MEGANE DANSHI

It’s official! MeganeDanshi.com is live!

All of the major cosmetic changes are complete, however I’m still tweaking a few things (and I haven’t even touched the footer yet). There will be bugs, so I apologize in advance. To see the previous blog, it’s still alive at meganedanshi.wordpress.com. It’ll stay up for another month or so, but byMarch, it’ll be gone.

Enjoy!

movie cover

What caught me first about this movie is the beautiful cover. Aside from the gorgeous coloring and lighting, I was drawn to the pair with violins, an instrument I played growing up. Little did I know how important lighting would be in the context of the story line; more on that later.

Ever have a dream, and it was so incredibly good? Ever wake up from that dream and you remember how awesome it was, but you don’t remember anything about it or what even happened? The writers of this movie seemed to take that concept and craft a visually and emotionally moving piece.

The story follows three friends, which is why I was shocked to learn that three are involved when the cover only shows two. I mean, I get why those two specifically are on the cover, because the focus is around the pair. But the third friend also has a major role. He’s also a MEGANE DANSHI! More on him in a later post.

But anyway, Hiroki and Takuya (not pictured in the cover) were best friends in jr. high school who shared a dream of building an airplane and flying it into the tower that reached into the sky. The girl on the cover is Sayuri. She’s a mutual friend of the pair, but she is better acquainted with Hiroki. It’s also hinted at early on that Hiroki has a thing for her. But anyway, she stumbles upon the pair’s plan, and is introduced to the future airplane that they hope to fly. She wants in on the adventure, and the THREE of them make the promise to fly the plane to the tower: the place promised.

the beautiful scenery and lighting that reoccurs

The first 45 minutes is a mysterious overlapping of past and present between the three characters. The story is told from Hiroki’s narration, but scenes are shown from the others’ as well, even though they don’t narrate. Exactly at the 45 minute mark is when the story finally settles into present day, and the main question of “what happened to them since the memory?” is answered.

The main context of the movie swirls around an ensuing war in the midst of a break on the discovery of parallel universes. It is thought that the parallel universes are given as glimpses in people’s dreams, some more than others, and especially one in particular: Sayuri. The movie begins to blur the lines of what’s real and what’s the actual dream, and probes the theory that memories fall in the same lines as dreams.

Hiroki, left, and Takuya, right in Jr. High

Perhaps my favorite quote of the movie is “in those days, the time and place would continue like that for the rest of my life.” Hiroki was referring to the times he and his two friends spent working on the plane and day dreaming about finally venturing to that place they promised. I know everyone has a time in their life that was the “good old days.” And when they’re over, are we waking up from a dream? Did we really think we could live those moments forever? “The sun is setting so slowly, isn’t it?” -Sayuri

It wasn’t until after I had finished the movie that I took a closer look at the movie cover. Note, the left side features a cold, sterile city, while the right shows a warm orange sunset. Those colors and themes are set against each other during the entire duration of the movie. They liken reality to the cold; it snows often in the main present of the the plot, and Sayuri talks about being completely alone in the world and very cold in her dreams (very eerily similar to Clannad, right?). But during hopeful bits of the dreams, or memories of the past, bright orange glows and fading sunsets illuminate the scene. And, now that you know about the orange glows, you’ll notice them constantly in nearly every scene.

Sayuri

As the first hour closes out, be sure to get your tissue boxes ready. For a good 5 or so minutes you’ll be thrown into a cry spell and question everything you’re watching. Thankfully it doesn’t last long.The last half hour focused on the present in the timeline, and the three friends are brought back together once again in a series of bizarre and unexpected events. At the end, the story wraps up nicely, not in a straight-forward unicorns and rainbows kind of ending, but a “I don’t really know what’s going to happen past this point, but it seems hopeful” kind of way. That’s good enough for me.

All in all, I’d give this one a good 4.5 stars. Though the story build slowly, it’s well thought out, the characters are deep, the message is profound, and the art is breathtaking. Makoto Shinkai created a masterpiece on this one. This kind of movie pairs well with a warm blanket (or in my case, a Harry Potter snuggie) and a hot cup of tea. You’ll never look at the colors of a winter sunset the same way again, as this movie will always settle in the back of your mind.

