#i love satoh takeru so much he did an amazing job

[iristial]

Some impressions since I'm technically half-way through Den-O

Den-O, a star in the making. The people who recommended this and Dekaranger to me have amazing tastes, I should ask for more recs (once I get through my waitlist *dunks a pile of notebooks* it's going to take a while)

Yuriko Shiratori did such a good job as the tough as nails yet kind Hana. She clicks really well with everyone, and I wish she didn't have to leave, but it's better that she did than experience worse health problems

As much as I love having several themes going on in a show, I like that we stick closely to the notion of time, down to Airi's star metaphors. I just need to figure out how I can dive deeper into it ^^

I was fairly certain this would be that one series where I don't ship anything. Then Yuuto debuted, and now I'm utterly interested in Sakurai/Yuuto and Airi's love story, aka I ship them. Which versions of Yuuto Sakurai with Airi? Time will tell

While the main cast is super solid, Ryotarou and Airi are my favourite male and female characters. The Imagins are a tough competition, they're all so engaging (sans Sieg), but if I had to pick, Deneb is first place and Kintaros and Momotaros are close seconds

The show is so happy, light and fun! It gives me Sentai vibes at times - not just because it features the occasional mecha and monster battle, but because there's a reset button (altering time a little so the Imagin contract is never formed). Sentai does feature permanent consequences every now and then, but it's more likely to wipe away the monster's hijinks than Kamen Rider does

Someone should scrub away that entry on TVTropes that says Takeru Satoh apparently spent more time checking out Yuriko than acting properly, thus contributing to unintentional ship tease, when he...acts? Pretty well, in fact? I saw no drooling of any sort, just two people being professional and great actors (also Takeru dated Naomi's actress in 2007/8 so...). And while I understand if one didn't know Ryotarou and Hana were related, wanted to ship them and got irritated by the turn of events...Takeru did no drooling, that TVTrope entry is misleading, end of story

[bluephoenixdruidicprincess]

Let's Watch Jdramas -- Love Lasts Forever

I recently began to watch the Jdrama, Love Lasts Forever, or An Incurable Case of Love, or Koi wa Tsuzuku to Doko Made Mo (whichever title you prefer to go by, it's a jdrama so depending on the translation, the shows can go by three or four different names) and I finished the show today and can I just say this show is 😍😎👍.

Gosh, I loved this show so much. At first, going into it, I wasn't really sure as the character tropes and the basic story I've seen a million times and frankly, they're a little overplayed particularly in asian dramas but ultimately, the writers I think were aware that the story they were adapting (because this is an adaptation from a shojo manga) I think they were aware that this kind of story is a little overplayed so they did the bare minimum in regards to the "conflict" tropes you normally see in these types of stories and instead really just focused on the characters and their relationship. They made the characters the central focus instead of family dramas or love triangles and it was just a really nice break to see that.

I'm sure this show will get compared a lot to Itazura Na Kiss and I would be lying if I said I didn't see the similarities, but I prefer to not really compare those two stories, as for me, they're very different stories accomplishing very different things. Sure, maybe stripped to the story bone, they could be similar, but the differences between the two lay in the nuances of the stories they're telling. I will say that if I were to compare the two, Love Lasts Forever definitely feels like a much more healthy and well done relationship dynamic than Itazura Na Kiss but I also have love for Itazura Na Kiss as well, I do love me some angst and Itazura Na Kiss certainly delivers in that.

But back to Love Lasts Forever, another kudos I have to give to the show are the main actors we have playing the leads. Takeru Satoh (my boo, I have loved him for years!) and Mone Kamishiraishi (who I was not familiar with before this but I'm now certainly going to check out her other works) they have such amazing chemistry and it really helps sell this show. The writers did a good job with balancing different aspects of the story to make it well-rounded but the chemistry we got with the leads is what really brought the heart and the emotion to the show it was fantastic. And just the passion in which Kairi kisses Sakura, and the way he looks at her, uh, steal my heart!!!

This show gets an A+ for me. It was wonderful, I love it and I'm definitely going to return to it again. The only regret I have is that when I go to watch this show again, I won't be able to experience all the story beats for the first time all over again.

[kokoronopikuseru]

NPF2017

I took a leap of faith 3 months back to get an air ticket to Japan.

In the pen spinning world, cross community interaction is really limited, mainly dude to the lack of sponsored trips or offline events. I’m really fortunate enough to be able to travel to korea, china, hong kong and taiwan, to meet spinners in real life. The face to face interaction made me learn so much about each and every community’s culture.

