| 2:35am | Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 First Impressions | | | | The first episode of Tokyo Magnitude impressed me. It impressed me quite a lot, though many over at Animesuki seem to have had a more negative reaction. The reason, I suppose, is that a lot of people were expecting an action packed disaster show (the plot revolves around an earthquake | | |
| 6:35am | Touch (1-5) | | | | I will proclaim that the holy trinity of 80s slice-of-life will contain Maison Ikkoku, Touch, and Kimagure Orange Road. Of the three, I would say Kimagure is the weakest (sorry, KOR fans). Of the remaining two, it's a toss up, as I have only begun Touch. The episodes I've seen |
| 6:05am | What made Dragonball such a popular series? | | | | I was browsing through a list of currently airing anime when the word "Dragonball" popped out at me. Apparently Dragonball Z is being recut, remastered and replayed under a new name. Like most kids my age, I was a fairly big, but not obsessive, fan of Dragonball and Dragonball Z |
| 7:34am | Tokyo Sonata Review | | | | I really prefer the approach that Japanese directors take with dramatic films. While I haven't seen every Japanese film in existence, the ones that I have seen, both old and new, take a very subtle and low-key approach with less dramatic music or cinematic cues. This allows the script and |
| 5:25pm | Cross Game (2-4) - I’m in | | | | Earlier, episodic, and all posts regarding Cross Game can be found hereThe fourth episode has settled it - I am following Cross Game, for sure. Particularly, the low-key, gentle but moving dialogue between Ko and Osamu at the end. Everything about this series has made me feel that I am |
| 4:04am | Cross Game First Impressions | | | | Cross GameGreat opening. I have a hard time finding anime that interests me these days, but this may be the one that brings me back. Keeping with my "old is usually better than new" shtick, Cross Game does indeed have an old-anime quality to it, and I assume |
| 10:03pm | Up! Review | | | | Pixar, in my opinion, shares some similarities with Studio Ghibli - they both put out, rather consistently, well-made films that are miles above the competition. Now, I wouldn't say that Pixar has ever managed to reach the heights that Ghibli did with Mononoke-hime or Grave of the Fireflies, but |
| 9:34pm | Favourite Studio Ghibli songs | | | | This a listing of my three most favourite pieces of vocal music from the works of Studio Ghibli. I listen to a lot more instrumental music (classical or soundtrack) than I do vocal music, and Ghibli music makes up a large portion of both. Part of the reason |
| 9:04am | Mononoke - hime (Thoughts / Favourite Scenes / Making of Documentary) | | | | Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke) is tied as my favourite Ghibli film (along with Mimi wo Sumaseba) and also happens to be one of my favourite works of fiction altogether. It is such an expansive story with a rich mythological backdrop and epic scale - but without sacrificing the more intimate, human... | | |
| 9:03pm | Nobuyuki Tsujii in the semifinals.. | | | | Earlier this week, Nobu made it into the semi-finals. I caught a bit of his rehearsal with the string quartet prior to their perfromance. He had to have both a translator and a guide there to make up for his lack of English skills as well as his blindness. Regardless, |
| 11:03am | Go Tsuji Go | | | | I completely understand where all the people on blogs who criticize Tsuji for a lack of interpretation are coming from. But dang it, I still want him to win. The clarity of his Chopin etudes were remarkable. If you ever want to convince students not to hide |
| 11:03am | Hisaishi/Ghibli 25 Years Concert | | | | My life is now complete.Er, okay, that was a bit overdramatic, but it's a bit hard to not get emotional when you watch over 500 musicians come together under the baton of Hisaishi Joe to perform the beautiful and evocative pieces of music from the greatest animated films of all |
| 10:03pm | Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars Review (DS) | | | | I've said before that I'm not really much of a gamer. Beyond the fact that I'm fairly busy with educational, internet and piano related endeavours, I don't really have much interest in playing most games either. However, due to the fact that I now have a 2 hour total commute |
| 2:04am | Review: Ima, Boku Wa (Now, I…) | | | | Ima, Boku wa is a debut film by Yasutomo Chikuma, who also stars in the title role. It revolves around a short period of time in the life of 20-year-old Satoru, a "NEET". NEET is a term originally used in the UK that refers to young men who are Not |
| 11:08pm | Banshun / Late Spring Review | | | | The longest poems stretch for pages while the shortest are a few lines, or even syllables. Yet regardless of the length or verbosity, the effect of a poem and the amount of work which went into making it can be the same. If we were comparing films to poems, I |
|
![[Valid RSS]](/images/valid-rss.png "Validate my RSS feed")
![[Valid Atom 1.0]](/images/valid-atom.png "Validate my Atom 1.0 feed")
