PV Reflections – Ayuse, Daichi, DOUBLE, lecca, Ayu, Gyaruru & Mika

Aaaah Hisashiburi minna-san!!! I just got really busy with school and then working like a dog and using my off days to relax watching anime and reading manga as opposed to typing/being social…but now I’m bored and want to type about PVs!! I will do this on a more regular basis from now on…really I will!! So…let’s go!

 

Ayuse Kozue – Sundae Love

 

I looooove Ayuse Kozue. At first I was really negative towards her without even listening to her, because she was being produced by all these famous producers without doing anything, but when taku from m-flo produced her third single, I was on board!! And then she won me over even further when she appeared on the “Girl’s Park” concert and they only showed and Towa Tei her for about 30 seconds (performing the remix of her third single!! Brave to perform a remix in public!), and her after comment was something like “I am so happy I was invited”, but then Towa Tei pointed the poster promoting Girl’s Park behind them and was like “And WHERE are you on this poster??”. Ayuse just started laughing and I was like “awww…I totally support her 100%!!” That said, “Sundae Love” is probably her one of her weakest single. Her other single after her initial three produced by the famous guys was pretty forgettable too (I literally just listened to it, and I couldn’t tell you what it sounded like – I’m listening to the c/w of it right now, and it’s more memorable). I don’t mean “bad” by any stretch, but it’s kind of like I think I’ve heard her sing this song before. She knows what she can sing, and while that’s not a bad thing, she can’t sing a heck of a lot of diverse stuff. I can (pretty much) guarantee we will NEVER hear Ayuse belt something powerful out like Misia or AI can. Nope, this girl sings cutely, and I love her for it. If you people think Ayumi Hamasaki has a grating/squeaky voice, you will want to stay faaaar away from Ayuse. Conversely, if you like Ayumi Hamasaki’s musical style, Ayuse Kozue’s style is waaay different. So in short, I don’t know who the audience is for poor Ayuse, and she’s obviously not doing too well in Japan either, so her marketing team doesn’t as well.

 

Anyway this video is very 80’s flashback, and the song would probably fit in with the 80s/90s too…it’s cute, she’s cute, her workout buddies are cute…maybe people who liked Sowelu before she went total pop would like Ayuse Kozue? I’ve realized that since Sowelu’s pop transformation, Ayuse has taken her place…so…if anyone else was upset with Sowelu’s “24” album, come check out Ayuse Kozue!! You might find your new girl!!

 

PV – 8/10 Song – 7/10

 

Daichi Miura – Flag

 

FINALLY!!! It took a year and seven months, but it’s here!! New Daichi music!! Goddamn it Daichi, you were making me think your career was over, but I knew Japan’s smallest soulman could NEVER go down!! Now, his videos are…how to say…boring if you dislike videos where all they do is dance (like me), but his songs are just fabulous. They’re really R&B style and while they’re all similar, they’re all unique. Honestly, I think Flag is his weakest single yet (ouch), but the c/w on the single “Super Star” is sooooooo good!! I’ve seen other fans of his complain on message boards that his c/w’s are pretty much ALWAYS better than the actual single, and I agree. But Flag is still awesome and I love it, and Daichi will become Akiko Wada in 50 years, I hope (I mean longevity wise, not literally…)

 

PV – 5/10 Song – 8/10 (and I say it’s his weakest!!!)

 

DOUBLE – Summertime feat. VERBAL

 

I adore this song soooo much, and the “Private aTA remix” on the single is pretty much the same, but it’s more toned down (don’t ask) and it’s easier to listen to. The video is a bight colorful affair, and (surprise!) Verbal actually makes an appearance!! Good on you Verbal! I hate it when rappers don’t appear in the video they rapped in. Double is looking waaaaay too skinny, and I think they should’ve had a BBQ and an eating contest on the beach. Double VS. Verbal. That would’ve made the video, and Double would be healthy again. I like how Double actually was the DJ during Verbal’s part, and how she seemed to know what she was doing scratching the record. She looks SO much healthier on her DJ Lilly CD cover (Air brushing on fat maybe?? That would be a first). But really, promotion for a different CD during a Promotion Video for a single?? Kinda tacky.

