Chase - "The taxation officer" - EP1 & 2

Trust me, this is the black horse of the season.
Although there are only 6 episodes, but the actors, music, storyline are absolutely top of the class.

Btw the storyline was written by Sakamoto Yuuji (坂元裕二), who wrote "Tokyo Love Story" over 10 years ago. Eguchi Yousuke (江口洋介) also played a part back then and started to get popular after "Tokyo Love Story". According to wiki, Eguchi was really excited about playing a part in this latest drama of Sakamoto. But when he saw the storyline he was confused, as he didn't know how to act as a "taxation officer" :)


Still, it doesn't mean that he can't do a good job here. Personally I think he did well acting as Haruma chasing up all the "business criminals" who attempt to avoid tax by each and every means.

Upon the other extreme was "The magician of Caribbean Sea" - Murakumo Shuuji (ARATA) who is top of the class consultant in avoiding tax. The climax comes when the two versus each other - but so far up to end of EP2 they havn't officially made the challenge yet. From the preview of EP3 they will, and it'll be an exciting one.

ARATA is another unexpected actor of this drama. I didn't know him at all before, but was fascinated by how he presented the black suited magician to the audience. This young gentleman seemingly will cause no harm, yet his tax avoiding ideas, plans and how he manipulate people around him in EP2 is just amazing. This magician is like having a chess match with Haruma, cunningly manipulating all of the people around him to avoid making any possible flaws and yet getting the maximum benefit out for himself.

I really like his character. ARATA has acted well as the antagonist which has no less advantage in comparison to that of Eguchi. The magician of Caribbean Sea has proven himself as the stoic and unpredictable character with every action with its meaning behind.

Another surprise was Asou Kumiko's (麻生久美子) character - Kawajima Kaori. The early 30'ish model is not the type of lady who gives you the "wow" factor straight off, but I have to admit she has been very attractive at her age. She seems to have some past with Murakumo which made her the "current" partner - hopefully this part will be elaborated more at a later stage. Right now Kaori is presented as a thrill-seeking widow who will do whatever sacrifice she has to do in order to see Murakumo till the end, disregard successful or not.

Saito Takumi (齋藤工) was meant to be another important character - but so far Eguchi and ARATA has been shining too bright so...hopefully Saito will have more parts to act at a later stage (which I'm sure he will).

And Kimura Tae (木村多江)...I thought you are finally able to continue on the "impossible relationship" within that of "Kyumei Byoutou" series (救命病棟24時), but you only managed to be Eguchi's wife for 1 episode....very sad.

EP1 and 2 basically lies the foundation of the main characters so audience get to have certain understanding of the characters in depth. Storyline is very fast paced so you'll find each episode too short like I do :)

The only downside I find so far is all the tax & tax avoiding jargons which the characters use the whole time. Although there are brief explanation on each but it's probably too fast for the user to understand fully. Apart from this I don't see much problem with this drama, it's a must get!

Shinzanmono EP1

I've always loved Abe Hiroshi (阿部 寬) as an actor, ever since I watched him played the classic of the classic "Kekkon Dekinai Otoko" (The man who cannot get married). His acting skill is superb, and has always been a joyful to watch.

Although not as much change in expression as in his last work - "Shiroi Haru" (The White Spring) where he played as a ex-Yakuza dad, this time he is more of a stoic (or seemingly stoic?) character, or in fact more like an investigator - Kaga Kyoichirou. Still he portrayed the character well, even though the "ability" to able to read other peoples mind is definitely not easy to act at all.

The story portrays around Kaga as the new comer to the town "The doll town" and his investigations to the murder of a 40 year old single female in her own mansion. The storyline is one which comprises of sub-storylines, each acted as an episode, and they all tie together to reveal the truth of this murder case. Which makes it interesting - as you won't know the culprit until final episode. And each sub-storyline may seem unrelated to each other but they do form part of the puzzle.

And more importantly, there are frequent humour throughout each episode so it's definitely not dull at all. :)

Story was originally from one of the bestsellers author of Japan - Higashino Keigo (東野 圭吾) and Shinzanmono was a novel of Kaga Kyoichiro series. By the way, just in case you are wondering, Shinzanmono means "New Joiner". In the story it symbolizes Kaga both as a new joiner to the local police force as well as a new joiner to the Doll town with the investigations he perform around the town.

Also the main cast of this drama simply makes it worth watching. Apart from Abe Hiroshi, Kuroki Meisa (黒木メイサ), Mukai Osamu (向井 理), there are also other excellent actors such as Kagawa Teruyuki (香川 照之), Natsukawa Yui (夏川 結衣), Terajima Susumu (寺島 進) etc...just to name a few.

