Jamie's Gakuen

*Thanks to Jenna for putting the pic up for me and basically single-handedly making this layout for me!!!!! Sankyuuuuuu---^.^v

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Comments, please ^_^v

Name:
Jamie

Age:
21

Interests:
Japan, Japan, Japan. And reading :P My world revolves around things Japanese, particuarly manga, anime, j-pop, dramas, etc. I`m a huge fan of all of the above and I have definete opinions on certain parts of the fandom.

I am also a complete and utter addict of the tv show The West Wing, and a Josh/Donna shipper 100% ^_^v

Ever been to Japan?:
Yup, twice. First time, 6 weeks, summer of 1998, Nagareyama-shi, Chiba-ken. Second time, Fall 2001, 4 months, Nagoya, Aichi-ken ^.^v

Manga:

Okay, here goes, in no particular order: Mars, Kanata-kara, Hikaru no Go, Inuyasha, Sekai de ichibandaikirai, Hanazakari no kimitachi e, New York New York, Massugu ni ikou, Itazura na Kiss, Gertrude no Recipe and a TON more!

Fav. j-pop groups, in no particular order:
V6!, Yuzu, Porno Graffiti, Spitz, Kiroro, Misia, Something ELse, Fukuyama Masaharu, Chemistry, Gospellers, Kuwata Keisuke, Skoop on Somebody, Arashi, Kinki Kids, SMAP, Matsu Takako, Exile, Panicrew and again, a ton more

Fav. Japanese dramas:
Long Vacation, Virgin Road, Meguri Ai, Love Story, Namida o fuite, Aishiteiru to itte kure, Nemureru Mori, Koi wa aserazu, Bokura no Yuuki, Beautiful Life, Summer Snow, Long Love Letter: Hyouryuu Kyoushitsu, Asunaro Hakusho, Perfect Love, Team, PS Genki desu Shunpei, Hitotsu Yane no Shita, Oishii Kankei, Itazura na Kiss, etc.

Fav. Books:
Night of Ghosts and Shadows,His Dark Materials Trilogy,Harry Potter series, Pride and Prejudice,It,Blue Moon Rising,Last Herald Mage Series, The Neverending Story, Howl's Moving Castle (a Ghibli film in Spring 2003!!! ^.^)
etc. etc. etc. I`m a HUGE fantasy fan ^.^/ I`d put my favorite anime, but I guess something should be left as a mystery ^^;;

Contact:
e-mail: jun_inohara@hotmail.com
AIM: HikaShin
Yahoo: jun_inohara
ICQ: 146249241 (nick is "Jun")

Friends:
+Kiripin
+Katherine
+Megan
+Talia
+Lauren
+Jenna
+Amy
+Chloe
+Melissa
+Giro
+Kris
+Annie
+Joy
+Kira
+Elizabeth
+Rachael
+Serge
+Cali
+Kevin
+Siobhan

Layout: v. 6.0! Done by Jenna, as it says at the top ^.^ It's of V6! Top row Sakamoto, Inocchi and Nagano, bottom row Okada, Gou and Ken ^.^ My boys!!

Links:
+Last Time
+Anipike
+Pitas' Main Page
+J-Ent
+Sengoku o togi zoushi
+Amemura
+AnimeNet
+WGN Radio

Monday, July 29, 2002 :: Comments []

Layout v 6.0 by Jenna

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Jenna! *glomps* My thanks goes to her for re-doing my layout. It's bai bai to the Il Mare one, which I loved, and hello to V6! Not the greatest pic of Tonisen and Kamisen, but I like them well enough ^.^ and I've wanted a V6 layout for a long time ^.^ arigatou gozaimashita, Jenna ^.^v

Anyway, so finished reading book three (called Destiny) in the The Blending Enthroned series by Sharon Green. I've already read the five books of The Blending, which is the first series, and the first two books in this second series. Thing is, somewhere around book 3 or 4 of the first one...I started asking myself why I was reading these books. Usually I'm fine with weird concepts...Mercedes Lackey's Knight of Ghosts and Shadows is one of my favorite books ever and in the end a human guy, girl and a guy elf end up together and in another of her books there's a demon that changes sex ever time he sleeps with someone, so basically he has to find two people that can love him for who he is. So those are concepts I could swallow, albeit the second one's kind of strange...but it's a fantasy book and he's a demon so you can sort of shrug it off :P But these books, aside from being written in a really really irritating way are just kind of beyond odd for me. We have Tamrissa, Vallant, Jovvi, Lorand, Naran, and Rion who are strong in the elements of fire, water, spirit, earth, sight and air respectively and against all odds they all end up meeting each other (as they're supposed to) and eventually begin pairing off: Tamrissa and Vallant, Jovvie and Loran, Naran and Rion. Okay, so far, so good. I'm a sucker for a good love story, and the possibility of 3 only makes me happier, right? Wrong. They soon discover that in order to become closer as a Blending they have to well....sleep around on each other with the other people. So while Tamrissa may love Vallant the most, she's also sleeping with Lorand and Rion. On top of this, by book 3 of TBE we discover that Tamrissa doesn't really love Vallant any more...she loves the other two guys just as equally, and the same goes for them and everyone else. So it's just one big 'ol love fest. Okay, maybe I'm being stingy...but there are two other factors working into this: 1.) They refer to each other pretty often as "brother" or "sister" or say "my brothers and sisters" which honeslty just makes the whole sleeping with each other pretty damned creepy to me *lol* and 2.) The way they talk about it just takes the possible romantic atmosphere out of it:

"Lorand, we once had a discussion about how you felt about Jovvi being a courtesan." I said slowly, trying to get my thoughts in order."You said you hated the idea of her lying with other men, but that can't possibly relate to her lying with Vallant or Rion. They're not other men, they're part of the whole that mkes up our entity. It would be like resenting your own lying with her

"And I seem to recall a time not long ago when you happily went with Naran while I paired with Jovvi," Vallant said when Lorand made no comment on what I'd said."You told me you weren't bothered at all, and you were also actin' like it. You can't mean you were lyin'?"

