Tag: japan

  • Shunji Iwai and Yu Aoi Together Again for The Case of Hana & Alice

    OMO~ OMG xD

    According to the site formerly known as Nippon Cinema, Eigapedia, Shunji Iwai is working on an animated prequel of Hana & Alice, because- WHY NOT? It’s always good to have Yu Aoi back together with Iwai, despite the lack of Noboru Shinoda and Iwai’s uncertain background in animation. xD But I have a weakness for Yu Aoi voice-over acting. Both Aoi and Anne Suzuki were back in their respective roles, and apparently are done with their recording, telling us the story of how their friendship became what it was.

    The production teased already with brief stills of the movie, and rough vignettes of the animated frames. The movie is set to open some time in February next year.

    User Plano Piloto has translated the audio and on-screen text:

    Hana: By the way, what’s your name?
    Alice: Arisugawa Tetsuko
    [Alice, the most powerful transfer student in history.]
    Hana: I am-
    Alice: Arai Hana-san.
    [Hana, the most powerful hikikomori in history.]
    Hana: Why do you ask knowing it?
    Alice: Eh? You asked my name, you hikikomori.
    [The world’s smallest murder case happened when the two met.]
    Hana: I don’t enjoy being one.

    [The first animated feature film by Shunji Iwai.]

    Alice: A murder case?
    Hana: Want to know what happened?
    [Voice Actors / Yu Aoi as Alice / Anne Suzuki as Hana]
    Alice: Well… I’m not sure.


  • Shokuzai is Coming to Affordable DVD/BR

    Exciting news! Shokuzai will be released on DVD/Blu Ray and VOD (in the US) on October 31st, which only means affordable and subtitled Yu Aoi (et others). Amazon date says November 18th.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ehdRryYEIQ

    You know what to do, use those Amazon links~


  • Miyavi Slapping the Tour

    I’m still not so sure about Miyavi’s lyrics in English, but I do appreciate the fact that he tries and works the field for non-Japanese fans. Very much appreciated~ I will always remember his concert, and attending it with my father.

    But Miyavi and his guitar, man. That goes beyond language.


  • Yu Aoi for Chanel J12 White

    I’m starting to feel… as a Yu Aoi fan, that I’m out of a job. Though I’d like to believe that the information I add to the Yu Aoi posts I publish have a little something extra. I mean, I really don’t have any other reason as to why I wasn’t aware of these photos (et more) from two years back. Plus, there are tons and tons of Yu Aoi related Tumblr pages [tag][1][2][3].

    However, the craziest one I found was sorekara’s aoi-yu-tagged stuff. There are tons of photos of Yu with her shorter hair in shoots and ads, there’s older photos that I had only seen in tiny version, there’s old photos that I wasn’t aware of. I’m old, and I don’t have the will to get a Tumblr account to follow.

    You can’t even subscribe by tags! Anyway~

    I couldn’t find the photographer, but this Chanel product placement on the Special section of Vogue’s Dec’12 issue is called 『True White 白という名のモダニティ。』 promoting the J12 White Chanel watch series that costs a fraction of your car (if you use one) — priced between 3.3k pounds to 10k.

    Hahaha. I mean, seriously, who would’ve thought 100 years ago that needle watches would become a status symbol.

    The concept was that Yu Aoi personifies the concept of the (truthful) pure, modern woman image. And the website is still active, though I had some trouble getting the actual link. And you know what it is with them Flash-based websites, it will eventually go offline- so people took screencaps~

    Plus! No one like Vogue to style your fresh short hair.

    yu-aoi-true-white-shiro-toiu-chanel-dec12-003


  • Yu Aoi and Satoshi Tsumabuki for Wakamonotachi

    Ugh, I love these guys together.

    wakamonotachi-2014-ep01-yu-aoi-satoshi-tsumabuki

    Soooooo much.


  • The Late 2012-2013 Music Highlights

    amys-2012-2013-music-highlights-yammag

    I think I could work more on the 2013 list, but then it will be 2015! LOL I also hate that I don’t have my font pack at hand because this graphic is UHHHH-GLAY. My Frankenstein Computer is back! I’m so happy~

    Anyway, here are 30 album picks by all different artists that released (almost) full-length albums these last two years. And here are all their covers in gallery form, and here’s a Facebook Gallery, it contains some playlists and iTunes links. And here’s a Xiami playlist, where you can (almost) access all the albums. And a Weibo post in case you’re there.

    And here’s the YAM Magazine list that contains all my ramblings, with playlist/streaming and buy links.


  • Huzzah Rani for Mardaani

    Though I did knocked the trailer out because I thought Rani might have been a little “too chunky” to pull off the chasing and fighting [1], her frame actually makes much more sense. I’ve never met in real life a come-hither-you sexy of a female (or male) cop, as many of them just look like the police that are played by extras, instead of them sexy male or female leads on Hollywood movies.

    Plus, Rani does look like a total badass, so what’s not to like?

    And seeing that she’s promoting self-defense classes and all, why not just lump black-belt Rina Takeda in here. ‘Coz, duh! Rina Takeda would not only take Rani (or Madhuri or Priyanka) out, she would also take down SRK, probably Salman and maybe Akshay Kumar… though I may have read he knows martial arts or something? Maybe he was just a fan of Hong Kong martial arts movies…


  • Yu Aoi and her 15 Years in the Business

    There’s an interview with Yu Aoi on (I guess, Japanese?) Woman Mangazine, where she mentions that she’s celebrating 15 years of work… so here’s a snapshot from some issue of ku:nel Magazine of Yu Aoi just chilling eating plain yogurt.

    yu-aoi-kunel-magazine

    Random enough? LOL, in the interview she talks about what she’s learned from other more experienced actors, like they’re not people of expressions, but people of labor. Then later explains how that played into her “training camp” experience for the shooting of Haru wo Seotte, which was shot at over 2500m above sea level in the snowy mountains.

    You can read the whole interview here.

    In the meantime, lets take a look at some oldies of Yu’s career, because~~~ WHY NOT? Some good old fashioned All About Lily Chou Chou screencaps via buta-neko.net, and some rare Oha GARU screencap via this blog.


  • Rina Takeda Kicking Ass in the Morning, Taking Names in the Evening

    High-Kick Girl! was a really really poorly-edited movie with a very weak script, but Rina Takeda makes a lasting impression because, well… in their words: “No wires. No stuntmen. Literally really kicking. Seriously… I get kicked.” is their selling point.

    If Scarlet Johansson gets to be an action star. Why shouldn’t Rina Takeda get to do it? Please, Luc Besson and Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan. Take notice!

    SO.MUCH.POTENTIAL.RIGHT.THERE.

    Karate Girl was already an improvement. Imagine the possibilities with a strong director, first class action choreography and a proper project surrounding the girl.