Even as an Arashi fan, Sho is not one of my favorite actors. That award still goes to my ichiban Nino and his husband Ohno. Despite this fact, I always look forward to the dramas that Sho is in, particularly because I think he chooses his scripts well. It’s sort of a redeeming factor because it’s better to do something that you like even if you’re not entirely good at it. (Except for Yatterman, but let’s not talk about that anymore.)

Five days as of this writing, Sho will be starring in a new drama called Kazoku Game (Family Game), a remake of a 1983 movie of the same name. He will be playing Yoshimoto Katsu, an eccentric private tutor hired by a family to help pull the younger son’s grades up. I’m extremely excited for this since Sho playing a tutor (or a teacher) has always been one of the roles that I believe suits him very well.

In the meantime, I look back at my five favorite Sho drama roles.

5. The Quiz Show 2 (2009)
The Plot: Sho plays Kamiyama, a host of a live TV program with a mysterious past that he doesn’t remember. He asks the contestants questions that progressively delve into their past crimes and wrongdoings until said contestant is forced to confess on live, national television. Little does he know that his past and the past of the contestants have one common thread, and it has something to do with him and the producer, Honma (played by Kanjani8’s Yokoyama Yu).

My Thoughts: This is actually the first Sho drama I watched (I’m a lot lazy on downloading and watching), and I thought Sho did a good job in here, mostly because I think he’s already used to being an MC in real life. Though not watertight, I love how he manages to switch from being kooky to serious to eventually weak and scared. Overall, I found the drama tedious, but what made me watching until the end is the dynamics (aka sexual tension) between Kamiyama and Honma.

4. Kisarazu Cat’s Eye (2002)
The Plot: Sho plays Bambi and he’s friends with the members of his high school baseball team—Bussan (V6’s Okada Junichi), Ucchi (Okada Yoshinori, Horikita Maki’s brother in Hana Kimi), Master (Sato Ryuta from Slapstick Brothers), and Ani (Tsukamoto Takashi from Battle Royale). Bussan is diagnosed with cancer and finds out that he has six months to live, so he drags his friends along into making the most of the time he has left, which involves playing baseball in the day and getting into mischief at night.

My Thoughts: While this is an Okada Jesus drama, I absolutely loved Sho in his, from his facial expressions to his humor to his character’s development in general. What made this drama work, though, is the overall theme of friendship among the five characters despite the sexual jokes, the violence, and the sobering knowledge that there isn’t much time left.

3. Yoiko no Mikata (2003)
The Plot: Sho plays Suzuki Taiyo, a young man who lives up to his name with his sunny disposition. He dreams of becoming a nursery school teacher, a rare dream for a man in an occupation that is usually handled by women. After passing the nursery school teacher examination, he covers for a teacher on maternity leave and tries to prove to fellow teachers and parents that he is as capable, if not more, as the other teachers.

My Thoughts: I think this is where I saw that Sho can act well in dramas in which he absolutely relates to the character. In Yoiko no Mikata, he manages to show the cheerfulness and dedicated expected from Suzuki Taiyo, and I think it’s because he enjoys being with children to the point that his paternal instincts come out, making fans go “aww” and wish he’d be the father of their children. (I’m talking to you, Kambal.)

And Matsumoto Jun cameos here as Sawada Shin from the Gokusen drama. My. Shipper. Heart. Is. Delighted. And so do the rest of the Arashi members (except for Nino), just so you know.

4. Yamada Taro Monogatari (2007)
The Plot: Sho plays Mimura Takuya, an aloof rich kid who attends Ichinomiya High School and is in the honors’ section alongside fellow popular kid, Yamada Taro (played by Arashi’s Ninomiya Kazunari). Mimura discovers that Yamada isn’t as rich as other people assume he is, but he goes out of his way to look out for Yamada (to the point of creepy stalking) and help him in every poverty-related problem he has.

My Thoughts: Okay, I obviously watched this drama mostly for Nino and the Sakumiya (the gay is bound to happen because it has two Arashi members in it), but Sho did an okay job as Mimura. I think the acting stemmed from the fact that he’s a real-life rich kid, so portraying said role isn’t that hard. What bothers me a bit is the way his smile is occasionally forced, but that is overshadowed by the funny moments that he has with Nino in the drama. The part where Mimura stalks Yamada is definitely hilarious.

1. Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de (2012)
The Plot: Sho plays a butler named Kageyama assigned to the Hosho household, particularly the daughter, Reiko (played by Kitagawa Keiko). Reiko works as a police detective though lacks the reasoning skills needed to solve a murder case. She does, however, lay out the facts to him over dinner, and Kageyama solves the case with his amazing deductive skills, but not before making a sharp comment at his master for being “stupid.”

My Thoughts: I’m a big fan of detective and mystery dramas, so you can see how this became a factor in choosing my favorite dramas. Sho absolutely nailed the role of a snarky butler-slash-detective with amusing quirks (keeping a cut-out of a fictional character in his room? Really?). Aside from that, his chemistry with Keiko is flawless, and even though there’s no romance in this drama, one can’t help but just ship them. Now who wouldn’t want Sho as their butler?

It’s showtime! The Quiz Show is where contestants test their knowledge to win a fat cash prize. The questions are simple enough… right? However, the contestants find out the game becomes more than they bargain for.

A, B, C or D? The truth reveals itself while players advance through the game. One by one, the contestants find themselves where they would never think: Pitted against themselves. Now the real fun begins!

DREAM CHANCE! Host MC Kamiyama (Sakurai Sho) gives an energetic performance during the game. As the series progresses, so does the manner in which the show is produced by Honma Toshio (Yokoyama Yu). We learn more about both characters and the dark past connecting them.

Tune in now! The dark plot highlights the types of moral dilemmas in which people find themselves. The Quiz Show 2 definitely does not disappoint. The deeper into this series, the more complex situations the characters are in. It also makes you wonder what the hell a guy like Kamiyama is doing on television and what Honma has to do with it.

You do not have the watch the first season to understand this show. All in all, enjoy a great drama that pushes the boundaries of human ethics. Definitely recommended!

_______________
The Quiz Show 2 aired on NTV Japan

Warning: Potential spoiler. Proceed at own risk.

Another Warning: GOTH contains extreme goriness and disturbing content. Reader’s discretion is highly advised.

