The Trouble with Watching Too Much Anime and Having Japanese Teachers

Despite what it seems, this is going to be a gimmick post :P

So our weekly class schedules have more or less been fixed, and though I'm pretty free to blog on Mondays since I only have class till 12, the rest of the days classes go on till 4, 5, or 6 *shudders*. And 90 minute periods of classes aren't the most conducive when you're as sleep deprived as I am (okay, so maybe we shouldn't have gone for karaoke till 5 in the morning the other day... -_-").


Every day starts out with 3 hours of Japanese SP ('Sentence Patterns') classes where I get to catch up with that boatload of grammar I neglected god knows how long ago, and on Tuesdays we get back to back Japanese Culture and Conversation classes. Ironically, the Conversation class is the only one so far where our sensei speaks to us mostly in English -_-" Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays we have our other 'compulsory subjects' that we need to enter uni. For us Science majors that's Physics, Maths and Chemistry *groans* while Arts majors do Politics and Economics, History and Mathematics (for Business and Economics majors). Future doctors and those doing anything Bio related are probably studying in Tokyo right now (not that I'm jealous of their higher living expenses proximity to Shinjuku and Akihabara or anything... We have Umeda and Den Den Town here=P).

Anyways, point of this post? (Besides making up for the probably lack of substantial posts over the coming days) You know how sometimes when you hear a name you automatically associate it with a fictional character you've seen/read somewhere or perhaps some famous celebrity? (I've not met any Britneys but I do know an Elvis, :P) Take for example, Mickey, or Donald. Okay maybe they're not as common names nowadays post-Disney. What about anime characters then? Of course back home where I seldom met anyone with a Japanese name, it's never been a 'problem', but now...


Today we got our class placement results for Chemistry. Till now, I'm not exactly sure how they're splitting the Iries from the Kotokos and I'll probably not know till those classes start. What concerned me more, was the name of the teacher for our class. What would those who've watched Moyashimon think if they found out that their Chemistry (or Microbiology XD) class was going to be taught by one Hasegawa-sensei? My first thoughts...

OH SHI- (I think most have seen the rest of this infamous (one of many XD) scene in Moyashimon :P If not, do yoursef a favour and go watch it NOW)

Uh-oh... Not looking forward to those lab lessons...

It turns out of course that I need not worry. This Hasegawa sensei's a guy. *phew?* (An Itsuki sensei would've been awesome though :P)



I'll ignore Physics for now since it's not my favourite subject (far from it really) and it seems devoid of anything for my anime addled mind to chew on right now. As for Mathematics, we've not gotten our placements yet since they're still busy giving us bloody placement tests for 3 weeks. WTH, it's like they're more concerned about testing us instead of teaching us when we've not even started classes! Gah.

I took a look at the list possible teachers for Maths though, and I've got to say, I'd be more miffed about all the drawn out testing - if I wasn't too busy being amused at the prospect of ending up in a class thought by a certain Hosaka-sensei...

Talk about 気持ち悪い... (For the full picture...)

DO NOT WANT(?)

Fortunately (or not? XD), after seeing Hosaka sensei first hand, I'm 'glad' to report that he's light years away from what we've seen in Minami-ke. Though, now that I think of it, if you put some glasses on Hosaka senpai, ruffled up his hair more, buttoned up his shirt, and age him a bit, the resemblance is sort of there... OH SHI-

Please don't hurt me 'cos my kanji sucks >.<

And while I'm at it, I might as well mention that we get a different teacher for our S.A. SP classes each day (why? Maybe they're overstaffed *shrugs*). Mondays we're taught by Abe-sensei, lolz. No prize for guessing who popped in my mind instantly. Though our Abe sensei's really quite a funny guy, he's a bit nit picky about how we write our kanji (in fact, the only one of our 5 teachers that is, when they're not marking our kanji tests of course). At least he doesn't fly into rages over my misproportioned characters, thankfully, but then again I've not given him the "Please don't hurt me" look every time I'm asked to go up on the mound board to write something... yet.



