BECK: The Movie. Too bad it doesn’t sound as dramatic as it’ll be.

I’ve been gone about a month and a half, through no one’s fault but my own. And in fact, this little tidbit is just about a week and a half old too. But what the heck, I adored the BECK anime series when it was still running, and so this warrants a post even as I’m working on the other ones I can’t seem to finish.

BECK: Monogolian Chop Squad ran in 2004, with the manga finishing just a year ago, and featured the packed-with-musical-influences-and-bad-Engrish (mis)adventures of an indies band trying to make it into the big leagues. (The band is originally called BECK, after a dog, but is named “Mongolian Chop Squad” for their American releases because of the trademark by the singer Beck.) Along the way, they obviously run into more than their fair share of troubles, including a rival band with a grudge that does get signed, band spats, and Koyuki running through the problems that plague the average teenager – or is falling in love with the younger sister of your tough band leader not quite an average problem?

You may be wondering what this has to do with Japanese pop – in fact, it has loads. BEAT CRUSADERS took charge of the musical direction, bringing along indies punk band Husking Bee’s vocalist to provide the singing voice of main character Koyuki. A number of their songs (BEAT CRUSADERS’, that is) were also used in or covered in the series, as well as that of other indie bands. The ending theme, done in series by the supposed rock band-to-end-all-rock bands The Dying Breed, was actually provided by meister, the brainchild of Do As Infinity’s guitarist Owatari Ryo. (The B-side of the single, while never showing up in the series, features Bonnie Pink.) And pop vocalist Sowelu provided the singing voice of Minami Maho, the aforementioned younger sister. There are even two soundtracks – one of the songs as they are, supposedly performed by the bands and characters in the series; the other containing the original songs as done by their indie bands and more new songs. 5 years later, it’s still amongst my favorite anime, and still a source of some fun music.

5 years later, also, we get our tie in to the other half of this blog – actors and Japanese dramas. BECK is now getting turned into a live-action film (a considerably easier adaptation than, say, Yatterman, I’d think. With the exception of the patchwork dogs), starring Mizushima Hiro (Mei-chan no Shitsuji, Hanakimi, Zettai Kareshi) as band leader Minami Ryusuke “Ray”. They also dredged up an all-star cast – as far as manga adaptations go – for the rest of the band, including Sato Takeru (ROOKIES, Mei-chan no Shitsuji, Princess Princess D, BLOODY MONDAY) as vocalist/guitarist Tanaka Yukio “Koyuki”, Nakamura Aoi (Q.E.D., Shinigami no Ballad) as Koyuki’s eventual best friend and the band’s drummer Sakurai Yuji “Saku”, Kiritani Kenta (ROOKIES, Crows ZERO, but probably best known on this blog as the Post-It guy from Ryusei no Kizuna) as the ramen shop worker by day/tough-as-nails-with-an-afro rapper by night Chiba Tsunemi, and Mukai Osamu (Hachimitsu to CLOVER, Mei-chan no Shitsuji, also showed up in Nodame Cantabile, Osen, and Bambi~no!) as the smokingly attractive (look who casted correctly) bleached bassist Taira Yoshiyuki. It will be directed by Tsutsumi Yukihiko, also no stranger to manga/anime adaptations as he directed the Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo season starring Domoto Tsuyoshi and Tomosaka Rie, H2, Psychometer Eiji, and most recently 20th Century Boys. Oh, and for the Arashi fans, he directed PIKANCHI. Nope, no lack of star power here.

While the series focused on Koyuki’s story – there’s even a period where Ryusuke goes missing – the movie will focus on Ryusuke’s side. No word yet on who Minami Maho will be portrayed by, or if she’ll even be a part of the movie, as her role in the series does center on her part as Koyuki’s love interest.

Supposedly 30 original songs are being written for the actors to play after a month of intensive training – not unlike and perhaps even better than the movie adaptations of Nana, for which the vocalists (Nana starring Nakashima Mika and Reira starring Ito Yuna) were the key point.

