Report on Anime Festival Asia 2008

The Anime Festival Asia 2008 was held at Suntec Convention Hall 403-404 on 22 and 23 Nov. This report is based on my visit on 22nd Nov. It seems that cosplayers do not have to pay in order to enter the venue but I'm not sure on this point though. There weren't as many cosplayers as I expected (or they were in the cosplayers resting area?). There were many characters who I do not recognize but I saw at least 3 Suzumiya Haruhi cosplayers around. There was also Mr. Naruto and Mr. Ichigo from Bleach. I couldn't see any Tenipuri cosplayers though.

Anyway, be prepared for the long queue. The organisers only allowed online booking for people who buy tickets for both days so I had to join the queue. Well, if not for my visit to the Liang Court Kino, I wouldn't have known about the event but I wouldn't say that my expectations are met though. In fact, I left the venue after 1 hour or so.

Pardon me for the quality of the photos. I took them with my handphone and was quite surprised to see many people armed with professional cameras and flashlights whatsover. Guess I wasn't such a "serious" anime fan after all. :P Lighting wasn't too adequate for some areas while for some, the spotlights made it difficult to take a picture without a light spot.

First of all, I headed for the Shonen Jump 40th anniversary world tour. This was supposed to be the main highlight of my visit BUT I was very disappointed.

On the website of AFA 08, I quote the following:

"Co-organized by Chuang Yi Publishing, AFA08 will be showcasing exclusive artworks from Shonen Jump’s most popular Manga titles such as NARUTO, DEATH NOTE, D.GRAY MAN, DRAGON BALL, ONE PIECE, PRINCE OF TENNIS and more, in celebration of Shonen Jump’s 40th Anniversary!"

However, what this actually meant was one piece of colour drawing for the titles mentioned above and a coloured original drawing for one particular chapter in Dragon Ball! And mind you, the so-called exclusive artworks aren't that special after all. They've appeared before in various forms before. At least I can safely say that the Tennis no Oujisama picture appeared in one of the fanbooks and the picture book before. There goes the novelty of these exclusive pictures! There was also one short introduction on the story and author. Frankly speaking, I felt cheated. This wasn't what I expected.

Tennis no Oujisama a.k.a. Prince of Tennis - One of my favourite Top 3 characters is not here! What riles me more is that this is not a recent illustration too! Aargh!






And here's Death Note with L conspicuously missing from the lineup! Light, Ryuk, Mikami, Near and Mello are featured. Luckily, Misa isn't around. (You should know how much I dislike seeing Misa by now ^__^)








I nearly couldn't recognize this picture since the characters are not featured prominently. This is from D.Grayman. There are some other pictures of this series at another section of this event.





This has got to be one of the better pictures in this section because of its eyecatching colours and high resolution. Here's the picture from Bleach. Well, I don't watch this series (I heard it's still going on) so I don't have much to comment. I did see someone dress up as Ichigo though.




In terms of colour vibrancy, this should be No.1. Coming from One Piece, which is still ongoing and one of the top 10 animes every week in Japan.






Another long-life manga, NARUTO. Just like what happened to D.Gray-man, I had problems identifying it from afar.







Last but not least, Dragon Ball. As there was an entire set of drawings, I will only post one photo here. Anyway, I only took one photo so I do not have more to offer.






After visiting this section, I passed by the Animax booth where there was supposed to be an authograph session at 4pm by one of the creators from a new series to be shown on the channel. I didn't stay too long there. Animax was featuring three animes i.e. XXXholic, Darker than Black and Bleach. Much as I like Animax for bringing in a lot of latest series, I don't think I will ever subscribe to it. I simply don't have time to watch TV. I only watch TV during weekend nights so there's no point for me to have that channel. By the way, do they show it in the original track or show the dubbed version?



Next comes the highlight for a lot of people. Exclusive figurines from various companies are on show in the glass cabinets and everyone was furiously snapping away. It was hard to wait for a space to take the photos. For a start, here's Doraemon. Who's the yellow figure on the left though? I must say that Doraemon was the first anime I watched, no doubt it was dubbed in Chinese and shown on early Saturday. I believe it is still running on our local TV channel.

