Densha Otoko

Recently I found a movie that was based on a manga that was based off of a light novel, or in some other similar sequence.
The movie is called Densha Otoko or Train man, now because I am a guy most people will assume this is a funny movie or an action movie of some sort, but no sorry to disappoint but this is a love movie.
So Densha Otoko is basically about an otaku guy who meets a "high class" girl on a train when he saves her from a drunken idiot. He falls in love with the girl, but because he is an otaku he has no confidence to ask the girl out . To fix his confidence issue he turns towards forums online.
When he states his situation on the forums random people from around Japan respond to him and push him to ask the girl out. As the movie progresses you watch as he turns into a clean cut guy that eventually does get with the girl. The guy is backed up by many many people who post on the threads, but he is backed up by 7 main posters. The posters all have their own problems, but they try to escape their problems by backing up the Train man.
Eventually the train man and his girl "Hermes'' run into problems where he is trying to hard and she starts to get uncomfortable, but they eventually work things out. At the end of the movie they end up together, and the posters leave the thread in order to fix their own lives.

I read the manga first before I watched the movie and I loved the manga, because it was a simple love story.  I thought that the train man was a good character, but at the same time he made me hate him from time to time because he was such a wuss. He had a lot of problems regarding his confidence which made me sad and mad. The female lead "Hermes" is not that interesting in my opinion, I feel she is only needed in order to help the male lead develop his character.
Out of all the characters I enjoyed the 7 posters the most, they were an important part of the movie that really pushed train mans character constantly. They were not only helpful they played important roles as comedy relief to balance out the straight sappiness from the train man and his true love.
The overall movie is done in a interesting way because of the fact that they have to include some way of showing forum usage. It has many moments of romance and a few comedy bits from time to time, but it really is a light hearted love story that I believe many people will enjoy.
I would definitely recommend people to at least watch it, than they can decide themselves whether or not to get it, I probably will.
There are different versions of media based on the original story there is the manga, the movie, the light novel, and a drama version based off the movie.

Train Man Trailer

Densha Otoko Drama

Densha Otoko Manga Version 1

Densha Otoko Manga Version 2

Vending Machines

Japan is always interesting, the country can take something so common and turn it into something so strange. Vending machines are common everywhere around the world, usually in america they will serve food and drinks, but watch as I introduce some strange vending machines that Japan has,
1. Car vending machines
2. Vegetable vending machines
3. Cigarettes vending machines
4. Porn vending machines
5. Egg Vending Machines

All kinds of these different machines are everywhere around Japan most of them are pretty normal selling drinks, food, cigarettes, and other normal items, but once in a while you will see these weird machines in different places. 

During my 10th grade trip to Japan, my friend and I encountered one of those vending machines that sell porn and we comtemplated on buying something but we felt a bit embarrassed to buy porn in such a public place.

Hello Kitty gone to far

So I got food poisoning on Friday which led to an entire day of vomiting and bathroom trips on Saturday...which was great....but during one of my moments getting sick I was reminded of another thing that gets me sick to my stomach. 

And here we have it HELLO KITTY overboard!!!! These are a few items inspired by the Asian cartoon icon.

Hello Kitty Exhaust Pipe

A Hello Kitty themed house

If this does not prove obsession I am not sure what will...

There are so much more interesting hello kitty items all over the world, thousands and thousands of ordinary household items have been inspired by this cutesy Asian cartoon character. Of course the obsession exists here as well, but in Japan and Taiwan you see girls completely covered in hello kitty items.

Genre Pt2

Mystery: Titles that involve unexplained events, main characters will attempt to find the causes of it.
Psychological: Titles that deal with the philosophy of a state of mind in most cases detailing abnormal psychology.
Romance: Any love related story.
School Life: Having a major setting of the story deal with some type of school.
Sci-Fi: Science fiction, titles involving twists on technology and other science related phenomena which are contrary or stretches of the modern day scientific world.
Seinen: Titles meant for young men targets the age 18-25, has stories that address issues of adulthood.
Shotacon: Representing a sexual attraction to young or under-age boys.
Shoujo: Work intended for females involves a lot of romance and strong character development.
Shoujo Ai: Less extreme version of Yuri "Girl Love"
Shounen: Work intended for males involves a lot of fighting and/or violence.
Shounen Ai: Less extreme version of Yaoi "Boy Love"
Slice of Life: A genre representing day to day tribulations of one or many characters. Challenges or events can happen in real life and the stories are usually but no all the time, mirroring our own world and timeline.
Smut: Deals with series that are profane or offensive, particularly with regards to sexual content.
Sports: Titles that are related to plots involving sports
Supernatural: Titles where amazing and unexplained powers or events that defy the laws of physics happen.
Tragedy: Titles that contain events that result in a great loss misfortune.
Yaoi: Titles about relationships between guys
Yuri: Titles about relationships between girls

Now thats the end of all the genres.
Most works fall under a few of these genres at a time, because some of them can work with each other, now I hope this helps remove the fear that some people have of unknown genres and will entice people into reading new titles.

