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anime-lover-forever-1127 · 3 years ago

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The Sadist’s Nurse {Okita Sougo} - 1.This Is Only The First Chapter And I Can't Think Of A Title. How Am I Gonna Survive The Entire Fanfiction?! Well Good Thing This Is A Gintama Fanfiction, So I Can Do This

This Is Only The First Chapter And I Can't Think Of A Title. How Am I Gonna Survive The Entire Fanfiction?!

Well Good Thing This Is A Gintama Fanfiction,

So I Can Do This ^

Disclaimer - (Cause fanfiction is tricky ground and I hope not to offend the creator of the original story and get sued)

I do not own "Gintama", it belongs to its original creator Hideaki Sorachi - or as we may know him, the Gorilla (If you did not get that reference, then I'd like you to stop, and ask yourself - Are You A Real Gintama Fan?) . This is only a fanfiction that I was inspired to write by the original work. Please support the official release. Most of the media - such as the art and illustrations, gifs, video's, etc. used in this fanfiction - are from the web. Thus, most of them aren't mine (because I really, really can't draw) unless mentioned. To fit the story, images are also edited by various apps and websites. So they aren't mine, just edited.

Also if you own a picture or Video that I found online, and you either want your name added, or me to take it down. Please contact me and we can talk it out. P.s. I also ask that you do not copy my work and publish it onto any other website.

If you're gonna use my idea, please ask me (If you ask nicely, I for sure, will agree). If I don't contact you within a week, then just assume I'm giving you the all clear and go for it. Just remember to credit me.

I will be writing out scenes even if my Oc isn't in them. As long as she's mentioned, or influencing the characters in some way. Or maybe because it influences the story. This may seem a bit annoying. But that's just how I write. I like to embed my characters into the story line. Because of this, most of the dialogue/scenes will come from the original work.

I may not get all the references in the story - because I haven't watched all those anime - so sorry if I butchere those those ones. (It goes without saying that I don't own any of those as well)

*****

Warnings: Spoilers for episode 5

Today's Special

Never let your best friends get lonely...

Keep disturbing them

~ Unknown

*****

Akira watched her brother mutter to himself as he spied out the window.

"Okita wake up." Hijita said, balling up Katsura's wanted poster up and hitting the sleeping man on the head with it. The main reason he did that being that he didn't like how at home he looked sleeping on his precious baby sisters lap.

Akira stopped running her hands through the man's soft locks as he got up.

"I'm surprised that you could sleep through that explosion." Hijikata said.

"Explosion?" Sougo questioned. "Did you let the terrorists attack again?" He asked, pulling down his sleeping mask. "What's your problem, Hijikata? You need to apply yourself. Take a page out of Akira's book."

"Me! You're the one who needs to take a page out of her book and stop sleeping on the job." Hijikata shouts, grabbing his sword's hilt. "They can blow up all the Amanto for all I care. I'll let those fishes swim for a bit before I'll reel 'em up… and cut their necks." He drew his sword, pushing his palm against the flat side of the blade. "It'll be a proud moment for the shinsengumi. I'm looking forward to this fight."

"If that's settled. Then let's head back to the base and we can decide what action to take there." Akira suggests.

*****

"Oh? So we finally found them?" Kondo asks.

Hijikata nods, "Yes. Yamazaki is following them right now. It's only a matter of time before we discover their base, Kondo-san."

"Yeah. But it wouldn't be the first time we've thought that. We gotta be careful or they'll slip right through our fingers again." says Akira, as she leans against the door frame.

"That's fine. We'll just have to be careful. Goodwork, Toshi."

"It's too soon to thank me." The vice-chief says, he turns around to look at their boss. "Save it for after we've killed them!"

"That is smart. You know it's just like the saying goes. It's never a good idea to count your chickens before they hatch." Akira nods.

"That's right." Konod agrees, "The Shinsengumi only give credit after distinguished military service. We, the Shinsengumi, belong in battle. " Kondo nods.

Hijikata smirks, "You're the chief. I'm only following orders."

"I'm counting on you, Toshi." Says the older man.

"We'll in that case. I better go check the medical stock and get the room ready." Akira says. "Someone around here, and by that I mean me, has to make sure you idiots don't bleed out and kill yourselves."

*****

Akira watches from the sidelines as a Shinsengumi unit charges forward, her brother and childhood friend at the helm. Leading the attack.

"You're under arrest!" yells Hijikata, kicking the door down. "Come quietly, you terrorist scum!"

"It's the Shinsengumi!"

"Oh no! Run away!"

And other similar shouts were heard from the room.

"Kill them all!" Hijikata shouted, pointing his sword forward.

"Actually Aniki. We should take some of them alive. I highly doubt that this is the entire army." says Akira, coming up to stand beside the two commanding officers.

"She's right you know Hijikata-san." Sougo says, and never one to miss out on an opportunity to annoy the older man, he adds, "I feel bad for Akira-chan. Always having to pick up her oniisan's slack."

"Why you-" Hijikata starts to growl, only to be cut off with a slap to the head.

"Hey. Why did you do that?" He asked, rubbing his head.

"Because well you two are here, bickering like children. The enemy is getting away." Akira answers, her hands on her hips. "Now go, before I decide to hit you with something a lot harder."

"Fine. Let's go Sougo."

*****

Within minutes there were injured Shinsengumi members coming to Akira to get their injuries looked at.

"You can continue to fight." She says to a member of the 2and squad. "Oh, and well you're out there. Can you please try to capture one of the Jouishishi members alive. We could use a bit more intel on their future operations. oK."

"Of course Akira-san." The man nodded, picking his sword up and running off into the battle again.

Seeing no more people, Akira poked her head around the corner to see all the members standing outside a barricaded door.

Seeing that the fight was practically over, she walked over to the group of men.

"This again? Where do they think they're gonna go?" Akira wonders, as one of her fingers tap against her cheek.

"Who knows what's ever going on inside those terrorists' heads." A Shinsengumi member answered.

"Hey, come out. We're really going to fire this time." Sougo shouted at the door. His thumb and pointer finger holds his chin, as his arm rests on the palm of his other hand. "Hijikata-san, our evening soap rerun is going to start soon."

"Did you remember to set our VCR?" Akira asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Geez. I forgot." He answers.

"Great. Note to self. Don't give you that job again." pouts Akira. She then turns around to the men and shouts, "Come on people. Let's wrap this up. We have 45 minutes to get back to the base. So let's finish this up today ladies."

"Dam. I didn't know she could be so mean." One of the newer members mumbles.

"Yeah. I thought she was known for being nice."

"She usually is. But since you two are new here, you don't really know her and you haven't seen anything yet either. Wait till her favorite store is selling strawberry cake. Then you realise how mean she can truly be. She'll tear you the shreds and then sew you back up together again. There are a couple of unwritten rules in the Shinsengumi. Ones that you'll have to learn if you intend to survive here." Another one answers.

Getting sick of the mutters, Hijikata shouted, "You heard the women. Let's get this over with. Prepare to fire!"

Just as the explosive was about to be launched, the barricade broke open from the other side as three people jumped out.

"Wh-what are you doing?! Stop them!" shouted Akira, surprised.

A puffy silver haired man continued to charge forward, holding something round in his hand. "If you want to stop something, then stop this bomb, please!" He said.

"You have a bomb squad, don't you?"

"He's got a bomb." Someone shouted.

As the group of men in black ran away from the trio, Akira simply grabbed the vice-chief and first division captain and pulled them to the side and let the group run right past them.

"Normally i'd say that we should stick around and help them out. But I'm dying to see who killed Gyuki. If we go now, we can make it right before the opening credits finish." Akira smirked.

"Don't we need to stick around?" Toshi asks.

Raising an eyebrow, Akira fires back, "Do you wanna stick around?"

"Hell no" The two men answer in unison.

*****

Legend/translation:

Aniki - Your own older brother, not to be confused with oniisan, which means someone else's older brother.

I also feel like I need to clear up the topic of her hair colour. It's mostly black, but under certain lighting, it looks brown.

I also understand the difference between a doctor and a nurse. And, yes, she really is a doctor. But let's all be honest, 'The Sadist's Nurse' has a much better ring to it then, 'The Sadist's Doctor'. It honestly just rolls off the tongue better.

