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いま、会いにゆきます (Be With You) LE DVD BoxTitle: いま、会いにゆきます (Be With You) LE DVD Box
Original Author: 石川拓司 (Takuji Ishikawa)
Catalog No.: SDV-15192D
Release Date: 6/24/05

It's very very unlike me, but I cried during the last 15 minutes of this movie. This movie was one of the top domestic Japanese movies of last year and spent a few weeks at the top of the box office before Howl came along. It's based off a book of the same name, and one that I'll read someday (I already have it with me).

The story is about a widowed father and his 6 year old boy. The mother, before she died, drew a picture book for her son where she tells a story about a girl coming back from the Archive Star, the place where dead people go, during a rainy period. When the weatherman reports that the rainy season is coming, both the father and son expect something to happen. And then, a woman who looks identical to the wife/mother appears.

I'm going to stop there. This is one of those types of movies where you really ought not to know anything about the movie before you go. The premises is okay, but you'd be doing yourself a great disfavor if you read anymore. The story is ultimately a happy one. The emotional impact for me comes from the the pacing and ordering of events in the movie.

The movie is mastered in 5.1 audio, but for some reason, it defaults to stereo so you have to make sure that it's using surround. Besides that, I have no complaints about the movie quality itself. The box comes in a very meaningful picture of a sunflower field, but it's pretty plain if you don't have the context. Hence, I put up the cover to the DVD rather than the box cover.

The limited edition DVD box comes with the movie and a 20 minute making-of with commentary by the little boy actor, Akashi. Other bonuses include a kit to make your own upside-down Teruteru Bouzu, a blank replica diary, and a family photo album.

This movie has already been purchased by a Hollywood studio and will be re-made in the English version.

電車男 (Train Man)Title: 電車男 (Train Man)
Author: 中野独人 (Hitori Nakano, alias)
Pages: 367pp.
First Printing: 10/20/04

Train Man was released as a movie just last month so I decided to pick up the book and see what it's about.

The story is non-fiction as it recounts something that actually happened with a person on 2ch, the most popular online forum in Japan. The hero is an 22-year-old self-described otaku who has no experience with women. However, everything changes when he shows his bravery in confronting a drunk who was harassing women on the subway.

The book is an edited compilation of posts to the forum by Train Man and the anonymous people giving him advice and reads just like a forum thread. There are a few commentaries here and there by the editor, but most of it is taken directly from the forum logs, including all the ASCII art.

If the story wasn't in this format, I can imagine that it'd be quite boring. The difference is though, that this was happening on 2ch in real-time from March to May of 2004 and as you read the various posts, you'll realize that they all happen in a very short amount of time. The time-stamps of each post is included and it isn't rare for 5 minutes of posting to take up several pages. For me though, reading about an otaku's first encounter with love is pretty amusing. It's amazing how much stuff he was worried about when meeting up with the first real girl.

The responses Train Man gets from other members on the boards is also pretty insightful and hilarious at times.

I don't know how they can translate it into a movie, given the non-cohesive nature of the book, but it did reach #1 for domestic Japanese films, so they probably did a good job on it. I'll watch it when it comes out on DVD.

1. 緊急指命「めしどこか たのむ」 (Urgent Request "Please, A Place to Eat")
Our hero, a Akihabara otaku known only as Train Man, helps a bunch of women in the subway one night when he stood up against a drunk. After the police come and settle everything, a few of them ask for his address. One of them sends him a pair of tea cups, which he finds out from members on the forum is a brand name, Hermes, which eventually becomes the name of the girl in the story. He eventually sets up a date with her and during the conversation, he asks forum members for a restaurant recommendation. They decide to dress up for their dinner (which is a little problem for our hero because he's an otaku and has no sense of fashion).

2. 「ちゃんと掴んでますから」 (I'm Holding On To You)
On their date, as they're walking to the restaurant, they have to walk through a crowd of people. With his comment about the population, she says that it's okay because she's holding on to him and does just that. He startled when a female actually touches him and she lets go. To his dismay, they don't touch for the rest of the night. They set up a second dinner, this time, a friend of Hermes wants to come too.

3. 彼女はそっと俺の手を引く (The Girl Gently Tugs My Hand)
They go on a third date. A few hours before they meet, he gets a proper haircut and hangs out in Akihabara. A clerk tells him that he doesn't look like someone who frequents that part of town. After their meal, they have some drinks. As she's about to get off at her exit on the subway, she unexpectedly tugs on him and asks if he can walk her home from the station.