Also, rather amusingly, this will be the third link between Mizushima Hiro and Sato Takeru, both of who were once Kamen Riders and worked together in Mei-chan no Shitsuji as siblings vying for the love of Eikura Nana’s Mei-chan role. And I suppose if you really wanted to push it, Sato will show up in the fourth episode of MR. BRAIN, Mizushima’s current drama. This aside, though, I’ve already got a movie to see in 2010. How about you?

Sources: Sports Hochi, Tokyograph, Anime News Network (but they all got it from Sports Hochi anyways)

JPTV Spring 2009 Season

It’s already that time of year again, when you all whip out your wallets and donate $5 to the cause of Kimi’s Early Christmas.

Okay, okay, I kid. But with April around the corner, it’s already time for a new season of Japanese TV, which also means it’s time for me to name-drop like Armageddon’s here. As always, all summaries from DramaWiki, because I’m a lazy, lazy blogger who can’t be bothered to translate unless absolutely necessary.

JPTV Winter 2009 Season

Amazingly, it has been a year since I last posted one of these. And of course, once again, it comes after the start of the season. That’s not to say I haven’t been keeping up with dramas from the rest of 2008, just that for one reason or another I didn’t post anything about it here. Of course, I’m certain you haven’t missed these either, since unlike most other posts on the subject, this only covers about-to-air dramas that personally interest me.

You may notice that only dramas are mentioned this time around – that’s because I haven’t seen a single anime series that interests me this season. Historical Fantasy, Sports, Harem, the requisite action that doesn’t have enough of a kick to appeal, and bringing back the yuri. Okay, I lie, there is one – Maria†Holic – but that has the enormous potential to go wrong, since I didn’t read the manga it was based on and as a medium, anime likes slapstick far more than drama, and slapstick is beginning to get worn out on me.

Either way, long blurb of text, coming your way! As always, all summaries from DramaWiki.

JPTV Winter 2008 Season

I don’t think I even have the right to be making this post, because there’s so much from 2007 that I have yet to finish watching (or start, even). But, whatever, forging on ahead because this post has been sitting on the back burner, but it’ll be overcooked if I leave it too long. (Yes, the lack of food dramas this season has gotten to me.) Here are the highlights of the current winter 2008 season of Japanese dramas and anime for me.

The Importance of Knowing English?

My sister and I watch a bunch of Johnny’s dramas. (Rather, I watch, and she tags along.) By Johnny’s dramas, I refer to ones specifically intended to market the pretty boys, where the story’s got little drive (each episode is only linked by a common theme and the characters) and the selling point is undeniably the actors’ day jobs, their musical careers. Stuff I’ve watched that I would shuffle into this category: Yukan Club, Sushi Oji!, Yamada Taro Monogatari, Kuitan, Remote. Sure, you can argue that some of them had a decent story and better acting, but at the end of the day, what was supposed to sell the drama was the lead actors’ faces.

Lately I’ve come to the conclusion that a Johnny’s drama just wouldn’t be complete without the butchering of another language in some way. Luckily for the two of us and our American upbringing, that language is usually English. (We get bonus points if the language being mutilated is Chinese, though. Oh, Kuitan. I will never be able to thank you enough )

So we were watching Yukan Club’s episode 7 and I was being amused at Mike He’s accent when speaking Japanese… and then the antagonists of the episode spoke. It was clear that for all their foreign looks, English was not the first language for all but one of them, or even one that they were used to. And then Akanishi Jin’s character slid in and had three lines of English roll off his tongue with more vocal fluency than the ones who were supposed to speak English, and my sister and I died.

Clearly that time in America wasn’t completely wasted partying his drunk ass off.

Not to sideline Kashii Yu, either, who had the perfect tone of a newscaster and only stumbled a bit during her “translation” part. I wanted to get in some giggles at Taguchi Junnosuke, who said “Friends” with too much of a Japanese accent in contrast to his son-of-the-Swedish-ambassador character, but just seeing him blond and blue-eyed makes me want to snort in ridicule so I think we’re even.

