Monday, December 31, 2007

2008 predictions

Haha, I wrote a list out like two weeks ago, but forgot to post it here. Oops.
Thankfully, I remembered it now, otherwise it would have been too late! xD
Some of these are predictions, some are more wishful thinking on my part...xD;

2008 Predictions
-Morning Musume will release 3 or 4 singles and their 9th album. Their 9th album has gotta be coming up soon, they've already released three singles due to be on it, and there's a fourth being released in March.
-Morning Musume 9th gen auditions. I know the 8th gen hasn't been around for that long, but...
-Takahashi Ai graduates, becomes a solo artist. I'm kinda neutral on Takitty, I don't love her but I don't hate her either. I could totally see her graduating to become a solo artist at some point...she has a good voice, and because of that, she gets so many solos in Momusu. I want the others to get lots of lines too...xD
-Hello! Project Kids become uber popular, get a #1 single. I keep hearing people say that the Kids have taken over Hello! Project...I think it's just a matter of time before some H!P Kids group, whether Berryz, C-ute, or Buono, gets a #1 single.
-One of the Berryz gets a boyfriend and is kicked out of Berryz. Haha, I kinda want to see this happen...8D I barely even know their names (I'm learning! I swear I am!) so if one of them got kicked out, I wouldn't really care all thaaat much...
-Yaguchi Mari starts a solo career. Or at least does something, please! She's my favorite ex-Momusu, and I really want her to sing again.
-Yasuda Kei does nothing. Still. Damn.
-Goto Maki signs with a new record label and releases first single. Please? I really loved Goto...
-GAM comes back. Even for just one single. I was hoping that because of GAM, Miki would still have something to do even after she left Momusu, but now GAM's pretty inactive...
-As for the new units...Ongaku Gatas is permanent, and continues to release singles. Athena & Robikerottsu releases maybe another single after their upcoming one, then either actually breaks up or just fades into inactivity. Buono! keeps going until Shugo Chara ends, singing all the opening/ending themes, then moves onto another anime.


And just a couple of quick non-j-pop predictions...
-Prince of Tennis ends. This is the one prediction that I'd hate to come true the most. However, the end of PoT is obviously happening soon- it's so close, they're on singles 1, the very last match of the final round of the National Tournament. The author once said that he'd like to go through Ryoma's second and third years at Seigaku. I think at one point this would have worked- when Prince of Tennis was really really popular. However, now it's not, and so I think that he's just going to end it where it is rather than go on with the chance of cancellation.
-Mx0 gets an anime. PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE
-Sket Dance survives in Jump. YESS

Friday, December 28, 2007

Berryz Koubou cameo in Gintama! xD

I think it's supposed to be Berryz, at least.
So I've been watching Gintama yesterday and today to try and catch up with the subbed episodes. Gintama parodies billions of other anime/pop culture things, like the main character wants a Bankai (from Bleach), and in episode 62, Yamazaki (who's obsessed with badminton) plays a badminton match against someone from 'Hyoutei' complete with crazy moves, the rest of the 'Seigaku' and 'Hyoutei' players on the sidelines, and 'mada mada dane' at the end. (Prince of Tennis parody, if you couldn't figure it out. link to the video, it's hilarious) But I didn't think there was going to be anything involving Hello! Project...well, I was wrong. xD
Basically in this episode (episode 18), there's this guy that goes around stealing women's underwear and giving it to the lonely guys that aren't liked by girls...and he's currently having a speech about all the lonely guys and how they're 'begging for him to save them'. xD Complete with pictures of said 'lonely guys' doing random things, like painting big-boobed anime figures and, you guessed it, going to a Berryz Koubou handshake event. xD

The headband on the guy on the far left says "Switch OFF" which I think is supposed to be a parody of their Switch ON! 2005 tour. xD