Last but not least, each of us foreign students gets a student tutor (usually a local student who's actually studying in Osaka University) to help us with our language and university life here on campus. While I've not met mine yet, (our first meeting is scheduled for Thursday) our class adviser has given us details concerning our tutors in class today, and the one thing I do know about the guy is his name:

_____ Youhei
(I can't just give out a person's family name when I've not even met him, can I?)

Err... Needless to say, I can't wait for our meeting this Thursday... OTL


(Names used in this post been changed to protect their privacy. Oh wait, they haven't. But I guess it's okay when I only reveal half their names? Anyways the rest of it is mostly products of my delusional mind anyhow ;P)

In other news, nominations for The Anime Blog Awards are closing... today? Okay, so I'm rather slow on the uptake. If anyone with an anime blog who hasn't nominated and wants to, you better do it quick since every vote nomination counts/your one vote nomination could tip things in your favourite blogger's favour, etc (or just because it's your obligation as a citizenblogger of the community and that's how democracy works!). If my own nominations didn't turn out to mirror the common denominators of just about every category (except in the 'Most Influential' category where I just tossed in my then personal favourite blogs :P), I'd probably do one of those "why I nominated so-and-so" posts. But instead, you got this :P

Continue reading...

Hide full post

Ookiku Furikabutte 26: Fanservice Extra???

The woes of the well-endowed women of baseball...

I managed to watch less than half of the chinese subs for this DVD only episode when it first came out (my combined Japanese and Chinese comprehension obviously being way below subpar). Seleria's post on it gave the impression that the only thing worth watching in the episode was 'sexeh bodeh' so I left it on the backburner for a while... Almost forgetting about it till Central Anime released English subs (Thankfully, or there'd be a bunch of dialogue that would've blown past my head, like the following:)

Thank God Central Anime for subs!

The episode is really a peek into the Musashino baseball team, from the perspective of one of the team members who feels that their team has no chance in advancing past the first round in Koshien, hence it would be 'embarrassing' for them to train as seriously as Haruna does. In the end, Haruna uses some psychological trickery to show the guy the power of GIVING IT ALL YOU'VE GOT and inspires the team captain and the rest of their team to GIVE IT ALL THEY'VE GOT as well, which leads to the team's victory in their first game of the season. Huzzah. To me what was interesting to see was the lengths the characters would go in order to advance themselves in baseball, especially in selecting the schools they want to enter based on the school's team/grounds, etc. (this was touched upon in the previous ep as well) I suppose the concept is rather foreign to someone who was never that into sports and dreaded Physical Education in school as a chore like me =P

It doesn't matter if you win or lose... as long as YOU GIVE IT ALL YOU'VE GOT!!

They managed to introduce some of the Musashino team members, but being a one-off episode (unless Musashino faces off against Nishiura later on in a future season... Oh wait, better not get ahead of myself there...) my brain hardly registered any of their names (it's hard enough keeping track of the Nishiura's!) save for Haruna (duh) and Suzune, the manager. Thankfully, like Momokan, she has a personality to match her, uh, assets (If Shinooka followed this trend, it's would give the impressions that OoFuri's all about the balls and boobs *swt*). As for Haruna, watching his crush on Suzune being, well crushed by the revelation that she's dating the team captain (whom he doesn't get along with!), was well worth watching the episode for :P

~USO~DA?

Haruna chanelling Mihashi??? Priceless XD

Though we never got to see a MihashiVSHaruna showdown in the anime (has it or will it happen in the manga? Should I consider reading it???), the above scene totally made up for it XD

All in all, a nice epilogue of sorts to an already awesome series, and thankfully I didn't find it a disappointment like Seleria did (well, I did have the advantage of being informed that there was no Mihashi, Abe or Tajima in the episode, so my expectations were suitably adjusted =P) as Haruna-centric the episode was (my blood still boils remembering the scene where he smugly thinks he's 'won' against Abe when he first meets Mihashi in all his flightiness in the bathroom. Grrr...). I'm still crossing fingers for another season some time in the future though... (Then again, said fingers have been crossed a LONG time for another installment of Ouran amongst other things...)

Continue reading...

Hide full post

2007 Flashback: The Rundown

Run, Mihashi, run...

