Monday, March 29, 2010
3RD Philippine Cosplay Convention 2010
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Gravitation
Story
The story surrounds an aspiring singer, Shuichi Shindou, and his band, Bad Luck (formed with his best friend Hiroshi Nakano, who is on guitar). Shuichi wants to become Japan's next big star, and follow in the footsteps of the famous idol Ryuichi Sakuma, lead singer of the now-disbanded legendary group Nittle Grasper. One evening, Shuuichi is looking over lyrics for a song he was writing when his paper is blown away by the wind and picked up by a tall, blonde stranger. The man dismisses Shuichi's hard work as garbage, which hurts Shuichi deeply. Despite his anger, he is intrigued by the stranger. This will be their first, but not last, encounter as Shuichi becomes fascinated by the stranger, who soon turns out to be the famous romance novelist, Eiri Yuki (real name: Uesugi). Both the manga and the anime follow this plot.
The manga is a quirky blend of over-the-top humor (Reiji's giant panda robot destroying parts of New York, Shuichi's explosive nosebleeds and ridiculous declarations of love, K's machine gun wake-up calls, Tohma's half-teasing come-ons, etc) and yaoi. The storyline is just serious enough to be compelling, but also contains elements of parody. The characters are often thrown into insane situations and in some scenes the art style is dramatically overdone for comedic effect, one of many of Murakami sensei's well know traits and characteristics in her manga styles.
The art style of the manga is notably different in volumes 1-5 than it is in volumes 6-12. The first half of the series has a more "old-fashioned" style that slowly changes and becomes noticeably different by volumes 6-7. The second half features cleaner lines, and more polished and stylish appearance. This also appears in the sequel, Gravitation EX, where each character's drawing style is drastically changed. For some, it's not very much except a little lolita-fication, but for others, you may have to see the name before you can recognize them. For example, Mika (Tohma's wife) was last seen in the early stages of pregnancy whereas now there is no visible evidence of such a state. There is also Shuichi's sister Maiko.
Major Characters
Shuichi Shindou: An energetic, devoted, and good-natured teen who falls in love with Eiri Yuki. He chases Eiri constantly, despite being rejected, verbally abused, and often being called a little brat. The only thing he cares about more than Eiri is his band, Bad Luck. Even after becoming Eiri's boyfriend, Shuichi still struggles to win his heart completely and find out more about his dark past. Shuichi sacrifices himself and ends up being beaten and raped by one of the members of the band A.S.K and his hired thugs in order to protect Eiri. Eiri blames himself for the assault and keeps running away from Shuichi because he fears both being hurt by him, as well as hurting him. Shuichi follows him to end, even going to New York in an attempt to bring Eiri home (in the anime). In the manga, he even has Yoshiki Kitazawa impersonate his older brother Yuki Kitazawa to help shuichi for the problems his brother has left behind which really helps Eiri get over his past love. The two finally end up together despite many interferences by Eiri's family, his arranged fiance Ayaka, and Eiri's close friend and brother-in-law, Tohma.
Eiri Yuki: A cynical romance novelist whose real name is Eiri Uesugi. He is generally blunt and rude to those around him and has a fairly negative view on people and life in general. His good looks and charm make him popular with women and his female fanbase whove given him the nickname of 'cool beauty' , but he doesn't make any emotional attachments with the women he gets involved with. He eventually agrees to a relationship with Shuichi (who refers to him as Yuki). Eiri suffers from psychological problems, mostly stemming from when he was almost brutally raped and was forced to kill to defend his life when he was a teenager. He only resists Shuichi because his past has affected him so much that he's afraid to let anyone in again. In the beginning, he's very cruel to Shuichi but eventually he gives way and little by little begins to let him in and nor dos he want to have shuichi hurt or even possibly killed since his brother in-law Tohma "discards any toy he believes is not good in anyway to Eiri". Yuki eventually admits to himself that he loves Shuichi in the manga[volume 8], but the animated series only highlights certain areas of the relationship's development. He then is very kind to Shuichi and even though he occasionally refers to him as stupid, (he typically acts like a "tough guy" in public and tries to act like he unconcerned with Shuichi) it's very apparent that the two love each other. He blames himself for Shuichi being beaten and raped by one of the band A.S.K's members and his hired thugs. Eiri also teeters from being nice to Shuichi, but whenever Tohma, his arranged fiance Ayaka, or his family get involved in the matter he treats him badly because they convince him that he will only be hurt. In the end he overcomes this and the pair find happiness in their own way.