 

BTW, just because I have been watching BB8 USA religiously, Double looks a lot like Danielle in the PV, mainly because they both look severly underweight. But Daniele has a reason – she was on slop and wouldn’t eat! Double! Eat while you can (like she’ll ever be trapped in the BB8 house, but still)!

 

Video – 7.5/10 Song – 8.7/10 (oddly specific ain’t it?)

 

lecca – Start Line

 

Okay, lecca is like, my lover except that we’ve never met, and if we did, we wouldn’t be lovers because I don’t think we’re lesbian. But her music is one of the major loves in my music life. That said, I was reluctant to watch this new PV because frankly, I was afraid that it would suck, because there are a few songs of hers’ that aren’t so great (every artist has them, even m-flo…but their suckage is super minor). I was afraid that she would have hit her peak with “Urban Pirates”, especially since the “Dear” PV was soooooooo good (one of my fav PVs EVER).

 

But, I watched it aaaaand…it’s awesome! What was I worried about? Okay, so it is extremely easy to make fun of this PV. She’s telling a story to four or five kindergarten kids, and…it’s just sooo cheap. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she drew all the pictures for her story by herself, and the kids were all her friends’ kids, and the camera she used was an old one from her dad etc. This video is so cheap; it is amazing it was accepted by an avex sub-company. But then halfway through, you forget that you could have made this exact video and start to be like “what’s going to happen??” It’s a great, imaginative and weird video. And the song is typical lecca (reggae) but still fresh. Damn, lecca is my hero. If I met her, I would be so dorky. From this video, I decided I want green nail polish, Capri jeans, and shoes like her’s. And I’ll wear a skirt over the jeans. Oh yeah. Just like how I wanted the same coat from Amuro’s “White Light” CD cover (and I got that too…or something similar >_>)

 

Song – 9.5/10 Video – 9.5/10

 

Ayumi Hamasaki – Glitter

 

Ahh Ayu. Love her or hate her, she is the only one. Her super fans are all like “THIS IS THE SAME SONG AS BLUE BIRD”, but I didn’t like Blue Bird and I love this song…? This video is not even in the same league as Blue Bird either. As in, this is 1000x better. Blue Bird was like “OMG guys, let’s show everyone how rich I am by having a party on a boat!!”, but this is the first Ayu PV I’ve seen with a followable story. Sure, it’s not terribly difficult to follow – she falls in love with her bodyguard – but it looks to me like someone’s been taking PV making lessons from Ku-chan (think yume no uta/futari de…). I love it. Especially I’m under the impression it continues in the “fated” PV. Must download for me now. BTW, what is up with her putting “Secret” on the single for this?? Wasn’t that on the Secret album? Ayuuuu…a remix would’ve been better…

 

PV – 9/10 Song – 7/10

 

Gyaruru – Boom Boom Meccha Macho!

 

…I think I might have got a Para Para version of the video because they just dance the whole time. BTW, isn’t Para Para sooooo 90s/soley Hinoi team territory now? Has our favorite gay Tsunku been in a coma the past 10 years? Not to mention I totally dislike Ami Tokito (liked her when she contributed to Sukuran – disliked her when she became totally coquettish). I just downloaded this to see the food eating contest champion girl in a PV. Had no idea who she is, just thought it would be funny. She must be the pale girl in the middle because she was a look of “WTF” on her face the whole time – and is unnaturally pale, so she must spend her entire time inside training. Or something. See below…

That move made me lol, really. The song? Um, it’s okay. The video is okay too. I started Para Para-ing along because it was getting kind of dull. Listen, I love Tsunku (if her just released his solo albums forever, I would be so happy), and I really have a soft spot for Para Para, but this is so hilariously dated. And there’s Ami Tokito. I also watched a Music Fighter performance of them, and Ami Tokito is just so…gross. Don’t like her. Be cute again, not Lolita gravure cute (she probably always was gravure cute, and I just never picked up on it).

