I'll be writing lots of these during the week, since I'm getting a new DVD-R, so I can empty out my hdd and get new things, probably including weekly Music Station reports. Anyway, some of my future plans are to order the new stuff coming out and review it top to bottom, whereas right now I have problems because I can only download stuff. I also plan to do some of it by video, so we'll see.
Today's topic is AKB48.
I'm really looking forward to their new album, which I heard contained the singles that have been released so far, which is good because I haven't bought any of them and that'll save me a lot of money. So far, I've gotten four of their singles. Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru, BINGO!, Boku no Taiyou, and Yuuhi Mite Iru ka?, and all of them have been solid singles. I've seen PVs for all of them, and also of Skirt Hirari, Aitakatta, and Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou. The songs are pure and utter win, and they're all worth buying because I seem to always load at least one of them to my phone to listen to where ever I go. Oddly enough, there's nothing like a huge group of under aged Japanese schoolgirls to brighten your day. I'll be getting this album, most likely, so keep posted for a full review of it.
Next time on Rubuska:
Leah Dizon's Destiny Line and KAT-TUN's KEEP THE FAITH!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
New season!
A couple of new series have begun this fall and I'll be giving a run down on some of them...
First, let's start with Gundam 00
Ok, so after Gundam Seed ended, most of us felt like we wanted more, even though GS Destiny was not that good when compared to the original series. So now comes the new Gundam along with a whole new story. Its set in the same calendar we use only 300 years in the future. The Earth is divided in 3 factions and since fossil energy resources have been depleted, the world has organised itself around three giant pillars that serve as a means to solve the energy crisis by obtaining solar energy from space and bringing it down to Earth. Though I appreaciate the fact they added the use of solar energy into a Gundam series, its still kinda unrealistic that they had to make giant pillars to be able to bring enough energy when there are already houses that are solar powered in the 21st century... Anyways that's really minor and the concept of power through control of the pillars is a good idea. The first episode leaves you in awe since the series boasts amazing quality. To top it, the series is being broadcasted in HD so good luck playing it in a not so new PC and also enjoy if you can ^^;. I'll be honest, though I liked a lot of things about it, the story has been moving slow, and I mean SLOW. The first episode was really... toned down (with the exception of the 1st scene) and the following episodes 2 and 3 followed the same pace, even though there was a little action. But in episode 4 and 5 you finally see the story going somewhere as they start to present the classic mysteries you'll be trying to solve till the very end. The character design is nice and the mecha design is something I liked a lot, especially the FLAGS which are used by the A.E.U. . The main character's gundam, Exxia looks a bit too ordinary for me and the other ones seem to shadow him in a lot of ways, still all the gundams have really nice designs. If you haven't started the series already, I suggest you do it now so you can watch 5 episodes in a row instead of the first slow ones only.
Now for a crappy series: Myself Yourself
It follows the same line as any clichéd 'japanimation' (word used intentionally) that follows the formula waaay too closely, presenting stereotype characters that you usually don't mind but it here it seems SO forced that its annoying. Unless you're a weeaboo or wapanese... The story is about this group of kids who were childhood friends and how one of them had to move from his hometown. He comes back a couple of years later but while he was away, he didn't contact any of his old friends... Like always there's the bait for the lolikons with your avarage childhood friend/next door neighboor who grew up but looks just the same, only taller and with big breasts but with the squeeky voice. Now I'm generally not too severe with these clichés, I've seen a lot of series that all share similar elements but here its done too much and really bad. So point no.1, the series has really bad voice acting. In fact, perhaps if it were dub I could at least laugh a bit but the jpn voices are just too bad. Then there's this other gy who was his childhood friend who looks like a 16 year old but has the voice of a 28 year old man, really creepy. Then him having a twin sister makes it even creepier. Point no.2, bad quality and pretty much bad storyboarding. And finally there's this hinted fated love theme as the main character didn't recognize or remember the girl he liked when he was little, and naturally, she got mad and slapped him. By the beginning of the second episode I couldn't stand it and stopped, deleting the episodes shortly afterwards.
