Nipponbashi Street Festa 2016 Part 1

Maybe favourite picture.

The girl in blue is S class kawaii.

Legend of Galactic Heroes Yang WenLi Jacket

Finally after releasing stars and patches, Cospa has finally released Admiral Yang's jacket!

Costing a huge 32000 yen, this thing burnt a whole in my wallet. I was worried to take my time because LoGH is not famous and the XL jackets might run out quick.

I already spent this huge amount of money and Cospa couldn't even include a freaking patch. Wtf. I've got to buy it separately? I feel so ripped off.

Good luck Yuka-chan!

Yuka-chan is quitting Air's Clover and moving to Tokyo next month to pursue her acting dream. There were problems with her agent in Osaka and she's giving herself one year in Tokyo. Hopefully I'll see her in a play in Shimokita one day. We promised to meet up in Tokyo next time I'm there.

Air's Clover just isn't the same without Megumi and Yukimi and now Yuka is going to be gone. :( The new girls are ok and Kaori now runs the place but there's nothing like catching up with people who have known you for at least 5 years.

I like Megumi's bar Hakushe but it doesn't have karaoke. Big day tomorrow with Nipponbashi Street Festa and dinner with Yukimi.

Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu -Sotsugyou-

I had absolutely no expectations for this Hashimoto Kanna vehicle. Can't even remember anything from the Nagasawa Masami series.

There are two good things about this new iteration of Sailor Fuku to Kikanjuu; first is Kinpachi sensei as Kanna's no.1 underling and source of humour.

Second is Hasegawa Hiroshi as the badass guy from the rival yakuza group who Kanna has the hots for. I'm pretty sure he did the movie just so for the kissing scene. Still it was fun seeing him playing the strong quiet type after going through a wole gamut of emotions in Love & Peace.

One more interesting thing is there were a couple of long one shot scenes.

The biggest problem with the movie is Kanna's character, the sailor fuku girl. She's basically given the reins of a small time 3 man yakuza group who doesn't make any smart decisions or aim her machinegun at anybody. Everyone else fights, kills and dies for her.

Probably the second worst thing is the movie is 20 minutes way too long. If you're movie is going to be crap, it should be as painless as possible. Most importantly, can Hashimoto Kanna act? Meh.

Ryu ga Gotoku x Sweets Paradise at Okachimachi Pasta Paradiso

I was planning to go to Butayarou in Nakano but luckily checked tabalog and found out it was closed. Off I went to Okachimachi to eat some Ryu ga Gotoku food.

There was this girl next to me and before long we were talking Ryu ga Gotoku. That's a picture of us with our coaster and stickers.

Turns out she had come down from Aichi to visit the store.

And unfortunately is going back by bus tonight. I should have said I was going to Nagoya but that would entail cancelling on some people.

She doesn't have a PS4 and played the games on her oniichan's PS3. My heart skipped a beat when she used the word oniichan. Lucky bastard.

Unfortunately she had a previous engagement but at least we managed to exchange LINE accounts to talk more Ryu ga Gotoku.

Haruka-chan was very sweet.

Very happy the Sega gods allowed me to meet another Ryu ga Gotoku fan. :)

Gekirin at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater

The timing for my trip was made up when I saw the poster for Gekirin during my last one. The line up of Matsu Takako, Eita, Abe Sadao and Inoue Mao is to die for. I wanted to go for the Mano Erina concert in January but the tickets were double what I paid for this trip.

Unfortunately for me, Gekirin is one hell or a confusing play. Eita is a telegram messenger who becomes a diver after he meets Matsu Takako, who is a mermaid.

Inoue Mao is the daughter of this aquarium owner who believes in the existence of mermaids. Eita is able to see this big warship on the horizon that nobody an see and Inoue Mao says that's because he has good eyesight. I think he is able to see the past/future because he is involved in some scenes/hallucinations where I do not that when it is taking place.

Abe is the security guard who becomes a diver and finally the captain of a submarine in WW2.

There's a story about Matsu Takako failing the audition to be a fake mermaid for the meseum, the origins of mermaids and the meaning of gekirin which is how they get to live forever.

It ends with WW2, everyone joIning the the submarine crew and the submarine shooting torpedoes with humans in it and being pushed by mermaids.

After the final torpedo is fired with Eita and being pushed by Matsu Takako, the Emperor's surrender can be heard.

Its supposed to make some sense because the audience loved it and I heard some sniffing. The show is moving to Osaka next so I hope Yuka watches it so she can explain the story to me.

No more super artistic plays with super long sentences and people speaking at 100 words per minute. I just want modern comedies with regular Japanese like Better Half which I really regret not watching a second time. I think the Nodamap plays make their way to youtube. Gekirin is Nodamap's 20th production.

