[Cosplay] スラダン世代[suradan sedai]
There is no integrity in my cosplays because I just cosplay as I like. Even I am not too sure what I am going to cosplay. If I come across someone I want to cosplay, I will do. If I want to cosplay someone I have already cosplayed before, I will do again. A while ago, I cosplayed Yagami Light in Death Note because I suddenly felt like cosplaying him. I think I am really capricious.
For some reason, I wanted to do Slam Dunk again because I found a white Shohoku uniform at auction. When I cosplayed Slam Dunk for the first time, I only had a red one. I couldn’t help but buy it because I really love Slam Dunk. Because I grew up with Slam Dunk, what’s called, スラダン世代[suradan sedai] or Slam Dunk Generation.
Well, the time when I used to read it in Shounen Jump was from 1990 to 1996, and TV anime was aired from 1993 to 1996. Of course I followed both. 年は聞くなよ、計算すんなよ。At that time, most of the classmates in my class belonged to the basketball club at school. I am not good at sports so I didn’t, though. Speaking of other popular manga from Shounen Jump around the time, I can think of Dragon Ball and Yu-Yu-Hakusho. But in particular, Slam Dunk follows not only basketball, but school days which we also had. Even though so many years passed since the series ended, I sometimes want to read the comics again.
Then why スラダン世代? What is so special about this? If you are a descendant from suradan sedai, you could remember some famous words, couldn’t you? The greatest ones are below.
1. 最後まで希望を捨てちゃいかん。あきらめたらそこで試合終了だよ。[You shouldn't give up till the end. If you give it up, the game would be over.]
2. 安西先生…バスケが…したいです… [Anzai-sensei...I want to play...basketball...]
Ask anybody some famous lines from Slam Dunk, I guarantee most people would answer above two. People from スラダン世代 keep these lines in mind so they never forget. Keep going, never give up. That’s our motto. If you are one, you can say like this: 最後まであきらめませんよ。私、スラダン世代だから。[saigo made akiramemasen yo. Watashi, suradan sedai dakara] or I won’t give it up till the end. Because I am from suradan sedai.
…And my favorite character in this series is Rukawa Kaede[流川 楓]. Because he is a rare male tsundere, and voiced by 緑川 光[Hikaru Midorikawa] Read the rest of this entry »
レス [resu]
If you happen to own a blog, how do you take care of comments from viewers? Do you respond every one of them? Well, this depends on a blogger, I think. Sometimes I visit other bloggers, and I noticed some of them do not necessarily respond all the comments they get. The more popular the blog is, the more comments it has. And those bloggers are too busy to respond for each. If there was more than 100 comments for one entry, it would be just 6 responses or so. And then the 6 responses were only for the best comments of all.
We say レス[resu] or response and a comment, and there are several types of it. Let’s see some examples.
a. 全レス[zenresu]: To respond every single comment. Yes, I do this basically. あまりにも変なコメントにはしないけど。No matter how simple a comment is, I reply. Because I am happy that viewers give me a comment. And my blog is not something at all, so that it is easy to respond. However, 全レス doesn’t seem to be nice on such a big bulltien board such as 2ch because the viewers would have to read similar conversations again and again. Suppose I am talking about cosplay, there are 100 comments, and you are reading from top to bottom. What if you found more than 80 similar comments and responses like What’s cosplay? or Cosplay is blah blah blah…There is no point in reading something like that since such a question was already asked in the first place. If you see such a meaningless question, you could say ググレカス[gugurekasu] or “Google it, idiot.” We say ググる[guguru] or google as a verb usage. カス[kasu] means stupid or idiot. Some people are too lazy to research, so they ask somebody right away. Moe or otaku are already well-known, so anybody can learn on wikipedia or somewhere. Now do you ask it? グ グ レ カ ス. Sounds like a spell, doesn’t it?
b. 即レス[sokuresu]: To respond right away. In a few minutes, a few seconds. Japanese schoolgirls try to respond as soon as possible because they believe sokuresu could prove how strong the friendship is.
c. 亀レス[kameresu]: Very slow response. When you e-mail your friend, he/she would e-mail you back two or three days later. It’s very slow. That is 亀レス. 亀[kame] means a turtle. Yes, it’s very slow walking like a turtle.
d. 念レス[nenresu]: A while ago, one of the bloggers who visit my blog, Marie-san told me that I made a post on what she knew, just after she knew it. It happened a couple of times. In this way, someone says whatever you think or feel before you, that is 念レス[nenresu]. 念[nen] stems from a verb 念じる[nenjiru] or concentrate, strongly pray. Well, in this context it is like telepathy. So she could have said like 私の念レスが通じた[watashi no nenresu ga tsuujita] or 念レス成功[nenresu seikou] which mean,”My nenresu worked.”
