My top 3 #5

Long time without adding one of my top 3, gomen >_<
This time I discovered some really interesting songs mixed with traditional Japanese instruments (samisen/shamisen and koto most of the time). I must say that I felt in love with the Yoshida Brothers :)

My first song is from Monkey Majik and Yoshida Brothers - Change - This is my favorite song of the moment.


Yoshida Brothers - Kodo - here is the original version:


The Sun remix is also pretty great (unfortunately no VM): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF4LkCx5wpw

Kagraa, - Satsuki - This is a visual key so it's a bit more J-rock than the 2 first, but it's still really good.


Enjoy!

Matsuri Japon

On Saturday, August 14th, Matsuri Japon will take place at the quays of the old port of Montreal. So if you are near Montreal and haven't planned to go to the Otakuthon Saturday, come take a look at Matsuri Japan. Many activities are planned and I'm sure it will be fun. It will start at 2pm with an opening ceremony.

See you there ^_^

No News, Good News!

Lately, I was kinda busy, so not many updates.
Beginning of July there was the Japan Expo  in Paris. I wish I could have attended to it but well I will have to content myself with the Otakuthon at Montreal this month. I'm eager as this will be my first participation in that kind of event :)

The Otakuthon is way smaller than the Japan Expo but Manga and Asian culture in general are really popular in France. The Otakuthon might become bigger and bigger as the Japan Expo also started at a very small scale about 10 years ago.

Here are some photos from the Japan Expo -Some cosplay are really amazing-: Here and here

While watching these pictures I just realized that Moon Kana was there, ho well that must have been epic :p

End of onemanga.com

I'm a bit sad onemanga.com , the home of manga..., is going to close at the end of this month. Here is the announcement:

"There is an end to everything, to good things as well."

It pains me to announce that this is the last week of manga reading on One Manga (!!). Manga publishers have recently changed their stance on manga scanlations and made it clear that they no longer approve of it. We have decided to abide by their wishes, and remove all manga content (regardless of licensing status) from the site. The removal of content will happen gradually (so you can at least finish some of the outstanding reading you have), but we expect all content to be gone by early next week (RIP OM July 2010).

So what next? We're not really sure at this point, but we have some ideas we would like to try out. Until then, the One Manga forums will remain active and we encourage all of you to continue using them. OMF has developed into a great community and it would be a shame to see that disappear.

You can also show us some love in this moment of sadness by 'liking' our brand new Facebook page. It would be nice to see just how many of you came to enjoy our 'better than peanut butter and jelly' invention.


Regardless of whether you stay with us or not, on behalf of the One Manga team, I would like to thank you all for your unwavering support over the years. Through the ups and downs you have stuck with us, and that is what kept us going.


As a certain Porky was fond of saying... That's all folks!


Time for me to go lay down and let this all sink in.


- Zabi

It was the first Manga web site I used and discovered a lot of Mangas and Manwhas. I found it because I was watching the One piece Anime and when I was done with the Anime I was eager to know what happened next, so I googled and found onemanga.com. I'm disappointed because 80% of the Manga found there aren't even published in North America and some probably won't ever be published.

According to google, onemanga is among the top 1000 of the most visited sites.: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-05-28/google/unauthorized-manga-site-is-among-top-1000-sites

Here is an article with some more information: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/copyright/article/43437-japanese-u-s-manga-publishers-unite-to-fight-scanlations.html

There is also some online petition: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/ommmm/
http://www.petitiononline.com/mangapol/petition.html
I'm actually not quiet sure that petition is going to change anything. Manga book is a business and when money is involved, the publisher won't back off. In a way I can understand that, but I'm still disappointed and wish onemanga could continue to exist.

This is not a good omen for other online manga, streaming anime and J-Music sites :(

Manga: Beelzebub

Long time no see :p

Today I'll make an article about the Manga: Beelzebub. It's a Shounen Comedy Action Manga with a bit of Supernatural created by Tamura Ryuuhei.

The story is about a delinquent, Oga, who is chosen by the Devil King to take care of his new born son: Beelzebub. He is more or less helped by Olga, a nurse and Alain Delon some sort of handyman both coming from Hell.