It's already 3 months into 2008... And I'm still stuck writing posts about yesteryear (This is what happens when you restart your blog at an odd time of the year -_-"). Perhaps not the best time to publish this, but what the heck, this list has been sitting in a word file for much too long.


The 16 anime that made my year in 2007 (no real significance to the number, just so happen 16 of them I considered above average by my technically loose standards. And no series continued from 2006 or continuing into 2008 either, it's a purely 2007 list), in ranked order (good to great to best) :

The Good:
16. Dennou Coil (spoiler: RIP Densuke T_T)
15. Nodame Cantabile (Mukyaa~!)
14. Lucky☆Star (L-O-V-E Lovely~Tsukasa!)
13. Claymore (The Idiot's Guide to Self Mutilation)
12. Seto no Hanayome (Masa-san!!!)
11. Lovely Complex (All Hanshin-Kyojin BANZAI!)
10. Darker than Black (BONES)

The Great:
9. Sketchbook ~full color'S~ (Slow down world...)
8. Hidamari Sketch (Sorry ef and Bamboo Blade, the Miya of the year is here)
7. Moyashimon (The "You Absolutely HAVE to check this one out for yourself" show of the year)
6. Minami-ke (KANA IS BOSS)
5. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (~Burebureburebure~)
4. Potemayo (Honi, honi!)

Top 3:
3. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
2. ef ~a tale of memories~
1. Seirei no Moribito

Ranking done by the more serious, rational, and supposedly objective side of me that's supposed to judge the overall aspects of the show (Story, characters, presentation, blah blah blah) though obviously influenced by the whimsical, instinct-following, impressionable me (an indication of how much I felt the show impacted myself as a viewer, whether it tickled me silly or made me go "HOLY SHI- THAT WAS AWESOME , now I just have to sit down and let the other side of me think why...").

Of course anyone who's read this blog lately will probably notice the omission of one particular title, which at the time of this list's conception (a few months ago, mind you) was done on purpose since I wasn't done watching the series in question... But in the back of my mind there was no doubting its place on the list - the question is where? If serious, rational and objective had more of a say, this series would probably rank 4th pushing the current #9 to #4 a position back (and Gurren Lagann would have to switch places with ef). But based on my sheer enjoyment of this series and how it really changed the perception I had of its genre, I'm giving the 2007 top honour of personal favourite anime on Tondemo Nothing! to...

0) issa-sa's personal fave of 2007: Ookiku Furikabutte

Which neatly rounds up the Top 10 standouts series (#s 9 to 0) on my list with OoFuri coming out tops. *applause* A similar situation arose the year before that: Mushishi was easily the best overall 'serious' anime of 2006 (this time, it's Seirei) and Haruhi to me was best in just about every other respect (and was no doubt the iconic series of its year -whether you liked it or not- much like Gurren Lagann), but my personal favourite Ouran High School Host Club won me out anyhow. Call it personal bias or 'bad taste'/'good taste' or whatever, but what can I say, my blog my pick =P When you have strong shows colliding at the top, I'm the kind who'll pick the one that just feels right, and there's no denying that Ookiku Furikabutte is that series for 2007. Even back when I was only halfway through the series starved for subs, OoFuri had already impacted me so positively that I just knew it was the year's Ouran for me. I'd like to say more about the show now that I've officially completed watching it, but that'll be another post for another day.

It's also interesting to note what others ranked as their best show of the year: Specifically, Jason chose Gurren Lagann, Kurogane went with Seirei, Jeff Lawson pulled pleasant surprise by crowning Potemayo ^^ while the guys at Epic Win championed the best of the best: Mushishi! (Okay their real choice I wasn't as excited about). Besides these that come to mind, there was quite the Minami-ke love as well if I remember correctly.

I won't be debating why one series is better than another (or explaining why I didn't include/watch/finish watching series XXX not on the list) since this post is quickly becoming dated material. As a whole, I think 2007 offered myself many surprises in terms of series I liked (and utterly disliked) and though there were less hard-hitting sure-hit shows than 2006 and more average fodder running around (which even if I completed watching, did not make the top 16) there was generally enough to impress me at any given time during the year. So here's hoping for as good/a better showing of shows this year.

Continue reading...

