Tokyojupiter - Side B

Let me get this out of the way first: I DON'T WANT TO GO. Finally, when things in my life are falling into place, when I finally proved that the oven in my apartment is working, when I'm finally getting my merit bonus at work... Two weeks is so long to be gone. Even for a vacation.

Okay. Breathe.

We all know that I'm going to be singing a different tune come next week. Maybe.

--

I did a lot of cleaning (actually, more of rearranging and throwing stuff out) in the apt. yesterday. Moved Sharon's old bookshelf into my room, so that my non-manga books could actually be on a shelf, and not in miscellaneous piles on the floor. Took out the big plant so T could water it when I'm gone. Finally found Fuuma and Miyuki (of the Kiseki chess set) -- which I thought I needed to rebuy 'cause I had no idea where they went.

When I come back, I will tackle the wall of phonebooks. If anybody wants an random old Sho-comi or Betsucomi from 2004-06 (OMG scary), give me a holler. Otherwise, I'm just going to tear out the colored pages and toss them for recycling.

Jet came over to play some FF12 and watch the newish eps. of Avatar. It's funny that we both found Azula's "are you the Avatar's fangirls?" line amusing. It's really no wonder that we're siblings. He's gone further in FF than I have -- between him, M, and T, I'm living a vicarious gaming life.

I went over to Bed, Bath and Beyond to get my baking paraphernalia. My mom had a coupon for the store, so with my giftcard, I only had to pay $.99. SWEET. The oven does work (which actually surprised me) but note to self: take down smoke & carbon monoxide alarms and open windows next time you try to bake.

I also bought a 1 GIG memory chip for my camera. 1048 pictures. I don't think I've ever taken that many photographs in the time I've owned the camera, so yeah, this'll be interesting.

--

OGURI Shun is still so gorgeous for Hanadan 2.

Hanadan jdrama box = ~$200
Hanadan LE anime box (first time on DVD for Japan, btw) = ~$406.00
Seeing that my Japanese penmanship is better than Oguri Shun's = priceless

If she draws new art/covers for the anime box, somebody please restrain me (and my CC) from buying it.

Because of the transit strike, I'm hanging out @ my mom's this week. You know what that means, NO NET ACCESS for Anna. I had to download the subtitles for Hanadan 9 last night at work, send it to my flash drive in order to watch the episode at my laptop.

So much effort, perhaps, but seriously, I've been waiting days in order to watch this episode and see the jdrama resolution between Tsukasa & Tsukushi.

Let me get my Oguri Shun obsession outta the way first: Rui was hilarious when they were watching the TOJ events. His reaction to everything that Tsukushi did was adorable. Whereas Soujirou and Akira were mildly freaking out (who the heck demonstrates self-defense as a talent?), Rui knew that she'd be okay.

Considering that I know the endings to both the anime & manga, why then was I crying at the T&T sunset scene? Their chemistry was really convincing... I mean, MatsuJun has pretty convincing chemistry with his other drama co-actors (ie. Koyuki, Nakama Yukie) but at least Inoue's closer to his age and thus it's more believable (to me, anyway).

As twinbells mentioned, I totally didn't like the way that Yuuki starting behaving in the end. It's like, "OMG Tsukushi has a boyfriend, maybe I should have an F4 boyfriend of my own too??!?!!?" And Akira/Sakurako pairing = spawn of Satan. That's what happened when they removed Kazuya from the cast -- they needed to pair up Sakurako with somebody, so why not Akira? Grrr.

I wonder if they have a 2nd season: doesn't Tsukushi end up going to NY to follow Tsukasa? Maybe they'll actually shoot some scenes here in Manhattan (or the Bronx, since they do watch a baseball game, right?). Imagine MatsuJun strolling down NYC? Talk about a fangirl moment.

http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26492

Le sigh. Why can't there be more than 9 eps?

I only hope that if there is a 2nd season that MatsuJun stays on the cast. Gokusen 2 just wasn't as good without him.

P.S. I actually trekked into work today. No strike. Boo.

It's VIZ week again!

Bleach 10
Hot Gimmick 10
Kare First Love 6
Sensual Phrase 11

Also, I really like the 2006 calendar that they included with the latest issue Shojo Beat. They included the titles that they're releasing each month -- it makes it super easy to plan and budget and anticipate manga!

Titles on my radar include: Aishiteruze Baby, Beauty Pop, and Tail of the Moon (aka Tsuki no Shippou). I didn't even know Tsuki no Shippou was licensed! Joy!

At this rate, I really wouldn't have to read scanlations anymore. Maybe other than the titles that are so brand new that they're not even in JP tanko yet.

I hope that Viz will continue to license works by the authors that are currently on their line-up. Because I'd love to see more stuff from:
- Tamura: 7 Seeds (to paraphrase missdeep: "It's like Lost, in manga form.")
- Shinohara: Mizu ni Sumu Hana, Ao no Fuuin, etc.
- Matsuri: Vampire Knight
- Aihara: So Bad (which is excellent, btw. more on this later)
- Kamio: Cat Street (though this title isn't as funny as Hanadan, but it has Doumyoji & Rui clones, so it's still good)
- Kaneyoshi: Sonnanjyaneeyo

Yes, they're all shoujo. But if you've been reading this journal long enough, you know that I'm all for the sap and cliche.