I fell into an AMV mood and therefore, went browsing through the expanse of YouTube. Falling in love with one Kyouya/Haurhi video that I found, I scanned the sidebar for more of a similar nature. And now I present to you three videos that not only struck me as well done, but at certain points, they strike a chord in my heart. To the editors of these videos, I tip my hat to you. Kudos! And now a disclaimer from myself: I ship Haruhi and Tamaki, but I like good videos that pair alternate options. So, don’t send me a ton of mail going “It’s not canon!!!” because, I know.

This was the first one I stumbled into, and what caught me immediately was the editing. I love a video that corresponds what I’m watching to the lyrics that I’m hearing, and this video does it right off the bat. Now, the song is “Hero/Heroine” by Boys Like Girls, and I must say I’m not a fan of it; but it’s use in the video is fantastic.

Favorite moments: At 00:53, “now I’m running and screaming,” the paired scene is priceless. At 1:24 “with the ghost of my past and the skeletons,” using flashbacks of Kyoya’s family. The way the clips flip fast at 1:49-1:54 to the newly picked up beat. At 2:40, when Kyoya’s painting is the new interpretation of “running and screaming,” in response to how Haruhi’s been affecting him over the long run. That, in turn, strolls nicely into when Kyoya pushes Haruhi into the carriage, right at the reemergence of the music. The compilation at 3:20-3:30 with “your love is the sweetest thing.” The fireworks are directly over “sweetest” and then Kyoya’s lost in thought image fades in.

In videos like these, the ending is either really good or horribly cheesy. Thankfully it was the former rather than the latter.

Edit: Oh yeah, and how on earth did I forget at 00:37 “sinister smile” lyric/ clip pairing. Bloody brilliant.

I found this second one, and again, it’s another nicely edited video. I’m not crazy about the song, “Dear Mr. President” by P!nk, but I like the lyrics. Even though Tamaki is the technical ‘president’ of the Host Club, I find it fitting for the song that Kyoya is considered the Shadow King; he’s the real brains behind the operation, not Tamaki. (He’s just the heart.) The only downside that I can find is the excessive ‘talking’ that the characters do during this slow song. I find it a bit annoying, but not enough that I discount it.

Favorite moments: 00:52 “who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep,” fits perfectly with the paired scene. 1:14 when Kyoya rolls over from his sleep into the part where Tamaki is walking away from his mother with “how do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye.” I shed a tear to that part. At 3:20, the lead in to “let me tell you about hard work,” the expression on Haruhi’s face and the bags in her hands compliments it perfectly. And from 4:17 to the end, the synchronization is spot on, and I love how the end lyrics are paired with Haruhi’s ‘final statement’ and she walks away. Then Kyoya turns around, with apparent hope in his eyes.

This song I know and love: Hawk Nelson’s “Everything that you ever wanted.” The video is about Kyoya, having lost Haruhi, is now comparing himself to Tamaki. Now, normally it irritates me when there’s subtitles in the video clips, but this is the first time where the appearance of it actually made me smile (probably my favorite moment in this video, at 3:26 ). The downsides to this video are the rest of the subtitles that appear that have no context in the video and the frequent repetition of a couple of the scenes.

Favorite moments: At 1:15-1:35, the lyrics and scene pairs are very fitting. “I fell to pieces” at 2:05 when he has his melt down with Tamaki into the subsequent “then I woke up” montage. And every time the lyrics say “It took the seasons going by,” I like how the clips flash a little more quickly to show time passage. The guitar reentering the music at the very moment Kyoya slams his fist into the car at 2:31. And again, the chorus and the scenes that are corresponding to the lyrics at 2:33 are even better than the first (note the subtitle says ‘I’m an egoist’ under the lyrics “I tried to be honest”), especially the build up at “everything but you.” Did you catch it at 3:26? “I tried to be everything but you,” and the subtitle at that moment flashes “this person is unbelievably lucky.”

Again, with the endings, they usually go very well or very corny. In this case, unfortunately, it was corny. I was excited to see it ending on Haruhi running after Kyoya, but then at the last second, I face palmed. I especially dislike when the editor puts in type to be a characters words, more so when it wasn’t done during the whole video, and even more so when it’s at the very end.

So, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.