 

PV – 4/10 Song – 6/10

 

Katteni-Shiyagare + Nakashima Mika – You’d be so nice to Come Home to

 

I like Mika’s musical direction. I don’t much like this collaboration. It’s kind of bombastic and over the top, and doesn’t add anything fresh or unique to the song. And Mika, my darling, has a very strong Japanese accent, which is distracting. The video is much more interesting, but once you’ve seen Mika twirl once, you’ve seen it 100 times. Truly, this is one for the boomer crowd and the die-hard Mika fans.

 

PV – 7/10 Song – 4/10

Preview Reflection – New Epik High

I just went to Epik High’s official site (http://www.epikhigh.com), not expecting to understand much, but to my surprise, there was a 15 second preview PV of their new song (with a Korean title)! It says that it will be released January 27^th 2007, and I CAN’T WAIT!!! The song is really fucking pissed sounding, and the video is really creepy. This means I love it. “Looks like someone’s pissed about getting conscripted” is all I could think about while I was watching it, maybe just because I was talking at my dad about Epik High, and the reason they were on hiatus came up, and conscription makes me sad. But they’re baaaack!!! And piiiissed!! LOOOVE IT!!!

 

This SO makes me want to learn Korean. Tablo, sarangheyo (and that’s the extent of my Korean…and Tablo doesn’t need me to know Korean, so it’s okay)!!

PV Reflections – Tamru, TB, w-inds., Amuro-chan, melody., U-ka, HMK & Mili

Alright, there have been a lot of artists that I am interested releasing stuff now! I wanna take some time and go through it . I think my next entry will be about either Gakuen Heaven or Welcome to the NHK!. I think I might save Gakuen for a yaoi post though

BTW, I really don’t want my blog to get shut down, so I’m not gonna provide downloads (even though no one is reading this!!). I don’t want to risk it. But you can always go to J-pop Suki or j-popmusic.com forums, and they’ll be easy enough to locate

Yamada Tamaru – Kakuekiteisha no Koi

I cried at this PV. I’ve only done that one other time, and that was with ELT’s “Sasayakana Inori” PV (probably the PV that got me hooked on PVs). Throughout the whole thing, I was debating whether the guy was hot or not, that I barely registered what was happening. (Roll over each pic to see my thoughts)

But in the last minute I realized what was happening, and then when it ended I was like “T___T BWAAA!!!”. The song is the perfect blend of piano and vocals and it’s just looove. I LOOOOVE Yamada Tamaru, and she needs more love over in the English speaking community!

PV – 10/10     Song – 10/10 (probably 9/10 without the PV, but now everytime I hear it, I’m gonna be like T_T. Ah, the power of a good PV.)

Teriyaki Boyz – I Still Love H.E.R.

What am I to say about this? Lazy production from Mr. West, lazy rapping from the Boyz, and a lazy PV with a lame idea. To think I was looking forward to this for SO LONG. The only good thing I can say is that at least it looks like the Boyz were having fun, and since they were having so much fun I had fun watching them, just because I’m a fan. Verbal does an awesome job of cheesing the camera. But everyone else…stay far, far away. If I take my fan filter off, this is seriously crap.

PV – 6/10 Song – 6/10 (non-fans, lower both scores by half)

w-inds. – Hanamuke

Okay, this SO had me!! At the beginning, I was like “*sniff* this is SOOOO beautiful!!1″, what with all the flowers and angsty poses and the beauty of the song, I thought I was going to cry…

AND THEN THEY STARTED DANCING.

Oh. My God. I cracked up SO bad. My roommate was kinda looking at me like “O_o”, and I tried to keep her from seeing what I was. She would have even less respect for me than she does now. And after their little dance, I couldn’t take the PV seriously anymore. Good song though. It’s not as *swoon* as ageha (which I am sure will forever remain their signature ballad – it is amazing how listenable that song is!), but it’s pretty damn wonderful. But this is definitely their worst PV to date. Ever.Even more than the nothing PV that is Forever Memories.