e. 自作自演[jisaku jien]: To respond your own comment as if someone else did it. In order to make your entry look lively, you could comment on your entry. By doing so, it would make it easier for others to leave a comment. If you don’t pretend to be someone else and comment on your entry, it is 自己レス[jikoresu] or respond oneself.
f. スルー[through]: To ignore a response or a comment. If you own a blog, you might have seen a troll[荒らし] who meaninglessly makes a fun of you, I assume. I believe スルー is the best way to get through because they would enjoy seeing your reaction. The more you react, the more they enjoy. What troubles me the most is an incomprehensible comment or a comment that has nothing to do with the entry I am talking about. 僕の経験上、こういうのが一番対応に困る。Those who do something like that are not even trolls, so I don’t know if I should ignore or not. Anyway, we really have to be careful when to do スルー. 荒らしじゃなくても、あんまりにもひどければスルーしていいと思うけどね…
The one who can protect your blog or site is none other than you. If you get in a trouble, consider talking to someone you can trust. Blog is to enjoy, not to be bothered.
Usagi-san is doing 全レス...not writing his latest BL novel.
[Cosplay] God of the New World
You might think I am out of fashion if I say I still love Death Note. When I was a beginner(even now, I am still a beginner), I used to cosplay Death Note because it is cheap and recognisable. L is very simple; a white T-shirt and jeans, and Light needs decent clothes. All you need is a Death Note, that’s it. It is a piece of cake, you can make it in a few minutes. And get an apple or you can cosplay Yagami Light who claims to be God of the new world. Even though this series was over a long time ago, I feel like watching again because I really love Light, L, and how the story goes. Though the tricks are over my head. In real life, I am such a clumsy geek that I respect a smart and cool guy like Light or Lelouch in Code Geass. I think Light is smarter and more cold-hearted than Lelouch because Light does not hesitate to murder his own father whereas Lelouch cares about his younger sister too much.
At any rate, I just wanted to cosplay Light for some reason. If you still love Death Note, I would be very happy! Read the rest of this entry »
[Cosplay] Pandora Hearts
I hadn’t cosplayed any characters from fantasy anime or the likes because those characters are pretty difficult to cosplay and the costumes are so expensive. However, I think I have chosen such simple characters who wear regular clothes lately so I wanted to try a cosplay-like character. One day my cosplay buddy asked me to cosplay a certain supporting character since he is going to cosplay the hero from Pandora Hearts. Here is the OP from the anime.
This anime is still on the air, but I didn’t know about this well since fantasy is not my cup of tea. Oh I don’t know, because a word, fantasy has more connotations than I think. Since my friend wanted me to know this anime, I borrowed the comics from him. The more I read it, the more I got hooked. At the same time, I noticed this series is so expensive to cosplay but it would be fascinating because each character wears a handsome costume. And the character my friend asked me to cosplay is him.
He is Xerxes Break, he is a member of Pandora and a servant of the Rainsworth household. See how evil and creepy he looks? Yes, although he smiles all the time with some sweets he suddenly shows his darker and evil side. Okay, I know such a dark-hearted character suits me, so I decided to cosplay him.
Well, this cosplay was so difficult because the costume was a bit hard to wear, and I had to do make-up and set up the hair. I know that’s what we cosplayers do, though. Just I forgot it because I only cosplayed simple characters. This character made me realise that cosplay is a hard work.
I have to tell you this: this is very horrifying. I think I can make kids weep at a ghost mansion. Read the rest of this entry »
[Cosplay] Junjou Romantica
I am terribly sorry that I have been away from my blog more than a week. I had too many things to do including preparation for the upcoming cosplays. Well, I haven’t been cosplaying for more two months so my battery of moe almost ran out. I finally took a day off on this Sunday, and joined the cosplay event to do some characters I really wanted to cosplay…One of them is him.
He is Usami Akihiko who is well-known as Usagi-san in Junjou Romantica[純情ロマンチカ]. Even if you are not a fujoshi(BL fangirl), you might have heard of this anime. Yes, Junjou Romantica is the Bible for BL fangirls. Besides, it is famous out of Japan for some reason. In fact, some of the visitors on my blog are fans of this anime. Anyway, Usagi-san is a BL novelist who secretly writes a love story between the hero, Misaki’s elder brother and him. Misaki gets upset about this, but he starts to understand him. And not realizing the feeling toward Usagi-san, Misaki falls in love with him. In case you don’t know this anime, I shall upload the OP. Don’t worry, there is no yaoi scene so anyone can watch.