Watch more of my favorite AMVs

More Ouran AMVs
Old school AMVs
My favorite AMVs of all time

two Stein keychains

Merry Christmas everyone! I wanted to do another desktop background for ya’ll, but I couldn’t decide which character to use. Then, lo’ , a friend of mine gave me a present: Lego Harry Potter 1-4 and a Professor Stein keychain. Alas, inspiration! So this year’s theme is Soul Eater’s Dr./ Professor Franken Stein.

Then, as crazy as it sounds, I was telling another friend of mine about my stroke of brilliance. He replied with, “oh, well, I actually got you a Stein keychain too…” Turns out it’s a different one than these two, so I’ll have 3 by the end of Monday. Yay!

If you’re curious: I have them dangling off my purse, as I broke the zipper pull once upon a long time ago, and I bought the [top one] to replace it. Then I got the second and just clipped it in. The third will be joining them as well.

So I hope everyone has had a fantastic Christmas. I got a sushi making kit and sushi setting for two, as well as a book to teach myself Japanese. There was also a really nifty sweater and a Black Bean Mameshiba.

So, here it is at last. Please feel free to download it and use it as your background! Merry Christmas!!

Stein desktop wallpaper

Yes, yes it does.

Ichinose Kaoru, the author of Megane Danshi Shinsetsu, and Shin Kawamaru, author of Megane Danshi Club, gets it. I’m glad I’m not the only one. These manga are like the distilled essence of what I’m trying to get across in starting this blog (though it seems to have evolved over the months): guys with glasses are straight up sexy. Yep. Truth. FYI: Megane Danshi literally means “guys who wear glasses.”

Shinsetsu is about two high school students who have grown up together (via living next door and their mom’s being close), but appear to be in two different worlds. And as the official description states: “The guy gets glasses, but the girl is the one who’s starting to see clearly.” There’s only one chapter out as of now, but I will definitely be following along as it goes. The first chapter is the basic introduction of the two main characters, but quickly jumps into how she already might be falling for him. For me, that seems to be a little too soon, as I like a good story where feelings start to slowly unfold. But, I am willing to see where this is going to head from here.

Kouta, Megane Danshi Shinkasetsu

The megane danshi in this story is Kouta. At first he appears to be a jerk, but toward the end of the chapter, that persona fades from him a bit. He recently gets glasses, because he can’t see the board, and now all of the girls in school think he’s gorgeous. If you ask me, he kind of resemble Kyouya… right? I suppose that’s ok.

Megane Danshi Club

As for Megane Danshi Club, I can’t get the story straight on it. I’m finding a couple of different titles for the same manga cover, two different covers for the same name, and I still can’t tell what kind of story it is. The description says that it’s about a photography club that is secretly a Megane Danshi Club, and they take pictures of guys who wear glasses. Now, I don’t know if this is a fan girl thing, or yaoi, or both, or even if it’s rated PG or X. My research on it hasn’t turned up anything, in fact, I’m surprised I even found the author’s name. I can’t find any scans of it, in English or Japanese, no reviews, no wiki posts, nothing.

If anyone has any info on this manga, I’d appreciate it!

Nagisa and Tomoya

Do you like sob stories? How about a sub story, within a sob story, within a sob story? If your answer is ‘yes,’ then Clannad is for you. Sure, on the cover it looks like a routine “feel-good following of highschool friends” anime like Azumanga Daioh. It’s not. 

Clannad is actually broken into two sections: the main 24 episodes and a 22-episode After Story. Really, they make up a 46-episode complete anime, as separate arcs.

The story follows Tomoya Okazaki, a senior and a “delinquent,” and the students he ends up surrounding himself with, starting with Nagisa Furukawa. In fact, the main plot of the first arc revolves around Nagisa coming out of her shell and starting up the drama club with Tomoya’s help. Nagisa missed her actual senior year, due to a recurring illness, so she’s actually repeating. Tomoya, with delinquent in quotes, cuts class a lot, but rarely does he actually make trouble for anyone, even himself. Honestly, his character is just like putting a rat poison label on a jar of artificial sweetener, it’s not exactly sugar, but it’s definitely not rat poison either.

