Twins

So I've been catching up on some shows that I've been missing, such as ATOM and Keroro. Progress is rather slow, but slowly and steadily, I'm covering some ground. Here's a picture I got:

Kawaii?

But then again, my favourite character (so far) is MiyaMiya. Hilarious and cute.

And the best character in Hidamari also goes by the same name. And cute too.

I have yet to get anything from Comex. Sigh... maybe tomorrow.

Finally, a few pictures full of cuteness from Macross:

Klan showing her girly side

Ranka looking absolutely adorable

Tsun Tsun Klan

MamiMami です

The 大将 just sent me this awesome picture. じ～～～

Rierie's back

Her blog's come back alive actually.

Finally a post after more than two weeks, and it seems like she's not feeling too well. I need to know what is a "夏バテ". From context, i'm guessing it's some illness, but i have to know if it's bacterial or viral or immunogenic so that i know whether to mail her a tub of ampicilin or anti-histamines or just plain old vitamin C.

The pic is of Rierie and her Katekyoushi Hitman Reborn co-star, Kokubun Yukari, whom she refers to as Bun-chan. Rierie got Bun-chan Phantasy Star Portable as a present so that they could play together. Bun-chan apparently trained to Lvl 20 on the demo version, moving Rierie to tears. haha. Reminds me of what i did for FFVIII.

Rierie: 旅の仲間が増えたよぉ～ﾟ+｡(o･ω-人)･.｡* わぁい
Translation: Party member has joined~ *incomprehensible emoticon* wai

Besides that, Rierie posted some news on her upcoming roles.

In 茜色に染まる坂 (Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka) as 椎名観月(Shiina Mitsuki, i think). Seems like a visual novel adaptation, i think she mentioned the game going on sale a few months back.

In 夜桜四重奏 (Yozakura Quartet) as マリアベル (Maria Bell?). Alright! another Maria!

She mentioned two game roles as well, but i don't own a wii and i've given up on my PS2 so i'm not bothering with them. She finds it awesome though, that her character in the PS2 Game shares her birthday - 3 Jan.

Looking forward to her next update, and her concert in New York as well.

Seiyuu Appreciation 101

This is largely for Kagamisumi’s sake, so he’d better be taking notes ‘cos there’s a quiz coming up at the end of the post.

First and foremost, to appreciate a seiyuu, we’ve got to recognize her voice. I say “her” because, seriously, who gives a damn about the guys?

Let’s warm up with a really simple example.

Noto Mamiko, otherwise known as mamimami on this blog and everywhere else, is a good starter seiyuu, for the simple fact that she sounds the same.

In. Every. Single. Show.

The best way to start is to compare these fairly recent examples (you’ve got to go watch the shows yourself, no clips):

Enma Ai (Jigoku Shoujo)
Ichinose Kotomi (Clannad)
Yakumo (School Rumble)
Hecate (Shakugan no Shana)
Kazama Shinji (Full Metal Panic)

After watching these shows, you will most probably find that mamimami has one of the most recognizable voices in anime. Come to think of it, mamimami’s was one of the first seiyuu voices I managed to recognize. Playing “Spot the Noto Mamiko” was quite fun for a while.

If I had to put it in words, I would say mamimami’s roles are characterized by that very distinct airy wispiness, a quality she injects into her singing as well. (Apparently, she enjoys singing that way. The interview is somewhere on ANN.)

Interestingly enough, her voice loses 90% of the wispiness once she’s in spontaneous fast-talking mode. We are able to observe this phenomenon on radio shows and in interviews. Go figure. Here’s a clip from Witchblade Radio showcasing both the ghostly singing and non whispy fast-talk. Click here for clip. The other female voice belongs to her co-host Kanda Akemi.

Alright.

Now that we can recognise mamimami’s voice, the next step is to recognize her in photos, because appreciating (i.e. ogling) them is a big part of seiyuu fanboying.

The one on the left is mamimami. She’s got her hair pulled back in a (delicious) ponytail right here, but she does appear with her hair down quite often, in which case she would remind me of a French poodle. I think the first pic up there is a good example of the poodle look. Good pose too.

