Prince of Tennis Songs

I am so glad that I stuck through and decided to watch "Prince of Tennis" and all of their OVAs even though I already read the manga and know what will happen. Not only did I get to see the little chibi episode (which was funny as hell), I also got to listen to all the amazing music they use for openings and endings. After a little research, I found out that the voice actors of the anime worked together to create different bands to sing songs for the anime. In one of the fan DVDs, they did a marathon of 100 songs by the characters and bands they created. I absolutely love their voices! Especially, Kikumaru Eiji (Hiroki Takahashi has an amazing voice range! Look him up on youtube and you'll understand what I mean!) and Shiraishi Kuranosuke's (that Osaka dialect is just pure sexy in my opinion) voice. Anyways, I'll stop my rambling and get on with the few songs that I found awesome:

Wonderful Days (7th ending)- Pulltab to Can (Band formed by characters: Atobe Keigo, Kirihara Ayaka, Sengoku Kiyosumi, Sanada Genichirou, Kamio Akira, Ibu Shinji, and Ooshitari Yuushi)


Little Sky (8th ending)- Kentaro Fukushi


Hello& Goodbye (Nationals Arc OVA 1st Ending)- Kondou Kaoru


These next two are songs that the characters did and is not from the anime. Both of them are a play on the old and famous Japanese fishermen song "Soran Bushi". I think the lyrics are funny. Especially Shitenhouji which had many interesting characters lol.

Kiku-chan no Soran Bushi- Kikumaru Eiji


Naniwa no Soran Bushi- Everyone from Shitenhouji

Prince of Tennis

Summary:

"Prince of Tennis" is a story of growth and competition revolving around the students of Seigaku Middle School and their rookie star player, Echizen Ryoma. Seigaku is famous for their tennis team which had made it to the nationals many times in the past. Ryoma is a first year that just entered the tennis team. Within the first day of entering, he managed to piss off all the upperclassmen with his nonchalant attitude and his superior skills in tennis. Beating all of his upperclassmen during the placement matches, he becomes their rookie star player and join Seigaku's fight to win first in the nationals.

Review:

I've loved "Prince of Tennis" since it first came out in 2001! I read it every time a new chapter was translated and, like many people in Asia, became interested in the sport and joined the tennis team. After I joined the team I became so busy with practice and school that I stopped reading the manga (I played 1st for doubles btw)! Since I was in the midst of my sports manga and anime phase, I decided to check out "Prince of Tennis" again. It turns out that the first manga series ended a while ago and now Konomi sensei is working on the second series which revolves around all the middle school team banding together to fight the high school teams at tennis camp.

After finishing the manga series, I found that after so long, it is still an awesome series! Konomi sensei's art became very awesome! It's so amazing that he could come up with so many different characters for the series and each of them so unique! Also, Konomi sensei also did an awesome job on all the different tennis styles and techniques for each tennis player. Even though most of the techniques became sort of physically impossible after the middle of the series, it was still very creative and it gave me a good laugh!

I realized after reading up to the latest update for the new manga series, I still want more of Tenipuri! I started looking up fanbooks and am watching the anime series right now. From the fanbooks I was able to learn many interesting facts about the characters lol. For fan service, Konomi sensei also put out a couple of baby pictures of the characters. Here are the ones I have managed to find:

Hyotei's Atobe Keigo


St. Rudolph's Mizuki Hajime


Rikkaidai's Yagyuu Hiroshi


Higa's Tanishi Kei


Shitenhouji's Oshitari Kenya


and finally, our Seigaku star, Echizen Ryoma


I've been looking all over to collect these "Premium photos". If anyone of you come across these pictures of other characters or of better quality please send me the link!!!

Well, I hope I've said enough about "Prince of Tennis" to strike your interest! As usual, I'll end this post with some Tenipuri anime openings!

Future- HIRO-X


Driving Myself- HIRO-X


Make You Free- Kimeru


Long Way- Ikuo


Fly High, Sky High- Toshihiko Matsunaga


Shining- Yuki Shirai


I LOVE THIS ONE!!!!
Dream Beliver- Osami Masaki

Plumeria: Hana Uta

I was finishing up Gokusen the movie when I heard this catchy ending song by Aqua Timez. Hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I did!

Aqua Timez- Plumeria: Hana Uta


Btw, I will be starting my finals week (tomorrow is my lab final >.<)! Posting will be slow again. Sorryz... WISH ME LUCK! Fight...O!!! (learned this from Yankumi of Gokusen. Good drama btw! Go watch it!)