(And then hereon, we’ll be ignoring the fact that Yukan Club’s ratings were pretty low because quite frankly – even Kaga Takeshi couldn’t save it from the ridiculous suckage that it became. Also it never comes up in this post again.)

English and other languages are sneaking in more and more into Japanese pop culture. At the same time, that whole expansion through East Asia thing is going on in the music industry as well – and the US has always been a fairly popular destination. There are a lot more artists who are fluent in English, or have a decent grasp of the language, and a lot more traveling overseas is occurring.

When Crystal Kay first broke the market, despite some powerful vocals and obviously good English, along with one of Japan’s better composers (Kanno Yoko) backing her, she didn’t get anywhere. Now there’s a lot more vocalists in the Japanese music industry like her (melody., Arashiro Beni, Ito Yuna, Rie fu, EMYLI, MONKEY MAJIK, etc.) – and actually, they’re scattered around the market. H!P’s Coconuts Musume got pretty much nowhere – but Ayaka and Mika managed to brighten their respective careers in the fold by exploiting their English capabilities because it was a novelty gimmick. BoA’s English versions of her single tracks died out after Every Heart – back in 2001. Sure, Utada Hikaru’s EXODUS album hit highs in Japan, but she had to start out attracting with her Japanese lyrics as well. Her speaking English only made her more accessible in the States, really. English hasn’t had a very good run in Japan in the past – and now it’s become the boom.

So are the leaders of Japan’s entertainment world attempting to ease out? (Which leads to – is the entire industry a giant conspiracy where they buy high-end champagne with overseas fans’ rapid ridiculous spending in our attempts to get notice?) Is this the influence of groups like m-flo, who’ve worked artists who do have more of a Western sound, and the general American music craze in Japan?

Should Kimi stop typing up posts at 1:52 AM after a fairly disappointing day? (I bought a duplicate issue of Myojo at full price WHY? D: Dammit, there must be someone up there working against the idea of my buying two Japanese pretty boy magazines in a week.) Tune in tomorrow to find out. (You all know that’s a lie.)

Also – I really ought to come up with better year-end (for me) posts. See you guys in 2008.

Thank You For…

Because it is American Thanksgiving Day tomorrow, I’m supposed to be thankful about something.

But frankly, right now’s a pretty busy and insane time for me, half-due to my own stupidity, so I’m going to throw the usual things I should be thankful for out the window. (I have a roof over my head, I have food to eat, I have an internet connection and a laptop to be doing this on, I have working sensory organs to enjoy what it is that I enjoy, I have money to spend on J-Pop… I think I covered it all? Yes? Okay, there it goes. Hope that random stranger walking down the blog doesn’t trip over it.)

So things that I am thankful for this year that would be relevant to this blog:

Sure, my summer job was under a crazy boss and half the time I had stuff shoved onto me last minute – like in the last half-hour of my last day on the job, and I sincerely wish I was joking about that – but for the most part, I had it good. It was easy, I had time during which I typed up posts for this blog in Notepad, I had easy access to Japanese snack food, and most importantly, I got paid. This same payment allowed me to get to Otakon, for what I will always fondly remember as one of the best weekends in my life. You ought to know why already. (Okay, I’m sure you’re sick of reading about Otakon 2007.)

Living in NYC’s a boon for the J-Pop fan in me that I take for granted too. It’s not California, it’s not Hawaii, but it’s certainly got a much better supply of Japanese music-supplying stores than most cities in the country do, and all the J-stars want to come here for reasons-unknown because it’s apparently awesome – I just miss all the awesome when they’re actually here. (It should be noted that I’m kicking myself over missing both Miura Daichi and Domoto Koichi when they were here – back in July. I’m sort of tempted to look up my horoscopes for that month and see what they said about that.) But the latter’s pain-causing potential aside, the former is a bounty. Oh, Book-off and your $3/7 shelf. Oh, Kinokuniya and the first Japanese album I ever bought (Hamasaki Ayumi’s I am… if you really must know). Oh, Asahiya and the fond memories of Hong Kong you bring… wait, that has jack shit to do with living in NYC. And oh, Karaoke Duet and being able to sing Japanese songs I actually know at karaoke (and the Urata video!)