"I wasn't lying, not really", Lorand blurted, finally looking up. "I knew in the beginning that we had to lue with each other to make our Blending bond strong, and that time you're talkinga bout was to help out a brother as well as a sister. But now it looks like we'll have to lie with each other on a regular basis, and that's not the same thing at all. It's just not the same."

Now is it just me....or does the whole sort of semi-clinical discussion of it totally ruin anything romantic that could be had? And I'm saving you from the really bad writing. There are some parts that because of the way it's written, I want to pull my hair out. I think Sharon Green is the master of the obvious, because she'll write totally uncessary things....like a character won't talk in one part of the book, and in the next "scene" he'll start off by explaining he didn't have anything to say before, so he kept quiet. Well no shit...pardon my language ^^;; ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH....still, I'll finish up the series because I've already read 8 books...but lord!!!!!! I need some Mercedes Lackey now ;.;

Friday, July 26, 2002 :: Comments []

Gakkou e ikou

Woo! Gakkou e ikou no Manatsu Special! ^.^v Just (basically) finished watching it with Tacchan and Meg. Truth be told we didn't watch all of it, because we'd put in another ep just before it and really just wanted to watch the Doko e ikundesuka game because it is, literally, the most entertaining corner of the show, aside from the Miseinen no shuchou ^.^v Poor Meg though, because Okada was missing from this time's game, but Inocchi was there, so that makes me a happy girl ^.^v I loved how it ended XD cause just when Sakamoto and Nagano think they've won, they discover Inocchi and Gou were there long before them. It's always amusing to watch this game. There was one part where Inocchi and Gou got pulled into a wedding reception because of the people they were with, and asked to say a few words to the new bride and groom. It was great XD For all the people that think Kamisen is so much more popular than Tonisen, it was Inocchi, not Gou, that got shouted at the most, "Inocchi!!", "Inocchi da!" etc. *Lol* It was great...exactly the way you'd think normal people would react seeing a celebrity ^^;;

So realized something while watching Psychometrer Eiji 2....or rather, Megan did. There's this kid in it that plays a character named Takayuki and I knew he was familiar but I couldn't place him. So finally we he showed up again, I go to Meg, "Hey! Who's that kid???" and she looked and started laughing. "That's Yamada Takayuki!!", and I felt stupid...because of course it was ^^ Yamada Takayuki we have seen befoe in Koi ga shitai and, more importantly, Long Love Letter ^.^v So yay, chibi-Yamada Takayuki.

Katherine....you realize you open a can of worms by letting us know there's a good karaoke place in Arlington Heights...right? XD crap, I wanna go do karaoke so much now I can't stand it! How expensive is expensive exactly? The only thing I'm concerned about is that I'm guessing that place doesn't open until evening? Which means we couldn't get home (neither I nor my parents would be very hot about Meg and I driving home on the interstate in the middle of the night)...someone would have to put us up XD~~ But I swear to god, I have GOT to karaoke ;.; Also, I'm glad those ppl found our Soh story amusing. Good to know it's living on as a joke *lmao*

Anyway, will be helping out with some Japanese guests at the aviation museum where my dad volunteers tomorrow. They're from my town's sister city (Asahikawa, Hokkaidou) and are doing all sorts of stuff around the city to commemorate 40 years of being sister cities ^^;; I hope I don't make a complete idiot of myself ^^;;

Thursday, July 25, 2002 :: Comments []

Give a little more Try

^.^ Woo! So on Tuesday, Meg and I went up to Mitsuwa so that we could meet Kira and Rachael ! ^.^ Rachael was in town because she was visiting a friend and...er...well Kira lives near there *Lol* I was pretty nervous before meeting them...because I have a rather goofy personality by nature and when I'm nervous I tend to deteriorate into spazzy ^^ Especially with my sister around...it's a sad and pathetic sight indeed.

We also dragged our friend Jason up with us, since he'd never been there, and I discovered right away there really wasn't anything to be nervous about. Both Kira and Rachael are as great IRL as they are online and I'm pretty sure everyone had a great time ^.^ Katherine showed up around noon and we all had lunch together. It was the first time Katherine, Jason, Meg and I were together since Meg and I left and that was nice ^.^ Plus with two more fun people along it was great ^.^v I just had three onigiri...which I still contend aren't as "good" as konbini onigiri but you work with what you've got, eh? Rachael gave me this keychain on it which she thought was very funny :P It has a cow on it and says "Kansas" on one end...and everyone thinks it's very amusing (okay.....maybe I do too, but don't tell anyone! >O )

I'll admit to spending way too much on Tuesday...I spent over $100, which is an all time high for me...but it's okay, I got a bunch of stuff I wanted which includes, Arashi's new album ("Here we go!"), Chemistry's new single ("Floatin'"), Tokio's newest single ("Green"), and Oshio Manabu's single "Try". It's funny because even though I'm really happy about the first three, I think getting "Try" makes me the most happy :P It's the theme song for Oshio Manabu's 2002 spring dorama Haru Ranman which Meg and I watched and adored, even if it wasn't great. And we fell in love with this song, but I couldn't find it on WinMX no matter how many times I looked. But it was there and I've been blasting it in my car since Tuesday...the opening words are my subject line *lol*

