It has been recently announced that Boku no Hatsukoi o Kimi ni Sasagu by Kotomi Aoki will be getting a live action film adaptation!!! The Sports Hochi newspaper reports that Mao Inoue, the star of Hana Yori Dango and Anmitsu-hime, will headline a live-action film adaptation of Kotomi Aoki’s Boku no Hatsukoi o Kimi ni Sasagu [...]
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Title:  Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango) Vol 32 Author:  Yoko Kamio Publisher: Viz ISBN:  9781421517193 Contains Spoilers As Tsukasa struggles for life, his mother berates Tsukushi for being the cause of all of this unseemly commotion. When she seems more put out about unwanted publicity that the Domyoji family has received, Tsukushi goes [...]
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Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List and JBOX.com sites today. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link. 2009 Anime, JPOP, Idol & Other Calendars. We're happy to announce the main group of awesome 2009 calendars has been posted to the J-List site! Browse the very best calendars that will be issued within the coming months, including the Studio Ghibli, major anime, JPOP, idol and other calendars. Dozens are posted to the J-List site now, so get your preorders in! Ita G ~ Ita Sha Graphics vol. 1. Itasha are those amazing anime cars, tricked out with pictures of cute anime girls on all surfaces. The word sounds like "Italian car" although it's written with the character for "pain" thus meaning "painful car." This great perfect-bound magazine documents the very best of these vehicles and gives you ideas for your next customization. Myojo Aug 2008. The handsomest and best-looking guys in Japan can be seen in Myojo, the magazine for people who like the "Johnny's" look. We've gotten the newest issue, filled with Japanese heartthrobs like Kat-Tun, Arashi, Hey! Say! Jump!, the Kinki Kids, and more. Also: lots of info on top dramas, from Hana Yori Dango to Gokusen and more. Mousse-chan Kira-Kira Paper Clay Set ~ Sweet's Key Holder. This is cool: a set of kami nendo or"paper clay" that includes everything you need to make incredibly cute toy items, including your very own keychains. Decorate anything you like with these miniature objets d'art. with everything you need right in the box. You can use the molds with other types of clay too. Also, we've restocked our Mousse-chan Cake Making Set. Big Dreams Little Tokyo. J-List is happy to have the excellent film Big Dreams, Little Tokyo in stock on DVD in San Diego. An incredible film about two men and their obsession with Japan. Several ,a href="/shrt">J-List T-shirts are featured in this fascinating independent film. Domo-kun Stuffed Toy -- Medium (San Diego). In case you missed buying the best-selling Domo-kun product in the history of NHK's small, brown monster, we've got good news, as additional stock is still available in our warehouse in San Diego. Stock is very limited though, so don't delay. This the Japan version of the plush toy, as seen in the iconic "God kills a kitten..." graphic. Bear & Apple Lunch Bottle Set. Bento fans, we've gotten in a really cool set of soy sauce and other condiment bottles that are great for bringing with your bento lunch. New Japanese Snacks. Yummy Japanese snacks added to the site today, including Rich Toppo in Mont Blanc flavor, that amazing French dessert. Also, Pure Blueberry Fruit Gummy, Puccho soft candies with gummy inside, and more. Easy FUDE Type Marker. We love those fude (FOO-day) pens from Japan, which feature soft tips like writing brushes that allow you to write as if you were using one. See several new types posted to the site today. Hello Kitty KIRA-DECO Digital Camera Case . This is a camera case for Hello Kitty fans, which can hold a standard digital camera, or alternate items like iPhone, iPod and so on. Plus, it's incredibly cute. Asougi Rin Hug Pillow Case ~ Mnemosyne. Here's a fabulous life-sized "hug pillow" (aka dakimakura) featuring two images of the character Asougi Rin from the anime Mnemosyne. One side features the character in an alluring pose, the other has the girl bound up and ready for your attentions. Simply amazing item that's very popular in Japan right now. MAMEGOMA Tight Bento Box. The Mamagoma line of character products featuring San-X's popular cute seal is just great. See fresh stock of several Mamegoma bento boxes, including the best-selling Tight Bento Box and matching bento bag. Onigiri Shapers, Bento Accessories We've got fresh stock of that amazingly wacky Pikachu 3D Onigiri Shaper, for making boring rice balls into cute Pikachu shapes, as well as other fun bento accessory items. His-and-Hers Sake Set. Here's a nice item, a sake bottle w/ two cups for couples. A unique wedding gift from Japan, or just something cool to drink with your significant other with. This popular item is back in stock today. Nendoroid Saber Lion Figure ~ Fate/Tiger Colosseum Upper. This is an amazing cute new Nendoroid figure for you: Saber from Fate/stay night dressed up in a lion suit. Based on the popular PSP game called Fate/Tiger Colosseum, in which you can play Saber dressed in a cute lion suit. Preorder her now! Tsuruya-san Figma Action Figure ~ Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. An awesome Figma figure for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya fans, this is Tsuruya-san, the incredibly popular character who spawned her own 4-panel manga (Nyoro~n). Pose her in dozens of ways. Preorder now! Restocked DEKADO-KESHI Eraser, Pens. For people who really make a lot of mistakes, we recommend the DEKADO-KESHI (from deka meaning large, kado meaning corner and keshi meaning eraser), a super-sized eraser that can cover any errors you might make. Also, see restocked Signo Erasable Ball Point Pens in 8 lovely colors, fresh stock of Pen'z Gear spinning pens, and more. Lotte Black Black Gum, Other Snacks. Tons of restocked