Category Archives: Multimedia

Book Review – Inazuma Eleven GO Kanji 240 Ji! Kanpeki Drill

Posted on September 18, 2012 | 4 comments


Title: Inazuma Eleven GO Kanji 240 Ji! Kanpeki Drill
イナズマイレブンGO小学一年生!小学二年生!!かん字240字かんぺきドリル
Release Date: August 2012
Publisher: Shogakukan
ISBN: 9784091021472
Size: 10 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
Pages: 127
Color: Select colors
Binding: Glossy softcover
Price: ￥552 (before tax if applicable)
Where to purchase:
CDJapan

Summary/Description:
A super fun way to learn Japanese kanji from elementary year 1 (80 characters) and year 2 (160 characters) for a combination of 240 kanji!
The book comes with a page of gorgeous reward stickers!

Personal ratings:
Physical Book/Paper quality: 9/10. It’s meant to be used and written on as a workbook. Yet even for that, the paper quality is still nice!
Art Content: 9.5/10. I honestly was just expecting a whole bunch of stock photos from the anime to be used in the workbook. While it does have a small share of those stock photos, there’s muchhhh more use of adorable original illustrations to make things interesting. It does get a wee bit awkward when those illustrations are used repeatedly, but my guesstimate is there are close to 180 different illustrations for those 240 kanji characters.
Text Content: 9.5/10. A very important part of the book since its original purpose is to help kids learn their kanji characters! Fair warning however, since this book is sold from JAPAN, it is assumed that the user already knows basic Japanese vocabulary and grammar.
Overall: 9.5/10. This workbook is awesome for anyone who has already learned hiragana/katakana and is trying to make that leap into the giant world of kanji. The illustrations were a pleasant surprise when I got the book, and I can see the effort they put into creating the workbook. Even at my advanced level of Japanese, basics will always be important. Even I learned a few things from this book (mostly about stroke order, lol).
For those who can READ the material but have trouble understanding the vocabulary, I recommend quickly inputting the romaji into Nihongoresources to learn the vocabulary!

The stickers and index page:

As you can see, this is not a book for English-speakers, so all the instructions and tips are in Japanese. A good majority of the book is drilling the stroke order of kanji, which is the most basic way to remember these kanji. Another good thing is that it also shows example uses of the kanji while you’re practicing the stroke order:

Lots of cute illustrations:

Other drills besides the writing practice, such as filling in the blanks with kanji of body parts:

The most “advanced” this book gets is writing a mini-essay. The example one is of course about soccer…:

The back has answer keys like any proper self workbook:

Here’s where you put the stickers, and that trio illustration… 😀 :

If I were still in college taking my Japanese 1, this would’ve been the perfect leisure practice book for me. But I’m sure a lot more people learning Japanese out there could make better use of this book!! 🙂 If you’re the type like me who started out with only some vocab picked up from watching too much subtitled anime, you should be able to figure your way out through this workbook.

*edit* May 23, 2014: I’ve been made aware that this book is now out of print, making it a collector’s item as well, too!

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PASH! September 2012

Posted on September 15, 2012 | 2 comments

PASH! September 2012: Highlight: Sengoku Era – no summary

Poster (those without access will not see the image):

Articles

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Animage + PASH! August 2012

Posted on July 31, 2012 | Leave a comment

Animage + PASH! August 2012
Highlight: GO Movie reflections – Miyao Yoshikazu (GO Movie Director) reflection, Behind the scenes TCG Commercials no summary

Poster + shitajiki (those without access will not see the image):

Articles

✿ More interesting GO movie illustrations by Director Miyao Yoshikazu, with spoilers from the movie as usual
✿ Brief description of how the TCG commercials are made mostly goes to the awesomeness of OLM animation studio.
✿ PASH! had literally nothing new or interesting except some colored lineart as displayed.
✿ There were some nice seiyuu images in these couple issues, not Inazuma related but of Inazuma seiyuu. On my personal LJ if you’re interested~

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Animage June 2012

Posted on July 16, 2012 | 15 comments

Animage June 2012
Highlight: Inazuma’s 2012 Grand Prix Takeover – Kobayashi Yuu (Kirino Ranmaru), Tai Yuuki (Kariya Masaki) interview, Nishigaki Yuka (Kazemaru Ichirouta) interview, Terasaki Yuka (Matsukaze Tenma), Oohara Takashi (Tsurugi Kyousuke), Maeno Tomoaki (Tsurugi Yuuichi) interview w/ summaries

As of July 15, 2012, I will no longer be providing scans of poster images publicly. It has come to my attention that disrespectful people on facebook, tumblr and the like are posting my images with the watermark literally cut off. These people apparently don’t understand the difference between media creations and outright stealing. Lamers.