You can read the other chapters of this story (in order) on Wattpad, Quotev, Fanfiction.Net, Ao3, or Webnovel - Under the username Animeloverforever1127 (Under the same title of course). Or you could shuffle around my tumbler, (I’ll try to keep my tags constant) but I’d go with the first - just seems like a lot less work.

#The Sadist’s Nurse {Okita Sougo} - 1.This Is Only The First Chapter And I Can't Think Of A Title. How Am I Gonna Survive The Entire Fanficti #The Sadist’s Nurse {Okita Sougo}#okita sougo #animeloverforever1127 #gintama hijikata #gintama #kondo #yamazaki #akira

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shazzeaslightnovels · 5 years ago

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Seireitsukai no Blade Dance 1

Official English Title: Blade Dance of the Elementalers

Author: Yuu Shimizu

Illustrator: Hanpen Sakura

Label: MF Bunko J

Release Date: 21 December 2010

Art Notes: This series went through 3 different illustrators throughout it’s life and I’ll be talking about each of them as we get to them. Hanpen Sakura was the original artist and covered the series for 13 volumes before having to step down due to health issues. Their art is definitely done in the moe style and, while it’s not really to my taste, I do like the character designs (Restia’s especially) and I think that it suits the series. I do remember Sakura’s art does get better as the series continues so I look forward to seeing that improvement.

Ecchi warning: aside from the cover, there’s also a colour illustration of a nude Claire getting attacked by a slimy water spirit.

So, first off, I have read part of this series before. It was years ago though, back in the day when fan translations reigned supreme, J-Novel Club wasn’t a thing yet, Yen-Press wasn’t licensing many light novels and I hadn’t begun to learnt Japanese yet. While my memories are a bit fuzzy, I do remember quite a bit about it so, while I don’t intend to spoil anything, there’s a possibility that I may do so on accident to please keep that in mind.

Anyway, I enjoyed this, though there were a few scenes that frustrated me a little bit. I especially enjoyed the fight scenes and found the protagonist to be charming. I definitely recommend it if you are into magic battle school series and don’t mind harem and ecchi elements.

Story:

Genre: Ecchi, Harem, Action, Fantasy, Magic school, Comedy

Elementalers - people who are able to make contracts with elemental spirits and use their powers for battle. The power usually only appears in pure maidens but it appears that Kamito is an exception. Having lost some of his memories three years ago, Kamito is on a search to find someone. His search takes him to a prestigious academy for young elementalers and the headmaster forces him to enrol there, telling him to compete in the blade dance, a competition in which elementalers compete in order to have their wish granted. Seeing as the blade dance may lead Kamito to find who he is looking for, he complies. But, this year, the blade dance is a group battle and Kamito must find 4 teammates in order to compete...

Content warnings: the ecchi here isn’t very hardcore (I mean, in comparison to modern ecchi light novels, anyway) but it is still there so I don’t recommend reading this series if you’re bad with that kind of thing. Also, there are violent tsundere characters and a character who has the form of a child but is actually hundreds of years old so, again, if you have issues with these character types then I don’t recommend it.

Yes, this is one of those series with a power that’s only meant to be used by girls except for the male protagonist who can use it because reasons, a bunch of tsundere, ecchi “comedic” scenes, misunderstandings and a magic battle school. I know that a lot people hate these types of series but I’ve always thought that they have a certain charm to them and I found myself enjoying this volume despite all of it’s cliches. The magic system is interesting and the battle scenes are exciting and the characters are likeable and that’s all I really want out of a series like this. There were some scenes that annoyed me like the misunderstanding scenes where Kamito ends up in a situation that looks bad and the girls are quick to jump to conclusions and accuse him of doing something that he didn’t actually do. It gets tiresome after a while but I did manage to look past it, in the end.

One of the main things that is set up in this volume is teamwork. The characters are very strong but they are really terrible at teamwork, especially Rinslet, and I look forward to seeing them get better at it. The other major plot points that are introduced here have to do with Kamito’s and Claire’s past as they’re both searching for someone. I’m really looking forward to unraveling the mysteries behind Kamito’s memory loss.

Character:

Kamito is an interesting and likeable protagonist. He has a mysterious past and slowly more facts about it get revealed over the course of this volume but we still don’t know everything and I look forward to learning more. I also find his personality charming with how he tends to tease the tsundere ojou-sama around him when they yell at him but is willing to apologise when he realises that he’s crossed a line. As you can tell from the cover, Claire, the fiery red-haired tsundere, is our main heroine for this volume. Her catchphrase is “I’ll burn you to cinders”, she weilds a whip that she often uses to wrap around Kamito’s neck and her first meeting with Kamito ends with her declaring that he needs to take responsibility and become her slave. The series has a few tsundere characters but she’s probably the most violent of them so she’s definitely one of those characters that is easy to hate. I think her tsun is made more bearable thanks to Kamito’s personality and his willingness to tease her when she gets violent and I found myself able to like her despite all of her flaws. I think there’s a lot of potential for good development with her and I hope to see her become less abusive as the series goes on.

As for the other heroines, 4 are introduced in this volumes and one’s a spoiler so I’ll just talk about the other 3 for now. Ellis is the captain of the school knights and she initially hates Kamito upon discovering his existence but she comes around to him by the end of the volume. She’s not as violent as Claire is but she is still a tsundere and often threatens to turn Kamito into *insert food of any type here* which I found amusing. Of the girls, Rinslet fits the archetype of “tsundere ojou-sama” the best but she’s less tsun than Claire and Ellis and is probably the least prone to violence of the three. I really enjoy her rivalry with Claire and I love her way of speaking. Est is a spirit that Kamito makes a contract with at the start of the volume. She doesn’t do a whole lot here but readers who enjoy the kuudere loli archetype should enjoy her. The supporting characters in this volume are memorable enough.

Adaptation Notes:

The manga adaptation is complete at 6 volumes and features art by Issei Hyouju (provided the art for the manga adaptations of Slayers Revolution, MM!, Slayers Evolution-R and the ongoing Isekai Meikyuu de Harem wo). It’s pretty good so far and has some great action panels and adorable chibi art. Some stuff is cut or moved but a lot of it improves the story as some of the more silly misundersting scenes are taken out and the moved scenes improve the pacing. It’s worth a mention that the scene in the light novel where Claire gets attacked by the water spirit is changed in the manga so that Claire and Rinslet get attacked by it while clothed. Anyway, I enjoyed the manga and I recommend it as a substitute for the light novel.

Apparently, there is another manga adaptation with art by Zenzai Yoshihira but it was cancelled after a few chapters due to health problems and a volume was never released so I can’t talk about it at all.

The anime adaptation is 12 episodes in length and this volume is adapted in the first 4 episodes. This is one of those cases where I wish that the anime staff had been more willing to cut stuff and change things. This is a short volume and it does not need 4 episodes to adapt it. The mediocre adaptation for this series is why I have to defend adaptations like Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut and Danmachi whose creators knew that volume 3 would not be a good enough stopping point to make an impression and saw opportunities to cut things out and I wish that Blade Dance had received a similar treatment. It’s also really low budgeted and you can tell. As for what I do like about the anime, I do enjoy the character designs and I like that the majority of the voice actors selected for the anime did not have much experience at the time, like Kana Yuuki, Shizuka Ishigami, Makoto Furukawa and Saori Oonishi. And they all nail their performances and are perfectly cast in their roles. There are some well-known voice actors cast as well, like Youko Hikasa, but most of the actors were not expeirenced when the anime was produced and I like that the anime gave the opportunity for these newer actors to shine.

Recommended for:

If you’re into battle school fantasy series and don’t mind harem and ecchi elements, read this. If you’re currently trying to learn Japanese through reading light novels and want to read a fantasy series, I found this easy to read. There is a bit of fantasy jargon but not too much and it’s quite short at around 250 pages.

I’ll be reading volume 2 fairly soon.

#Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance #Blade Dance of the Elementalers #Blade Dance #Yuu Shimizu #Hanpen Sakura #MF Bunko J #May 2020 #Positive review

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fyhyungwon · 7 years ago

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Additional translation by Dana Hong. © Dazed

#hyungwon #ot7 #monsta x #170824 #t: interview

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forljh · 7 years ago

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[Article] From survival show rookies to K-Pop stars

Talking to the seven-member group, who rose from participants on survival show NO.MERCY to become rising stars in South Korea’s music scene

Paris. Summer, 2017.

