Frontier concert's not bad!

Buy the disc

I went to Tommy's place to collect something. A new blu-ray disc bought online, he has been telling me this few days, and asking me to guess what it is.. Turns out to be.. Macross Frontier Galaxy Tour Final at Budokan. So I just have to stay for a while longer. We have Captain Jeffrey Wilder greeting the audience at Budokan. yeah hear him say "☆KIRA☆! Watashi no uta wo ki-ke! Minna! Dakishimete......" (OK, I can't do this anymore... I get goosebumps just recalling him saying all that!) So it was off to a start with Mei-san and Megumi, doing an even more jumbled-up version of "Nyan Nyan Special Service Medley", in HD blu-ray glory! (And Yoko-san in the background doing orchestra and piano)

Entertaining, it is. Every segment is crafted to have its own meaning, quite well thought off, you can see our favouite singers (doing some acting) getting emotional... although it gets pretty lame at times. One of the best things I like about LIVE concerts is, the songs are different (from the original). The occasional higher-than-usual keY, the dragging of a note... The perfect song is in the studio, in the CD. Frankly, quite a lot, if not most, of the artistes can't sing as well as they did on their CDs. Why? Because the CD version is the flawless version. They can do it again and again, and choosing only the best 'takes' for the final product. Not enough breath to do that all-towering segment in one shot? No problem, cut and paste. ( I think so...hehe [citation needed] ) Contradicting, although a no-mistake concert is cool, I thought a blunder would be cute.. (I hope I am not offending any artistes here...bleh... imagine the stress accompaning it.. ) I left halfway, now off to think of another reason to go to his house again... Blog A rather long (and old) interview with Yoko-san. (OMG! Yoko-san started composing at 3!) Ahhh!!! Who is Gabriel Robin?? Blog covering another macross event - Superdimensional Super Live Concert by Ranka Lee and Sheryl Nome Report. (Nyan nyan!)

Character of the moment! ういはる!

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I was watching To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, そして, あの瞬間, 俺またやられた。
I have got a clue though.. seiyuu wa Toyosaki Aki Misaka is a real contender, for her penchant for everything cute (and her shorts!). Saten-san mo. But it is still Uiharu しかないだ!
Rejoice, Uiharu fans! J.C.Staff has announced straight after "To Aru Kagaku no Railgun(とある科学の超電磁砲)", it will be releasing "To Aru Uiharu no Chikara(とあるういはるのちから)", as a trilogy to the 'To Aru' series. . Seeing the rising popularity of Uiharu, Kazuma-san says he will make Uihara an even more enjoyable character than ever, he is going to up the MOE factor! From the current one up-skirt from Saten in every episode, he is gonna make everyone do that, every episode! Nan-to service da!
Ha! そいわけねだろ! Yeah we wish..
.nice wallpapers at moe imouto

EOY'09

さいあくだ! I am not refering to the event, it is that none of my friends is free. I have to go alone!

I had planned (alone :( ) to go round 1130am, (hehe) just in time to catch "Don't say lazy!"(the schedule on the site says 11:45am). Oh halfway along the journey, I m running a bit late..ちこく!ちこく! I am so worried that I will just miss the performance! That will be so stupid...

So did I miss it? Ha!

You can't imagine how relieved I am when I reached the place at 11:40! あれ? What was the performance on stage?? After the song, the MCs thanked the performer(I think it was RIKA{the performer}). Then the next performer is also not doing "Digimon: Butterfly" as stated? I even checked my time with a staff there!

Am I in the wrong place? そうか! I have just warped to another parallel world, with the same performers doing different songs..

Alamak, I am guessing all the songs finished earlier, and got pushed up as a result. (The MCs could have stretched the time a little ) Worst, the last min changes of the songs are really disrupting/disappointing..

(Am I mistakened {in anyway} with the whole thing? If it is, someone drop me an email pls...)

Sad..

The whole theater has several floors of seats. pic taken from (http://www.nac.gov.sg).

But u know what? When the cosplay event starts, the place is packed and many ppl are kept outside! So the rest of us who wanted to see the cosplay competition will still have it, there is a projection screen in the main hall outside(see below pic)..

And something special that I saw. Figurines are a dime a dozen. Origamis? Cute.. They are not for sale though, guess the creators are 'testing the water' first.

I bought myself something, a K-ON doujin!

This is the first time EOY is held at National library and my first time visiting the place. But what I got more impressed is actually the library itself. Taking a peek at the scenery while reading books, a very nice environment. Overall, its an ok day, but it could have been better : )

EOY'09 is coming! It is event after event!

Wha! This year EOY so high-tech, can buy tickets from SAM machines?? And there will be guests! Another Seiyuu! Makino Yui does the voice of Sakura in Tsubasa Chronicles. (Yui reminds me of K-on!! *sob still can't get over it..) Still remembered they say they say they are changing hands after last year's event. Wow the new management rocks! Not that the old doesn't, hehe. Mark your calendars, 26dec! Hmm I can't save this year, crap. I leave my saving plans for next year's resolution bah!

Catch Ghibli classics at Cathy from 17dec!

Cathy is screening Glibi classics! Each movie only one screening! All these shows are available in DVDs recently. So I guess they are for hardcore fans. I've watched all of them, (legally I think), and though they are old, I would still give a very good review on them. The Japan equivalent of disney classics. Recommend Nausica and Laputa! Gotta love those 2 heroines! Natsukashi na..

Code Geass + FMA + Naruto??

Could this be the ultimate manga(if it is good, to be adapted to Anime)? haha. Geass + mechanical arm + shuriken? Would this be a flop or hit bull's eye?

Anime-news-network link

And a short strip to go along with it...

"You can (not) advance" review...

The site where I got this pic from.