Another good one: Ghost Hound
Ah! Finally, I've been waiting for a series that would give me the same feeling Serial Experiments Lain did, and its here. If you see the opening theme alone, you'd think its something a bit kiddy and aimed for kids. Wrong... this series is quite creepy, and eerie... It has nice quality and above anything, a nice concept. The main character seems to be experiencing weird out of body phenomenon after the death of his younger sister a couple of years ago. They were both kidnapped and apparently, only he survived. Every once in a while when he falls asleep, he is able to exit his body and travel different places. Though these 'trips' he goes on ressemble more dreams than anything and its too early to try to decipher them. The series reminds me a lot of Zettai shounen, only not even close is creepiness. It probably reminded me of it because its set in the countryside. ^^; Anyways I really recommend.
So there you go, I'll be adding more previews afterwards, that is, if finals don't ruin it haha.
First, let's start with Gundam 00
Ok, so after Gundam Seed ended, most of us felt like we wanted more, even though GS Destiny was not that good when compared to the original series. So now comes the new Gundam along with a whole new story. Its set in the same calendar we use only 300 years in the future. The Earth is divided in 3 factions and since fossil energy resources have been depleted, the world has organised itself around three giant pillars that serve as a means to solve the energy crisis by obtaining solar energy from space and bringing it down to Earth. Though I appreaciate the fact they added the use of solar energy into a Gundam series, its still kinda unrealistic that they had to make giant pillars to be able to bring enough energy when there are already houses that are solar powered in the 21st century... Anyways that's really minor and the concept of power through control of the pillars is a good idea. The first episode leaves you in awe since the series boasts amazing quality. To top it, the series is being broadcasted in HD so good luck playing it in a not so new PC and also enjoy if you can ^^;. I'll be honest, though I liked a lot of things about it, the story has been moving slow, and I mean SLOW. The first episode was really... toned down (with the exception of the 1st scene) and the following episodes 2 and 3 followed the same pace, even though there was a little action. But in episode 4 and 5 you finally see the story going somewhere as they start to present the classic mysteries you'll be trying to solve till the very end. The character design is nice and the mecha design is something I liked a lot, especially the FLAGS which are used by the A.E.U. . The main character's gundam, Exxia looks a bit too ordinary for me and the other ones seem to shadow him in a lot of ways, still all the gundams have really nice designs. If you haven't started the series already, I suggest you do it now so you can watch 5 episodes in a row instead of the first slow ones only.
Now for a crappy series: Myself Yourself
It follows the same line as any clichéd 'japanimation' (word used intentionally) that follows the formula waaay too closely, presenting stereotype characters that you usually don't mind but it here it seems SO forced that its annoying. Unless you're a weeaboo or wapanese... The story is about this group of kids who were childhood friends and how one of them had to move from his hometown. He comes back a couple of years later but while he was away, he didn't contact any of his old friends... Like always there's the bait for the lolikons with your avarage childhood friend/next door neighboor who grew up but looks just the same, only taller and with big breasts but with the squeeky voice. Now I'm generally not too severe with these clichés, I've seen a lot of series that all share similar elements but here its done too much and really bad. So point no.1, the series has really bad voice acting. In fact, perhaps if it were dub I could at least laugh a bit but the jpn voices are just too bad. Then there's this other gy who was his childhood friend who looks like a 16 year old but has the voice of a 28 year old man, really creepy. Then him having a twin sister makes it even creepier. Point no.2, bad quality and pretty much bad storyboarding. And finally there's this hinted fated love theme as the main character didn't recognize or remember the girl he liked when he was little, and naturally, she got mad and slapped him. By the beginning of the second episode I couldn't stand it and stopped, deleting the episodes shortly afterwards.
Another good one: Ghost Hound
Ah! Finally, I've been waiting for a series that would give me the same feeling Serial Experiments Lain did, and its here. If you see the opening theme alone, you'd think its something a bit kiddy and aimed for kids. Wrong... this series is quite creepy, and eerie... It has nice quality and above anything, a nice concept. The main character seems to be experiencing weird out of body phenomenon after the death of his younger sister a couple of years ago. They were both kidnapped and apparently, only he survived. Every once in a while when he falls asleep, he is able to exit his body and travel different places. Though these 'trips' he goes on ressemble more dreams than anything and its too early to try to decipher them. The series reminds me a lot of Zettai shounen, only not even close is creepiness. It probably reminded me of it because its set in the countryside. ^^; Anyways I really recommend.
