Haruhi Withdrawl
Written by Jeshii on 2009.10.13 – 02:17 -
(Warning: Complete and total Kyoto Animation otakuness achieved in this article. Oh, and yes, I did go to Japan and come back already, but let me tell you now, the bloggy goodness of the trip was severely restricted by family business. ><; ごめんなさい。)
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:
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.
Tags: anime, Haruhi, kyoani, kyoto animation, movie, otaku, ova, Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya, 涼宮ハルヒの消失
Posted in anime | 1 Comment »
When he throws away the hobby
Written by Jeshii on 2009.08.06 – 00:56 -
(YouTube link)
Recog has released an awesome song based on 之槇原敬 (Makihara Noriyuki)’s もう恋なんてしない (mou koi nante shinai) about an otaku meeting a girl who tells him, “I hate otaku!” It’s brilliant and sad.
I mean, if you had a girlfriend who hated otaku, which would you choose? Give up being an otaku? Go to the sea of trees? Or break up with the girl?
Lyrics after the jump.
Tags: オタク, ヲタク, Makihara Noriyuki, music, nicovideo, otaku, parody, recog, singing, 之槇原敬
Posted in music | No Comments »
Reflections Upon Watching Anime For The First Time In Five Years
Written by Jeshii on 2009.04.08 – 23:47 -
【ニコニコ動画】ハルヒ「！？」
It was a long week. I sat down and I squeezed all 14 episodes of 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu) in to my life, mainly on lunch breaks and when the baby and wife were at Grandma’s house. It was tough, but as a self-proclaimed ニコ厨 (NicoChuu), it seemed that watching this アニメ (anime) would help me to better understand all the references and characters in the series that constantly show up on NicoDou.
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.
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
Posted in anime | 2 Comments »
2channel Has Been Sold
Written by veronica on 2009.01.27 – 14:30 -
Founder of 2cahnnel, target of many lawsuits Hiroyuki Nishimura (photo by Joichi Ito)
This news broke on Saturday, so we missed the scoop, but we wanted to make sure that we opened up a thread for comment (or drunken cats. Y’know, whatever) while Jeshii is unavailable.
Apparently Hiroyuki Nishimura left a one-sentance message on his blog, dated January 2nd that he had sold 2channel. Later reports indicate a small company named Packet Monster, based in Singapore.
Packet Monster, really? There’s a lot of speculation about this heretofore-unheard-of company, and I mean, with all those little characters that come out of the bowels of 2ch, (not a poket, but a packet, mind. This is the internet we’re talking about), one’s got to wonder whether thall this speculation about supposed legal bullet-dodging for Nishimura-san has any credence.
Okay, kids. Discuss. And the people behind Yamatologic.com or any websites associated with it assume no responsibility for any crime and mayhem purpotrated by any of its readers at any time, for any reason, amen.
Oh, and here’s the link to the Japan Times article.
Tags: 2channel, bbs, hiroyuki, hiroyuki nishimura, otaku
Posted in Internet | No 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 »
Get Down!
Written by Jeshii on 2008.12.04 – 08:00 -
I love the internet. I mean, one little thing will get uploaded and then it seems to just spawn off into something completely different.
This is an excellent case study. So, if you didn’t put your GoldenEye N64 cartridge in all the way and played, the characters (and any model really) would just go crazy. Think human static, limbs flailing in all directions.
Then, someone did a MAD video of it to the song “Promise” by 広瀬香美 (Hirose Koumi).
THEN, someone just did a 2ちゃん cat instead of the models.
THEN, someone made 初音ミク do it.
THEN, someone drew it with a 東方プロジェクト character.
THEN, someone danced it for REAL.
…and then someone mixed it with 吉幾三…
And this blog post fulfills the life cycle. It can now die.
Tags: ぐるぐる, オタク, ゲッダン, bug, crazy, error, evolution, Get down, goldeneye, Hatsune Miku, Hirose Koumi, human static, IKZO, Internet, lol, n64, nicovideo, otaku, project shrine maiden, promise, 初音ミク, 広瀬香美, 東方
Posted in Internet | 2 Comments »
Otaku My Ride
Written by Jeshii on 2008.11.11 – 15:00 -
The first ever 痛Gフェスタ (Ita G Festa) occured over the weekend on the 9th in お台場 (Odaiba). It was a festival where people showed off all sorts of 痛車 (itasha), being cars with マンガ・アニメ・ゲーム (manga-anime-game) themed stickers or paint.
