#aiko kaku

[davidhudson]

Happy 49th, Joachim Trier.

Poster for The Worst Person in the World (2021) by AICON (Aiko Kaku) for the Japanese distributor GAGA.

[tarokro]

I finished watching the Yakuza Amazon Prime series. I'm really interested in hearing all of your thoughts now that the series is fully out.

for those curious, here is my review:

I wanted to like this series. I am a lover of a corny, well-intended but poorly-made media and clumsy adaptations. But I'm really not a fan. All the positive reviews citing negative reviews being from "angry gamers" fail to take into account the sheer number of people who aren't familiar with the games and still disliked this series, because it manages a feat which should be impossible for something of the yakuza genre: it is really, really fucking boring.

you have so many plot threads and characters introduced rapid-fire in a way that don't let you connect with anyone or anything in a series this short. Interesting moments aren't lingered on at all, with stiff, almost insultingly dull fight choreography and stilted, inauthentic one-on-one character moments. Boring plot threads like a road trip to find someone's sister and the Florist's backstory take up far, far too much screen time. The inclusion of the satanists is as entertaining as the violence in this series gets, and yet anyone familiar with the wider yakuza film genre that forms the foundation of this series' source material and serves as its inspiration just ends up bewildered as to why that's the main connecting thread throughout the whole thing. The camerawork and editing, especially in the final episode's giant brawl, is poor. Nothing is dynamic. Lighting and sound design could also be a lot better. Especially the sound design, the squelching stabs in the final episode are very funny. And I cannot stress enough how disappointed I am in the fight choreography in this show. For the yakuza genre it is breathtakingly boring.

Other minor details leave you baffled. They keep calling Kiryu oyagoroshi, which means patriarch killer, but never translate it or tell you what it means. You keep reading it in the subtitles and hearing it, but you're just meant to infer its meaning. The romantic conflict is just as shoehorned in as it is in the game. Kiryu and Miho's platonic interactions had more on-screen chemistry than anyone else shown. Saejima and his horrible wig are allowed to pop up for a few minutes before he dies-not-dies in a comically short gunfight. That the satanists are given more screen- and general punch-time than anyone else depicted is a baffling choice for a show like this and does nothing to generate interest in who the Satanists are beyond "why are they in this show?"

the invention of Aiko to serve as an older sister to Yumi and a mother to Haruka is baffling. A friend said it seems like she really was just created to load all the possible bad traits any of their group to have onto one person. I don't understand her purpose. To someone unfamiliar with the source material, she comes across as the friend group's load-bearing asshole.

Kento Kaku's performance as Nishiki, for what they've given him, is stellar. However convoluted the plot behind it was and how clumsily it was revealed, it was nice to see Nishiki's younger sister Miho given screen time and a personality so that you can experience some amount of connection to the grief felt by those she leaves behind.

I'm also really confused by the end. I assume that, if the second season they seem to be anticipating comes to fruition, they're going to drag the cult details forward. but my friends reminded me: if Nishiki has known about Kazama being the guy who killed their parents for this long and has been running around like a glorified El Tigre slashing and stabbing people for years, why is Kazama still alive? Surely he would have killed him?

I don't feel any need to be super positive about this series. as someone who's a fan of jank and clunky creativity, none of this series really comes across like it was made by someone having fun with it, and I think that's what makes me really disappointed in the whole thing.

@draayder I told myself I wouldn't check this blog again until I got the chance to watch the next batch of episodes, so sorry for my lack of reply! I hope you can forgive me. this sums up my thoughts.

[geekcavepodcast]

Like A Dragon: Yakuza Trailer

In 1995, friends Kiryu, Nishiki, Yumi, and Miho "plan a heist at a local arcade. However, the arcade is under the control of the Dojima Family, a powerful yakuza organization that rules Kamurocho. They dive into the yakuza-controlled underworld of 1995 Kamurocho. Meanwhile, in 2005, Kiryu is set to be released from prison. He learns from Detective Date that his friends are in danger and decides to return to Kamurocho to protect them. However, their friendship has deteriorated, as tensions between the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance are at a boiling point." (Prime Video)

Like a Dragon: Yakuza, based on the Sega video franchise, is directed by Masaharu Take. The series stars Ryoma Takeuchi (Kazuma Kiryu), Yumi Kawai (Yumi Sawamura), Hinano Nakayama (Miho), Kento Kaku (Akira Nichikiyama), Munetaka Aoki (Goro Majima), Toshiaki Karasawa (Shintaro Kazama), Subaru Shibutani (Detective Date), and Mistao Morita (Aiko)

Like a Dragon: Yakuza releases on Prime Video on October 24, 2024.