Genres Pt1

So as I was reading some random mangas this week I have realized how hard it is for people to get past all the mainstream manga titles and really enjoy all kinds of manga. The main problem here is not that mainstream titles are just that good or its hard to find other titles. The problem with the whole situation is that people do not understand the other genres because of this so many titles are passed on.
An understanding of most people is that if I do not know what this is than I probably will not want to read it. Now there are people who do look towards new and different titles, but not that many.
I am going to list some genres and give a quick description of each:
Action: Titles that entitle fighting, violence, chaos, and fast paced movement.
Adult: Titles that have content meant for adults, usually has intense violence or graphic sexual content and nudity.

Adventure: plots that have to do with characters going on an adventure or something like it.
Comedy: Any manga that has humorous situation or satirical in tone, usually has happy resolutions.
Doujinshi: Fan based work that is inspired by official anime or manga, not to be grouped with original works
Drama: Titles that bring emotional responses. instilling sadness or tension.
Ecchi: Titles borderline hentai and non hentai, ecchi will refer to fan service put in to attract a certain group of fans.
Fantasy: Any titles that involve but not limited to magic, dream world, fairy tales, myths
Gender Bender: Male characters dressed up as girls or turning into girls or Female characters dressing up as guys or turning into guys.
Harem: Titles involving one male or one female character surrounded by many characters of the opposite sex.
Historical: Titles having to do with old or ancient times.
Horror: Titles associated with stories of fear or shock, painful emotions of dread, terror, detestation, and abhorrence.
Josei: Targets woman 18-30 romance is less idealized and more realistic, the stories are explicit and mature.
Lolicon: Represents a sexual attraction to young or under age girls
Martial Arts: Titles with a martial arts theme.
Mature: Contains subjects that are too extreme for people under the age of 17, may contain intesne violence, blood and gore, sexual content, or strong language.
Mecha: Titles with large robotic machine themes.

To be continued for rest of the genres....

Halloween MV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF2II4TooWM
So this video is from a Japanese pop star, she is pretty good she has a nice voice and she looks alright. Her music brings out a kind of darkness that I enjoy, this specific video has a Halloween theme to it so it fits the day i suppose.

 

Most of her works have a sort of goth approach in my opinion...well not really super dark goth, it is like a lighter version of goth and she incorporates dark colors, dark images, and dark themes to her style of music and video styles.

Let me just introduce some basic information about her if you want to learn about her a bit more: 

Real Name: Tomoko Kawase

Stage Name: Tommy february⁶ (former) Tommy heavenly⁶(current)

Other band Affiliations: The Brilliant Green

Genre: JPop, JRock, Rock

Years Active: 2007-Present

Record company: Warner Music Japan

Top 5 Horror manga

So these have not been a good few weeks. To any people who actually read my blog it has been around three weeks or so since my last update, and I apologize deeply.
To cover a few of the big events that happened to me personally for the last few weeks, a loss of a loved one, a international trip,and a traditional Buddhist funeral.
Well enough about that I decided to finish off the month with a post based on my top 5 horror manga!
These are 5 of the weirdest, freakiest, scariest manga I have read in my life. The horror genre is pretty simple it contains something that is generally freaky or scary to regular society.
My top 5 are actually interchangeable because they are all pretty gruesome in my opinion.

#1 Deadman Wonderland

#2 Mouryou no Yurikago

#3 Bio-Meat: Nectar

#4 Franken Fran

#5 Pure Trance
Each of them have some kind of scary or freaky aspect to it and added along with it is the usual weirdness that comes with manga.
Dead man Wonderland: features a prison for convicts and special prisoners with powers to manipulate their blood. As you read this manga you learn of prison conspiracies and bear witness to the gruesome deaths of many prisoners and guards, I must say when it comes to death this author presents it in a sick way, we see people being hacked into pieces.
Mouryou no Yurikago: is a typical zombie situation. A high school class is trapped on a cruise ship with the rest of its passengers. The cruise ship overturns and is now upside down, normally this situation is already terrifying, but as the survivors of the first disaster try to recuperate they are attacked by what seems to be zombies.
Bio-Meat: Nectar: is a apocalyptic world when a new food source created turns on its creators and start to attack and consume humans. The main characters a group of kids try desperately to fight away these creatures and live their lives, by the third arc of this manga most of Japan is taken over by the creatures.
Franken Fran: is manga version of Dr Frankenstein, or more of a parody of the famous mad scientist. The girl has the looks of a Frankenstein and is a mad scientist. Every chapter has some kind of horrific experiment that she conducts either of her own free will or of someone requesting an odd surgery or such.
Pure Trance: now this is an odd manga. It has an odd art style that I find crazy. It reminds me of a urban graffiti style. The story itself is so odd and mind blowing weird that I can not explain it. Best way to understand it is to read it.
Well if you do decide to read these titles have a fun time and remember none of this is real....I hope....x_x