The last time I felt I should give readers a warning first thing in the review was with Sakura Gari which is a tale of a twisted love fueled by years of mistreatment and madness. Compared to that, GOTH is another ballgame altogether. At least in Sakura Gari, we see madness as madness. The characters are clear in their ethical stand points. In other word, the narrative of Sakura Gari is sane. In GOTH, there is no common outlook for readers to hang on to. We are thrust right into the world of Kamiyama, a high-schooler and a self-professed morbid psychopath, where crimes scenes are playgrounds and severed human hands are things of beauty. The entire story is engulfed in cold detachment towards the crimes, the victims, the criminals, and the motivations. It is the numbness that irks us normal people. Yet, the narrative of GOTH portrays this as normal as the sun rises and sets. But we know it is not, whether it is from ethical or psychological point of view. It tips me off right from the beginning and in the same time lures me on, because this is a thought-experiment; this is safe as long as we keep track of where the axis of our world really is.

But the minds portray here does not exactly arise just from thought-experiment. Unfortunately, they have real-world counterparts that we know existed. The title GOTH was supposed to be the implication to the kind of mind portrayed – the ones lured by darkness – but Goth subculture has nothing to do with the main content of this story. Otsuichi had apologized for the misuse which leads to some readers picking the book by mistake and, I presume, being more than disturbed by it. The only thing in this story that I would count as distinctly gothic is the fascination with death, but there is a large difference between toying with the idea of death and going out to find dead bodies and serial killers. The former I would find it within reason for someone to ponder over at times. To be obsessed with it would be a bit alarming but does not mean the person is a danger to anyone unless proven otherwise. The latter would set all my alarms off immediately because it means the person is not obsessed with death as an abstract concept, but seeks to make it tangible. I don’t think you need to be a psychologist to know that it is a sign of an unhealthy mind.

But that is the story of GOTH. Kamiyama, the apparently cheerful boy, and Morino, the gloomy girl, are two friends from the same school who share the fascination with death. They seek out places where crimes had occurred. While Morino is satisfied with staring into the eyes of the dead or standing in the place they have been, Kamiyama would only be sated by interacting with the perpetrators. They have no intention of stopping the crime or finding justice for the victims. These investigations are solely for their private fantasies. Morino associates herself with the victim. Kamiyama associates himself with the killer.

That leads us to main interest of the story: the serial killers.

Killing is not necessary an act of ending a life for some psychopathic killers. While there is a wide range of motivation for serial killing, none which can be easily understood and in most cases convoluted, a portion of serial killing is about possession. It came up in the recount of Ted Bundy and Jeffry Dahmer. While we can argue over the credibility of Bundy’s own word given his tendency to manipulate, Dahmer’s behaviour spoke louder. He killed men whom he came into sexual contact with (which probably means he was attracted to them, if that is even the right word) and occasionally kept parts of them with him, even ate them. He also did his infamous zombie experiment to make them submissive partners. I would say that speaks volumes of Dahmer’s drive, or part of it: he wanted a relationship he had total control over and lovers who would never leave him whom he could abuse or use at will. It is probably the most evident example of sadistic possession. This might be a twisted display of emotional attachment that we regular people could never understand.

That kind of motivation is also present in GOTH, albeit more subtly displayed and never laid out completely which actually is very appropriate given that in most cases no one can really pinpoint what really drives the killing. It is much easier to portray serial killers as just evil and crazy like in Silence of the Lamb or Psycho but that is a very narrow portrayal of what psychopathic killers are like. They typically are not crazy. It is in their head that emotion (or sometimes the lack thereof) and rationalization got so messed up something evil born out of it. And seriously, normal human has done a lot of evil. We don’t need to be out of our minds to do it.

However, I will admit that showing serial killers as distorted humans are far more disturbing than making them outright monsters from hell because no one knows where the line really is. Is Kamiyama a monster or just a really sick teenager? Will he really become a psychopathic killer? He had no qualms of killing, but if he does not commit a crime, should we still count him as a danger? I would say no idea, maybe, and probably yes for those three questions, but I have no idea how to appropriately deal with him. There are too many issues about predicting a criminal that the act itself should be considered unethical. But what if we found someone like Kamiyama who is clearly a hidden predator, should we single him out and try to intervene?

At least right now, the only motivation that can make Kamiyama cross the line is Morino. His attachment towards her started when he spotted a scar across her wrist indicating that she had tried to commit suicide. At that time, Kamiyama and Morino were yet to be acquaintance, so he saw Morino, and Morino’s hand in particular, as object of obsession. But as he comes to know her, his attention seems to be drawn away from a part of Morino’s body to Morino as a person. He almost proclaims her as his in the way he confronts the serial burier when Morino disappears on her way to school. It is even more obvious when he seems to be digging into Morino’s past which she finds distasteful. I guess she really starts to sense then that Kamiyama has an unhealthy attraction towards her, not that it is really unwelcome. She knows Kamiyama has the tendency to be a killer. That, I think, is the quality that draws her to him subconsciously in the first place.

It is after Morino’s past is exposed that they both finally confess their needs to one another. Morino, haunted by the death of her twin sister, finally admits that she wants to die. Tenderly, Kamiyama offers that whenever she feels like ending her life, he will gladly make her wish comes true.

It is almost a love scene – a twisted, morbid, and frightening love scene between the potential killer and his potential victim. I will admit here that I find it startlingly beautiful.

At the end of it, I think it is more of a dark fairytale with a very nice depiction of the deadly psychopathic minds. The ending reminds me of Kaori Yuki’s The Boy Next Door which is also a dark fairytale about a serial killer who found his perfect match in a prostitute with a death wish. But The Boy Next Door is a love story, and it isn’t even about the killing. As soon as they found each other, the killing stops because the killer finally has someone he enjoys the company alive. In the end, I think that might have happened to Kamiyama, too. He does not want to kill Morino on his own term but hers. I have a feeling that his attachment to her has gone beyond the need of possession. What you would call it, I do not know.