Manga-wise, I didn't get much. Just 6 manga....3 of which were random volumes of Psychometrer Eiji (vol. 11, 12, and 24 <---of a 25 volumes series ;.;), one was the last in a series Meg was buying called Manatsu no Koibito, Get Backers 2, Boku wa ne 2, and a random one shot called Ai darou...Meg got a lot more than I did: 3 or so more volumes of Sensei, 3 or so more of I'll, the 6 volumes of Manatsu no Koibito (from the used bookstore), Hana Yori Dango 32, Koucha Ouji 9....I think that's it...oh yeah and Rachael gave us her extra copy of Fushigi Yuugi 10 (I believe it was ^^;;). Meg also got Fukuyama Masaharu's album The Golden Oldies which is an album full of old popular Japanese songs re-done by him ^.^v I also bought July's Duet because it had some good V6 pictures, and I've been thinking about a new layout for this thing ^.^v

Anyway, so it was lots of fun and I'm really glad I got to meet them both ^.^/ I hope Rachael has a good time the rest of the week that she's in Illinois!

So I finally finished watching the first series of Psychometrer Eiji (and forgot to look for the single at Mitsuwa! grrrrr U.U) and I have to say...I utterly adored it. It's not a brilliant series by any means. It's not beautifully written or have any great dialogue...but I loved the characters and I loved the relationships of those characters. I love Matsuoka Masahiro as Eiji and Kohara Yuki as Yusuke and Inohara Yoshihiko as Shoukichi ^.^ and I really liked the actress that played Shima Ryouko. Eiji 1 is probably going on my list of all time favorites, even if it's not a Long Vacation...it's got a Bokura no Yuuki feeling to it I love ^^

So...because I finished that one, I started watching Eiji 2...I'm on ep 3 and so far I'm not liking it as much as the first one. The whole friendship thing is working for me, so in that respect it's great....but I'm really confused on a few things...for one, the policewoman in this one is played by Kudou Shizuka (the same woman who played Sekiya in Long Love Letter...I can't believe I didn't realize that)....which is all well and good, some characters don't always return....or so I thought. It took me a little bit to realize they were, in fact, calling her Shima-san...and I kept wondering..."Why is her name also Shima-san, like the one in the first series??" until I got to the credits and her (the character) name reads "Shima Ryouko" and I dive for my volumes of Eiji and double check all the kanji....and boom, there they are....So I don't know what I'm missing. Is the second series just another version where the first one never happened but the characters are older? Because both women detectives have the same name, but it's obvious neither one knows Eiji at the beginning of the series. And if so...will there be a whole thing about Sawaki Akira (an old school mate of Shima's...I think he's the main underlying villain of the manga, but I'm not sure) in this one? Plus, although I love Shoukichi, he seems a lot darker and more angry in this one (although Inohara does one hell of a job pulling it off XD He is soooooooo kakkoii when he's playing angry and hurt) and he's like the head of this street gang or something, which irks me. *lol* Maybe it's just from watching the first series and starting the second one too soon *Lol* I want my characters back in high school dammit! Still, the element of friendship's there that I really like ^.^v

Well, I'd better get off ^_^ I need food and to go to Akemiya!! ^_^

Katherine It would be a blast for the 4 of us to get together sometime when you have time ^.^ Whenever you think you have time, or may have time or...something :P

Thursday, July 25, 2002 :: Comments []

Give a little more Try

I'll admit to spending way too much on Tuesday...I spent over $100, which is an all time high for me...but it's okay, I got a bunch of stuff I wanted which includes, Arashi's new album ("Here we go!"), Chemistry's new single ("Floatin'"), Tokio's newest single ("Green"), and Oshio Manabu's single "Try". It's funny because even though I'm really happy about the first three, I think getting "Try" makes me the most happy :P It's the theme song for Oshio Manabu's 2002 spring dorama Haru Ranman which Meg and I watched and adored, even if it wasn't great. And we fell in love with this song, but I couldn't find it on WinMX no matter how many times I looked. But it was there and I've been blasting it in my car since Tuesday...the opening words are my subject line *lol*

Anyway, so it was lots of fun and I'm really glad I got to meet them both ^.^/ I hope Rachael has a good time the rest of the week that she's in Illinois!

So I finally finished watching the first series of Psychometrer Eiji (and forgot to look for the single at Mitsuwa! grrrrr U.U) and I have to say...I utterly adored it. It's not a brilliant series by any means. It's not beautiful written or have great dialogue...but I loved the characters and I loved the relationships of those characters. I love Matsuoka Masahiro as Eiji and Kohara Yuki as Yusuke and Inohara Yoshihiko as Shoukichi ^.^ and I really liked the actress that played Shima Ryouko. Eiji 1 is probably going on my list of all time favorites, even if it's not a Long Vacation...it's got a Bokura no Yuuki feeling to it I love ^^

So...because I finished that one, I started watching Eiji 2...I'm on ep 3 and so far I'm not liking it as much as the first one. The whole friendship thing is working for me, so in that respect it's great....but I'm really confused on a few things...for one, the policewoman in this one is played by Kudou Shizuka (the same woman who played Sekiya in Long Love Letter...I can't believe I didn't realize that)....which is all well and good, some characters don't always return....or so I thought. It took me a little bit to realize they were, in fact, calling her Shima-san...and I kept wondering..."Why is her also Shima-san, like the one in the first series??" until I got to the credits and her (the character) name reads "Shima Ryouko" and I dive for my volumes of Eiji and double check all the kanji....and boom, there they are....So I don't know what I'm missing. Is the second series just another version where the first one never happened but the characters are older? Because both women detectives have the same name, but it's obvious neither one knows Eiji at the beginning of the series. And if so...will there be a whole thing about Sawaki Akira (an old school mate of Shima's...I think he's the main underlying villain of the manga, but I'm not sure) in this one? Plus, although I love Shoukichi, he seems a lot darker and more angry in this one (although Inohara does one hell of a job pulling it off XD He is soooooooo kakkoii when he's playing angry and hurt) and he's like the head of this street gang or something, which irks me. *lol* Maybe it's just from watching the first series and starting the second one too soon *Lol* I want my characters back in high school dammit! Still, the element of friendship's there that I really like ^.^v

Well, I'd better get off ^_^ I need food and to go to Akemiya!! ^_^

Katherine It would be a blast for the 4 of us to get together sometime when you have time ^.^ Whenever you think you have time, or may have time or...something :P
Sunday, July 21, 2002 :: Comments []

For Your Viewing Pleasure...