Speaking of Shinohara, the last chapter of Mizu ni Sumu Hana appears in Betsucomi 1. Last chapter already? Aww. I'm itching to pick up the latest copy of Betsucomi, just to see that and the 2nd chapter of OujiKano.

Pic of Hanadan reissues

P.S. Because I'm in a Hanadan state of mind, here are the covers of the reissues -- each a whooping 1200 yen each (which is expensive for JP manga, but I think Del Rey's manga cost that much retail + tax). Volume 10's cover is especially awesome.

P.P.S. Please stop me from bidding on this. *Edit: Okay apparently this other person wants it more than I do. I am not paying more than 3500 yen for magazine clippings. My level of crazy hasn't reached that level yet.*

http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=268616

More than halfway done...already? How is it that SM-Live action can have almost 50 episodes of transforming moon princess, but I can't have more than 9 eps of Rui Eitoku Gakuen antics? Not fair.

- Hanadan Episode 4 soft subs! Yay! I really rely on the subs for the trickier phrases, but oftentimes, I just listen to what they're saying. Besides, you'd think after the many times I read the manga & watched the anime, I'd know what's going on.

I wonder how far they're going to go in the jdrama. It's a bit disappointing that the effect of Doumyoji's hair when it's wet isn't as dramatic in live-action as it was in the manga/anime. I looked forward to any rain/snow/shower scenes with Tsukasa just 'cause it meant he would be smokin' hot. ( Spoilers for those who just watch the drama )

Y!J » Vols 1-9 of the reissues = 3200 yen. Holycrap, it's now 7000 yen. No thanks.

- They're reseeding Stand Up!! on d-addicts. I know Shun-chan is in this too, but why are the raws 700 megs? And no subs too? I weep.

- Eyeshield 21 Saizen is on a roll! Eps. 24-5 within a week! This is what I love about holidays: you get more fansub eps. released 'cause the subbers are finally on break. Conversely, it sucks when every subber whines about finals. <fanbrat> Suck it up kids! I had to deal with finals; we all did. </fanbrat>

http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24295

Tsubaki-nee-sama shows up in this ep, right?! I'm going home right now.

- Keywords for my latest vacation to Europe: Amsterdam, Bruge, Brussels, train delays, beer, chocolate, frites, stairs, goddamn freaking stairs, I wished my French was better, Oprah in Dutch?, mmm Indonesian food, pancakes!

- But all the while, I was thinking that I was missing episode 2. Can I just say how much I adore my flist for making such wonderful caps?

For catch-up:
- Hanadan 2
- One Piece 164
- Eyeshield 21 21
- Mar 18-20
- Bleach 54-6
- Ace wo Nerae 3-4
- Yakitate!! 40-2
- Aquarion 19

- And in obnoxious fannish news, Kiba may just be the reason why I'll return to Naruto like the prodigal bitch that I am.

- Manga that I want/need to own:
Death Note 2 (still haven't picked up DN 1, but whatev)
Doubt 5
Mar 4
Red River 9
Swan 5 (I don't think I've bought 4 yet)
W-Juliet 7
Beauty is the Beast 1
Beck 2
FY Genbu Kaiden 2
Suikoden III 8
Ultra Maniac 3

Thanks to rinslet for the heads-up!

http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23816

I'm the person least qualified to explain soft subs, but here's what I would advise:

1) Use BSPlayer (free download)
2) Make sure that you have the raw episode and the subtitle file (ending in .srt) in the same directory and with the same filename (ie. raw ep = hanadan1.avi; subtitle file = hanadan1.srt). It's probably better to leave the name from the original file since the subtitler matched it.
3) Just play the episode as you regularly would. The subtitles should show up. On BSPlayer, you can right-click and change the subtitle color, font size, font face, etc. to anything that you'd prefer. You can have bright pink subs for all I care.

Or, you can use Media Player Classic too (c/o jaideam)

Oguri Shun gets cuter every time I watch this episode. I've even rewatched certain episodes of Gokusen just to see him again.

YES I'm obsessed. We all knew that already.

EDIT at 7:55 p.m. || The person who translated the dialougue probably wasn't a fan of HYD since there were some iffy translation choices. They're minor quibbles, but I wouldn't be a rabid Hanadan fan if I didn't make note:

- 財閥 (zaibatsu) is best translated as a "conglomerate." They're basically family/clan-owned groups of companies (see Wikipedia article for more info). If you've played any Tekken game, this concept should not be new to you.
- The transfer student's name is Sakurako, not Sakura. I especially know this because I hate Sakurako with a deep and burning passion.
- 貧乏　(binbou) doesn't mean "slut," it means "poor." O_o
- I guess "tsukushi" could be interpreted as "wild grass," but I vividly remember my VHS fansubs where she specifically calls herself a "weed."

EDIT at 10:50 p.m. || Please stop me. I want to buy the reissues. Stop me before I end up dead under a pile of manga.