I have been told that the original GOTH, an anthology of six short-stories written by Otsuichi, has more insight into the characters than it is shown in the manga, understandably from the page-limit on the manga and the different presentation of the two media. While we have the visual realization of Otsuichi’s description in the manga, which some of us might want to forgo, it limits how much inner monologue can be put in without boring people out of their minds. The high contrast drawing lends a rather surreal and eerie atmosphere, like the minds it is trying to portray.  I haven’t read the original anthology – though I’m seriously considering it given its award-winning reputation – so I cannot really say if the manga presentation had really done justice to the piece. As a standalone, I think Kendi Oiwa has done a splendid job with both the visual and the narration.

GOTH is also adapted into a movie directed by Gen Takahashi. After watching the film out of curiosity, I would recommend readers to stick with either the book or the manga as the film use a lot of creative license which ends up making it a lot like other serial killer movies. The killer in the story is reduced to a monster with a clear insane motivation. It also addresses the relationship between Kamiyama and Morino which is the dynamic of the story rather tactlessly. Having the subtle cues and gestures spelt out so bluntly and artlessly is insulting to the characters’ and the audience’s intelligence. Kamiyama and Morino can figure each other out on their own just fine. Thank you.

Despite the shortcomings, the movie still faithfully adheres to the original concept that the true horror is the mind not the crime, the gore, or the body parts. In fact, there isn’t much blood and no gore at all in the movie. It is a shame they couldn’t bring the main point to clearer light given they don’t have the visual distraction to begin with. But to give them credit, portraying a mind that is so complex, eerie, and with the ability to hide those things so effectively, is not exactly the easiest task on screen. For now, the book and the manga are the best shot if you want to see the world through the eyes of the killers.

Life never fails to inspire me. No matter what might be going on in my day or week, I invariably come in touch with something so remarkable that I am lifted from whatever thought or experience I am having, into joy and amazement at the versatility, creativity and care of human beings.

Today I learned of a man, Rick Willett, who is a percussionist. A number of years ago he became involved in body percussion with a performance group called Stomp Dance Troupe. In Colombia, he had occasion to use this technique with Dance for Tolerance, a group addressing children at risk who are dealing with issues of poverty and violence. Working with them he saw their hardened faces change. That was the beginning of Willett using this technique around the world to help children who are trauma victims. He next met with children in Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant – kids with difficult backgrounds, living amidst drug dealers and addicts. Once again, as they were occupied making rhythms, he saw a change in the children.

A simple rhythm clapped on the knees, pounded out by the feet, complimented by snaps and claps. Sounds easy. Willett’s body music, however, is anything but. Even the simple rhythms he begins with are challenging although he firmly says “anyone can do what I do.”

He teaches a rhythm. When the kids have it, he speeds it up, adding accents and changes. The kids are instantly fully engaged, and for a time, forget about their circumstances.

Willett was on his way to Japan for a project when the earthquake and tsunami hit. He thought he might use his skills with Japanese children to help reduce their stress. While he was in Kamiyama, he was working with some kids and there was an aftershock. Taking one look at their faces, he saw just how much stress they carry around with them beneath the surface. When they started the body percussion again, however, their worry faded. What he saw was a group of kids having fun.

Willett’s hope is to help take the kids’ minds off of their stress. He says he wants to help them recover fun and bring back some childhood back into their lives. While he focuses on the kids’ enjoyment, he also acknowledges that the body percussion enhances teamwork. What he might not be thinking is that for some kids, he may be providing a choice that they never had before, an opportunity to see beyond the circumstances of their everyday lives to possibility.

Thanks, Rick Willett, for doing what you do, and for being such an inspiration.

Robin Damsky

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We read the weather report again this morning, and it said that the rain would continue throughout the day, and would begin to clear in the evening and should be better tomorrow.  So, we decided to take another easy day, watching Futurama, eating snacks, laying in bed.  We didn’t leave the michi-no-eki until about 1PM.

From Kamiyama we headed to an onsen in Komatsushima City, it boldly claimed to be 100% natural onsen water.  I didn’t really care, I just wanted to wash.  The old men that usually have the onsen to themselves always look confused/surprised to see me using it too.  Fair enough, I guess it’s an odd place for a foreign person to be.  Anyway, I was in/out in about 45 minutes.  I took my time, enjoyed a few different baths.  I am just about always out before Risa, and that’s fine, gives me time to do Internet things.  Today, she came out 45 minutes after me.  I did tell her to “enjoy it”, and to “take your time”…  Not complaining, mostly surprised at how long she can spend in an onsen.

By the time we left it was 4PM.  We’d travelled maybe 20km so far.  We did some quick shopping for dinner (at an amazingly cheap supermarket, Deo) and tried to finally do some serious driving.  I wanted to go to a rugged cape, Cape Gamouda, but it was getting dark and I wasn’t even sure if there would be any place for us to camp.  So, we took the safe/easy option and headed to the next michi-no-eki in Minami Town.  The road was (mostly) modern, and traffic was flowing at about 70kph, which was almost like we were back driving in Hokkaido, except the terrain looked far more like Taiwan.

Risa cooked a simple rice-noodle dinner (of course it was tasty), we mixed a few drinks with the sudachi (lime) that we were given last night, and watched some Top Gear.  Here’s hoping that tomorrow’s weather is better, and it’s warm enough to swim in the amazing beaches in the area.

First stop on today’s journey was to Kazura Bashi (a vine bridge) not far from where we spent the night.  We’d read in Lonely Planet that it was a tourist trap, and they were right.  There was a giant souvenir shop/car park that had recently been built.  It was an enormous concrete building.  And disgusting.  Luckily for us, across the road there was a much cheaper car parking option (which was even cheaper since it relied on honesty, as no one was working there to collect money).  We walked down to check out the bridge.  Since they wanted ¥500 to walk across it (but it was free to just look at it), we did just that.  Walked around the area and took some photos.  It looked like fun to cross, but we were going to (what we believed to be) a better one afterwards, so we saved our cash for that.  It was funny though watching the people cautiously crossing the bridge, holding on tightly to the side ropes.

Just by the bridge was Biwa Waterfall, 50m, with water that pleasantly cool to dip feet into.  But, it too had been modified with concrete (though, luckily out of frame).  We walked around in the river under the bridge, enjoying the cool/clear waters.