And coming next are some figurines from Death Note. Both in real-size and chibi-format, but from different companies:

In real-size format, Light, L and Misa are featured. Misa is shown as blindfolded as in when she was imprisoned by L. Closeup shots only available for Light and L:















The chibi-versions...I thought the Misa and Light figures didn't look good so I didn't take a close-up shot.






Last but not least, there's Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu... The reflection is really bad here. Using glass cabinets is fine but the organisers should not use see-through cabinets. When taking pictures, it is inevitable that we will also capture people who are walking on the opposite aisle. Coupled with lights from the ceiling and flashes, the effect on the photos isn't too good. It would have been better to use opaque surfaces at the back of the display.




At one corner of the exhibition hall, there are several arcade game machines where a gamer contest is being held. I couldn't get inside that area as it was rather packed. I could only see racing game machines like Initial D and Wangan Midnight at the outer side of the area. It appears that you have to use tokens to play these games but I'm not too sure as to how they decide the winners for this contest. There was a bigger screen at the inner part of this corner where an emcee was standing on an elevated platform. I think that could be the highlight game of this event.



ODEX, the anime VCD distributor now infamous for its lawsuits against anime downloaders, also had a corner peddling their stuff. What caught my eye wasn't their merchandise but rather the gigantic three-part panels which had an introduction of some of the new series like Skip Beat and Code Geass. Well, I watched only one episode of the anime and didn't really like it but it seems that the manga might be a better bet. I may just pick up the manga of Skip Beat one day. The D.Gray-man panels were also done up pretty nicely. Frankly speaking, if I want to buy animes, I will buy the original DVDs from Japan no doubt they don't have subtitles. I don't need them anyway. It's just because I feel that buying the originals is the best way to show support so I don't want to buy from indirect distributors. And the originals are much better in terms of content and packaging. That being said, the prices are of course much more expensive than the local versions. Of course, I can't deny that the presence of vendors like ODEX would have helped in boosting anime's penetration into the general market.

The three-part panel from D.Gray-man. A description of the main characters and story.







The reverse part of the panel.











Another side on the reverse side of the panel.








Last but not least, there's a feature on Sky Crawlers which is going to be shown from next Thursday in cinemas. I don't like the character design but it seems like ths story could be quite good. When they were screening the production introduction, I couldn't recognize Kikuchi Rinko who is voicing Kusanagi Suito. I could recognize Kase Ryo who plays the lead Kannami Yuichi though. I'm still thinking whether I should go and watch this movie. At the feature site, there are some model fighter planes and the making-of DVD from Japan on sale.

In conclusion, this anime festival was seriously lacking in some major areas:

- Focus on Gundam
It just feels as if the whole event is about Gundam, Lots of Gundam stuff on sale. Even though the website says that they will be bringing Akihabara to town, the limited range of merchandise is disappointing. I am sure Akihabara has more to Gundam. As such, I had nothing to buy there.

- 40th Shonen Jump exhibit
Cheated. It wasn't what I expected at all.

- Cosplayers missing?
I read from the website that there was supposed to be a cosplayers event at 2pm but I didn't see many of them. Just where did they go?

- Lighting and layout
It was quite dark at some spots so the spotlights on some of the exhibits were a hindrance when taking photos. The two-way glass cabinets wasn't such a good idea. Layout of the booths wasn't too good. Some sections had very narrow aisles while some like ODEX had so much space to themselves.

In short, if this is going to be held next year, it would be best to:
- have merchandise which are as extensive as possible. Anime is not just about Gundam or the lolicon genres. If Animate could set up a big booth here, it would be nice.
- allow online booking of tickets. The corridors at Suntec City aren't that wide so queueing up is troublesome and a squeezy event.
- not make empty promises. It was extremely disappointing to see exhibits which do not live up to expectations.