4. このカップを使う時が来た (The Time to Use These Cups Have Come)
The next time they meet, she invites him to her house when her parents are away and asks him to bring the two cups she had given him. There, she serves him some tea which he later learns from forum members that it's of pretty good quality. She also asks him on some advice for a buying a new computer.

5. 「あんまりその気にさせないでください」 ("Please Don't Make Me Worry")
Hermes will be away for a few days during Golden Week, so they plan to meet after that. In the meantime, Hermes is giving hints that she's single. Many of the forum members are urging Train Man to formally ask her to be his girlfriend.

6. 奇跡の最終章 (The Miraculous Last Chapter)
When Train Man and Hermes meet again, he takes her to buy a computer. She's driving a car. They have meals and he suggests that they go to a park. They find a bench and he gets up, about to say it. Hermes sense his nervousness and tells him "you can do it!" He then confesses that he loves her. She has reciprocal feelings. People on the forum go crazy and congratulate him.

Epilogue. 「こんなに頑張ってたんだ」 ("You Tried So Hard")
A few weeks later, Train Man reports that he showed Hermes, his girlfriend now, the entire forum logs from when he first met her on the train.

魔法先生ネギま! (Magic Teacher Negima!) Second EDTitle: 魔法先生ネギま! (Magic Teacher Negima!) Second ED Single
Original Creator: 赤松健 (Ken Akamatsu)
Vocals: 笹川 亜矢奈 (Ayana Sasawaga), 松岡 由貴 (Yuki Matsuoka), 桑谷 夏子 (Natsuko Kuwatani), 田中 葉月 (Hazuki Tanaka), and 渡辺 明乃 (Akeno Watanabe)
Release Date: 5/11/05
Catalog No.: KICM-3098
Rating: 2/4

The first song, the actual ending, isn't too bad. It's not something that I would rank highly, but it's not as bad as some of the stuff I've heard from Negima. To be honest, it actually does sound like show's ending song. That's the feeling I get from it. The second song, however, is forgettable.

First pressing comes with an Kufei mistake card.

たんぽ (Tanpo) Vol. 1Title: たんぽ (Tanpo) Vol. 1
Artist/Author: 若宮宏明 (Hiroaki Wakamiya)
Book Size/Pages: Small B-6, 216pp., w/furigana
Original Serialization: Monthly Magazine Special 9/04-11/04
First Printing: 4/15/05
Rating: 2/4

This prologue to this series appeared in Shonen Magazine a while back, but later changed to Magazine Special. I actually enjoyed the prologue very much when I first read it. However, I don't really like where the author is taking this story. Rather than pursue the story where the girls are the guarantees (hence the title) for the family's debt, the story is now some daily like comedy at a Christian school. It's downhill after the prologue.

Bonus comes with a few more pages describing the members of the student leadership at the school.

prologue. 藍ちゃん七変化 (Aoi-chan Evolution)
1. 奇跡の男 (Miracle Man)
2. あーーいーー (A---I---)
3. フラチなる犯行 (Rude Crime)

かみちゃまかりん (Mini-Goddess Karin) Vol. 6Title: かみちゃまかりん (Mini-Goddess Karin) Vol. 6
Artist/Author: コゲどんぼ (Koge-Donbo)
Book Size/Pages: Small B-6, 176pp., w/furigana
Original Serialization: Nakayoshi 1/05-4/05
First Printing: 4/28/04
Rating: 2/4

I think this story is really going to slow. There's some more development with Kazune and Michiru, and a little romance between Karin and Kazune. However, it doesn't feel like anything significant happened in this volume.

Bonus comes with a postcard. It has the translucent cover like previous issues and an short omake comic. (Previous two sentences cut 'n' pasted from last volume's).

少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine), 05 Vol 30Title: 少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine) Vol. 30
Issue Date: 7/6/05
Publisher: Kodansha
Pages: 480

Another photo shoot in Okinawa, this time with 23-year-old Yoko Kumada. There's a short interview with Kinya in the back, he's the singer for the Tsubasa opening.

* Summaries abbreviated due to backlog.

Rose Hip Zero: 8: Kasumi manages to outwit one of her old colleagues in the gang, Night King/Hayato. As she tries to convince him to use his skills for good, Kai, another member shoots him in the leg.

Full Spec: 3 First Heat: Arata and Kitazato have their race. If Arata wins, Kitazato will give Maki back to them. If Kitazato wins, Arata will get his car graffitied. Kitazato takes an early lead. The people keep tabs on the race then notice that Arata has gone off-roading.

Hamanaka Ai: 091ゲームの達人 (Game Master): Hamanaka hears about how video games can be educational and decides to buy Masahiko a dating-sim.