Music...here is another good example to complement the storyline. I'll let you go and discover them yourselves ;)

In conclusion, I have to give Shinzanmono an even higher rating than "Absolute Zero" - although both are definitely worth watching, but if you are short of time then Shinzanmono would be my recommended choice.

Another Century Episode R: PV1 Released!

Here it is:



Basically the OP of the game - a bit like teaser movie XD
Hopefully PV2 will be released soon to show some actual game play clips :)

ACE:R Official Website:
http://www.ace-game.jp/

Absolute Zero ~ Research of the unsolved cases EP1

"Absolute Zero" - I think that's enough to call this drama. Well, in case you are interested, the full name is
"『絶対零度～未解決事件特命捜査～』" 
And in English?
"Absolute Zero ~ Research of the unsolved cases ~"

Hey, it's actually not that bad huh? Anyway, I'll call it Absolute Zero from now on :)

Speaking of these detective type of drama there has been plenty. From what I could recall there would be at a minimum of one detective drama pretty much every season. And this season we have Absolute Zero which describes the story of a group of police investigators delving into the unsolved cases in the past.

Not sure whether this is the first time Uedo Aya play as the main actor? I havn't seen her much before - except in the time of "Konkatsu!" with Nakai Masahiro. Even then she didn't quite gave me the wow factor...maybe coz of the character.

But this time I think she plays quite well as Sakuragi Izumi, a 25 year old Police Sergeant who is mainly responsible for keeping memo during investigations. Sakuragi started off as a rookie and I believe she will grow as the storyline progresses. At least in EP1 she is still quite a rookie - and Uedo Aya played the ignorant part well. She makes mistakes like all of us do but quickly learns from it and most importantly, she has the perseverance to dig down to the bottom of a case.

She also has some interesting team members -

• Fukazawa Yuuki - who think she should just keep quiet and keep to her own notes XD

• Tsukamoto Keigo - who likes to plagiarize other people's work to gain all the merits, and a guy who likes to flirt around.
  
  
• Takamine Ryoko - seemingly cold outside but actually do help out when needed. She doesn't mind about gaining merits - a contrast to that of Tsukamoto
  
  
• And Sakuragi's top boss Nagashima Hideo - a very nice senpai who looks after Sakuragi well by giving her puzzles to solve all the time XD

Oh and not to mention those two in the labs who does analyses, the whole team is quite a combination. And that's what makes this a fun to watch.

OK enough about the characters, let's talk a bit about the storyline.

The story is actually quite sad, definitely not one you would watch for laughters. EP1 talks about a robbery done by 3 OLs 10 years ago, but all 3 OLs being chased after all disappeared just like vanishing into air. It's been 10 years and the case is not closed as no one can find the 3 OLs.

I find the way of interlacing the scenes 10 years ago (crime scenes of the 3 OLs) with that of today (investigations done by the Sakuragi team) a bit confusing. Although the way camera scenes taken for 10 years ago do look a bit old fashioned on purpose, but it can still be confusing especially in the beginning when no background information was given.

About mid way through when audiences have certain understanding to the story then it's much easier to settle into the interlacing concept. That's when the storyline becomes more enjoyable.

The story itself is quite intriguing and can easily attract the audience trying to find out the truth, although there are still illogical bugs here and there but every drama pretty much will have some. Again I must stress you only start to enjoy the story once you have certain understanding of the storyline - i.e. about one third way through.

Hopefully the interesting plot will continue on as we get to know more with these characters :)

Team Batista 2 ~The return of General Rouge~ EP1

Guys, I'm bacccckkkkk!!! XD

After some busy period I can finally continue to write about the some of the new season of Jap drama. Note there are plenty of great shows on - including Kimura Takuya's latest love themed "Moon Lovers" (previous one was done over 10 years ago), Itou Atsushi & Nakamura Touru's "Team Batista 2", Eita & Ueno Juri's "Sunao Ni Narenaku te" (can't be honest) etc...lots and lots of titles with my favourite actors!

Anyway...back to Team Batista 2 (TB2) for the time being. Not sure whether everyone has seen Team Batista 1? I had lots of fun watching it, thanks to great plot and great actors. For a quick rating I would give it 9/10.

And just some background to fill everyone in coz in TB2 it launches pretty much straight into the storyline. In this series there are two main characters - one is Itou Atushi's character "Taguchi Kouhei" (田口公平) who is basically more a mind/psychological consultant. He deals with patients by communicating with them via words, getting to know them in certain depth and help them out by seeking appropriate help or handing them over to the correct Toudai hospital department. A very friendly person but at times can be undecisive and slow.