Within the first arc are mini-arcs, in which Tomoya and Nagisa reach out to a couple of different students and help them to make friends and complete desired goals. Then tragic things happen or are revealed. Really, it’s like a buzz kill. It’s like rescuing a puppy from a fire in order for it to get hit by a car a few short days later. Seriously, watch this anime with a box of tissues.

Now, I’m not really going to get into the After Story. Frankly, I didn’t watch it, but you don’t really need to. See, here’s what happened:

After Story

Within the anime are a few clips about an alternate story that has (seemingly) nothing to do with the main story at all. There’s a robot and a girl, and they’re all alone in the world they’re in. The story is referenced by Nagisa way late in the first arc, and Tomoya claims that the story sounds vaguely familiar. When the main anime arc ends, the only question that doesn’t get answered is where that story came from and what it has to do with the main plot. So, I did what any curious person does: I googled it. I ended up reading an entire synopsis, with a box of tissues, only to discover at the end that it was the “After Story” arc. Now that I know what happens, it’s kind of pointless to watch it, especially with the circumstances that unfold. It follows Nagisa and Tomoya into the future and the events that surround Tomoya in dealing with yet more tragedy.

Don’t believe me? If you don’t mind the SPOILERS BELOW, then keep reading.

Tomoya past/present: His mother died when he was a child, sending his father into a permanent alcoholic and gambling binge. Tomoya attends the school that he does on a basketball scholarship. A fight with his father in which his father got physical, put Tomoya permanently on the bench. He can no longer lift his right arm above his shoulder. Tomoya cuts class frequently, labeling him as a delinquent, and subsequently, easily blamed for anything that goes amiss at the school.

Nagisa: This isn’t discovered until literally the last quarter of the first arc. Nagisa’s picturesque family as a dark secret, which is kept locked in the shed behind their house. As revealed to Tomoya by Nagisa’s father, both he and his wife had their dream jobs: he was an actor and she was a teacher. Nagisa is plagued by a recurring illness, which hit her pretty hard as a child one winter day. Nagisa’s parents left her home alone for 2 hours while they went to their jobs, and her father rushed home as soon as he could. He found her passed out in front of the house, in the snow, close to death. Her parents gave up their jobs to open a bakery and be home with Nagisa, keeping that secret from her. She suspects there’s something hidden in her childhood  that she should apologize for, even though it wasn’t her fault.

Fuuko Ibiki: One of the first side characters that Tomoya and Nagisa help is Fuuko, rumored to be a ghost student. Her older sister, a former art teacher, is getting married at the school, and Fuuko creates star fish out of wood as wedding invitations for all the students. Tomoya and Nagisa discover Fuuko was in an accident on her way to school and currently resides in a hospital, in a coma. She is the spirit of her real self, trying to get things together for the wedding. But slowly, the students at the school don’t remember her, and can’t see her anymore. Come the day of the wedding, even Tomoya and Nagisa start forgetting she exists. But everyone suddenly remembers about the wedding and show up for a beautiful day. The following day, Tomoya and Nagisa, along with everyone else, have completely forgotten about Fuuko.

Kotomi Ichinose: She’s a brilliant student who isolates herself in the library everyday and devours book after book. Tomoya tries to get her out of her shell and be more sociable. Then, when she witnesses the wreckage of a bus accident (even though no one got hurt), she has a psychotic break and barricades herself in her house. Tomoya tries to help, only to discover that her parents both died in a plane accident over the ocean on their way to America to give a lecture. She received this news on her birthday.

Tomoya and Nagisa in After Story: They get married and have their first child, a daughter. Nagisa falls ill again and dies. Tomoya goes into a depression, forcing Nagisa’a parents to raise his daughter. After five years, a talk with his grandmother gives him enough strength to live again, and he gets his daughter back. He discovers that she has the same recurring illness as Nagisa, and she soon dies too. Tomoya has a psychotic break and ends up in the alternate reality as the robot from the story. Then he wakes up and Nagisa and his daughter are both alive again. But the damage it did to my psyche is done. Now it feels like a “oh yeah, we messed up. Just kidding.”

the big dango family

So that’s it the SPOILERS END HERE.

It was a good anime, but you’l find yourself going “NO WAY” in a stream of tears at the end of every mini arc, and definitely for sure several times during the After Story. Definitely keep those tissues handy.