Tohma Seguchi: The former keyboardist for the band Nittle Grasper, and now the head of NG Productions, the company that is producing Bad Luck's music. Tohma is a genius musician and a stern businessman. He is married to Eiri's older sister, Mika. Tohma cares greatly for his brother-in-law, Eiri, and feels an intense guilt for failing to protect him during his childhood. When he feels that Eiri's livelihood is threatened, he is prone to get involved.
Characters
Bad Luck
Nittle Grasper
A.S.K
N-G Production Staff
Uesugi Family
- Eiri Yuki a.k.a Eiri Uesugi
- Mika Seguchi
- Tatsuha Uesugi
Winchester Family
Kitazawa Family
- Yuki Kitazawa
- Yoshiki Kitazawa
- Riku Kitazawa
XMR Records
Reiji a.k.a Rage
Others
- Ayaka Usami
- Maiko Shindou, Shuichi's sister.
- Yuuji Nakano, Hiroshi's older brother.
Media
The precursor to the Gravitation manga was a dōjinshi series titled Help!, which followed a similar story line but cast the characters in slightly different roles.
Murakami penned a thirteen volume dōjinshi series called Gravitation Remix under the group Crocodile Ave. The Remix dōjinshi are much more sexually explicit than the anime and deviate heavily from the manga storyline. Fans have requested that Tokyopop license Gravitation Remix, but Tokyopop regards the depiction of some characters to be too young, also they are concerned about themes of incest, so Tokyopop has not licensed them.[5] They contain an element of parody. For example, one volume features a female version of a male character, Shūichi.
In addition to the Remixes, Murakami created four Megamixs dōjinshi, dubbed Mega-gra, Megamix: Panda, Megamix: Kumagorou, and Megamix: Capybara. These are extremely explicit, even compared to the remixes, and can be shocking to readers at the magnitude of explicit imagery presented. These also deviate from the storyline as the Remixes do, though Panda takes a step further to include Shota. A new Megamix is currently in the works, entitled Megamix Zebra. Not much is known about this Megamix except that it will feature the couple of Shuichi x Ryuichi x Eiri, with Shuichi as the seme.
A sequel to the original manga series has also been created, entitled Gravitation EX[4] though many fans know it as its original name, Gravitation Genzo (so named after the online magazine it is published in). The story picks up directly after volume 12, and is known for being even more like a soap opera than the original manga. In the span of twenty chapters (as of April 2008), Shuichi and Eiri find and agree to momentarily take care of Kitazawa Yuki's son Riku, Shuichi kisses and conducts a short affair with Sakuma Ryuichi, who announces that he's always been in love with Shuichi, Eiri is in a car accident that causes him to temporarily lose his eye sight, and Reiji announces that she's making all that has happened into a movie. Shuichi believes that this movie is the reason Ryuichi "pretended" to go after him, although as of April 2008 Ryuichi's true motives - whether he is really in love with Shuichi, was making a movie, or was trying to bring Shuichi and Eiri closer in someway - are not clear. In track 71, the cave Bad Luck is filming a music video in collapses, leaving Shuichi trapped inside. In track 75 it is revealed that Shuichi is in a coma with no signs of waking up. It was also hinted that Eiri may take over as Bad Luck's vocalist. Since Shuichi has yet to awaken he is forced to do so, revealing a secret of Yuki unknown to anyone but Shuichi. Later, after the performance, Yuki goes in to Shuichi's hospital room. He questions Shuichi about what he would do if Yuki had been lying about his eyesight, upon which Shuichi awakens. It is unclear where the story will go from there, as Murakami has been on hiatus since the January 2008 issue, and it is unclear when she will go back to publishing the manga monthly again. It is also unclear when TOKYOPOP and other manga distributors will release the second volume of Gravitation EX in English. Recently after being on hiatus, Murakami released a new 30 page track of Gravitation EX.