Taguchi Kouhei (田口公平) - Acted by Itou Atsushi (伊藤淳史)

Whereas the other main character - Nakamura Touru's character "Shiratori Keisuke" (白鳥圭輔) is complete opposite character to that of Taguchi. He is very sharp and smart, and is always aggressive in the way he questions/comments. To Taguchi, he is like a complete crazy person....yet he is the key person to solving the mystery in TB1. And there is always a reason for his action, although hidden away in his seemingly crazy behaviour/comment.

Shiratori Keisuke (白鳥圭輔) - Acted by Nakamura Touru (仲村トオル)

So now it's season 2, although it's no longer about Batista operation - instead this season focuses on the Emergency Rescue sector, and the character Hayami Kouichi who is also known as "General Rouge".

Hayami Kouichi (速水晃一) - Acted by Nishijima Hidetoshi (西島秀俊)

EP1 started off with the fast paced ER sector daily operation, then Taguchi was introduced to the scene as who has consulted the current ER patient once 2 years ago, followed by Shiratori who is yet to reveal his true intention on the investigation of ER sector.

The whole of EP1 is based on investigating the case of a flight attendent falling into coma for no apparent reason and slowly revealing & solving the mystery case. Like that in season 1, watching the Taguchi & Shiratori combo solving the mystery is still a great enjoyment. Unlike season 1, season 2 seems like it'll be one case per episode or it'll be interesting to see how the scenario writer can link all these together. EP1 also laid some hidden issues for further elaboration such as Shiratori and Hayami's past, Hayami's link with Medical Assort and of course, his real intention to be here. All these gave a great kick start.

Also the music is still terrific - the tense upbeat is excellent to bring audience in for life-pressuring circumstances and this has been done very successfully. I also quite like the theme song's tranquility.

By end of EP1 Taguchi has been organised by Shiratori (behind the scenes of course) to become a member of the ER sector handling psycological consultation. And from the actions of Haymi in EP1 he seems to have some kind of plot going on under the table. Shiratori sensed the abnormality of Hayami with Medical Assort but would he be able to find out what is going on? Let's look forward to the next EP!

Another Century Episode R is now a confirmed release on PS3!!

To all of you who are still waiting for SRW to be released on PS3...wait no more! Instead ACE R is confirmed to be on the way!!

I was extremely excited to see this as ACE series on PS2 was excellent and it was really sad when they announced ACE3 The Final - confirming as the last work for ACE series. But hey, it's now confirmed they are probably making money out of this series, so they decide to continue on!!

Some more pics from Famitsu Japan this week:

Confirmed mecha series include:
Super Dimension Century Orguss
Gundam Zeta
Char's Counterattack
Gundam Crossbone (yay!)
Gundam SEED Destiny
Overman King Gainer
Full Metal Panic! (woohoo! ARX-7! Can I ask for Mr Bonta as well? XD)
Code Geass~Rebellion of Rurushu~ (Saw the Lancelot Conquesta in the pic?)
Genesis of Aquarion
Macross Zero
Macross Frontier

It's gonna be a big one guys, so get your wallet ready for this (Japan) summer!

Bloody Monday Season 2 - EP9 Finale

BM2 simply proves the concept of that in BM1 again - started off really big with the "wow" factor fully pumped. But the ending can really get ALOT better than this...

First let's complete the part about Spider's (Kurano Lisa) relationship with Takagi Fujimaru. They were childhood friends since the dads know each other (Kurano's dad is Professor Shikimura - the one who initially tried to get Bloody X into Japan in BM1. She inherited her mother's surname instead). On top of that she was the one who led Fujimaru into the world of computers/hacking. So in essence she's not only Hornet's teacher - but also Falson's teacher.

And yet the emphasis up to now in which Falcon never won over Spider - was very easily broken in this last EP. No explanation whatsoever given. Fujimaru just won coz he was able to hack into the device. Full stop.

......Right.

And few points which never got explained, such as the relationship between Maya and Ladybird. What happened to Minami in the end? Why is Hotaru (one of the members of "Magical Shooters") following J and K in the end, and looked so faithful to them? Mizusawa Hibiki somehow managed to survive in the end...with a direct shot. Is that just to fulfill Fujimaru's request to live to the end?

Too many things unexplained, or looks to me the whole plot itself is full of bugs - that's why the scenario writer can't even bother to try to explain. Oh and please don't try to explain any of the above by having BM3, coz that'll just extend to the list, not shrinking it.

To me BM2 could've been done alot better if:
1. Haruka and Yagi's part are removed. (Yagi didn't even die in the end. WTF? This kid took up so many frames holding his gun around virtually doing nothing, yet the Director hasn't properly executed him?)