Haha, I love Gintama. xD

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas everyone~

Eep, I can't believe I forgot to post this earlier. I was going to post this before the family Christmas party, but it totally slipped my mind. =P
I totally didn't get anything j-pop related for Christmas, but I'm not surprised. I don't ask for imports or anything cause I don't think my family could handle going online and trying to figure out things like different versions and stuff. xD I used to get Puffy CDs from my family, but now I have all of their US CDs so there's nothing left for them to get me...
But I ended up with some anime stuff- I never go out and buy anime box sets because they're so expensive (yet I buy a Hello! Project concert box set for like $100...) so I pretty much just ask for them for Christmas. xD I got the first two Fullmetal Alchemist box sets, Naruto box sets 3 and 4 (I already have 3, but I accidentally put 3 in my wishlist instead of 5...;-;), and the 3rd Prince of Tennis box set...haha, this means I'm going to have a marathon once I finish the Prince of Tennis panel count. (so close!) And of course this marathon also includes the H!P 2007 Winter concerts and the Morning Musume ALL SINGLES COMPLETE DVD, which I haven't watched yet...
I -did- get a $150 gift certificate (WOW) to Tokyo Kid, which has j-pop, but I was looking closer at some of the CDs I have from there and I'm actually not 100% sure if they're the official releases. Wish I had a definite official copy to check. I dunno how I'm gonna spend the $150, haha. xD When I went a while ago at the start of the school year, they had the live-action Prince of Tennis movie, but when I went again with more money they didn't have it anymore. If they have it again, I'm definitely buying it. xD

ANYWAY. Since it's Christmas, I thought I'd share some of my favorite j-pop Christmas songs with you guys! I love all three of these songs so much~
Pucchi Moni - Pittari Shitai X'mas!
Haha, what kind of Hello! Project fan would I be if I didn't include this song? It's catchy and cute and so Hello! Project-ish. And it has Goto Maki. Who I miss soo much. =( I wish Pucchi Moni would come back, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon...
BENNIE K - The Christmas
When their album Japana-rhythm came out back in 2005, I listened to it all the way through, and I think this song ended up being one of my favorites, if not my actual favorite, on the album. It's really catchy, with both the singing and rap parts. I don't know why I still don't own this album, btw. xD
Way back in winter 2005, I had this as background music on my Gaia profile, and my friends who weren't at all into Japanese music loved it. =)
BoA - Meri Kuri
And of course, one of my favorite ballads from BoA. I don't usually like slow songs all that much, but this song has been a favorite of mine for a while. I own the Korean version of this single, but I like the Japanese version better because I can actually understand some of it and sing along. xD I was trying to sing along to one of her Korean songs the other day, and I was utterly failing, and I was reminded of like two/three years ago when I was failing at trying to sing Japanese songs. xD Now I can sing in Japanese just as easily as in English...


But, if you totally hate Christmas and winter for some reason, I also uploaded an uber summer song? I honestly don't know, I uploaded this for a friend and figured I'd just post it here, haha. xD
Megane's - Manatsu no Megane's
I find this song so uber amusing, pretty much just because it's the Megane's (which consists of Tezuka Kunimitsu, Inui Sadaharu, and Oshitari Yuushi from Prince of Tennis- their seiyuu are Okiayu Ryoutarou, Tsuda Kenjirou, and Hidenobu Kiuchi, respectively) singing an uber summer song. xD The title means "Megane's in Midsummer" or something along those lines. There are also some random lyrics in there like "tropical drink YES!! non-alcohol" (well I'd HOPE so, considering they're only 15), "POKER FACE" (haha I don't see what that has to do with summer), and I swear I can hear Tezuka saying "YUDAN SEZU NI IKOU!" right before the second chorus. =P
I like this song much better than their new single, btw, but I'll leave that for another post. xD


Sooo, enjoy, and I hope everyone had a nice Christmas! ^^

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Upcoming releases

Ok, so there's lots of stuff coming out either in the next two weeks or around the beginning of 2008, so...