Song – 9/10 PV – 5/10 (since they’re so handsome, and had a good 45 seconds there…)

Namie Amuro – Baby Don’t Cry

“Oh great, a mid-tempo ballad, just what we need…” I moaned. And then I heard the radio rip. “Pretty good” I thought. I liked it. But MAN, the full version is so much hotter! Nao’ymt has done it again! Even though it’s over five minutes, it doesn’t feel long. It’s just such a pretty song! You can keep listening to it over and over, and find someting new about it each time. The PV reflects the song well too. Just Namie walking along. The colors really reflect a fall atmosphere, but I think January is a good time to release it too. it helps lighten up the cold month that it is .

Song – 8/10 PV – 8/10

melody. – Finding My Road

It’s gonna be released on Valentines Day, which is a long time from now! It’s not even a really romantic song, but it’s really cool that the PV is out now. The PV has a really cheesy set, kind of like the opening of the reality show “So You Think You Can Dance”, but somehow the PV doesn’t feel cheesy at all. It really should as it has an ugly set, flashy costumes, bad computer effects, and (a sure sign of a bad PV) a girl all over a car. But somehow, melody. keeps it all in good fun. Even the sexy shots are not that sexy (seeing melody. all over the CG car was actually really tame). It’s probably because it just keeps moving from one shot to the next without much time to take it in. It’s flashy, but in the best way possible. The song is good and trancey, but isn’t that memorable, and since I didn’t really like Lovin’ U that much either, I hope that melody. comes out with a song that catches my attention a little more next (For her first album, it was Crystal Love & Believe Me, for her second it was Realize).

PV – 7/10 Song – 7/10

U-ka Saegusa in db – Kumo ni Notte

U-ka RAPS?? USO!! It was really shocking to hear them try to something different, but pleasantly shocking. Their third album was a HUUUUUGE disappointment for me (although I should have expected I, since the singles leading up to it were all pretty much the same alt-pop formula). But this is the db I love! Taking chances! I think, if this has the right promotion, it could give them their second smash hit (but the chances they’ll get on Music Station again are next to zeeero…). The PV is typical Giza ghetto, but the mystery future bus at the end was pretty interesting. Usually it’s just a straight performance or a PV with the band goofing off, but they went all out for this one…

Song – 9/10 PV – 6/10 (for Giza, this was a high budget PV).

Home Made Kazoku – Kimi ga Kureta Mono

Well, I thought that db was following a formula last year that almost made me stop looking forward to their releases, I remembered how HMK’s songs ALWAYS SOUND THE SAME without exception. While I love their style, I’d also like them to mix it up a bit, like SOUL’d OUT does. S.O. goes from silly (To All Tha Dreamers), to hardcore (1,000,000 Monsters), to WTF experimental (IRUKA), and I love all those songs. HMK goes from laid back, to more laid back, to regular laid back again. I stopped following them with Salvia no Tsubomi, but decided to check this out for kicks. And WOW! They changed it up! It’s a ballad this time! It still retains the HMK sound though, which is good, since I love their sound. The PV is great too. It’s really artistic, and suits the song well. It’s kind of sad, but not in a “T___T” way. I think the PV took some focus off the song, thus making it better than the song itself…

Song – 7/10 PV – 8/10

Miliyah Kato – Eyes on You

Mili, Mili, Mili, I was disappointed in you too last year! Terribly “covering” an m-flo song? No love, girl! But her new PV starts out well enough – it’s an old school disco tune! Complete with 70s comic graphics and delightful Engrish! But half-way through, my mind starts to wander, and when it comes back, I’m completely underwhemeled. C’mon Mili! Where’s the soul that was in Lonely Girl, Jonetsu (I’ve never heard the original, but Mili did good here!) and Sotsugyo? Yeah, those were all slow songs, but your latest slow song, I Will, was a disappointment. Slow, spiritual songs are what you do, and it’s cool that you want to shake it up a bit, but THIS? Hell, pop songs like ‘Beautiful” are better for you than this. This is something a 2nd rate wannabe diva would sing, which…oh God, don’t tell me…is exactly what you are/have become, depends on who’s asking.