Poster (those without access will not see the image):

Articles:




*most of the Grand Prix scans are only 96 dpi since they’re just for reference…

✿ Since he’s always been a mecha fan, Tai Yuuki draws a profile image of the “mecha-like” Lancelot without any references. He notes that he’s no match the master (Kobayashi Yuu-san)’s art (lol).
✿ Kobayashi Yuu draws “mischevious Kariya-san” with “chastising Ranmaru-san”, a complementary image to the Shindou-san and Ranmaru-san illustration she drew in Princess Animage Spring 2012.
✿ Tai’s photo: Tai imagines Kariya’s Avatar would share the color theme of his hair, so a blue one like Sea King Poseidon. Thus, his photo is with seashells and the like.
✿ Kobayashi’s photo: Kobayashi imagines Kirino’s Avatar to be very bright with lots of flowers, like a pink angel. Thus, her photo is with lots of flower petals.
✿ For the final episode of the original Inazuma Eleven series, the ~30 voice actors of the episode all gathered up to say the final “That’s all!” after the episode proverb. It was the sound director’s (Mima Masafumi) idea.
✿ “Mata ne no Kisetsu” was Nishigaki’s first character song, so she had extra rehearsal days while the other 4 members didn’t need them since they were already accustomed to doing character songs.
✿ Nishigaki’s photo: In previous photos, she was always conscious of Kazemaru’s style, but this time she went for “Nishigaki style”. Spring fairy.
✿ Oohara notes that in the different Chrono Stone timelines from the first 4 eps, Tsurugi strayed off the path of being a normal, happy kid either way… XD
✿ For the Tsurugi brothers duet “Onaji Yume wo Miteru”, Maeno sung first and Oohara went afterwards.
✿ Oohara notes that in the Animage image of the young Tsurugi brothers, only Kyousuke’s face is dirty after playing soccer while Yuuichi’s face is all fine. Kyousuke probably tripped while trying to do Bakunetsu screw again~

Animage 34th Grand Prix (2012) results (Inazuma’s takeover spots :V)
✿ Top Anime
1. Inazuma Eleven GO – 2065 votes
2. Inazuma Eleven – 1108 votes
16. Inazuma Eleven the Movie ~Attack of the Strongest Army, Ogre~ – 124 votes

✿ Top Episodes
1. Inazuma Eleven: The Kickoff Towards Tomorrow! (127) – 696 votes
3. Inazuma Eleven: The Tearful Graduation Ceremony! (127) – 328 votes
5. Inazuma Eleven GO: Revive! Our Soccer!! (24) – 267 votes
6. Inazuma Eleven GO: Explosion! Ultimate Thunder!! (17) – 201 votes
7. Inazuma Eleven GO: Tsurugi’s Secret! (11) – 195 votes
9. Inazuma Eleven: Conclusion at Last! Number One in the World!! (125) – 140 votes
11. Inazuma Eleven GO: He’s Back! (25) – 116 votes
12. Inazuma Eleven GO: Qualifications of the Captain (8… Animage incorrectly put this as ep 21) – 110 votes
15. Inazuma Eleven GO: Fierce Fight On the Ice! VS Hakuren Jr. High!! (27) – 105 votes
16. Inazuma Eleven GO: Magnificent Tactics! Kidou VS Aphrodi!! (30) – 102 votes
17. Inazuma Eleven GO: The Autumn Sky Challengers! (21) – 99 votes
18. Inazuma Eleven GO: The Fearsome Cyclone Stadium! (23) – 93 votes