Notice I have sneaked Rierie into this post, because we can use every excuse we can get to upload pics of Rierie.

Ok, Quiz Time.

1) Name the following seiyuu.

If you can do it, congrats. You have passed Seiyuu Appreciation 101 with flying colours.

If you can’t, please go watch both very boring seasons of Jigoku Shoujo as homework.

かわいいね！

So what does one do when one discovers a cute picture? Post it here!


So here are two unknown people (to me) posing. Unable to recognize them or read the moonspeak from the site I grabbed this picture from, you will have to enjoy this picture as it is.

As 大将 said, Rierie hasn't updated her blog in ages (in internet time), so I hope everything is going well for her wherever she may be. Reading about her gushing about Fantasy Star Portable is amusing.

In other non-related stuff, Tonari no 801-chan will be animated by KyoAni in 2009. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonari_no_801-chan . Now, reading the short synopsis doesn't really inspire me that much. But it IS romantic comedy+Slice of Life, so as long as the comedy side works, it shouldn't flop. But more importantly, it is animated by KA, so I'll be watching it anyway.

Somewhat related to KyoAni, here's something for the girls who actually pop by here to enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHy4n3RWqjk . 大将, you can grab this video directly from me if you want, from the usual place.

May'n Live

Clip: Southern Cross

First half of the clip was some silly talk btw May’n and the hosts, including an intellectual discussion on taiyaki. The taiyaki thesis was followed by a really hilarious segment where the hosts were supposed to help May’n overcome her shyness.

Their solution? May’n should have her own Original May’n Greeting!

“Caffeine. Spain. I’m May’n. OK~!!”

May’n actually trying out her Original Greeting was truly funny, got to see it for yourself.

2nd half was the live performance of Southern Cross proper, and wow, can she sing or what. She actually sounded good live, unless she was lip-syncing. I hope not, this isn’t the Olympics. I would feel so cheated. Oh, and check out her moves too. She’s quite a dancer. Not the best, but good.

Ok, that was a crappy pic.

Clip: Outdoor performance of Southern Cross

More sizzling song-and-dance. Btw, note the bikini-clad members of the audience.

Clip: Diamond Crab Ass (Chinese subbed)

Awesome song, my favourite for 2008 so far. She sounded a bit off at the beginning, but it’s proof that she sings live, right?

I’ve said this before, but I think Nakjima Megumi and May’n really hit the jackpot by landing their respective role in Macross F. (On a side note, you can probably tell by the lopsided coverage that i'm a Sheryl fan.)

Not every artiste associated with the show managed to ride on its popularity though.

Endo Aya doesn’t seem to be getting much attention as Sheryl’s speaking voice. Oh well, she’s doing great with prominent roles in Angelique, Sekirei and what-have-you so she’s not in danger of starving to death soon. Fukuhara on the other hand… haha… she’s probably the least successful of the Lucky Star alumni. At least Lucky Star OVA’s coming up.

Osu!

Osu! 皆さんこんにちは！私はカガミスミンです！

I've just been added into this blog like... half an hour ago? The Boss, whom I'll address as 大将 from now onwards, has just left the conscious realm and is probably indulging in some private time with his Rierie now. So, what will I be bringing onto the table?

Firstly, I may end up being more focused on shows. Why? Because I actually watch them and am given a free license to comment/rant here. Hence, the question is, why not? Some of my favourite shows thus far (in no particular order): Lucky Star, Full Metal Panic, All Key/KyoAni shows, Azumanga Daioh, Code Geass, Love Hina (why? I don't know myself.), School Rumble, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and lastly (and mostly), The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. How do these shows make it into my favourite list? Most importantly, I'm consistent in watching them, and actually look forward to the next episodes. Also, each of these shows have (at least) a character who is super cute.