So there you go, I'll be adding more previews afterwards, that is, if finals don't ruin it haha.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
What's next
Well my PC broke down so I haven't been able to watch everything I'd like to to get the reviews in. So for now I'll let you know what I'm planning on writing next:
Concert Tour DVD Reviews:
Morning Musume Sexy 8 Beat Tour(Hitomi's graduation concert)
KAT-TUN Live of Real Face
PV/Single/album reviews:
Aya Kamiki's new single
Melon Kinenbi's Onegai Miwaku no Target(PV)
Maeda Yuki's Ai Ai Daiko(PV)
B-U-DEN's Jaja Uma Paradise(PV)
B'z - SUPER LOVE SONG(Single)
Otsuka Ai with LOVE PiECE(Album)
Leah Dizon's Destiny Line
Looking forward to:
AKB48's new album
Mr. Children's Tabidachi no Uta
Concert Tour DVD Reviews:
Morning Musume Sexy 8 Beat Tour(Hitomi's graduation concert)
KAT-TUN Live of Real Face
PV/Single/album reviews:
Aya Kamiki's new single
Melon Kinenbi's Onegai Miwaku no Target(PV)
Maeda Yuki's Ai Ai Daiko(PV)
B-U-DEN's Jaja Uma Paradise(PV)
B'z - SUPER LOVE SONG(Single)
Otsuka Ai with LOVE PiECE(Album)
Leah Dizon's Destiny Line
Looking forward to:
AKB48's new album
Mr. Children's Tabidachi no Uta
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Idols should be managed better
What started out as a simple thought from a weak single release has turned into a big rant about the management of idols in Japan. Read on, it's good.
Leah Dizon's newest single, L.O.V.E. U is out. It's been out for awhile actually, about a month. The song is about as generic as it gets. While generic songs sometimes don't bother me I find this one annoying because Leah Dizon isn't a great singer, but she has a fan following and has potential. When she's on stage she seems pretty confident, and she's giving a real effort to learn Japanese, so I feel they're wasting her. Like I said she's not a great singer, so they need to make up for it in other areas. They seem to think this means "let's release a photobook!". She has as many photobooks as singles, so that tells us the real reason she's here is because she's hot. Don't get me wrong, she's hot and makes an AWESOME photobook, but my problem is that it's not the only thing she can do. She's suppposed to release a new album, Destiny Line, which is due in a few days. Since all her songs have been pretty generic, with Koi Shiyou being the best of all(having a nice PV too), the rest of the album feels like it's gonna be boresville, and it's really only too bad because if Leah gets strong singles, she'll be on top. She has the looks, confidense, talent, and she's already in the oricon charts. All she needs is a BIT more exposure, showing her fans and others who aren't yet that she's giving a real effort to learn their language and trying to appeal to them, and a really strong single. PBs, they'll come and sell anyway, but Leah doesn't deserve to be just that.
While we're on that note it seems like the only idol management group that aren't doing what they're doing to Leah are the people behind AKB48. Hello! Project seems to be relying mostly on what they used to do, which is feed the wota with concert tours and PBs. That's good and all, but due to scandals Morning Musume lost a very valueable member, Fujimoto Miki. Their singles are great to me, but they're weak to the general public. The mismanagement of the idols isn't limited to just Momusu though. There's a great idol group with C-ute, which is growing up and in my opinion is a lot better than BerryZ Koubou, which have also been harshly mismanaged with extremely weak singles. Then we have GAM. Fujimoto is out of Momusu, but she had GAM which was a gold mine. Aya and Miki couldn't loose. All of their songs were great, they had an excellent album release, and even did their own concert tour. GAM was telling me Hello! Project and UFA were ready to start doing things right, but then GAM hasn't announced anything concrete for new things, which is completely dissapointing. The only thing that would've been better for GAM would've been having Goto Maki join them to remake Gomattou, which would've been win. Speaking of Maki, I think she's probably the biggest victim of mismanagement in the whole of UFA/H!P. She has it all. Looks, singing talent, charisma, dancing talent, she's probably the best thing H!P has in their roster. But her last singles were either really whoreish(which I actually liked the songs), or a really weak balad. She's not getting the exposure she deserves, and she's ahd plenty of exposure to prove that she can be on top. Let;s take for example joining Momusu and making her debut single #1. Or how about a successful solo career(back when her singles were good), successful releases for the subunits and shuffle groups she was in, photobooks that sold through the roof, and concert tours that sold out. What more do they want?She's literally a money maker and has the capacity to out shine any of Johnny's boys in the charts.