2. The top national meeting can be halved - or even removed - alot of decisions can be just passed to the audience verbally. Again lots of frames are wasted here - with these guys simply sitting around panicking and got nothing done. (except showing sign of relief when Falcon has saved the world again...yeah thanks! Why don't you let him the president instead? XD)

3. Maya could've lived. She's been centre of attention (and suspicion) since BM1 and always added to the plot as well as to overall rating, action-style-wise or plot-wise.

4. Fujimaru should be portrayed as about equivalent to Spider rather than giving the audience the feel that he's always losing. That way the final win would be WAY much more logical than what we've been given now.

Really, there are heaps of things that they could've done much better rather than just getting the audience to keep playing the "guessing who's the bad guys" game. That's already been used over and over in BM1, over repeating it is never a good thing. And people just get so sick of it too, even the BM fans - who has given up BM (TV series) ever since BM1 as far as I'm concerned.

So in the end it was revealed the whole plot was directed by J, who managed to rescue K (so what's her purpose in BM2? Just waiting to be rescued?) and is now on large with Hotaru. The end. See you later J & K, hopefully we won't see you again in BM3, if it does come out.

Anime OVA - Kara No Kyoukai (空の境界) AKA "The Garden of Sinners"

I've been really busy lately so havn't had much chances to update the blog. My apologies for that, especially to those people who do stop by on a daily basis.

BM2 finale review would be on its way soon. But for the time being, let's talk a bit about anime.

I used to be a big fan of Jap Anime before I moved onto Jap Drama. Back in Gundam SEED & SEED Destiny era was my golden years of anime time. Back then I used to watch up to 8 different animes a week. It was full on, and it was when I was still a Uni student (i.e. alot of time to kill XD)

More importantly, they were great quality animes back then. OK maybe not all, but most of the work I find interesting to watch with a decent plot. Nowadays I simply can't bear the type of anime which simply sells either "MOE", multiple girls have crash on one guy (and for no apparent reason too), or....just boobs, such as that in Queen's Blade or Ikkitousen series.

Good on you if you do like them, but I won't be writing anything for them. NEVER.

Instead what I'm going to introduce here is the 7 episode "Kara no Kyoukai" series. The whole 7 episodes were aired in Japan and had great feedback. It did took them 2 years to have everything aired though, which is a good thing to keep the quality but for the audience such as myself, it's a torture to wait.

Now a bit about the characters. There are three main characters in Kara No Kyoukai -
1. Main female protagonist - Ryougi Shiki (両儀 式)
2. Main male protagonist - Kokutou Mikiya (黒桐 幹也)
3. Sub female protagonist - Aozaki Touko (蒼崎 橙子)


Since it's a novel written by Nasu Kinoko (author of Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime etc) the characters do have some special ability due to unique setting. In this work Touko is a magician, Shiki was originally an ordinary girl but later on gained "Chokushi no Magan" (直死の魔眼) which allows her to spot the line of death on virtually anything and proceed to kill them.

Did I miss someone? Oh, Kokutou Mikiya? Well he hasn't got any unique ability....and looks very ordinary too. But he does have substantial effect on Shiki and Touko, and you will discover about them when you either read the original novel or watch the OVA :)

One thing about the story - if you havn't read the novel you probably won't understand the whole concept with just watching the OVA. I would highly recommend going through the OVA along with the novel - overall the OVA do try to include all the main plots but due to time constraint there are still parts been missed out. Still the OVA itself is a very complete work of art by itself.

The story is also not in timeline order - like that in Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuuitsu. In EP1 the audience is presented with Shiki who has already obtained the Magan and then EP2 reverted all the way back to "Chapter 1" with her and Mikiya's high school life, how they initially met etc etc.

Thorough details are on wiki for those who are keen:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara_no_Kyōkai

Now you might ask what's attracting you? Well, quite a few things:
1. The matter of fact it's got interesting yet complicated storyline, you have to keep thinking about it to get the whole picture
2. Shiki's battle scene are excellent - the flow of movement and details are superb
3. Music and theme songs by Kajiura Yuki & Kalafina is simply stunning. Especially the theme songs - they fit so well I simply can't skip the staff roll (which I do for about 95% of the OVA I watch)
4. Sakamoto Maaya's voice acting for Shiki is awesome - it's a bit similar to that in Lightning for FFXIII, but for Shiki she has put in alot of effort to show the change in her.

All these add up together to 9/10 for an OVA of this quality. Highly recommended.

Here are all 7 DVD covers which was released in Japan

Useful links:
Official OVA website (Japanese)
English Wikipedia

Massugu na Otoko (The Straight Guy) EP10 Finale

No surprise type of final episode - Kenichiro and Narumi ended up together, and...well, to some very foreign country (Algeria I think it is) to start a new life. But first of all let's step back to end of last episode...