The 300th post

This is the 300th post for this blog. Actually, over a span of about 3 years and 8 months, this works out to about 6.8 posts per month. However, for those who frequently visit this site, you will know that updates come as and when I feel like it. There were also prolonged periods of inactivity mainly due to work and study commitments. To put it simply, laziness is probably the biggest obstacle to me when it comes to updating my blogs. I usually need some motivation to get started especially when I have something which I'm dying to share.

Well, this wouldn't be a long post though because I just have some things to clarify in case you are wondering:

- Regarding synopsis / reviews of anime episodes for past series which I have been covering e.g. Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi or Suzuka or Yakitate Japan, it may be a bit difficult to catch up on that. Main reason being, my PC went dead so I lost the files of many anime episodes. Unless I have the motivation or resources to write those remaining reviews, chances are, I'll leave them as they currently are. Sorry to disappoint those who may still be waiting for a new update to those series.

- For newer series which I plan to cover e.g. Antique or Itazura Na Kiss, I will focus more on the review aspect rather than doing a full-blown synopsis. It is way too tiring and time consuming to do those detailed posts. To see what I mean by "detailed", check out episode synopses for the older series.

- Romaji song lyrics are up here because of one single reason: I like the song. Thus, it is almost impossible to get me to post the romaji lyrics of any song you may be looking for if I have never even heard of it or I detest it. Let's leave it to chance, if I happen to like that song, you will see it here. And the lyrics are mainly for people to learn the language or how to sing the song. If you want to post it on your site or your forum, I would appreciate a little notification. Thank you.

This may be a boring post to read but this marks the start of a new chapter in this blog's lifetime. As to how long this site will live or whether I will go into hibernation again before the 400th post comes around, I really cannot tell. Only time will tell.

Thank you for visiting this blog. Have a nice day! ^__^

明けまして、おめでとうございます！Happy New Year!

2006 is coming to an end and it's been a very busy time for me especially in the second half of the year. That's why I've not been keeping up with the updates on this site for as much as I would have wanted to do thus leading to queries from visitors as to whether I'm still maintaining this site. Rest assured that although the updates are slower than before, I will try to clear the backlog of stuff which I want to post at a comfortable pace. As such, I can only hope for your continued support and patience while I try to strike a balance.

I will be posting a recap on the anime/manga which I've enjoyed and disliked in the year 2006 so please keep a lookout for this feature which should appear within the next few days.

See you in 2007 and may you have a great year ahead!

The 200th Post Memorial Recap

This marks the 200th post in this blog and it's only been 1 year & 4 months since I started. My first blog was on Tennis no Oujisama in Aug 2004 which led me to think of doing one for other animes/manga. As such, that was why I started this new blog subsequently in Jan 2005. However, I was procastinating all the time and there was a particular month when I did nothing. Finally, I decided that it was time to stop giving excuses and change the situation. That started a frenzy to post reviews of what I've been watching before the format changed to a synopsis+review system which is now in place.

In my case, I would usually do episodic reviews only if I like the anime well enough. Otherwise, like what I've been doing in the past, I would just post a summary review when I finish the series. Of course, there have been some instances when I dropped the series halfway e.g. Okusama wa Joushikousei which got me cursing and swearing whenever I watched it. Nonetheless, I try to finish up what I've started on, barring unforseen circumstances.

Initially, my purpose of doing this was just a means of self-satisfaction and I didn't have the idea of promoting the blog. As I developed this space, I received some comments from visitors which made me realise that there were people reading this as well. That's when I made a more active effort in trying to promote the site by interlinking with other online facilities which I'm maintaining. Of course, I don't get anything out of increased hits but I do feel happy to see the stats going up.

Previously, Blogger had a problem with the post counter on the dashboard so I don't have an idea as to which is my 100th post. Now that this has been fixed, it just dawned on me that since I'm hitting the 200th mark, I might as well do a recap of what I've done so far. It helps me to keep track of things and visitors can try searching the archives for anything which interests you.

