Nico Year In Review: 2008
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.31 – 15:00 -No, I’m not going to talk about the new features, version updates, legal battles, or any of that today. My ニコニコ動画 (NicoNicoDouga) Year in Review is solidly about the videos. Though I really didn’t start watching ニコ動 (NicoDou) until this year and 2007 also had some fantastic videos, I’m sticking to 2008 videos only! So, without further ado, here are my favorite top 13 nicovideos of the year! 13?! Yeah, I just couldn’t get it down to 10! XD
13.
【ニコニコ動画】【手書き】初音ミクの消失-DEAD END-【PV】
This 初音ミク song was one of my personal favorites. It’s so sad, but just so well done.
The ゆっくり (Yukkuri) boom seems to have peaked and passed, but 2008 was fairly dominated by ゆっくり videos. Check out how many there are.
11.
【ニコニコ動画】☆ゲッダン☆
ゲッダン came up late in the game, but I have to say, I still can’t believe it. And I love it.
10.
【ニコニコ動画】初音ミク が オリジナル曲を歌ってくれたよ「ワールドイズマイン」
ワールドイズマイン was almost the best 初音ミク song of the year, if not for メルト kicking ass and taking names all over the world. Some of the ワールドイズマイン original drawing versions are pretty amazing, but that’s probably just cause the song is so good.
9.
【ニコニコ動画】さんぽ
This version of さんぽ (Sampo) from となりのトトロ (Tonari no Totoro) has so many Ghibli characters and crazy instruments, you can’t help but just feel warm and fuzzy while watching it.
8.
【ニコニコ動画】メルト-Band Edition-女性キーVer-歌ってみました。by歌和サクラ
メルト and ティッシュ姫 really rocked the charts this year. It is only fitting to have the fusion of the two. メルト technically came along in Dec. of 2007… Actually, so did ティッシュ姫. But, since they both had their heyday in 2008, I’ll forgive ‘em.
7.
【ニコニコ動画】[修造]ホットリックス リローデッド[MAD]
When I saw this scene in the theaters, I remember hyperventilating over how amazing it was. So when they added the 松岡修造 voice overs, I almost died. Good show!
6.
【ニコニコ動画】チルノのパーフェクトさんすう教室(高画質・高音質版)H264
チルノのパーフェクトさんすう教室 (Chiruno no Paafekuto Sansuu Kyoushitsu) was the star of IOSYS for 2008. The remixes are fantastic and so is the original. Good job guys!
Various ナイト・オブ・ナイツ remixes ruled the end of this year. This is my favorite by far.
This cat. Brilliant to teach their cat to do that. When it gets stuck in the box, I died. I am but a ghost now. Heard the previous one of the series was pretty big on YouTube as well. (Series?!)
3.
【ニコニコ動画】M.C.ドナルドはダンスに夢中なのか？最終鬼畜道化師ドナルド・Ｍ
This video is fantastic for a lot of reasons. Now that I’m more into the 東方 Project, this makes way more sense than the first time I saw it on BoingBoing. This is definitely the world’s favorite nicovideo.
2.
【ニコニコ動画】VOCALOIDでニコニコ動画流星群【完成版】
This video introduced me to the ニコニコ動画流星群, and kept me coming back to ニコ動 for a long time. I listened to it so much, when I hear the original songs, I expect the next song to come up. I had to even stop listening to it, I was so obsessed. So this wins #2 hands down. Too bad it isn’t…
1.
【ニコニコ動画】吉幾三×Capsule×DaftPunk×BeastieBoys StarrySky – IKZOLOGIC Remix -
This song singlehandedly changed my life. It made me go to ニコ動 to listen to it. I got the “logic” for the end of Yamatologic from it. I still believe this is the pinnacle of human evolution. So, there is no question that it is the top of my 2008 list.
Happy New Year everyone! I can’t wait to see what 2009 has to bring!
Tags: 2008, さんぽ, ゆっくり, らんらんる～, ゲッダン, ティッシュ姫, ナイト・オブ・ナイツ, ニコニコ動画, メルト, ワールドイズマイン, BeastieBoys, capsule, cats, Daft Punk, funny animals, gaming, Get down, Ghibli, Hatsune Miku, IKZO, iosys, mario, Matsuoka Shuzo, music, New Year's, New Year's List, NicoNicoDouga, nicovideo, Night of Knights, Night of Nights, Ronald McDonald, Ryuseigun, Sampo, Sanpo, Tissue Hime, Tonari no Totoro, Top 10, Top 12, Totoro, touhou, World is Mine, Year In Review, ystk, yukkuri, 初音ミク, 初音ミクの消失-DEAD END-, 東方, 松岡修造, 流星群
Posted in Internet | 2 Comments »
Zoni Soup on New Years
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.31 – 14:00 -
Happy New Year everyone! While you are enjoying 紅白 (Kouhaku), I hope you are also eating お雑煮 (ozouni)! In fact, I bet I can predict the shape of the mochi and the broth of the soup you are eating… if you are in Japan that is.