I wish they would stop trying to sell their bodies, and started selling talent. Don't get me wrong, I love bodies as much as the next guy, but that's not all they should do. Look at Koda Kumi. Everyone complains because she goes out and does the slut thing. News flash: EVERY OTHER IDOL OUT THERE DOES THE SLUT THING! The difference between them and Kumi is that she has talent with singing, dancing, and confidense, and they mix it up. How many photobooks has Koda made and sold? How many singles and albums has she made and took them to the top of the oricon charts? Ask yourself that, and then replace it with other idols who are doing the slut thing with photobooks and stuff. Koda sells just as much talent as she does body, and come to think of it so is Tamaki Nami(from my previous post), so idol managers, PLEASE, sell me talent. I wanna see my favorite idols going to the top!
Leah Dizon's newest single, L.O.V.E. U is out. It's been out for awhile actually, about a month. The song is about as generic as it gets. While generic songs sometimes don't bother me I find this one annoying because Leah Dizon isn't a great singer, but she has a fan following and has potential. When she's on stage she seems pretty confident, and she's giving a real effort to learn Japanese, so I feel they're wasting her. Like I said she's not a great singer, so they need to make up for it in other areas. They seem to think this means "let's release a photobook!". She has as many photobooks as singles, so that tells us the real reason she's here is because she's hot. Don't get me wrong, she's hot and makes an AWESOME photobook, but my problem is that it's not the only thing she can do. She's suppposed to release a new album, Destiny Line, which is due in a few days. Since all her songs have been pretty generic, with Koi Shiyou being the best of all(having a nice PV too), the rest of the album feels like it's gonna be boresville, and it's really only too bad because if Leah gets strong singles, she'll be on top. She has the looks, confidense, talent, and she's already in the oricon charts. All she needs is a BIT more exposure, showing her fans and others who aren't yet that she's giving a real effort to learn their language and trying to appeal to them, and a really strong single. PBs, they'll come and sell anyway, but Leah doesn't deserve to be just that.
While we're on that note it seems like the only idol management group that aren't doing what they're doing to Leah are the people behind AKB48. Hello! Project seems to be relying mostly on what they used to do, which is feed the wota with concert tours and PBs. That's good and all, but due to scandals Morning Musume lost a very valueable member, Fujimoto Miki. Their singles are great to me, but they're weak to the general public. The mismanagement of the idols isn't limited to just Momusu though. There's a great idol group with C-ute, which is growing up and in my opinion is a lot better than BerryZ Koubou, which have also been harshly mismanaged with extremely weak singles. Then we have GAM. Fujimoto is out of Momusu, but she had GAM which was a gold mine. Aya and Miki couldn't loose. All of their songs were great, they had an excellent album release, and even did their own concert tour. GAM was telling me Hello! Project and UFA were ready to start doing things right, but then GAM hasn't announced anything concrete for new things, which is completely dissapointing. The only thing that would've been better for GAM would've been having Goto Maki join them to remake Gomattou, which would've been win. Speaking of Maki, I think she's probably the biggest victim of mismanagement in the whole of UFA/H!P. She has it all. Looks, singing talent, charisma, dancing talent, she's probably the best thing H!P has in their roster. But her last singles were either really whoreish(which I actually liked the songs), or a really weak balad. She's not getting the exposure she deserves, and she's ahd plenty of exposure to prove that she can be on top. Let;s take for example joining Momusu and making her debut single #1. Or how about a successful solo career(back when her singles were good), successful releases for the subunits and shuffle groups she was in, photobooks that sold through the roof, and concert tours that sold out. What more do they want?She's literally a money maker and has the capacity to out shine any of Johnny's boys in the charts.