Will I be focusing as much on seiyuus? I'll try, but the results won't be fantastic. Why? For one, identifying seiyuus is an epic failure of mine (as proven repeatedly by 大将). Hence, I am unwilling to blatantly flaunt my lack of knowledge here (despite this place having an audience of 1), and much less, to look (too) stupid in the process. Being unable to provide original content for myself, I will have to resort to shameless ripping of images from various sources to entertain you reader(s).

Now what shall I be posting about for my virgin post? Of course (and most expectedly), it will have to be on a character from FMP, Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa. Why does she have this (dubious) honour of being blogged about first? Well, she is undoubtedly my favourite character (as of now) and therefore, she provides ample material for me to rave about. Let us start with a nice picture of her:



There you go. Doesn't she just look so radiant, with her platinum-white hair and glowing skin?

In the Full Metal Panic series, she is the captain of an elite submarine, Tuatha De Danaan, and is part of an anti-terrorist organization known as the Mithril. She consistently provides much humour and hilarity into the show, all the while maintaining her feminine charm and lovableness (otherwise known as being かわいい). She has a love interest, which is unfortunately (for her but not for me) unrequited. 长话短说, she is cute, is very adorable, and ultimately, my favourite.

Personally, I do not have a favourite seiyuu yet, unlike my 大将. This is probably because my knowledge and exposure to all the many seiyuus are still in a very nascent stage, and putting faces and names together happen to be one of my weaker facilities. Out of my fingertips, I can probably just name you around ten of them (and 1 male seiyuu, Ono Daisuke, don't ask me why), and that's about it.

Unfortunately, I have some real-life commitments which do take up quite a bit of my time, and therefore I will not be able blog as often as I may like (unlike some others who can derive sufficient sustenance from blogging[!!!]). Most probably, I will not be posting such long articles very often, unless they kill off C.C. in the next episode (for which I will scream bloody murder and rage here until Sunrise recant of its error). Therefore, this blog will just contain simple posts of me and my 大将, so please do not expect too much.

As it is getting rather late, and I am getting rather tired, I'll end my pioneer post with a nice Tessa-sigh, and I wish that you (all) will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy typing this.



お休みなさい!

Minorin Yukata Montage

我就废话少说了。 请欣赏...

眠れない...

Weekends are shitty. I look forward to them but somehow they always ends up shitty. Once again, I am suffering from insomnia this week.

Time to blog.

Tamura failed to defend her -48kg title. Oh well, it happens. Haven’t been keeping up with Judo news in recent years, but the Olympics is one of the rare occasions when I get news about unsexy sports like Judo in the papers. Tamura Ryouko was one of those inspirational players whose videos I had studied so closely the images would remain in my mind long after the great-grandchildren of my brand new Seagate External Hdd have failed and gone to hardware heaven. I’m surprised she’s still in the sport though. I remember having read a research paper that said judokas have much shorter careers than kendo players bcos of the shorter “engagement distance”. Since a judo match is fought at closer distances than kendo (you can smell your opponent’s unwashed gi), players need quicker reflexes to stay competitive.


As seen above, with increasing age, the advantage from higher EXP lvls is countered by a decreasing Reflex Stat. Judokas usually peak around age 25, whereas kendokas remain competitive into their 30s. Btw, last season’s S-League top scorer was 39, but I think that has got more to do with foreign talent pwning the local players. Hmm, Tamura won her first Olympic medal in Barcelona at 16. That makes her 32. Maybe she should join her fellow Tamura in the Forever-17 Club. Oh ya, she got married and is known as Tani Ryouko now. Can’t stop calling her Tamura though; old people like me are stubborn.

Live Action Azumanga Daioh!!!

Ya, I know it’s a hoax. Been looking for this pic since I read about it on the most reliable source on the Internet. The link on wiki is broken though. (edit: Was broken. Someone fixed it within the last 2 years or so while I wasn’t looking.)

The (fake) actresses for Chiyo-chan and Tomo would have been great for their roles, they fit the images of the characters to a T. Sakaki looks too “mature”. And the boobs are not American, at most a Hawaii. Kagura is cute and sporty but doesn’t look like Kagura; not dark enough. Yomi doesn’t look bookish at all, the glasses feel like props somehow. Plus, she’s not chubby enough. Doesn’t look like a tsukkomi chara either. Osaka is just plain irreplaceable.