Personal notes: 12/20 just for Inazuma. All Inazuma episodes are awesome. ;D

✿ Top Males
1. Kirino Ranmaru – 351
2. Kariya Masaki – 345
3. Kazemaru Ichirouta – 316
4. Tsurugi Kyousuke – 299
6. Shindou Takuto – 215
7. Fubuki Shirou – 189
9. Minamisawa Atsushi – 177
12. Sakuma Jirou – 104
14. Kiyama Hiroto – 98
16. Matsukaze Tenma – 67
17. Fudou Akio – 58
19. Kidou Yuuto – 52

Personal notes: 12/21 for Inazuma. Tai Yuuki’s comments about Kariya placing 2nd: “Frankly, I’m surprised. I can’t even keep up with how popular the series and the characters are. Kariya even showed only from the middle of the series yet he took 2nd place, I feel kind of sorry about that. I’m so grateful to be able to participate in a work that has so many people supporting it.”

✿ Top Females
1. Otonashi Haruna – 323
2. Seto Midori – 252
3. Sorano Aoi – 206
6. Yamana Akane – 148
8. Kino Aki – 99
12. Raimon Natsumi – 76
17. Kudou Fuyuka – 66
18. Zaizen Touko – 64

Personal notes: 8 made it to this top 20 list, pushing out all K-On characters save for one. For a series that only has like a dozen females who have had somewhat significant roles, this is awesome. AND THEY ARE ALL AWESOME

✿ Top Seiyuu
1. Miyano Mamoru (Fubuki Shirou) – 721
2. Kaji Yuuki (Minamisawa Atsushi, Fudou Akio, Ichinose Kazuya) – 716
3. Kobayashi Yuu (Kirino Ranmaru) – 531
4. Shimono Hiro (Fidio Aldena, Handa Shin’ichi) – 357
5. Kamiya Hiroshi (Baddap Sleed) – 316
6. Nishigaki Yuka (Kazemaru Ichirouta) – 311
7. Sawashiro Miyuki (Shuu) – 203
8. Yoshino Hiroyuki (Kidou Yuuto) – 174
10. Fukuyama Jun (Hakuryuu) – 148
13. Saiga Mitsuki (Shindou Takuto) – 133
14. Oohara Takashi (Tsurugi Kyousuke) – 121
15. Nakamura Yuuichi (Genda Koujirou, Mark Krugar, others) – 116
19. Sugita Tomokazu (Edgar Valtinas) – 99

Personal notes: 13/20 had significant roles in Inazuma. Whoa, that’s a really close second for Kajikaji. Some voices are obviously voted for other roles (ie Sugita for Gintama, and Kaji especially had other major roles throughout the year), but it is still astounding how certain ones are voted solely because of their Inazuma Eleven role. Kobayashi, Nishigaki and Oohara in particular. Also, unless I was just hearing a good soundalike, Okamoto Nobuhiko (#9) was in the trailer for the upcoming Inazuma Eleven GO Chrono Stone game…

✿ Top Anime songs
1. Inazuma Eleven Ed 7 – Mata ne… no Kisetsu – 841
3. Inazuma Eleven GO Op 2 – Naseba Naru no sa Nanairo Tamago – 397
4. Inazuma Eleven GO Op 1 – Ten Made Todoke! – 212
7. Inazuma Eleven GO Ed 2 – Kanari Junjou – 116
9. Inazuma Eleven Op 6 – Bokura no Goal! – 67
13. Inazuma Eleven GO the Movie Ed – Saikyou de Saikou – 55
19. Inazuma Eleven Ed 6 – Shining Power – 44

Personal notes: 4 T-Pistonz+KMC songs in there, win~
A littttle surprised about Shining Power making top 20 since I heard the single didn’t do as well as others for Berryz (feel free to show me the numbers if that’s the wrong assumption XD), and Ryuusei Boy/Maji Bomber were much more popular in other Inazuma Eleven polls. But Animage voters also tend to vote newer things in general. That also shows with the TPK songs they voted for!