It should be a gorgeous mid-August day but the rain is apocalyptic, drenching the hundreds upon hundreds of people queuing outside one of the city’s most celebrated music halls. They’re here for the first ever European shows by Monsta X, the seven-member South Korean group whose mix of pop, hip hop, and heavy EDM combined with dark, tough, and sometimes cabalistic concepts has seen them gain a fiercely dedicated global following.

When the lights do go down, the screams are piercing and reverential. Monsta X’s show is broken into group and unit performances (where members do something special, from a spin on the decks to covering popular Western songs) and every gesture, word, and ad-lib will wind the audience higher until the room virtually pulses.

Backstage, however, things are much calmer. Vocalists Wonho, Kihyun, Hyungwon, Shownu, and Minhyuk, and rappers Jooheon and I.M, emit a serene, friendly professionalism. They’re wearing their stage costumes: Kihyun, the main vocalist, sports a sizable and sparkling Chanel logo brooch, while Monsta X’s leader, Shownu, has a thick band of sequins around a sleeve that throws light right into your eyes. Their entire effect is dazzling and distracting – all seven in tight trousers and jackets laden with diamante chains and epaulettes, beautiful faces smooth with makeup – and it will send their fandom, known as Monbebe, wild over the next two hours.

While fans will commit their favourite moments of the night to forums or YouTube, Kihyun can’t pick just one standout memory from the tour, which began in June. “Rather than just one particular moment, it’s just whole moments of time,” he explains. “Even when we perform in front of people who speak different languages, that all members enjoy the concert together gives me goosebumps.” Shownu, however, pinpoints his as “at the end of the songs like ‘넌 어때’ (‘I’ll Be There’), Monbebes prepare something special, like placards, so we’re always surprised.”

“We’re having fun every day,” says Minhyuk, as I.M adds, “We spend most of our free time sightseeing and eating. We’re always walking around, taking pictures.” Jooheon nods in agreement: “It gives us inspiration.”

Monsta X, who debuted in May 2015, were born from NO.MERCY, a survival show created by their label Starship Entertainment. In the show, existing male trainees vied against each other to debut in a new boy group. NO.MERCY initially shocked its audience when I.M, a total newcomer, was added to the mix late and ended up controversially being chosen for the group, knocking out fan favourite #GUN. It was a contentious start to idol life, but the competitive tension fast become an enviable camaraderie, complete with family-esque banter and bickering which, alongside Monsta X’s underrated, slow burn success, helped earn the unwavering loyalty of the Monbebes.

Like most artists, both Monsta X’s music and their members contain notable contradictions. Their singles frame them as one of K-Pop’s more intimidating groups – the cinematic strings on “Fighter”, the graceful choruses and tight raps on “All In” and “Beautiful”, and “Hero”s crunching EDM and its sibling, the passionate, infatuated “Stuck” – but, as Kihyun says, “even if we look a certain way on the outside, it’s just an image. For example, Jooheon might look chill and tough, but inside he’s quite sensitive.”

This contrast was recently presented to the casual listener with the fizzy “Newton”, their first aegyo-heavy (cute behavior) official MV (music video), but a recent interview points to grittier songs as their personal favorites, creating a lot of guesswork as to their next concept. Wonho, who habitually scratches at his palms idly while other members speak, snaps to attention and smiles. “Actually we’re working towards the next album, but we haven’t fixed a particular concept just yet. So when we know we’ll call you directly... if you want.”

“Even if we look a certain way on the outside, it’s just an image” – Kihyun, Monsta X

Their sensitive side has never been concealed, but you need to delve into their albums for it, seen on likes of the mid-tempo soul of “Amen” and “Need U” or the extraordinary, piano-lead “Broken Heart”. Or invest in their reality shows Deokspatch X, Right Now!, and newer series X-Ray (“You saw that?” Kihyun asks in English, surprised – and you can just catch his slight lisp), where their off-stage personalities veer like go-karts through sassy, embarrassing, risible, protective and tender.

Of course, far more lies beyond those facets. “I’m actually writing songs most days, particularly at the hotel between concerts,” Wonho divulges. Notorious for removing his shirt on every stage, he’s the incorrigible flirt, the sweet, muscular show-off – but has, alongside Jooheon and I.M, become far more involved with the group’s output and devoted himself to honing his craft. One of his compositions, the bittersweet lyrics and upbeat trop-house of “From Zero” is a fixture on the set-list, a duet he performs with Hyungwon. Despite calls from fans to commit “From Zero” to tape, it’s still only for the stage, though Wonho isn’t entirely discounting the idea. “That’s something we need to discuss further as the song was originally developed without a plan for release,” he muses. “So we’ll think about it.”

One of the most compelling inter-band unit performances on this tour is 2Chain (Kihyun and Jooheon), who, after releasing a striking cover of R&B singer Crush’s “You & I” earlier this year, cover Lil Wayne’s “Mirror”. Jooheon has written his own verses for it, brutally self-judgmental yet ultimately empowering words he uses in a volatile performance that emotionally knocks you from your seat. “It was Kihyun who suggested ‘Mirror’, and I liked the song as well,” he explains candidly, sat beside the singer who reassuringly taps on Jooheon’s knee throughout.

“People don’t always say complimentary stuff to themselves, and I thought about what I was missing, where I wasn’t good enough – like, trying to see the whole picture,” Jooheon adds in Korean. “I realised it was my fans who were most important in my life, so I tried to match myself with them, seeing the fans from my perspective and seeing myself from the fans’ perspective. I guess I tried to put a lot of things into those lyrics…” He trails into silence – although known as one of Monsta X’s big on-stage personalities, today he’s quiet and watchful, and Wonho breaks the sudden lull. “Wow, that’s going to be really hard to translate,” he blurts, making the others laugh.

“I don’t particularly think about if we’ve had to work at becoming friends, which I guess means it hasn’t been difficult” – Minhyuk, Monsta X

Besides Monsta X, the members have their own projects – mixtapes (Jooheon, I.M), photography (Kihyun) and illustration (Minhyuk). I.M’s introspective 2016 track “Who Am I” was the pertinent musings of a young idol, asking “am I born for me or born for success?” Despite a year speckled in career milestones, answers remain unfound. “I think I’m still looking,” he replies in English, which he undoubtedly picked up from a childhood spent in Israel and the US. He’s the maknae (youngest) at 21 years old but possesses a disconcerting directness and a wry intensity. “Asking myself questions like that makes me grow up and be stronger,” he says, leaning in, elbows resting on his knees.

The group’s meme king, Hyungwon, isn’t a big talker in interviews but a joy for fans with his droll humor and expressions, which consistently go viral. Under the moniker DJ H.One, he’s been DJing on the tour and appearing at dance festivals like Ultra Korea “to show new things about myself. I’ve been practicing for about eight months in my own time.” His preference is for crowd-pleasing EDM; he throws a sliced and diced version of Monsta X’s single “Beautiful” into his sets, and as Hyungwon adds, “there’s a song called ‘Bang Bang Bang’, it has Jooheon rapping over it. I think the reaction (from the crowd) is so much better when we’re together.”

Unexpectedly, it’s Shownu who has impressed the public through the dance show Hit The Stage and beauty show Lipstick Prince, where male idols are taught the art of makeup. Formerly awkward enough around people to have earned the nickname ‘Robot Shownu’, he’s blossoming. “Lipstick Prince really helped me a lot to become confident around other singers and be able to get to know them, and Hit The Stage helped the way I perform,” he admits. “It’s definitely good for us to be working solo, but we never forget it’s Monsta X that makes solo activities possible. Also we have more fun together than alone.”

Together they’ve certainly achieved impressive goals – from winning last year’s Male Dance Performance at the Seoul Awards to topping the Billboard World Chart with their recent album, The Clan Pt. 2.5 Guilty. “We haven’t really thought about awards,” Minhyuk says of potential future wins. He’s interrupted. “A Grammy!” demands I.M, laughing, then apologising. “But rather than awards, we want to be a group the next generation can look to, like ‘I want to be like Monsta X’,” Minhyuk continues.

“We’re a family... We shine brighter when we’re together” – Shownu, Monsta X

Monsta X might well inspire others. After all, their dynamic – even in the unnatural confines of an interview – is one of warmth, acceptance, and familiarity. It’s in the little looks they shoot each other, the nudges of support, and Minhyuk, with his sunny smile and a speaking voice that cracks a little on the edges, embodies all that, creating an easy atmosphere that relaxes his bandmates.