The entire Lonely Girl single impressed me so much…Ooh Baby and Dreaming Under The Moon, those are the types of songs Mili should be singing. Her two previous singles sound like they should be album cuts – and if they were such, they’d be decent enough – and this one is no different…here’s hoping her next album will somehow be good…

PS – Mili, you look ridiculous with only one Baby Phat earring.

PV – 4/10 Song – 4/10

Manga Reflection – Soul to Seoul Vol. 1

Now, I know I said that I don’t like to type about manga, but here we are. My first real post is about manwha. Bad manwha. Why is it so easy to get fired up about bad things? I wanted to write about Ataru Nakamura’s (decent) debut album, but I read this and just need to express my anger with it.

I read a preview of Soul to Seoul in one of those free Tokyopop samplers they give out on Free Comic Book day. I kind of picked up a homophobic/racist vibe to it (in just 15 pages too!), and having originally wanted to pick it up just because if the cute title (and because I though that the girl was a guy, which would have made it yaoi, which would have made it a must read), I put it off. But every time I went to Chapters, it was there, teasing me with it’s pun-ish title. “Buy me, buy me” it said. Well, today I was at my local comic book shop, and blindly grabbed volume 1, since Chapters only ever had later volumes. Well, bad idea, very bad idea.

I read this on the bus, and about every fifty or so pages I had to stop reading, take a deep breath, and continue, otherwise I would have thrown the book down and stomped on it. Where to begin! Okay, so this story takes place in America to a bunch of Korean-blooded people. Half-Korean, Exchange student, Second-generation Korean-American, Adoptee. And every single one of them has bad experiences with non-Korean – mainly black or white people. And as I was reading it a long, I realized a pattern. Half-Korean Spike only wants to date Korean girls since they remind him of his Korean mother who was an angel. His African-American father is an alcoholic who takes money from him. Exchange student Sunil’s black and white friends are really mean to her, and she’s an outcast (this could also because her English isn’t that good, but that’s not the way it’s painted). Half-Korean Kai is a total player, but becomes serious for a Korean girl, thus implicitly saying all the other non-Korean girls were whores. Okay, whatever. All this was fucking stupid, but I could deal with it. I hadn’t really picked up the pattern of “ALL NON-KOREANS ARE EVIL!!1″ yet, but something got me thinking about it.

Okay, so Kai is half-Korean half-Caucasian. He gets a phone call from his dad saying that grandfather is coming. I assume that this means his father’s father, who I assume is white, since I figured that this manwha wouldn’t put a white girl and Korean guy together just from the general bad portrayal of non Korean women I picked up. But no, a Korean grandfather arrives! Okay, so…a Korean guy and white lady actually hooked up in this manwha? Sweet, this manwha gets bonus points from white me, who totally crushing on Korean music group’s Epik High’s Tablo. In any case, grandfather hates Kai since he’s blond, old people racism blahblahblah…skip ahead to a flashback scene. Kai’s Korean (I need to keep the nationalities in play to show my point) daddy is getting verbally smacked down by granddaddy. “I know you married the girl out of love, but this is a disgrace!” says granddaddy…ooh, so now I’m confused. He’s now married to a Korean woman in the present. Thus continuing the cycle to how non-Koreans are so totally evil. BUT WAIT! Let’s add to the confusion!! Kai has a 100% Korean little sister, Gelda. When he’s in the club with this friends, and they’re commenting on how a street kid that his family is calling “little brother” doesn’t look like him when Gelda does, one of the friends says “Even Gelda resembles you a bit Kai…even though you have different fathers.” Wait, hold up a minute. Wasn’t Kai’s biological mother white? She must be, since while there’s never a clear shot of his father, he’s obviously Korean since he was the one getting yelled at by Korean granddaddy for shaming the Korean family. But he and Gelda, a full Korean, have the same biological mother now. But…if Gelda’s 100% Korean, this is impossible! So…what the fuck is going on? All I know is this – a Korean mommy who “looks like Kai when she smiles” (according to Sunil) is looking after Kai as his mother. And his father is Korean too which means that once again, the non-Korean parent is a terrible bastard and have abandoned his/her child, while a Korean parent is doing good and raising some kid that’s not theirs.

