We also made a new Shuzo video:

(English subbed version on YouTube)

The #1 video a few days ago was the 七色の松岡動画 (Nana-iro no Matsuoka Douga) which is a massive Shuzo themed MAD of 七色のニコニコ動画. Not only is the video freaking amazing, but our video was included! Check us out at around 8:14.

In addition to this, the Hot Knows anime version has been uploaded!!! This was very anticipated after the preview came out. The release date came and went, but now it is here! I love how the animator references the inspirational comments people put on the preview video after the deadline passed.

Looks like this will be a hot year!

Technorati Tags: anime, ハルヒ, God knows..., Haruhi, Hot, Hot Knows, kaiguys, Matsuoka Shuzo, Shuzo Matsuoka, Tennis, 松岡, 松岡修造, 海外ズ, 京都, 修造

This is fantastic. K-ON! was pretty much the highlight of 2009. Although second seasons are fairly rare for any Japanese story based television show in general, Kyoto Animation has done second seasons before, so it’s not all that unexpected. But not exactly expected either!

I’m super happy. NicoNicoDouga is abuzz as well:

Technorati Tags: anime, けいおん, けいおん！, club, japanese high school girls, K-ON!, keion, music, second season

In addition to just being a freaking brilliant story, the fact that the speech is machine translated and voiced in English makes me want to jump with joy. I wish I talked like that. “Pasture? I don’t eat these kinds, of things. My stomach accepts only the cheese.”

It may be a little long at nearly 14 minutes, but very much worth the watch.

Technorati Tags: animation, anime, butter, cheese, cow, english, indie, indie anime, indy, Japanese, machine translation, machine voice acting, mouse, subtitles

Yes. Flying underwear. This is the ending to the second episode of そらのおとしもの (Sora no Otoshimono), a crazy wish-fulfillment anime (Ep 1, Ep 2, Ep 3, Ep 4, Ep 5, Ep 6 on SayMove). The song is called 岬めぐり (Misaki Meguri), a hit from 1974, covered by one of the voice actresses, I’d imagine.

While the flying panties do have an reason in the show, really, there’s no excuse for this. And that’s why it is just so amazing.

There’s now a 初音ミク cover of the song. And a guy on NicoDou who constructed his own flying panties in response to this ending.

Oh Japan.

Technorati Tags: anime, そらのおとしもの, パンツ, crazy japan, flying panties, flying underwear, imi fumei, panties, pants, panty, sora no otoshimono, underwear, 意味不明

I have been watching the 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu) rebroadcast for months now. I did watch from the beginning, but I was a little late jumping into it, but needless to say… months. Oh yes, there were the hard times, such as the whole エンドレスエイト (“Endless Eight”) thing (which took 8 weeks to finish). I thought it was fantastic art, if not entertainment, and will go down in history. And there were the good times, such as reliving all the old episodes and the making of the Mikuru video (especially the talking cat).

And now, they have announced 涼宮ハルヒの消失 (Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoushitsu), oft translated as The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya (yes, it is a real word). Which will be a movie released Spring of 2010:

(YouTube link)

A movie? Dang, I had a hard enough time getting a hold of the らき☆すた (“Lucky Star”) OVA, which I just saw recently. I’m the kind of guy who likes finding the raw videos put up shortly after broadcast on SayMove (a ghetto, piratey NicoDou).

However, after seeing the らき☆すた OVA, I realized my annoyance with the series, which was way too long for something without a story, had faded over the months and I truly enjoyed the little revisit. Especially 初音ミク (Hatsune Miku) type かがみ.

So, really, spring isn’t that far away. The けいおん！(“K-ON!”) OVA will be here in January, and then it will be Spring before I know it. Who knows, maybe I can save up enough to go see it on opening day. Time to start planning my trip now.

Technorati Tags: anime, Haruhi, kyoani, kyoto animation, movie, otaku, ova, Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya, 涼宮ハルヒの消失

In the great tradition of silly box anime performances, this Initial D video is amazing. Brilliant and funny. These guys are for real!

Technorati Tags: anime, box, cars, drift, Gundam, gunma, Initial D, run

【ニコニコ動画】ファイト一発！充電ちゃん!! ED

…then you take your favorite character from anything (東方, Vocaloid, IdolM@ster) and strip her down to her underwear and make her run on a treadmill…

【ニコニコ動画】【ネタ☆MAD3rd】ミク＆春香＆霊夢がトレーニング

…AND THEN you just move into the realm of the absurd…

【ニコニコ動画】エキサイトバイクがトレーニング

Go check out ○○がトレーニング if you like what you see.

UPDATE: They just keep coming, so I’ll just keep putting the good ones after the jump.

【ニコニコ動画】【東方】⑨がトレーニング?

BTW, I love Cirno.

【ニコニコ動画】松岡修造がバーニング

Shuzo version. Had to be done.

