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

The second novel is titled “Vampire Knight - The Noir Trap”, written by the author of the first novel. This volume contains three stories. In one story, you get to see why Zero decides to attend senior high after all. The other two stories feature Shindo-san　(the girl who tries to give Valentine chocolates to Zero) and the class rep.

This volume contains four chapters (instead of the usual five) and two side stories. You finally get to read the side story that was published in LaLa DX right after the episode where Shizuka dies was published in LaLa. (The two should be read as a set, as it explains things from Shizuka’s point of view).

Hino-sensei mentions in a sidebar that Part one of VK will end around Volume 9 or 10, and then Part two will start without a break.

I was at Daikanyama Unit for this live on Saturday. This unit consists of KEN.MORIOKA (ex. soft ballet) and Deguchi Masayuki (ex. Grass Valley). At his solo live in August, Moriken-san mentioned that they decided to name themselves this not after the Japan song “Gentlement Take Polaroids”, but because they wanted to do music aimed at an older audience. And the words and music reflected that. The music was a mixture of rock and pop, with some jazzy and latin songs mixed in too. The majority of the audience was late thirtyish-early fortyish, so it looked like they were right on target.

Is out.

maruione will be hosting a “Vampire Knight Anime Fair” from 10/25-11/9 at their event space on the 5th floor. Anime cels and manga illustrations will be on display. 50 “Vampire Knight Coats”, designed by Eigo Takada, designer of ZOESTYLES will be on sale as well.

I received an invitation from 6%Dokidoki to attend their event Tuesday, so I went to Harajuku Quest Hall. H.U.G. stands for “Harajuku Unlimited Generation”, and it’s a series of events held for young people starting in fall of last year.

This event was titled “Kawaii! Saves the World”. 20 yen from each ticket sales will be donated to buy polio vaccines. The hall had booths for characters such as Blythe and Koedalian, and gallery booths where various artist goods were sold. Kiddyland and the Rilakkuma-only store that opened in Osaka this month were selling stuff too.

A gallery booth:

The “Odeko-chan and Nikki” booth had customized dolls made to look like 6%Dokidoki shop girls. I saw the shop girl the doll in the middle is modeled after, and the doll looked exactly like her!

The talk show had guests talk about “What counts as kawaii?” “What sorts of characters are kawaii?”　　Some of the things that were mentioned as being kawaii were haniwa (ancient Japanese clay figures) and kokeshi dolls. So maybe character goods that have been around for a long time are kawaii to Japanese eyes?

There was an announcement from Junie Moon that Blythe will soon have a “cool new friend”.

A few words about the Hangry & Angry article.

I first met the girls last October at an event in Harajuku Kiddyland. I pitched them as a possible story after reading the VIZ press release about the live-action Death Note movies being licensed in the U.S. In the movie, Misa is a girl who likes h.NAOTO and H&A, so H&A plushies appear in her room, and she uses a H&A pen to write in her Death Note. (h.NAOTO was in charge of Misa’s costumes and room decorations.)

The animal suit H&As were taken at a “designer visit” event at the hEAVEN store last December. (h.NAOTO has these days when their designers visit the shops. If you buy enough stuff, you get to have a polaroid taken with them, and get it stuck on an autographed card.) This was the first time I met Gashicon-san. Since then, blood and H&A have swapped stores, and H&A stuff are now sold at the H store.

I submitted the article in January. Unfortunately, the band disbanded in August. I did notify SB right away, but I guess it was too late for corrections to be made.

My hair dryer is a “minus ion hair dryer”. The negative ions are supposed to prevent your hair from getting too dry. My air purifier produces negative ions for relaxation effects. There are even small USB gadgets that produces negative ions so you can alleviate your stress at your workplace.

I was at Studio Cube 326 yesterday for this gothic & lolita club event. A friend and I went dressed in black, but when we got there, we realized we looked…uh, plain…compared to the majority of the audience. There were lolita-chans wearing mounds of lace, gothic madams and aristocrats, couples wearing futuristic cyber costumes, and girls wearing feathered corsets. A lot of them were the “did you take the train here wearing that?” type of clothes.

There were several lives with DJ times in between. The stage had a runway sticking out in the center, so during the DJ time, you could climb up on the runway and dance. The special guest live was HeavensDust, and this was their last live in Japan before they head for an extended stay in the U.S. Pudding Alamode, a girl duo that the company that runs the event is producing, did their debut live. I saw five bands, and one was goth-rock (poetry reading was combined with the songs), while Seileen was goth/classical.

There was a Dangerous Nude fashion show as well. The shop specializes in corsets, so most of the fashion featured corsets in various colors.

If you search the Japanese youtube with “Neko Funjatta”, you’ll find enough videos of people playing this song. The song is relatively easy to memorize, because a lot of it is played on the black keys.