This is one of the things I’d like to achieve in my dance.

The other day, Andreas Wichter talked about walking around holding a bowl of water and being very careful not to spill any of it. Try not to cut the movements and use counter-movements when changing directions.

Bruno and Mariangeles used a similar idea in their fluidity workshops the other day. The leaders and followers shared a ball or rolled up jacket between them and walked around trying not to cut the motion and letting the movement come to a natural stop or counter-movements when changing directions.

Both ideas remind me of a Japanese anime called Initial D where the protagonist is a tofu delivery boy for his father’s business and often races around the mountains. There is a small cup of water on his dashboard, which he must be careful not to spill as that would mean he was driving too hard and the tofu would have been damaged.

I like to dance fluidly, soft and gentle and taking care of my partner as if she was that tofu which must not be damaged, ensuring that I can deliver her to the end of the tanda in one piece.

Idag har jag sett på film: 

Lucky Number Slevin

• Bra!
• En kille blir tagen som fel person och tvingas arbeta åt två rivaliserande maffiabossar.

Initial D

• Inte lika bra. Men ganska bra.
• Om en kille med en trimmad bil som vinner över alla.
• Japansk

Voddler är allt bra!

Having recently been watching through Sora no Manimani (currently episode 6), last night I was compelled to do something I hadn’t contemplated doing before in a substantial amount of time – I gazed at the stars. I was standing outside my lit room, and generally I was quite close to sources of light, so I couldn’t see all that brilliantly. Couple that with the fact that the sky in my backyard is covered mostly by trees, and it was certainly not the best conditions to go stargazing. However, I was very thankful for it. I hadn’t really noticed the stars in the night sky before for a very long time before that, and I spent most of my time in my lit room, never even contemplating it. I felt a little bit like Oyagi Saku in that regard. It’s odd that there is something so beautiful and captivating right in front of us, but we never seem to really notice it most of the time. But, if they are so captivating, why is it that we never seem to notice them? Anyway, enough of that. Through the six episodes I have seen so far, Sora no Manimani is one of the best examples I have seen of hobby-related anime.

I feel that a good hobby anime compels you to participate in said hobby. Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad was excellent in that regard, in that watching the show made me incredibly motivated in learning guitar and furthered my interest in rock’n'roll. It’s a great hobby show for rock music as it is an enjoyable viewing experience for both rock fans as well as outsiders who would like to learn more. Beck constantly references rock culture, bands and terminology, but in a way that will appeal to rock fans while not impeding on understanding what everyone’s going on about for beginners.

In my opinion, K-ON failed as a hobby anime, in that it was not really about music. I had originally assumed that K-ON would be a show about four girls forming a rock band and their experiences as musicians. However, that was not really the case. K-ON was really about moe girls doing moe things, with the music-related element only the backdrop to the story. Sure, there were music references and all at various points, but there was not really enough to create a genuine interest in the music element. Most fans of K-ON do not seem to have that much interest in the music element, and choose to love the show because of it’s moe girls. Yes, I know that they went on a frenzy to buy the instruments that the main characters use in the series and so on, but they only did so because their moe goddesses played them. K-ON, although failing in many aspects, was not all that bad of a show, it just wasn’t really what it probably should have been.

Initial D, on the other hand, is too much of an enthusiast show. It’s probably awesome for hardcore car fans, but it leaves outsiders in the dust.  It doesn’t really leave anything else for non car-enthusiasts, with a fairly plain story, cast of characters and art style. The driving force of the series is the cars themselves, and when you don’t have much of an interest in them, you’re missing the point of the whole show. I mean, the characters would be going “OH MY GOD! HE’S USING THAT ENGINE?!”, or “NO WAY! THAT’S THE <insert car model here>!” and I’ll just be going “What? Was that supposed to be amazing or something?”. Back when I was watching the series a few years ago, well, I thought it was all right, but I had the feeling I wasn’t enjoying it anywhere near as much as I was supposed to.

I feel that Sora no Manimani is a very good example of a hobby-related anime, as I have almost no knowledge of astronomy at all, yet watching it makes me want to become involved in it. There are many astronomical references (Alpha Centauri, the summer triangle and all that) but it doesn’t hinder my viewing experience at all, while in the same time being able to please enthusiasts who understand said references. I, someone with no previous knowledge in astronomy, may have found a potential interest, and [ExecutiveOtaku] of THAT Animeblog rekindled his existing interest in the subject (final paragraph). In my mind, a good hobby show should:

Create an interest in the hobby with newcomers, and further an existing enthusiast’s interest.

With all that being said, I still haven’t seen many popular examples of the hobby anime genre, such as Saki, Kaiji, and many sporting anime like Touch or Hajime no Ippo. However, this is my judgement from most of what I’ve seen.

Date aired: 19.04.1998 till 06.12.1998

TV network: Fuji TV

No. of episodes: 26 episodes

Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life

Synopsis:
Takumi Fujiwara, a normal high school student, works at a gasoline station during the day. At night, he is the delivery boy of his father’s tofu shop. With his father’s Toyota Sprinter AE86 Trueno and his own driving skills, he became known as the best amateur driver in Mt. Akina which makes other drivers be intrigued with the mysterious driver. That results to different challenges Takumi receives from different racing groups.