Now I start yawning. Great.

Are you thinking what i'm thinking, B1?

I think I am, B2.

It’s drop dead at work time.

Oh man i've been looking for this...

Rie i missed you!

After going AWOL for weeks, Rierie is finally back on her blog. If my sucky jap reading skills aren’t too sucky, it seems like she’s been working so hard, she ended up in hospital yesterday.

Poor Rie!

But she has assured us she’s fine now, so no worries. Sigh, she must have been tired out preparing for the gig in New York this September. Ah, screw the Yankees. I don’t give a damn if their subs are leaking nuclear waste all over the pacific region, just leave my Rierie alone! And they’d better treat her well too, don’t make her cry or strip her at the airport.

Going back to the hospital visit/stay… does it mean that Rierie got probed and prodded by the bloody interns?! And nosy students were flipping through her confidential medical charts to pass the time?!

KNNBCCB&^#%^&!!!

Kagamisumi… Well, too bad, dude. Hug ball, suck thumb.

Btw, I was just wondering… when I mentioned subs earlier, did you think I was referring to fansubs? Haha… the phrase “Indon subs” registers a totally different meaning in my head nowadays.

Oh, almost forgot. Rie says to watch out for her role as ラウリー (Raurii) in the upcoming episodes of Allison & Lillia. Are the producers bringing in reinforcements because they have realized that the Lillia’s story isn’t stacking up very well against the earlier Allison arc?

看什么看！想打架？！

Let’s just talk about the state of public transport on the sunny island where I live, work and watch anime.

On second thought… let’s not. I dun want the Secret Banana Services (SBS) reading this blog. I’m very sure every single organization concerned with public opinion (against them, mostly) has got people trawling blogs and forums.

And on third thought… it’s probably just a perception problem on my part. What right have I to complain about having to run 2 km every morning to get to work because the buses are always packed to the brim with people getting squeezed by the hydraulic doors? Children in Azadistan are trekking 50km for drinking water everyday!! All hail World Class Public Transport!!! 万歳!!!

Oh, one thing the buses are quite good for is entertainment though. (And fitness too, since thanks to them I’m getting my daily cardiovascular workout.) Let’s talk about the fun things that have been happening to me on my daily bus rides.

Encounter with the Reverse-Trap and her Yuri-Friend. Title says it all. Quite a common sight actually, but this particular pair was rather daring, had their arms around each other and stuff. You can’t really blame me for whistling the tune to Candy Boy (though Shoujo Sect’s theme song would have been more fitting, if it had one. Can’t remember.) How did I know the person was a reverse trap? Look out for the Adam’s apple, or lack thereof. For example, this meido-san has a very prominent one:

Cursing Schoolgirls. You have to hear this yourself to truly appreciate the awesomeness, but a brief transcript is the best I can give.

女子生徒A: FUCK YOU.
女子生徒B: Fuck 球? 人家Fuck CB 你Fuck球?

Awesome? Would you rate this higher or lower than fucking job on the awesomeness scale?

Note: I had no idea how CB is written in Chinese. After consulting my trusty dictionary, I found that the archaic word for CB is 膣, pronounced zhi4. That’s probably the ‘chee’ in CB. Googled it and ended up with a bunch of Japanese sites so the kanji is probably used in both languages. And from the context of the sites, I’m guessing it means the same thing in Jap too.

Note 2: I realized I’ve been swearing like a trooper on this blog lately. Well, technically I am a soldier so I guess I’m exempt from politeness, human rights, National Day holidays and all the other trappings of civil society. My vocation?

ASA～ ASA だよ～

Yukana in Yukata

It’s a Yukana in a yukata. I just thought she looked mighty cute.

Yukanas in yukata are coming down the stairs,
Yukanas in yukata are coming down in pairs,
Yukanas in yukata are chasing teddy bears,
'Cause on Tuesdays they all try to catch them unawares!

