi's or somebody else's.

Later on there was a mass dance kind of thing with everyone on stage in power ranger costumes. Including Chihara and Watanabe. It was like some weird Hare Hare dance.

And I woke up.

The Secret Behind the Whispers of 地獄少女

Apparently there's an ANNtv thing and this week they had an interview with Noto "my brothers are useless" Mamiko.

Right here: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ann-tv/2008-03-01

For some reason the interviewer kept asking her questions about her singing. Just thought it was weird since her anime roles outnumber her songs like 100 to 1 or something. He did manage to uncover an interesting nugget of Mami info though.

Noto was asked if she sings in her trademark "whisper voice" bcos she has to stay in character and the reply was that's just the way she likes to sing. Her response was kind of amusing. I can't help but laugh when i imagine her in a karaoke box. Maybe we should have a Noto Mamiko karaoke album just like the Lucky Star one. It'll be tough to beat Hirano Aya's Sore ga Ai Deshou in the comedy department though.