The Completed Series
* Those in italics have episodic reviews. Others have a summary review only.
1) Love Hina
2) Otogizoushi
3) Tantei Gakuen
4) Emma
5) Marmalade Boy
6) Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (Kare Kano)
7) Spiral
8) Peach Girl
9) Hachimitsu to Clover

The Incomplete Series
1) Yakitate Japan (summary Ep 1-24, episodic 25 ~ 56)
2) Monster (summary Ep 1-49, episodic 50 ~ 68)
3) Suzuka (summary Ep 1-2, episodic 3 ~ 23)
4) Gankutsuou 1 ~ 4
5) Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi 1 ~ 41
6) Paradise Kiss 1 ~ 7
7) Jigoku Shoujo 1 ~ 6
8) Mushishi 1 ~ 3
9) Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora 1 ~
10) Yomigaeru Sora 1 ~
11) Juousei 1 ~

There's a lot of backlog to be covered especially with the passing of each season but I will try to finish whatever I can. Hopefully by the end of the year or when the 300th post is hit, I would have cleared at least 3 titles from the list above. There are a number of interesting titles this season but at the same time, there are some which I dropped rather quickly like Gakuen Heaven and Girls' High. I can't bring myself to adapt to yaoi or moe type of stories. Nevertheless, I hope to get NANA, Ray The Animation and Ouran Koukou Host Club up on the blog soon or else the backlog will truly be a never-ending story. ^__^

And there's the manga reviews of Nodame Cantabile, Paradise Kiss and Hachikuro which I wish to do. Maybe I'm being too ambitious in trying to provide so much content based on a solo effort but I'll just keep to my pace or else this turns out to be a source of stress rather than a form of relaxation for me...

Animes of interest for Spring 06 season

The spring 06 animes are coming up next month and here's my selection of those which I will watch. Of course, I'll try to cover them on this blog but as you can see, I'm not having much progress with the Winter animes so there's a lot of backlog to be cleared in the meantime.

Joushi Kousei (Senior High School Girls)
I have a soft spot for the gakuen setting stories so this being set in a senior high school which touches on the problems and daily experiences of these school girls grabs my attention. According to what I've read from the official website, the characters are quite unique and distinctive so it shouldn't be a problem trying to distinguish between these girls. I just hope that it wouldn't be something like Okusama wa Joushi Kousei where the kawaii-ness of the girls is overly emphasized thus making the story repetitive and unrealistic. And of course, if the girls come across as those who keep having strange fantasies about the guys they like, I may shun this anime at the fastest possible speed too. Looks like there is a high possibility that I may drop this before it ends?

Ray The Animation
The storyline sounds very interesting where there's a brilliant surgeon and a nameless girl who has the ability to see through people's bodies after she receives an eyeball through an operation. The duo are also involved with a secret organisation. This smells like a conspiracy theory type of story and I love to solve mysteries. As to whether it will be good enough to keep me tuned in to the end, I can't tell yet. Familiar voices in the seiyuu lineup include Takahashi Hiroki (Tenipuri) and Namikawa Daisuke (Tenipuri, Hachikuro) and Takahashi is one the leads for this anime. It will be fun to see him playing a serious role for a change as compared to the cheerful and bubbly Eiji in Tenipuri.

TOKKO (Special Agent)
This is based on the manga by Fujisawa Tooru who was famous for his hit manga GTO which also had drama and movie adaptaions. Based on the summary, the story combines action and mystery plus love stories embedded within. Well, it's another title which I don't know the story beforehand so this will probably increase the enjoyment level. By the way, this comes with a R-15 rating so I anticipate that there will be a siginificant amount of violence or nudity which warrants such a category listing. Well, as long as these are in line with the requirements of the plot and not meant as a ploy to create hype, I'm perfectly fine with it. Again, the official website is still not fully functional so I have no way of seeng the seiyuu lineup and more details of the storyline yet. Nevertheless, the graphic seems to be a pretty good quality so I hope that the animation would not disappoint me.