This a bit violent as Oga has be chosen because he is the strongest juvenile delinquent, so you bet there will be some fights! The story is funny and I like Oga character, he is a bit simple minded and dangerous -he solve of his problem with his fists- but he is honest.

This manga is still going, so I wait the "almost" weekly release with excitement. ^_^

You can read it on Onemanga.com

Manwha?!?

Manwha is the Korean Manga. It's less popular that the traditional Japanese Manga, but it starts getting more and more well known.
There are a few differences, the first thing to known about Manwha is that you have to read them from left to right and the format is also a bit bigger than a Manga book.
Now, regarding the content and stories. So far most of the Manwha I have read are Shoujo or alike, have a girl as main character and most of the time she a good fighter; But off course there are some good Shounen and Seinen, so it worst checking, you might find one of your favorite story there. ;)

The first Manwha I've read is the Bride of the Water God and it still my favorite, the art is really amazing.
You can read it online here from chapter 12. Since it has been licensed in North America, you can also purchase it. :)

Week #4 top 3!

This week it will be a J-Rap/J-Hip-hop to change a little! I'm usually not a big fan of rap and hip-hop but sometimes I change my mind when I found some cool songs :)

#1 Infinity 16 Tsutaeta koto ga konna aru no ni


#2 Rize - Heiwa


#3 LGYankees - Good Luck homies
No MV for this one, it's a shame but well... I like this song so I'm sharing it anyway :x


Enjoy!

Nobuta wo Produce (Japanese Drama)

Nobuta wo Produce is the last drama I've watched and I really liked it. The story takes place in a high school where Kotani Nobuko is a new student. She is really shy, has no self-confidence and start being bullied by others. On the other side, there is Kiritani Shuji who is a popular student and with Kusano Akira -who is kinda a weirdo- they decide to produce Nobuko to make her become a popular girl.

Things won't always go as planned, but in the end the 3 of them will become real friends even if at the start they have nothing in common. I just didn't really like the ending - but I won't reveal the plot :x-

This is a great story and the characters are really interesting, I especially liked the character of Kusano Akira and his weirdness - Kon-Kon!-

 
 
 
You can watch the 10 episodes with English sub on Crazy Drama.

Week #3 top 3!

This week I'm a little late and it will be a K-pop -Korean pop- top 3 instead, so hot boys and nice dance moves are on the program >_<

#1 F-Cuz -Jiggy


#2 BEAST - Special (I only found a live performance :x)


#3 Dong Bang Shin Ki - MIROTIC


Get some popcorn and enjoy the show ^_^

The last Airbender: The Movie

Yesterday, I went to see the movie: The last Airbender . I loved the anime, it was a great show, but the movie is really so-so. If you watched the show and liked it you will be probably as disappointed as I was. it quickly jumps from a scene to another without real connection, actors are - excuse me - bad except for Hiro (Shaun Toub) and Zuko (Dev Patel) and also maybe Aang (Noah Ringer) as the kid playing him is not an actor to start with, but a martial arts kiddo, so knowing that he actually performed very well. The actress playing Katara (Nicola Peltz) is the worst. Imho, the casting choice wasn't the best and they lost the spirit of the original show, it's just a special effects movie, so if you like good special effects, you will be happy, but as a fan of the animated show, you will be disappointed for sure.

Deep in my heart I knew this movie would be a fail, but I wanted to see it anyway, I know I just threw 10$, but well... *rolleyes*

To make it worst it was only available in 3D, which didn't add anything to the movie except annoying me as I need to wear glasses already so adding 3D glasses is just annoying for me. :x

There were some good points, Special effects are really amazing, Appa and Momo are really well done (we don't see them a lot -which is sad as they are in some way important second role characters in the anime show), some sceneries are really beautiful and combats are not bad. The story line is also close to the show, so it's a good point, at least for me as I hate when people adapt an already existing show and can't refrain from adding their own stuff generally it's just bad and add nothing to the story.

For more information about the movie you can check this wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Airbender

Last trailer:


You can also check the anime show on animecrazy.net: http://www.animecrazy.net/avatar-the-last-airbender-anime/

Week #2 top 3!