When we tried to leave Nishi Iya, we had to wait for road works.  Because the roads are so narrow, they have to stop all traffic to be able to do work.  While we were waiting, we started to chat to an older man from Ehime.  He gave us a few suggestions for things to see/do in Shikoku, and also decided to do what we were doing, visiting a house that had been renovated by some foreigners a few decades ago.  The house (Chiiori Trust) is a bed/breakfast on weekends and a sort of living museum at other times.  Except on Wednesdays, which was today.  Wednesday is their weekly holiday.  We didn’t know (and didn’t know that today was Wednesday) until we arrived to find the manager looking quite shocked/confused to see us.  Eventually he agreed to let us have a quick look at the outside of the thatched house (though, he was a little embarrassed about all the laundry/bedding that was out in the sun to dry).  We didn’t stay long, but could only imagine how nice it would be to spend a little time here, like a weekend.

Slightly disappointed that we couldn’t see it properly (at least it was only a short detour), but what we saw was better than nothing.  From here we had one more quick detour to small lookout for a small mountainous village (that we heard becomes inundated with photographers during winter…).  I have no idea why, it looked super dull/average (and even more so in my photo…).

The Lonely Planet recommended that we visit Oku Iya Kazura Bashi instead of the one that we went to this morning.  Since the first one was on the way, we went to both.  With the Oku Iya vine bridge, you had to pay to be able to see it (unlike the one in Nishi Iya).  So, we paid our ¥500 and made our way down the thousands of steps to where the first bridge was.  The main bridge.  The man bridge!  Design wise, it wasn’t very different to the one that we saw this morning.  The main difference was the location.  It was natural/peaceful.  It was beautiful.

There was a 5-10cm gap between each 10cm rung in the bridge, and through these gaps you could see down to the rocks/river below.  But, you could also see the steel cables (for obvious safety reasons), but it just slightly took away from the authentic feeling of the bridge.  Still, I was amused watching the people slowly walking across, holding the hand rails for dear life.  It didn’t bother me for some reason, I was more worried that one of my thongs might fall into the river below.

There was also a smaller ‘woman’ bridge, as well as a rope-pulley bridge for us to play around with (which we did).

I didn’t want to spend too much time here (even though it was beautiful and peaceful) because it was getting late and the weather was getting worse and I really, really wanted to climb Tsurugi San.  We’d travelled only a few kilometres before we hit another set of road works, this time we had to wait 45 minutes.  It was going to be 3PM before we could re-start our journey, far too late to start the climb.  I was really disappointed to not be able to climb, but regardless of the time, it was also quite cloudy here now.  Sad face.

Defeated, we kept driving along the (mostly) single lane road, around countless blind corners with nothing more than convex mirrors to help us avoid collisions with on-coming traffic.  The chairlift for Mount Tsurugi started at about 1500m, so we had a long descent.  It kept reminding us of Alishan in Taiwan, the steep valleys, the twisty roads, the small tea plantations, the scars on the mountains from landslides.  Looking over the edge of the (low) barriers on the road was slightly terrifying; it was a long, long way down.

Even though I was in a slow old van (full of our possessions that would shift about any time I turned a corner aggressively), I was enjoying the drive.  Much more than the people in sporty cars that were behind me (though, I did pull over to let them pass when it was safe/convenient).

The closest michi-no-eki was in an onsen town called Kamiyama.  A small town with a smaller supermarket with large prices.  I’d decided I wanted hamburgers for dinner, so hamburgers is what we were going to have, even though it cost a (small) fortune.  At least they were tasty.  Also, I didn’t have a can opener for the tin of pineapple I’d bought.  A hammer and some pliers were all that I needed to rip the can open enough to get to the delicious insides.  I didn’t even cut myself in the process.  Double win!

But, we couldn’t quite eat our dinner in peace.  First came an art teacher that thought we were artists (because I was a foreigner in this small town).  He (and his three students) told us about their art installation (that we plan to visit tomorrow).  Sounds interesting.  Next visitor was an elderly lady (who I guess was a cleaner/caretaker of the michi-no-eki) briging gifts.  She gave us a small bag of a local lime-like fruit called tsudachi and some dorayaki for desert.  Risa was so excited about the tsudachi that she went back and got us some more.  Hopefully Risa sends some of them to her parents, as I don’t know what we’re going to do with a few kilograms of tiny, bitter limes.

I’d been a pig with dinner, eating far too much, and now I struggle through my food-induced coma.  We’ve finished all the Dexter episodes that I have, so not really sure what to do with our evenings now…

April marked an epoch of adventure in my life! YES!

So I will quickly summarize what happened, then write about it later…

1. In April I went to Japan, more specifically Tokyo. I went with my really good friend and stayed at her parents house. She is an awesome translator and ultra fashionable so she was able to take me to ALL the great places and explain so much to me. I learned so much on that trip; it was a priceless experience that I will never forget.
2. I met Hideo Kojima, the creator of Metal Gear Solid! Man he was super nice and fashionable! He had a simple style that suited him well. I got his autograph and everything!
3. I went to an X-Japan concert! They are the BIGGEST most FAMOUS band in Japan and they still rock hard even in their older age. I loved the concert, and my friend and I got to be really close to the stage… *dream sequence* Did you know they started the Visual Kei movement?
4. I met h. Naoto, the most recognizable punk fashion designer in Harajuku! OMG he was so cool and humble! He even helped me pick out a backpack that I bought! My friend and I also got to see his fashion show!
5. I met Kenji Kamiyama, the writer and director for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex! I actually went to his panel and autograph signing not even knowing this; I went because I loved his anime, Eden of the East which he also wrote and directed.

So yes, a lot has happened! I’ve met some successful people and got to go to Japan too… it all sounds like a dream, someone pinch me now! ^_^

a few pics from Japan… <3

ЗАКЛЮЧИТЕЛНИ CRYSTAL ФАНТАЗИЯ ХРОНИКА: Околовръстен от съдбата КОРАБИ в Северна търговците на дребно АМЕРИКАНСКИ ДНЕС [/ [ **]

Square Enix приканва играчите да участват в една Interactive, екшън Приключенски Square Enix

, Inc ., издател на Square Enix интерактивни развлекателни продукти в Северна Америка, съобщи днес, че Final Fantasy? CRYSTAL ХРОНИКА?: Пръстен на Съдбата? е превозват до търговците на дребно в Северна Америка. Сега на разположение изключително за Nintendo DS , на богато въображение свят на Final Fantasy CRYSTAL ХРОНИКА: Пръстен на Съдбата е настроен да покорявам играчи в цялата нация.