In February 2009, Murakami released track 77 of Gravitation EX[4] (or Gravitation Genzo[6]). There is a new side to Sakuma, Ryuichi which deepens the mystery to his character. He seems to have two versions of himself running around, one of which is a ghost. In this track, there are several scenes of Yuki acting as a pleasant partner in a husband-wife role. The link below is a translated scan by user sailorspazz. http://community.livejournal.com/gravi_muse_meet/571813.html#cutid1
Air Gear
Story
Itsuki "Ikki" Minami, is a student and a delinquent. Also known as the "Unbeatable Babyface", Ikki is the leader of the youth gang by the name of "East Side Gunz". Upon his return home, after being humiliated by a Storm Rider team called the Skull Saders, Ikki discovers a secret hidden from him by his benefactors, the Noyamano sisters. The sisters belong to a group of Storm Riders who go by the team name of Sleeping Forest. In the anime, learning the sisters' secret angers him and he steals a pair of Air Trecks, abbreviated as "AT". (In the manga, the sisters give a pair of ATs to him and invite him to skate with them.) Ikki eventually settles his grudge with the Skull Saders, but in the process he receives more than the simple satisfaction of revenge. Determined to experience the sensation of "flight" for as long as he can, Ikki is quickly engaged in the mysterious, irresistible world of Air Treks.
Main Characters
- See also: List of Air Gear characters
Itsuki "Ikki" Minami Voiced by: Kenta Kamakari (Japanese), Chris Patton (English)
- The main protagonist of the story, he was given Air Trecks (in the anime, he took them himself) and soon delved into the world of Storm Riders. Eventually he creates a team, Kogarasumaru. Originally trained to become the Sky King by Sora, he soon finds himself betrayed by Sora and Nike, (Sora's twin brother) who steal his Regalia. Shortly thereafter, Ikki becomes the Storm King and follows the "Hurricane Road."
Kazuma "Kazu" Mikura Voiced by: Kenn (Japanese), Clint Bickham (English)
- A long-time friend of Ikki, Kazu is a friend who's always by his side. He is a speed-type rider who has recently inherited the title of Flame King following the path of the flame road along with Spitfires old AT's. Due to his speed he got the nickname Stealth.
Onigiri Voiced by: Masami Kikuchi (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English)
- Also a long-time friend of Ikki, Onigiri is a "perverted pig" as called by most. He has an unorthodox riding style, wearing his Air Trecks on his head and riding it upside-down. He has his own unique Road called the Smell Road, which uses an opponents senses against them.
Issa Mihotoke "Fats Buccha" Voiced by: Hitoshi Bifu (Japanese), Mark X. Laskowski (English)
- Formerly of the Team Yaō (Night Kings), Buccha was defeated by Ikki and his team was forced to disband. Eventually, he joins Ikki's team as one of the main power riders, making use of his extremely large build and strength.
Akito/Agito/Lind Wanijima Voiced by: Kokoro Kikuchi (Japanese), Blake Shepard (English)
- He is the Fang King with a split-personality. Akito is the "light" side while Agito is the "dark" side. They used to work for the police team of "WIND" until inspired by Ikki to leave and join Kogarasumaru after being rescued. Their split-personality changes depending on the side their eye patch is worn. Akito wears his patch on his right eye, Agito on his left. Later, a new personality named Lind emerged. Lind is somewhat like a "big brother" personality. He claims he is the original personality of the body.
Manga
Air Gear has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine since 2003. Currently, 25 tankōbon have been released in Japan by Shōnena Magazine Comics.
The Air Gear manga was licensed for release in the United States by Del Rey Manga and the first volume was released on July 25, 2006[2]. Subsequent volumes will be released every three months.
Anime
ADV Films announced over the October 20, 2006 weekend at Oni-Con, that they had licensed the Air Gear anime for release in the USA[3]. Though few of the actual artists and inside creators of Air Gear were actually there. The few that were there included Loa Mitsoyagi (Ikki), Ian Miller (Agito), Jason Remmings (Kazuma), and The ADV representing team. The first volume was released on February 6, 2007[4]. ADV is releasing the uncensored Japanese home video version, rather than the broadcast version. On January 3, 2007, IGN released a special sneak peek of Episode 1 of the English Dub[5]. In 2008, Air Gear became one of over 30 ADV titles transferred to Funimation[6]. In Australia and New Zealand, the series is licensed by Madman Entertainment[7].