Let's start with Hello! Project:
-On January 16th, the duet between Abe Natsumi and Yajima Maimi, 16sai no Koi Nante, is being released. I just listened to a preview of it, and I don't think it's too bad. Probably not something that I'll listen to a lot, but it's not that bad either. And, btw, I don't really know who Yajima Maimi is. I swear I've gone over the names and faces of the Kids like 5 times since I started this blog. I have a horrible memory, I guess. ;-;
-Buono!, the group formed with three H!P Kids that sung the opening and ending for the anime Shugo Chara!, is releasing their second single and their first album in February- the 6th and the 20th, respectively. I believe their second single, Renai Rider, is going to be the new ending theme for Shugo Chara!, it's supposed to start airing soon so I'll be able to check it out before the single comes out. xD As for their album, I really thought they weren't going to be a permanent group, but I think an album usually signifies that they'll be around for at least a little while longer.
-Ongaku Gatas also has their first album coming out, 1st GOODSAL, on February 6th. I loved both of their singles, so I'll definitely have to order this one. I'm glad that they're getting an album, hopefully this means that they're a permanent group.
-Athena & Robikerottsu is releasing a second single on February 14th, Seishun LOVE Launch. I hope it's as catchy as their first. xD I can't wait for more Risa and Aika...and those two Kids that I can't even remember their names. ;-; God I suck.
-According to wiki.theppn.org (I haven't seen anything about these anywhere else), C-ute and v-u-den are getting new singles on February 27th. Both are still untitled. I probably won't end up buying either of these, sadly...;-; There's too much stuff out there, and I have too little money...
-And Berryz Koubou is apparently releasing a new single called Jingisukan on March 12th.

And on the other side of my blog, the other fandom I love...upcoming Prince of Tennis releases:
-This Saturday, at Jump Festa, three new Prince of Tennis CDs are being released. The first two are for the Prince of Tennis Musical- two new Best Actor's Series CDs, #9 and #10 in the series. 9 features Sanada and Yukimura. 10 is a special Extra Seigaku 3rd Cast Memorial CD- a memorial for the third cast of the Seigaku regulars, who graduated (I feel like I'm talking about Hello! Project now. =P) after this summer's Absolute King Rikkai feat. Rokkaku ~Second Service~ musical. The fourth cast debuted in the Progressive Match Higa feat. Rikkai musical, which started 8 days ago on December 12th. (sadly, I have yet to see photosets of the new Seigaku cast. I really really really need to see what the new cast looks like in character!)
The third CD being released at Jump Festa 2008 is a new Megane's single, their fourth. Originally it was just going to be called "Odorimasen ka?", meaning something like "Won't you dance?", but apparently they had to keep the tradition of having "Megane's" in the song title (their previous singles have been "Go Go Megane's", "Kira Kira Megane's", and "Manatsu no Megane's"), so they renamed it "Odorimasen ka? Megane's". =P According to the description on the official page, it has something to do with the National Tournament Finals OVA (which, by the way, is the LAST OVA SERIES and therefore THE LAST WE'LL SEE OF PRINCE OF TENNIS T_____T unless the manga keeps going after the Nationals, but that's pretty unlikely) and the amazing 100 song marathon that's taking place early 2008. It also says that apparently this song is a high tempo SALSA song. Oh dear lord. @_@
Oh, and they released the cover for it too: here. Ohhh wow, PoT cosplay's fun, but...@_____@ WHAT THE HELL
"Won't you also dance with these three people?" @_@
-After those three, looks like there's nothing else until February 14th (which is kinda strange cause there's been so much released lately, what with the Best of Rival Players for Shitenhouji and random other character songs). On 02.14, Kai Yuujirou, Higa Chuu's vice-captain (I think), is releasing his version of Valentine Kiss. It's the 5th year of this tradition, and he's the 6th person to sing it- so far we've had Atobe, Oshitari, Sanada, Shishido, and Ooishi.
-And of course, the massive rerelease thing on February 27th. @____@