Japanese snacks on the site today, including Meiji Curl Snack in tart plum flavor, Baby Star Friend Noodle snack in sauce & mayonnaise flavor (yum!), Glico Cratz Spicy Cheese, Morinaga Azuki Caramel, and one of my all-time favorite items, Black Black caffeine-laced gum. Sabra DVD -- EYE-CANDY -- Aki Hoshino. Sabra is the #1 magazine of beautiful women in Japan, and each issue brings you amazing top-name swimsuit idols to fawn over. This is a special perfect-bound issue that focuses on the lovely Aki Hoshino, Japan's top sexy model right now. Every page is filled with her glorious photographs, and you get a DVD, too. Comic Yuri Hime vol. 13 Sep 2008. The hands-down #1 manga for fans of yuri themes, meaning romantic and beautiful stories about girls falling in love with other girls, is Yuri Hime, and we've gotten some stock of the current issue in for you to check out. Fantastic art from a dozen or Japan's top artists. Toshihide Sano Illustrations. Toshihide Sano is one of our all-time favorite artists, and we're happy to have his fantastic art book back in stock. Highly recommended glossy art book from Japan. Back in stock today! Hip Parade 2nd Season Limited Another ver. Full Set of 12. Here's another bizarre collection of "trading torsos" in the Hip Parade series, featuring attractive female lower portions for you to collect and trade with your friends. In addition to swimsuits, this version includes leotard torsos -- amazing! They make great "shock" gifts to friends, too. Uncho Kanu 1/7 Cast Off Figure Mogdan ver.~ Dragon Destiny. Here's a real treat for fans of "cast off" figure: Uncho Kanu from Ikki Tousen/Dragon Destiny as imagined by the popular artist Mogudan, who we like a lot. Fantastic detail in, ahem, all areas. This amazing cast off figure has come in and is ready to order now. 2009 Calendar -- Yuma Asami. Along with great anime, JPOP, sexy idol and traditional 2009 calendars, J-List sells saucy calendars featuring the sizzling AV stars that define the most beautiful women in the world. Enjoy the newly posted men's calendars we're posting for preorder now.
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Amazon.com Widgets Title:  Boys Over Flowers (Hana Yori Dango) Vol 31 Author: Yoko Kamio Publisher: Viz ISBN: 9781421517186 May Contain Spoilers When Tsukushi and Tsukasa find themselves alone on a luxury yacht, they wonder what’s going on.  Storms and an empty kitchen don’t make for a pleasant voyage, and when they [...]
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During my last week in Japan, I finally got around to getting my butt to a movie theater in order to watch the final chapter in the Hana Yori Dango TV drama---Hana Yori Dango Final the movie. While I'm not sure what movie ticket prices are like in other countries, tickets in Japan (1,800 yen) are noticeably higher than I'm what I'm used to back at home. With that said, the level of Japanese used in the dialogue was well within my abilities, so at least I got to enjoy my first Japanese movie theater experience to the fullest. I've included spoiler-free impressions below, plus a lengthy, fully detailed summary (written as accurately as possible from memory), for those of you who just can't wait to find out what happened. Any additional pictures were scanned from the photobook that I bought.
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Sent to you by kevn57 via Google Reader: "Hana Yori Dango" special to air night before movie opens via Tokyograph on 6/23/08 A special press conference for the "Hana Yori Dango Final" movie was held at the Nippon Budokan on Monday. With anticipation running high for the film's opening this coming Saturday, it was announced that TBS is going to air a one-hour special on Friday night at 10:00pm.The special will include a mini-episode that takes place just before the storyline of the movie. It was quickly filmed on Monday morning before the press conference. The show will also be partly broadcast live, with Arashi performing a theme song medley. Members of the group will even make an appearance as themselves in the mini-drama."Hana Yori Dango" has had two successful seasons as a drama series, and this movie will finally bring the story to a close. Things you can do from here: Subscribe to Tokyograph using Google Reader Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
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The episode opens with a man chanting looking up into the night sky, a bright light appears in the sky and then spotlights the man. A pair of creatures are backlit as they approach the man. The scene shift, Sakura played by Kanjiya Shihori (Hana Yori Dango 2, H2) asks her editor if she believes in aliens. Then explains that a man approached her asking that question at the train station, when she agreed he grabbed her and started chanting, what the man at the opening scene was chanting “Bentora, Bentora, Space People”, saying that it’s a chant to summons UFOs. The two of them swing around and chant but are interrupted by the return of the editor’s coworkers. Then the editor throws her current manuscript in the trash advising her to draw some attention to the manuscript next time. The scene shift to an amusement park where a monument to Alien Friendship is to be dedicated, Udagawa played by Kaname Jun (Himitsu no Hanazono, Tantei Gakuen Q) stands and watches a TV explaining the purpose of the park. Sakura dressed as an alien approaches and takes one of his lollipops. She’s selling space dolls that grant wishes.I love this goofy comedy mystery show and this one takes a few turns from the regular formula, but the mystery isn’t focus of the show it’s always more about the laughs this episode is no exception. The scene with the editor is usually good but I loved it as the co-workers caught the pair swinging around and chanting.Download the bit torrent file for this episode here and the soft subs here, screen shots of the previous episode here.