“I don’t particularly think about if we’ve had to work at becoming friends, which I guess means it hasn’t been difficult,” Minhyuk muses. K-Pop fans often question if the appearance of closeness in idol groups is strictly for business or if they’ve truly bonded. “Well, y’know, I am a businessman,” he says slyly, making Wonho snort with laughter. “Just kidding! I think it’s been just a naturally flowing relationship.”

That there might be a member who remains hard to read sparks a debate. Kihyun tilts his head, squinting at the ceiling. “Even difficult members are so easy to read. I don’t know…” he says, half to himself.

“No, no!” says Minhyuk, with glint in his eye. “I have one. I.M. He’s our youngest so he seems to easy to read, but sometimes he’s really not. It’s like he has his own world.”

“I think he just has no thoughts during those times,” Shownu offers.

I.M’s world would be..? “Maybe Mars?” he replies, straight-faced. “But anyway, we don’t get angry, we’re always happy,” he quips, to explosions of disbelief around him.

There’s just enough time to look back at their career thus far and define, beyond the music, what’s set them apart to succeed. In a rather endearing way to end things, what Shownu says is mistranslated into “I think the difference is we have quite great bodies…” Kihyun laughs so hard he rolls into Jooheon’s lap as Minhyuk protests loudly – “Great bodies? Great shapes, great shapes!” he re-translates as Hyungwon and Shownu look startled, and I.M, Jooheon and Wonho wear the smiles of those who can no longer be embarrassed by much at all.

Shownu patiently starts again. “Firstly, all of us have great shapes, and we’re very dynamic…” He pauses. “I’ve never used the word ‘dynamic’ (‘역동적인’) before,” he says hesitantly, a leader who tends to let his group do most of the talking, “...and we’re powerful on stage. We’re a family. We’ve known each other for a long time and we shine brighter when we’re together.”

Article by Dazed

#monsta x #170823 #t:interview

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fy-shownu · 7 years ago

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[INTERVIEW] From Survival Show Rookies To K-Pop Stars

Talking to the seven-member group, who rose from participants on survival show NO.MERCY to become rising stars in South Korea’s music scene.

Paris. Summer, 2017.

It should be a gorgeous mid-August day but the rain is apocalyptic, drenching the hundreds upon hundreds of people queueing outside one of the city’s most celebrated music halls. They’re here for the first ever European shows by Monsta X, the seven-member South Korean group whose mix of pop, hip hop, and heavy EDM combined with dark, tough, and sometimes cabalistic concepts has seen them gain a fiercely dedicated global following.

This contrast was recently presented to the casual listener with the fizzy “Newton”, their first aegyo-heavy (cute behaviour) official MV (music video), but a recent interview points to grittier songs as their personal favourites, creating a lot of guesswork as to their next concept. Wonho, who habitually scratches at his palms idly while other members speak, snaps to attention and smiles. “Actually we’re working towards the next album, but we haven’t fixed a particular concept just yet. So when we know we’ll call you directly… if you want.”

Of course, far more lies beyond those facets. “I’m actually writing songs most days, particularly at the hotel between concerts,” Wonho divulges. Notorious for removing his shirt on every stage, he’s the incorrigible flirt, the sweet, muscular show-off – but has, alongside Jooheon and I.M, become far more involved with the group’s output and devoted himself to honing his craft. One of his compositions, the bittersweet lyrics and upbeat trop-house of “From Zero” is a fixture on the setlist, a duet he performs with Hyungwon. Despite calls from fans to commit “From Zero” to tape, it’s still only for the stage, though Wonho isn’t entirely discounting the idea. “That’s something we need to discuss further as the song was originally developed without a plan for release,” he muses. “So we’ll think about it.”

One of the most compelling inter-band unit performances on this tour is 2Chain (Kihyun and Jooheon), who, after releasing a striking cover of R&B singer Crush’s “You & I” earlier this year, cover Lil Wayne’s “Mirror”. Jooheon has written his own verses for it, brutally self-judgemental yet ultimately empowering words he uses in a volatile performance that emotionally knocks you from your seat. “It was Kihyun who suggested ‘Mirror’, and I liked the song as well,” he explains candidly, sat beside the singer who reassuringly taps on Jooheon’s knee throughout.

The group’s meme king, Hyungwon, isn’t a big talker in interviews but a joy for fans with his droll humour and expressions, which consistently go viral. Under the moniker DJ H.One, he’s been DJing on the tour and appearing at dance festivals like Ultra Korea “to show new things about myself. I’ve been practising for about eight months in my own time.” His preference is for crowd-pleasing EDM; he throws a sliced and diced version of Monsta X’s single “Beautiful” into his sets, and as Hyungwon adds, “there’s a song called ‘Bang Bang Bang’, it has Jooheon rapping over it. I think the reaction (from the crowd) is so much better when we’re together.”

“No, no!” says Minhyuk, with glint in his eye. “I have one. I.M. He’s our youngest so he seems to easy to read, but sometimes he’s really not. It’s like he has his own world.”

“I think he just has no thoughts during those times,” Shownu offers.

I.M’s world would be..? “Maybe Mars?” he replies, straight-faced. “But anyway, we don’t get angry, we’re always happy,” he quips, to explosions of disbelief around him.

Shownu patiently starts again. “Firstly, all of us have great shapes, and we’re very dynamic…” He pauses. “I’ve never used the word ‘dynamic’ (‘역동적인’) before,” he says hesitantly, a leader who tends to let his group do most of the talking, “…and we’re powerful on stage. We’re a family. We’ve known each other for a long time and we shine brighter when we’re together.”

#monsta x #t: article #t: news #t: interview #170823 #dazed

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rozalynpaige · 7 years ago

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About The Know’s video titled “Final Fantasy 7 Remake & Kingdom Hearts 3 GET HITMANNED?”

On May 26th, 2017, YouTube news channel The Know released a video titled “Final Fantasy 7 Remake & Kingdom Hearts 3 GET HITMANNED?” and... there is so much wrong with it.

Since this post turned out really long, I’m gonna put a TL;DR here at the top so I can put my explanations and sources under a Read More, so as not to clog up y’all’s dashes.

TL;DR:

Kingdom Hearts 3 is not in FF15 Development Hell. The Know saying that Jose compared KH3′s development to FF15′s is actually wholly incorrect, as he did no such thing. He even clarified that he didn’t. Please note, to be fair to The Know: This can be blamed on mistranslation, as the tweet they were referencing was originally in Spanish. They are not the only ones to reach this incorrect conclusion from the mistranslated tweet. So, try not to be harsh on The Know, guys.

Jose most likely was only implying that minor content would be cut from KH3 if it isn’t 100% done by its deadline, not that we would be getting an incomplete game a la FF15. As he said on May 9th, “There is no rush when you delay a game twice.”

“These are games we intend to release in the next three years” does not mean “Three years from now”, The Know. How can you go from reading aloud a tweet that says “2018″ twice to saying “What if it doesn’t come out until 2020 because they said ‘in the next three years’”? I feel that The Know’s comments about KH3 not coming until “2020 or later” are entirely overreaction. While Jose_Strife’s claim of a 2018 release for KH3 is still officially just a rumor, he may not be far off. We’ll just have to wait and see, possibly at E3 2017, if Jose is right about them releasing a KH3 trailer there.

We already knew, since 2015, that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be released episodically. How is this news, The Know?? It is not as bad as it seems, however. FF7 Re’s episodes will be full games, a la FF13. FF13 is a series of three games (XIII, XIII-2, and XIII-3), and Square Enix considers it to be “episodic”. Square Enix said that FF7 Re’s “episodic” nature will be based on FF13′s release structure.

I don’t think KH3 will be released episodically. Even if it is, I believe it’ll be like FF7 Re and FF13.

Explanations and sources below the Read More. For a slightly more manageable read, I’ve split up the sections through use of horizontal line and making pseudo-headers with bold text placed between “~~~”.

~~~First...~~~

I will start with their inaccurate information about what Twitter user Jose_Strife said in regards to Kingdom Hearts 3.

If you don’t know who Jose_Strife is or why anyone would consider him an authority on Kingdom Hearts news... In summary, he appears to have connections, and his “leaked info” has been right before. On May 8th, 2017, he made a series of tweets about Kingdom Hearts 3′s current state in development, said there will be a trailer at E3, and even said the planned release year is 2018. These tweets were in Spanish, so English-speakers had to translate them. This led to misunderstandings from faulty translations, and on May 9th, he tweeted clarifications in English. This is where The Know got tripped up.