-not music related, I know, but the 3rd and final volume of the Prince of Tennis National Tournament Semifinal OVA series is being released January 25th. After that, which wraps up the match against Shitenhouji (this DVD encompasses Tezuka vs Chitose in Doubles 1 (er...well Inui and Zaizen are there too, but they decided to just stand at the side so it's basically a single match. hey, playing singles in a doubles match makes more sense than Eiji playing doubles in a singles match. =P), and Ryoma vs Touyama Kintarou in that one-point match since the official match didn't make it to singles 1), the first volume of the National Tournament Finals OVA series is being released on March 16th. During the finals, Seigaku plays Rikkai for the second time, but this time for the National title rather than the Kantou Tournament title. I'm not sure what this DVD will have- the first DVD of both the original National Tournament OVA series and the Semifinal OVA series only had one episode, which was a prequel to the actual match. So maybe this DVD will have the special Yakiniku no Oujisama / Prince of BBQ story that was originally between the semifinals and the finals in the original manga? It was a 4 chapter thing that started off as a party for winning the semifinals but ended up as a 5-school yakiniku eating contest. =P (everyone lost, btw, and they set the yakiniku place on fire. xD) I hope we get to see it animated. It's not really a prequel-thing like the other first episodes, but since Seigaku's played Rikkai before, there was no introduction set of chapters or anything in the manga...unless they take the scenes of Rikkai vs that exchange student team (they were originally mixed in with the one-point match between Ryouma and Touyama) and make it into it's own episode.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Valentine Kiss 2008

Hehe, I thought cause of the rereleases we weren't getting a special Valentine Kiss single this year (it's a Prince of Tennis tradition to have a character release a cover of that old 80s song "Valentine Kiss" on or around Valentine's Day- 2004 was Atobe, 2005 was Oshitari, 2006 was Atobe and Oshitari again, 2007 was Sanada...) cause there hasn't been anything listed under "Prince of Tennis" on both CD Japan and Yesasia. But I was looking up Atobe's Valentine Kiss singles on Yesasia cause I couldn't remember which cover went with which year (the one where he's wearing purple is 2004, the one where he's wearing red is 2006- it's the same pose for every Valentine Kiss single. xD) and one of the results that came up when I searched "Valentine Kiss" under music was a single called Valentine Kiss coming out on 2008.02.14...so of course I checked it, and guess what? This year, it's KAI YUUJIROU! xD Haha, I looked at the Japanese image and saw "Higa Chuu" and immediately assumed it was Kite, the captain, since I don't know the kanji for any of their names, but then when I went to double check, it was KAI! 8D YEAAAAAH that just makes it so much better!
Lol, I liked Kai. He's the guy that got uberly pwned by Eiji in Eiji's only singles match in like the entirety of his regular-ness. xD (but Eiji actually played doubles. With himself. I know, wtf, but it was kick-ass!) THAT WAS THE UBER UBER EMO ANGSTY EPISODE! I LOVE THAT EPISODE~ 8DD
He's the guy on the left of this screenshot if you seriously don't know who he is.
So, yeah, Kai from Higa gets the Valentine Kiss single this year. I still want Tezuka to sing it, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen. Maybe a bonus track if he releases another album. That's how Shishido and Ooishi got their Valentine Kiss covers...(I was hoping Kaidou would cover it on his album from a couple months back, but he didn't. He covered the Cap to Bin song "Thank You!!" though...)


Shalala suteki ni KISS...shalala sugao ni KISS...xD I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR THIS! 8DDDDD



Oh, and I saw that the original artist (I think) is releasing a single called "Valentine Kiss 2008". xD How many versions of this song are out there? Lucky Star did a cover of it too...xDD

Monday, December 17, 2007

Huge reissue of almost all Prince of Tennis limited character singles

Oh god. I got an e-mail from CD Japan, an Upcoming Artist Newsmail for Prince of Tennis, and it listed like ten billion different CDs that have already been released, most of which have gone out of print. I totally thought it was some weird mistake. Then I looked closer, to where it said "Reissue of this limited edition release from the "Prince of Tennis" series."
OH MY GOD THEY'RE RE-RELEASING ALMOST EVERY LIMITED RELEASE SINGLE X__X
Ohhh wow...I was disappointed when I found out I got into the fandom too late to get my hands on copies of lots of character CDs...but now they're re-releasing almost all of them! I can finally grab a copy of that Inui single where THEY SHOW HIS EYES ON THE COVER ZOMG!
I'm kinda surprised, though, for two reasons: first, well, just in general, I totally would never expect a re-release of any of these. I thought I'd have to go through eBay or something. Second, they're even re-releasing the brand new singles that still haven't sold out of the original release, like Taka's recent single "C'mon every burning" (which was released 2007.11.14) and the current OVA opening by byTachikiritai, "Koi no Gekidasa Ecstasy!" which was just released on 2007.10.31.
Yesasia doesn't have any of the rereleases listed, so it looks like I'll have to go through CD Japan. Which has cheaper prices, but shipping's a -bitch-. Ugh.
EDIT: I just put together like a first draft on an order with the PoT CDs and the Buono and Ongaku Gatas upcoming CDs, and it says that shipping's going to be like $50. T_________T God I hate CD Japan, but sometimes it's the only option...