A call from Kenichiro's sister Nami reporting Narumi is in dangerous situation put him in a very difficult situation - he has to make a decision now about work or about the new family. In the end he chose family over work and rushed to the hospital to see Narumi. Satou Ryuta has played well here about the indecision when he took the call.

And that's one of the things I like about this drama, it's not overly complicated at all. Characters are set to be consistent (except Narumi) to the stage what the characters are thinking are conveyed to the audience. Well, at least most of the time.

So, with Asada Ryutaro.....sorry, it's not Batista here, with a very ordinary looking doctor announcing Narumi is safe, so too has the Narumi line. Almost XD

And then on the work side of things, Kenichiro faces Dr Azuma...well not quite, Ishizaka Kouji is playing the MD (Managing Director) of Frontier Constructions this time. And he is planning to bribe some political personnel in order to ensure Frontier wins over the project.

And as you can guess it, our very-straight-from-EP1-protagonist is deeply against this action. With his guts he took it all the way to the MD himself, asking him to reconsider the whole thing.

Standing from idealistic point of view, Kenichiro insists on fair play policy and strongly rejects any undertable deals. He has no complaint even if he loses this way as he has tried his best.

But standing from MD's point of view he needs to be responsible for all employee and their family, therefore the consequence of losing is a huge price to pay, especially when the setting of the drama is during global financial crisis. One mistake could lead to a number of families starving as the company has to retrench people. No doubt the MD wants to obtain this project by all means, even if it means to bribe to win.

Unfortunately the way MD takes action here is quite common in the real world. In fact, just like reflecting the real world, Global Constructions got the project deal simply coz they bribed. And Frontier Constructions, although the presentation trio tried their best in all aspects, sadly is no match to the bribery money.

It just shows the power of bribery - although this is never the legitimate way of doing things. For those have watched Fumo Chitai will deeply understand the consequence of this. Iki Tadashi, although has a glorious win in most of the furious business battlefields, it comes with a huge price to pay everytime. And part of this was due to the undertable deals that he has to turn to in attempt to win certain deal for example. I'm amazed at why he still hasn't been caught by some kind of investigator yet - oh of course, coz he's living in the novel world.

So Global Constructions may have won this time, but who knows later on police or some kind of investigators may lay their eyes on the deal and found out they won by bribery?

Interesting topic indeed and has alot of room for discussion. But I think I've talked enough, not sure about your opinion?

Anyway, so Kenichiro finally got together with Narumi and off they go to Algeria. There has been some minor incidents in Narumi trying to settle in with the neighbourhood, but she simply doesn't stand out....ever since she became a "nice" character. So there's not alot to comment here - she's fabulous up to EP8 or so, and then she returned normal XD

As for the Straight Guy, he has miraculously survived full 10 episodes of "Straight Test" and he survived. I wonder whether we'll be able to find someone as straight as he is in the real world, maybe after watching this drama? LOL.

"Heavy Rain" will support PlayStation Move!!

Yes, for those of you who havn't yet heard about it, the game Heavy Rain which was released on PS3 about a month ago, will be supporting the PlayStation Move (which is like the PS version of Wii controller), allowing movements to be detected.

I assume this will be done via an online update of some sort, which, like other PS3 games, you'll be asked to install the update when it's available and when your PS3 has an Internet connection.

Well, what's so stunning about it? You may ask.

Currently the game Heavy Rain is designed with user interaction via the controller. For example opening fridge may require you to press "x" button as well as using the L1 stick to do some sort of turn. But this is plainly done on the current PS3 controller.

For a demonstration, refer to this:
How far will you go to eat a snack?

With PS Move, you'll be holding the "Move" controller instead and performing actions such as opening doors, drinking, showering, just to name a few. It's like how you play Wii Sport Tennis, you'll have to hold the controller and make a swing move so the character on screen will attempt to make the same move to hit the ball, except this time you are involved in different actions in trying to find out who the serial killer Origami is.

It'll definitely involve the player much more than how it was previously, so it's a good attempt to try out the PS Move if you have Heavy Rain!

And let's hope sooner or later this title will also be able to support 3D. :)

Source:
http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=7594&mp=1

Mr Screamer - Violin Series

OK guys, this is another one of those crazy talented person but is yet to be known to the general public. Let's talk a little about how this guy - Mr Screamer - started.


Apparently this guy thought to himself about having so much talent yet he hasn't shared this with anyone - it's just a pity! So as a first step, he started off putting his violin clips of some famous Jap anime as well as game theme songs, such as Falcom's YS series, Macross Frontier, Gundam series...etc etc. onto Youtube and Niconico (an equivalent of Youtube in Japan). From then his skills has been highly recognized, to the fact that he has now released two mini albums on his violin.