【ニコニコ動画】巨大綾波がトレーニング　【完全版】

Evangelion + Training = Win

【ニコニコ動画】てゐがとても激しくトレーニング【手描き東方】

Even the Excitebike one is getting remixed!

Technorati Tags: 8bit, anime, チルノ, ○○がトレーニング, Charger Girl, Cirno, eva, excitebike, 霊夢, Faito ippatsu! Juden-chan!!, girls, Hatsune Miku, Idol Master, Idolm@ster, Idolmaster, Ju-den Chan, Matsuoka Shuzo, miku, nicovideo, nintendo, rei, Reimu, touhou, training, underwear, vocaloid, 春香

The basics of the show I’m sure are widely known and not really worth mentioning. I watched it in broadcast order (“Kyon Order”) and thoroughly enjoyed the series. I think みくる (Mikuru) is a manifestation of 80-90’s cyberpunk future アニメ characters. ナガト (Nagato) is pretty much レイ (Rei) from Evangelion. I could totally relate to Kyon, but what red-blooded man wouldn’t? I laughed, I cried, and a good time was had by all.

Then I thought about it. It has really be 5 whole years since I saw any アニメ at all. Well, stray 宮崎 (Miyazaki) films aside. Oh, and starring in that one. But really, I used to watch tons of it in high school and college. Once I moved to Japan, I watched Initial D because I lived in 群馬 (Gunma). But soon enough, I stopped watching it all together. Why would I stop watching アニメ once getting to Japan?! Seems counter-intuitive.

But really, it makes perfect sense. My group of friends changed. I had friends in the states who enjoyed アニメ, and after watching something, I had people I could talk to about it. When I moved to Japan, my friends were more interested in sports and cars and music and alcohol… It wasn’t really your アニメ watching crowd. So even if I did watch something, no one could relate.

Now that I’m back in America, I have started reconnecting with old friends. But more than that, I’ve become a huge ニコニコ動画 (NicoNicoDouga) fan. It’s different than being an アニメ fan, since ニコニコ動画 already has people who you can talk to about the videos built in and in real time. And also, those people are the kind of people who watch アニメ.

So, I am back in the community. Next series I will be watching is らき☆すた (“Luck Star”).

Just have to keep my mouth shut about アニメ when talking to the wife! Wish me luck.

Technorati Tags: anime, おたく, アニメ, キョン, ニコニコ動画, ハルヒ, ヲタク, coming of age, community, gunma, life, NicoDou, NicoNicoDouga, otaku, reflections, wife, 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱

This is awesome. Watch this video (if you don’t like the song, just jump to 3:55 for the main event), and every time you get the reference they are making, give yourself a point. There are 104 ZERO-ONEs! So take your score, and then divide by 104. This is the probability you are Japanese. Not seriously, but there are a lot of random references, and you would have to be very knowledgeable about Japan (Japanese television mostly) to get a good score. I personally got 37.5%! w00t! How did you do?

Technorati Tags: anime, music, nicovideo, quiz, random, survey, television, test

Man, I dunno what is in the air recently, but there is a lot of チルノ (Chiruno) videos going around recently. Figured I’d update ya’ll on some of them, after the jump! The one above seems to be from a non-IOSYS version of the チルノ song, おてんば恋娘 (otemba koimusume). The thing that is the clincher on this one is that チルミル is a baby formula with DHA, to make them smarter… pimped by Cirno, known to be the バカ⑨ of the 東方 universe. Then there is something about her eating frogs… Don’t make me explain everything! XD (Okay, that’s based on the whole things where she freezes frogs when she’s bored… there, I’m done.)

Of course, the majority of the Cirno related videos are based off the IOSYS joint, チルノのパーフェクトさんすう教室。

If you are down with 千葉滋賀佐賀, then you’ll like this remix:

【ニコニコ動画】ニッポンのパーフェクトでステキな都道府県教室【千⑧!④賀!③賀!】

Mixed with the Hammer from Smash Bros (which you may remember from HAMMER ZONE). This one is particularly meme heavy, including both 松岡修造 and IKZO:

【ニコニコ動画】ハンマーのパーフェクト力入れた教室

Here is an obligatory cute girl dancing to the song, since a good number of you visit this site looking for Japanese girls (not that I blame you):

【ニコニコ動画】チルノのパーフェクトさんすう教室踊ってみた（yukako）

A rock cover of おてんば恋娘 that actually pre-dates the IOSYS one. Good song and a cute video:

【ニコニコ動画】変に落チルノ

And finally, I’m really not フィギュア系 (figyaa-kei), but this Cirno figurine is amazing:

【ニコニコ動画】【東方】ねんどろいどっぽくないチルノ作ってみた

Technorati Tags: anime, チルノ, チルノのパーフェクトさんすう教室, チルミル, フィギュア系, baby formula, Chiba Shiga Saga, chiruno, Cirno, figure-kei, figurine, hammer, HAMMER ZONE, iosys, Japanese girls, meme, music, nicovideo, video games, videogames, 千葉滋賀佐賀, 東方