Avex released one single and two albums covering all the songs and themes used for the anime adaptation. The opening theme single "Chain" performed by Back-on was released on June 7, 2006 and peak ranked 139th on Oricon singles chart.[8][9] The two albums Air Gear original soundtrack: What a Groovy Tricks!! and Air Gear original soundtrack 2: Who wants more Groovy Trick!!?? were released on August 23, 2006 and February 28, 2007, respectively.[10][11]
Musical
Air Gear was adaptated into a musical called Musical Air Gear,[12] which made its debut on January 7, 2007 and ran until January 21, 2007. The musical is loosely adapted from the manga and all female roles are eliminated from the plot. The cast featured Kenta Kamakari, KENN, and Kenjiro Tsuda reprising their roles from the anime respectively as Ikki, Kazu, and Spitfire with Masaki Kaji (who had also starred with Kenta and KENN in the Prince of Tennis musicals), Run&Gun, etc. as their co-stars[13].
Due to the success and popularity of the musical's first run, the musical has had a rerun in May 2007 titled, Musical Air Gear vs. Bacchus Super Range Remix (ミュージカル「エア·ギア」vs.バッカス Super Range Remix Myūjikaru "Ea Gia" tai Bakkasu Sūpā Renji Rimikkusu) with the entire cast, except for Kenta Kamakari due to illness, reprising their roles.
Also, a greyed out 'movie' button on the TV Tokyo Japanese Air Gear website indicates that an Air Gear movie may be in the works[14].
It is also recently revealed that a new Air Gear Musical is coming out in 2010 April.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Tenjho Tenge
is an ongoing Japanese manga authored by Ito "Oh Great" Ōgure. The story primarily focuses on the members of the Juken Club and their opposition, the Executive Council, which is the ruling student body of a high school that educates its students in the art of combat. As the story unfolds, both groups become increasingly involved with an ongoing battle that has been left unresolved for four hundred years.
Tenjho Tenge was serialized in the Japanese magazine Ultra Jump published by Shueisha. It was adapted into a twenty-four episode anime series and aired on TV Asahi in Japan between April 1, 2004 to September 16, 2004. A two-episode original video animation was also made and aired on March 16, 2005. Both versions of the series have been licensed for release in the English language by two different companies. The manga has been licensed for publication by CMX, which came under criticism by fans for editing its sexual content.[1] The anime series has been licensed and is being released by Geneon Entertainment.
Plot
The plot begins with Souichiro Nagi and his friend Bob Makihara going to their first day of high school at Toudou Academy. They had intended to rule the school by beating up anybody that got in their way, as they had done at their previous schools. They soon learn that Todo is no ordinary high school with ordinary students, but is a school that was founded to teach and integrate different fighting styles. Its students are skilled in the various arts of combat with some students possessing supernatural abilities, such as pyrokinesis, precognition, and superhuman strength based on the abilities to use their "spirit" or "ki" in Japanese. After an altercation with the Executive Council, Souichiro and Bob join the only surviving club that opposes them, the Juken club. As the storyline develops, both groups find they are becoming increasingly involved in a long enduring conflict that was left unresolved from the Japanese Feudal era by some of the characters' ancestors.
Tenjho Tenge is an organizational story that uses a character-driven plot. The story uses a dramatic structure in the form of story arcs, which is common for this medium. Oh! great often employs the literary techniques of flashback and back-story for long stretches of the storyline. These techniques are used to enforce the notion of determinism, which is used throughout the story. Much of the combat used in Tenjho Tenge encompasses many philosophical and strategic concepts that is used in Japanese martial arts, such as kiai, aiki, and maai. Both the manga and the anime follow the same storyline, though there are differences. One of these differences is that both the CMX manga and the anime toned down the sexual content and profanity of the original Japanese manga. Another disparity is that the hair color of some of the characters in the anime does not match their hair color depicted on the colored covers of the manga.
Characters
- Shin Natsume (棗 慎 Natsume Shin)
- Maya and Aya's deceased older brother. He once was the president of the Executive Council and the founder of the disbanded Team KATANA and the Juken Club. He possessed the family's supernatural power called the Dragon's Eye, which allowed him to have such abilities as precognition, clairvoyance, and clairaudience. Because his power was awakened when he was still a preadolescent,[2] he could not control his powers and was driven insane by them.
- Maya Natsume (棗 真夜 Natsume Maya)
- A third year student and the current leader of the Juken Club. She is very skilled in various martial arts, but does not possess the Dragon's Eye like her siblings. For this reason her father entrusted her with the cursed sword Reiki. Early in the series, she would use a body manipulation technique to revert herself into her childhood form to conserve her ki.[3]
- Kagesada Sugano (Asshat-kun) (菅野 影定 Sugano Kagesada)
- A third year student and a founding member of the Juken Club, though he was forced to join.[4] Even though he is arrogant, he is considered to be the weakest member of the Juken Club and most of the time he prefers to hide instead of fighting.
