Recently, Japanese teenage pop group SCANDAL covered K-ON!’s wildly popular and recognizable ending theme Don’t Say Lazy to commemorate their third anniversary. It’s quite fitting because simply, SCANDAL “lived the life” glorified by K-ON!, going from a completely unknown group of high school girls, to giving live performances, balancing schoolwork with the labors associated with being in a band, to (ok, maybe they went a little farther than K-ON! did) becoming a smash hit and going on international tours. Every teenage kid who picks up a guitar and starts a band in their garage has this dream of ascension though the indie scene in their minds. Stateside, punk-rocking, hormone driven teens may not exactly be thinking about K-ON! and SCANDALbut the basic idea is the same.
I like the cover. The rearranged some of the instrumental parts and the girls’ voices is distinctly different from Hikasa Yoko. Most noticably, SCANDAL has four vocalists (all the them) while Houkago Tea Time has one (either Toyosaki Aki (Yui) or Hikasa Yoko (Mio)). While Hisaka’s voice is of a richer quality, the SCANDAL girls, particularly Haruno Ono, render the song with a much more dry-cut almost punkish feel. The improvisations from the original in the cover were creative and gave the song a good new feel while still remaining very loyal to the anime original. The energy is definitely there, but which way it rubs you depends on, well, you. A touch more bass also couldn’t hurt.
Regardless of what one may think of K-ON! as an anime, the majority agreed, before the season even started, that the ED kicks serious ass. The cover is pretty cool and I recommend you all check it out. I kindly threw the YouTube up at the end of the post. You can grab the high quality source off Tokyo Toshokan
I would like to point out here they they should not be all genki and smiling. If they really wanted to stay true to the original they should all be staring kinda into space with no expression on their faces, just like in the ED animation. Oh well, you can’t get always get what you want.
The first streaming episode of Bakemonogatari, perhaps the strongest title of a marquee of solid shows the past two seasons, was released recently. It is really great to see that after the TV airing concluded, Bakemonogatari doesn’t miss a single beat and continues its sublime, distinctive storytelling style at and at the high quality of art and animation that we have come to expect for 12 episodes previous. Arararagi (sorry, I stuttered) is also one of the coolest male leads in anime. His subtle character change and outward attitude both keep him honest and make watching the show fun. If Araragi were different, Bakemonogatari’s dialogue driven structure could easily have collapsed. Oh and he also molests Mayoi-chan at the start of the episode, which is also plus points.
Now remember, this episode was a STREAM. so excuse the 360p or whatever. DVD will be out in like 2010
After a near perfect episode 12, we pick up where we left off with Tsubasa Cat part 3. Horie Yui is one of my favorite voice actors and Bakemonogatari is hocchan at her best. The way she renders Tsubasa is both distinctive and compelling; combined with the masterfully written dialogue, it is hard for this episode to be anything but amazing. After a load of dialogue, they go see Oshino and that’s basically the episode. It’s hard to summarize episodes of this show because the show is about the dialogue, not the plot. It’s not about what happened, it’s about the process by which it was presented to have happened. It’s about the the characters say, the way they say it, the reactions. This is why a good seiyuu corps is needed. If you want to find out what happened, go watch the episode yourself.
I particularly enjoyed the scene where Araragi encounters Hitagi in the bike-lot. Araragi’s relationship with Hitagi is unconventional in an anime sense because there is almost no romantic tension. Hitagi is smart and very rarely misunderstands her boyfriend, which is a fresh breath of air compared to many other anime with romance. Also present is some fourth wall breakage, which never goes over too badly if used in moderation.
Oh Saito Chiwa, Aika-chan would have taken offense to all those hazukashii serifu in episode 12
The end of the episode, however, left me most excited. Well, besides this…
if you got gg’s release of the stream, they left in the commercials for the singles of the OPs. They are taking painfully long to come out, especially since they are so fucking good, but after the end credits we get a sneak peek of Horie Yui’s OP for Tsubasa Cat! The little clip I’ve heard sounds fucking amazing and I can’t wait until we get to see the OP, and ultimately (in like January) get the single. It’s called sugar sweet nightmare and sounds great. Definitely check out the commercial after the credits of gg’s release if you haven’t already.