[shadowbanki]

There’s a weird instance of like… minor racism (?) in the 4kids Magical Doremi

There’s an episode centering around the Japanese board game shogi and a shogi tournament. Aside from having to localize a very Japanese concept, one character mentions one of the shogi pieces being called the “Kaku” and Mirabelle (Aiko in the dub, basically they dubbed her, an Osakan in the original version, as a redneck) always mispronounces it as “The kaka-koo-koo piece!”

There’s also another episode involving a kid named Tamasha from Mongolia. Doremi/Dorie says something like “What was that kid’s name again? Tama-shushu?” (Weirdly, in the Japanese original version, Tamasha’s name was Tamila.)

[claiko]

PART II: A day in my life as a broadcaster at The Headliner!

"EH EH MANA SIH KARYAWAN BARU YANG BULEE???" Semua mata yang tadinya berfokus ke arah Meggie dan Hayes, kini berpaling ke suara yang menginterupsi percakapan mereka.

"Oh... Kamu ya Kak? Sorry. Kirain orangnya gaada. Btw kenalin guys aku Belle. Anak baru juga. Maaf ya heboh nyariin bule. Habisnya kata Kak Sachio, ada bule canada." Belle menepuk bahu orang yang ia panggil Sachio pelan, membuat lelaki tersebut mendengus pelan.

"Tapi kamu kan bule juga, Belle... Anyway, kita sama-sama anak baru. Namaku Sachio. Salam kenal ya Kakak-kakak dan adek-adek semua. Sejujurnya aku udah kenal kalian semua soalnya tadi ngehapalin nama karyawan baru di papan penerimaan staff baru. Kalian udah dikasih arahan bakal ngeliput apa kah?" Sachio berujar dengan penuh antusias, membuat kerumunan pekerja yang baru saja diterima itu terasa tidak begitu kaku dan canggung.

Aiko berpikir sejenak sebelum menjawab pertanyaan Sachio. "Tadi katanya sih Producers bakal briefing setelah anak baru hadir semua. Siapa lagi ya yang belum dateng?"

"Kayanya yang anak baru kaya raya itu belum dateng deh? Sama masih ada 4 orang lagi!" Meggie menyahuti, membuat semua orang di sana menengok ke arahnya.

"Anak baru kaya raya?" Aiko tertawa dalam hati, namun tidak menghilangkan rasa keingintahuannya tentang anak baru yang dimaksud Meggie.

"EH ITU NOH. ANJAY. Knalpotnya ga kaya motor beat ye... Geber geber." Meggie menunjuk ke arah jendela, menunjuk seseorang yang baru saja masuk ke parkiran kantor dengan motor besar yang entah apa namanya.

"Ah itu mah si Iko... Lu belom tau kan yang... NAH ITU TUH. Namanya Suri. Lu liat mobilnya apa. LAMBORGHINI CUY."

Aiko hampir saja menjatuhkan tasnya ketika melihat mobil sport berwarna merah metalik itu masuk ke dalam pelataran kantor, lengkap dengan suara knalpotnya yang begitu... Wow.

"Kayanya gue harus satu divisi sama Suri." Ucap Achel mantab. Kepalanya manggut-manggut dengan ekspresi serius yang terhias di wajah cantiknya.

Mereka sontak terbahak, menertawakan entah realita yang ada atau saldo bank.

Aiko menyampirkan tote bagnya ke bahu sembari mengambil beberapa script wawancara yang baru saja diberikan oleh Letta— salah satu producers di The Headliner.

Baru saja akan beranjak dari tempatnya, suara dering ponsel membuat langkahnya terhenti. Dengan sedikit tergesa, ia merogoh benda tipis tersebut dari dalam tote bag, kemudian mengangkatnya tanpa melihat id caller.