Goodbye Miho-chan

Yesterday was Miho-chan's last day at Hotaru. It was a sad day but at least I made it for the last two days.

Funny thing is, when I told her I was coming she said:
それがですね、12日土曜日でほたる最後なんです！

which basically says 12th of March is the last day. The thing about Japanese is that the object is omitted a lot and I read it as Hotaru's last day.

Her next line after my wtf response was about changing jobs but I attributed that to Hotaru closing. At least my stupidity made a good story. I saw Matsu Takako in a play last night but Miho takes precedence. Oh well, I'm going to have to drown my sorrows in yakiniku tonight.

Naomi to Kanako 2-6

I thought that Naomi to Kanako made a mistake by showing the murder right at the beginning of episode 1. Turns out, it wasn't a mistake because the show does a surprising decent job at two things; Firstly exploring the psychological states of the characters, Kanako with her battered woman syndrome and Naomi as a survival of an abusive father. I love the shaking spoon scene when Kanako confronts the husband.

The second thing that Naomi to Kanako does a good job with is showing how Naomi slowly formulates and executes her plan to kill Kanako's husband. You have funny scenes like a trip looking for a place to bury the body turns into a trip for two best friends reminiscing their past or Naomi panicking right before the deed and Kanako showing her conviction. The devil is in the details and I love the details to Naomi's plans and how she tries to anticipate and solve any problems.

The question is, where does the show go from here? Where will the cat and mouse game with the sister lead us? The audience wants Naomi and Kanako to get away with murder but hopefully there will be an unexpected development in the story.

The directing is just not good enough for Naomi to Kanako to get a must watch but for now, its been a surprising, very watchable 6 episodes.

A Boy and his Beast / Bakemono no Ko review

Studio Ghibli may be gone but good thing Japan still has Hosoda Mamoru, the director or The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars. I still haven't watched Wolf Children yet. A Boy and his Beast is a very familiar tale and we've seen parts of it in so many movies.

A boy is raised by a rough and tumble beast, Kumatetsu and they both find that they have things to teach each other such as finding your own path in life, what it means to be a parent, it takes a village to raise a kid and all those warm and fuzzy things. Boy meets girl and is torn between the real world and the Beast Kingdom and has to deal with the darkness in his heart.

The thing that makes A Boy and his Beast special is that it has heart. The stuff that makes Ghibli movies special and being a family movie, its an allegory for growing up.

Even when characters explain their emotions a bit too obviously, I'm ok with it because its a kids film and there are no long drawn out teen angst dialogues. The animation is exquisite and I love how detailed the fighting scenes are.

The best compliment I can give A Boy and his Beast is that I have the same reaction to it as Ghibli classics like Kiki's Delivery Service: I wish I had watched it as a kid. The magic of anime is still alive and well. Must watch.

Ren and his harem (because Itsuka Kono Koi wo Omoidashite Kitto Naite Shimau is too long) Episodes 5-7

The best thing Itsuka Kono Koi wo Omoidashite Kitto Naite Shimau has going for it is the chemistry between Kora Kengo and Arimura Kasumi.

How do you choose between Kyushu and Hokkaido? Personally, I would go for Fukuoka but Ren being the idiot harem main character that he is, chose neither. Tonkotsu always beats Miso IMO.

The dinner scene was not bad, but still lacked that Sakamoto Yuji omph. But it nearly got there. Then nothing happened and we time jumped.

So basically after deciding to go for Fukuoka or Hokkaido, Ren decides to go evil.

How do we know he is evil? Because he uses too much hair product and they over-exaggerate his evil eyebrows. I really can't stand it. Which freaking director told the make-up artist to give Ren devil eyebrows? Was he concerned that the audience would not be able to perceive Ren's evilness? Did Sakamoto Yuji write in the script that Ren's eyebrows would grow higher in 5 years? There's a reason why evil characters in kids' shows have exaggerated features, its so the kids can easily identify good and bad characters. This is a freaking dorama ffs.

I am very disappointed that Takahata Mitsuki is no longer in the equation and has been reduced to role of supporting friend. Effing do a proper triangle dorama ffs!

I'm getting tired of Itsuka Kono Koi wo Omoidashite Kitto Naite Shimau. Evil Ren was boring and I don't care about mentally unstable girl. One thing that kept popping into my head was how much better the story of the manga I's is compared to this. As I've said, this type of show is about providing interesting and fun distractions until they get together in the end or someone dies but its just been meh.