Honestly, if you want a mixture of hair pulling stupidity and potentially gut busting reasoning, go to this thread at AnimeNet and read through it. Seriously, if you didn't think there was a massive number of completely unreasonable Japanese anime fans then whoo, this post is for you. If you did already know it, then reading this post will either piss you off more or simply serve as a way to make you feel a lot smarter and better about yourself. If you haven't figured it out, I'm "Jun Inohara" there :P

Anyway, so I had my lesson last night, and had to take my tapes back to Akemi-ya. Well, I opened the door, and who should be standing inside but Jason!! The same Jason who got back from Japan June 1st and should have called us, but is a tool and didn't :P I gave him our number and I have his (didn't before and the number that's in the phonebook...well that's a bit of a story) now. I'm hoping he'll want to come to Mitsuwa with us on Tuesday, since we haven't had a chance at all to talk to him about his second semester in Japan or his trip to Tokyo after school got out. That and it'll just be more fun with more people ^^;;

So am over half-way through Psychometrer Eiji now. I just simply adore this series ^^ I love Matsuoka Masahiro as Eiji ^_____^ It's just a completely fun series to watch, if a touch gorey here and there. I feel it's probably going on my list of "Favorite Drama" simply because of the sheer enjoyment factor. It may not have Kitagawa Eriko's pen in the script, but it's just fun.

Oh yeah, I got those back issues of Junon I mentioned last time. I am now Junon-mochi as it were ^^ It's been fun flipping through them and seeing all the pics, and especially the articles and snippets about older dramas that I love...like Bokura no Yuuki, Perfect Love, Hitotsu Yane no Shita 2, and others ^^;;

KIRA! RACHAEL! We need to set a time for Tuesday!!! ^______________^
Friday, July 19, 2002 :: Comments []

One Happy Fangirl

So it turns out my copies of Psychometrer Eiji 1 and 2 did in fact arrive yesterday XD They were in between the the screen door and the front door, so no one noticed them ^^;; I found them this morning as I was getting the paper. I checked them all, to discover Eiji 2 CD 1 wouldn't work, and I tried it several times. No luck. So I e-mailed the seller asking if I could get another copy, and I swear it took 4 e-mails to ask the same question "It's Eiji 2 CD 1?". U.U How hard is that to understand? So they're going to send another over the weekend. The irony is, I have the first 6 episodes of Eiji 2 on tape anyway, because I rented it when it was first broadcast in 1999, but Akemiya never got the whole series, so I only have 1-6....so I don't really NEED the copy, but I want to get what I paid for, so I might as well ask for it.

I really did mean to watch this series with Meg. It's one of those weird sci-fi-ish series that are a lot of fun. It stars Matsuoke Masahiro (of Tokio) who plays Asuma Eiji, Inohara Yoshihiko (kyaa! ^___^ of V6) who plays Tamiya Shoukichi, and Kohara Yuki (who at the time was a Johnny's Jr.) who plays Yusuke ^^;;, Eiji's cohorts/side-kicks. The thing about Eiji is that if he touches someone or something with his left hand he can see things about the past associated with it, and helps this female cop/detective solves these cases by this ^^;; It's not complicated or anything, it's just entertaining...It was funny because I hadn't realized Kohara Yuki was in it...and I saw him and I'm like "Ahhhhh!!! It's Kiichi!!" (he played the friend of Kouichi's in Bokura no Yuuki)....I don't think he'll ever not be Kiichi to me ^.^;; The same way Kouichi and Tsuyoshi will always mostly be Yamato and Takeshi ^^;; Anyway, I can't wait to watch more...I'm only an ep and some into it ^.^;; It's based off a manga, if you didn't know ^_^

Katherine XD I appreciate the long comment you left ^_^v and the mention of Meg and I at the end of your current blog entry ^^;; Always nice to know your friends are thinking about you ^.^ BTW, I dunno if you have the time or are interested at all, but we're going to Mitsuwa on Tuesday to meet a couple of net friends who'll be in the area that day. Although i'm not sure what time we'll get there yet. If you have any time remotely at all, let me know, ok? ^^;;

Meg's been obssessing over Meteor Garden (the Taiwanese drama adaptation of the manga Hana Yori Dango) the last couple of days..and has found what she considers to be a sufficient enough summaries that she may very well get it...but not without trying to download it first :P I have to admit...they got same damned pretty guys to play the F4...it's no wonder they became a separate group. And If Meg does get it, I can see her kicking herself for not buying the F4 wallscroll we saw in more than one shop in Chinatown.

U.U So I got a call from Mai today. I look at the phone and it says their name, and I'm thinking "Oh it's Mai's mom calling to reschedule for tomorrow" because she'd said that might happen. But when I answer it, it's Mai, the same girl we've basically parted ways with. Turns out they're getting rid of their old Junon's and are offering to let me go through them before they're thrown out. She said "Could I drop them off sometime this afternoon" but I, in my stupidity, said "No, I'll be coming over there for a lesson tomorrow anyway". Stupid me, I should have made her come here. I should have let her be inconvinienced...lord knows it'd have been some kind of inconceivably small recompense for having our friendship with her dumped all over our heads >_<

anyway, I'm going to make myself happy now ^.^ Psychometrer Eiji awaits!