Eyeshield 21

Summary:

Eyeshield 21 is a manga revolving around high school students from the American Football club. Kobayakawa Sena is a freshmen that had always been bullied all his life. He decided to join the American Football Club as a secretary because they didn't have enough people and secretary was a job that allowed him to be involved in the club without having to actually participate in this violent sport. However, Sena's talent for being a runner was discovered by the captain, Hiruma Youichi. Infamous for using blackmailing and evil schemes to get what he wants, Hiruma got Sena to play under the code name of "Eyeshield 21" and not reveal his actual identity. As they journey forth to their goal of playing in the Christmas Bowl, they meet more friends, enemies, and grew tremendously in football and in life.

Review:

EYESHIELD 21 WAS AWESOME!!!! I loved it so much that I read the whole 333 chapters over the weekend! It was very much like you average sports manga in that it focused on game play, technicalities of football, and learning to never give up no matter how hard things are. Although I'm not a football fan, this manga's humor and characters kept me wanting more and more. I find myself growing anxious as the clock in the manga began to run out and I'm constantly cursing my internet to be faster as if the clock in the manga would change with real time lol. I cheered and even cried with the team when they meet defeat. I haven't finished Prince of Tennis but I think if you liked Slam Dunk then you would probably like Eyeshield 21 as well. Besides manga, Eyeshield 21 is also an anime series. So if your too lazy to read you can always watch it. It might be more interesting that way since this is a sports manga and it would be easier to see on screen.

At first the manga started off with drawings that were not very appealing. However this is common in many manga when you first read it. Art requires practice to improve after all. Later on in the series, the mangaka succeeds in putting more eye candies into the series. Even, Sena and Shin who looked very rough in the beginning looked cute and sexy later on! ;) I especially like Kakei Shun of the Kyoshin Poseidons. The dude possesses these sexy eyes that the mangaka described as "smoldering". Here is Kakei-kun!

From left to right: Mizumachi Kengo, Kakei Shun, Kobayakawa Sena, Hiruma Youichi, and Seijuro Shin


Have you seen or read Eyeshield 21? If so, what did you think about it?

Seigi no Mikata

Trailer (Not very informative but it's the only one I could find...):


Cast:
* Shida Mirai as Nakata Yoko
- Konno Moeka (紺野萌花) as young Yoko
* Yamada Yu as Nakata Makiko
- Natsui Runa as young Makiko
* Mukai Osamu as Yoshikawa Naoki
* Hongo Kanata as Okamoto Riku
* Takizawa Saori as Yamashita Midori
* Irie Jingi as Komori Taichi (Jumbo)
* Nishiuchi Mariya (西内まりや) as Moriyama Chika
* Nakamura Shizuka (中村静香) as Komatsu Kyoko
* Shimura Rena (志村玲那) as Shimazaki Mai
* Ishii Mieko (石井美絵子) as Horita Arisa
* Sano Shiro as Nakata Goro
* Tanaka Yoshiko as Nakata Haruko
* Tokui Yuu as Nogami Koichiro
* Hiraizumi Sei as Yoshikawa Katsuo
* Yamaguchi Izumi (山口いづみ) as Yoshikawa Satomi

Summary:

Nakata Yoko is a first year high schooler whose life is a living hell ruled by her older sister Nakata Makiko. For as long as Yoko can remember, her sister had always used her as a slave, bullied her, and used her as a scapegoat for everything in life. However, due to some incredible luck, no matter how awful her sister is, no one seems to notice it except for Yoko. Infact, everything her sister does turns into a good deed for everyone around her, earning her the respectable title of "Seigi no mikata", an Ally of Justice.

Review:

I just finished "Seigi no Mikata" yesterday and it left me wanting more. Although the drama is a repetition of day to day events revolving around the absurd things that Makiko demands from Yoko, it kept me wanting more because it was very funny to see the things Makiko do lol. She was absolutely ridiculous and funny. As a big sister myself, I know I've done my share of bullying and blackmailing to my own brother (it was all harmless little jokes). But Makiko is like the master of bullying. I think if I was her sister I would've ran away from home long ago lol.

I've seen Yamada Yu play other roles before but this is the first time I've seen her play a selfish bitch who doesn't even know she's selfish. She does a very good job! Props to her lol. As for Shida Mirai, she is just absolutely adorable! She a tiny actress bursting with talent! I've seen her act in "Hammer Session" but didn't really take notice of her because her role, although she was one of the main cast, didn't require very much. But seeing her in this drama put her in a new light in my eyes. I definitely look forward to seeing more of her work.

