Merry Christmas!

(Not that i give a damn actually, but it makes a good title when I can't think of anything else.)

Nine days till Rierie hits the big THREE-O. I've been enjoying her role as Yuri sensei, Toradora's resident 30 y/o ticking biological time bomb. Didn't think she needed to act for that one. =p

Earlier in the month, in a blog post regarding a live-recording for Hayate Radio, Rie quipped that she's totally pumped at getting such young roles (Maria, 17-sai) when she's already pushing 30. As usual, she'll 頑張って行きます～～！

(The post featured a rierie in Miko mode too, but no pics here cos i left the high quality version behind at home. Maybe later. I'm loafing at work now. Edit: fixed.)

Btw, she claims to have spent Christmas eve playing Dissidia: Final Fantasy. How romantic. I love her even more now.

Kebab = Dubai?

Realise I’ve been awol for a while. Time sure flies. Everyone in the office is in a festive mood by now - not much is happening. Managed to complete (to some extent) all three projects I had on hand at the beginning of Dec too, so I’m going a bit easier. Got to come up with new stuff to write about soon though; I’m way behind the rather unrealistic target of two papers a month.

How I wish I could submit a paper like this:

RESEARCH REPORT: A LOOK AT KATO EMIRI’S
IMAGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

OVERVIEW

1. Seiyuus are getting cuter, especially the chicks. Using Kato Emiri as a case study, this paper is an excuse to showcase her cuteness though it pretends to examine how seiyuu manage their image in the media so as to appear cute at all times.

BACKGROUND

2. Kato Emiri (加藤 英美里, born 26 Nov 1983) is a female (I hope) Japanese voice actress working for 81 Produce. Kato hates bugs and loves Snoopy. Google Translate thinks she is Hirano Aya for some inexplicable reason. (Actually this would make a nice research topic in itself; unfortunately, it is outside the scope of this paper.) She has played Maid in Pumpkin Scissors, in addition to Announcer; Female High School Student 1; Friend B; Housewife B; Maid; Shop assistant; and Voice of Flower in xxxHolic.

KATO EMIRI’S IMAGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

3. From our observation of her promotion photos, it is likely that Kato Emiri’s image management strategy is anchored upon a single core tactic: she keeps her mouth shut. Real tight. Like so:

4. This has proven to be a rather successful strategy, for she looks really cute in these photos.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STRATEGY

5. This strategy is not without its drawbacks. Candid photos and television screenshots by mean otakus offer the greatest challenge to Emiri’s image control attempts. Observe:

6. The proliferation of such mean-spirited screenies on image boards like Seiup (and this blog) is possibly the greatest threat to the preservation of Emirin’s kawaii image. (Note: No one has actually done the threat assessment. I’m just saying that there might be an iota of a chance that it might have been possibly so in a remotely probable kind of way - so that you can’t fault me if it’s not true in any way.)

POSSIBLE COUNTERMEASURES (See, I said possible again…)

7. The simplest and most straightforward solution would be for Emirin to stop appearing on TV shows or DVD specials or whatever, but that would deprive Kagamisumi of his Emirin videos on youtube, the consequences of which are possibly somewhat disastrous for him.

8. Another straightforward solution would be braces. Buddha knows why she hasn’t got them already. I was under the impression that Japan had pretty good school health services. Maybe the doctors are only interested in measuring school girls’ boobs. Incidentally, Kagamisumi is of the opinion that she needs her teeth the way they are right now to produce her moe voices. I seriously don’t think so.

9. Ventriloquism. Now that would be interesting. Just imagine the “Emirin & Kagamin Show”!

10. Embrace the fact that she has been blessed with a set of menacing incisors plus canines, and audition for the next live-action installment of Resident Evil.

CONCLUSION

11. Actually I like her the way she is. The teeth are kind of cute if you stare at them long enough. As always, there is no point.

Macross Frontier!

Ok finally finished Macross Frontier (at long last)! Wow I actually missed out quite a bit by not finish this, some of the songs are nice! Now I kind of understand why all the Sheryl fans are all crazy over Motteke! song.

But a song that really caught my ears is Ai Oboete Imasuka. Oboete imasuka! Oh Anata no Oto is not too bad too.

As expected, the plot is... not outstanding and the "plot twist" isn't much of a twist anyway. Vajra becoming human allies? Sigh... Grace the evil one? Wasn't this rather apparent already, only surprise was how that Leon died. Too fast.

Take it as a 25 ep musical and the show excels. So far MF is the show which clocks most songs which I relatively like (not surprising considering the crazy number of songs in the show).

Minorin!

Wa... 大将 just passed to me soo many Minorin pictures! Waaaa...

Here's a Hinagiku wallpaper!

Doujin lyrics for the ToraDora OP

Not by me, found the mp3 for this Chinese cover together with the lyrics *cough* “somewhere”. No credits came with the package, though I’d really like to know who the crackpot who came up with this crazy version of an already crazy sounding song was. 佩服，佩服. What I really enjoyed was the bloodthirsty violence that erupted over dumplings. Somehow I find that strangely realistic. And definitely fitting for a Kugimi show. The lady who sang it wasn’t bad either. Well, at least it sounded like a lady.

Here it goes, sung to the full version:
Edit: Here's the short ver dubbed over the OP animation by MoonMai.

燃烧 现在就燃烧
莫名其妙被人踩了一脚
菜刀 快拿出菜刀
喋血街头后染红了心跳

bye i bye i

今天嗅见味道 心血来潮
抛弃大小姐的 矜持和外套
墙几米高 匍匐街角
成功认定目标 东北水饺

从小的家教 告诉我不能半途而逃
(不能逃 不能逃 绝对要吃一个饱)
但是看人潮 如此之狂暴 世界仿佛充满了野生强盗
(我们饿了)

于是收起了代表人类的微笑
这种时候不(需要)谁来为人师表
举(起了)双(手后)伴(随着)环境胡乱吼叫
饥饿制造 真实社交
请你收(回去)代表人类的肢爪(念:找)
这种时候该(祈祷)不要被踩烂脚
如(果有)哪(个人)破(坏了)大小姐粉红鞋凹
小心菜刀 火箭炮
注意头爆 残人脑
空留骨架被人解剖(念:抛)

bye i bye i

人们看见水饺 停止争吵
收敛禽兽态貌 手脚仍缠绕
照这样也好 我的目标
本来就是吃饱 并不是暴躁

终于轮到了 伸手拿属于我的水饺
(不要跑 不要跑 要保住矜持骄傲)
斜刺黑影飘 如此之狂嚣 伸手瞬间破坏排队的辛劳
(纱布卧槽)

于是收起了理智构筑的段桥
这种时候不(需要)发扬雷锋遗诏
举(起了)菜(刀后)拉(扯着)犯人陷入泥沼
红眼外交 鲜血迢迢
请你收(回去)代表人类的肢爪
不要以为大(小姐)天生不会发飚
如(果有)哪(个人)破(坏了)大小姐粉红鞋凹
小心鬼妖 望山彪
注意毒药 假钞票
空留深山凄厉惨叫

bye i bye i

不要指望现在文明法则有效
只有暴力才(可以)得到东北水饺
举(起了)双(手后)伴(随着)环境胡乱吼叫
饥饿制造 真实社交
请你抛(弃掉)正义来欺负弱小
这种时候只(需要)抢夺不要吐槽
如(果有)哪(个人)破(坏了)大小姐粉红鞋凹
小心菜刀 火箭炮
注意头爆 残人脑
空留骨架被人解剖(念:抛)
小心鬼妖 望山彪
注意毒药 假钞票
空留深山凄厉惨叫