"Halo? Iya benar saya sendiri. OH? Julianne? Kalian di depan? Oke tungguin bentar ya!"

Julianne. Salah satu rekan liputannya hari ini meminta Aiko yang kebetulan hanya menjadi satu-satunya karyawan baru di The Headliner yang masih tersisa di lantai 15 untuk segera turun ke lobby.

Mereka akan melakukan liputan di GBK.

Selama melangkahkan kaki menuju lobby, pikiranmya jatuh ke seseorang yang akan mereka wawancarai. Seseorang yang pernah menjadi kekasihnya untuk sesaat.

Memikirkannya saja sudah membuat kepalanya berdenyut dan tidak sadar bahwa lift sudah sampai ke lantai tujuannya. Dengan terburu-buru, Aiko keluar dari dalam lift dan mencari mobil yang dimaksud oleh Julianne di pesannya tadi.

Matanya menyipit ketika melihat suatu kendaraan dengan warna yang cukup terlihat mencolok di hadapannya.

"HAH??? MOBIL BAK?"

"Kalian malu ga sih liat ni mobil terus bandingin ama mobilnya Suri?" Tanya Edrea, salah satu kenalan baru Aiko yang sedari tadi mendengus pelan karena kesal dengan mobil yang mereka gunakan untuk datang ke GBK.

Sambil menyeka keringat dari dahinya, Kak Airin berucap dengan nada kesal. "MALU BANGET??? Mending tadi naik busway kalo tau bakal naik mobil bak plus ketilang polisi."

"Naik anjing aja naik anjing. Naik anjing juga enak." Kali ini Ray menyahuti karena merasa kasihan dengan empat perempuan yang saat ini terlihat penuh dengan amarah.

Aiko menelan ludahnya, kebingungan dengan asal muasal ide naik bak mobil ke GBK ini.

"Tapi guys. Ini yang nyediain kantor apa gimana?" Aiko menyuarakan rasa penasarannya, membuat keempat orang yang berada di hadapannya mengalihkan pandangan ke arahnya.

"YA SI RAY RAY INI, KO. Kamu tau ngga? KATA DIA MOBIL BAKNYA BAKAL ENAK SOALNYA ADA PENUTUPNYA. Inovasi baru dari jepang. TAUNYA SAMA AJA KAYA MOBIL ANGKUT GAS." Julianne berbicara panjang lebar seraya memelototi Ray yang kini hanya cengar-cengir dan memasang wajah tanpa dosa.

Keeempatnya kini hanya saling tatap selama beberapa detik, sampai akhirnya mulai mengeluarkan tawa karir.

"Yaudah sih guys, kita kan mau ketemu nicsap nih. Masa pada ngomel-ngomel... Be happy guys be happy!" Ray menyemangati keempat temannya sembari menjulurkan tangan ke arah sopir mobil bak. "Pak dah mau sampe kan?"

Pak sopir hanya mengacungkan jempol ke arah Ray.

Menyadari lokasi wawancara semakin dekat—tempat diadakannya kompetisi Nicsap Look alike, Aiko mulai memberanikan diri untuk menyampaikan sesuatu yang sedari tadi ia tahan.

"Guys. Sebenernya gue mau ngomong sesuatu. Nicholas Saputra tuh... Mantan gue."

"HAH????"

To be continued tahun depan!

[lusynthiaa]

finished watching the LaD live action series, overall i think its pretty good, drags on a bit earlier on, haruka and aiko are severely underdeveloped characters imo, but kento kaku's performance as nishiki is amazing and the payoff of is inmense, i genuinely think i might prefer his version of nishiki over the games'

[reallyromealone]

HI! How are you? Are you taking care of yourself?

Can I ask for Kakucho with his lil babe of a son? Like its a day where you get to show off your parents at preschool and Kaku comes with his son. Long story short babe gets jealous when Kaku pays attention to another kid. Kaku is kinda just setting his son aside to play with the other kid. Once the duo get home bebe is still mad a Kakucho so he ignores him. Maybe with a fluffy ending please?

Hihi!

I'm good and i am resting yes !

Oh this, this made my heart hurt.