This drama is absolutely comical and it's great for people who don't have time to finish the whole series at once because they always finish one plot before the episode ends (with the exception of the last two). I hope you all will enjoy it as much as I did.

Theme song:
Okumura Hatsune - Honto wa ne

Tumbling

Official Trailer:


This is a fan made trailer but I thought it was really good and the only one with English subtitles. So here it is!


Cast:
* Yamamoto Yusuke as Azuma Wataru
* Seto Koji as Takenaka Yuta
* Miura Shohei as Tsukimori Ryosuke
* Daito Shunsuke as Kiyama Ryuichiro
* Nishijima Takahiro as Hino Tetsuya
* Tomiura Satoshi as Tsuchiya Satoshi
* Yanagishita Tomo as Mizusawa Taku
* Kaku Kento as Nippori Keiji
* Tamoto Soran as Kaneko Atsushi
* Okamoto Azusa as Satonaka Mari
* Okamoto Rei as Asakura Aoi
* Isaka Tatsuya as Akabane Reiji
* Nakadoi Hiroki as Tsurumi Akihiko
* Sato Jiro as Tashiro Shigeo
* Kuninaka Ryoko as Ezaki Shoko
* AKIRA as Kashiwagi Yutaka
* Otsuka Nene as Azuma Natsuko
* Ise Mihato as Sasaki Noriko
* Okihara Issei as Konno Toru
* Iriki Mari as Nakao Haruka
* Kawashima Kenta as Shiramine Kazuhiko

Summary:

Tumbling is a Japanese drama about these high school boys forming a male gymnastics team and striving for their dreams of winning the high school competition. 3rd year high school student Takenaka Yuta is the captain of the male rhythmic sports gymnastics club. It has been his dream to enter the high school competitions and get to the finals since middle school. However that dream was never achieved because they never had enough people to perform in the competitions (they need at least 6 people).

3rd year Azuma Wataru is a infamous delinquent who had spent all his high school years fighting and laying off his studies. In order to graduate, he has to either take extra lessons or join club activities. In order to impress the girl he like (who was in the female gymnastics club), he decided to join the male rhythmic sports gymnastics club.

With Wataru's entrance to the club, the delinquents of the high school began to join the club one by one. Before they knew it, the boys were able to enter competitions. However, because of the history of these delinquents, the club is in constant danger of being closed down. The drama, follows the progress of this club as they enter competitions and overcome all difficulties.

Review:

I really liked this drama. It has a serious plot of athletes overcoming difficulties to pursue their dreams and it contains tons of humor and lessons about life and friends. It was also very amazing to see all the routines they performed! I'm not exactly sure but it looked like the routines were actually done by the actors, who are not gymnasts. Every time they perform new routines I would drop everything I was doing just to focus on their performance. It made me hold my breath and clap like crazy when they were done. It was also this drama that restarted my interest of watching and reading sports related dramas and manga. There are also many eye candy actors in this drama! I give this drama 5/5 stars! You should all watch it if you have time!

In addition to good plot, this drama also has a very nice theme song:
Honey L Days- Manazashi

Real Live Gundam Battle

This is actually an old video I dug up from Japan Probe. It shows the epic battle of 2 gundams facing off.



Not exactly the battle we were expecting lol. Nevertheless, it was a pretty interesting battle from International Robot Expo. Hope you enjoyed it! :)

Original post can be found at Japan Probe: http://www.japanprobe.com/2009/12/01/gundam-vs-gundam/

Umbrella Musical

A bunch of kids in Japan performed a musical in the "84th All Japan Kasoh Grand Prix" with umbrellas. It's really cute!


umbrella art
Uploaded by ja444555. - See video of the biggest web video personalities.

How do you like this performance? :D

Original post can be found at Japan Probe: http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/05/06/japanese-umbrella-musical/

Japanese Food and Drinks Vending Machines

Yesterday my friend and I were talking about Japanese inventions and we touched on the topic of Japanese vending machines. We both thought that they were very convenient and interesting. So I went back to search for an old video I saw on Japan probe which talks about the different types of food and drink vending machines.


Japan Probe DOT COM
Uploaded by japanindiarf5. - See video of the biggest web video personalities.

In this video they introduced vending machines which sells bananas, toast, udon, ramen, cheap drinks, and canned pasta.

There are also other interesting ones like this live crab vending machine in the video below:


JapanProbe dot com
Uploaded by pubjapaned. - See video of the biggest web video personalities.