7 things I love about Gaiji Keisatsu Episode 1

Its kind of sad that on top of the small pantheon of Japanese cop shows, Gaiji Keisatsu arguably stands at the top with Gonzo, Rinjo and Border. Rewatching Gaiji Keisatsu is so much fun and idoru/tarento shows like Siren don't deserve to lick Gaiji's Keisatsu's boots. Its always been on the top of my list of shows to rewatch and I decided to give it a go after reading Anime/Gaming Newbie's comments.

1) Ono Machiko's character who is the audience POV character is quickly established as competent cop with scenes like Watabe Atsuro asking her about the target's clothes. No Ueto Aya like main character where you spend the series wondering how she ever graduated the academy and became a detective.

2) The rift between the regular cops (flies) and the Public Security people feels real and not tacked on. So many Japanese cop shows have parties overacting and getting angry over jurisdiction crap when only one person is competent in their job. I love the fact that Ono Machiko gets treated like a fly in the beginning of the episode and has to do it to another fellow cop later. I like that her ex partner doesn't scream at her everytime they meet cause they are both on the same side, just with very different priorities.

3) The way they tail the suspect feels real and professional and there's no way anyone can suspect they are being watched. Too many times, its men in suits with their finger in their ear. The devil is in the details because once the cops do something stupid just to look cool, they've lost me.

4) The attempted suicide surveillance scene. High tension with the big picture vs small picture argument. Its less Ono Machiko's character is idealistic but that Watabe Atsuro is ruthless.

5) The look that Ono Machiko gives at her last moment to stop an innocent man from committing a crime. Is she a good actress or what?

6) Watabe Atsuro telling Ono Machiko why she is suited from this job. Whether or not its true, it plants this idea in her head that deep down she used her friend's misfortune for her career.

7) Learning that Watabe Atsuro is willing to sacrifice the innocent for what he wants.

If you've never seen this show, drop everything and run and get it. There's a torrent up at nyaa. I don't see Japan producing something as good as this anytime soon.

Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna review

By the JRPG gods, it has been so freaking long since I've played a good JRPG that wasn't an old game! The JRPG I got before this, Exist Archive turned out to be a repetitive boring rubbish game from Tri Ace. I seriously thought that I would just have to play old RPGs for the rest of my life.

Square Enix, who now make boy band action games *cough* FFXV *cough* created this studio called Tokyo RPG Factory to make old school RPG games and Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna is the first game from the studio.

Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna is set in this world where every ten years, a girl has to be sacrificed to reduce the number of monsters in the world. The story is about a mercenary Endo, who is hired to kill Setsuna but ends up escorting her to be sacrificed and along the way they pick up various members in their journey.

WHAT I LIKED

+ An actually good story where characters didn't speak in anime cliches and didn't try to be too clever. I love the whole RPG tradition of visit a new place and pick up a new team member with an interesting backstory whereas most current games the characters are schoolmates or a harem cliche.

+ The dialogue is about the mission and not meaningless slice of life chatter. 

+ You can play the protagonist Endo as your typical good guy or be a jerk. :)

+ Chrono Trigger + FFVII materia inspired battle system where you can mix and combine special moves. Random battles are easy but I had fun trying to equip the right stones to unluck combinations.

+ The Setsuna system where the orb slowly fills out and when you use it, actions have a secondary effect. Although its a turn based game, time passes when you are not in an action menu and sometimes its better to wait to use your turn for the Setsuna effect.

+ Great piano music. Nothing Chrono Trigger good but sets the mood nicely.

+ Lots of powerful enemies for you to beat after clearing that make the last boss look like a pussy.

+ What little budget they had, Tokyo RPG Factory spent it on the important stuff which was story and gameplay. This is the opposite of Studios like Furyu who spend all their money on voice acting, moe pictures and non on gameplay.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

- No freaking voice acting save for two points in the game. This game was made on a shoestring budget.

- Villages all look the same with the same people in every village.

- Could have been a great RPG if Tokyo RPG Factory were given a decent budget to work with. The last village really showed what they could have done with more time and money.

- No freaking cross save with the Vita version. WTF?

VERDICT

If you love old school RPGs, there is nothing else out there except maybe Stella Glow which was tolerable. If you accept the budgetary limitations, Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna is an RPG with heart and made with love. Do get the PS4 version because apparently the loading times on the Vita version are crap, just like Exist Archive. I'm going to double dip and get the Vita version just to support the studio. The Japanese level is pretty easy except for one character who speaks in formal archaic Japanese.

My next JRPG might be Summon Night 6 depending on how the demo is. My dream would be version 2.0 of the game with upgraded graphics and voice acting. Its been a while since I've played a satisfying JRPG so me very happy. I'm looking forward to whatever game Tokyo RPG Factory is going to do next.