Okay, so although I’m confused about the above, I’m gonna assume it’s a Tokyopop re-write/typo that they didn’t think entirely through. And I’m even dealing relatively well with the shitty way non-Koreans are portrayed – it’s all pretty implicit up until this point.
But now – ohohoho, this is when I was about to seriously chuck the mother fucking book OUT. A street kid that the family has taken in, J.J. talks about his past. He’s a Korean adoptee baby who was adopted by a black & white couple. “They intentionally adopted an Asian kid due to their mischievous nature.” And the abandoned him “like a pet when they were tired of it”. Oh. Hells. No. Yeah, they named him weird (Judas Jesus), so as people they were probably not all that stable, but to blame the wanting to adopt him on their “mischievous nature”?? This just rubbed me the wrong way. Typing it out now, it’s not so bad, but the whole story of his past basically unfolded like “I never felt accepted until I moved in with a Korean family”, and the shitty non-Korean parents were enough to make me want to throw the book away. This was honestly the most retarded scene that I have ever read in any comic, ever. And I read Blame!.

Aaanyway, there were some saving moments, like Spike’s story, which is oddly engaging, and this looks like next volume is going to be a bad “Let Dai” rip-off (I mean, Kai is a rich gangster who is totally cool…why, he’s a straight Dai with a K!), but Spike’s scenes take up less that 10% of the manwha, and I could actually read “Let Dai”. While I’m tempted to see what happens next (since Kai is gonna bust a cap in someone’s ass next volume!!), I also know that I’ll have to wade through a ton of pro-Korean (read – AZN PRIDE Y’ALL!!) bullshit to get to the scenes that mean something. The author seems like some person who has never left Korea and has cooked up America as some Korean-melting-pot place where the Korean bloodline is being “contaminated”. This could be interesting propaganda, but in the end, the story isn’t terribly involvingand it’s kind of easy to see where it is going. And it’s REALLY easy to see why this has become an online exclusive (Read – one of Tokyopop’s titles that isn’t selling enough at brick and mortar outlets).

But even so…even so this has, in my mind, despicable morals, and all the problems I listed above, I can’t turn away. This is a trainwreck waiting to happen. I love the dynamic between Spike and Kai – they are the romance in this manwha, and I just want to see where it goes. This is like my relationship with Hot Gimmick – I hated the morals (I do not find it cute or sexy that a girl would let herself be taken advantage of by Ryoki time and time again. The first volume sickened me with all the potential rape scenes.) But I read all the other volumes, hating each one more than the next until the shiteous ending, which was we all knew was going to happen, but I didn’t want to happen. But it was so bad that I had to see how it was going to suck it’s way to the end. The term they used on ANN is “a trainwreck” (but they use it in a positive sense). I just had to see how this girl was going to make all the wrong decisions to land herself a shiteous boyfriend. When it ended, I could see her in the future strapped down with 6 kids and just as depressed as his parents were. “Trainwreck” applies to Soul to Seoul too – I just can’t look away while all this shit happens to unlikable people. Maybe it makes me feel better about myself, as in shitty people get punished too. But I have a feeling that, past all the racism engrained in the story, the characters just aren’t Hot Gimmick level hateable. Or even likable. They are their ethnicity, as described in a chart in the back of the book, stating how each one was Korean (along with hobbies and such, but the first thing – nationality). It’s just the racism I find hatable, and not the characters themselves. If I feel like some AZN pride propoganda, I’ll read volume 2 in the store and record my thoughts here but for now:

Final Grade – 2/10 (It would be 4 or 3/10, which is still a fail, but all the hate is too much!! This is really one of the most derivative, hateful thing I have ever read -_-.)

Introductory Post

Hello everyone. I go by the alias misa*key here. Or DJ misa*key, since misa.key@gmail.com was take (HOW?). I have a variety of alias, none of which I feel like disclosing here. I am a Canadian university student (hopefully by next year I will be the same, but…), eighteen years old, female, and a total East Asian pop-culture nerd. I guess if you don’t like white/non-Asian people obessing over Asian things, now’s the time to go.