- Masataka Takayanagi (高柳 雅孝 Takayanagi Masataka)
- A second year student and Mitsuomi's younger brother. Most of the time he has an easy going personality and is somewhat shy, but his demeanor changes when he becomes angered or serious. When this happens, he becomes a very formidable combatant.
- Aya Natsume (棗 亜夜 Natsume Aya)
- A first year student and the youngest of the Natsume family. Like her brother Shin, she has the power of the Dragon's Eye. Although she has problems consciously activating it, she seems to have better control of the power than her brother.
- Souichiro Nagi (凪 宗一郎 Nagi Sōichiro)
- A first year student and self proclaimed hoodlum. He is the heir of the Demon Exorcist family. His family's supernatural power is called the Dragon's Fist, which gives them the ability to take supernatural powers from others and use it as their own. This power is often feared and misunderstood by others which caused Souichiro to be socially rejected.[5]
- Bob Makihara (ボブ 牧原 Bobu Makihara)
- A first year student who is of African descent. He has been friends with Souichiro since elementary school.[5] He is athletic and practices the Afro-Brazilian martial art of Capoeira.
- Mitsuomi Takayanagi (高柳 光臣 Takayanagi Mitsuomi)
- The current president of the Executive Council and of the head of the Takayanagi family. He is a third year student and the top ranked fighter of the whole school. He is a highly skilled and dedicated martial artist. Because of an incident with Shin and the Dragon's Eye, he is only able to use his formidable abilities for about three minutes at a time.[6]
- Emi Isuzu (五十鈴 絵美 Isuzu Emi)
- A third year student and the current vice president of the Executive Council. She has the ability to manipulate the fat of her overweight body,[7] which allows her to look slender and gives her places to hide throwing knives or other small objects.
- Bunshichi Tawara (俵 文七 Tawara Bunshichi)
- A twenty year old third year student and the Executive Council's advisor. Most of the time he prefers to avoid fighting and the school's politics. When he does fight, he utilizes street fighting techniques and is deemed to be highly dangerous considering he was the former top ranked fighter of the school before Mitsuomi overtook the position.[8]
- Shirō Tagami (田上 士郎 Tagami Shirō)
- A third year student and the current third division leader of the Executive Council. He prides himself in following the Bushidō code of conduct.[9] He is a practitioner of the martial art Bōjutsu, in which he uses a hybrid bō that can be unlocked into a sansetsukon.
Anime
The Tenjho Tenge anime was directed by Toshifumi Kawase, animated by Madhouse Studios, and produced by TV Asahi and Avex. The twenty-four episodes were originally aired weekly on TV Asahi in Japan on Thursdays from April 1, 2004 to September 16, 2004.[15] These episodes where made into eight volume DVD box sets. Two additional episodes were broadcast by TV Asahi in Japan on March 16, 2005 and released in the form of an original video animation named Tenjho Tenge: Ultimate Fight.[16] The anime follows closely to its source material up to the manga's eighth volume with the exception of the sexual content which was toned down.[17] The anime has been dubbed into English, French, German and the Tagalog language.[15] The anime series has been licensed for the English language by Geneon Entertainment, and has released all episodes except the DVD special named Tenjho Tenge: The Past Chapter, which is the back-story told through flashbacks in the second half of the TV anime condensed into the size of four episodes.[18] Although not mentioned on the Geneon Entertainment (USA) website, or the Tenjho Tenge mini-site,[19] the OVA is available on the last volume, sometimes listed as Episodes 25 and 26. In Australia and the UK, the series was released over seven volumes, and include the OVA on the seventh disc.[20][21]
[edit] Music
The anime's music, including the background music and theme songs, were composed and performed by various artists, such as m.c.A·T and Aiko Kayo whom provided the opening and closing themes songs of the anime. In 2004, Avex record label released the Tenjho Tenge soundtrack and a single.[22][23] In 2005, Avex released two character collection albums.[24][25]
Sunday, November 15, 2009
OTAKU anime club
- if you guys one of this, then don't hesitate to Join.
- Catch me on Facebook.com Group ( Otaku club).