Mr Screamer calls himself as "Scream Guy" (translated from Japanease) and has a feature on these Youtube/Niconico clips - he always wear the Scream mask during violin play. With his amazing technique and the clear, fluent yet complicated music notes that he was able to produce, I reckon he's definitely a professional grade, yet you can enjoy most of his work online for no cost!

A few of my favourites:


Falcom's game - Legend of Heros 6 - Sora no Kiseki SC main theme: "Gin no ishi, Kin no tsubasa"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoLkYJ5Odmg

Macross F ED: Diamond Crevasse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV9DaB7Q4PQ

Macross F OP2: Lion (and he's frecking playing this with the opposite hand...!!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcE_n8zy ... re=related

If you are interested to know what's not free, here are the two mini albums that he had on Amazon Japan:
Album 1
Album 2

And here are some of the links that you may be interested in:
Mr Screamer's Personal Blog (Japanese)
His work on Nico Nico (requires an account)

As for youtube, you've got 3 links above which you can click on the publisher and see all the work that he has published so far :)

Enjoy.

Well...can we call this Final Jesus??

To reward everyone with another hardworking day, here is some laugh again!

This time it's a modification of the famous "Last Supper". So please just LOL like Jesus did below and your day will be better :D

Real life "Heavy Rain" - How far will you go to eat a snack?

For those of you who havn't played Heavy Rain on PS3 before, here is a demo of what this game is about:
Heavy Rain Gameplay Demo

Basically it's a game which allows you to control the action/decision of a player based on the options you are given. This is the main feature of the game is called the QTE system. On occasions you get multiple options and the choice you make will lead up to some kind of result.

For those of you who have played Heavy Rain on PS3, I'm sure you'll enjoy this clip:

How far will you go to eat a snack?

A great parody to the actual game. All the features look very similar, even the expressions, actions, and the QTE system!

Have fun watching. :)

Bloody Monday Season 2 - EP8

Again, spoilers below so if you havn't watch this episode yet and don't want to be spoiled about the storyline - skip to the next article please :)





OK guys...we are almost there! This is the second last episode of BM2, where some mysteries have been resolved but a few more has arisen.

Let's start off with the two biggest surprises of the EP:

1. J (played by Narimiya Hiroki) is well alive and kicking, and seems like the whole crap about him dying and needs to be transported is a big setup between him and leader of Madang Shashu (again I still like to call it "The Magical Shooter" XD) - "Spider".

2. Just like you pretty much can't guess K's real identity in BM1 (unless you've read the original comic), "Spider" also turned out to be a huge surprise. Who would've known Kurano (Mitsushima Hikari) is an expert hacker and an excellent "face-off". And yet the line "Fujimaru, let's play together!" sounds like she has known him for some time. I would say alot of people are thinking along the same line as me - they must have met each other when they are small.

One thing to note, I really liked the tense atmosphere when Takagi is trying to figure out whether Minami or Kurano is "Spider". The whole guessing game at last has come to the climax point where even Takagi himself wasn't quite sure who really is "Spider", until Minami got shot and Kurano had the gun pointing at him. (Wait, I think we've seen the same thing in BM1 as well, where Takagi's dad got shot and K points the gun at Takagi...you don't learn do you? XD)

Because the whole concept of "guessing game" is such a strong theme within BM itself I believe that's why this EP (or whenever audience is left with trying to figure out who is the culprit) is great to watch.

But stripping off the success of atmospheric creation, I'm not too sure whether BM2 really has too much left.

And l still want to emphasize this, the whole Third-i sector is just....crap to the degree not only their system get hacked so easily that they have to rely on two uni students to save the world? Come on, you've been paid well by the government (let's assume that, since they report direct to the prime minister XD) so you should do more than just pretending to be busy walking around / picking up endless ringing phones.

And the very Chinese-looking guy "Mosquito" - I do feel sorry for you being killed so easily, and I don't think you had much chances to act apart from showing off a few foreign languages? Btw I still don't know which language they were using...sounded like something they made up themselves? Anyway that's not important XD

Mizuzawa Hibiki (Kurokawa Tomoka) definitely has the feeling of a female agent, and at the end of this episode an angry one too. Although having seen her performance up to now, I do hope her acting skills can improve the next time we see her on screen....

Oh and don't forget about that poor K, having on average of 10~15s of screening time per EP, finally will be released from jail in the final EP. But it's already the last EP, so....what's the point? Hmm...let's find out next week!

Nomura: Final Fantasy Versus XIII has Airships!!