Yeah, I think this is where all of my Christmas/birthday money is going to go. Forget that Yesasia order I was making, I can cut it down to just the new Buono and Ongaku Gatas stuff. xD I'm definitely grabbing quite a few of these rereleases, especially that Inui single I mentioned earlier, all of the other Valentine Kiss singles (I have the 2006 Oshitari one), the other Cap to Bin singles (I'm making it a point to collect all the singles involving Eiji), the two opening/ending soundtrack albums (who makes soundtracks limited release only? I mean, I can understand character singles, but opening/ending theme collections? that always pissed me off, but now I can actually buy them! 8D)...

Lol, I'm so excited, but they're not actually being (re)released until late February. 8D I should still pre-order though...

Sunday, December 16, 2007

[Scans] Morning Musume, Athena, and some manga covers

Explanation and music list

So, this is basically the scans post to go along with my recent orders that arrived on Friday. Sorry it's late, but scanning the two limited photobooks took forever, and I had a sleepover last night cause it's my birthday today (yay!).
I also didn't end up scanning the H!P 2007 Winter Live DVD Box, cause there's this 4-DVD case that's too big for my scanner and I was too lazy to figure out how to get it all. xD
I might end up scanning some more CDs soon cause I'm on winter break, but I can't make any promises. xD;;

EDIT: Sorry that the small versions of the preview images look crappy! In my earlier posts, I actually uploaded them to Blogger, but this time I uploaded them to Photobucket instead. Guess the site handles it differently. Just click the preview images for the full-quality version.


Morning Musume's latest single Mikan, normal edition. I scanned the photocard of Risa and included it in the .rar file.
Download the .rar file for the rest of the Mikan scans


Morning Musume's latest single Mikan, limited edition A which comes with a DVD. I scanned the photocard of Koharu and included it in the .rar file.
Download the .rar file for the rest of the Mikan limited edition A scans


Morning Musume's latest single Mikan, limited edition B which comes with a photobook. I scanned the photocard of Sayumi and I also scanned the photobook- both are included in the .rar file.
Download the .rar file for the rest of the Mikan limited edition B scans


Athena & Robikerottsu's first single, Shouri no BIG WAVE!!!, limited edition which comes with a photobook. I scanned the photobook and included it in the .rar file.
Download the .rar file for the rest of the Shouri no BIG WAVE!!! scans


I scanned the covers of the manga for my personal collection, so I thought I'd share them here too if anyone's interested. For SKET DANCE 1 and Prince of Tennis 40, it's just the one image so I didn't bother to upload a .rar file- just click on the preview image. The dust jackets just barely fit on my scanner- I didn't include the inside back flap because all it is is like a list of Jump tankoubon. For the Prince of Tennis Fanbook 40.5, the book's really thick, so the dust jacket was too big for my scanner. I scanned the inside flaps separately, so there's a .rar file for 40.5.

SKET DANCE 1 - Penki Kamen / Paint-Mask


Tennis no Oujisama / Prince of Tennis 40 - Tennis wo Wasureta Oujisama / The Prince Who Forgot Tennis


Tennis no Oujisama / Prince of Tennis 40.5 - Official Fanbook
Download the .rar file for the rest of the 40.5 scans

Buono!'s first album!