I totally forgot! Talia called today from New York! We talked for about half an hour or so! It was fun!! XD THANK YOU FOR CALLING TALIA ^______________________^/
Thursday, July 18, 2002 :: Comments []

Attack the Gas Station and Other Randomness

Finally watched this the other night ^.^ It's one of three movies Meg bought, along with Art Museum by the Zoo and Waterboys (the latter of which we haven't watched yet). It's a very strange, but entertaining movie XD I'd say I liked Art Museum by the Zoo much better, but the two are vastly different movies *Lol* Attack the Gas Station is about a group of 4 guys who hold up a gas station one night, and go back and do it again another time, only to end up basically holding the employess hostage while they fill all the cars up with gas (in Japan and Korea, most gas stations aren't self-service ^^) all the way, and basically make people pay for it, and keep the money themselves. Well, it quickly becomes vastly more complicated than that, as they aquire more "hostages"....What I really liked about this movie is that it did give some background on to why these guys had turned out the way they had, so at least it gave it more to the movie than just some stupid bored punks having fun on a Saturday night or something :P It made it a more intersting story...it was a funny movie too, and it didn't hurt that the leader of the 4 wasn't too bad looking :P

So we were watching our new tape of Gakkou e ikou and there's a corner (each segment is called a "corner") where they've been doing this rap stuff...well this last episode they had Will Smith as the guest. It was acutely amusing ^_^;; It's just funny...considering just how well known V6 is in asia, but the West on the whole hasn't a clue...but how well Will Smith is known internationally...it's times like that the the different between being popular in Japan and popular in the west really stands out. But they had him sit in on this segment. Anyway, there's one guy that's been on several shows now...I never tell what his name is, but every time his rap envolves some kind of history lesson. One time it was about the Tokugawa Shogunate, another time it was about Chinese dynasties, but this last time it was American history...plus he started by telling Will Smith, in English, what his favorite part of the first MIB was...so not only was he my favorite before, he definetl is now ^______^v

So I've been having missing Japan pangs lately -.- I'm not sure why, exactly...it makes me sad to think that at this time last year I was counting the days...I mean, it's not like it's SO far away for me again, especially if I graduate next spring, I could be back there as early as fall 2003 ^^;; I'm not stupid enough to think living in Japan is perfect. I had my own troubles and irksome happenings when I was in Nagoya, so it's not like I'm so silly Japanese anime fan that thinks "Japan is AWESOME!" and doesn't believe there are things to think about. But the fact of the the matter is, two of the best times of my life were spent in that country, so it's hard to separate the feelings associated. It's like how even if some crappy stuff happened while I was up north at my family's cabin, many of my happiest memories are from there, so I'll always love returning ^.^;; But anyway, I'm missing it again, but what can you do? ^^;;

So I mostly registered for classes in the fall. I still need to get two more hours to be a full time student, and to get this independant study thing worked out. I wanted to be in choir again...but Meg and I decided that since we've taken all the Japanese courses and have the time, that we would take Chinese, since we've been wanting to learn another asian language. I'd rather learn Korean first, but there's Chinese here at my college, and I'm nit disappointed about taking it. EXECEPT, that it's at the same time as choir ^_^ it's also more credit hours...4 to choir's 1, so that decided me, too. I'm a little nervous about starting a new language. This doesn't mean I'm just up and dropping Japanese :P I never will, I love it too much. BUT, I haven't taken another language in really...6 years ^^;; So I'm sooooo nervous ^^ I thank god I'm not as intimidated by kanji because of studying Japanese...but I doubt that'll help me THAT much *lol* It'll be really interesting though. I've been dying to learn Chinese pronunciation for a long time. Seeing names and not knowing what the proper pronunciation is really drives me crazy ^^;;

done for now ^_^
Monday, July 15, 2002 :: Comments []

Haru Ranman no Last Sharing

So I didn't actually expect the last tape of Haru Ranman to be at Akemi-ya when I went to take the other tapes back today. I figured the person that had it had probably not returned it yet....and I very nearly missed seeing it! I'm not stupid mind you, it's just that the spine color on the other tapes was a magenta color, and the last tape is just dark purple on the spine, so my eyes first made me think it was a tape for another series ^^;; Anyway, I did see it, and squealed happily to myself (because if I'd squealed happily to other people in an empty store...well now, that'd just be pathetic), rented it, and headed home to watch ep 11.

This wasn't really the brightest of decisions on my part, considering this was 4:00p.m., I had a tutor lesson at 8:00 and had almost no homework done for it, but as I've long ago discovered...not much gets done when a drama awaits ^^;;

MEGAN don't read this if you don't want to be spoiled!!

Anyway...ok the end was a tad on the contrived side, but I liked the whole drama over all ^^ Where Koi ga shitai suffered because it was pretty much only Kanno Miho's character who had a thing for Watabe Atsuro's through the majority of the series, here at least in Haru Ranman, where it's Akane first that we find loves Souta, at least we have the background of them living in the same apartment and getting to know one another and sharing experiences. So even if it's Akane that confesses first, it's believable when Souta says the same ^^;;

Actually, I liked the kokuhaku scene a lot ^^;; It starts out with Akane making bento for Souta and Kan-chan out of the blue one day (this is soon after she realizes she likes Souta), and decides the best way to confess her feelings to Souta is to write "suki" in nori in his...XD but (and I know this is stupid)....it gets messed up, and part of the nori sticks to the top...which makes it look like a ha in katakana instead ^^;; So he then spends the entire episode asking her what she meant when she put "ha" on there.