What in the Sam Hill am I talking about? Well, depending on what part of Japan you are in, there is a statistical probability as to how your mochi is cut and what soup broth you have in your お雑煮. Yessir, there is even a line where people have round mochi on the one side and cut square mochi on the other.
関ヶ原 (Sekigahara) is the location of the decisive battle between East and West Japan that lead to the 250+ year 江戸時代 (Edo Jidai). This lies on the line! Also, people in East Japan and West Japan stand on different sides of escalators. There’s a lot of differences between east and west Japan that seem to lie on this line. I’ll leave a more complete list for another entry.
If you want to make お雑煮 for yourself, you still have some time! Go check out Cookpad and get cooking!
Tags: お雑煮, お正月, cookpad, edo jidai, Edo Period, escalators, 関西, 関東, 雑煮, food, kansai, kanto, New Year's, ozoni, shogatsu, soup, zoni, 正月, 江戸時代
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Megaman Enemies Immortalized in Song
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.30 – 20:57 -
【ニコニコ動画】バブルマンで、”I'm Bubbleman” 【ヒャダイン】
I just came upon these awesome songs done to the music of various Megaman levels as sung by the final boss of the level! These are done by ヒャダイン (Hyadain), who has done a lot of good video game videos, generally all putting lyrics to the music of the game.They all seem to have this odd respect for Megaman, who shows up to fight them at the peak of their loneliness. It’s kinda sad. My favorite is this one about Bubbleman, but I listed the other ones after the jump.
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Yatsu ga Kuru 4
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.30 – 16:02 -
【ニコニコ動画】【マリオ64実況】 奴が来る 四【幕末志士】
A new episode of 奴が来る (Yatsu ga Kuru) is out. This one is basically a continuation of 参 where he attempts the 8 coin star on さむいさむい マウンテン (SamuiSamui Maunten). It’s nearly 30 minutes… but with the cuts, it probably took many more hours to actually complete. But, does he actually do it?! The ending is pretty epic.
I wonder if there will be more episodes of this?! If there are, you’ll be sure to find ‘em here.
Also, again, can’t seem to find these on YouTube. ごめんなさい！
See also: Watch out for the Green Mushroom!
Tags: 1outキノコ, きのこ, キノコ, 緑の悪魔, gaming, green mushroom, mario, mario 64, meta, metagame, mushroom, n64, nicovideo, nintendo, series, super mario, super mario bros, video games, video podcast, yatsu, yatsu ga kuru, 奴, 奴が来る
Posted in games | 1 Comment »
Garbage Bag Art Work
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.28 – 18:33 -
Garbage. When you see it, you can’t help but to cringe a little inside. It is what separates us from the animals… we make it, they have to live in it. Sad, but true.
As a way to change the impression of garbage, the Garbage Bag Art Work project has designed a number of bags to help change people’s minds about garbage.
ラビット君 (Love-it! kun) is a trash bag with a little face on it. When tied up full of trash, it looks like a little rabbit! They are available here and here (probably Japan only). The idea is to be proud to be holding a bag of trash. I mean, it looks so cute, wouldn’t you want to be seen with it?
They also have color coded (for burnables, non-burnables, and recyclables) bags that look nice sitting in a big smelly heap on the side of the road.
Learn more at GBA.
[From Exciteニュース]
Tags: art, ゴミ, bag, cool, garbage, garbage bag art, product, trash, trash bag art
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Watch out for the Green Mushroom!
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.28 – 17:35 -
【ニコニコ動画】【マリオ64実況】 奴が来る 壱【幕末志士】
【ニコニコ動画】【マリオ64実況】 奴が来る 弐【幕末志士】
【ニコニコ動画】【マリオ64実況】 奴が来る 参【幕末志士】
In this fun web series, the guys doing this don’t just play a game and make commentary (not that that’s a bad thing). In fact, the guy begins with his 120 star complete save of Mario 64. What makes this series unique is that he plays a fun metagame called 奴が来る (Yatsu ga kuru).
The rules are simple: He spawns a green mushroom, usually from climbing a tree, and then runs from it. If he get’s the 1up, he loses. The only way to win is to complete the star objective before the green mushroom gets him.
Anyway, humor ensues as they freak the fuck out every time the green mushroom shows up on the screen. It is based on another video series without narration where they just avoided the green mushroom, but the narration and build up in this series makes it way more interesting.
Sorry, couldn’t find it on YouTube. You can always get a ニコニコ動画 account though!