Juuousei (Star of the Beast King)
Initially, I wasn't too keen on this title but after knowing that the seiyuu lineup features first timer seiyuu Domoto Koichi from KinKi Kids and Oguri Shun who has prior experience in Fullmetal Alchemist's movie, it's obvious how much effort FujiTV is putting in this production. By the way, this anime is also in the same timeslot as where Paradise Kiss and Hachikuro were shown. I'm the type who does decide on whether to watch an anime based on the seiyuu lineup. Even though I may not really like Domoto Koichi that much, having him around drives up the novelty index and it's worth checking out how well he does and if the theme song is nice. As for Oguri Shun, I'm impressed with his performance for FMA so I have faith that he can do relatively well.

NANA
One of the most widely anticipated animes for next season because the movie was a big hit last year and the manga is still being serialised. Of course, the manga series is so popular that it can be regarded as a social phenomenon. I've never watched the movie nor read the manga so I know nuts about the storyline. I guess this helps in a sense since I won't be making comparisons and criticise the anime as much as a production which I know well. I'm dying to find out what the hype is all about so I'll be checking this out come April. The official website is not up yet so I have no idea how the seiyuu lineup looks like. However, I read the news before that the two female seiyuus playing the two NANAs were chosen from an open audition and their names did not ring a bell to me. Guess it's because I pay more attention to the male seiyuus and the list of female seiyuus I like is still very limited. By the way, I wonder if it's just me but I notice that Yazawa Ai's characters tend to be pencil-thin to the point that it doesn't seem that realistic in real-life.

Ouran Koukou Hosuto Bu (The Host Club of Ouran Senior High School
I've not read the manga before so I'm approaching this title without any preset views about the adaptation. What got me interested was the storyline which suggests that a lot of humour is in store. These days, I tend to prefer stories which either make me laugh or think about the underlying themes. Besides that, I get the inkling that there will be romantic links between the lead character Haruhi and the guys in the Host Club. By the way, based on the images on the official website, Suou Tamaki and Ootori Kyouya catch my eye the most but this may change after I know more about them through the anime. Oh, before I forget, Suzumura Kenichi who last appeared in Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora as Yuuichi is acting as the twin elder brother Hitachiin Hikaru.

Gakuen Heaven (School Heaven)
Frankly speaking, I've never been a fan of yaoi or boy's love type of animes/manga so I have my reservations about watching this anime which is based on a boy's love game. However, what got me interested enough to give this a try are two reasons. First of all, in the seiyuu lineup, there are some familiar names who also happen to be my favourites i.e. Okiayu Ryoutarou (Tennis no Oujisama, Fullmetal Alchemist, Marmalade Boy) and Kamiya Hiroshi (Hachimitsu to Clover). Secondly, the story seems to be rather interesting. I'm just hoping that the boy's love aspect will not form the main emphasis of the series or else I think I may just drop it if it's too much for me to bear. Last but not least, I have to admit that the design of the characters are appealing to me so I'm prepared to give this a try and see how it turns out.

New animes of interest in Winter 06

A new year marks a new season of animes to look forward to. However, I did not find many titles which caught my eye at first sight like how much I was dying to watch Paradise Kiss. Nevertheless, there are a few which seem rather interesting so I'll probably give them a try if I do find them available for viewing.

Yomigaeru Sora
What caught my eye was that this title features a relatively unknown occupation i.e. the defence forces rescue team. They possess a high level of expertise in rescue operations from battle grounds or disaster-struck areas. As such, I think professional knowledge into this area would be an eye-opening experience. In addition, people who likes helicopters or millitary aircraft in general would probably be drawn to this series. The main character is a newbie helicopter pilot Uchida Kazuhiro who has to deal with a gap in his expectations and reality as he is sent to the rescue team instead of being in the battle unit which he aspires to join. He also has to be apart from his girlfriend who works in a publishing company at Tokyo so I expect problems both on the professional and private aspects. Hopefully, the story will have enough episodes to cover everything in detail instead of glossing over everything just to get it over and done with.

Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora
The story is about a 2nd year senior high school boy Yuichi who has to be hospitalised. As he is bored, Yuichi tries to sneak out of the hospital but is caught by a nurse Akiko who has a fiery temper and used to be a gangster. Subsequently, he meets another young female patient, Rika who keeps making a fool out of him. Well, I sense that there might be romance in the air between Yuichi and Rika but the short run of this series might make it hard for this development to be included. 6 episodes just seems too short to compile 5 volumes of manga material in one shot. Thus, I'm quite concerned about the pace of the story being too fast and neglecting essential points in the story. Besides that, I think Yuichi should experience a change in his mindset through his contact with Rika so I don't wish to see this being neglected due to the limited time for this series. The sole familiar name in the cast for me will be Takahashi Mikako who plays Yamada Ayumi in Hachikuro and Ryuuzaki Sakuno in Tenipuri.

Ayakashi
This anime is produced by Toei to be shown on FujiTV from 12 Jan. However, there are only 3 episodes which I think is too short. Maybe a slightly longer run would be enough to satisfy the viewers. On the other hand, these stories have no relation to one another so the number of episodes do not seem so important after all. Although having independent storylines, the three episodes have a common theme of horror and hatred. Somehow, this leads me to think of Jigoku Shoujo but this series is based on folklore or famous horror stories as compared to Jigoku which is largely fiction. I am quite interested in stories set in ancient Japan especially during the Heian period so this catches my eye easily. Since this is produced by a movie company, I think the quality of the animation and story might be very high since the animators would only need to produce 3 episodes so QC can be done much easily. More money to be spent on each episode should be good for this series.

Meine Liebe Weider
The second series begins on 22 Jan at 11.30pm Sundays. Well, I didn't watch the first series shown in 2004 but after reading what's on the official website, I think this might be worth checking out. The story has an European setting and the main cast is a group of future leaders in an elite school. I tend to like stories set in schools and the feel of the European culture so I may have to find the first series first before watching this 2nd part. By the way, I find two familiar names in the seiyuu list i.e. Ishida Akira and Hoshi Souichirou who play Mizuki Hajime and Mukahi Gakuto in Tenipuri.

Anime I've watched

Titles in bold are my favourites and I'm only listing those which I've finished. This list will get updated once I finish any new series.

1) Slam Dunk
Super classic, watched it 4 times, simply adore Mitsui, Sendou, Fujima

2) Prince of Tennis
Another of my top fav, collecting the DVDs currently, obsessed with Tezuka, Sanada, Atobe (my top three) and admire Fuji, Momo, Eiji, Inui, Renji, Oshitari, Choutarou, Sengoku, Saeki, Davide etc.

3) Kimi ga Nozomu Eien
Graphics were nice but the story is too draggy. I could have pulled the guy out from the anime and shot him for being so indecisive...Just what do those two girls like him for?

4) Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo
Read the manga first so knew most if not all of the answers before watching the anime. Might have enjoyed it better if I didn't know the story but it was still good as one of the investigative/detective classics. Graphics-wise, Kindaichi is not some bishonen or hunk and I didn't like his seiyuu's voice too. Very childish-feel...

5) Yakitate Japan
Funny and informative anime, there's a mix of friendship and rivalry too. Seeing how the bread is made would be a good learning experience especially some of the bread featured are really sold in Lawson. I'm quite interested in the melon pan which Azuma made but too bad, I don't live in Japan.

6) Otogizoushi
Fantastic for the Heian arc but not so good for the Tokyo arc. Mansairaku is the highlight in the Heian arc, great story with unexpected twist and beautiful graphics. Nice background music and cool OP (for Heian). The ED for the Tokyo arc sounds like it's sung by Ayumi but apparently it's not.

7) Boys Be
Good story which touches on the relationships between a group of friends. Not too draggy in my opinion and it's rather meaningful. Somehow, there's a sense of deja vu when watching this as it reminds me of my schooling days but of course, I don't have such a "colourful and eventful" love life then (as if I'm having it now...)

8) Fushigi Yuugi
Too long for me... extremely repetitive and I can never comprehend why two guys want to fight over that squeaky voice Miaka. Some of the characters were quite interesting but the story's length was making me very irritated. The love segment can never depart from the boy and girl love each other, have a misunderstanding and then make up, quarrel again etc. Tsumaranai desu!

9) Tantei Gakuen Q
Although I watched this after reading the manga (which is still continuing), the story is not entirely the same as the manga so it's quite interesting. I'm still halfway through this...