Hide full post

Ookiku Furikabutte 25: Life Goes On...

The look on their faces say... all the wrong things...

The final episode of OoFuri... (excluding the recently available unaired 26th episode, which from what I've seen off Seleria's post is really a side story) What can I say, I'm gonna miss this show for a while... and if Major can get 4 seasons, I'm certainly demanding one more (at least!) for Ookiku Furikabutte. I need to see Mihashi, Abe and the rest of the Nishiura team wiping off that smirk off Haruna's face! Thanks to Central Anime for releasing the subs, since my raw watching experience with this episode ended up as a slightly disjointed one :S

Boys, boys, there's enough of Mihashi to go around...

Nice to see they brought back the umasou~!

This episode closes off the series on a rather open, life goes on note. Tajima, Izumi, Abe and Hanai gather at Mihashi's place and reflect on their recent win against Tousei over some umasou~! curry rice amongst other idle chit chat. Mihashi also somewhat realizes how far he's come since the days of being the hated outcast at Mihoshi and how much a part of the team he's become now with Nishiura. After episodes of hard hitting (and hard pitching) baseball action, it really is a fitting closing episode that helps us wind down together with our players (which still leaves a wide open opportunity for future installments!) after a immensely satisfying climax in the previous episode.

*drools...*

As a final episode, I treated it as a tribute to the key players in this immensely enjoyable series, starting with...

Tajima (aka 'Masturbation kid' XD): Throughout the series he's been consistently impressive with his talents and off-the-wall remarks. And I so do like a character who appreciates his/her food... :D
Tajima is one of those just full of energy and life characters that lights up the scene instantly when he's around. He's also incredibly sharp and shares an unerring understanding of Mihashi as a friend. It cracks me up whenever Abe fails to understand a word or action of Mihashi's, yet it's all effortless to Tajima :D

Tajima says the darndest things... XD

I like how they brought up the awesome swing which Tajima pulled off during the game, which they would've lost had he not done that, as acknowledged by Abe. We also learn a bit about why Tajima chose to study in Nishiura, which has to do with an incident with his great grandfather collapsing one day and his entire family rushing him to the hospital... and leaving poor Tajima rushing back to an empty house. Apparently the family he lives with is so large they totally took for granted that he was with them at the hospital -_-" Since then Tajima chose to study in Nishiura since it was close by and he'd know if an ambulance passes by in another emergency (the long story's relevance to the conversation was really not apparent to me until I watched the subs >.<). In his mind, Abe was thanking Tajima's callous family for their son's enrollment in Nishiura and becoming a member of their team. So was I!

DangoDaikazoku Arigatou!

...About as welcoming as the innkeeper from Fruits Basket...

No episode of OoFuri is complete without Mihashi freaking out like the frightened little jitterbug that he is XD I highly doubt if he'll ever grow out of his flightiness despite the steady improvement in his character along the way, which really is fine by me as a source of a lot of comedy in the show. But despite his shortcomings in the self esteem department (it took him forever to realize that Abe was bluffing when he asked Mihashi to step off the mound diring the crucial stage of their previous game. Thinking that Abe and the team must really be very displeased with his 'selfishness' in refusing to step off, Mihashi spends most of the episode in distress over the issue -_-")


The real tribute to Mihashi is when Izumi passes him a note from Shinooka with written comments from all the team members about the game they just won, and almost everybody had to mention how impressed they were and how so much of the team's performance really relied on Mihashi's pitching strength (Abe had to be the sourpuss who mentions what a 'close win' it really was). It should really come as a vindication for Mihashi, to know that he is fully accepted as a true ace pitcher for his team. Though knowing him, he'll probably need to be reminded again and again in the future, but at least it's proof that he's successfully left his dark days of baseball with Mihoshi behind.

But what I truly enjoyed was the tribute to the volatile (and closely bordering on violent, lol) relationship between Abe and Mihashi XD

Abe always means SRS BSNSS

So someone could use a little anger management classes... Well I hope not, since the fees are probably too high for a high schooler to bear, and it's more fun to watch Abe go ballistic on poor Mihashi over every little miscommunication =P Somehow it never really got old for me through the series, and has played its important part in building up Mihashi's character. Abe too, gives his best efforts in trying to understand Mihashi as a person and to strive to advance themselves as a strong battery for the team. Although he probably has quite a bit more to learn...