Source:
http://au.ps3.ign.com/articles/107/1078207p1.html

For those who have played FFXIII, or is currently playing FFXIII, you'll notice the storyline is very, very linear.

What that means is you get movie CG -> go through mini-map -> have a few battles -> fight the boss -> movie CG -> go through mini-map....and it keeps on looping. Not alot of freedom to explore at all.

Not until Chapter 11 (out of 13) where you finally get some freedom to do whatever you like, but to be honest there isn't that many things to do apart from sidequests, sidequests and sidequests.

I mean, Chapter 11 map is big - bigger than any of those in previous chapters.

And after all, the method of transportation from A to B is just...teleport.

That's right, teleport. Or alternatively, you can....run/walk from A to B.

Plus there are a limited number of teleport points (they are acquired by completing certain number of sidequests), so for alot of places you still need to get the characters to do some jogging. In the event of sidequests you actually need to do ALOT of jogging, and that's can easily clock up the playtime.

And we are now craving for the freedom of airship, world map like that in the goold old FFVI, FFVII etc. i.e. OLD FFs

So about two days ago, Toriyama (producer of FFXIII) has made the comment on GDC about FFVXIII is designed in the similar fashion to FFXIII, and there won't be any open maps. (i.e. like that in FFXIII, you only get to visit places when you are supposed to be in that chapter)

Yet today, Nomura (producer of FFVXIII) has claimed that there will be airship in FFVXIII.

This seems as if Nomura is eagerly trying to clarify the misconception Toriyama has fed to the wide range of FF fanatics at an earlier stage, by making the promise there will be an airship.

Well I'm hoping it's a controllable airship, not like the one where it only appears when you have to move from A to B...as that simply defeats the purpose. But hey, it's a possibility. Coz Nomura promised that there will be airship, but he didn't promise there will be controllable airship, correct?

At this stage I can only say: let's be optimistic about this and wait for the E3 news.

Massugu na Otoko (The Straight Guy) EP9

As usual, spoilers below - so please skip reading if you prefer not to be spoiled!






To be honest, by looking at last EP8's preview I thought this will be the final EP...

Well, the preview gave me the idea Narumi (acted by Fukada Kyoko) princess went missing, and of course the al-might-ty Kenichiro (acted by Satou Ryuta) would magically found her, and yes, lived happily after.

Sounds familiar?

So with that thought in mind, I sat back and relax myself to enjoy the anticipated storyline.

...and it turned out I was not quite right, the story didn't end when the prince found princess.

Instead it went on, and Mother-In-Law got introduced into the story. OK, so I thought, how would Narumi passed this stage with her absolute outrageous behaviour?

And, not surprisingly (as it's Japanese drama), she got along well with the Mother-In-Law. A good chance to at last trying to purify Narumi's character from the first 7 episodes. Oh well, I guess that's an indication to all of us - people can change as long as you are willing to. Little bit by bit does make the difference.

At least that's the new Narumi I'm seeing. Well done.

Yet Kenichiro still maintained his "straight guy" trait this EP, by telling his mum that he is not the real father, and in front of Narumi! I certainly think it's a huge shock to her, but at least he indicated very firmly no matter whether they have direct relationship or not, he will love Narumi as well as the newborn. Wow. I mean, do these kind of men still exist in real life??

Once again we've confirmed the most unrealistic male character of the year - goes to Satou Ryuta! Well done. (female award would go to Kamno Miho, since she plays the "Uncompromisable lady" XD)

Anyway, I've been fairly sarcastic....which is quite unfair for our Straight Guy, and he might decide to give me a big straight punch if he sees this article...so let's talk nice, shall we?

Well in general I still think this is a great drama. Main characters are played well so we get a good understanding of them. Plus alot of humour throughout the storyline makes the audience grin, and more importantly, all the girls are very nice looking!! The last point  All these makes this drama a joyful to watch XDD

Oh yes yes, let's not forget about the love declaration by Kumazawa (Tanaka Kei) to Yoshino (Kanjiya Shihori) in this EP. Kumazawa has given up on Yoshino since EP1 for Kenichiro, and now he has no reason to give up anymore, which comes down now to whether Yoshino is ready for his overwhelming feelings since the first EP. Let's hope for a good result on this one too shall we? ;)

Speaking of Yoshino, I think Kanjiya Shihori has again played this character really well. She acted very naturally in expressing the feelings for this character, towards Kenichiro, towards Narumi, as well as towards rest of the group.

Only if Fukada Kyoko hasn't played Narumi so well I would've given her the best female character award for this drama. Kyoko is just too outstanding in terms of impersonating these type of "bad girls", and it's to the extent where everyone dislike her so much! But then again this is by intention to contrast the characters between Kenichiro and Narumi.