It's actually at the end of the ep (as all good kokuhaku scenes are)....where Souta's asking her again about the whole "ha" issue. He's standing on one side of the glass sliding door to her room, and she's standing on the other...he starts asking her about it, and grabs....something...I'm not sure what it is, but it makes a mark on the glass door...to read "ha"...and asks her what she meant by it. She looks kind of scared, and almost sad, but turns around and grabs the nearst thing that'll leave something on the door too (mousse, in this case :P) and fills in the "ha" so it now reads suki and it ends there, leaving Souta more than confused ^^;;

XD And the end is basically that Souta gets a chance to go work in Los Angeles for two years...which he does, at Akane's behest, because she doesn't want him staying if it's just for her, and it's his chance to do something he really wants. So two years passes quickly and he comes back and everything's hunky dorey with everyone ^^ But I like the end, because the emphasis is on everyone doing their best to make their life happy ^^;; and I'm a stupid sucker for the happy ending ^^;; I thought it was a little contrived because he leaves and then the next scene starts with 2 Years Later...so you didn't really feel they were seperated, even though they were...but still, I loved the chemistry between Tomosaka Rie and Oshio Manabu, and I can find myself really liking him now ^^;; He was fine in Yamato Nadeshiko, but he didn't do much at all, and in 2001 no Otoko Un I liked him a lot but it ended so drastically different than I ever wanted it, that I couldn't like him as much. So this drama redeems him ^^

Plus, it's priceless when you hear, in completely unaccented English, a Geinoujin say "Get your ass out of here". XD I nearly lost it hearing that ^_^
Saturday, July 13, 2002 :: Comments []

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-------- I NEED THE TAPE WITH 11 and 12 of Haru Ranman ON IT!!!!!! NOW ;.;

Thank you, that is all
Friday, July 12, 2002 :: Comments []

Haru Ranman

*points above* A spring 2002 drama starring Oshio Manabu and Tomosaka Rie about two people that end up sharing an apartment because both need a place to live, but neither can pay the whole rent by themselves. Apart from them are Souta (Oshio Manabu)'s friends, who, as if we're watching an episode of Friends seem to hang out at their friend's new apartment eternally ^^

I'm now 4 episodes in and as to what I think about it? Weeeellllllll....I like Oshio Manabu...and I'm glad to finally find out who Tomosaka Rie is....and we all know I'm a huge sucker for even remote love stories....so, thus far I'm enjoying it. By ep 2 they throw the first "flash back worthy" moment in....and I'm still waiting for my second *lol* But it's entertaining enough to sit through, and it amuses me to watch them find any excuse for Oshio Manabu to speak English (he spent a portion of his life here in United States) XD

One thing that made me feel very smart and culturally informed about was that there were a few parts in a couple of the eps where they showed this statue of a person, and I knew I knew the person but for the life of me I couldn't figure it out. And I finally finally figured out who it was: It was Tora-san!! ^^;; Tora-san, for those who don't know, is that main character of a very very long Japanese film series called Otoko wa tsurai yo, which in all had 48 movies. Tora-san is like...an icon of Japanese culture, something akin to I Love Lucy or The Honeymooners....I don't mean the story is like that, just that, I've been told, if you're Japanese, you know who Tora-san is. So I felt really proud of myself, stupid as that is *lol*

*huggles Saruchan* Gomen, ne!

Must go now, a drama awaits ^^;;
Thursday, July 11, 2002 :: Comments []

Just One of Those Days
You've all had them I'm sure. The days where you, as a fan, want to close your finger around the neck of another fan and strangle some sense into them? Yes well, between last night and today, I've pretty much had that exact feeling. It'd be worse if I didn't think this person wasn't a complete and utter idiot, though, so at the very least it's also been entertaining. There are a very few things that irritate me anymore in Japanese anime fandom, simply because I think I've arrived at that place in my fandom where I know Japan well enough in general that I don't feel like I have to know things before other people in order to keep up. I'm happy being a manga junky and keeping mostly with those, and seeing new anime stuff when I can, not in order to keep up with the rest. But if anything irritates me, aside from the whole otaku argument, it's a stupid double standard some fans have....and because you're reading my blog, you get to hear it, in relative detail:

It all started with someone asking "What anime style are you into"...and at first many of us were confused because we weren't sure if that meant style of animation or, say, genre. I'll just post for you his comments and those of my sister and I, and you can decide for yourself if we're the idiots or he is:

Him: Although I watch the Americanized trend anime, I mostly infatuate myself with a lot of the latest releases that are in Japan. I'm rather anti-pop, so if an anime tends to get extremely popular (i.e. DBZ and pokemon) I tend to get tired of it, and fast.

I myself am a romance comedy nut and tend to go for those first. I'll stick with my "undeground" anime rather than Zoids, DBZ, Pokemon, Digimon, etc etc.

::Edit:: As a friend of mine pointed out, what I think he means is "popular amercanized mainstream anime" and "underground" anime. Bubblegum Crisis isn't the greatest of titles for that usage, and Love Hina is actually becoming a big hit as well, so that might not be the best choice for underground either.

Me: Crimeny, I don't think much is "underground" anymore. Japanese anime fandom on a whole isn't like that anymore ^^;; Doesn't much bother me if it's popular because heck, if it's good, how does it being popular change that at all? ^^;;

My style is..erm...entertaining...if it's entertaining and I like it, that's what I like ^^ It doesn't have to be something no one else knows about or anything, but it does have to be in Japanese :P I won't watch something in English. Too much of a Japanese language geek for that ^.^v But then, on the whole,I'm a manga girl anyway ^^;;

Meg: Take offense if you want, but I think to not like something just because it's popular is the most absurd thing I've heard. Not to mention elitist..of course, if you're comfortable admiting that, then so be it.