And here I thought Buono! would end up a one-shot group like so many others in H!P history. I guess the Kids are really starting to take over Hello! Project...xD;; I definitely didn't think this would be a permanent group, but I'm really happy. I absolutely loved their first single, so I hope their upcoming second single and first album are just as great.
I wonder if their new music will also be tied in to Shugo Chara? Haha, even though I usually hate shoujo manga/anime and almost all I read is Jump manga (with some other shounen manga from other magazines, but mostly Jump), I love Shugo Chara. xD

Their album is set to come out February 20th...yet another thing I have to pre-order. xD I have an order set to go on Yesasia that I was going to get with my birthday money, but maybe I have to cut it down a bit to save enough money to get some early 2008 releases. xD

Friday, December 14, 2007

Recent purchases

It took us 4 hours to get home yesterday from my school, which usually only takes one...and it was uber dangerous, too. D: I love snow, but not when I'm trying to get home on the highway...I got uber bored, so I ended up romanizing lyrics to some Prince of Tennis songs I had lyric scans for on my laptop. I would have done j-pop songs instead, but the only scans I had were for the Prince of Tennis ending singles WHITE LINE and Wonderful days. xD; I'll post the romanizations later...
Anyway, I think the two packages sitting on my bed when I got home actually kinda made up for the long drive. 8D

I love Kinokuniya. I used to get pissed because there isn't one nearby where I live, but I ordered Prince of Tennis volume 40 and the 40.5 Fanbook on Saturday, and it's already here! 8D I'm so used to Yesasia which takes forever to ship, so...I think in the future I should use Kinokuniya to buy books and stuff, otherwise they'll slow down Yesasia orders like it did with my latest order. >> Sadly, this strategy doesn't work with Hello! Project photobooks. I checked it out when I went to make the order with the Tenipuri books, and you can't get them from the New York stores. It redirects me to their Japan store site instead, which a) I can't navigate very well and b) the shipping would be hell anyway, and take a while. But Kinokuniya is good for manga, so...xD
And then, I FINALLY got my Yesasia order that I placed over a month ago. I'm still pissed that it took so long- it really should have shipped out once Mikan was released. It's all because Sket Dance took so long...but I think it was worth it. Three copies of Mikan (haha, I know, I'm an uber crazy fan), Shouri no BIG WAVE!! limited, Sket Dance volume 1, and the H!P 2007 Winter Live DVD Set.



First up, the three copies of Mikan. I love this song so much. xD Which is part of the reason I bought all three editions. The other part is because there were special photocards in each one, and I love stuff like that. xD
I'd share some more pics of the booklets and limited photobook and stuff, but I'm going to scan these later today, which is even better! 8D
And now...which photocards did I get??
SUSPENSE! xD











Risa, Koharu, and Sayumi.
If I could have chosen which I got, I would have chosen Reina, Junjun, and Risa, my current three favorite members. (or the group card, which I totally didn't know existed until like five minutes ago...?) I absolutely LOVE Reina, and I love how she looks in the promo pics for this single! She has some really nice shots in the limited photobook- I love her outfit and her hair and like EVERYTHING! @_@ Sadly, luck was not really on my side when I opened these last night.
I'm really happy I got Risa, though. =) She's my second favorite member, and I like her photocard.
Sayumi's cute too- she's not one of my favorite members, but I like her appearance in this single, so I'm fine with getting her card.
Koharu, however...don't get me wrong, I like Koharu, but...I don't really like her here. I just don't think she looks that good- and honestly, she's not very high on my member ranking, so...



Next up is the limited edition of Shouri no BIG WAVE!!, which came with a photobook. I actually had no idea it had a photobook until I opened it up and it came out...xD I totally never saw anywhere just what the limited edition actually had in it.
I love this song- it's really cute and upbeat, and the Engrish makes me laugh a bit. Though, as much as I love this song, I think I've had enough "OKEY-DOKEY!"s for a while. @_@
The photobook has some pictures of the four girls involved in this single- the two Momusu, Risa and Aika, and the two C-ute members, Nakajima Saki and Okai Chisato. Aika's really cute. xD And, I'm sorry, I still don't really know who Nakajima and Okai are. I had to look them up to find out which group they're in. ;-; I seriously need to get my act together and learn the names of all the H!P Kids already...