? Ние сме изключително радостни да въвеждат Final Fantasy CRYSTAL ХРОНИКА: Пръстен от съдбата в Северна Америка публика,? каза директорът Mitsuru Kamiyama. ? Интуитивният контрол поздравяват играчите на всички нива на квалификация да скочи направо в действието, и безпроблемно, високо интерактивни multiplay опит позволява на играчите да работят заедно като екип в това забавно-за-всички приключения.?

Няколко заглавия резюмирам същността на мултиплейър приятелството като Final Fantasy CRYSTAL серия ХРОНИКА. Издаден през 2004 г. като иновативна заглавие, което се възползваха от Nintendo GameCube към Game Boy? Адванс свързаност, Final Fantasy CRYSTAL ХРОНИКА отгледани изцяло нов опит геймплей, който разширява хоризонтите на конвенционалните RPG игри. Final Fantasy CRYSTAL ХРОНИКА: Околовръстен Съдбата на е готова да продължи тази традиция, чрез предоставяне на феновете с две ясно уникални видове дивеч: пълноправен един играч RPG опит и пристрастяване елемент мултиплейър за до четирима играчи.

[ [][]] Историята

братски близнаци Юри и Chelinka живеят щастливо с баща си в малко село, но щастието им идва до рязко края на пристигане на древна злото. Сега, заедно със семейството си разби, Юри започва да се обучават, така че той ще бъде достатъчно силен да се бори, когато злото се връща. въоръжени само със своята решителност, смелост и Chelinka? е магия кристал, тези смели близнаци, посочени на тяхната задача да намери загубените си приятели, отмъсти на техните семейства, и да лекува техния свят.

Удобства

[ [**] символи дизайнер Toshiyuki Itahana придава на играта си търговска марка стил изкуство, като се съчетава очарователни гласове и колоритен свят с една героична история от създателите на Final Fantasy. играчи да се насладите истински на сътрудничество опит с Multiplay режим, извършване на бързо-опитен , ориентиран към действие, игра с до четирима играчи чрез местни безжична връзка. каталог на над 300 продукта дава възможност на играчите да избирате от различни съоръжения и броня да персонализирате характер? и външен вид и способности. интуитивен режим за контрол увеличават възможности на Nintendo DS, предизвикателни играчи да се координират едновременно командни бутони и сензорен екран в битка. Северна Америка съобщение съдържа допълнителни куестове не са налични в оригиналната японска версия.

Final Fantasy CRYSTAL ХРОНИКА: Пръстен на Съдбата е класиран E10 (всеки 10 или повече години). Моля, посетете Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) уебсайт http://www.esrb.org за повече информация за оценката. Final Fantasy CRYSTAL ХРОНИКА: Пръстен на Съдбата ще бъде на разположение в Северна Америка търговците на дребно за предполагаемата продажна цена на $ 39.99 (USD). Официалният сайт можете да намерите на http://na.square-enix.com/ffccrof/.?

? [/ [ **]

Comme dit sur l’un de mes anciens articles, je vais parler d’une série très intéressante que j’ai découvert au Printemps dernier, c’est à dire : Higashi no Eden ou Eden of the East.

Pour avoir une idée de la chose, voici un synopsis piqué-ailleurs-pasque-jay-la-flemme ( mais qui me semble être un peu plus correct que celui sur Animeka, du moins, c’est mon avis) :

“Higashi no Eden se déroule dans un Japon ayant connu le Careless Monday, une journée noire pour le pays durant laquelle il aura été frappé par dix missiles. Aucune victime ne sera à déplorer, et les Japonais vivront tranquillement après cet “incident “.
Trois mois plus tard, on retrouve ensuite une jeune étudiante du nom de Saki Morimi, en voyage aux États-Unis afin d’obtenir son diplôme. Sur le point d’être embarquée par la police face à la Maison Blanche suite à un malentendu, elle est sauvée in extremis par un jeune homme amnésique du nom de Akira Takizawa, possédant en tout et pour tout un téléphone portable et une arme à feu. Alors qu’ils retournent au Japon, un onzième missile est envoyé dans leur pays. Au même moment, Akira reçoit un message sur son portable lui indiquant que 8,2 milliards de Yens ont été déposés dans un compte bancaire à son intention…” (Source : Total Manga)

Pour la petite histoire, tout à commencé avec le choix d’une série à “subber”… C’est là que je découvre le magnifique trailer (du moins celui qui m’a le plus marqué). Néanmoins, je dois avouer que j’ai été un peu déçue lors du visionnage du premier épisode. 3/4 du trailer le recouvrait et surtout, c’était assez calme. Il relatait juste la rencontre entre nos deux protagonistes principaux, Akira et Saki.

Un duo qui est plutôt mignon, ceci dit en passant. La fille qui est un peu à côté de la plaque par moment et le type qui même en étant totalement amnésique, arrive à être cool en toute circonstance. (Il arrive même à chopper un pantalon à un salary-man. Alalala.. Pouvoir de persuasion.. ou peut-être qu’il a le Geass ?)

Au niveau des seiyuus (doubleurs), malgré que la plupart du casting me soit totalement inconnu, j’ai beaucoup apprécié le choix fait. La voix de Saki lui va bien, même si, son chara-design est.. comme dirait Chapo, elle fait “Tête de smiley”. Tout ça pour dire que j’aime pas la tête de la plupart des personnages féminins, mais on s’y habitue, étant donné que le plus important est l’histoire qui nous est contée en 11 épisodes.

11 épisodes, 11 jours. Un choix délibéré du réalisateur qui semble savoir où il va, surtout que 2 films sont en préparation qui ont pour titres : The King of Eden et Paradise Lost.
Ce qui nous laisse un peu sur notre faim une fois le dernier épisode vu. Une grande part de mystère subsiste et de nouvelles questions s’ajoutent.