I’m moving back to college tomorrow morning. I’m getting an apartment with my friend, which means I finally get my own bedroom and private space. This means I can finally watch anime without giving a damn who is walking into the room. The bad news is that I don’t get internet installed until Wednesday, so I’ll be without internet for an uncomfortably long time. I guess this means I’ll be catching up on a lot of anime. So here is my final blog post for like five or so days.
Watching anime purely for Engrish is actually not a wasted endeavor. The folks on Danbooru have even apparently started to translate Engrish as if it were another language (work safe). Producers and directors can spend thousands of manhours creating, drawing, animating, and writing an episode, working with musicians to create a perfectly functional piece of music for an opening or ending theme. And in the following cases, apparently, no one in the studio spoke a lick of English. I guess since they assume the audience are just random Japanese people it doesn’t really matter. Or maybe it’s “cool” to be Engrish stylistically. We should go the other way and have faux Japanese. Here lemme try: Boku no sugoi chinchin isu inu anata no imouto desu.
This list isn’t exhaustive, instead these are the first six things that popped into my head. If you think I’m missing something drop a comment.
Spice and Wolf ED: Ringo Hiyori by Rocky Chack
I thought I’d start off this post with an example of an Engrish anime song that’s not that bad. Engrish can be AWESOME in two separate ways: pronunciation and grammar. God forbid both. Despite sounding like something a coked up Lewis Carroll would write, all the lyrics seem grammatically correct. Still, the thought of the singer forcing herself to pronounce the l sounds is quite entertaining.
Bleach OP 4: TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONIGHT by Beat Crusaders
Back when watching Bleach wasn’t didn’t warrant instant trolling, all the way back at the Bounto arc, the turning point of the franchise, this OP aired. Bleach, regardless of what people feel or think about it, is well known for its solid array of theme songs. The song sounds pretty cool despite making absolutely zero grammatical sense. I am still convinced that one of the lyrics is “tonight constipation”.
Say… what?
Woke up with yawn. It’s dawning, im still alive.
Turned on my radio to start up new day
As goddanmed DJ’s chattered how to survive
Amazing news got over on the air wave
English Translation
I woke up and yawned. It’s dawn and I seem to be alive.
I turned on my radio to start my day.
As the goddamn DJ chattered about how to survive,
I heard amazing news over the airwaves!
Best YouTube Comment
“ur stupid.u don’t like loooooooooooooooooooong animes with a lot of good thinds in it.”
Hajime no Ippo OP 1: Under Star by Shocking Lemons
How awesome is this song? Even the title doesn’t make sense! As the opening theme to one of the most incredibly entertaining, captivating, and gar anime ever, the opening animation is basically an awesome anime version of the Rocky montage except instead of Eye of the Tiger, we get our blood pumping with some dude who wants feeling. iiiitsuuuumooooo. Shit, I wanna eat steak and go beat some people up right now.
Say… what?
I want to dive…lost mind…
I want to dive…lost mind…
I want feeling…I want feeling…itsumo…
I want to dive…lost mind…
I want to dive…lost mind…
why, why, why, why? I want to dive!
feeling over…
English Translation
I want to dive. I lost my mind. I want to feel someone, presumably because I lost my mind. Why? Because I want to dive dammit!
Oh wait, the feeling is over.
Best YouTube Comment
“Ryu said no, i got timid knee
Is Shoe no! He caught me walking there! YEA
A.M NO! You may want me there! Rollling goo!”
ChäoS;HEAd ED: Super Special by Kagami Seira
You guys were totally waiting for this to show up on the list, I know it. Super Special is by far the best thing about the trainwreck of an anime that was Chaos Head. What’s perfectly appropriate after an intensely disturbing cliffhanger moment that involves grisly murders and suspense? A J-pop song that rejects worldly possessions to call the viewer super special, of course! I also like how the animation makes Chaos Head seem as if its some kind of harem romantic schoolgirl love comedy, which would have made the show about ten times better.
Say… what?
Big sign of love and peace
When there’s enough bombs to blow the Earth
All they cares only
Prioritize money they own
English Translation
I flash the peace sign, my fellow hippie love. It’s really absurd that when the nuclear arsenal of the world’s militaries can destroy the world that those greedy capitalist pigs just care about their own money. DOWN WITH THE BOURGEOISIE, LONG LIVE THE PROLETARIAT.