I wish they would stop trying to sell their bodies, and started selling talent. Don't get me wrong, I love bodies as much as the next guy, but that's not all they should do. Look at Koda Kumi. Everyone complains because she goes out and does the slut thing. News flash: EVERY OTHER IDOL OUT THERE DOES THE SLUT THING! The difference between them and Kumi is that she has talent with singing, dancing, and confidense, and they mix it up. How many photobooks has Koda made and sold? How many singles and albums has she made and took them to the top of the oricon charts? Ask yourself that, and then replace it with other idols who are doing the slut thing with photobooks and stuff. Koda sells just as much talent as she does body, and come to think of it so is Tamaki Nami(from my previous post), so idol managers, PLEASE, sell me talent. I wanna see my favorite idols going to the top!
Friday, August 31, 2007
Holy crap! She's on fire!
Tamaki Nami dances around in a hawt amazonian outfit in the middle of a hell fire in her latest PV for the song Brightdown. Now this is interesting, her newest single takes on a brand new image that I hope keeps. She's now a little rocker with a matching outfit, and the song is pretty rock, which offers a great tune. The image change however didn't usher to Tamaki leaving her pop roots, far from it. She still has choreography, and she really proves in this PV that she has moves. I seem to like this fusion a lot.
The song, which is also the second opening for the anime D.Gray-man, shows that she and her production staff can pull off a great rock song, the lyrics are still a bit popish but that doesn't stop the song from being good. I mentioned before, she can move, and man can she move! Not only was it hawt hip swinging dancing, the PV showed what was hands down the best choreography that Tamaki has shown.
The single is available in both a normal edition and a limited edition, which comes with the PV and a card and some other stuff. Usually the limited edition marking is a marketing gimmick, but this single along with Koda Kumi's Freaky and Morning Musume's Onna ni Sachi Are(B Edition) are limited edition singles that are actually worth buying because they bring something nice.
The overall release was quite impressive for me, because the last few things Tamaki has done were pretty unimpressive(I blame her production staff. And Canada.), but it's definitely worth buying.
The song, which is also the second opening for the anime D.Gray-man, shows that she and her production staff can pull off a great rock song, the lyrics are still a bit popish but that doesn't stop the song from being good. I mentioned before, she can move, and man can she move! Not only was it hawt hip swinging dancing, the PV showed what was hands down the best choreography that Tamaki has shown.
The single is available in both a normal edition and a limited edition, which comes with the PV and a card and some other stuff. Usually the limited edition marking is a marketing gimmick, but this single along with Koda Kumi's Freaky and Morning Musume's Onna ni Sachi Are(B Edition) are limited edition singles that are actually worth buying because they bring something nice.
The overall release was quite impressive for me, because the last few things Tamaki has done were pretty unimpressive(I blame her production staff. And Canada.), but it's definitely worth buying.
Weeaboos and stuff that matter more than them
Weeaboos, probably one of the most annoying existences on Earth. Quite honestly I can’t stand them much, they get on my nerves. Most think they know it all and think they have everything figured out, which infuriates me even more since they’re just little kids who haven’t grown up… Weeaboos aside, time to talk about the series I’m currently watching. Uska mainly covers the dramas since he is (and he also acknowledges) a drama-whore. So I’ll cover some of the anime series I’ve been watching in the following entries.
First of all, the superb series “Seirei no moribito” Quite honestly, this series is an instant classic once you see it. It terms of animation quality, it reminded me of the feeling I got when I saw “Le chevalier d’Eon” (another great series). Besides the really good fight scenes and awesome animation what surprises me just as much is the effort that’s put in giving the world so much life through the elaborate backgrounds they make. First of all, the person that’s in charge of the scenery is simply amazing at it. The sky and mountain ranges seem so beautifully drawn that it sucks you into the series leaving you (or maybe just me) with your mouth wide open in awe. The character designs are also noteworthy and they somehow remind me a bit of Blood +’s. The music is also quite nice and the story, though a bit slow for some at first, is really well written. I recommend this series to just about anyone and it’s probably tied in my top favorites of the animes I’m currently watching with Dennou Coil, which I’ll cover on the next entry.
In other news there’s the Red Garden OVA that was released last August. From what I’ve read the story and animation took a drastic change but in a way it seems to be a possible continuation of the excellent series that came before it. Here’s hoping Uska subs it since I don’t think anyone will.