Got anymore interesting vending machines you know about? Comment below and I will try to look up a video or picture, then credit you for bringing it up! :)

All videos used in this post were found on the Japan Probe website.

Amazing Works of Demaeki

A demaeki is a device that Japanese fast food delivery people install onto their mopeds and motorcyles. This device can balance the food properly so that it will not spill during the high speed twist and turns the vehicles make.

To test out how reliable these devices are, a Japanese TV show attached the device to a roller coaster with a bowl of ramen in it to see if there will be any spillage.


demaeki
Uploaded by japanmaster3. - Discover more webcam videos and video blogs.

Elderly DDR Couple

This episode of "Nanikore" features an elderly couple (husband 70 and wife 66) who loves to play DDR at home and at the arcade!


ddr couple
Uploaded by captainbarneyjp. - Discover more webcam videos and video blogs.

Original post at Japan Probe: http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/11/27/elderly-ddr-masters/

Butler Themed Train

One of my twitter followers, UK Otaku, made a blog post about a new partnership between Swallowtail ( A butler cafe in Japan) and Kinki Nippon Tourist agency to start a "Butler Express." Customers will sit in a train with 20 butlers serving them tea, snacks, and such. Each ticket will cost 18,900 yen (about $225 USD)and each trip must have at least 150 people.

Here's a video introducing Swallowtail and their butlers:


Read more about it at UK Otaku's blog: http://ukotaku.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/something-for-the-ladies-butler-trains-to-start-service/

You can also follow him on twitter by clicking the button below!


By TwitterButtons.com

Castle for your Dog

In an episode of "Nanikore" in Japan, the TV show visited a dog house that's a small (2.5m high) replica of Matsumoto Castle. The House contains 3 rooms: Main entrance room, small room to the left for the dog to hide during thunderstorms, and a room to the left with sand on the floor for hot summers.According to the owner, this house took 6 months and 50,000 yen (roughly 600 USD) to build.


nanami's castle [\\\Japan-Probe\\\\\]
Uploaded by serjapanserpro. - See video of the biggest web video personalities.

Original post at: http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/09/19/dog-castle-the-most-awesome-dog-house-in-japan/

Crazy Japanese Moneys

Man, I always thought monkeys were cute little things that look like babies. But after seeing this video, I'm kind of scared of Japanese monkeys. This video basically talks about the aggressive behavior of monkeys in Nikko, Japan.


monkey problems
Uploaded by marlowalls. - See video of the biggest web video personalities.

These monkeys have no fear of people due to the close interaction they've had with the locals and the tourists feeding them. They will take any food you give them and will even invade your homes to steal food. The local shops have resorted to leaving out cheaper food for the monkeys to take so they would not steal the more expensive products. You can also see from the video that human food have negative effects of making the monkeys fat and giving them rotten teeth. Totally uncute! Poor monkeys... :(

From Japan Probe: http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/11/17/the-aggressive-monkeys-of-nikko/

Pan-kun: Flower Arrangment Revisited

Pan-kun is a lovely chimpanzee from Japan and is a frequent star of Shimura Zoo! He has been with the show since he was a baby and learning the ways of human. Here is a video clip of Shimura enchou (park keeper, in this case zoo keeper) and Pan-kun doing Ikebana, Japanese flower arrangement.


ikebana 2
Uploaded by percyjpnprb. - More video blogs and vloggers.

From Japan Probe: http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/10/27/flower-arrangement-chimpanzee-ii/

Drive-thru Vegas Weddings

Wow, I knew you can get your burger, coffee, or pills at a drive thru. But I would've never thought you can get married this way too! Here is a Japanese TV show doing a special on Vegas drive thru weddings.


wedding in vegas
Uploaded by johnbulljpnprb. - More video blogs and vloggers.

From Japan Probe: http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/11/03/las-vegas-drive-thru-wedding-on-japanese-tv/

Peace Loving Dog

Another animal video from Japan Probe. This is one about a dog who will break up fights if his family is fighting. I thought it was kinda cute.


dv dog
Uploaded by garak4500. - Explore international webcam videos.

From Japan Probe: http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/11/06/dog-hates-domestic-violence/

Cooking with Dog

Last night Sukotto also showed me a youtube cooking channel where the show is hosted by a dog named Frances. Besides the fact that a dog speaking English with a Japanese accent being absolutely adorable, I also find that these recipes are very simple and yummy. Try it out if you guys have time! :D