~~~Comparison to FF15′s development~~~

First off, they claim that Jose_Strife compared KH3′s development to that of Final Fantasy 15. This is completely untrue. The misunderstanding comes from the following tweet:

“Y, para sorpresa de nadie, todo esto es culpa del infierno de desarrollo de Versus.” which got translated to “And, to the surprise of no one, all this is guilt Versus development hell.” (Link)

He refers to FF15 by its original name, Final Fantasy 13 Versus. Somehow, The Know (and admittedly, other people) took this to be him saying KH3 is in the same development hell as FF15. On May 9th, he clarified with this English tweet:

“Reports about kh3 being in development hell like Versus are also inaccurate. I said that the development of Versus was a hell.” (Link)

The impression I’m getting here is that he had been trying to make an off-hand comment about Square Enix’s actions being a result of guilt from FF15′s development... or something. Either way, KH3 is not in FF15 Development Hell, at all.

~~~KH3′s deadline; incomplete release?~~~

Second, The Know insinuated that Jose_Strife said, if KH3 doesn’t meet its deadline in 2018, story content will be cut and we’ll be given an incomplete game. I’m pretty sure this is incorrect, as well, judging by various tweets he posted.

In English, on May 9th: “Square Enix is not rushing KH3. That reports are incorrect.” (Link)

In English, on May 9th: “If they can't finish something when they hit the deadline, it'll be cut. There is no rush when you delay a game twice.” (Link)

He says that KH3 has been delayed twice, which indicates that Square Enix may be trying to avoid cutting major content. This is further supported by the following English tweet from May 9th:

“If Nomura was a Osaka team resident and he set his goals accurately, the game would be out in December like planned.” (Link)

Meaning that Tetsuya Nomura had initially expected KH3 to be released December 2017. When it was realized that it won’t be finished by then, the release date was delayed to sometime in 2018, according to Jose. Of course, this is by far not an official release date and can only be considered a rumor.

Assuming Jose is right, if KH3 was really going to go the way of FF15 - an incomplete release with cut story content that requires downloaded updates to finish - would they really have delayed the release? I think they would have stuck with the December 2017 release, if that was the case. But they seem to want to avoid repeating their mistake with FF15 (that possible “guilt” mentioned earlier).

There was also a Spanish tweet on May 8th that may clarify what kind of content Jose_Strife meant would be cut if KH3 doesn’t meet the deadline:

“Como muchos sabréis, KH2, BBS y 3D tuvieron contenido recortado, por lo que no es nada nuevo en KH. Todo lo planeado no estará en 3, simple.” which got translated to “As many of you know, KH2, BBS and 3D had content cut out, so it is nothing new in KH. The plan will not be in 3, simple” (Link)

Basically, pointing out that previous Kingdom Hearts games had content cut out and it has never been a big deal. There are actually YouTube videos out there where people talk about the games’ cut content, including unused assets that can be found in the coding, and it’s often pretty minor.

Just to put context to what I mean by that:

Content cut from KH2 includes:

Two keyblades, which had models.

Two Heartless, which appeared to have textured models. They were seen in an advertisement.

Not-so-minor: They changed their plans for how the battle against Xemnas would go.

You were going to be able to fight each member of Organization XIII for fun in Olympus Colosseum. This idea was later implemented in the Final Mix version of KH2.

Summons of Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. Their untextured models can be found in the game’s code. The best guess for why they were cut is because Square Enix didn’t have the rights to use any Pixar IPs. Hopefully they’ll eventually get the rights to Pixar movies.

This YouTube video talks about this info and has images, including concept art of old ideas for the Xemnas battle.

Content cut from Birth by Sleep includes:

A keyblade, which had a textured model.

An appearance by Pleakley in the Lilo & Stitch world. He has a model, but it has no texture.

Not-so-minor: A world based on The Jungle Book.

Not-so-minor: The Mirage Arena was actually going to have a story, where it was headed by Final Fantasy 8 character Laguna Loire. For whatever reason, Square Enix decided that Laguna would be in either Dissidia 012 or KH: BBS, not both. They went with Dissidia 012.

Cut content from Dream Drop Distance includes:

Plans for a rabbit-like Dream Eater

Sora was going to visit the old Tron world from KH2, while Riku visited the world based on the newer Tron movie.

Sora was going to visit the world based on the old Fantasia movie, while Riku visited one based on Fantasia 2000.

The latter two cut from Dream Drop Distance were due to time constraints, in regards to how long it takes to build a world. Side note: The fact that building a world takes a lot of time may be one reason KH3 is taking so long - Nomura said it has more worlds than KH2 and the worlds are bigger and seamless.

All in all, the content cut from previous KH games did not result in cutting out story content, and they were minor cuts in the grand scheme of each game. This seems to be what Jose is implying will happen if KH3 doesn’t meet its deadline - minor content and ideas cut out, but the story and significant parts still intact.

~~~“KH3 will release in 2018″/“We might not get it until 2020?!”~~~

Seriously, The Know, which is it?

If you ask me, we’ll more likely be getting KH3 in 2018. However, there’s still no official release date (as of May 28th), so Jose_Strife’s claims of 2018 being its release year are still considered mere rumor. That said, it’s looking like Jose’s rumor may not be far from the truth, and like I said earlier, he has a tendency to be right about these things.

KH 1.5+2.5 and KH 2.8 were released for PS4 in 2017. If you get both of these packages, you’ll have the entire current Kingdom Hearts series on one console. Granted, in those packages, 358/2 Days and Re: Coded are cutscene movies and KH X is a movie, but it’s still the whole current series.

Jose claims we’ll be getting a KH3 trailer at E3 2017.

The Kingdom Hearts Facebook and Twitter accounts have been a lot more active since, about, early January this year (2017), posting every one or two days. Whereas, late last year, there were anywhere between 4 and 25 days between posts. Granted, they’re mostly posting about the previous games and asking fans about things like their favorite Drive Form from KH2 or their favorite ice cream item from Birth by Sleep. But the noticeable increase in activity could be them trying to draw up interest and attention, which would make sense if KH3′s release is coming up.

It’s common for a video game company to begin its major promotional campaign about a year before the game releases. If KH3 is due to release sometime in 2018, it would be a good idea to begin its promotional campaign soon. If they do release a trailer at E3 2017, that trailer may announce the release date and kick off the promotional campaign.

As for The Know’s comments about KH3 possibly not being released until 2020 or later...

That was entirely based on Square Enix’s presentation of “These are games we intend to release in the next three years” along with images of the titles for Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and their Marvel IP. That does not, in any way, mean “These are games we intend to release three years from now”, which is the scenario that The Know presented. It means “These are games you can look forward to within the next three years.” 2018 is included in that “next three years”, you know.

