Archives For Japanese

… or maybe I’m just projecting too much, but I thought 2013 had a lot of Father/Son-Daughter relationship movies. Even when it wasn’t literally a blood-relation, like in the more clear case between Idris Elba and Rinko Kikuchi (et Ashida Mana) in Pacific Rim, or the more blurred relationship between Jiao Xu with Mr. Go in Mr. Go.

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I cried in a couple of these ones, but I won’t tell you which. LOL

From left to right, top to bottom: Koreeda’s Like Father, Like Son; Miracle in Cell No. 7; Metro Manila; Pacific Rim; Saving Mr. Banks; Silent Witness; About Time; Police Story 2013; Instructions Not Included; and Mr. Go.

It feels like ages ago, but about five years ago Crowd Lu geek his way into my music heart [1], and I’ve loved him ever since. No questions about it. It isn’t the case so much with Kreva, whom I’ve only just met but haven’t properly been introduced because- DUH! Japan is always a bitch about distribution. It’s gotten better with YouTube, but Kreva’s iTunes page is bare except for his collaboration with Miyavi.

And I’m too lazy to do ‘other things’ anyway~

So while YouTubing, I ran into this:

Oh Yeah~

Continue Reading…

Super messy Yu Aoi post ahead~

With the release of Haru wo Seotte [trailer] this Saturday, the release of Mozu Season 2 next, followed by Wakamono-tachi and Rurouni Kenshin Kyoto Inferno, all promotions are meshing with one another.

First, Kenichi Matsuyama and Yu together in this CinemaCafe interview.

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Continue Reading…

I almost prefer that rough and tumbling Machiko Ono over the one elegantly sitting in the show. LOL Having said that, the water must be freezing, and having to swim in it must have been torture.

Who am I kidding? The NG take is hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5i2qv-hgnQ

Since I’m totally elated that Gokuaku Ganbo is legally streaming online, my review of it is already out in both English and Spanish [1][2]. If you love Machiko Ono (and maybe a bit of Odagiri Joe) don’t doubt in checking it out.

Well, this is priceless.

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From Top row, L:R.-

(1) Kou Shibasaki, Megumi Yasu, Hikaru Utada, Manami Konishi, Yuka, Yu Kashi

(2) Ai Kato, Aya Hirayama, Kyoko Hasegawa, Masami Nagasawa, Juri Ueno, Yu Aoi

(3) Yu Yamada, Nana Eikura, Kaori Manabe, Aya Ueto, Eriko Sato, Satoshi Tsumabuki

(4) Akiko Yada, Erika Toda, Mayuko Iwasa, Kyoko Fukada, Yukie Nakama, Yui Aragaki

(5) Ryoko Hirosue, Saki Aibu, Ayumi Hamasaki, Misaki Ito, Misako Yasuda, Karina

(6) Kie Kitano, Mimula, Mao Inoue, Mika Nakashima, Minako Nakano, Saeko

(7) Rosa Kato, Koyuki, Becky, Yoshio Kojima, Aya Matsuura, Hiroshi Tamaki

(8) Maki Horikita, Takako Matsu, Miwa Asao, Rena Tanaka, Haruka Ayase, Aoi Miyazaki

(9) Chinatsu Wakatsuki, Yuri Ebihara, Mikako Tabe, Kaela Kimura, Akihiro Miwa, Suzanne

(10) Shoko Nakagawa, Erika Sawajiri, Waka Inoue, Yuko Ogura, Miho Shiraishi, Eiko Koike

(11) Akina Minami, Otoha, Aki Hoshino, Marie, Rie Tomosaka, Mari Sekine

(12) Masaharu Fukuyama, Maya Kobayashi, Ryoko Shinohara, Taichi Kokubun, Shun Oguri, Kaori Mochida

(13) Mokomichi Hayami, Yumi Yoshimura, YUI, Nanako Matsushima, Ai Ohtsuka, Aya Takashima.

via 2ch.

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On Friday (May 16th), my Yu Aoi fandom turned six. Nobody congratulated me because I didn’t post anything special… but here’s a picture of Yu-chan with whiskers! If I’m not mistaken, it should be a shot featured on the Jul’2010 issue of H Magazine.