Am I the only one who thinks Mihashi's antics are actually quite adorably hilarious? =P

Also in this episode:

Hanai got a small monologue where he ponders that Mihashi does irk him almost to the same level as he irks Abe sometimes, but since Abe's got the abusive front covered, the team captain's relationship with Mihashi has been a placid one, to his relief (and Mihashi's too if only he knew, lol). Hanai started out as a rather 'too-cool for this team' character when we first saw him, but when the true potential and strength of the team quickly became apparent, he too quickly integrated with the rest to form yet another integral part of Nishiura. And we should always remember that it was his dumb luck that drew their team against last year's champions in their first match that set the entire second half of this series in motion. Cheers to Hanai!

And we shouldn't forget the roses amongst the thorns. The women of OoFuri are a nicely varied bunch, from the capable and sweet Shinooka to the awesome 'juiciness' (so-to-speak) of Momokan and even the ever supportive moms. Also, surprisingly for her late introduction in the series, Ruri probably had more of an impact to the story than all the others combined. So here's saluting her for pulling "Ren-Ren" out of his one of his major funks in the game.(Yay for Marina Inoue voicing Ruri. Her Minami-ke 'sister' Rina Satou was the announcer during the match, btw. It makes me think that Haruka-sama is the one behind the stands voicing lines such as "Be careful of foul balls", lol)

Finally there's Kanou, or Shuu-chan as Mihashi calls him. A salute for believing in Mihashi even when his entire team refused to acknowledge him, and for encouraging an old friend to keep on pitching. If the series does continue on, would it become inevitable that Nishiura and Mihoshi face off once again later on? Yet another match to look forward to... *Has already deluded self into thinking that there are future seasons confirmed...*

One more for the fangirls ;P

Sleep well Mihashi. You deserved it ;D

As if to highlight the fact that the show is ending on a feel good manner, we end with a scene where Mihashi napping peacefully. It give the viewer who's somewhat disappointed to see a series they've enjoyed coming to a close (i.e. me) a sense of peace with the show, I suppose. Eventually training with Momokan and the team will resume for him, and there'll be many other teams for Nishiura to play against... But till then, and as long as he can continue pitching, all is well in Mihashi's universe (unless he's dreaming of Abe torturing him XD), and perhaps we will one day see him in animated action once more... Here's hoping anyways!

Continue reading...

Hide full post

Ookiku Furikabutte 24: Manly Tears

There are some scenes that just don't need subtitles to be understood... :P

Watching OoFuri raw proved to be as difficult for me as expected, but since it's the last episode of the long running Nishiura VS Tousei match and the last I read in Central Anime's forum thefinal 2 subbed episodes would only surface in March (which technically is just a few days away, but still...), I just had to continue watching, subs or no subs. Even with subs the technical aspects of the game fly past my head anyways (I suppose the task should be much easier for those seasoned with the actual game), so I was concentrating more on the rest of the spoken parts, which in this climactic episode consisted a lot of yells of support, monologues of self-doubt, harsh but well-meant berating, and yes, manly tears... So which team exactly wins the match and which team is left in despair, that is what we're here to find out!


*Spoilers start here*

Mihashi being Mihashi XD

The pressure was very much on Mihashi in the final inning of the game. With the already mounting tension and the outcome of the game relying much on his pitching, his confidence wavers terribly as he recalls the bad old days of playing with Mihoshi and thinks that he'll once again bring disappointment to his team. And it turns out Momokan's giddy face from the preview wasn't from the match outcome after all, it was from seeing Mihashi fallen and thinking that the poor guy must've reached his breaking point. Thanks to Impz's episode summary (wasn't able to get to scrumptious for some reason), I was finally able to understand that when Abe saw Mihashi at his lowest and started shouting at him, he was really calling Mihashi's bluff by telling him to either pitch or leave the mound - an instant no-brainer for Mihashi since all he ever wants is to pitch for the team that wants him to pitch (kinda like telling him to believe in the team that believes in him!!).