Une petite parenthèse pour signaler que toute la partie musicale est dirigée par Kenji Kawai (Ghost in the Shell, Fate Stay Night, Higurashi no naku koro ni : Kai, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, etc..), bien que la musique se faisait plutôt discrète dans la série selon moi.
Sinon.. l’Opening et l’Ending d’Higashi no Eden : “Falling Down” de Oasis et “Futuristic Imagination” de School Food Punishment, respectivement, sont très très bons. Il faut aussi souligner que la participation de Oasis sur Higashi no Eden est.. une chose exceptionnelle (?) dans le domaine.
Pour ma part, j’ai une préférence pour l’Ending, la chanson est plus entraînante.. Son animation en papier est original et très réussi, bien que ce n’était pas ce que j’avais en tête (les images du trailer restent), une agréable surprise donc.

Sur l’ensemble, ce fut un très bon divertissement avec son lot de rebondissements et de révélations. Les personnages sont attachants, même si pas mal d’entre eux apparaissent à l’écran le temps d’un épisode ou plus, puis n’y sont pas véritablement développés, le format 11 épisodes y joue aussi, j’imagine. Par contre, y’a toujours cette histoire de Johnny qui me perturbe, me demande bien pourquoi.

Au final, la série en elle-même semble être une introduction à une grande aventure, mais qu’on ne pourra découvrir que vers fin 2009, ou peut-être même 2010…

I never get tired of hearing this song nor watching the film over and over again. If you think about it and hear the lyrics of this song, this song doesn’t only offer a hilarious theme but also a slice of life of how a delinquent lives.

Anyway, enough for my jibber jabber and hear the song for yourself and you’ll understand. Too bad I can’t get the full translation of this song but it still enjoyable, though.

Download Link: http://www.4shared.com/file/125915425/bb672a12/Sakigake_Cromartie_High_School_-_Jun.html

There’s also the Bass High School delinquent who is strong and capable in fighting but in truth, he runs a website as a moderator forum which might have been a very courteous moderator. Also, the main character, Kamiyama, is your average normal high school student who caught up in a delinquent high school. But for some reason, everybody misunderstood him as a fearsome guy. Oh yeah, the anime also included a character which resembles Freddie Mercury (I don’t know what he is doing there and he is always topless. Maybe for a big ugly joke^^).

Anyway, this anime is your classic comedy anime. I like the hiperbolic reaction when they reacted to a joke (you know, the semi-realistic image transition and the shining background or ocean wave background). I also like how the anime depicted cigar which the delinquents are smoking (see pictures for more detail), kinda send a message that smoking is bad, guys^^.

Ok, enough talk. So there you go, my recommendation for a relaxing anime to watch, the type you watch when you are just finished with your busy work such as doing your thesis. Enjoy!

Animation Production - Production I.G.

Director/Creator – Kenji Kamiyama

Eden of the East is the latest project by the team of Production I.G. and Kenji Kamiyama who most notably directed the critically acclaimed Ghost in the Shell T.V series. It is so far an 11 episode series with 2 movies planned, the first “The King of Eden” is due out in Japan on the 28th November 2009.

Set in current day Japan the show involves a game surrounding a select group of individuals, “Selecao”, who have been chosen to save Japan. The founder of this game believes Japan is in stagnation and needs a revolution and he has charged 11 individual with 10 billion yen and a phone that will execute any requests. The show revolves around Akira Takizawa who is one of the Selecao and Saki Morimi who is a member of a group called Eden of The East. If you want further information about the plot take a look at my previous episode summaries.

This is the kind of show that entirely appeals to my tastes, I love the mix of mystery and believable science fiction set in modern day Japan. The technology involved in this show is not as crazy as what we have seen in something like Ghost in the Shell but has more to do with the internet and applications surrounding it. Eden of the East is a group who have developed an image recognition software and utilise the public to effectively tag people and objects. It is accessible on mobile phones and puts into focus possibilities for real life application. This aspect is not a main focus but gives it some depth along with the mystery elements surrounding the premise of the show.

One of the main underlying themes is the societal problems in Japan surrounding the NEET’s. But this isn’t a show like Welcome the the NHK, it has some upbeat attitudes towards them and they are involved at various points in the series. Akira utilises the strengths of theses NEET’s as a collective to try and save Japan. Other Selecao have different ideas on how to save Japan such as missile attacks on the elderly and NEET’s. Some buckle under the pressure or the greed overtakes them with 10 billion yen to spend. The actions of the Selecao sum up the different views on the current state of the society in Japan.

Go out of your way and watch this show, there needs to be more like this.

Rating - A-

Genre - Mystery, Science Fiction Length – 11 Episode series Year - 2009

]]> http://animereviewers.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/eden-of-the-east-episode-1-overview/ Fri, 01 May 2009 04:27:27 +0000 Zooi http://animereviewers.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/eden-of-the-east-episode-1-overview/ Animation Production – Production I.G

Director - Kenji Kamiyama

Instead of reviewing shows as a whole for some shows I am going to do an episode by episode overview/highlights.

Originally created and directed by Kenji Kamiyama, director and chief writer of the two Ghost in the Shell series, Eden of the East is Production I.G’s flagship show for the new anime season. Already this show has the ingredients to be a must watch.

The initial premise of the show is that we start of with a 21 year old Japanese woman, Saki Morimo, sightseeing in Washington D.C. Saki is in-front of the White House throwing coins on the lawn and as you would expect the secret service are on to her. As this happens we are presented with a naked young man carrying just a gun and a mobile phone who interrupts the confrontation and sets off a chain of events. His name as we learn later on is Akira Takizawa who has lost all memories and is apparently a terrorist.

There are direct references to Taxi Driver and Jason Bourne which bring into focus heavy western influence in this Anime. Oasis’s Falling Down is the opening theme song and throughout the first episode the American people are speaking English.

It is set in the present world and seems to involve themes of  science fiction & mystery. Along with theses premises the show involves wacky humour situations that are within reality. I don’t know if this will continue but it is one of the draws that make this show very interesting. End of episode spoiler (at the airport they see a breaking news report of a missile attack on Tokyo).

Igen, elmondható a tény, hogy ez egy külön világ, az egész jelenség egy önálló világra tett szert. Beleértem ebbe a filmek és sorozatok összességét. Különbségek adódnak, de sok a hasonlóság is az alkotások között (filmek-sorozatok).

