Hemsida nere!

För tillfället är Mangakai Lunds hemsida nere. Vi jobbar på problemet och hoppas att det blir löst snart. Nästa möte är på onsdag den 18:e januari, kl 18 till 21:30, på Fäladsgården i Lund.

Lost and found

Har du glömt nåt på ett konvent eller möte? Kom och hämta det!

Vi har många kvarglömda saker i vårt förråd och vi kommer nu att rensa ut dem om ingen kommer och hämtar dem.
Här är bilder på alla saker. De är tagna med blixt så färgerna kan vara lite off. Många av de svarta sakerna ser t.ex. grå ut och de mörkblåa blev ljus- eller klarblåa.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69334583@N05/sets/72157627912076811/

Är du ägare till nån av sakerna så skriv till oss och säg till. Uppge nummer, beskrivning och när du glömde den om du minns. Bor du långt borta så kan vi behålla ditt föremål till t.ex. nästa konvent men då MÅSTE du säga till.

Kom och hämta så snart som möjligt för den 7 december ger vi bort eller slänger allt som ingen claimat.

Eftersom vi inte vet vems dessa sakerna är kan vi inte ta ansvar för om nån lurar sig till något som inte är deras. Vi hoppas helt enkelt att ni är ärliga.

Arrietty in theathers!

Finally! SF is screening Arrietty. I was expecting Kino to do it if it was going to happen but as long as we're getting it I'm happy (^-^)

Check it out at SF's homepage Lånaren Arrietty

Premier November 2.

Edit:
Unfortunately I don't see any sign of the original dub, only the Swedish one... I guess we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed.
They are screening it and both Japanese and Swedish! I just saw that they've added a link for the Japanese-dub one as well ^___^

But there's more! Mononoke Hime!
For some reason SF decided to also screen Mononoke Hime as well, starting October 28. This one we get in Japanese!

Prinsessan Mononoke

Ranma ½ gets Live Action special

O_o I always wanted a dorama version of Ranma but I never thought they'd actually make one. It even looks like they're putting some effort and money into it 'cause it has a good time slot and a bunch of well known actors.
It's set to be a 2 hr special some time in Decomber.

Cast:
Aragaki Yui as Tendo Akane
Kaku Kento as Saotome Ranma (m)
Natsuna as Saotome Ranma (f)
Hasegawa Kyoko as Tendo Kasumi
Namase Katsuhisa as Tendo Soun
Tanihara Shosuke as Ono Tofu
Furuta Arata as Saotome Genma

(Edit: Did not know that that text format was some kind of picture... come on it was basically just space! I do not hot-link pictures knowingly!)

I know it might turn out horrible but I'm exited about it none the less :D and looking forward to watching it.

source: ANN

d-wiki info

Domoto Tsuyoshi releases in Europe!

News for all Domoto Tsuyoshi and KinKi Kids fans!

Tsuyoshi is releasing his album 'Nippon' in Europe on October 21.

Here's the info that came with the latest Johnny's International E-mail service:

"KinKi Kids' member Tsuyoshi Domoto's solo album "NIPPON" will be released all
over Europe on the 21st of October!
With an active solo career started in 2002, Tsuyoshi Domoto is now ready
to take over the world!

The European version of the album will be released under Gan-Shin Records,
and it will contain a 16-page booklet with all the lyrics and explanations
for each song in 3 languages (English, French, German).

*Countries of release:
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, UK,
Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg


We really hope you will support Tsuyoshi Domoto in his international activities
not only as a Johnny's, but also as a Japanese artist!"

You can pre-order a copy at cdon.com or ginza.se.

http://cdon.se/musik/tsuyoshi_domoto/nippon-15655332
http://www.ginza.se/Product/Product.aspx?Identifier=144149

So if you're a fan or simply want to support Japanese music internationally go buy one! And if you've never listened to Domoto Tsuyoshi before, give him a try, he is a really good singer (^-^)d

I'm not sure what kind of music he's going with for this album but here is the single he released last April, Eni wo Yuite.

Samurai Vader

It's been quite a while since I found this one but I really wanted to share it anyway cause I think it's kind of awesome :D

A Darth Vader samurai doll is being released! And it's really big O_o 52 cm tall. Then again you have to pay 136,500 yen for it so make sure you have some (a lot) of extra savings and a glorious spot to put him in.

click link for pictures!
http://www.yoshitoku.co.jp/sw/musha_ningyou.html

Norwegian Wood rerun at Kino

Kino in Lund will be showing a few reruns of Norwegian Wood this weekend. So if you missed it when it was running, here's another chance to see it on the big screen.

They'll be screening it on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (July 29-31) at 20:45.

Japans LIVS & DESIGN

Is everyone having a nice summer? Those who live in Skåne maybe travelling a lot with the summer-card? Well if you have a chance to go to Malmö there is a shop you really must visit! :D

It's a nice little shop by Lilla torg in Malmö called Japans LIVS & DESIGN. It's owned by this really nice Japanese woman and she sells Japanese food, candy, bento-boxes, cups and other Japanese things.

The picture is taken from eniro's street view.

This is her shop. Look carefully or you might just pass right by it.