Alright, now that everyone has left, I will go into what this blog is about, just for my own happiness. I will mainly be blogging about anime – but more likely than not, really fucking old anime everyone has already seen. I think those episode summary blogs are so bloody boring, so I will try to do full series, or will do one episode things if it was something really amazing, or something really terrible I need to share with whoever. Last year, I wasn’t really attracted to too many of the anime. I liked Girl’s High and Welcome to the NHK!, and that was about it. So I guess I like really random comedies. I also like parodies, dramatic anime, and slice-of-life stories. I’m getting kind of tired of bishonen anime, moe anime, and bishoujo anime, but I can appreciate it if it is well done. Oh, and if it’s yaoi, I will check it out.

Okay, so now that everyone is REALLY gone, the reason I am getting tired of bishonen anime is because why lust after animated characters when you can drool over KAT-TUN?? Yes, I like J-pop very much as well. My eternal favourite group is m-flo, so I guess that means that my taste in j-pop is hip-poppish. I don’t like Otsuka Ai, but I adore Ku-chan and support her all the way in their feud (Ero-kakkoi 4ever!! Or not D:. Really not actually…). I appreciate the looks of Johnny’s bands, but am an eternal w-inds. fan. Johnny’s better watch it’s ass, cuz w-inds. is coming for them. Someday. Someday never. I think that Lead’s Akira Kagimoto and I are destined to…meet at least, since we are born one day apart (Me – August 19, 1988. Him – Auguse 20, 1988). But if we convert my birth time (11:30 PM EST) to Japanese Standard Time, I was born at 12:30 PM on August 20th, so we have to find out what time Akkun was born people (PLEASE DON’T MAKE IT SO HE WAS BORN BEFORE NOON…and I’m assuming he was born in Japan)!!

I am slowly finding myself sinking into Korean music, thanks to the looks of DBSK and SE7EN, and the amazing music of Clazziquai and Epik High. I really like Epik High’s Tablo (because the perfect bilingual-ness is pretty freaking sexy), and SE7EN (since I enjoy his looks the most and his music is pretty damn good too).

I also like Hong Kong (and Chinese in general) movies. HK movies often reach a level of cheesiness unparalled anywhere in the world, and I just love it. My favourite HK movie is
“6th floor rear flat – truth or dare”, and while it’s not supremely cheesy, it’s a beautiful movie I instantly connected with, and I fell in love with Candy Lo because of it, and have bought some of her CDs (which are damn good too, even though alternative music isn’t really my thing). However, the real reason I love HK movies so much is once again asthetic – the most handsome man in the universe – Ekin Cheng. Yeah, he can’t act worth shit, but fuck all y’all haters. He is the fucking hottest man anywhere, ever. If all mens looked like him, hot damn, I’d be the biggest whore ever (sorry, but true!!). Or if all men (save the ones related to me) looked liked either, Ekin, SE7EN, or one of the DBSK guys, I’d be a very happy girl. VERY happy. OH!! And I saw Ekin in person at the Pacific Mall!!!!!!!!!!! It was so amazing!!! I nearly died seeing him in person. Was anyone else there?? I was the only white girl, remember? I wish I could’ve heard him speak English, I would have literally had a heart-attack!! This was seriously the high light of my fucking life. I was really into him at the time, and when I found out he was even coming to the (4 hour away) Pacific Mall, I started crying (from just reading about it!! LOSER!!), and freaking out. I had a big plan to take the Greyhound down, but my dad drove me, and seeing him is like, one of the best things in my life. I mean, celebrity wise. And meeting KOTOKO too, since although I wasn’t that into her at the time, my old devotion returned and I actually got to talk to her. It was amazing. I didn’t get to talk to Ekin. If I did, like damn, I’d be happy for life man. Really. Well, not really, but I’d be excited for like a year that I talked to him.