Here is my new top 3 for this week!

#1 One ok Rock - Koi no aibou kokoro no cupid


#2 Sambomaster - kimi wo mamotte kimo wo aishite (Bleach ending #19)


#3 Funkist - Snow fairy (Fairy Tail opening #01)


Enjoy!

The Gokusen

One of the last Manga I've read is the Gokusen. The story is pretty simple, Yamaguchi Kumiko is a new teacher and she is assigned to a delinquent school. She is also the Heir of a Yakuza family and good at fighting so she is not afraid of dealing with difficult students. The story is about her Yakuza family and how she manage to hide her Yakuza roots to the school staff and students.
It's also about loyalty, family and friendship. It gives good life lesson with a lot of humour. This is a pretty funny Manga and I must admit that some of the chapters make me laugh to tears, so I would recommend it without any hesitation!

This could be close of TGO: Great Teacher Onikuza for those who know this Manga.


There are also an Anime, a Drama and a Movie.
The anime is great. It keeps the spirit of the Manga and it's pretty short, only 13 episodes.

The Drama: I started to watch the first episode and it's not following the Manga perfectly which bothered me a bit, yeah I'm a bit conservative *rolleyes* . However, I might give it another try someday. There are 3 seasons so far and only the first one is about the Manga. In the next seasons Kumiko is following her path and they are new stories, with new schools and new students.

The Movie: I liked it, more than the Drama actually. You see some of her former students (from the Drama), one of them is having some trouble, so everyone gather to help him. The main trait of this story is friendship after all.

To read The Gokusen online (in English):
- http://www.onemanga.com/

To watch the Anime and the Drama (with English sub):
- http://www.animecrazy.net/

To watch the movie, on youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WmOmS5LQ7Ior or on Dramacrazy: http://www.dramacrazy.net/japanese-movie/gokusen-the-movie/

Also the Anime opening is really good, I discovered another J-Rock group: Foot Stamp, so I share it Yeee \o/



Enjoy!

Koizora: Did you say Love Story ?!?

Yesterday, while browsing random stuff on internet, I ended up watching the movie Koizora - Sky of Love -, based on the Drama of the same name. I was happily surprised I actually watched the movie until the end. I'm usually not a big fan of love story movies especially those with a sad ending, which is actually the case here, sorry if I spoiled the plot a bit :x

Overall, the love story is cute and not too boring and well... the main actor (Haruma Miura) is pretty cute *giggle* Just Google his name and you will find ton of pictures.
Off course, manly macho man have to stay away from that movie or watch it with their girl friend to gain some points in the romantic skill of them.

Since I liked the movie, I started to watch the Drama, the story is about the same, there are some differences thoughts, but the first 2 episodes are good so far. So I'll probably keep watching it now and then, when having some free time without better thing to do -_-

Hoo and ... the basic story... I gave my opinion without giving any hint on the story *rolleyes*. It's basically the love story between two students in High School, the spontaneous and fierce Sakurai Hiroki and the shy and calm Tahara Mika. They will encounter happiness and also some true sadness along their path, and even if the end is sad it still gives hope. It looks like an ordinary teenagers love story, but actually it's not .. yeah yeah... trust me! So I would recommend watching it except if you absolutely hate love stories, of course...

You can watch the Drama here and the Movie here

Enjoy!

My weekly J-Music Top 3

I discovered J-Music with Anime openings and endings, then I became more curious about Japanese artists and started looking for more. One of the best web site I've found is: http://www.nautiljon.com/ which is French, but with that website I've discovered a lot of really good singers and groups. Another good source for J-Music is http://www.nolife-tv.com/jmusic which is also in French. And also thanks to Youtube.com :)

So here are my favourite songs of the week:
1- Aural Vampire - Cannibal Coast
2- Monobright - Kodoku no taiyou
3- 9mm Parabellum Bullet - Supernova








I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do!

Short Introduction

Because I have to start somewhere, here is a short introduction. I'll publish some stuffs I like, mostly about Animes, Manga, J-Music and others Japanese/Asian goodies.
Be kind with me as English is not my primary language ^_^