Personally I'm mostly a shoujo girl. XD Most of my manga collection is shoujo ^^;; usually set in the real world and usually in high school and almost always dealing with love stories. That being said, I like others like Trigun or Kenshin or Mirai Shounen Conan..I have a pattern, but don't. *shrugs* I like what's good...good=what appeals to me. ;p

Him thank you for your witty retort to my anti-pop philosophies but I guess I should have used more tact in what I was trying to elaborate on as far as what my "anti-pop" ideas are. Take listening to the radio or watching MTv for instance; if you listen to the radio enough you will eventually hear the most popular songs at least 4 to 5 times daily. Eventually, after being bombarded with the song for a series of a month, you begin to become tired of that song, and look for new, refreshing songs that haven't become trite. The same would also work with anime, when something blows up in America, due to our lovely capitalistic idiocies, we are constanly bombarded with those shows to the point where it makes at least me, sick.

To prevent this occurance from happening, you can go to the "underground" world of anime and watch the shows before they hit America and are exploited for all that they are worth, thus halting the bombardment and possibly saving your love for a series that you like. I actually used to like Dragonball and Pokemon, but due to having them constantly shoved into my face, I naturally began to reject them for they became too trite.

There, I have elaborated as to why I do what I do. Any further comments, questions and damnings need to be placed in this *puts a box labelled "I don't care" on the floor* box of I don't care that I have benevolently placed for your use. Thank you for your time, opinions and ignorance and as always, have a nice day here at Animenet.com

Meg: *rolls her eyes* Oh for pete's sake. How utterly ridiculous. I don't like popular songs when I hear them time after time because I don't like them to begin with. You want to complain about commercialism etc., then this isn't the hobby to get into. You want to complain about how we trump them up and eke out every dollar we can by slapping it on whatever we want..then never ever ever visit Japan. You will be sorely shocked and disappointed. There isn't an "underground" in this hobby anymore-there barely was when I seriously got into it 7 years ago, simply a "what isn't yet commercially available" and that gap is shortening every day. I'd say get used to it or spend your money and energy on something else.

Me: Well put, Meg. Honestly, Halo, you don't want commercialism? You don't want series you liked slapped on food, posters, stationary, pencils, pens, t-shirts. You don't want merchandise like dolls, clocks, hats, pencil boards, card games, artbooks. You don't want it plastered all over the place then why do you like anime? You think it's bad here? HERE? In THIS country? Every time I hear a fan say that, I want to laugh. You think it's bad here, then go to Japan my friend. It's so commercial there it will make your head spin a thousand times over. For heaven's sake, there were airplanes with Pokemon on them when I was there the first time. Pokemon itself had a whole half hour show dedicated to it prior to the actual show coming on. This whole mumbo jumbo about us messing around with things is not only an illusion you've put yourself under, it's also elitist. What it sounds like to me that you're saying, is that you really just want to know about things before everyone else.

"Underground" anime? The last time I looked around it's certainly not underground. Like Ageha said, it wasn't really when we came into the fandom 7 years ago, and certainly isn't now. Honestly, you're kidding yourself. What you mean by underground, is that you're getting your stuff free before it's licensed here. All "underground" means to me is that you have a good computer that will get you stuff before people with a slower connection.

When it comes right down to it, it's an elitist attitude. You don't want commercialism, you're in the wrong fandom

Him: *cough* Underground refers to "getting it before it comes to America" so I'd definitely say that there's an underground of anime. *cough*

Next on the agenda, if I lived in Japan, I'd more than likely feel the same way. Do I live in Japan?? Nope. Did I say I'd rather go to Japan in my post? Nope. Did I say Japan was better? Nope. Just because someone makes a statement about the characteristic of one society I don't remember that allowing for the comparison to other societies of which that person doesn't even live in like it really matters (i.e. I complain about American capitalism and suddenly everyone's talking about how bad it is in Japan.....oO.....).

*points to the box of I don't care* .....you know what do to.

Me: You're honestly telling me that when someone says "underground" they're really thinking "hasn't come out in America"??? You want to go look it up in a dictionary? The definition I get is that "undeground" is something secretive. In other words, people don't know about it. Which is hardly the case these days for most Japanese anime series. Nevermind you have tons of sites talking about the latest thing, you could go to TBS, Fuji, Asashi, NTVs, WOWWOW or any other Japan tv sites and know for a fact what's out in Japan. This isn't an "underground" fandom anymore than anymore than anything else. I for one am a huge fan of Japanese dramas, and a lot fewer people in this country know that even know they exist. And I see a lot of the new ones before some are shown on the international channels. Is that underground? Hardly.

And I can't believe you have a double standard like that. It's abhorrant that we make money off of Japanese anime here in the states, but it'sok that they do in Japan? That's absurd. American capitalism is wrong, but Japan's is okay? You're really going to go around with that attitude?? "America sucks for making a buck off anime, but hey, in Japan they do the same thing and I haven't a problem at all with it!" What a joke! Honestly. Fine, go around telling yourself that. But in the meantime, I'm not going to let myself be so easily swayed into disliking a series I love simply because I can't handle that a few other people do, and the fact there's merchandise.

Heaven forbid.

And there you have it as it stands right now. I swear to god, I want to strangle him. It's that kind of attitude some fans that I despise so much. That to commercialize here is abhorrant, but where do they think they're getting all their Japanese anime stuff? From a country where it's far more commercial. Nevermind the fact you shouldn't be swayed from liking something you like simply because other people like it. Do I dislike Harry Potter because tons of other people do? Hell no! I have more of an oppurtunity to talk about it. Sure, I like to have some things that not many people know about, like manga series etc. but for christ's sake, this guy is an elitist of a special kind.