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Otomedia Summer 2012 + PASH! July 2012

Posted on July 2, 2012 | 8 comments

Otomedia Summer 2012
Highlight: Chrono Stone Beginnings – Akiyama Katsuhito (Director), Maeno Tomoaki (Tsurugi Yuuichi) interview no summary

PASH! July 2012

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Animage May 2012

Posted on May 19, 2012 | 2 comments

Animage May 2012
Highlight: Legend of Raimon Eleven – Nojima Hirofumi (Gouenji Shuuya), Takagaki Ayahi (Kurama Norihito), Konno Jun (Hamano Kaiji), Yoshino Hiroyuki (Hayami Tsurumasa) interview, Movie Making File by Director Miyao Yoshikazu no summary



May get to summarizing these interviews sometime, but atm I didn’t find anything that I particularly wanted to note ^^;
The most enjoyable part for me was the Movie Making File with lots of interesting art by the director, Miyao Yoshikazu. Has spoilers for the Inazuma Eleven GO movie.

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PASH! May 2012

Posted on May 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

PASH! May 2012
Highlight: Inazuma Eleven GO – Post-season reflections no summary

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Otomedia Spring 2012

Posted on May 6, 2012 | 3 comments

Otomedia Spring 2012
Highlight: GO CharaSong Album – Terasaki Yuka (Matsukaze Tenma), Oohara Takashi (Tsurugi Kyousuke) interview w/ summaries

Terasaki Yuka (Matsukaze Tenma), Oohara Takashi (Tsurugi Kyousuke) interview
There’s a lot of overlap with the website Character Song Messages From the Voice Actors (GO), so here’s the newer stuff:
✿ Oohara says he thinks he listens to Tenma’s “Soyokaze Step” the most because he likes the lightheartedness of the song, and he ends up humming to end often.
✿ For the Raimon School Theme song, the official setting is that all of the first-years are there INCLUDING Tsurugi, just that he isn’t singing. There was also originally a part where Shinsuke says “Why aren’t you singing, Tsurugi?~” but it got cut out for the final version.
✿ Terasaki also particularly likes “Ashita no Field” and “Houkago Chemistry”.
✿ Oohara admits he was a little drunk when he first listened to “Ashita no Field”, but hearing Saiga’s singing sobered him up.
✿ Oohara wants to hear a song by Hamano-senpai. Terasaki suggests a fishing song by Hamano and Hayami. And a song from Amagi with plenty of “dadodado”. Also an idol song with all the managers, not just Aoi, but also with Midori, Yamana and Haruna-sensei. Oohara suggests adding Sasuke to the pack. Terasaki also wants to sing a song with Shinsuke, while Oohara wants to sing one with Nishiki-senpai (o.O).
✿ Oohara would also like to sing a song as Tsurugi to a cool melody like Resistance, one to fit his image of fighting on the field during a match. But when he says he’d like to sing it with something, Terasaki suggests Tenma joins in with occasional lines like “You can do it, Tsurugi!”, which Oohara cleanly objects with a laugh.

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Prince Animage Spring 2012

Posted on May 5, 2012 | 5 comments

Highlight: Glasses men – Akiyama Katsuhito (Director), Kamakura Yumi (Assistant Director) interview, Nojima Hirofumi (Ishido Shuuji), Kase Yasuyuki (Someoka Ryuugo), Eguchi Takuya (Amemiya Taiyou) interview, various other interviews w/ summaries Continue reading →

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Animage April 2012

Posted on April 8, 2012 | 1 comment

Animage April 2012
Highlight: T-Pistonz + KMC – TPK interview w/ summaries

Yes, they did misspell T-Pistonz+KMC in giant letters, them Animage editors…
Lyrics+Translations for most of the songs mentioned on my lyrics site.

Highlights:
✿ “Ohayou! Shining Day” is the first TPK song that KMC worked on by himself (lyrics). The fact that you need someone to say “Good morning” to and being grateful for having that someone is what inspired him. The 2nd chorus especially shows KMC’s personality. (The “Sorry!” and “Thank you for everything” packed into “Good morning!”). Ton Niino talks about how when guys are growing up and get into arguments with their parents, the next morning they’ll have trouble apologizing and say it with their “good morning” instead. And that KMC is still like that even now since he’s the type who finds it difficult to say sorry. Even as he wrote those lyrics, it was after he had an argument with Ton Niino, so instead of apologizing, he sent him those lyrics.
✿ “Uchikudaaku” was written by the three usual TPK members. KMC sees this song and “Ohayou! Shining Day” as opposite sides of the same message (such as hero and anti-hero). KMC sees himself as more of the anti-hero type while Ton Niino is the bright, straightforward hero. This song was probably the one they had to rewrite the most, since it was so difficult to express it in just the right way.
✿ The message in both songs are “be honest with yourself”.