Negima: 99時間目 秘策炸裂 (Exploding Secret Plan): Negi defeats Takahata and advances. Later, Setsuna tells Takahata that there's something going on with Chao and he and Setsuna's Shikigami go investigate. They end up getting detained by Chao and Mana.

Suzuka: #65落案 (Pitfall): Despite all the preparations on winning and confessing to Suzuka, Yamato loses to Arima and has a worse time than his previous runs.

Tsubasa: 82最初に落ちる者 (The First To Fall): Sakura gets her badge and passes the first checkpoint. During the second checkpoint, Fye, along with others, crashes and has to drop out of the race.

Student Council: #27世界樹の根 (The Roots of the Worldly Tree): The Atsuma that was discovered to be a fake is just a shadow. The real person has Akane and, using another entryway, has taken Akane to the other world. Nemu shows the members how they can go through that alternate route.

Overdrive: 7 Give the devil his due: Yosuke has Mikoto swim to train him. At the end of the day, Mikoto explains to Terao that he things Yosuke doesn't like him. Terao, another member, says that it isn't the case.

Zetsubou-sensei: 9僕たちは、どんなことがあっても一緒に固まらなければ駄目だ (No Matter What Happens, We Should Stick Together): Nozomu has skipped class so when the counselor comes in to take role, she finds out that there's a female student named "Taro" (usually male name). Upon more investigation, they find out that she's an illegal.

Toto: 26: As they're trekking towards the city, Dorothy is being stingy so Leon and Kakashi decide to earn some money on their own. They hear that there's a monster in a ditch, and decide to exterminate it to get a reward. The two of them fall in and find out it's only the general. Dorothy is the one who eventually saves them and collects.

Changing Now: #58相克!! 悲しみのはらから (Conflict!! Sadness from Within): Velveteen Rose is fighting her brother Machina. When the general of the baddies want to finish Machina, Rose steps in and gets shot, revealing that she's just a marionette.

少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine), 05 Vol 31Title: 少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine) Vol. 31
Issue Date: 7/13/05
Publisher: Kodansha
Pages: 466

Being the 100th chapter, Negima has a special color page and a few pages on all the stuff you can buy for the series. There are two Anime Research Manga in this issue, both of which deal with Negima. The cover girl is the new Miss Magazine, 14 year old Kie Kitano.

* Summaries abbreviated due to backlog.

Negima: 100時間目 秘められた記憶 (Hidden Memories): As a child, Asuna apparently could do some magic and liked Nagi more than Takahata. The next fight is between Setsuna and Asuna. As she's about to fight, she's visited by a stranger. Eva is in disbelief, could it be?

Overdrive: 8 Hunger is the best: Despite failing many times, Mikoto finally is able to ride up a hill called "Fukazawa Pass," aptly named after his captain, Yosuke.

Suzuka: #66誤算 (Miscalculation): Yamato is bumming. Suzuka brings him some extra food she has, but still acts quite coolly. As she's about to leave his room, he tells her that he loves her (even though the original plan was to win the race first).

Full Spec: 4 Changing Lane: Arata, Chinta, and Buyan go off-road as it's a shortcut. When they're about to catch up to Kitazato, Arata complains that the car needs to go faster. Buyan jumps off to offset some weight.

Rose Hip Zero: 9: A new girl, Aya, is introduced. Apparently she has a crush on Kyouji and seems to be a comic relief in the story. Meanwhile, Kyouji leaves the hospital despite still have broken bones to find Kasumi.

Zetsubou-sensei: 10本当は問題の多い教室ですから、どうかそこはご承知ください (It's Actually a Class With a Lot of Problems So Please Understand): This series always has these long titles. Nami, a girl who never goes to class because she thinks she's pitiful goes to class this one day and finds out that she's the only non-dysfunctional student in the class.

Hamanaka Ai: 092僕たちの体位なんて知らない (We Don't Know Our Physique): Masahiko brings Ayana into the nurses office but ends up doing it rather awkwardly.

Student Council: #28魔魅の覚悟 (Mami's Preparations): Musashi and Mami encounter their first Valkyrie who turns out to be a former member of the student council from years past. She puts him out of his misery.

Tsubasa: 83最後の難関 (The Last of the Difficulties): Shaoran is now out of the race leaving Kuro and Sakura.

Toto: 27ギャング・オブ・キャロット (Carrot Gang): The three arrive in Casino City, but lose all their money in the casinos. They manage to get caught up with a rival gang to the Carrot Group where they find out that they're really close in finding the Rabbit.

Changing Now: #57凄絶!! 全ての終わりへ (Extreme!! To The End of Everything): Machina and Dog Fighter both are outnumbered.

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