I’m a bit late in posting about anime series to be shown this summer 2009 basically because I’ve been too busy tending to my seiyuu stuff and BL dramas. However, looking at the list of series to be shown, summer doesn’t seem interesting especially when compared to the last winter and spring schedules. It’s a bit sad that there was nothing much to look forward to (IMO). Anyway, for the sake of recording, here are series to be shown this summer, arranged alphabetically.
Marukaite Chikyuu - Hetalia's ending song
Everyone who is into Hetalia has probably heard of its amazingly adorable ending song, Marukaite Chikyuu sung by Italy’s seiyuu, Namikawa Daisuke. It has a catchy tune, stupid lyrics and very cute visuals. The first time I heard it, it stuck and I ended up listening to it in loop for weeks (until Romano’s character song was released~). It’s a great hit among fans and non-fans alike (I know, I managed to reel a friend into the fandom because of this song).
Suddenly, someone had a great idea (if you know this wonderful person, please tell me) to make a Marukaite Chikyuu version for his/her country. Taking a karaoke version of the song, someone rewrite the lyrics to fit the words in their language and sang it with the karaoke track. The project was made people amused and happy. Soon, everyone wanted to pitch in an sing Marukaite Chikyuu in their own language. And thus began the great craze of singing the ending song in different languages.
More than the paper craft, the doujin game, the MADs/AMVs, I love this project of singing Hetalia’s theme in different languages. I do not know if it’s the participation of people from all over the world or the sheer creativity of some members of the fandom, but I’m really glad that this project started and is continuing even now.
While I was searching around for the various fandubs, I became curious of other countries and their languages, even those not even in Hetalia yet. I am thankful to those who wrote the lyrics and translations with their fandubs because I feel that I’ve learned something, even if it’s just lyrics to a simple song. It’s also amusing that some contributors even changed the lyrics to fit their countries’ cultures (like changing the food or personality of the song). All in all, this project is amazing and I hope that there will be more contributions. It’s not only making Hetalia more accepted in communities — it’s also bringing people together. I cannot particularly say how, but seeing the comments in each fandub and sharing in the excitement whenever a new fandub is up makes me think that way :).
In Youtube, there is already a playlist organized to collect all the fandubs in one place. However, there are new ones as well as some which are missed. Here’s a list of the fandubs I collected some time ago, arranged alphabetically by language.
I’m still including names of countries in parentheses even though it’s mostly obvious where some languages come from because some of the fandubs are pretty specific with the country they want to represent (like French for Canada). Each link leads to their corresponding YT video.
Sadly, the Filipino-Tagalog one seems deleted and I don’t know where I can find it again :(. Anyway, if there are more fandubs in YT, please tell me. Other than that, enjoy how a little silly song has become an international sensation :D.
To everyone who contributed to the project directly or indirectly, you are awesome >v<bbbb
the very large and rather heavy box
I’ve just bought my very own Samurai Gattai DX Shinken-Ou at Great Toys in Greenhills today. It’s a whopping Php 3800, way above my expected amount (I just wanted to buy the Ryuu Origami! But it wasn’t available). But I think it’s worth the price despite the bad reviews. That might just be because I haven’t had a Super Sentai model before, though.
the side of the box. i just had to include the people, right? :D
Each origami has three modes: kanji, animal and Shinken-Ou part. Each origami is easy to transform and attach, although of course, the kanjis aren’t as perfect as the ones in the series. I’ve taken pictures of all the modes as well as the formed Shinken-Ou, so under the cut, it’s going to be a hell of pictures.
gashapon line in robinson's place ermita
Japanese merchandise (real ones, not those ones you buy in 168/Divisoria and then sell for twice the price at some mall) are hard to find in the Philippines, if you do not know where to look. It’s quite a hassle for my sister and I to order stuff from online, too, since the post office in our place is probably the most unreliable post office in the world. Most of the time, anime fans can buy anime merchandise at Greenhills (Wasabi Toys, Great Toys) or some odd anime shop in malls. The appearance of gashapon machines (capsule machines) made everything happy and gay, though. It’s both an oasis and a quicksand, those machines. They can either make you so happy you want to bust the gashapon machine … or too frustrated you want to kill the employee watching over the machine because you can’t get what you want.
Aside from gunpla and figure/candy toy collection, we’ve been into gashapon collection for quite some time rather than going to Comic Alley like everyone else and their mothers. My sister and I have made raiding gashapon stops in toy stores a hobby. We invest on our “raids” a lot. Fortunately, we often get what we want (after a number of tries? XD). We didn’t realize how big our gashapon collection was until we decided to open the capsules and arrange them on figure cases.
Lately, I’ve been stumbling upon the weirdest yet most amusing talk CDs. You might remember me talking about sheep-counting and diet CDs and you, just like me, might’ve wished that there were more surprises like them. Well, look no further. A few days ago, I got my hands on Shukujou Training CD ~Shitsuji ga Oshieru Seiyouryouri manner~ (淑女養成CD ～執事が教える西洋料理のマナー～). I read it in English as “Training for Ladies ~Butlers’ Guide to Manners when Eating Western Food~”.