So, in my opinion, The Know’s scenario of a 2020 or later release is mere overreaction.

~~~Episodic releases?! Oh no!!~~~

Calm down. We’ve already known since 2015 that the Final Fantasy 7 Remake will be released episodically.

Here’s an article from 2015 that talks about it

And another from 2015

And one from 2016 that explains that it’s not as bad as it sounds

When we hear “episodic release”, I think a lot of us are thinking of Life is Strange and Tell Tale Games (such as, Tell Tale’s The Walking Dead), where you get one game split up into bite-sized pieces that are released individually.

That is not what they’re doing with FF7 Re.

FF7 Re’s episodes will be full games, a la Final Fantasy 13 - one big story, told through a series of full games. And of course they have to do this with FF7 Re. The original FF7 was spread across 3 discs! Though, they were all released at the same time in the same disc case. Ahh, the old days.

Will Kingdom Hearts 3 have an episodic release? Personally, I don’t think so. However, if it does, I’m confident that it will be a case just like FF7 Re and FF13, where each episode is a full game.

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 3 #kh3 #final fantasy 7 remake #ff7 remake #ff7 re #the know #rooster teeth #video game news

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poppun-chan · 8 years ago

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The Year of Keroro Challenge Update 4 (Yes Sir)

Goodness, even though I mentioned looking forward to this one it took quite a while to write it (this has been a difficult week)in terms of watching I’m almost finished with the first season, actually, one strange thing I noticed was that the valentines episode actually lines up with valentines day. But before we get started Jlucy pointed out to me that the scene from episode 21 with the car is specifically a nod to “Castle of Caliostro” with the drivers being based on two of the main characters and the car being a nod to the Fiat from the movie. Actually I wonder if the writers for the dub had this in mind when they were writing; in the English version the driver mentions he was renting a car because he didn’t want to use his Fiat.

Either way I had planned to wait until there weren’t any text pieces to translate, but I have at least one more of these non-episode specific notes to do before we reach episode 65, so a bit on name origins (The ones for the Human characters will probably be less familiar, but still....)

Keroro-Kero, the noise a frog makes (I’ve always suspected this is actually a really common name)

Tamama-Otamajakushi, meaning tadpole (I really find myself wondering about his family background that his parents gave him a name that assumes he’s going to look like a child for a long time)

Giroro-Giro, the onomatopoeia for glaring at someone/something

Kururu-Kuru, it’s used as an onomatopoeia, a noun, and a verb, either way it refers to something twisting, spinning or turning (which is why his resonance creates a loop)

Dororo-It’s best known as a reference to the Osamu Tezuka manga Dororo, which takes place in the feudal era, it also works as a play on Doro-Doro which is the sound of something dripping

And the plan count:

Serious Plans: K66:16 D66:1 MMK:1 TMM:1

Funding Plans: K66:1

It’s a plan, I Swear!: K66:5 (I’m throwing the sports day mission in here too)

Oh look! Progress!: K66:3

And the marker board from episode 27:

Episode 22: Now first of all I’ve always enjoyed this episode, the absurdity, the cute break down Tamama has at the end, the completely impractical but still fun plan (actually I think Tamama only comes up with three plans over the course of the entire show and they’re all more or less the same basic concept). Plus the little stealth pun when Natsumi gets angry about the shower; she shouts “Kora!” which is an interjection that can be used as a reprimand, but it’s pronounced similarly to Cola.

Actually, speaking of this part I have to admit I sort of agree with Tamama’s point that Fuyuki could just serve that cake in the fridge instead of making dinner....Actually even the bit about accounting for nutritional balance could sort of be refuted; Baked goods often contain grains and eggs, not always dairy but ice cream and cheese cake covers that, his plan allowed tuna as an exception so that’s meat covered, plus many desserts are made with fruit and there are some made with vegetables (carrot cake, anything with pumpkin in it, corn cake), sure most people would probably either stop eating before this point or simply die trying, but theoretically it IS possible to get normal nutrients that way....Yes I’ve seriously thought about this; there are quite a few characters that can be explained this way.

Finally no discussion of this episode would be complete without bringing up the infamous letter, so I’m going to try and cover this in more depth since I have the luxury of making this a separate note. First of all, it’s written really oddly; everything except the word “leader” is written in katakana which you normally wouldn’t do (hiragana only is a different matter, but in modern times it’s considered a bit childish). One big issue with not using kanji is that it’s much harder to tell what you’re trying to say, plus katakana itself is a bit sticky since some of them strongly resemble each other or other kanji (one relevant to this is katakana ni resembling the kanji for two which is often pronounced the same way). The revealed part admittedly seems phrased a bit simply, but it says “Taichou wa Tamama ni” or “Tamama’s Leader” while the full message is “Taichou wa Keroro ni Makasetamama ni” or “Keroro will be left as the leader” I suppose the closest thing in English would be if the letters were a bit more spaced apart instead of grouped together

And fun fact; Etsuko Kozakura, the woman who provides Tamama’s voice, also did the voice of Puppetmon/Pinocchimon from the original Digimon series. I just thought I’d mention this since I noticed a few....similarities between their management styles (Though Tamama just imprisoned people who crossed him instead of....deleting them)....actually watching the episode and knowing this made me look into Digimon again, did you know one of the newer series has a Puppetmon who is one of the friend Digimon that shows up every now and then? Really. They have his nose grow when he lies (including to himself) and give him some really charming moments....and he shares his English voice with Keroro, hm.

Episode 23: And it’s the clone episode! I have to confess, the bit about the clones not having a star always makes me wish there was a video of the original Keroro singing the song from the Sneetches, the one where the starred Sneetches are roasting marshmallows....I know it’s a strange association to make, but....Come to think of it, I don’t think this was a manga chapter, I’m not completely sure and I know most of the season one episodes were based on the manga, but I know a few stories were anime exclusive and I believe this was the first one, either way it’s hilarious to see Keroro being the responsible one and getting annoyed by the behaviour of his own clones (still, at least there was an easily visible way of telling them apart, which is better than what happened with Pinkie Pie, some people still theorise that they kept the wrong Pinkie).

Now for a bit of a sticky area, especially since I’ve been putting up with my grandfather’s preoccupation with this particular time for most of my life, but I noticed something a bit odd. Even now, a lot of people seem to be weirded out by the “clone salute”, but they actually switched two of the syllables in the Aliens’ name for Earth because the original term from the manga was associated with the Sino-Japanese wars (I’m not sure which, there’s two major ones and a bunch of smaller conflicts, but the second big one was during the world war) and was banned from television. I’d be curious to find out what it is that makes one war reference more acceptable than another (maybe because calling Earth “Pokopen” alludes to much longer standing conflict with a specific country? I have to admit I always wondered if the best way of handling “touchy terms” would be to find a positive, unrelated use for them so they take on a new meaning and the old one eventually falls out of use; you often hear about the power of words, but it’s actually their meanings that have effect rather than the words themselves)

Episode 24: Oh dear it’s 556, I have to admit I’ve never liked this guy (though I will admit, I like the instrumental version of his song on the Christmas album) I know for a lot of people felt the same way with Joriri eventually replacing him, but it didn’t work the same way for me.

Actually, one thing I love about this episode is how when Keroro wonders about the emotions he’s feeling watching 556 fighting “monsters” they immediately cut to Tamama; it’s almost as if the cinematography is saying “Let’s ask your resident expert, shall we?”

Actually I recently looked at the Japanese version of the full character page again, I think there’s one surprising one on there; I know 556 and Labbie are references to Space Sheriff Gaven and a character named Annie from Space Sheriff Shaider, but the character page lists their relationship as Gukyou-Kenmai or “Goofy Older Brother, Wise Younger Sister” which was the original title for a T.V. series called “Otoko wa Tsurai yo” or “It’s tough to be a man” which later became a huge film series of the same title (Often called “Tora-san” after the main character, Torajirou), spanning 48 installments and nearly three decades (only ending when the actor playing Torajiro died). The films followed a similar formula of Torajirou the traveling salesman going home to his sister’s family, walking out after getting into an argument and meeting a distressed young woman in the next town he goes to and offering to let her stay at the family’s sweet shop if she needs it. Eventually this happens and he falls in love with her, but in trying to win her over indavertantly ends up setting her up with another man and ending up disappointed, but putting on a brave face and wishing her the best before journeying to another town in hopes of getting over her and eventually becoming somebody his family can be proud of.

The first movie was actually made to please fans of the original show who were upset that Torajirou died of a snakebite in the final episode, it also took quite a bit of convincing from the director to get the first movie made. Incidentally, the working title for the original show came from the final caption in another piece Torajiro’s actor played in

Episode 25: And here we have a Nishizawa family quarrel....which is appearently not considered complete unless enough money is spent that you could buy a small town and heavy weapons are nearly used (that’s the second time Keroro’s nearly let to Earth be destroyed only to be stopped at the last moment by the realisation that Earth is the official “Gunpla Planet”). Still there are some nice little moments (though I wonder if they ever did make that video, as long as they cut out the bits where they start to lose it could work)