✿ For “Bokura no Rakuen”, KMC and Hiroshi joined in the “LOVE LOVE LOVE” chorus with Ton Niino, but since Ton Niino’s voice stands out so much, most of the 5~6 layers were done by KMC and Hiroshi.
✿ The lyrics are very particular on the “LOVE LOVE LOVE” for the final part of the chorus and not just “lalala”. The final impact when the instrumental fades out completely and leaves only the chorus makes a big impact in the movie screening.

✿ While KMC was working on “Ohayou! Shining Day”, Ton Niino worked on 2 songs for the GO character song album, “Ano Ki no Shita ni Atsumarou! (Gather Under that Tree!)” and the lyrics for “Dakara Zettai Daijoubu (That’s Why It’ll Be All Right)”.
✿ The working title for “Ano Ki no Shita ni Atsumarou! (Gather Under that Tree!)” was actually “Ohisashi Puri! (It’s been a long time since we last went to the photobooth)” a shortening and pun on “ohisashiburi (have not seen you for a long time”. The finalized title is linked to the title “Mata ne… no Kisetsu”.
✿ Ton Niino’s dream of writing a song for Someoka came true~ The line “Whether you’re wearing a suit or a jersey, you’re the same character as ever!” was created before they knew what Someoka looked like at age 24, so it ended up being a perfect coincidence.

✿ “Sekaijuu no Minna Atsumariiyo!” (the song for Inazuma Strikers Extreme) from the Best album has the fastest rap that KMC has done so far. Up until then, “Genki ni Nariiyo!” had been the fastest.

Album of Memories Questions:
1. Most impressionable scenes
2. Most impressionable characters
3. Impressions of the movie
4. What kind of story do you want to see happen?

Ton Niino’s Answers
✿ 1.
-The scene when Shindou makes a goal after Tenma passing the ball to him so many times.
-The scene when Tenma visits Sangoku’s place.
-When Someoka comes back from Italy~.
-The scene when Kidou says “let’s eat” after getting a delivery from Tobitaka.
-Then scene when Endou returns.
✿ 2.
-Ton Niino didn’t like Kariya at first for bullying around Kirino, but now he likes him~
-Tsurugi now that he can use formal speech/keigo (lol).
-Someoka, as usual. Lots of fanboying. His last line is “Minna Someoka ni narou!! (Everyone, let’s become Someoka!!)”
✿ 3. (MOVIE SPOILERS)
-Shuu’s character, and Sawashiro-san’s voice~
-The most touching scene for him was between Tsurugi and Hakuryuu at the end, made him cry~
-The field changing scenery made him cry too
-The usual Sangoku-senpai “Fence Of Gaia…Gahhh!” (lol).
-Aoyama and Ichino getting a highlight when they save Aoi.
✿ 4.
-Wants to see more activity outside soccer, and to have TPK show up as Raimon’s cheer squad owo; Also wants to see a school festival where they set up a band: Endou on drums, Kidou on bass guitar, Kazemaru on guitar, and Someoka + Ton Niino as twin vocals. The band would be called “Ryuu-chan Ton-chan + RMO (Raimon OB)”.

KMC’s Answers
✿ 1.
-Also Someoka’s appearance, and the whole thing about needing a meal.
-Tobitaka’s “One bowl of nosiness.”
✿ 2. There’s also Yukimura, but it’s gotta be Minamisawa-senpai.
✿ 3. (MOVIE SPOILERS)
-Shuu, holding that darkness inside him
-Ending the score as a tie was touching
✿ 4. School festival! He imagines the maid cafe needing extra help, so Kazemaru or Shindou would help out… *coughcough*. Also hold a band at the school festival with TPK.~

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