(Ms.) Tomo Kimura’s Translation/Tokyo Notes

The Hangry & Angry band is back with a second set of girls, new songs, and a mini-album will be released in Japan and the US on Nov. 19th.

I bought a copy of this magazine after seeing a big poster announcing its first issue at the bookstore. It’s out as an “extra issue” of nadesico, which is a street fashion magazine.

There are lolita-related features, such as fashion coordinates featuring lolita items, a guide to the Laforet basement floor, a Japan expo report with reader snaps and Baby tea party photos, and a catalogue of Alice goods.

What’s different from, say, a typical issue of the G&L Bible or Kera are that the cover model is a popular TV/centerfold idol, none of the reader models are regulars who appear in the G&L Bible or Kera (Kokusyokusumire does appear in an article featururing blouses.), reader snaps are girls wearing street fashion, and hair&makeup features look like something you’d find in other teen magazines.

A lot of the coordinates using lolita items are casual/dressed-down.
So for example, you have a model wearing a Baby dress + a sweat parka + lace leggings + silver metallic sneakers.

The impression I got was that the magazines is targeted at girls who might be curious about lolita fashion and its items, but are hesitant to suddenly go for the full look.

On the back it says the next issue will be out in January, but it doesn’t say whether the magazine will be published regularly.

I happened to catch the second half of the first episode last week (it was the scene when Keito and Momiji first meet in school). The drama is a 6-episode series of 45 minutes each, and today’s second episode covered the story up to most of Volume 2.

Some things have been changed from the original. Koichi is explained as having quit school because of intense bullying, and there’s an original boy character instead of Rei.

No clues in the credits about the brand of lolita clothes Momiji is wearing, but the actress playing her appears in the latest issue of KERA wearing Angelic Pretty, talking about her role.

I finally finished work on my last tankobon of this summer yesterday.

After I got back from SF, I worked on a total of 7 books in 3 months.

☆ヽ(o_ _)oﾎﾟﾃｯ ……((((o_ _)o)))ﾌﾟﾙﾌﾟﾙ

↑ my condition after I was done

So starting today, it’s a late summer holidays week.

According to a friend who works at a nationwide bookstore chain, Yohan, the largest importer of foreign books and magazines here, has filed for bankruptcy.

I buy most of my English books from the foreign book section in amazon.jp (since it’s cheaper), but the magazines I bought at bookstores were usually imported by Yohan. Wonder who’s gonna import them now.

It’s been a while since women’s magazines started coming with various furoku. I’ve gotten a white dress shirt, pantyhose, pouches, and skincare/makeup samples with the magazines I bought.

The trend now seems to be “collaboration” furoku where the magazine teams up with a particular brand that’s popular with the target readers.

The fashion magazine I bought yesterday came with a mirror, a cloth pouch, and a scruncher:

The cleansing oil I bought at the local conbini came with a Black Kitty mini-mirror:

I went to see this Wednesday evening. The overall color tone has changed from greenish/bluish to orangish. A lot of sequences has been re-done, such as the opening and the scene where Motoko disappears after the assassination. Some of the graphics are now 3D, like the helicopters, and Motoko was 3D in some scenes as well.

The puppet master is female in this version, and she was very very alluring when she asks Motoko to merge with her.

After we came out of the theater, the friend I saw this with mentioned how small and shabby the Shinjuku high-rise buildings look compared to the ones in the movie (^^ゞ

Here’s a photo of the movie brochure. The first half contains material about 2.0, and the second half is a reproduction of the movie brochure for the 1995 version.

There was news that a man was buried to death by a couple hundred of manga and magazines that had fallen on top of him during the earthquake. Apparently he’d suffocated to death from the books that had fallen on his chest.

With the rooms so small in Japanese apartments, this could eventually happen to me too (@@;)

The author of novels such as “Nante Suteki ni Japanesque” died of lung cancer today.

I’ve only read the manga version, but it was one of my favorite Japanese period mangas.

and still tired (coming home is a 11-hour trip, as opposed to 9.5 hours when going to the west coast).

It was good that I finally got to meet the people I’ve been working with these 3.5 years.

Fanimecon was also fun. When I went to college, they didn’t have anime/manga conventions yet (though I did go to a couple of sci-fi conventions), so this was my first time attending such a con. It wasn’t that crowded, so I got a good look at all the doujin/company booths, and attend a couple panels. And take photos of cosplayers.