Then there's the H!P 2007 Winter Live DVD Box. I feel like such an uber crazy fan having this...it cost $100, but I think it's worth it- three concerts and a bonus backstage disc. It's my first H!P concert I've actually bought- I've thought about buying some other concerts in the past, but turned them down in favor of more music. I can't wait to sit down and have an H!P concert marathon...xD
What I really like about H!P concerts is that unlike concerts by a solo artist or a normal group (lol, as in like, one that stays the same rather than constantly changing), there's always new groups of people singing an old song. Like current Morning Musume singing a song like LOVE Machine- I love always being able to hear different people sing older songs like that. Compare that to a concert by someone like BoA- you don't really hear anything new when she sings her older songs, because it's still the same person singing it- just live instead of a studio recording.
Now if only they'd record some of these new versions in the studio and release them separately...xD


Last but not least, there's the three manga I ordered. Sket Dance 1, Prince of Tennis 40, and Prince of Tennis 40.5.
Sket Dance is a new manga in Shounen Jump, and it currently has 21 chapters. It's a random school comedy manga, and it's really funny. Most new manga hasn't been doing so well in Jump lately, but I hope Sket Dance survives- it's really cool and funny, definitely one of my favorite series in the magazine.

Prince of Tennis 40...oh this is so much crack. xD The title of the volume is "The Prince who Forgot Tennis"...you really wouldn't think there would be this much crack in a tennis manga, but there seriously is. Basically this volume starts out in the middle of the National Tournament finals with Tezuka's arm being UBER DEAD (xD) and Sanada winning...then Ryouma comes back with Momo, Atobe, and Oshitari (because, see, Ryouma didn't show up to the finals, so Atobe WITH HIS HANDY HELICOPTER THAT HE JUST SO HAPPENS TO HAVE AT THE TOURNAMENT takes Oshitari and Momo to go find Ryouma. Who knows why Oshitari went, he's absolutely pointless), and the rest of the team is uber excited ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT RYOUMA HAS AMNESIA AND DOESN'T REMEMBER TENNIS! DUN-DUN-DUN
Then Inui and Kaidou play doubles against Yanagi and Kirihara, and Inui gets uber beaten up and basically dies in the middle of the court after stopping Kaidou from going into devil mode. Which is an uber scary sight that I hope I never have to see again, btw.
I know, wtf, people actually can get sent to the hospital for playing TENNIS?
Inui wakes up, he has UBER UBER BANDAGES WRAPPED AROUND HIS ENTIRE BODY (ahahaha I love that panel), and then it switches to Fuji vs Niou.
Niou, with his Illusion or w/e it's called, apparently can turn into Tezuka. I DON'T KNOW HOW IT WORKS EITHER. I mean, he's not just using Tezuka's moves, Konomi's actually DRAWING TEZUKA instead of Niou. And then it turns out that, ZOMG KONOMI PUT AN ANIME FILLER EPISODE IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS MATCH FOR A FLASHBACK, and Fuji played Tezuka as a freshman. Angst happens. Then the volume ends.

40.5 is not, as you may think, half of a volume. xD It's the new fanbook, taking after 10.5 and 20.5 (no, it's not that they don't know how to count...30.5 was an artbook rather than a fanbook.). It has tons of information on all the players, and tons of other interesting pages that I'm sure would be much more interesting for me if I could understand any of it. Some of my favorite facts:
-Marui's favorite music is ORANGE RANGE. That's some good taste right there, huh? xD I started skimming to see if anyone else mentioned specific bands, but I got bored after getting halfway through and put it down. Eiji apparently loves idol groups, but he didn't specify H!P. I bet he has a collection somewhere, though. xD
-Ooishi's special skill outside of tennis is that he's able to tell whether a baby chick is a boy or a girl. Wtf, Ooishi. That's weird.
-Jirou carries Marui's wristband in his bag. STALKER
-Sanada carries around the "Sanada Family Rock". xDDDDD oh Sanada. A rock?? Why does his family even have a 'family rock' in the first place??