Another thing, I NEED to get Persona 3, the game is totally win D:
First of all, the superb series “Seirei no moribito” Quite honestly, this series is an instant classic once you see it. It terms of animation quality, it reminded me of the feeling I got when I saw “Le chevalier d’Eon” (another great series). Besides the really good fight scenes and awesome animation what surprises me just as much is the effort that’s put in giving the world so much life through the elaborate backgrounds they make. First of all, the person that’s in charge of the scenery is simply amazing at it. The sky and mountain ranges seem so beautifully drawn that it sucks you into the series leaving you (or maybe just me) with your mouth wide open in awe. The character designs are also noteworthy and they somehow remind me a bit of Blood +’s. The music is also quite nice and the story, though a bit slow for some at first, is really well written. I recommend this series to just about anyone and it’s probably tied in my top favorites of the animes I’m currently watching with Dennou Coil, which I’ll cover on the next entry.
In other news there’s the Red Garden OVA that was released last August. From what I’ve read the story and animation took a drastic change but in a way it seems to be a possible continuation of the excellent series that came before it. Here’s hoping Uska subs it since I don’t think anyone will.
Another thing, I NEED to get Persona 3, the game is totally win D:
Monday, August 27, 2007
I'm in ur school, changin mah gendar
So far I've only seen two episodes of the drama series Hanazakari no Kimitachi e -Ikemen Paradise-, but it's enough to give some good thoughts on the drama. The story is based on a manga in which a girl named Ashiya Mizuki idolizes a jumper named Sano Izumi, and when said jumper stops jumping she disguises herself as a boy to infiltrate the school and make him jump again.
Besides all the plot holes in this initial storyline, it becomes really nice to watch. As a matter of fact, the show itself at the beginning excuses itself for silliness. The all-boys Osaka High is a school that chooses it's boys not based academic achievements but on good looks, which makes you wonder if the mastermind behind it all is Johnny Kitagawa. The story and plot movement is absolutely crazy, but you get used to it quickly cause you know it's nothing too serious, and the drama was made for you to just have fun.
We see a lot of familiar faces in this drama too. To name a few, there's Oguri Shun(Stand Up!, Hana Yori Dango, Densha Otoko...), Horikita Maki(Nobuta wo Produce), Ikuta Toma(Random dude from Hana Yori Dango 2 ep1), and Iwasa Mayuko(I haven't seen any other of her dramas except LIAR GAME, which I haven't gotten to her part yet. I just seen a lot of hawt idol pics). Everyone who acts doesn't act too bad in this drama, I must admit(at least for what it's worth anyway).
The music score is very fitting to the situations and it's surroundings, so that's a plus. The opening song is Ikenai Taiyou from Orange Range, and Peach from Otsuka Ai, which is a great combination.
The drama's not bad so far, it's nothing too serious and made me laugh a few times, so it's worth checking out if you're in between the more serious dramas.
Besides all the plot holes in this initial storyline, it becomes really nice to watch. As a matter of fact, the show itself at the beginning excuses itself for silliness. The all-boys Osaka High is a school that chooses it's boys not based academic achievements but on good looks, which makes you wonder if the mastermind behind it all is Johnny Kitagawa. The story and plot movement is absolutely crazy, but you get used to it quickly cause you know it's nothing too serious, and the drama was made for you to just have fun.
We see a lot of familiar faces in this drama too. To name a few, there's Oguri Shun(Stand Up!, Hana Yori Dango, Densha Otoko...), Horikita Maki(Nobuta wo Produce), Ikuta Toma(Random dude from Hana Yori Dango 2 ep1), and Iwasa Mayuko(I haven't seen any other of her dramas except LIAR GAME, which I haven't gotten to her part yet. I just seen a lot of hawt idol pics). Everyone who acts doesn't act too bad in this drama, I must admit(at least for what it's worth anyway).
The music score is very fitting to the situations and it's surroundings, so that's a plus. The opening song is Ikenai Taiyou from Orange Range, and Peach from Otsuka Ai, which is a great combination.
The drama's not bad so far, it's nothing too serious and made me laugh a few times, so it's worth checking out if you're in between the more serious dramas.
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