Picture Perfect Paranoia

I think my alter ego may have found something worth “geeking” at. And no, this will not be found on his personal journal, since it’s a weird enough idea as it is.

Watch this space for further developments. Direct link will be in place at the sidebar when the guy have time to do so. He doesn’t have much, by the way.

Oh and if you’re uninterested in this little-and-not-so-important undertaking of his, look the other way around please. Thank you very much.

I already convinced my alter ego to host his own blog instead of competing for space in this blog. So yeah, it’s here.

Between studying conversational Mandarin, studying for major quizzes, and managing my non-anime-related expenditures, this blogger’s got a sad school life, seriously. But I’ve come to grips with myself, to still hope that I’ll pass. And balance both worlds, of anime and life.

Anyway.

Of all the things I had to ponder on, while still to the brim with schoolwork, this had to take the cake. The oddest… yet the most interesting.

Has anyone ever wondered where all these “bizarre” or “weird” fixations came from? I mean, when I read about “tentacle rape”, my thoughts go back to what I have read months ago, the article on Wikipedia about pornography in Japan. Yes, folks, I am referring to “Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife”, where we see a octopus, I believe, touching a human female in her inappropriate parts.

And then there are the kemonomimi? Has it been explained how women in Japan are perceived as, in relation to ideas such as this? Pets to “pet”? Objects to look at and go “aww~!”? Seems likely, no?

What’s the deal about these gender benders, anyway? I mean, we have she-males, bishies and whatnot. We got girls that dress and look like boys, and boys that have the face of a beautiful girl, and it’s no wonder they got mistaken for beautiful men most of their life.

Oh, and let’s not forget about the various get-ups these women are being “forced” to wear. Police uniforms with short skirts? High school sailor uniforms with matching bow and short skirt? Nurse with often “cutesy” (aka pink color scheme) designs and of course the short skirt? Is this how they looked at them, or was this only a perception of the past? I don’t know, don’t ask me. I’m just speculating. (For the record, I’m not emphasizing the short skirt. It’s just an example.)

It’s been bugging me since I got into this Japanimation culture. So, anybody have their own hypotheses and (possibly) theories on this issue?

Opening Theme

Cheer~Makka na kimochi~ by Kanako Sakai

Ending Theme

Devotion”by BRACE;d

Life of a voice actor/actress is not an easy one. Not only in the Land of the Rising Sun itself, but here in the Pearl of the Orient as well.

Voice acting, as defined by wikipedia, involves lending out your voice to an animated character on screen, mainly by reading scripts on paper and paying attention to timing of dialogue, while watching the character interact with others. However, it not just that. It also involves pouring out your emotions, fleshing it out (as they say), and bringing that character to life. And in Japan, it can propel your popularity to national levels.

But of course, as stated earlier, success comes with hardship, and this is what Aka, an up-and-coming seiyuu, learns on her first day of work. Demanding schedules, rigid practice, professional relationships, and fierce dedication are what you need to survive . Fall back, and you’ll surely lose your way around.

Fortunately, the job is not all torture. With the right connections, as in any moderately paying job, the job gets done in less time than letting yourself suffer from too much hard work. Therefore, socializing with your manager is a good asset into becoming a rising voice actress.

Now, let us see what the life of a voice actress is from the eyes of two individuals, of coexisting business relationship. Manager and actress.

To the most vigilant of anime bloggers, you knew this happened even before you noticed. So in case of a form of amnesia, here’s a rundown on the point of this post.

For the readers of Tasogare’s Anime Blog, have any of you noticed that Tasogare’s blog has been buried deep down a long list of search results from Google? I know this surprised me as well, but what was more surpirising is the “new owner” of the domain name. Take note of this when clicking on the link above:

• A new color scheme (since Tasogare’s was in shades of purple)
• The site avatar. (Now where could that girl have gone to?)
• The content (since Tasogare’s last entry was around January, and it was a summary of Suzuka)

Taking all of this together, can you guess what happened? I didn’t even see Tasogare’s post explaining the lack of updates to the anime blog. I’m not sure, but maybe Tasogare somehow abandoned the blog altogether, and went into another venture, which I could speculate is non-anime related.

Anyone?

ADDENDUM: Hmm… I gues everyone has no idea, huh.

Yes, I know this wallpaper’s out of season, but if you’re living in a country that’s celebrating Xmas, even selling Xmas merchandise, months ahead, you know it’s that time of the year again.

…and I don’t remember where I got the image. It’s from some imageboard somewhere on the Web.

Now from the previous post, I noticed a lack of respondents to my query. It seems that having a small readership has its disadvantages. But hey, at least I have one, right?

OK, here we go.

This is the Acoustic version of Hare Hare Yukai. You know, the ED of the wildly popular title from the previous season, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu. While I could applaud the guy who perforned this (in his room I think) for his efforts, it could have been better if he could have just used a different guitar to do the first part of the theme. My ears were being grated while I was watching him perform, after positioning his hands for the performance itself.

Now this is what I call a better performance! And yes, it’s the same theme from the same anime. Did I mentioned this before, right? OK. Obviously, this guy’s using a different guitar brand, but it’s the same type as the previous one, an electric guitar. And with a guitar synchro background to boot. That is impressive set-up in my book. Oh yes, he did mention that he’s using a power chord, and that I think is a good thing.

Another power chord version, of the same song, with the same title, but with a variation in performance. Oh and he’s same guy, I think.

And here’s one more that I’ve found recently on Youtube. To say I’m impressed is an understatement.

Now this guy knows his chords, and he even mentioned that it’s a new version, so there may be slight differences from the “previous” movie, which I think is Episode 12 of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (tell me if I’m wrong on this, as this is my own interpretation). Kudos on the text intro, shows how he’s really prepared to do this as a video presentation. Oh and I have no idea what the “mighty heart version” is.

And there you go. It actually took me at least two weeks to perform an analysis on these clips, since I’ve been busy with Uni work and all. So apologies to those really anticipating for me to post this.

And yes, I do know that there are a lot more, but I have to tend to my now slow growing backlog.

Until then. Oh, and tell me what you think (that is, if anyone’s reading this blog right now)

You know it’s kinda rare when I make posts like this, because it means less randomness in posting styles leads to consistency in blog content.

… oh wait, is it true? Dunno, don’t ask me, lol.

Anyway, I just listened to the 9th Anime Nano Podcast episode, and sad to say, there are a variety of Fall Season anime titles coming out. Some of them seem to be adaptations of shounen manga titles. And I despise such a genre, for anyone who knows me. So I’ll just whiz through the list to see if there are any interesting (to me) titles to watch this season. Read the rest of this entry »