Külön vallási rendszert alkotott magának, amiben a hit és hinni tudás az egyetlen alapkitétel, a többi választható motívumként szerepel az egyén számára. Ezt a vallási sokoldalúságot a filmek összetettsége okozta: míg Shirow, a manga alkotója a sintó híve volt, addig Oshii keresztény vallást kapott; Kenji Kamiyama (a sorozat alkotója) meg elmondása szerint nem akarta felrúgni a tézisek összetettségét. A vallás mellett a legfőbb kérdés mégis a létezés, és annak feltételei, az élet és halál szenvedései. Számos magyarázatot ad a létezésre, az én-központúságra, a bizonyításra, a hol kezdődik az ember és hol ér véget a robot kérdésre, mind a film, mind a sorozat, mégis a végső döntést a néző kezében adja. A szenvedés és fájdalom új értelmet nyer itt, és olykor torokszorító módon ábrázol egyéni sorsokat.

Szimbolikai rendszere nem áttekinthető, legalábbis nem egyszerre. Egyik alapját a memetika elmélet képezi. Richard Dawkins volt a megalkotója ezen elméletnek („Az önző gén”), mely az öröklődés és utánzás összekapcsolódásából jött létre. Az elmélet szerint „az emberi tudat az agyunkban megtelepedett és folyamatosan cserélődő mémek sokasága.” Ezek az „intellektuális paraziták” vagy kulturális adathalmazok arra törekszenek, hogy életben maradjanak és a másolás folyamatával fennmaradjanak. A mém az örökítő anyag, a gén mintájára alakult ki, de ez nem biológiai funkciókat lát el, hanem összekapcsolja a gondolkodást és a géneket. Ebben a fejlődésben nem feltétlen a legtökéletesebb a legjobb. Mém jelenség pl. a replikátornak nevezett robot (lásd még Szárnyas Fejvadász; Appleseed). A Blade Runner-hez érintőlegesen annyit, hogy a könyv kiváló, később erről is írok.
Más szimbolikai összetevőkről már írtam ugye. Vallás, lélekvándorlás, posztapokalipszis, futurizmus, montázstechnika, posztmodernizmus és fogyasztói társadalom, tradicionalitás, megosztás, nanotecnológia, információ, memetika, létezés, szenvedés… felsorolva is súlyos lista. Ezen fogalmak értelmezésének világába repít el a Ghost int he Shell és a hozzá tartozó alternatív sorozat, a Stand Alone Complex(SAC). Míg az egész estés mozi Motoko létezésének tényét elemzi, addig a sorozatok gyönyörűen kibontják a filmben is felmerülő részkérdéseket.  (Tovább olvasom ezt a cikket.)

Továbbá olyan nevek szerepelnek még, mint Arthur Koestler (társadalomfilozófus – Szellem a gépben c. alkotása révén kapcsolódik főként), Gilbert Ryle (analitikus filozófus – A szellem fogalma c. könyve a fő kapcsolat), Stanislaw Lem (ő a sci-fi nagymestere), ők inkább a filmekben vannak jelen, mint a sorozatban, de gondolat indító hatásuk nem vitatott. A 1st S.A.C. sorozat fő gondolkodóit Frederick Jameson – Osawa Masachi – J.D.Salinger hármasa alkotja. Az első két névhez a posztmodernizmus és fogyasztói társadalom (Jameson azonos c. könyve alapján) összefonódásához és szakadékinak létrejötte kapcsolódik, míg Salinger a Zabhegyező c. műve alapján kötődik. Ebben a műben a céltalanság és a semmittevés feleslegessége, és az abból következő morálisan romboló hatású társadalmi jelenség kerül vizsgálat alá. Míg az érzés kettős: valaki akarok lenni, de senki vagyok?

A karakterek eltérő jelleműek lettek a sorozatban a filmekhez képest. Sokkalt rugalmasabb és gyakorlatiasabb szereplőket ad a S.A.C világa, akik könnyebben érthetőek és jobban is kedvelhetőbbek. Motoko ugye egészen új dizájnt kapott, ami nőiesebb ugyan, de talán kegyetlenebb is a valósággal szemben. Nem elenyésző tény az sem, hogy a csapat összes tagját megismerjük és nem csak érintőleges képeket kapunk róluk. Így az olyan szereplők, mint Ishikawa, Pazu, Borma és Saito is előtérbe kerülnek (bár ők a 2nd GIG évadában még több szerepet kapnak), így teljesebb képet adva a csapatról. A Stand Alone Complex kapcsán a S.A.C. az Emberek Városa c. bekezdésben részletesebben írtam mindenkiről.

Alapvetően nem is nagyon akarok egyelőre filozófiai kérdést csinálni a szimbólum-rendszerből, csak a felmerülő tudományos neveket igyekeztem összegyűjteni. Többjük műveit olvasom is, és miután befejeztem őket nyilvánvaló tény, hogy összevetem a GitS világgal (Ryle, Gibson, Salinger, Dick – rájuk gondolok itt főként), amit majd le is írok ide.

Folyt.köv.

Ezen  cikk az AnimeVilágon.

Andrea Dezsö, a participant in this year’s Kamiyama Artist in Residence Program, has created a set of moving painted screens that are to be kept and used at the stage for the community run Ono Sakura Noson Butai Preservation Committee in Kamiyama.

Numbering 10 in total, the screens form a set three meters in length and 60cm in height. All together they are decorated with five faces in a style that takes heavy inspiration from a western-style circus, each of them drawn colourfully with different expressions. When the boards are turned around on stage, their expressions change.

Dezsö first became interested in painted screens as a form of art after seeing a puppet theatre play in New York last year. After learning that there was a painted screen preservation committee in Kamiyama when she came as part of the Artist in Residence Programme, she expressed an interest in the project.

“Painted screens are not only used as a backdrop to provide contrast to the plays, but their movement gives them an extra level of attraction. It isn’t common to see these screens being painted any more, so I thought I would give everyone a surprise by creating a modern-style set,” commented Dezsö.

President of the Preservation Committee Mr. Issei Ogawa (66) was also heard saying, “Using these screens in combination with the older ones will surely make for a more interesting display, and I’m sure they will be very popular with children as well.”

Well, you’re in luck.

While the large number of mountains in Tokushima (80% of all available land) may be a bottomless pit of potential construction work, in a different frame of mind it is also a lush garden filled with deep forests and valleys, mountainous peaks and beautiful country views. The amagoi no taki, or amagoi waterfalls, is a little of all of these things mixed in together, nestled deep in the heart of the town of Kamiyama in the middle of the prefecture.