Cast:

Shinichiro Miki as Takumi Fujiwara

Ayako Kawasumi as Natsuki Mogi

Kazuki Yao as Kouichiro Iketani

Michiko Neya as Mako Sato

Mitsuo Iwata as Itsuki Takeuchi

Takehito Koyasu as Ryousuke Takahashi

Tohru Furusawa as Papa

Tomokazu Seki as Keisuke Takahashi

Tomomichi Nishimura as Yuuichi Tachibana

Unshou Ishizuka as Bunta Fujiwara

Yumi Kakazu as Sayuki

Sources:
Official Site
ANN
Anidb (Image Source)

Notes:
Initial D Second Stage has 13 episodes about the match of Takumi’s Trueno and Lancer EVO-based “Emperor”.

Initial D Extra Stage has 2 episodes about the match of Emperor and the duo of Mako and Sayuki.

Initial D: Extra Stage 2: Tabidachi no Green is an OAV about Iketani.

Initial D Third Stage is a movie that revolves around Takumi after he graduated in high school.

Initial D Fourth Stage has 24 episodes that revolves around Project D formed by Takumi Fujiwara and brothers Keisuke and Ryousuke Takahashi.

The other OAV’s of Initial D are mostly compilations of those that are mentioned above.

Initial D

Download Link:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7DOFCQL1

The retro craze has finally hit cars I have fuzzy memories of. Today at the Tokyo Motor Show Honda announced production plans for the CR-Z, a 2-seat hatchback with ever-so-many styling cues from the beloved, dearly departed CR-X. Then Toyota unveiled the new FT-86, which is a rear wheel drive sports hatchback-coupe a la the old AE-86, better known as Tak Fujiwara’s sweet drift machine from Initial D. Factory Fujiwara Tofu decals are yet to be announced.

I ordinarily hate retro revivals like the PT Cruiser, the Mustang, or the new Thunderbird because they’re a stylistic dead end. However, these cars are pretty cool because they have modern design that has been paying attention to the past 20 years. The FT-86, without the name, wouldn’t really evoke the look of the old Hachi-Roku, and they’d only share the casual association of being RWD hatchback sports cars from Toyota. These “retro revivals,” then, share little with the PT Cruiser or Chevrolet SSR, since the nostalgic part of them isn’t ancient styling cues, but the vehicle platforms themselves. Toyota hasn’t made a sports car since the old MR-2 Spyder, and Honda hasn’t had an affordable economy 2-seater since the (Car of the Millennium Winner, P.H. Cordner Auto Society) Del Sol. Whatever they look like or whatever their names, they remind me of the great cars of old.

Photos:

Honda CR-Z

http://jalopnik.com/5370911/2009-honda-cr+z-concept-press-photos/gallery/

Toyota FT-86

http://jalopnik.com/5375217/toyota-ft+86-concept/gallery?selectedImage=1

So yesterday I hanged out the peeps in town after my driving lesson.

And while Jeremy was going for his interview at his school, and while Luis and Shihui were strolling around Fort Canning Park, probably wondering when they will end up next door at ROM, I was being tasked with the job of looking after Jeremy’s car.

Because he didn’t want to put any coupon. And just in case the aunties and uncles in white come.

So I was in the driver’s seat, flipping through the Singapore Street Directory.

Then I saw a black Chevy MPV, zooming fast in the carpark I was in.

He was really fast. Like some cheongster. And he parked directly head in.

And I was wondering who the heck he was, driving so fast in the carpark.

I saw Gurmit Singh coming out of that car.

*bish

Ermm, Gurmit. Do try not to drive too fast in the carpark ya?

Edit @ 12.37am, 14 September 2009:

Hi Shihui. I didn’t say he brought you to ROM leh. I said you were probably wondering when you will end up at ROM. But I agree got a lot of mosquitoes. I saw one flying into the car while waiting for you guys.

I got rid of it anyway. So don’t need to worry about dengue fever and malaria.

By the way, ROM when ar?

*coughs

Just joking. Later Luis scold me for bullying you here. LOL.

Chio bu~!!!

Oops. Wrong.

Chio car.

New dream car. I still love Vios though.

I’ll only consider Hondas and Toyotas. Heck the rest.

So everyone knows how I love the arcade scene. And you probably know of two other guys that love the arcade just as much as I do. I won’t mention their names though, just in case you don’t know.

Many of the games in Japan use a card save system in which you can purchase a card (same size as a debit/credit card and acts like a memory card) and save your progress throughout the game. Having these cards allows you to obtain unlockables (music, avatar clothing, etc) and most importantly, save your progress every time you done playing. This allows you to leave the arcade and come back, insert you coin, and start back up from right where you left off. It makes the experience that more enjoyable, believe me.

You might be saying to yourself, “Aaron, I don’t care about arcades, and besides, your 23. You must be too old to be hanging out at that kind of place.” I shall reply with a mighty “HAH!”

Arcades, more commonly known here as Game Centers, ゲームセンター, are crazy popular in Japan. I’ve seen people of all ages trying to luck at the various games located throughout the building. There is something for everyone. If you like fighting, you can fight. If you like horse racing, you can bet on horses. If you like fantasy games, you can buy a deck of RPG cards and play. Like music? They got you covered. Like to gamble? They even got you covered there. Want to leave the arcade with a prize? They have tons of prize machines you can win at. You get my point? What you have seen in Canada just doesn’t compare.

Now I should probably back up my opinion with pictures or something, but yah, I actually didn’t plan on writing this tonight, so I don’t have any. I went to Norbesa today, but forgot my camera. *pulling hair* So, for the consolation, I have pictures of my three “keys”.

Did I sound a little mean? (*’-')