I was really lucky that my llul period in army matches the date of NPF. I have been watching JEB pen spinning for years, and it meant a lot to me to be able to meet the spinners that have been inspiring since I started. It was worth it. And it was insane.

Day 1 (Levi’s Gathering)

After settling at tigres’ place, we went out to pick up i.suk and vampire which were both somewhere around shinjuku. It was kinda funny how we both betted that I.suk was spinning a pen mod when we meet up with him. Vampire was really cool. Our conversations didn't have much depth, but we spent most of the time laughing about shit we see. Trying to see the upskirt of the anime girl in the train poster. Amazing guy.

We crashed the saizerya meet up where a few spinners got together before the actual event. I was still on adrenaline because of my lack of sleep. I “hajime-mashita" all of them. There were pretty shocked since, well, it's seldom you’ll see such an act in a really reserved japanese culture. I'm glad to hear that it was positively received later on. And yes, isuk is 24 years old. 本当に？？

We had time. I mentioned about how my friend bought me a tenga egg the last time they came to Japan. I, too, was pretty interested to know how it is like to visit a sex shop. So, uh, yeah we went. I thought we were going to enter a dedicated shop. NOPE. They brought me to don quijote which is a huge shop selling everything under the sun. We strolled to the section. There's a cool selection, and it isn't too expensive either. After quite a bit of laughter, I chose two. It's amazing to see how shopping for such products were really normal. Cute girls just pass by and take them off the shelves as if they were just shopping for groceries. The cashier didn't react to the fact that borderline legal kids were buying a couple of onaholes. Wow, Japan is great. Was really nice that vampire paid for it, as a gift for me. One of those were supposed to be isuk’s but well, he vehemently rejected the offer. Haha. It was golden.

We arrived at the venue. It was a small place at the 4th or 5th floor of a shop house. Everyone was waiting by the streets before entering. I was a lil intimidated, since, I do recognise a number of them, and also there was quite a number of them. I had a brief exchange with beige. Interesting. As usual, the language barrier hindered the depth of our conversation. Ehven arrived afterwards, and I was really glad that he told me that he liked my spinning and was supporting me as a PWT judge. I love that dude, easy to talk with too. Don't think he knows I recall him for the guy that posts weird half naked clips in a number of vacation CV videos. Hahaha.

The room was small for 55 people. But it's still cozy. There were many cushion chairs. We settled down, and mixed with everyone. It's hard to talk at first, because everyone's kinda in groups already. After finding my way around, it's nice to know a number of spinners still remember my spinning, really honoured to be acknowledged.

And then the bingo happened. Towards the end, they hosted this activity to give out some prizes donated by +spin and Tez. When a person had bingo, they could play the lucky dip to get a prize. Initially I had pretty bad luck with the numbers. I had only one punched in after maybe the 6th call? Vampire, laku and tigres were helping me with the number especially when my numbers were pretty bad and I can’t interpret the names read out in japanese that easily. The crowd was really entertaining. They were all cheering for the “monami pens” as it represented that they still had a chance for the grand prize. Ponkotu had the worst luck x)

And in the end, I won it. The grand prize was like the first JEB pen case created. I felt really embarrassed since they lost the most prized possession to a 外人. Even so, they made me feel I deserved it. 嬉しい.

As the day come to an end, we got vacated and we ended up moving to the streets. Reminds me quite a lot about most gatherings I go where all the dedicated people who love pen spinning have difficulty leaving. I chatted with coco_A and cseo. They're a big inspiration to me, to be so active in the community even after their time has passed. They opened up to me and we had a good talk.

Laluteskal had a good laugh when I told him I remembered him for being the leader of All Highlights. What a friendly dude :DD

Day 2 (NPF)

I honestly did not expect that many spinners. I recognise a number of spinners since (I secretly study every NPF baton CV).

It was really weird at first because I was on my own with mango to roam around the place. Tigres was with some of his friends, and vampire was preparing for the competition. Subsequently, I went around tried really hard to open up to them, with whatever broken japanese I have at my disposal. I MET TOO MANY SPINNERS. I didn’t even eat lunch that day, and could barely even go around talking to everyone of them and getting their signatures.

I spent quite a bit of time just sitting down learning linkages from spinners - laluteskal, slofis, rhetoric, ponkotu, etc. They all had their own speciality link or trick. I’m certain its way harder than how it looks, especially ponkotu’s ones.