And one last note, let the episode play into the closing credits. The Dango Family song is worth a listen as a running joke in the anime itself.

“Megane Danshi″
part 9: Yashiro Yukihito

spoilers abound. you have been warned.

Yashiro Yakihito

First there was Yakushi (Kabuto, from Naruto), and now another Megane Danshi has surfaced with a “Ya” name. Yashiro Yukihito is a side character in Skip Beat. He plays main character Ren’s personal assistant/ manager, but more-so than that, he’s the center of the comic relief in the series.

As Ren’s manager, he’s got his schedule planned out a year in advanced. He’s also able to get Ren to all of his appointments without being late due to his ability to fiercely stare down fans to get them to move.

Though he’s not my favorite character in Skip Beat, he seems to be a bit of the glue that holds the main characters together. Yashiro’s intuition is spot on, as he’s the first to notice the blossoming relationship between Kyoko and Ren, even if Ren frequently denies it. He’s also the one that arranges “meetings” between the two.

His comic relief comes in the form of a very bizarre power – breaking electronics. No, really, it is a super power. Just by holding a cell phone in his bare hands (just like the picture on the right) he renders the object completely unusable. By threatening to touch his cell phone without gloves on, he coerces Ren to answer questions.

Honestly, that’s pretty much it to his character. He’s really only a minor character who acts as a conscience to Ren, a liaison between Ren and Kyoko to mastermind their relationship, and provides the majority of the comic relief. With all that responsibility, you think he’d appear more often, right?

Fall Themed Bento

I bought a new bento box that matches my Usagi chopsticks. I think it fits perfectly with a nice fall themed bento: salmon, rice with pumpkin seeds, and a shiitake-carrot udon soup with a pomegranate, raspberry, and green tea Jello. Sounds awesome right? Looks and tastes even better.

But I must say: I am not a chef. In fact, when I even talk about cooking, my family runs for cover and sets the smoke alarms. I can’t cook, but somehow Japanese food seems to turn out alright. When I put together a bento, it’s generally just Japanese inspired. Afterall, I’m cooking on a college graduate budget here. And I can’t say I cook traditional bento either: I don’t have time to make myself such a spectacular lunch in the morning. Usually, I just make it as a dinner and display it as prettily as I can in a bento style. Alright, now enough talk, it’s food time!

1. The Salmon
This is a personal favorite of mine. Whenever I cook Salmon, there’s only two seasonings I put on it: Soy Sauce and Italian seasoning. Yep, that’s right.  My brother’s Japanese fiance loved it when I made it for her, and that should be approval enough. Pretty simple: Set the oven to 375, lay the salmon (I use 1 filet, because I only cook for myself) out on the baking sheet, and coat it on both sides with soy sauce and a liberal shake of Italian seasoning. Cook for 6 minutes, and it

2. Pumkin Seed Rice
I washed and rinsed the rice (I use Botan Calrose Rice), then soaked it for an hour or so, as per JustBento. Then, I just popped it in my rice cooker. Once cooled, I balled it up with pumpkin seeds and cut a face out of nori (seaweed) to make a jack o’lantern. I wet my hands and shake the excess before I form the ball. The moisture does make the pumpkin seeds a little slimy, so I had to push a couple that fell off the sides into the middle of the ball.

3. The Udon Soup
I had a package of instant Udon noodle mix, much like it’s Ramen counterparts. I made it as per the directions. I also quartered and sauteed some Shiitake mushrooms for the soup and to tuck around the salmon. The carrots were cut using special cutters (much like mini cookie cutters) to cut the sliced carrots into star/leaf shapes.
4. V8 V-Fusion (Raspberry and Green Tea) Jello with Pomegranate Seeds
I wanted to do a dessert with pomegranate, my favorite fall fruit, and thought embedding it in Jello would be a good idea. The only problem is, I hate Jello. But, then I found a box of Jello’s “Mixchief,” which allows for the maker to use any juice. I picked the aforementioned V8 V-Fusion: a pretty red color, raspberry to mesh well with the pomegranate, and green tea. So much better, taste and nutrition wise, than straight Jello. I made it as directed, and poured it over pomegranate seeds in a small dish. To tip it out, I had to let it the dish itself soak for a few minutes in hot water and edge it out with a butter knife.