This Ladies’ Training CD is released by TEAM Entertainment for female listeners who have dreamt of becoming an aristocratic lady at one point in their lives. This CD, hosted by butlers, aims to help these ‘ojousama’ become the refined lady that they always wanted to be. These butlers, in six tracks, give tips and advice on how to behave during a Western-style party or dinner, from the moment of stepping off the car to the end of dinner. With the help of your loyal Stuart and Robert, you, my lady, will easily achieve those flawless table manners which will help you gain good impression as you expose yourself to high society XD;.
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My most awaited spring anime series is undoubtedly Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I loved the anime and even rewatched it in preparation for the remake. As I’ve said before, the new seiyuu cast was a bit of a letdown, although since the replacements are wonderful seiyuu, I know the voices are still going to be awesome. What I expected from the new series minus the new voices are better art and effects while hopefully keeping the intensity of the first series as well as its charisma.
After watching episode 1 of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, however, I have slightly mixed feelings with the changes they’ve made to the series.
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To be honest, I’ve never touched Pandora Hearts‘ manga until I heard that it’s going to become an anime. I’m usually an anime person when it comes to such genre (shounen, seinen, psycho, etc.) so I usually watch the anime first then read the manga or sometimes, not read it at all. My first impression with Pandora Hearts is that it reminds me of Kuroshitsuji (not that they’re the same o.o). I guess it’s because of the dark, shadowy backdrop, the main character, and the premise of evil and sorcery. Anyway, enough of my guessing game with Pandora Hearts. This is my unadulterated impression of the first episode.
I’ve mentioned in my Pankore CD review other odd talk/seiyuu CDs that Japan comes up with. One of these is the SUPER DIET CD produced by Honeybee, the same company that brought us Hitsuji de Oyasumi Series, also known as the sheep-counting CDs.
Slim Naru is a talk CD featuring the voices of Miyano Mamoru and Nakamura Yuuichi. This is, basically, a CD that will help girls who are trying to lose weight or are in the middle of dieting. It doesn’t only encourage the listener (YOU) to lose weight to ‘look better’ using the deeply seductive (and tsundere) voices of Mamo-chan and Nakamura, it also helps the listener with daily exercises with both seiyuu counting your stretches, push-ups and sit-ups for you.
In this CD, Miyano and Nakamura are both responsible persons who are concerned with your health. Mamo-chan is the gentle, kind guy who wants to help you become pretty while Nakamura is the tsundere guy who is a little snobbish but is willing to help you because he feels happy when you try your best (FIGHT-O!). In order to fully explain the wonderful dynamics of this CD as well as to help listeners utilize the CD as intended, I have to enumerate the tracks and what activity should be done in each.
As said in Anime News Network, this coming Tuesday, the main seiyuu cast for the Fullmetal Alchemist remake this spring 2009 will be announced in Newtype, Animage and Animedia. Some of the main cast, like the Flame alchemist Roy Mustang and Ishbal survivor Scar, have changed seiyuu. Here’s a rundown of some of the cast with notes on who their old seiyuu were, if they are changed.
Edward Elric – Paku Romi
Alphonse Elric – Kugimiya Rie
Winry Rockbell – Takamoto Megumi (formerly Toyoguchi Megumi)
Roy Mustang – Miki Shinichirou (formerly Ohkawa Tooru)
Riza Hawkeye – Orikawa Fumiko (Neya Michiko)
Alex Louis Armstrong – Utsumi Kenji
Maes Hughes – Fujiwara Keiji
Jean Havoc – Ueda Yuuji (formerly Matsumoto Yasunori)
Scar - Miyake Kenta (formerly Okiayu Ryoutarou)
Vato Farman – Hamada Kenji (formerly Murozono Takahiro)
Maria Ross – Nazuka Kaori (formerly Saiga Mitsuki)
King Bradley – Shibata Hidekatsu
Lust - Inoue Kikuko (formerly Satou Yuuko)
Gluttony - Shiratori Tetsu (formerly Takato Yasuhiro)
Envy – Takayama Minami (formerly Yamaguchi Mayumi)
Zolof Kimblee – Yoshino Hiroyuki (formerly Ueda Yuuji)
Isaac - Yamadera Kouichi
Personally, I’m a bit disappointed that Ohkawa Tooru is not reprising his role as Roy Mustang. Roy was one of my first anime crushes and I love everything about him. I’ve imbibed that voice into his personality. MikiShin’s voice is good, but it’s of different quality and timbre and I don’t know if I can get used to it. I’m also sad that Okiayu is not Scar anymore, because he’s one of the strongest and most emotional characters in the series. Like with MikiShin, I don’t have anything against Miyake Kenta, but I was hoping they’d keep the original cast, especially with the main.
I guess we can’t have everything, especially since this is a remake that will follow the manga more closely.
Spring is promising a wonderful and long list of anime to watch, which is a bit bad for my viewing habit, my sleep schedule and for my work. Here are, as usual, the list of anime to start this March-April-May
, their previews (if any), short info and my decision if I should watch them or not. Sadly, I seem to like almost everything and only left out a few compared to the previous seasons ^^;.
Again, no pictures because I am super lazy. My verdicts will be YES, NO and MAYBE.