Anyway, in better news, we got a letter from mom, who's up at the cabin, and in it she was describing all the changes that have been made up there. Not like, enormous drastic changes, but nice ones. We now have a new dock! I'm freakishly excitied about that, because the old one has been in disrepair for several years now, and I can't wait to see the new one ^.^ Plus they've planted some new bushes and a couple of trees, and redone the fire-pit...apparently the lake rose high enough that it floated our old log by the fire away *lol* I love hearing these descriptions...I really love that place ^.^ I can't wait until I get a real job and can help pay for things.

So downloaded the new Tokio single, "Green"...although I don't quite get why "Green" is the single, but it's the second song on the CD ^^;; But I liked it really well. As Brian's gettig to like the other Johnny's groups more and more, I'm getting to like Tokio more...they were once the only Johnny's group I wasn't much interested in,...but every since "Dr." I've really come to like them a lot ^_^

anyway, you've had enough to read ^^;;
Wednesday, July 10th, 2002 :: Comments []

"What is the virtue of a proportional response?"

So I've been reading a book Meg bought. The West Wing Script Book which includes the scrips for 6 episodes of The West Wing: the Pilot, A Proportional Response, In the Shadow of Two Gunman Pts. 1 and 2, 17 People, and Two Cathedrals. The last four there being four of my favorite episodes. I swear, I can watch In the Shadow of Two Gunman a thousand times and never get tired of watching even a second of it.

The great thing about reading this book is that it makes you realize how wonderful this series is, and how much I love it. With the exception of a few episodes, particularly the finale of the season, it hasn't been a good one for WW, at least IMHO. That's not to say it hasn't been quality...it's just...there's a feeling about the first two seasons that these characters, these people, through all the troubles they have and problems they face, that there's this love and joy for the work they do, the people the work with-their friends, and the man who's their president, but the third season.....The third season is just sort of....cold? I don't want to say that, because it makes it sound unfeeling...but there's just not the same joy and wonder to the series that dominates the first two seasons.

*lol* Of course, there's also the fact I'm a huge Josh/Donna fan...and if 17 People, near the end of season two, gave you overwhelming hope that something might happen soon between those two, season three ripped the carpet right out from under and stood over you in your heap of arms and legs and laughed in your face. With 17 People, and Donna and Josh's exchange:

Josh: I'm just saying, if you were in an accident I wouldn't stop for a beer
Donna: If you were in an accident I wouldn't stop for red lights.

.......you go straight to: Amy. U.U Evil Evil Amy. In this script book I'm reading, Aaron Sorkin talks about how he never knows what's coming for each ep until he writes it (save a few vague ideas about the events of In The Shadow of Two Gunmen) and all I can wonder is that if that's the case...ugh, what will happen with Amy and Josh? I don't know what he was thinking when he dreamed her up. She reminds me way too much of Mandy, and no one liked her and she disappeared in half a season. There's a spark when Josh and Donna talk, there's a cold tension in the air whenever Amy's in the scene. *sigh*

But I have faith in season 4, now that they've gotten all of this MS stuff out of the way....the red tape of it all, I mean...obviously it'll be mentioned again as the series gears up for re-election....but I have faith in this series and I have faith in aaron sorkin ^^;;

So I watched the movie Lauren sent, called But I'm A Cheerleader and I really liked it! I dunno why Lauren had it in her head that I wouldn't like it XD I'm not THAT prudish. I like any good love story :P And this one was really cute ^^ One of the guys in it looked exactly like a classmate of mine @ Nanzan though *lol* so it weirded me out

SO I've heard there are concerns about a typhoon in Japan O.O I hope it doesn't ruin Jill and Chad's honeymoon. I told her to watch the locals ^^ If they get worried then she should be concerned...and now I'm just talking to someone who had to go home from work because of the typhoon...meep ^^;;

Well, I'm done now :P

Sunday, July 7, 2002 :: Comments []

The Way Not To Be Happy

:P So Lauren's tapes came today, which included the September 11th: In Memoriam that ran a couple of months ago on HBO, the X-Files shippy tape (with the episode Aubrey ^^;; kya-) and an extra tape Lauren included with a movie on it called But I'm a Cheerleader. I thought it was funny because the three tapes were held together with rubber bands, and as I took them off one another, the first tape was addressed to Jamie Thompson and Megan Thompson, the second Inohara Jamie and Okada Megan, and the third Jamie Cow and Megan Mare. So kudos to Lauren and her sense of humor :P

I remember when it aired and they were discussing on WGN about what people thought about this one as compared to the one they ran on CBS in March. I think that ultimately I think both were powerful and emotional and heart wrenching and great (in the way they were done) in different ways. The one on CBS was much more from a firefigher's perspective and really told their story...that's not to say the one on HBO ignored that, just that it was much more from...and general people perspective. This HBO one really got to me though...I'm not a crier at things, but if Meg hadn't have been there, I'd probably have been sobbing ^^;; Don't like to cry in front of people ^^;;

But anyway, we watched the ep Aubrey of X-Files immediatly following that, because we needed something to put us in a better mood, which it did. I've been waiting since...March? April? to see that episode again ^^;; So woo, thanks Lauren! Really helped put me in a good mood after the first tape ^.^;;

So I completely forgot that yesterday was Tanabata in Japan ^.^;; You'd think, considering what Tanabata is about (that two celestial lovers can only meet once a year on that night) that I'd remember it *lol*

Well, I thought I was going to write more...but I've got nothing else to say *Lol*

My Japanese Dorama List

My manga list as well!