Seems like I haven’t updated in ages. Wow. Not that I haven’t been writing, I had just submitted a 15-page report to god-knows-who last week, together with 360+ pages of annexes. Good luck to whichever bastard who’s going to read the damn thing.

I could upload my masterpiece-of-shit report as filler but I’ve got a feeling bad things will happen. So let’s just keep this blog totally apolitical and full of porn. Actually I’ve been churning out proper blog stuff; it’s just that somehow all my draft posts end up as one, two-liners. Since I can’t sleep, I’ve decided to clobber a month’s worth of one-liners into a totally disjointed Frankenstein-like post. Do not expect any logical flow of thoughts ahead.

First up, Rierie’s computer was down for 2 weeks bcos of a virus, explaining the lack of activity on her blog. Kagamisumi says it is bcos she surfs porn. That guy is a paed, I won’t believe his lies. My blog has been lacking activity as well, mostly because of work (or slavery, however you want to put it. Apparently slaves nowadays live pretty well. Just ask C. Ronaldo.)

I was going to finish up my summer first impressions, but since we’re already five episodes into the season - screw it.

Haven’t been watching much anime, wasting time on Battle Moon Wars instead. Akiha (Tsukihime’s resident Tsundere imouto chara) is quite broken, she’s got some youkai ability that just shrugs off the damage. Which reminds me, Itou Shizuka (Akiha’s seiyuu) has got a blog up and running just recently:

http://ameblo.jp/beerlover-shizuka/

What an apt url, cos she seems to be quite a drinker.

I did watch the 3rd Kara no Kyoukai movie though. The first two movies totally didn’t prepare me for the level of explicitness in this one, so I happily started up the movie while everyone else was still up and walking around. The first sight that greeted me (and whoever happened to be looking over my shoulder) was mamimami’s character’s boobs. Yay.

Didn’t realize till last week that I am actually due for promotion, i.e. get paid $70 more a month. Ooh, Level UP.

The catch is I’ve got to clear the bloody Eye Pee Pea Tea first. The longer I take to pass the fucking job fitness test, the longer I have to wait for my pathetic stripes. They really should take pity on old men. Oh well, at least I’m getting time-off to train. Maybe I’ll scribble another Lucky Stripes 4koma to commemorate my character class upgrade to Corporal Potato.

Cookhouse food is nice, bcos it is free of charge. The bus rides are not nice, bcos they aren’t free. Weekend duty is coming up next week, but we don’t get paid for OT, which sucks. And as old as I may be, I think there might be a generation gap between me and my boss. Seriously, I dread speaking to her bcos I have no idea if I’m being understood. Haha… ok, I’m exaggerating a bit. She’s probably a nice lady, if only a bit too pushy when it comes to sharing her faith.

Somehow, Tomoyo has been a real inspiration for me these past 4 weeks. Seriously, I mean it. She’s got a big heart (and I don’t mean pathological hypertrophy). Whenever some bugger pisses me off, remembering how Tomoyo shrugged off all the insults and accusations makes me feel better somehow. Yay for Clannad 24!

Btw, I am scheduled to attend some all-expenses-paid Bahasa courses because, well… you know. It’s a good chance to get reacquainted with the language, letting my training go to waste was quite a pity. Right now, whenever I try to say something in Malay, I’d subconsciously end off with a です or say some other nonsense which is a mix of four to five languages/dialects. Once, I almost asked the auntie selling epok-epok “Berapa desuka?”. This is what happens if your language foundations are as fucked up as mine.

I’m really hoping though, maybe one day Truly Asia’s southern neighbour (the tiny one) would go pick a fight with Japan or something. That way, I can probably con my bosses into sending me for Japanese language classes. Too bad no one gives a damn about Japan in this region, besides anime fans/otaku and probably Odex. Even the local TV stations show nothing but K-drama with bad dubbing.

Oh screw it. It’s 4am and I haven’t slept a wink. I’m so going to drop dead in the office later.