Actually, the falls here are listed as one of the 100 most beautiful in the country. They are broken into three steps, two of which are a ‘male’ and a ‘female’ step, and cascade down over 45 metres to form a small stream below. The pool they form at their base is a great little spot to take a quick dip, as the water is cool all year round (a lot cooler in winter, mind) although you never can be sure what’s hanging around so it’s good to keep an eye out. And, while the falls themselves are broken into three different steps, there is a large iron chain fixed down the cliffside that you can use to climb up to the middle. This is not for the lighthearted, though, or the unsure of foot – take care as you climb, as the rockface can become quite slippery!

Unfortunately, such descriptions of a place might give you the image that it isn’t exactly one of the easier places to get to in Tokushima. This description is both accurate and inaccurate in equal parts.

Getting out to Kamiyama itself is not so hard. A bus runs from the city and gets there in an hour, costing only around 1,000 yen (one way). There are also several roads that you can follow from the north, east and west to get there, so if you have a car then you will have a relatively easy trip. However, if you end up in Kamiyama and are relying on the strength of your legs, then you have quite a lot of legwork to get done.

Once you arrive in Kamiyama (the Kamiyama-cho Yakuba Mae bus stop is the closest to it) then there is a walk of several kilometres to get to the parking area closest to the falls. From here there is another 800m trek up through the mountains until you get to the top, but the walk is quite pleasant thanks to the smaller falls you can see along the way (namely, the Uguisu, Momiji, and Fudo falls).

The Valley of Hell
Along the track up to the falls you will come across a sign that reads ‘Valley of Hell’ (地獄淵). This small valley is so named because of its steep sides, and it is said that once you fall into it, you never come back out. I haven’t tested the validity of this yet, but it certainly does look like a nasty drop, so take care not to fall in! 

I wandered back to the hotel once I’d finished eating. In my room, where I spent the remainder of the morning, since it was the only phone number I could be called at, (I hadn’t realized what a pain being in Japan without a cell phone would be,) I caught up on some of my random Japanese TV watching. I watched some US sports, golf and baseball as I recall, amusingly being broadcast live at a much different time of day than I was used to; a cooking competition a la the Food Network, which featured a group of candy makers who competing in challenges to make extremely realistic non-candy foods out of candy (pizza, eel donburi, a hamburger, etc.) that had to look realistic even on the inside once the judges started to eat them; an apparently live broadcast of the Emperor and Empress planting trees in a ceremony somewhere; a show with two go masters playing each other with commentators giving in-depth analysis of their every move and what else they might have possibly chosen to do.

At about mid-day, Kamiyama-sensei and Tomo arrived. They elected for us to eat in one of the hotel’s restaurants because had gotten a lot hotter since I had gone outside that morning for coffee. That was fine with me, since we ended up talking for 3 hours anyway and it wouldn’t have mattered where we were. We did, of course, have soba, and it was okay, but I think we all agreed that it wasn’t nearly as good as the restaurant where we had planned to go if I had been able to come to Sendai. (sniff, sniff)

Probably the longest continuous parts of our conversation was deciding what kanji to put on the hanko stamp my karate sensei had requested I bring back for him. I transliterated his last name for them as “ma-mu-do,” and they began a long, animated conversation with Tomo drawing a lot of possible characters on a paper, and Kamiyama-sensei trying to translate more or less what they meant, or at least what word they came from, for me, and then some consultation of the kanji dictionaries in their spiffy Japanese cell phones. The whole thing reminded me of my very first day in Sendai, when my newly-met coworkers sat with the principal in his office and decided what my hanko should be. The characters we decided on this time were:

• “ma” as used in “polish”
• “mu” as used in “bushido” (with a different pronunciation, obviously)
• “do” as used in “try your best”

We also, of course, had to exchange gifts. I had brought Kamiyama-sensei his requested item of “something Duke” in the form of a coffee mug. Kamiyama-sensei and Tomo overwhelmed me with all the stuff they had brought from Sendai for me, all of which was incredibly thoughtful and kind: two new Kitty-chan netsuke charms for the new professional baseball team now based in Sendai, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, and another one of Kitty-chan relaxing in a hot spring tub from a recent trip they took to an onsen; a pen case made out of beautiful, thick, pressed handmade paper in pastel colors that feels almost like leather; and some traditional tea cakes from a part of Miyagi they had recently traveled to that are like little pancake sandwiches with sweet bean paste in the middle (like anko, except the beans are pale green instead of red.) My poor mug didn’t seem like enough by a long shot.

At about 4pm, though, we had to say good-bye so they wouldn’t miss their shinkansen back to Sendai. We stopped to take a picture in the lobby.

Tomo had tears in her eyes as she said good-bye, which was so sweet, since this was the first time we had been able to meet in person. I was very sad to see them go. Next time, I will have to go see them in Sendai.

I still had a bit of time before my boss and her family were due to return to the hotel to see if I could go to dinner, so I ventured back into Sunshine City to see if I could find a CD store to buy Mark the CD he had requested, since it was unavailable in the US. I ended up wandering all through the main mall area to no avail, and then eventually found my way back up and out to the street (I had been underground for a while), which was also lined with unending shopping opportunities, where I eventually found an HMV. Success! And enough shopping for me. I went back to the hotel.

It turned out to be good that I had explored the shopping street a bit, though, because when my boss came back with news of where we were supposed to meet her friend for dinner, I knew right where the meeting spot was and could lead our whole group there. The friend we were meeting is a Japanese woman who used to work in our department, but moved back to Japan to be able to do her real job of international finance. Her husband, though, is still a history professor in the US, and he and their kids go to Japan every summer. (I think the kids used to spend a year in the US and a year in Japan, back and forth, but the school years are off-set, so it’s getting to be too difficult now.) Anyway, we all found each other, and both families and I trailed along to the restaurant where we had reservations. There was a great overabundance of food, mainly of the on-sticks variety, and it was all good. It seemed like we kept eating and eating, and there was still a lot left over. I suspect we were all very full by the time we made our way back to the hotel.

Keep reading for our adventures on the second day in Tokyo. I was also driven to an overanalysis of one of the ads on the train during all our riding around the city.

Coming in on the middle of the adventure? Start here.