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「自主練」 (Jishuuren)
“Voluntary Practice”
I really hope Ume’s not behind all the rumour shenanigans from before, because I really don’t want to end up hating her. Yes, she’s a Hirano Aya character, so there are some inadvertent apprehensions already. However, I want to give her the benefit of the doubt since she doesn’t seem fake to me just yet.
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「Ripple」
“Ripple”
Sumika you animal! You made Ushio cry! I wish I could take that thought and run with it for the rest of the post, but both her and Ushio don’t even know why it happened. Those poor girls don’t even realize their love is already there at some subconscious level.
It’s funny the things you can inadvertently come across on the Internet when you’re trying to blog an episode of anime and looking for some new PVs at the same time. While this is completely unrelated to anime and has no precedence here, I found the song interesting enough to post about it. It’s titled “Koe wo Kikasete” (Let Me Hear Your Voice) and is the opening theme of the currently airing Japanese drama Ohitori-sama. Now if you’re somewhat unfamiliar with Asian music, the unexpected part is that BIGBANG is actually a five-member boyband from Korea. This isn’t the first time Korean artists have ventured into the Japanese market, nor will it be the last, but I’ve been pretty detached from the non-anime-related music scene for the past while. As it turns out, they’re another one of YG Entertainment‘s money-making creations and a pretty popular one too. For a detailed rundown of the group, I’ll refer you to their wiki page.
What I wanted to point out though is that I found this song surprisingly good for a very odd reason. It doesn’t sound very Japanese at all. Neither does their pronunciation of the lyrics, which sounds a bit off to me at times. In short, it sounds like what it is — a Korean-ized Japanese song. But I’ll be damned, it’s really catchy and I’ve been looping it for the past while. I guess I’m not the only one that thinks so either, seeing as it topped out at #4 on the Oricon charts earlier this month. If you’re negatively swayed by the image of Asian boybands (or boybands in general), I suggest not watching the PV right away, simply clicking play, and letting your ears decide. I unintentionally did the same when I stumbled on the video and walked away for a bit, then heard the song playing from afar and thought, “Hmm, this song’s pretty good.” Anyway, you’ll probably notice that their rappers have pretty good English as well, something I find fairly common with Korean artists given how heavily influenced they are by western hip hop and R&B artists.
That said, I’m kind of tempted to go check out the Ohitori-sama drama now. Based on the synopsis, it sounds like something I’d enjoy too. This might not be a good thing from an anime blogging perspective though. I can feel my Jdrama senses tingling. Once you get caught up in the whole drama phase, it’s hard to get out of it for a while! Hmm, what to do…
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「逢魔が時 félhomály öv」 (Ouma ga Toki)
“The Witching Hour”
Crazy episodes are crazy. That’s far from being the best way of describing things, but with Misuzu cutting herself, Kakeru drinking her blood, Kusakabe Misao re-emerging, Shiori revealing her true identity, and what looks like our first casualty of the series, I’m a bit shocked by it all. To top it all off, Yuka continues to creep me out. *shudder*
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「してあげる……」 (Shite Ageru……)
“I’ll Do It For You……”
Yuuto continues to establish himself as a male protagonist who’s different from your typical harem leads. Instead of finding ways to sneak into Mika’s all-girl’s middle school, he’s more concerned about looking like a criminal and getting arrested.
I’m not going to have time to watch or blog anything for a few days due to some critical projects that I have to get done (gonna have to pull some all-nighters too). Hopefully I’ll be able to find time next week to catch up with whatever shows I miss, but at worst I’ll just skip an episode and continue with the next one.
The Wall Street Journal posted an interesting article along with the video above about the current state of the anime industry. I’m sure everyone’s heard of the decline in sales for the past few years, but they also discuss the low wages of animators and competition from China and South Korea. There was a big online discussion a few of years ago about the unglamorous life of animators and seiyuus (which Riuva did a nice job summing up), so the ridiculously low paying wages and long working hours were really no surprise to me. Regardless, it’s still a worthwhile read, especially if you aren’t aware of how poorly things are going on the other side of your weekly anime fixes. The video also gives you a good idea of what Akihabara and the inside of a studio are like.
Note: If the video doesn’t start for you, try pausing it and pressing play again.
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「コンピューターおばあちゃん」 (Konpyuutaa Obaachan)
“Computer Grandmother”
We have air conditioning problems at Hakobune and the unbearable heat brings about an unexpected problem — Arashi is known to lose it and wreck havoc once she reaches her limit. This is what a history of strict family customs and pent up rage leads to. She’s like a volcano on the verge of erupting!
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「血斗（マツリ）は誰がために」 (Chito (Matsuri) wa Da ga Tame ni)
“For Whom is the Bloodbath (Festival)”
Wow, what an episode. What starts off as an innocent festival quickly turns into a cork gun survival game with 10 million yen (~$100k USD) on the line. For that, we have to thank Mikako and the undertaker-like target practice store owner she hired. However, things take a turn for the better when Nymph releases the protection on Ikaros’ memories and unintentionally restores her abilities as well.
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Summary:
Still on Scar’s trail, Kimblee figures out that he headed north and follows him there.