At any rate, the reason why I decided to cosplay him is that he is the same age as me. 調べなくていいからね（笑）調べてもここでは言わないように（笑）But this Usagi-san is not enough because there is no 俺の嫁Misaki and Suzuki-san(his beloved teddy bear). Oh no where is my sweetheart? Mind you, if you happen to cosplay Misaki, don’t get near me. Because I will eat you up! Read the rest of this entry »
それなんてエロゲ [sore nante eroge]
A scene from Eternity You Wish
There is an old saying, 事実は小説より奇なり[jijitsu wa shousetsu yori ki nari] in Japanese, which means truth is stranger than fiction. That is, no matter how fishy it sounds, it could be true. The more it sounds too good to be true, the more we could believe it. Come to think of it, there are quite a few stories based on the facts and then some of them are hard to believe. Oh well, because they are shows, they could be dramatized somehow for sure.
When I turn on TV, I sometimes see showfolks are talking about their first love. And we are definitely seen such a quick movie that explains how it was. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I end up shouting, “Bullshit” inside because, I think, I have played too many eroge[エロゲー] or otome games. Yes, there is a funny saying among 2ch bugs to comment upon hearing such a heartbreaking love story, それなんてエロゲ[sore nante eroge] or which eroge are you talking about?
In case you don’t know what eroge is(I am pretty sure you do), I shall quickly explain. Eroge is a simulation game in which the hero is surrounded by several pretty girls(that is a harem), bishoujo[美少女]. You can pursue each girl and the goal is to have a happy ending with your favorite. If it contains some pornogoraphic scenes, it is classified as エロゲー[eroge]. If not, it is a plain 美少女ゲーム[bishoujo game].
Long time ago, eroge was not like what they are now. I mean, some pretty girls come out, and all the hero has to do is chase your favorite. When the hero and your girl come to a certain point, you will see a H-scene. So you start over to clear another girl.
But eroge evolved out of what they used to be around the end of 1990’s. I can think of Shizuku[雫, '96], To Heart(‘97) from Leaf or something like that. These eroge are so dramatic and well-plotted that players could even cry. Also, needless to say, Kanon(‘99) from Key was a really mega hit. Because of such a heartbreaking plot from Kanon or Air, those games were even classified as a 泣きゲー[nakige] or heartbreaking eroge. You might not even think it is just an adult video game if you play Air as a fisrt timer. 何回見ても美鈴のシーンは泣いてしまう…Meanwhile, there are eroge that make you depressed after you played because of a depressing scenario such as 君が望む永遠[Eternity you wish] or School Days. We call it 鬱ゲー[utsuge] or depressing game. When it comes to otome game, I can’t even count how many romantic stories I have seen so far.
In this way, we got used to hear such a heartbreaking love story, so we hardly get surprised even if a so-so nice one comes out. Rather, 2ch bugs might ridicule your story, saying それなんてエロゲ. The more you explian enthusiastically and dramatically, the less they get surprised. No matter how much you write about your story on your blog or somewhere, there could be only one comment, それなんてエロゲ. In acronyms, it is sneg[Sore Nante EroGe].
When I met my first love for the first time, we were on the street. I was on my way to school, and when I turned at the corner, I hit a bike. It was her, and I had a crush…In fact the girl turned out to be a transfered student. We were stunned when she came into the classroom. She said, “Sorry about the earlier,” and I said,”Oh I am fine. My name is bangin. Can I show our school?” That is how it started…
それなんてエロゲ？
One day, when I logged in my cosplay site, I found a trace from someone. I tracked down and it was a really beautiful cosplayer. Apparently, she was Caucasian. I screwed up my courage, I mailed her. And a few days later she mailed me back, telling me she was coming to Japan. So I asked her to cosplay with me, and she said yes. And we joined a cosplay event together. And after that…
sneg
By the way, it is not unusual that a popular manga or novel becomes a film[映画化, eigaka] such as Death Note or Higurashi no naku koro ni. So we can also say 映画化決定[eigaka kettei, movie comes out] or エロゲ化決定[erogeka kettei, eroge comes out]. Why don’t you make your love story an eroge? No no, I am not joking. Because we know eroge is a pure love story and it is something we dream of…Yes, we actually long for a love story like eroge somewhere deep in our hearts, don’t we?
But what I want is a love story like an otome game!