Article contains spoilers. Do not proceed if you are not prepared.

First off, (a bit unrelated), what is with all the (not) on the 2 titles so far? Some weird translations from the Jap title? Doesn't seemed like it...

Ok, back to the review:

The kiss from Asuka is gone, ( tough luck Shinji, you don't get to kiss her now ), but wait, you get to see her naked? Best exchange I say! The plot turns out to be a love-triangle? Ayanami learning to cook? Even Asuka is at good terms with Shinji? WTH!!!!

My brain can't get used to how the plot is going! Shinji becomes a better character (and he actually saves the day!) and I don dislike him as much as before ( is this a good or bad thing? ). All the characters are acting strange!

I don't like gloomy shows, and EVA series is one heavy show. Now, they are changing what makes EVA special in the first place, I don't feel the thick overhanging grim atmosphere. Well maybe they don't need it anymore, it is no longer a niche in Anime. Perhaps package it to appeal to more groups of people.

Oh no! Asuka is disfigured! THe eye-patch is ehh..... hell, who came up with that? And who do we have for the new character? A fanatic that lives to fight? Hmmm can we have something more original? Like she is fighting for revenge or something? Or even she wanted to save the world (protector of justice)? Or protect someone?(Crap, its still the same, haha) ( BUt Mari gets my vote out of the EVA girls! )

Conclusion : I welcome plot changes, but this is too much for one to take. It is like a completely different show altogether, with standard anime highschool slap-stick plus a little bit from the "slice-of-life" genre.

それわ, ほんとうに, いいのか?

I might have liked it better, if it wasn't that light-hearted. They should have upped the 'zetsubo' factor! MUmuhahahaha! Motto! Motto! I don't know it anymore.

Raging Phoenix Trailer

We get new actors and actresses everyday. Nothing special. But fighting stars are rare to come by! JEEJA YANIN stars in her second movie - Raging Phoenix. Hmm I still like her hair-style in her previous movie. So cute!

Miku Veg-juice!

Michael will drink this everyday when he sees this...

JOYSOUND songs!

Now those who have read the blog so far and did not go to AFA09 must be itching to know what the 70 songs are? hehehe...Thank me! But hehe paisei, I too lazy to type them all out, I post the pics of the list instead... Click on the pictures for high-res viewing.

AFA 09

Lots of ppl! Yama ho-do ni!

I like this year's events better, although I feel the events are lesser (or is it?)

The highlight I had wanted to check out, and it really turns out to be my favourite booth at AFA - JOYSOUND karaoke system no da!

Other than the karaoke, JOYSOUND system is also used there for fan-dubbing certain epic anime scenes. You watch the real scene, after which you try to be a seiyuu for a day : ) 70 songs?! Ha! From the responses of the crowd, it is never enough! This has got to be the most interactive booth! Which other booth would u have total strangers singing along with u? We all don't know the names of the ppl around us, but everyone knows the lyrics. Even those who didn't know the lyrics are attracted to it, cheering the singers on. A great activity for fellow anime lovers. Better than cosplay, I would say.

And there is a service! Song number 8: Koi no Mikuru Densetsu, haha they filled the video with LUCKY STAR footage! Even Michael can't recognise it at first! And this is supposed to be his fav song! Now to compare it with the clubdam system. Actually I don't see much difference, except for the dubbing function. Most karaoke videos on the JOYSOUND are also of random footage, very few have the anime sequences cut out for the karaoke(s). I understand to do that for every song is a hell of a project, the companies should look into outsourcing. An obvious and one very good place to look for it are fan-subbing groups. Yes studios and subbing groups have always been natural enemies like the cat and mouse, and blamed each other for ruining the anime industry. But think of the advantages of combining their collective power, it is for the better of everyone! ...bleh.. Here is a "Iteza gogo Kuji Don't be late!" karaoke clip. But strange and sadly, when I sang at the booth, there wasn't any of the footage at all! (source)

Ok this year there are seats (although as my friend pointed out, nobody sits, but still it offers some comfortable space between everybody, if not I would probably be squeezed out of the place!). And thanks the organiser for the 5min lightsticks. Just one song of Shoko and life got sucked out of the light-stick. They gave us 2 of them, I thought it was supposed to last the 2 days, it turns out to be 2 songs : ) Is it the norm for light-sticks in Japan concerts to last 5mins? Then the people have got to carry a whole bag of them! Did the organiser missed the fine print or what? Well they started selling the 'normal' light-sticks on the second day. haha Must have gotten a ton of compliants on the first day! Too late, pal.

There are cute blunders too from the artistes. I think Yoshiki-san wasn't aware of the fire-works installed on the stage, so when the first wave came out, he's got a shock! Priceless! May'n, she was speaking, when she forgot the name of something, I also forgot what it is - she goes ah!, but it is really cute! Moe! And to the shocking news! Fukuyama-san promised he will bring his JAM project team to Singapore "next time"! What is next time? ehhhh hope its soon. Yakusoku yo, Fukuyama-san! But then it is really nice of him to promise that. I think its a big one to keep. Even if it doesn't realise, I am still thankful. 芳樹さん善い人だ。 Apart from Mei-san new songs, she also performed quite a few of her signature Macross F songs. And we had a treat with the second last song, she and Yoshiki-san did Diamond Crevasse (guitar ver.) together, with Yoshiki-san doing the guitar. (He did join in to sing parts of the song too!) THis should be a Singapore-exclusive!!

The densetsu Kareshi Kanojou no Mise is the most popular stall. You have to queue round 45 mins just to get in! And once you are in there after the long wait, everybody have to buy something, don't they? ha. So I got something too. In the random K-ON pack, I got Ritsu! And a mousepad I probably couldn't bear to use.

Michael also blogs AFA. Check that out too.