Finally, I don’t really like to write about manga, but if I find a manga that strikes me, I will. Like I watch almost any kind of anime (almost = all except crazy violent rape/crazy fetish hentai ones), I read almost any kind of manga, and am a big fan of the Tokyopop company (fuck Viz. Like, no, really, TP’s fucked up a few times, but Viz is the grandaddy of bastardization), so if TP puts out a new series, chances are I’ll at least read the synopsis of it. Y’all test me – I bet I can name at least 90% of TP titles if you give me a good hour or so. It’s super lame to be a fan of a fucking American manga publishing company, especially one that doesn’t make a distinction between it’s American “manga” and manhwa, but they broke Viz’s evil “$30 a book + flipped + one new volume every 6 months, maybe” cycle, and got me hooked on manga, so eternal props yo. As for mangaka, for one reason or another, I find myself drawn towards Sanami Matoh, Erika Sakurazawa, Moyocco Anno, CLAMP (just like everyone) and any good josei mangaka. I don’t really like shonen jump, and am kind of avoiding Nana because I KNOW if I start, I won’t stop.

And yes, those topics are what the blog will cover I suppose. Why I have this blog…because I want to share my opinion with the world? That’s part of it. To discuss what I (dis)like with others? Yeah. To keep a record of what I thought of certain media? Yeah, that too. To break into the reviewing world?? Nah, not really. (WARNING – EMO CRAP AHEAD – SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH) A “deep” reason why I have this is because for so long, I have been looking for individual answers to the meaning to life in anime, manga and songs, and then try to apply them to my life. Only recently I realized that these things are merely entertainment, not life enhancing things (how sad, to realize this so late D:). So, I suppose the main purpose of this blog is to make myself think critically of the media I consume. And to have fun, of course. Recently, I have been severly depressed (I don’t even know where to begin). My friends had all abandoned me, my family didn’t care, and I was just so lost. Not even the happiness of the media I surround myself with could save me. I am, in a sense, re-starting my life with the opening of this blog. I’m at the bottom of the mother fucking barrel right now. I’m a hot mess, putting it nicely. I’m stressed, depressed, betrayed and disowned by real life people, developing hikikomori like tendencies, having anxiety atatcks every time I hear the jingling of keys around my dormroom, suicidal, recovering alchoholic, and failing uni (read – won’t it be fun to read this blog!!). I think having something to care about (this blog) would be good for me. (I will never acknowledge any of these traits of mine again – this is a fandom blog. My emo BS goes elsewhere.)

Not to mention animenfo deleted 6 of my long, well-written (?) reviews in 6 days. The mods have gone power crazy. That’s all there is to it. I don’t know WHY my reviews were deleted (I don’t want to see the bullshit reson), but deleting some of my thoughtful, recent, reviews while keeping some of my older reviews that literally say “IT GETS A 10 FOR FUN!” is just pure power-tripping man. For more evidence see the “Top 200 Anime”, which was a solid 200, is now around 190. An anime needs 40 reviews to be in the game. animenfo gets enough reviewers, and it makes me extremely sad that they are being way to strict, and now making the top 200 anime list look like a joke with not even 200 anime (I won’t lie, I get some tears in my eyes T_T). I was a big fan and supporter of animenfo for so long, but this is just too much. I know writing a lot doesn’t equal writing anything meaningful, but in the case of my reviews, I think that they were both long and important. Every word, I felt, was important and logical, and the deletion of some of what I feel was my major reviews is too much. I put too much effort into that fucking site to have my reviews be treated the same as some fucktard’s who’s only thought on .hack//SIGN is “10/10 =]”. Now I like THAT reason for starting this alot better than the depression bullshit. Pure revenge @ animenfo. Anyone gonna start up a new review site like animenfo, but with less power abusing mods, holla @ me kk.

The name of this blog “Joy Trip” is taken from the Bennie K song of the same name. I figured this was a good name, since I want to find Joy in media now, as opposed to watching anime out of a sense of duty as I did before, since I was “elite otaku”. Saa, hajimemashou~ (I take Japanese classes, so just like stfu those who think I’m so fucking poser)!!