Tags: 1outキノコ, きのこ, キノコ, 緑の悪魔, gaming, green mushroom, mario, mario 64, meta, metagame, mushroom, n64, nicovideo, nintendo, series, super mario, super mario bros, video games, video podcast, yatsu, yatsu ga kuru, 奴, 奴が来る
Posted in games | 3 Comments »
Christmas Cake
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.26 – 00:10 -
Traditional Japanese Christmas Cake (and yeah, I’m using the word “traditional” is the lightest sense possible) is generally what they call a strawberry shortcake. American’s sometimes get confused that Japanese shortcake is nothing like the biscuit-like shortcake in America, it is more of a sponge cake in the usual English sense.
I went to Mousse Fantasy on Sawtelle yesterday to go get a slice of JP cake. I saw this cake in the case for $40! But, it is totally what I imagine a Japanese Christmas Cake to be like.
Tags: ケーキ, baking, cake, dessert, 苺, food, Los Angeles, Mousse Fantasy, Nichibei, shortcake, strawberry, yelp link, 日米
Posted in food | 2 Comments »
Shuzo Mania
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.25 – 16:51 -Remember that ホットリックス (Hotrix) video I posted a bit back… I wasn’t fully aware of what the whole 松岡修造 (Matsuoka Shuzo) thing was about, but it is coming together.
I’m still not sure what show it is from, but he has these little messages (for the compilation of the messages, check after the jump). They are pretty odd and the ニコニコ動画 comments are hilarious, either changing what he is saying slightly or just adding “?!” at opportune moments. From there, the prime clips have been remixed with everything and anything. It seems to be a relatively new phenomenon since the main one shows him at the Olympics this year.
Any why is there that whole “hot” thing? One of his phrases is 「もっと熱くなれよ！」 (“motto atsuku nare yo”) not to mention the one where he is in the snow yelling “I feel hot!”
Anyway, if you have a ニコ動 account, check out these selections after the jump for more 松岡修造 than you can handle.
Tags: ネタ, ハルヒ, 熱い, 福田康夫, Fukuda Yasuo, God knows..., Hot, Matsuoka Shuzo, memes, music, nicovideo, Night of Knights, Night of Nights, nobodyknows+, Ryuseigun, 松岡修造, 流星群
Posted in Internet, music | 4 Comments »
mrkr!
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.24 – 16:12 -メリクリ(merikuri)！ Christmas is basically just a couple’s holiday in Japan. And so, it seems like the people who use ニコニコ動画 (NicoNicoDouga) get kind of lonely and bitter around Christmas. The result? Lots of sarcastic Christmas songs!
雌豚 (Mebuta) brings us this rendition of 宇多田ヒカル’s First Love. This one changes the lyrics to reflect the otaku mood of the season.
style="border:solid 1px #CCC;" frameborder="0">【ニコニコ動画】初音ミクより『クリスマス中止のお知らせ』
This was last year’s sensation, but it has the same sort of idea… Christmas is canceled!
【ニコニコ動画】【初音ミク】Lonely X'mas!【クリスマス（笑）】
Lonely X'mas! Need I say more? Don’t be thrown off by that first frame, it leads up to a fantastic 釣り. But, it does make it marginally less than safe for work…
style="border:solid 1px #CCC;" frameborder="0">【ニコニコ動画】【初音ミク】クリスマスはバイトだ！【オリジナル】
And last, 初音ミク (Hatsune Miku) has to go work on Christmas! But at least she is working with Santa Claus! This song is much cuter and less bitter than the previous ones.
With all that, my favorite Christmas song is Lennon’s Happy Christmas (War Is Over). But, I just found a HI-STANDARD version that is making me quiver with cheer.
[UPDATE]
【ニコニコ動画】【はっぱ隊】クリスマス・イブYATTA!【山下達郎】
Wow, this mix of クリスマス・イブ and YATTA! is also utterly fantastic!
[/UPDATE]
Happy Christmas everyone. 浮かれやがってｗｗｗ
Tags: クリスマス, クリスマス・イブ, メリクリ, ヲタク, bitter, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas music, 釣り, 雌豚, First Love, Hatsune Miku, lonely, Mebuta, Merikuri, mrkr, music, nicovideo, otaku, Utada Hikaru, X'mas, X-mas, yatta, 初音ミク, 宇多田ヒカル
Posted in music | 1 Comment »
False Alarm, Still No NicoDou on the iPhone
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.21 – 07:11 -
The iMobileCinema mobile Safari plug-in application for jailbroken iPhones claims that it plays “any flash video, in iPhone Safari.” This, of course, made me install it ASAP in an attempt to get ニコニコ動画 (NicoNicoDouga) videos on my iPhone.
The results are shown at the right. What I got was a page where the flash elements were just gray space. Alas.
So, still no ニコ動 on the iPhone. For those keeping track, that’s 0 for 3. Flash support, a ニコ動 App, or this Safari plug-in… Nothing has been released yet that will lot us watch our favorite video site on the iPhone as of yet.
Maybe I should stop holding my breath.
Tags: Apple, flash, iMobileCinema, iPhone, iPhone Apps, jailbreak, NicoNicoDouga, softbank, videos
Posted in gadgets | No Comments »