Here's some things I bought today and some of that I've bought before.

Bull Dog sauce - really tasty on rice. This was always in my fridge when I lived in Japan :D

Karee - Japanese curry, does not taste like Indian curry but is just as lovely in it's own way <3

Soy sauce - It's meant for dipping sushi but works just as well with for example gyoza, delish!

Mango pudding - :D

Pocky - Double chocolate with caramel flavour.

Kajuu Gumi - Small jelly candies. The Japanese are really good at making candy taste like actual fruit <3 The orange one tastes just like orange marmalade, you even get the slight bitterness of the peal.

Milk and maple bun - It's made to last long so it smells a little bit of conservatives but I like it :D

She has some frozen foods too, like gyoza and takoyaki.

At fist all of her things were Japanese but sadly I guess she couldn't make a living on that so now there are some ordinary western snacks too.

This map is also from eniro.

The address is Engelbrektsgatan 6, Malmö. I'm not certain of the openings hours but I'm pretty sure it's till 18 Mon-Fri and a bit earlier on Saturdays. Sundays are closed.

I really love this shop <3

Supernatural THE ANIMATION

I recently finished watching the anime version ova of the American TV-series Supernatural. So here's a little about the anime from the perspective of a fan of the original series.

First of all, the anime covers the first two seasons of the original series in 22, 22-24 minute episodes. This means that they've compressed a few of the original stories to half the length, skipped a lot of them and then added some new anime original ones. Several of them containing Japanese lore.

Secondly, they also added a small piece of background story where they give Sam and Dean a housekeeper-ish person (demon of course) and make Sam blow up some demonic bull with his mind right in front of Dean. They also screw with Dean's personality a bit. In "Roadkill" he ends up burning his leather jacket for a no good reason ( leather doesn't even burn very well) and then he goes and puts on some ugly ass jacket that not even apple-pie-life-Dean would wear. However, the leather jacket does mysteriously reappear at some point. What's worse is that in one episode the Impala gets hit by another car and Dean doesn't even drop one line about it. Sure, they were still being chased and all but the real Dean wouldn't have let it slide without a comment in any situation.
Another sad thing is the new design of Bobby. They made him a short, plump, bald man. They even took his cap away. Bobby is awesome and he deserves way better!

I don't mind that they change how the story plays out as long as they end up at the same ending but when they start adding things to their past that should have changed how they see things or start messing with the characters, I get upset. Don't mess with Sam, Dean or Bobby!

And lastly a bit about the voice acting.
Now this was released with both a Japanese and an English dub. And this is the first time that I can't say that the Japanese is better.

In the English dub Sam is voiced by Jared Padalecki throughout the whole anime but Dean is voiced by some Andrew Farrar. Only in the last two episodes do we get Jensen Ackles as Dean. It does help with the chemistry of the series but doesn't take it all the way.
As for the rest of the cast it's more or less like any other English anime dub, generally bad but perhaps a tiny bit above standard since it seems like they used some original dialogue and the fact that it's actually set in the USA helps.

I didn't think it was going to work in Japanese and I'm sad to say I was right. It just sounds wrong. The witty jokes and most other lines get kind of butchered. Imagine taking away all the sarcasm from the entire series. I mean the dialogue makes more than half the show and it's just not the same without it...

Both Padalecki and Ackles really do a good job voicing their characters. I'll admit, not as good as the acting in the original series but close enough. In general the acting of the Japanese cast is better (well duh) but the what really makes the series what it is, is lost.

One of my favourites things about the anime is that they use this image and Carry on Wayward Son as the theme song. Sung by Japanese but they do a decent job.

If you're a fan of the original series I can't really recommend the anime... Maybe it'll be better if you haven't seen the original. But then again, if you've yet to see anything Supernatural at all, just skip the anime and go watch the TV-series!

But if you are gonna watch it, remember to watch the bit after the ending too or you'll miss part of the story and might end up feeling very confused at the beginning of the next episode.

BECK live action movie!

 

One of my favourite mangas and animes ever was turned into a live action movie, starring some of my favourite actors! Needless to say I was ecstatic when I found out 1½ years ago. And ever since then, yes for one and a half years, I've been ecstatically waiting for the dvd-release.

And it's finally come!

And I've finally seen it! :D:D:D:D:D:D

And it was awesome!!!

And I love it!!

To most people this will not say much though so I will try to explain why. The first reason is simply because I love BECK. The story and the characters are undisputedly awesome and the live action does not let them down. All the actors have been chosen carefully and not only do they look like the manga characters, they act the same way, but somehow without making them manga in their manner and thereby making them seem more like manga characters than real people.

The crazy ones, like Chiba and Ryuusuke, are just as crazy, (and post-it man as Chiba is pure win) but in a manner more suited for live characters. Koyuki is as awkward as ever but not as exaggerated as it sometimes is in the manga. Saku and Tairas characters don't take a lot of room but they do an awesome support and live up to my image of them.

All the other supportive characters like Maho and Saitou (the actor here really looks like the manga character, too bad his story is cut out) are really good as well. I give them a special bonus for having foreigners playing all the parts of foreigners, and the man playing Sykes is awesome!! O__O Just his appearance is reason enough to love him. :D

How can you not love this!