So the preview of last EP created the atmosphere that Narumi may not live to the end...or will she? Let's find out later this week!

窪田ミナ(Kubota Mina) - Moment

Most of you probably havn't heard of Kubota Mina. In fact, I would say around 95% of you wouldn't know her.

Coz I was one of the 95% of you who didn't know her, until I got hold of this album - "Moment".

And then I'm craving for her second album, which I don't think has yet been released. Plus I'm not sure whether it will really be released at all...

As you probably gathered from the album photo, she is a pianist. But the music you get in this album is not only piano, but a combination of different instruments as well as vocals for some. And they are the type of music that makes you relax and soothes your mind.

Yes - "healing" type of music - like that in the animation Aria, if you know what I mean :)

The thing that outstands her album from any other piano albums is not purely with her technique, instead how the harmony with other instruments or sound effects. It all seems to fit so well together as a piece of art.

For you to preview I'll upload partial section of 3 songs here:
03. Undine
05. The World Around Us
11. Fragile

pw:
endlessw.blogspot.com

Amazon link for CD:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/モーメント-窪田ミナ/dp/B0010B8E6A

And for those of you who likes to know Kubota Mina a bit more, here are some wiki reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mina_Kubota
(click on the bottom left for Japanese - you'll get heaps more if you can read some Japanese XD)

Bloody Monday Season 2 - EP7

OK, so let's start off with some Jap drama review shall we? Since this is what I'm really into anywayz...:P

For this current season I'm going after Bloody Monday 2 (BM2), Masugu na Otoko (The Straight Guy), Shukumei 1969-2010 and Fumo Chitai which continued all the way from last season. I'll try to do a review on each episode as much as I can.

Note that these Jap drama are the latest - i.e. they have just been aired in Japan. Don't ask me how I watched them. There are various ways online since the World became flat :)

==========

(Spoilers below - so if you havn't watched it yet and don't want to be spoiled, please exit)

So, back to BM2, ep7.

No, Kujo Otoya didn't die - although he looked like he was dying at end of last EP, and at one stage when he's been shot yet Kanou was chatting away with Professor, as if he wasn't there? Come on guys, there's someone being shot here! Shouldn't you be sending him off onto an ambulance as a top priority?

Falcon VS Hornet round 2! Well, Takagi played some nice tricks here over Hornet, but as soon as he spilled out Spider and the fact Spider is someone who's been watching Takagi since season 1, role reversed from there. (for the purpose of suspense....as we all know what this drama is about)

At last, the 7 members of "Madangu Shashu" (let's just call them The Mad Shooter - I think it resembles most of the members very well XD) are revealed by Professor in this EP.

They are:

1. Lady Bird - the girl who tried to mimick Orihaya Maya, with piercing on the chest

2. Beast - wavy hairstyle, always holding a shotgun and was the one who chased Maya to her last resort

3. Mosquito - the ordinary looking business person (he looks very chinese btw)

4. Hornet - Takagi just caught him last EP - and he's confirmed this EP

5. EP1's air crew lady - who I don't even bother remembering her name XD

6. Hotaru - the one who replied to Yagi on the Internet and provided him the gun, as well as distributing guns to young generation

7. Spider - still unknown

So it's the first time Spider is confirmed in this series, but according to the preview for next EP he/she will get revealed next EP...so...what's the point of keeping the suspense for 1 episode?

I wish storyline can be reorganized, coz it's very messy.

Anyway, looks like J (Kansaki Jun) won't be getting up for a little while, but he's getting paid for lying down, hey! Where can I find one of these jobs?? XD

Not surprisingly, when he's been transported to better facility for treatment, the useless Third-i has mucked it up again. So good old J is now officially under the evil guys, so it turns out he probably won't be getting paid long for lying down XD

Although I don't like Beast personally, but I think alot of us feels thankful to him when he did shot the harassment doctor and killed him. GJ! And Minami actually put down the gun when Beast greeted her - hmm...so it looks like Spider is confirmed to be someone related to Third-i for sure now.

And...again what's happening with Third-i security? Hibiki and Takagi went off together like there's absolutely no security check within Third-i? Dunno want to say...ironically, 5 minutes ago Takagi was just saying "this is Third-i, you won't be able to get out so easily", and now they are roaming within the crowd on streets...?

Even if Otoya turns out to be Spider I won't be too surprised now. The story is far worse than that in Season 1 to the extend that I don't want to, and have no desire to comment on anymore.

So what's left with BM2, you may ask?

Probably only music, and that little bit of suspense built up by outstanding music. Oh, and never ending "who's the spy" guessing game, which was been used over and over since season 1 too.

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