Japan trip 2009: The otaku experience August 9, 2009
Posted by ayasawada in Anime, Film, Friends, Gunpla, Japan, Personal, Travel.Tags: Anime, Books, figures, games, Gundam, Gunpla, Gurren Lagann, Honey and Clover, Japan, Jpop, K-ON, Manga, Music, otaku, plamo, shopping
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Gundam and I, Odaiba, July 2009
So, I’ve written all about my Japan trip. But given the nature of this blog, it’s the geeky things you want to hear about right? ^^
Otaku highlights include the 1/1 scale Gundam in Odaiba, seeing Evangelion 2.0 in a Shibuya cinema (review to come in a later post) and discovering the ‘Akihabara of Osaka’ Den Den Town. (more…)
K-ON! Gekichuka Shu Album: Ho-Kago Tea Time August 6, 2009
Posted by ayasawada in Anime, Music, Video.Tags: Anime, K-ON, Music
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As previously noted on this blog, I liked, but wasn’t blown away by K-ON! as a series and was somewhat disappointed by the music scenes. That’s not to say I didn’t like some of the songs though.
A few weeks ago a K-ON! mini album was released. K-ON! Gekichuka Shu Album: Ho-Kago Tea Time is a really short compilation of the four insert songs from the series: Curry Nochi Rice, Watashi no Hochi Kisu, Fude Pen ~Ball Pen~ and Fuwa Fuwa Time (the latter having been released as a single already. And yes, the song titles are slightly embarrassing ^^;)
I have to say, since I got this I haven’t been able to stop listening to it. I still find Fuwa Fuwa Time catchy, but not incredible, and Curry Nochi Rice isn’t really that good a song. But Watashi no Hochi Kisu and Fude Pen are out of this world.
Hochi Kisu in particular gives me goosebumps every time I hear the opening riff, particularly on the live version. I guess it reminds me of that dreamy moment in the series when Azusa walks in to the hall and hears the band playing for the first time (see video below). It’s just got a wonderful high-school nostalgia feel about it and is incredibly mushy, particularly with Yui’s (Toyosaki Aki) moe vocals.
Fude Pen ~Ball Pen~
So while I am still taken aback at K-ON!’s popularity amongst the otaku community (the amount of merchandise I saw in Japan was eye-popping) I’m not completely immune to K-ON!’s charms ^^
K-ON! Eps 1-12 (complete) June 24, 2009
Posted by ayasawada in Anime.Tags: Anime, K-ON, KyoAni, moe, slice-of-life
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After School Teatime: Mio, Ritsu, Yui, Mugi
A fun and enjoyable, if slightly disappointing, entry to the KyoAni canon. K-ON! had a concept oozing potential: four high-school girls join the ‘light music club’, forming a band that makes music, friendship, and good clean fun.
This sort of moe slice-of-life show normally screams off-beat hit for me (I am, after all a sucker for stuff like Azumanga Daioh, Manabi Straight and Ichigo Mashimaro), and with the hallowed KyoAni at the helm I was totally expecting another Lucky Star level of greatness with awesome music scenes on a par with Suzumiya Haruhi‘s infamous Live Alive episode.
But I just didn’t feel that spark. I know this is controversial, given that a lot of other anime fans have gone nuts over K-ON! (I can feel the flames already), but does it really compare with the likes of Lucky Star and Haruhi on the KyoAni classics scale? (more…)