ブラックフラグ[black flag]
A while ago, I saw a funny demo video for the upcoming movie named ブラック会社に勤めてるんだが、もう俺は限界かもしれない[I am working at a black company, but I am nearly coming to the end]. The title even makes me laugh, but as I learned about the storyline, it chilled my spine. The plot is like this: An ex-NEET guy who dropped out of high-school starts to work at a certain IT company. He managed to get a lisence as a programmer since his hard work was paid-off. But his job hunting was really tough because he used to be a NEET for ages. Still, he decides to get a steady life for the sake of his mother who passed away. He finally gets a job, and everything seems to be okay…but the company is actually…ブラック会社[black gaisha]!
First thing first though, what is ブラック会社? I think some of you can guess what it means, well, maybe you might say “dark” to replace it. As an adjective usage, you could say like a dark-hearted guy. However, we Japanese say 黒い[kuroi] or black to mean something like this. For example, バンギンは黒い男です[bangin wa kuroi otoko desu] or bangin is a dark-hearted man, which is possibly true僕はオトメンだから黒くないよ^^. In this way, black in Japanese means something dark, something scary, something awkward unless it mentions just a color.
So ブラック会社[black gaisha] is, as you figured out, a terribly awkward company(会社[kaisha] means a company). You can also say ブラック企業[black kigyou], the meaning is the same.
Then what is ブラック会社 like? The point is, 1) poor salary and 2) less or no holidays. Because of such a terrible working circumstance, most people quit soon. It used to be an internet slang, but now it has become a general term. それっていいことなのだろうか…Especially, those students who are engaged in job hunting often use to call such a company. Also, if you tell or doubt the company seems to be a ブラック会社, watch out, there is a ブラックフラグ[black flag] on it. I already explained フラグ[flag] here, but that was just a turning point in love. But if you can see ブラックフラグ on the company you are going to…what would you do? You really have to care before you enter, or your life would be…
There are some tactics to check if a company is a ブラック会社. Please look at the headline of the classified ad. They mostly say good things, and never say bad ones. So you have to see the other side of it.
a. 若い人が多い会社です！[There are so many young people!]
This might mean that almost no one can go on working for a long time, that is why everybody is so young.
b. 土日完全週休二日制[Sat and Sun are absolutely off],
means that you can’t get a day-off on other holiday weeks.
c. ノルマ一切無し！[No quota at all],
means that you are forced to make your quota, and if you can’t fulfill it, you would get a pay cut or be fired.
d. 残業はほとんどありません！[Almost no overtime work],
means there is NOT no overtime work, BUT no salary for overtime].
Above is just a few examples, and there are more. In particular, what most otakus hate is d, that is 残業[zangyou] or overtime because there would be no time to spare for your hobby. You can’t find time to make a doujinshi, can’t go to comiket, can’t cosplay. Nothing to do. If you can get a salary for overtime, it is still fine. But if not, are you sure about this? We say サービス残業[service zangyou], and abbreviate it as サー残[sahzan]. In above movie, the hero is forced to do サービス残業 or work all night long. I can’t believe it! I have two friends who are working at an IT company, and according to the two, this is true. They have to meet the deadline, so that is why they must work overtime. But they say that is ブラック会社 if you can’t get an extra payment.
However in this recession, having a job is even a good thing. There are a bunch of jobless people, and even professional technicians fail to get a job. Things changed. Nothing is sure, no one knows what is sure. ブラック会社 is sure terrible, but we have to work to survive. I can’t say 働いたら負けかなと思ってる because I have to make money for cosplay! Yes, if you have something motivates you, you can work. As I have said, things changed. Company won’t protect you like before, so no one but you can protect yourself. 世知辛い世の中になったものですね…
No matter what, it’s not a bad thing that we try to be aware of a ブラックフラグ. Okay, this is practice. Do you see a ブラックフラグ on this blog?
囚人萌え [syujin-moe]
Andy and Red from Shawshank Redemption
It is too late of me that I finally noticed it. If there is a setting where only men are, it must be just one thing most BL fangirls (fujoshi) would expect. But what kind of setting would be? A boarding school for boys (男子寮) such as Gakuen Heaven or Here is Greenwood? Yes that’s right. But one more. The answer is a jail. There’s no freedom, no human rights, so prisoners are supposed to live under the strict rule. No way out.
But why are they behind the bars? Each prisoner has a story; an insane man who killed a lot of people, a pathetic man who embezzled for the sake of his children, a man who wrongly mischarged because of ショタg冤罪[enzai]…See? You can imagine there are so many episodes in a jail. Suppose you are in a jail, what would you do? Try to make friends with someone who has a similar circumstance to you? Or avoid the other inmates, try to be alone? Try to get out of there? See how easy we can make a plot, right?
Shotacon game, Enzai. This is officially released in U.S.