Best YouTube Comment
“Love this anime 10/10”
“The anime was great, and it also had the best soundtrack.”
Clannad Insert Song: Ana by Lia
I mentioned earlier how Engrish can take the form of grammar or pronunciation. Ana is great not only because of how terrible the grammar is, but how perfect the pronunciation is. I made sure to pick a version of the video that was fansubbed. I notice that Eclipse took the effort of karaokeing the insert song because otherwise I might not have noticed it was in English. As if the accent didn’t tip you off, Lia is actaully fluent in English. You can imagine what she felt while recording this song. Didn’t she have the heart to kindly tell Yuu Hagiwara that plugging things into Babelfish is probably not the best way to write lyrics? (kevo with da research) Stick to Japanese, Key. You guys do a great job otherwise.
Oh right, I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate Lia on her pregnancy and wish her the best of luck.
Say… what?
The place is so far away be far apart.
People’s hand does not reach, so merely has the worship.
The place is a lofty lord can’t meet nobody put on.
We will lose the place, so lofty which changes.
English Translation
I have no fucking clue.
Best YouTube Comment
The best YouTube Comment is at the end of the video. “Cuting by jamie. subing thanks to eclips subs”. I can confidently say, however, that Jamie’s spelling is better than the grammar in Ana. For them to be equal, it would have to read “cutrig by jeimy. aybing tehanks to eklepes ceubs”
Neon Genesis Evangelion ED: Fly Me to the Moon by Yoko Takahashi
You know how in those American anime magazines about gREATEST ANIMES EVER LOL Neon Genesis Evangelion always finishes first? Well for once it deserves it. The full name of the song is “Fly Me to the Moon (Yoko Takahashi Acid Bossa Version)”. I think the title itself is enough to send Frank Sinatra in a barrel roll in his grave. Fry me to za muun is just extra credit from here on out. I never quite understood why Eva chose to have Fly Me to the Moon as its ending theme in the first place. Then again, I never quite understood many things about that anime, like why people like it or why it was even made. That’s enough trolling Eva for now.
Say… what?
Since Frank Sinatra has a basic understanding of the English language, I’m just gonna conclude this post by being Yuu Hagiwara and using Babelfish to translate the song into Japanese and back into English.
Me do to throw in month me,
some spring reaches
to Jupiter and whether it seems Mars way,
do to permit the fact that you see me
do to permit the fact that you play at interstellar space namely,
namely, the tramcar of my hand in me
who kiss do to grasp
do to fill up my center with song and
with you who sing me permanently
to be long entirely because of I,
do to permit many which are I to worship,
everything which is worshipped namely, namely, truth loves me, be
Every day, I wake up and I think to myself, “man, there are not enough hardcore remixes of Clannad.” Now this predicament of mine is over. I always thought Dango Daikazoku should be mixed with Go Berserk. It was a match made in heaven. Ahhh, Natsucon is the greatest time of year. J-core or Anigabber of whatever the fuck it’s called (techno music classifications lol) has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. It is an unholy combination of my two of my favorite things in life: anime and electronic music. Now if there was only a way they could combine food and sex. Actually, I don’t want to see that. Oh right, I used fanart in that video. Here is the artist’s pixiv page, please internet police don’t arrest me.
Here’s the torrent for the whole album, which was average.
For those of you who like this stuff, here’s some more stuff you shouldn’t miss from Comiket 76.
Ever since after the first episode of Bakemonogatari when I found out I would have to wait almost a month for Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari to come out, I have been looking forward to August 12th. However, one day in advance, I discovered that it has been leaked. I instantly became sick to my stomach. Songs become licensed and released and sold for a reason, so artists can make a living. Thoughtlessly downloading the music, much less ahead of the release time, is both selfish and illegal. As someone who has this CD preordered, I feel bad for how much the industry is suffering. Fansubs are one thing, but pirating and torrenting music like this is just a terrible and unfortunate thing to happen. Shame on you people, ruining the industry and making supercell’s life completely in vain. I for one will be waiting for 8 more hours for the album to properly come out and then wait for the CD to ship over to my house. I insist you all do the same, for you won’t be finding any download links on this blog.
sike, haha fuck that shit here you go. Rock on, hombres.
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