X

(Name) was excited when his dad came with him for parents day, his dad was the coolest!

Of course he thought his dad was a "multi-function executive" and not Bontens third in command.

Children were nitrous chatter boxes so it was best to lie.

(Name) was excited to show his papa all his drawing Ms. Aiko put on the wall.

That was until the class know-it-all and attention speaker Hana began dominating his dad's attention and leaving (name) alone and sad.

He just wanted to show his dad his cool drawing...

(Name) didn't cry though, angrily playing with toys with his friend and his mom who looked at him empathetically.

The car ride was quiet as (name) huffed and ignored his dad, poor Kakucho trying to make small talk with his son who just huffed and crossed his arms.

Kakucho was confused, (name) never acted like this...what changed?

Getting inside, (name) angrily took off his little shoes and put them away before stomping through the penthouse "buddy, what's wrong?" Kakucho said stopping the toddler who glared up at his dad, cubby cheeks red with anger.

"Stupid papa... Go play with Hana..." He grumbled angrily, noticing Mikey walk to the kitchen and decided he wanted him to tell (name) his bedtime story, not papa.

It instantly clicked for Kakucho as he lifted the boy before he could go demand a bed time story from his uncle "oh buddy... I'm so sorry!" He said softly as (name) tried wiggling angrily out of his grasp "stupid papa!" As the toddlers emotions became to much, fat tears rolling down his face as his papa held him close.

All he wanted was to show his papa his drawings!

"I completely ignored you... Oh god I'm so sorry bud" Kakucho felt awful, the toddler was looking forward all month for this day and he ruined it! For a kid that wasn't even his!

"Does papa want me?" (Name) sobbed out, the boy feeling insicure and Kakucho wanted to cry right there... Oh god did the toddlers words hurt "of course papa wants you my sweet baby boy... I love you so much! Papa was being stupid" he said rocking his boy close, letting the little boy cry in his chest as he rubbed his little back and silently vowing to never let his son feel like this again.

His heart couldn't handle it.

[al-hekima-madara-blog]

source image : Hell’s Paradise, Yūji Kaku

Aiko demonstrated how far she could make her chakra travelled under enemies' line. Like an underground spider's web ready to be set in fire, leaving countless burning corpse behind her. Aiko the black widow… that's the surname she inherited since then.[...]

Her mother and mine always have been neighbour. There was not many housewives in the compound able to understand this atypical lifestyle, and naturally they quickly became close friends. When she couldn't breastfed her, my mother who just had me few month ago, proposed her help. Since that time she was my foster sister. And as far as I remember she was always sneaking in our house. Climbing the fences from her garden to mine.

Madara Golden Age, chapter 02 : Sons of Father

[jinofthewinds]

Okay, so apparently Infinity Nado gotten a spinoff series called Infinity Nado V? I think I remember watching the first two episodes last year’s march March Break where I was streaming Kaku on my mibox. I honestly thought that was just another gyro series as there are a ton of series that feature battling tops as they are the most popular toys among gen zed in China and the rest of Asia these days. (still they are not “beyblade ripoffs” as westerners would say, battling tops actually existed long before beyblades was a thing)  The style has changed a lot too, it looks like q-borg or something. 

Anyways I ran into this series again now that Infinity Nado is now my main fandom at the moment and decided to give this new series a chance. I have to admit the main Ye Xingyun,did kind of look like Jin and Pandora combined (there’s even a small meme about though he’s not related to any of them in any sense, though still kind of freaky how its similar to Jin’s Chinese name of Ye Fen.)  There is also apparently that red haired guy next to him named Gu Yan which is similar to Dawn’s Chinese name of Ren Yan (though he’s not related to Ren Yan in anyway either.) Once I started the series I found it really cliched with the whole Academy concept with the students, seriously every battling top series these days seem to feature an academy these days. I reason I gotten into Infinity Nado in the first place is how they actually broke cretain norms and cliches such as class and even gender. It even gives a sense of how good friendship and relationships should be instead of high school drama and love triangles which cause fandom s to be toxic (that's why I fricking left the Yugioh fandom even though I still have my username default as Cielaarclight) Don’t get me wrong I am not a nostalgia brat in any sense, in fact there are many spinoffs I like Balala Ocean Magic and Flower Fairy 24 Solar Terms.(The Angel and Aiko protagonist transition is probably the smoothest in modern donghua history tbh.)