Anyway, I have seen some stories which take place in a jail such as Prison Break[プリズンブレイク] or Shawshank Redemption[ショーシャンクの空に], and I noticed one rule: there is at least one gay. 何でだろうね（笑）Is this because there is no women, or there is no way to clear a sexual frustration? If a man put himself in such a setting for a long time, he would be so desperate that he doesn’t even care about that it’s not a woman he is going to eat up, wouldn’t he? Come to think of it, in the movie Brokeback Montain I have seen something like this; since the two live at a mountain for a long time with no girls, they get kinky and feel like having a sex even though they know they are men. えーそうなの？そうなっちゃうモンなの、ねえ？
Do you like syujin fuku?
At any rate, such has become popular among fangirls. Now we can find a lot of jail thing as I have said. And when it comes to BL, there are a lot of. We say 囚人[syujin] to mean a prisoner, and 囚人萌え[syujin-moe] is to love such a jail thing. It doesn’t seem to be so important, but the worn-out uniform[囚人服, syujin fuku] inmates wear are the object fangirls love. The most recent syujin thing is Lucky Dog[ラッキードッグ], and this is a really really popular BL game. I haven’t played this game, so there is not much to say about it. Has anybody played? Basically, things which handle syujin are so dark, serious, painful…and sad. And the friendship and the bond they swear are very beautiful. I like sad stories so I must say I have a 囚人萌え. I am not interested in shotacon at all, but I feel like playing 冤罪 a bit because I heard this is a really painful(not only that way) and sad story. By the way, if you happen to be American, however, please tell me: Is this really okay that such a shotacon game has officailly come out there? I mean, aren’t there people who strictly and ridiculously advocate the shotacon game motivates the pedophilias?
Wait, I was wondering. Speaking of a setting only men are, what about military service? In Japan, there is no obligation to engage in, but in South Korea or Singapore there is. Could it be…? 刑務所でのＢＬは聞いたことはあっても、軍隊の中ってのは聞いたことありません（苦笑）
[Intermission] Karaoke
I am too busy lately to spare my time with this blog. I can’t even update my mixi(my Japanese blog)! But I think thing will cool down from next month because I will start a new life, and find some more time to update here, really.
Having said that, I had some nice parties while I was working. Those guests came from mostly UK, and they are my good friends(non-otaku). When he arrived in Tokyo, we met up. And when his younger sister and her boyfriend arrived, we met up. And when they brought their friends to have fun, we met up. Oh no, I had more than three parties in the last three weeks.
Some of them have already been to Japan, and my friend even applied for a job to come again. I don’t know what made him do something like that, so I asked him and his younger sister why. Both answered, it’s for fun! And one of those things they love in particular is karaoke[カラオケ].
Accroding to the two, there is no karaoke booth in UK. So if they want to do karaoke, they have to go to a bar or a club. And you have to sing in front of many unknown people. Of course you have to order some drinks so it would be more expensive.
Meanwhile, if you pay about 650 yen(6$?) or so, you can sing for 7 hours with all-you-can-drink at a daytime. If you pay about 2,800 yen(25$?) or so, you can party down till dawn with all-you-can-drink including alchole. So when my friends come to Japan, they absolutely dash to a karaoke booth and have a party. When I had a party with them, I was engaged in ordering their drinks because they were so fast!
You think otakus are too shy to sing in front of anybody else? No, not so. Seemingly they are shy, but actually they do when they are in a space which only otakus are! Of course, when otakus go to karaoke, they would sing a lot of anime songs as they like. They are even familiar with some karaoke equipments such as UGA, Joysound, or DAM since some of them show anime movies for each song. My favorite is DAM.
How you enjoy karaoke is up to you. Actually I love it. No matter what, I go to karaoke at least twice a month. Otherwise, I would be insane. Also, there is a funny word to introduce, that is ヒトカラ[hitokara]. This is an abbreviation of 一人でカラオケ[hitori de karaoke] which means to go to karaoke by oneself. Sounds lonely? No no no, actually there are a lot of people who enjoy ヒトカラ. As I have said, karaoke is so cheap here that you can kill time so easily. Also, you can practice singing, and try out some new songs you are learning. Now that you are alone in the booth, no one cares if you make a mistake. You can shout as you like. I am such an otaku that I have to care about songs I choose depending upon who I go with. I can’t sing any anime songs in front of non-otaku people, right? So in order to clear my frustration, I do hitokara and keep singing songs from otome games.
When I went to karaoke with some other bloggers from Singapore, I was so surprised because they naturally sang some J-POP songs without English captions. I guess they must have listened to it so many times.
If you plan to come to Japan, why don’t you try karaoke? Have fun!
喪男[mo otoko]
This post contains some brutal contexts. Viewers’ understanding is required. Read the rest of this entry »