It was put on by the 痛G magazine and well documented in the videos above.
As an avid ニコ動 fan, I recognized way more than I care to admit. I am also blown away by this new 痛車 thing. I mean, we’ve all seen the silly ricers who take themselves seriously with their goofy ass mods. But, there is no semblance of seriousness left. It is frankly… refreshing.
Some of the ニコ動 comments for this video are worried that once the foreign press gets a hold of it, they will be all like “OMG, Japan is like, teh weird.” But I say, let your freak flag fly!
In case you can’t get enough, check out おた☆すけ for more pictures.
Tags: anime, automotive, cars, 痛車, games, Hatsune Miku, itasha, manga, NicoNicoDouga, nicovideo, otaku, otaku cars, otaku my ride, pimp my ride, 初音ミク
Posted in cars | 4 Comments »
A new Project Shrine Maiden Arrangement CD is out!
Written by Jeshii on 2008.11.03 – 20:16 -
The 東方Project (touhou, known as “Project Shrine Maiden”) Arrangement CD has been released by IOSYS! It is called 東方氷雪歌集 (Touhou Hyousetsu Kashuu) The new single is チルノのパーフェクトさんすう教室 (Chiruno no Paafekuto Sansuu Kyoushitsu, “Cirno’s Perfect Math Class”). The flash version can be seen on the special site.
Once again, Miko shows us he awesome vocal skills. I love this song already. Now, if I can just figure out how to order it from the US… Hmmmm…
Tags: anime, チルノ, チルノのパーフェクトさんすう教室, ⑨, chiruno, Cirno, Cirno's Perfect Math Class, fan video, flash, games, iosys, music, nicovideo, otaku, touhou, video, video games, 東方
Posted in Internet, music | 5 Comments »
Shokotan and Norton Fighter!
Written by Jeshii on 2008.09.29 – 21:50 -
The Norton Fighter!
Oh man… Japanese marketing at its best.
しょこたん (Shokotan, Realname 中川翔子, Nakagawa Shoko) is known throughout the JP world as the most prolific blogger ever. Apparently, that’s how she rose to fame in the Akiba crowd, posting numerous times throughout the day.
Anyway, Norton Antivirus now has her and Norton Fighter (some sort of ultraman/power ranger-like hero) as their image characters. It’s so obviously targeted at the otaku crowd, it’s not even funny. On the website, there is even a “live” video from her room. It’s actually really, really weird videos of her and the Norton Fighter interacting… very strange.
And some obligatory videos:
In this one, she is listening to some disembodied voice talk about the benefits of new norton:
And then this one is like an interview about here computer experiences:
I admit it. She’s cute and her casual speaking is all too appealing, but I’m still not installing Norton! ><;
Tags: Akiba, Akihabara, anti-virus, アキバ, blogs, 秋葉原, girls, hero, Japanese girls, models, norton, otaku, technology, video
Posted in Internet, technology | No Comments »
The SmileVideo Meteor Shower
Written by Jeshii on 2008.09.18 – 12:00 -Say you want to go to DENPA 電刃, that crazy ヲタク (otaku) dance party in Tokyo (as seen on TOKYOMANGO), but you are way behind on your NicoNico culture? Well, this is your chance to study up!
Basically, there is a compilation of popular NicoNico Music called ニコニコ動画流星群 (niko niko douga ryuuseigun, NicoNicoDouga Meteor Shower), as it is a blast of popular songs on ニコ動 in quick succession:
There are a few versions:
1. The original:
3. Orchestrated:
4. With the original songs remixed:
5. Like above but more chaotic:
And below (after the jump) I have compiled a list of (almost) every one of these songs in order! Title linked to ニコニコ動画 and YouTube embeds. Enjoy!
Read more »
Tags: anime, ニコニコ動画, ニコニコ動画流星群, Bamboo Blade, Cheetah Man, Chrono Trigger, Clannad, 男女, Dance Party, Danjo, DENPA, Haruhi, Haruhi Suzumiya, Hatsune Miku, Idol Master, Ievan Polkka, Internet, iosys, Kenshin, Kirby, Kodomo no Jikan, Lucky Star, Madlax, Mega Man, Meteor Shower, music, MuvLuv, NicoNicoDouga, nicovideo, otaku, perfume, Prince of Tennis, Prokofiev, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Uma Dance, video, vocaloid, 初音ミク, 東方, 東方系
Posted in Internet, music | 3 Comments »