Episode 26: Sports Day fun times ♪ Actually, has anyone ever noticed that whenever a show wants to slow down a sports day they usually target the scavenger hunt? Though now that I think about it, the cruel irony of all this is if they hadn’t tried to help, Aki probably would have made it in time to run in the race (or at least, the combined effect of accidentally speeding up the 100 meter dash and ruining some of the manuscripts). Though I do admit that I miss the parts from the manga where Momoka is running a race and the newspaper article at the end “Freak in tights crashes sports fest” I find it strangely hilarious the way they worded it. Also it’s amazing the things that become relevant later on, let’s see who remembers what I’m talking about.

Episode 27: First of all, I love the way Keroro offhandedly compares renewing interest in the invasion to reviving the dead (He already knows it’s a lost cause), it’s especially interesting considering they come across the remnants of a failed invasion later on. Actually I sort of want to see a spin off about those past invaders; not necessarily a big, dramatic, action-y thing mind you, honestly I expect it would be more or less the same thing as with Keroro but in ancient times, perhaps with the human characters being the ancestors of the current ones.

Also they use the pun of kaeru meaning both “frog” and “to return” quite a lot in the series. Though I have to admit I can relate to Keroro’s feelings a bit here; all of the women in my family have been quite formidable, especially for their time, and my mother is crusading to change the child welfare system in Canada (even though she’s never been in it) and doing all of these things for political change and I sometimes feel I can’t really measure up to that, even though I don’t plan on going into a related field. Plus because of her work I’m a bit burnt out on people issues, I focus more on environmental ones.

Episode 28: This one was a bit tricky, though I always thought the effect of the cold weather on the Keronians sounded more like windburn than all out frostbite. As for the second part this officially marked the beginning of the odd sort of dynamic of Mois & Kururu, I don’t remember how much it was explored in the show apart from her sometimes being who they went with when they needed a girl to associate with Kururu, though I remember a few moments from the manga that built on it, such as the “Angol Stone” chapter.

#keroro gunso #sgt frog #Year of Keroro Challenge

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recentanimenews · 5 years ago

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Celebrate Hirohiko Araki’s Birthday by Learning About the Man Behind JoJo’s!

Born on June 7th, 1960, Hirohiko Araki celebrates his 59th birthday this year! Hailing from Sendai, Miyagi, Japan, the creator of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has been wowing audiences across the globe with his unique art and storytelling. But aside from JoJo’s, how much else do you know about Araki? Well, whether you answered that with “a lot” or “nothing at all”, we figured there was no better way to celebrate the father of Jotaro, Joseph, Josuke, Giorno, and DIO than with a retrospective look at the man behind the pen. If you’re a long time fan of Araki’s or a newer fan lured in by your friends endlessly talking about JoJo references, we think you’ll find something interesting that you probably didn’t know before!

Araki grew up in Sendai, the capital city of Miyagi Japan. Founded in 1600 by Date Masamune, and found himself reading to escape the hassle of dealing with his younger identical twin sisters. Araki considers this period to be formative in developing his love for comics and art, as he spent his time reading manga and books about art, with Paul Gauguin being a major artistic influence on the young manga artist, and Ai to Makoto as his most memorable manga. Although never translated into English officially, Ai to Makoto’s story of cross-class love between a delinquent boy and a rich girl has been an enduring hit in Japan, spawning no less than four live-action films in Japan, with the most recent being in 2012!

Considering some of the themes of JoJo’s first part, it is easy to see some of the ways in which this manga and its storyline stuck with Araki throughout his life. Araki began drawing manga of his own during high school, and even tried to get his works submitted to various magazines with no luck of publication until he met with an editor at Shueisha, under whose guidance he eventually created his first manga hit, Poker Under Arms, a Wild West story about a dangerous poker game that has a few early similarities to some JoJo characters, most notably everyone’s favorite hat throwing goon, Speedwagon!

Three years after Poker Under Arms, Araki published his first serialized work, Cool Shock B.T., a story about a mystery solving magician. Most longtime Araki fans will probably remember his next work, Baoh, which debuted a year later in 1984. Baoh follows a similar storyline to early versions of Kamen Rider, featuring a hapless young man named Ikuro who finds himself implanted with a parasite known as BAOH by an evil organization. Ikuro finds that when he is in danger, Baoh manifests to protect him, giving him superhuman abilities and powers that he then uses to fight back against Doress and its evil plans.

JoJo viewers may note that the series occasionally has over the top depictions of violence, and Baoh seems to be the place where Araki first started to experiment with the extreme violence and fighting that he became known for later. Fans who played the fighting game JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle may even recognize Ikuro Hashizawa as a downloadable character, and older fans of anime and manga likely had their first encounter with Araki’s works in English thanks to Viz’s release of the manga in 1990, and an OVA series from 1989 that saw a re-release from AnimEigo in 2001.

Of course, it would be impossible to talk about Araki without also talking about JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, which originally saw publication in 1987’s first January issue of Weekly Shonen Jump. Since then, the series has gone on to sell over 100 million copies in Japan alone, and has been translated into many other languages, with new fans discovering the magic of Araki’s work every day. With 124 volumes (and counting!) currently in print for the series, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is also the seventh longest running manga of all time, and since Araki doesn’t seem interested in slowing down any time soon, we can only expect him to work hard to keep that placement (or even go higher!). The manga also spawned numerous anime adaptations, novels, video games, and more that fans have been more than happy to gobble up at any opportunity.

One of the most amazing things about JoJo is the change in Araki’s art that you can track over time, seeing how he continually refines his unique style over 32 years that the manga has been in publication. With more chapters being written all the time, we’re sure that we’ll continue seeing new and unique ways that Araki’s style evolves over time, and hopefully that’ll lead to more amazing anime adaptations of the series from David Production! If you’ve never taken the plunge, we recommend you start here and give the supernatural action adventure series a shot! JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures follows various generations of the Joestar family, from their early days and beginnings to the rise of the evil DIO, to various related family members whose destinies were unknowingly intertwined with their ancestor’s seemingly eternal struggle! JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a blast, and I promise you’ll find something to love about the series if you let it into your heart.

As one of the longest running manga artists in history, Araki has plenty of interesting ideas that don’t always make it into his main series. Over the years, Araki has created numerous oneshots and spinoffs that explore some of his more creative ideas, even bringing in favorite JoJo characters in new situations, most notably Diamond is Unbreakable’s Rohan Kishibe. Some of Araki’s lesser-known works include The Lives of the Eccentrics, Under Execution Under Jailbreak (which features an interesting cameo by a ghost of a man who just wanted a quiet life), Dolce and His Master, and the various Rohan series, from Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan, Rohan at the Louvre, and Rohan Kishibe Goes to Gucci. Quite a few of his non-mainline JoJo works are born from interesting partnerships, and the two Gucci manga that Araki wrote are testaments to this, having also been designed in tandem with Araki’s art being displayed in various Gucci stores across the world, featuring JoJo characters dressed in the latest Gucci fashions. Rohan’s trip the Louvre was created for an exhibit in the famous French museum in 2009 called The Louvre Invites the Comics, and even received a full-color, official printing in English in 2012!

In 2015, Araki even published a book of his thoughts and techniques for creating manga in Hirohiko Araki’s Manga Technique, which was published in English by Viz as Manga in Theory and Practice: The Craft of Creating Manga. The book is a fascinating look into the thoughts and processes of Araki himself, discussing his various influences and his beliefs on how to create characters, stories, and creating a world of your own in manga. If you’re a manga fan or aspiring creator yourself, you probably owe it to yourself to track down this book and read what one of the greatest manga authors has to say about the process!

But what about when he’s not drawing manga? Well, Araki has numerous loves and activities in his life, and many of his influences come not from other manga or anime, but from music, film, and art from around the world. Araki has a particular love of Italy, especially Italian food, art, and fashion, as evidenced from the numerous references to it he makes in his works. Araki even had an art exhibit in Florence to tie in with his partnership with Gucci. His love of Italian food extends to his own culinary skill, and the creator of Assassination Classroom, Matsui Yuusei, even wrote about the experience of being asked to eat Araki’s cooking for a special film segment for Jump Live. Yuusei recounts that Araki’s cooking is quite amazing, meaning that he’s not just an amazing manga creator, but also a pretty amazing chef! We’ll just say we’re a bit jealous that we can’t try Araki’s amazing food, but at least we get to enjoy his other works. Yuusei notes something else about Araki that’s a bit of a fan myth: he seems to never age! Araki’s amazing health has led to the joke that he, too, wore the Stone Mask, but Araki just states that he eats a healthy diet and exercises constantly, as well as ensuring he doesn’t overwork himself, as the keys to his seemingly mysterious eternal youth. His favorite exercises? Swimming, riding a bike, and walking to Japanese shrines!