I really ought to thank the Tantei Gakuen Q drama. So, thank you. I will conveniently overlook how you’ve caused my sister to fall in love with Yamada Ryosuke and how that has forever ruined Hey! Say! JUMP for me. (Fangirls, please go away today. NO. I will never have an interest in them, just because my sister’s interest in them terrifies me so. She actually bothered to look them up. She never bothers, not even with Arashi (and she’s declared her love for Sakurai Sho, who’s 10 years older, so many times it makes my head hurt) or NEWS (half of whom she identifies as “buttsex boys” – please don’t ask), and she’s constantly pleading for me to play them for her.) I will conveniently overlook how some endearing parts of the original were cast aside, how some plot holes were left as gaping maws by the time the show ended, how there were times I wanted to scream at the characters as they were portrayed because I loved the original comic.

No, we’ll ignore all that because you did three good things. One, you introduced me to the goodness that is FLOW. Two, you gave Kayou Aiko a role to act in and show off that she wasn’t just another vapid idol. (Granted, her role was kind of vapid, her murder scene was just plain ridiculous, and she had less lines than she probably should have given her role in the episode. But it was her with more than just song and stupid dance.) Three, you gave me Yamamoto Taro in a skirt, a fucking skirt, and that was just the first episode. Every time he showed up onscreen was a pure delight, and he was in every episode. THANK YOU. I suppose four would be it being one of the better quality dramas this year, with a good cast of actors and fairly high production values, though I’d throw Himitsu no Hanazono in for nominations as well; and five would be the BuriGuri tie-in of an ending track, but frankly, I’m not a big BuriGuri fan. Maybe next year.)

Thank you, those of you who read this blog, and even more so if you actually write yourself (because I probably know about it if you do). I think there are maybe 6 of you altogether, but the fact that there are people who actually read whatever it is that I write (because I’m not sure what it is myself) is a huge ego-booster and inspiring (in some misguided way) towards my attempts at improving my writing. Maybe one of these days I’ll come up with something that’s actually worth the attention. Or just resort to talking about H!P.

I can, however, safely say I’m not thankful for having met Raid. The nerve of him, getting me into Arashi despite all my attempts to the contrary and then promptly dropping out of the fandom himself. (Just kidding, I’m thankful for that too. I think. Though it’d help if he didn’t message me at 2AM – whether it’s his time or my time. I sincerely mean it every time I call him crazy.)

JPTV Autumn 2007 Season

Belated? Why yes. Considering the season’s already started.

But despite that and the fact that I’m still trying to catch up on Summer’s shows, let’s get this on anyways. Here’s what I’m looking forward to watching from Japanese airwaves this season.

JPTV Summer 2007 Season

Alright, alright, we’ve established that I’m behind. Very much so behind. Bear with me here as I attempt to catch up – you’ll bear with me, right? Of course you will.

I partially considered ignoring Japanese TV altogether this summer – because I’ll be spending a third of it in Hong Kong and surrounding areas, most likely lacking a proper internet connection with which to watch any of it. But ohhhh, no matter how hard I try, its siren call always claims me back.

JPTV Spring 2007 Season

I think it’s really amusing how much of a hold Japanese Television has on me, especially in comparison to the lack of a hold American Television has. Granted, I’m watching the shows days after it airs on Japanese channels, but we bow to the glory of the Internet for that.

With that said, I foresee hours of me sitting in front of my laptop this season, engrossed in shows spoken in a language I do not completely understand. Possibly failing my finals as well, thanks to lack of studying from too much watching.