[kimonobeat]

aiko bon “Profile Interview” Chapter 3 (1/3)

My middle school years: My rocky life and puberty

Her relationship with her parents, life at her relatives’ house, and romance. Puberty. Her life turned out to be quite dramatic.

(Thank you parasmichael for the commission!!!)

ーAfter you were done commuting to the elementary school like you’d been doing since you were in 4th grade, did you start attending the school close to your relatives’ house for middle school?

aiko: Yeah, I went to a school that was about a 7 minute walk away. It was close enough that I’d watch all of “Ponkikki” before going to school every morning.

ーWere you in any clubs?

aiko: I joined the volleyball club as the setter. I was in band all through elementary school and wanted to keep doing that. They didn’t have one at middle school I was going to though, so I decided to do volleyball instead. That said, I was only in volleyball for a hot minute. (laughs)

ーSo basically, you went straight home after school and stayed in your room.

aiko: I’d listen to music in there. Once I was a middle schooler, I felt uncomfortable around my relatives in a completely different way than I did in elementary school. I guess you could say it got complicated.

ーRelationships can be pretty dicey around that age, even between parents and their children.

aiko: Exactly. It was even trickier because they were my relatives. For example, phone calls. When you’re in middle school, you call your friends up all the time just to chit-chat about dumb stuff, right? I talked a lot on the phone too, for long stretches of time. But at my relatives’ house, they used their home phone as a business phone too. They used to get SO mad at me whenever I was on the phone for a long time because I was taking up the business phone line. I still wanted to talk on the phone though... I’d just end up using the phone again. They ended up getting me my own phone because they figured it’d be better to keep it separate. The only thing was, I had to pay my own phone bill. At first I was super happy. I thought I’d get to use the phone as much as I wanted… but then I thought about it and realized, “Oh… right.”

ーDid it feel like they’d set some boundaries when they did that?

aiko: Only sort of. It was more like, I realized I was probably running up their phone bill. Nowadays everyone has their own cell phone so it probably isn’t much of a problem anymore, but back then all we had was the home phone. After a few things like that happened, I spent more and more time alone in my room. The first floor of the house was the store, so when I came home, I’d sit and listen to the radio in my room on the second floor, or watch TV. They had cable radio in the store, so sometimes when no one was around I’d go there, turn the radio on, and make requests over the phone. I’d request a couple of songs I liked and listen to them by myself, every single time.

ーWhat kind of songs did you like at the time?

aiko: I’ve been listening to cable radio since I was in elementary school. At the time I liked a lot of idol music, like Hikaru GENJI or Minamino Yoko. As far as Western music went, I liked Gilbert O’Sullivan and The Beatles, stuff like that. I really loved the song “Alone Again” that would play during the anime “Maison Ikkoku”, so I requested that one a lot. My dad gave me a Beatles cassette tape that I used to listen to quite a bit.

ーWhat kind of TV shows did you watch?

aiko: I absolutely loved “Hissatsu Shigotonin”. I was always like, “Nakamura Mondo RULES!!!” (laughs) I also liked “Totsuzen Gabacho!”. It was super funny, but they never played it in Tokyo. There’s this person named Kaku who’s the head of the newscaster department of the Osaka TBS channel. It was show he was on with Fukutei when he was younger. There’s this thing they would do called “The TV Staring Contest”, where’d they have a staring contest with the audience. The audience had to hang tight while he read a joke off a card. Anyone who laughed got carried off by some macho dudes, screaming the whole time. I thought that was soooo funny. I’d puff out my cheeks like I was sitting in the audience and stare back, laughing with my mouth closed like, “Hmp hmp hmp.” (laughs)

ーYou never played with your friends?

aiko: I did sometimes. I was always hanging out with Murai Miki, Matsuda Kaori, and Asamaki Kurumi. But you know how you can be the best of friends with someone in middle school, and then the next day it feels like everyone’s ignoring you? Like, when your girl friends try to get you to break up with someone by bad-mouthing you behind your back. Well, a few things like that happened. I talked to them whenever we were on teams or at school together, but I haven’t hung out with any of them since I graduated.