Greeting each other were fun. I’m honestly surprised how some spinners actually knew who I was. I’m just a small fry from and unknown community and have more shit videos than good videos. Thank god for PWT. I wanted to just say hi to miyana, didn’t expect him to be like wooaaaaaaaaaaaah pixels san. I was probably more excited to see him. IM A JEB FANBOY. Noel too. Most of my interactions were really just expressing that we were glad to meet each other. Nonetheless, its humbling to be able to see my idols in the flesh.

I managed to meet FouR and Malimo. I’m a huge fan of those two. Glad that me and FouR were both motivations for each other to spin. Great that he did enjoy participating in all my CVs. Lotus told me about he watched liked my calligraphy and how pixelophobia was really cool. For a CV editor as great as him, it meant the world to me to receive those compliments.

Siva attached wheels to his pen case. LOL that was hella fun. Thinking of doing it to one of my unused ones too hahahaha. That guy has endless creativity.

Ponkotu showed me his f3000 pen. Jesus Christ. The paint on the pen is fully scraped off. THE BODY HAS SOME CONCAVE AREAS BECAUSE HE DID TOO MANY TAPS. That’s some hardcore pen spinning dedication in one pen.

I also managed to see Ease’ Dr Grip. Oh man. I thought that fading a dr grip pen to white was terrifying. His pen is yellowing, the tip has many little spots from the countless drops, the grip is really soft and fully opaque. I’m honoured to be given the opportunity to try these spinners’ weapon of choice. Fuckin’ terrifying. Para was pretty amused with my expression towards seeing them.

I.suk’s tournament combo was insane. They told him to do a short warm up. He did tons of SS and FL shit, the crowd was cheering even before the video camera started recording. He’s such a crowd pleaser haha.

The 3 sec trick showcase was really fun. JEB spinners do have such a psychotic sense of humour. Kicoviola fuckin swallowed an anyball grip on his mx, and washed it down with ocha. Ehven reenacted his vacation video, landed the pen in his pants on the first try. Rhetoric was supposed to do penspinning, but spun himself instead. His halos were clean af.

Too many things happened in a single day.  Craziest day of my life. I wished I could explain everything in detail.

Day 3

I woke up late since tigres and me went to send vampire off really early in the morning. I previously contacted mey that I wanted to meet since he was only able to come to Tokyo after NPF. He messaged me to say he was at the naranja juggling shop. I quickly packed my stuff and rushed off to itabashi.

Luckily, there was a YouTube video with the instructions to walk to the naranja shop, Otherwise, I will probably never find it.

He was with other spinners too - Julia, Altema, airi, CeNti, Akiza, Merry, Watto. I have met most of them the previous day, but since I was really busy going around, I didn't manage to spend too much time with this bunch. Mannnnn. They are a fun bunch to be with.

Julia was rocking the SPSF shirt he bought from me. Made it instantly much cooler. For some reason, his green rushon feels amazing to spin. Why is mine so crap???? Found out he's the editor for Japen13th. Probably really stressed out, but i’m sure he’ll do a great job.

Watto. I can’t help but notice that he really looks quite similar to takeru satoh. Maybe thats why his twitter icon is battosai.

I didn't manage to talk to Merry much for the past two days. He was pretty approachable that day. He even rennacted ryo’s TV clip and laughed at the くるくるですわ and the すごいkid.

Altema really looked like the quiet ones. But dang, this dude always gave me a mischievous smile and tells me something weird :’). Taught me how to play with the spinning plate.

Spent quite a while talking to airi. His pink mx is pretty tattered. If I did wipers with it, the grip would definitely snap. やばい. He shared his perspective and knowledge about the community. “Simplicity is the best”. I kinda wished that more spinners could think like him. He's looks pretty huggable too.

CeNti is great at diablo. Fingers look even more beautiful in real life. Really nice dude too. He showed me the pet bottle fake double and some of his personal linkages. Much harder than it looks :’)

Akiza has a fukin’ insane style. The speed and everything. I tried his g3 mod, it was actually pretty damn good. AND HE TOLD ME HE LIKED MY KT. YEBOOIIIIII. He was gave me a yellow hyperjell, pretty sweet dude.

And wow, mey’s hands are like really buff? I thought I had thick fingers. I was really happy to meet him. He’s one of the rare japanese spinners that would talk to me when I created twitter for the first time. His english is pretty good too. I gave him my PWT R3 mod (Baton), he was really happy to receive it. And I was really happy that he would treasure it probably much more than I would. All of them were pretty happy to receive some of my personal SPSF prints and get their name written by me. \(^^

End

I loved everything about that place. I didn’t do much sightseeing as I originally planned. But it felt so great just being able to roam around the city with locals and just being able to “live” here for a couple of days. I really hope that there will be a chance for me to go back. Maybe NPF2018.