Despite the slowdown, it looks like 2014 might be a bit more active than it has been :) at least, maybe since 2010. The biggest activities will, of course, be surrounding the release of Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno and Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends, which will open in August and September respectively.

A film cut of Zipang Punk hit theaters in March [1], and Haru wo Seotte [1] will be opening next month.

On the TV front, Yu will also be appearing in FujiTV’s remake of Wakamono-tachi (若者たち) that will begin airing in July with a really impressive cast that includes Satoshi Tsumabuki (back on TV since NHK’s Taiga), Eita, Hikari Mitsushima, and Ai Hashimoto.

Plus, she’s an addition to the (second) season of Mozu — though it seems to be following the WOW/TBS formula done for Double Face — titled Mozu Season 2 – Maboroshi no Tsubasa (MOZU Season 2 ~幻の翼) that will last five episodes that follows three detectives (Hidetoshi Nishijima, Teruyuki Kagawa, and Yoko Maki) on their quest to get a contract killer known as Mozu. The show will begin airing on June 22nd.

That’s all I got for you, people~

If FIFA’s World Cup is making me choose between Pitbull and Ricky Martin. Okay, I’ll take this~

NHK got Shiina Ringo to make a song for their coverage of the event, and that’s all we need to know. I’m not sure what’s the coverage is gonna be like down here (cable or networks), but I’m sure we’re stuck with Pitbull.

I just knew songs were gonna suck when they started announcing the social media contests to “create the song” for the World Cup. Cheap music will always be cheap.

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Too much awesomeness into one.

What made it to the list and where it placed? Some of my biggest biases placed lower than expected, and some that I don’t want to be my bias placed high on there~

Head over there and do your thing~

Let’s give a warm welcome to child actress Hamada Kokone (濱田ここね, with English transliteration of her name “Cocone”) — I wonder if I can call her Coco-chan xD~ ANYWAY, debuting in film Oshin, she just rode the film like a pro.

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According to her profile, Coco likes sea grapes (haha, with Latin name “Coccoloba uvifera,” get it?), plums, dried herring roe, Chicken nanban and Thai food. She also likes 2NE1, Lady Gaga, Cyndi Lauper, Carly Rae Jepsen and Big Bang. Like a boss~

She can also pull at your heart strings and make you cry when she’s trying to make it through her character’s life.

I’m still not sold on Netflix- never to this date I’ve ran into a film that I wanted to watch on it. At least in terms of this region, which doesn’t count with as much content as the US or Canada one. Similar issues with iTunes… and Amazon is out of the question.

I used to subscribe to MUBI for a long while (at least for a bit over a year), but eventually turned off my subscription because I wasn’t watching anything, while things I had added to my watchlist stopped being available, and the selection of their films eventually was reduced to their now curated content. I’m only subscribed to EROSNOW now, and have seen a few couple of films there, but had to turn to other mediums when found links that were region-restricted or surprisingly without subtitles.

My experience with streaming has been decent- and for as cheap as $5-9 bucks you can watch a lot in a month, and it just makes your life quite easy. Similar flawless experience with my first Vimeo On Demand watch. Thanks Joss Whedon for the heads up, and actually putting the film up there right after its premiere. To top it all off, subtitles in Spanish, German, French, Portuguese and Japanese (plus English CC) were available making it the smoothest watch if you decided to watch it with any bunch of people.

Paying $5 to stream a new movie can seem like the best way possible to make it look as if you’re going to the cinema. It takes me back to those days where I would watch 2 or 3 new movies a weekend. If studios ever decided to really go off their way to online distribute their new movies almost simultaneously, I’d be willing.

Here’s In Your Eyes.

Apparently Vimeo streaming is not as smooth (or at all) if you don’t have a Vimeo account, though. Take it as a good chance to get one, or don’t complain. I really don’t know any other streaming (paying) website that would let you use their content without an account. You need one in iTunes, in Amazon, in Netflix, HBO, et all. So please, people, stop complaining about THAT.

Spanish (more serious) related note.