Abe's bluff manages to get Mihashi's head back in the game, but at the cost of Tousei's runners at 1st and 2nd base (I think). It all comes down to Mihashi's final pitch... And again he second guesses himself! It's all very much infuriating, but leads up to the very strong sequence of scenes where the rest of the team start calling out to bring Mihashi's confidence back.


And so Mihashi pitches... and Tousei's batter swings... and hits! The ball goes far down the centre, and the game once again enters high tension mode. It's up to Izumi and team captain Hanai to strut their stuff - Izumi dives and catches, he passes it to Hanai who throws it back to home... Silence falls as Abe catches the ball just as Tousei's runner slides in...

"OU-TO!!!"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH YES, THEY DID IT, THEY EFFING DID IT, THEY WON!!!!!

ROLFMAO XD Nice to see someone as excited as I am with their win =D

*PHEW that was a close one... Okay perhaps my reaction at Nishiura's win wasn't as big as I'm making it out to be since I know the manga's still going on with so despite the anime coming to a close there really was 'no doubt at all' in Nishiura winning after all, teehee* What was immediately apparent after the game ended was despite the whole tension leading up to the final deciding pitch, Nishiura's eventual win didn't come with many extreme scenes of euphoria (aside from Tajima jumping Mihashi XD) and instead came across as a very subdued 'celebration'. There was hardly any loud cheering from the winner's side, instead we get both teams humbly bowing to each other and Nishiura lining up to thank their supporters. Eventually the cheer squad guy starts howling a little and there's smatterings of applause throughout, but the overall level of joy shown wasn't too high and kept to a tasteful level. Still you can't help but feel the silent pride of the supporters (especially if you're like me, a supporter yourself!) and the team sure as hell seemed pleased enough with the win!

Also noticed that the Nishiura moms reactions to their sons' win was hardly significant to how they usually are (especially Tajima's on the far left, though it's probably because she knows well enough how much of a wonderkid Tajima is) lol. I suppose for most of them watching the match was more of a learning experience in baseball and a chance to watch their sons in action... I'm guessing at least some of them were as lost as I was during parts of the game, :P Note too that there isn't a single dad in sight in the supporters, which would be strange if this was a sports match in any other country... Guess it must be the Japanese salaryman stereotype in action here.

True Tears T_T

For Tousei, the loss obviously came as a hard blow to the team, understandably enough, and a lot of the emphasis at the end of the match was on how they had to come to terms with the outcome. As much as my full support goes to Nishiura, it was hard to suppress that pang of sadness that came while watching Tousei's evident despair, especially from Takase and the catcher. It's probably the toughest on the senior students like them who won't be able to play in the Koshien anymore once they graduate.

Perhaps things would've have been different if they had been on their guard against Nishura from the start, but there's no doubt that both teams still played their best against one another. So as an expression of appreciation for their match, Tousei even gives Nishiura the 1000 cranes they folded and wishes them the best in the future. Certainly a nice and fitting gesture there to say no hard feelings.

Heck, Tajima's such a star in the game that he even gets asked for his autograph by that Tousei dude who was always at the bench! Okay, maybe they were just exchanging numbers... Was still pretty funny how the guy couldn't express his questions about Tajima's gameplay properly XD

For Nishiura, there really is no time to celebrate as Momokan goes into full coach mode and instructs everyone to show up for practice the same evening... Ouch, but the announcement doesn't come as a surprise at all since the team knows that Koshien is SRS BSNSS after all. That saga continues on in the manga, but unfortunately stops here for the anime. The final episode looks like a casual ending from the looks of the preview and will no doubt be another challenge altogether for my raw-untrained ears, but after watching Nishiura beating the odds and showing up with that seriously satisfying win, I'm willing to endure any amount of confusion to watch OoFuri's much deserved closure.

What of our ace pitcher Mihashi though? The lad's totally worn himself out and konks out immediately to get some well-deserved rest. I say to him: Good Job Mihashi! Nishiura wouldn't be Nishiura without your ace pitching, and OoFuri certainly wouldn't be OoFuri without your signature flighty antics =P

And one final pic for the BL fangirls of the show...

Continue reading...

Hide full post