Haha, look at Inui. xD Who knows why he still wears his glasses. Can he even see with all those bandages? xD
(oh, and Koharu and Yuuji are there too- they hold the honor of being the ONLY EXPLICITLY STATED CANON GAY COUPLE in the series. <33 Now if only Konomi would just admit that the Golden Pair has sex behind the scenes...xD)



So, there we go. Scans and lyrics should be posted soon.

Friday, December 7, 2007

grr.

I'm seriously like depressed right now, for the stupidest reasons too. D:
There seriously needs to be a Japanese bookstore somewhere around Boston. I mean, seriously, I NEED the new Prince of Tennis 40.5 Fanbook. Like, now. xD Or within the next couple of days.
But, of course, guess what? The only way for me to get it is to buy it from Yesasia. And not only does it say "Usually ships within 21 days", (I never thought it really took that long, but the fact that the first volume of Sket Dance actually took like three weeks proved me wrong) but then it'll take like two weeks just to fucking get to my house! DDD: For god's sake, that's totally not fair, I need to see all this new stuff, everyone's posting tons of stuff on the Tenipuri LJ community and it just makes me depressed cause I feel like I'm like the ONLY one in the fandom that doesn't actually have it. T_T
Cause of course the closest Japanese bookstore (that I know of at least) is in fucking New York City. I hate living in Massachusetts sometimes.
There WAS a Japanese bookstore in Boston, but they closed down, and now they're only operating online. Which totally sucks because that REALLY doesn't change my situation at all, it'll still be AT LEAST two weeks before I could get a copy.

I was thinking maybe they have it at Tokyo Kid, but honestly, even though they're the best around, they really don't have that good of a selection. And since it's in Cambridge, which is pretty far away, the chance of them having it is too low to actually warrant going there. I mean, I'd go either way, but my parents see things kinda differently...and I just went two weeks ago. So I'm really just screwed...


EDIT: WAAAIT
I was looking at the Kinokuniya website, and if I'm understanding the Japanese correctly, it's $7 shipping and it'll take 2 days to ship to MA. =D OMG YAY
Though I'd be much more confident about buying it if the website was in English...I double-checked some translations with an online translator (just to get the rough idea) so I'm %100 I have all the right options and stuff, but...xD;;

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

It's getting close to CHRISTMAS! 8D

Well, it's that time of year again where I can actually listen to j-pop Christmas songs like BENNIE K's 'The Christmas' without feeling really lame~ xDD
THAT'S RIGHT, IT'S DECEMBER!
(I know, it's been December for like 4 days already, but bear with me here)
YAY! As much as I don't like winter and the cold, and I hate the fact that it's in the middle of the school year, I LOVE December! Cause I'm only in school for like half of it, not to mention there's Christmas and my birthday! 8D
So! To get into the season, I'm going to share with you the best 12 Days of Christmas parody I've ever seen! 8D


The song itself is uber amazing, and the Akatsuki video just makes it so much better. xD YAY


And a short Naruto 12 Days of Christmas parody fanfic from my favorite fanfiction author, Link and Luigi! 8D
12 Things on Naruto
HAVE FUN! xD


I'll probably share some of my favorite j-pop Christmas songs this weekend or after exams or something...

SHUFFLE GROUPS?!

I think I've had a half-written post about the lack of shuffle groups sitting on my desktop for like two weeks now. I've been planning on finishing that, but now I'm not 100% sure....
ARE SHUFFLE GROUPS COMING BACK?? <33
Take a look at this post from HPNH.
This certainly sounds like shuffle groups, though we'll have to see what exactly they're doing in their respective places they're going. I really hope this is the return of shuffle groups, which I really miss....maybe I'll finally finish up the shuffle unit post over the weekend. I have to rewrite like half of it, which is why I haven't finished it yet. xD;
Anyway, I can't wait for more information on this. I think my favorite group right now is the last one...it has my favorite current Morning Musume member, Reina, and my favorite former member, Mari. <33 I also like the group with the rest of the current Momusu- though I wish it had been shuffled around a bit more, I'd love to see just the newest Momusu (and Risa, who's probably my 2nd favorite current member) perform together.
If these are basically like shuffle groups, I think this is an interesting idea- I never considered the idea of there being more than 3 shuffle groups. xD Well, we'll see how everything turns out...