ーAre you still close with any of your friends from middle school?

aiko: No. I’d stop and chat if I ran into them somewhere, but I don’t have any friends from back then that I keep in touch with. I had this one friend in middle school I was so close to that we kept a diary we traded back and forth, but then we had a falling out after a fight. That happened when I was going to junior college. I lost touch with her after that, even though we were best friends at the time. She was the kind of person who took all the shocking things that happened to me into stride, you know? At the time, I used to get really upset over minor misunderstandings. I wasn’t the type to just sit around sulking at my relatives’ house though, so I’d just try my best to act all chipper and say, “Hey, guess what? Something crazy happened to me today!”

ーIn true aiko fashion.

aiko: Yeah, like changing shifts. I just wanted someone to listen. When I called her to tell her about it, she started crying before I did. She said, “I feel so bad for you, Aiko!” The first time she did that, I cried too.

ーYou were just keeping it all bottled up inside.

aiko: Yeah. I think I was just averting my eyes from how awful I felt. I probably would’ve cried in front of my relatives too, if I talked openly about it with them. But I didn’t want that, so I kind of just acted like it someone else’s problem. Hearing my friend sobbing and choking up finally made me be honest with myself, I guess you could say. Crying made me feel a little better about it.

Read more: Previous « Index » Next

[kimonobeat]

aiko Lyrics: Shiroi Michi (白い道; A White Road)

English translation and romanization below the cut.

ENGLISH

I closed my eyes, holding you. Snow falls behind my eyelids Has it been a long time? It felt like it went by in the blink of an eye Today while walking down the road, I spaced out over you again Because, looking back on a lot of things, it still hurts

From that day when I knew nothing, to the end when I’d learned all about you...

I loved the way you’d nod along. I wanted to watch you do it all the time, all the time You sent me flying just by telling me That you’d be with me if the world ever ended, that you and I were a lot alike This cold day won’t end

A white road illuminated by the stars, the road I took to see you My chest hurts especially bad, and I sweat in the cold winds Deep down, I knew it would all come to an end If I could just make out your figure, even though you feel so far away

I can’t stand it now, no matter how hard I try. If I’m not holding my breath, I’m right about to cry

I wanted to protect your heart, the one no one knew anything about I held it in my arms so that your voice, your clumsy kisses, those moments that felt like destiny to me wouldn’t be broken I’m the only one who can’t move

From that day when I knew nothing, to the end when I’d learned all about you...

I loved the way you’d nod along. I wanted to watch you do it all the time, all the time You sent me flying just by telling me That you’d be with me if the world ever ended, that you and I were a lot alike This cold day won’t end

ROMAJI

anata wo dakishime me wo tojita mabuta no ura de yuki ga furu nagai jikan datta no ka atto iu ma datta kana kyou mo hitori aruita michi de bon’yari anata no koto omou takusan omoikaeshitara ima wa mada kurushii kara ne

nanimo shiranakatta ano hi kara anata wo oboeta owari made

unadzuku shigusa ga suki datta itsumo itsumo mite itakatta kono yo no owari wa issho ni iru to kimi to boku wa nite iru to iwareta dake de tobitate’ta no samui hi wa mou kosenai

hoshi ga terasu shiroi michi anata ni ai ni itta michi tokubetsu mune ga itakutte tsumetai kaze ni ase wo kaku tooku nagaku kanjite itemo anata no sugata ga miete shimaeba kitto owatte shimau tte karada no oku ga kidzuite’ru

ima dou shitemo gaman dekinai na iki wo tomete’nai to nakisou

koe mo gikochinai kisu mo unmei to kanjita toki mo kowarenu you ni to daita anata no daremo shiranai kokoro wo itsumademo mamoritakatta atashi dake ga ugokenai

nanimo shiranakatta ano hi kara anata wo oboeta owari made

unadzuku shigusa ga suki datta itsumo itsumo mite itakatta kono yo no owari wa issho ni iru to kimi to boku wa nite iru to iwareta dake de tobitate’ta no samui hi wa mou kosenai