Araki’s influences for his works come from various sources all over the globe, drawing particularly from his love of music. Araki maintains a massive music collection at his studio, and notes that he listens to various types of music to get inspired while creating and working on his manga, lending various names to characters from the music that he listens to while working. His love of art is also a source of inspiration for him, with artists Tony Viramontes, Antonio Lopez and Paul Gauguin as some of his most influential favorites.

Interestingly, Araki doesn’t cite many manga as inspirational to his works, only mentioning Ai to Makoto, Ore wa Teppei, a manga about a boy who lived in the wild before finding out he was an heir to a fortune, and Babel II, which Araki notes as giving him the inspiration for combat with special rules and limitations that would become a hallmark of his Stand battles. Araki doesn’t do all of his work alone, however, and over time developed his own stable of assistants that work with him at his studio, Lucky Land (careful viewers of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure may recognize the logo from cameos in opening and endings of the series). Lucky Land and its employees give Araki the ability to bounce ideas around, find new avenues of inspiration, and are key to his continued success.

Delving into the lives of our favorite creators reveals some fascinating things, usually showing us that the people who inspire and entertain us with their creations come from such varied and interesting backgrounds! Araki certainly loves what he does, and we can only assume that he’s going to continue creating amazing manga for readers for as long as he finds it enjoyable. And, if the rumors about his being a Stone Mask Vampire are true, that might be a really long time! Anyway, we hope that for his birthday, you’ve enjoyed reading all about him and his life, and we recommend topping off the celebration by ordering some of your favorite Italian food and marathoning some JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure! Until next time, ari-ari-ari-ari-ari-ari-arrivederci!

Do you have any Araki Facts you want to share for his birthday? Who is your favorite JoJo character or Stand? Let us know in the comments!

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Nicole is a features writer and editor for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

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thepermanentrainpress · 7 years ago

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THE PERMANENT RAIN PRESS INTERVIEW WITH SCREAMING AT TRAFFIC

Winnipeg’s Screaming at Traffic is known in their local music scene for their energetic and chaotic live shows. We covered their debut EP S.A.T., released in June, a bold four-track that fuses punk rock, grunge and hardcore notes. Comprised of vocalists and guitarists Jacques Richer and Duncan Murta, bassist Paul Colman and drummer Stefan St. Godard, the band of longtime friends are poised for a big year.

You released your EP, S.A.T., in June. For those who haven’t heard it yet, what is your pitch to potential listeners?

S.A.T. is a collection of the first songs we wrote as Screaming at Traffic. It’s lo-fi emo punk through and through. We wanted to get something out right away, so we teamed up with a friend of ours, Stefan Smith, and recorded it in our house over a weekend. We really wanted to capture our energy and I think Stefan did a great job of getting that out of us.

Is your sound still evolving?

I would say it has evolved since the EP, but a lot of the same elements are still there. Our newer content is still fast and loud, but is maybe a bit more refined? Or at least more focused at this point. Most bands evolve their sound as they progress and I don’t think we’re an exception.

What’s the songwriting process like for your band? Is it very collaborative?

It is. Duncan and I are the primary song writers for the band, so one of us will bring a sort of bare bones structure and lyrics for a song to the band, and from there everyone builds their parts. Paul (bassist) and Stefan (drummer) do a lot of producing after we nail down our parts. They add dynamics to the songs that Duncan and I bring to the table. We’re also always looking for each others’ opinions on whether or not each one of us is playing something that fits the song well, or if maybe something one of us is doing is a bit too flashy for a certain part. We’re definitely very open with each other during the process.

S.A.T. by Screaming at Traffic

The high energy in your music transitions well to your live shows. What do you enjoy most about performing in front of people? What’s your favourite concert you’ve played to-date?

I’ll answer the concert question first. I think to-date one of my favourite shows was a local one in Winnipeg. I had set it up with two other fantastic local bands - Fox Lake and Sit Calm - and I was really looking forward to playing it. We showed up for it and before the first band had even played the bar had almost entirely filled up. By the time the end of the night rolled around, about 200 hundred people had been through the doors. Now this venue we were playing is a 100, maybe 120 cap? So everyone is just shoulder to shoulder, and the second we started playing the crowd just erupted. It had been one of our like, first ten local shows, and it was crazy to see how many people showed up, and wanted to check us out alongside these two great bands. It was very humbling to say the least.

As for my favourite part about performing, I just love putting on a high energy show. I’ve always been a huge fan of bands going crazy on stage. I remember seeing live videos when I was younger of bands like Moneen, Black Flag, and Bad Brains (the list goes on), and they’re all just going bonkers. I’ve always thought the band should be enjoying it at least as much as a spectator, if not more. Energy is contagious, and you can definitely see it in the crowd when you’re jumping around having a ball.

You just kicked off your Western Canadian Tour. What are you looking forward to on this run of dates?

An easy answer to this question is absolutely everything. For some specifics, it’ll be the first time we’ve ever played the west coast, so I’m excited to be in Vancouver and Victoria, and all the rest of the BC dates. In Victoria, we’re actually teaming up with local college station CFUV to do a live on-air performance for their Pledge Drive on Thursday March 22nd. We’ve done stuff like that here at home and it’s always a blast. I’m also excited to see/play with a bunch of bands we met on our last tour in October. We got to be pretty good buds with a lot of them, so it’ll also be sweet to see them as well. Oh, and of course our St. Patrick's Day show in Calgary should be insane.

You performed at Timfest, a benefit show for Tim Tkachyk, in February. How important was it for you to play and show your support for Tim?

It was really important for all of us to be involved. We actually didn’t know Tim super well prior to the benefit, but the people putting the show together contacted us and told us that he and his wife would love to have us on the bill. I think it’s important to give back to your community, and give back to people who support you as a band or musician. I mean, we have a unique opportunity as a band to use our (very minimal) influence to help people and/or the community. I think to a certain extent it’s kind of our responsibility to use that in a productive and positive way. In this case it was being able to perform and bring a couple people out to raise money for a great guy in our scene. For a fun fact, Tim works at a music store in Winnipeg, and he was actually the one who sold me my current guitar.

You chart on CKUW and CJSR. Community radio is so important to build a local (and Canadian!) music scene, how much has their support meant to you?

Man, if it wasn’t for community radio, I don’t know where we’d be. They’re so committed to giving local, smaller, and more niche bands a public platform and it’s honestly just awesome. It’s amazing to have the support of the stations. I know a number of us have been involved in pledge drives in other projects as well as in Screaming at Traffic.

Aside from being band members, you are long-time friends. What are your favourite activities to do outside of music?

We pretty much do everything together, honestly. We all have the same group of friends, so we see each other all the time. We try and get together to play DnD whenever our schedules allow it. We also try and make it to some music festivals. Most years Duncan, Paul, and I camp together at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Honestly, most weekends you can find at least three out of the four us together, hanging out, listening to music, having a couple drinks, and going to shows.

Do you ever face challenges working together musically? If so, how do you overcome them?

We don’t ever really run into a ton of challenges working together. We’re usually on the same page, and when we’re not we’re pretty diplomatic about it. We give everything a chance and decide as a group whether something is the right musical choice for a song. The only issue we ever seem to run into is communication between members sometimes when trying to describe what we’re looking for, but all of us are pretty good at “translating” at least one other member’s thoughts to the rest of the band.

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For someone that has not visited Winnipeg before, what are your go-to places for tourists?

Honestly the best thing someone coming to Winnipeg can do is look up the local music scene and see what’s happening. There are a TON of great bands coming out of Winnipeg, and every weekend there is a ton of shows. I’d list some names of bands to look for, but there’s almost too many to count and I wouldn’t wanna risk leaving anyone out. The Forks also has a pretty sweet skatepark if it’s nice out.

What are your plans for the rest of 2018?

Well, we haven’t officially announced anything yet, but we have been working on a bunch of new material that we’re gonna be debuting on tour. When we get back to Winnipeg, we’re gonna be starting pre-production for an album that we’re super excited about. We’re also gonna continue playing shows locally, and gonna try and make it out of the province for a few more shows before we release the new album. We’ve got a couple exciting gigs that we’re gonna be announcing in the coming months so keep an eye out for it!

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Thanks to Jacques of Screaming at Traffic for taking the time to answer our questions! Visit https://www.facebook.com/screamingattraffic/ to stay updated with their new music, tour dates, and fun shenanigans. Catch Screaming at Traffic live in Vancouver on Friday, March 23rd at Stylus Records with The Jins, The Rambling Derelicts, Young Lovers, and Wander.

Find details and RSVP on Facebook.

Photo credit to: Mike Sudoma

#Interview #Screaming at Traffic #Music #Feature #Jacques Richer #Duncan Murta #Paul Colman #Stefan St. Godard #Winnipeg #Winnipeg Music #Canadian Music #S.A.T.#Broken Teeth #Monstrosity #YWG #Metagame #The Permanent Rain Press #The PR Press

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