A lot of money has gone into the production of this film, and you can tell. It's really well-made and keeps up a high quality throughout. Just the fact that all of the people that are supposed to speak English actually do and speak it perfectly adds a lot to the value, at least for a foreign fan like me. :)

 Also the props. Lucille (the guitar) is made to look exactly like in the manga.

 

There is a lot of English in the movie, and it's good enough for me to wonder if they dubbed the Japanese actors. XDD Which is a good thing. And Ryuusuke and Maho actually speak English with each other and not the fake kind they use in Nodame which is "we're really speaking another language but we thought you'd be sick of not understanding so we make it Japanese, you can just pretend it's some other language"

The music! I've always loved the BECK music and the movie is no exception, I want the soundtrack! The songs are awesome BUT (and this is a big but and the only downside to the movie in my opinion) you never get to hear Koyuki sing... To keep up the illusion of his awesome voice they've muted all his singing and just play the background music and show peoples reactions... I know that this is the best way of keeping the illusion of a perfect voice real, cause no matter which voice they'd used it would never live up the the expectations but I'd be willing to give up the illusion to get the vocals of the songs... At one point you get the lyrics in English on the screen, the background music and Koyuki lip-syncing the words. It's kind of frustrating, I want to hear the song! But this was the only part of the movie I didn't like.

It is well-made, the English is good, the story isn't rushed (it's 2½ hours long so it shouldn't be) and I enjoyed every moment of watching it. I admit I'm totally biased, considering I loved it before I saw it but it didn't let me down even though I had high expectations which speaks in it's favour. I really recommend watching it and even though there are no subtitles yet anyone of medium Japanese skills will be able to follow without any problems. I'm not that good and I never feel lost and, as I've said, there is quite a lot of English which helps.

All in all; I will love this movie forever! :D (and I don't care if anyone disagrees!)

Anime - Worth a watch

OK, so I've been finishing some anime again. Some of them were so-so but there were some pretty good ones that are worth watching :D

So yes, these are all anime that I think are worth watching but are not must sees. Spice and Wolf especially since it's not really my style but it is interesting and well made.

Claymore

It's about women warriors that are half human half demon. Working for an organisation they travel from town to town killing demons.
It's a really grey-toned series coloured only by the red and purple blood of humans and demons :P A well-made series with lots of slashing but without going overboard. I'm not really that into this type of anime but this one is good so if you like this genre I recommend it :D

26 episodes, licensed, anime original ending, manga 19 vol ongoing

Kamisama Kazoku

Samatarou lives with with his parents, two sisters and an angel. Oh, yea and his father is God and his mother a goddess. Samataro goes to school to learn how humans live and the angel Tenko goes with him to help.
His family is the kind that whenever they do something they tend to be really annoying but it doesn't go completely over the top. You just have to live through episode two. That's the worst one. They don't do that again. It's a comedy, half crazy, one third serious and with a little bit of romance. The two main characters are pretty level-headed so as long as the family stays away it doesn't get that silly. I like this one, it's funny and interesting.

13 episodes, not licensed, manga 5 vol complete

Spice and Wolf

Lawrence is a young merchant who is travelling with a god wolf named Horo. She helps him get good deals and always makes him buy her tons of apples.
This anime is pretty calm but has it's moments of thrill and action. Horo is wise, clever and very god at making things go her way. Even in human form she still keeps her ears and tail but without going all moe. A big plus. You can clearly see both her ferocious side as a wolf and her cheeky and girlish sides as a woman. I think both she and Lawrence are good character and go very well with the story.
The animation is nice and has nice theme songs. The ending especially is very cute. It's completely in engrish and I don't get what's it's about but it has charm.



There is also a second season for those who liked it.

13 episodes, licensed, 5 vol ongoing

Japanorama!

Years ago, like 6 years ago (in Sweden that is) a TV show aired that was called "Japanorama". It is a British show hosted by Jonathan Ross of BBC fame, Ross is a huge fan of all things Japanese and he uses the show to show just what is it that makes Japan so special.

Japanorama is a 3 season show that ran in 2002, 2006 and 2007 on BBC Three and BBC Choice and have had much praise for the care the BBC and Ross took in the making of it.

Each episode takes up a theme with everything from Samurai to Otaku and Kawaii. Ross meets with important persons in each of the subject he address and you get to hear the views, visions and ideas by people like Hayao Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli) and Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell).

The episode known as Otaku takes up the way that people in Japan view Otakus and also what it truly stands for. It is an interesting view of the fan-culture of Japan.

In the episode Gaijin they take up the subject of foreigners and outcasts in the Japanese society and how they are treated. This part shows the sometimes extremely narrow minded and racist society they can be, but also the way the Japanese youths strive to get away from those things.

It also have a segment that follow a UK band as they do their first tour in Japan and also the Etiquette School, which teaches you things like the correct way to open doors and the proper way to hold your chopsticks.

I can really recommend checking out this show even if it's a bit dated by now. It has interesting information about the people, the society and the popular culture of Japan.