10) Gokusen
Boring, graphics not to my liking. I watched the drama version first and the story is more or less the same. The genre gets stale after all this while...

11) Initial D
Well, initially, it was quite nice with a lot of techno music to fit the racing scenes and I liked the anime better than the manga but the fourth season is quite boring so I gave up watching. Project D was supposed to be quite interesting but somehow, I lost the momentum (i watched Act 1 - 3 at one go) after stopping for close to a year before seeing Act 4. Besides, the graphics are not too well done. I mean after seeing animes with very fine pictures, Initial D's graphics just makes me feel disastisfied.

12) Love Hina
Quite boring and some of the episodes don't seem to have a purpose. Anyway, the graphics are OK, personal fav characters would be Motoko, Kitsune and Su.

Mitsui Hisashi & Tezuka Kunimitsu

I have started watching Slam Dunk's anime for the 3rd or 4th time but this round, I got the original version in Japanese track. The previous times, I watched it on Chinese-dubbed VCDs so hearing it in the original version is very exciting in the sense that I finally get to hear Mitsui's voice (well, Okiayu Ryutaro-san's voice) and can reconcile the fact that my favourite characters Mitsui and Tezuka in Tenipuri are played by the same seiyuu. OK, it may not be something to rave about but I liked Mitsui even before discovering that this role shared the same seiyuu as Tezuka. What a strange coincidence!

Besides that, I noticed some similarities between Mitsui and Tezuka even though Slam Dunk and Tenipuri are works that are made almost 10 years apart.

1) Both are aces on the team
Mitsui is the three-point sharp shooter ace on Shohoku while Tezuka is the unbeaten captain of Seigaku (OK, he got beaten by Fuji when they were in Year 1 but the next episode should offer an explanation why it happened).

2) Both were sidelined because of injury
This is really an uncanny coincidence. Mitsui got injured in the knee because of a bad fall during a practice match while Tezuka got hammered in his elbow by a jealous senior using the tennis racket and resulted in his shoulder having problems. Okiayu-san seems to be so "lucky" to land two roles who are injured during the series. Kizudarake no otoko tachi desu ne! ^__^

3) Both have a strong desire for victory
Mitsui gets stronger when he is cornered by the possibility of defeat especially shown during the Shohoku-Shoyo match. He was already tired out but still used his willpower, skills and experience to overcome the physical disadvantages. Likewise for Tezuka, although he was having problems with his shoulder, he refused to give up and went head on with Atobe because he wanted Seigaku to win. Shouri ni shucchaku suru otoko wa kakkoii desu ne!

4) Both are relatively "quiet" and has a cool character
Mitsui underwent a change to become a gangster chief after the injury and quit basketball for 2 years. Because of this period of darkness, self-denial and running away from basketball, Mitsui seems very much grown up and mature and keeps to himself. Likewise for Tezuka, in order to maintain the image and commanding presence as the bucchou, he speaks very little and is a very mature guy as compared to peers like Eiji. And this means less lines for the characters so it makes me quite upset wanting to hear them speak...

Besides similarities between Mitsui and Tezuka, I seem to find some common traits in the animes as a whole and among other characters. Will go into that after I organize my thoughts...

Hajimete no Iken

This blog is for animes which I'm watching or have finished. I am also into manga so I'll include my coverage of manga which I'm reading.

I can't really remember the first anime I've watched. When I was a kid, animes were mostly dubbed in Mandarin and shown on my local TV channels. That's how I got started. And what was the first anime which I watched in its original track?

Anyway, the first anime which got me crazy should be Slam Dunk during my primary school days. I started with the manga first and by the time I watched the anime in the dubbed form, I was completely hooked. And it was only this year when I managed to get the original form and heard Okiayu-san's voice live! I have watched this for at least three times, once on TV, once on VCD and the most recent one in the original track. And I'm still thinking whether to get the original DVDs from Japan...

Read on to find out more on animes. You may just find something which suits your taste and we can have a discussion on our favourites. Have fun!