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I've been listening to the Macross Frontier soundtrack, and it's every bit as wonderful as I hoped it'd be. I'm loving the tracks What 'bout my star (both versions), Big Boys (reminds me a lot of the Pirates of the Caribbean theme), and Innocent green. Oh and the Nyan Nyan song is as cute as ever. It's going to be hard at the end of the year deciding whether this OST is better or the true tears one is - probably this because of all the vocal music (which isn't to say that Yoko Kanno's instrumentals aren't great too). And that's assuming the next Macross Frontier OST won't be better. I also managed to scrape together some time this weekend to watch a few episodes of the currently-running drama Zettai Kareshi. For those of you unfamiliar with it, it's about a girl who gets a robot as her ideal boyfriend, and the love triangle and troubles that this leads to. That might sound silly, but it's actually really entertaining. I was curious about this adaptation because I read the manga a long time ago, and though a lot of things have changed in the story, it's still very very good. It has that same spark that I found in the Hana Yori Dango and Yamada Tarou Monogatari dramas - the perfect mix of comedy and romance drama. It can be very funny at times (especially the actor who plays Namikiri), and the romance and drama elements are slightly over the top - just the way I like it. I wish I were blogging it, but sadly I just can't make the time commitment for a drama series right now (though I may try to next season or the season after that). On a side note, I had the theme song of this series, Okaeri by ayaka in my head all the way until today...when I started listening to the Macross Frontier soundtrack. Also in the news, the official Mai-HiME/Otome website announced a new project. No details about it other than the name and character design of the new heroine, Mao (see the link). While I do wish Sunrise would develop more new original properties, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious what this one will be like, especially since S.ifr's first episode was better than expected. Speaking of which, the second volume of S.ifr is due out July 25th.
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Udagawa played by Kaname Jun (Himitsu no Hanazono, Tantei Gakuen Q) is at a play where an actress stabs another actor then turns to the audience and delivers a monologue. This is when Udagawa falls in love and has to be restrained by an audience member after launching into a standing ovation in the middle of the play. The scene shifts to Sakura played by Kanjiya Shihori (Hana Yori Dango 2, H2) editor’s office for a change the editor is quite impressed with a story idea that Sakura has come up with. The mystery revolves a round a Ferris wheel where the criminal suddenly disappears from the top. But the editor wants to know the trick to how he disappears. Sakura said she’s leaving that up to the imaginations of the readers or they could offer a reward and then publish the best submittal. The disappointed editor wants Sakura to disappear before tossing the manuscript into the trash. Udagawa is waiting at a department store rooftop amusement park for the actress who he’s fallen in love with. When Sakura in a mouse costume tries to sell them a balloon, then Udagawa and his new girlfriend witness the murder of the play’s director.This episode doesn’t follow the normal pattern of the crime, then Udagawa falling in love with the murderer this time he falls in love first, so the question becomes did he fall in love with the murderer this time and we don’t find out until they witness the crime together. Of course it takes Sakura’s skills to solve the case.Download the bit torrent file for this episode here and the soft subs here, screen shots of the previous episode here. Kimi Hannin Janai yo ne? キミ犯人じゃないよね? Ep4 Screen Shots
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Udagawa played by Kaname Jun (Himitsu no Hanazono, Tantei Gakuen Q) starts off the episode with a monologue introducing himself and Sakura played by Kanjiya Shihori (Hana Yori Dango 2, H2) but most of what he says is self delusion. Then the scene switches to a school at night the security guard patrolling the hallway finds the body of a teacher in the teacher’s room. The scene shifts to Sakura’s editor’s office, where Sakura tells her it took a whole week for her to come up with the dying message she used in the story, a corny pun on Clint Eastwood. The editor tells her to write a book that teases and teases the reader and holds them captive before she tosses the manuscript in the trash for a hole in one. Udagawa arrives at the school crime scene trips down the stairs and winds up looking like a seal in front of the school girls with his arms at his side and his head up.I love this show it’s funny and it follows the same pattern in each episode, a crime is committed, Udagawa shows up at the scene and needs to enlist the aid of Sakura to solve the case. But like Columbo where the crime is revealed immediately and it’s the mystery lover’s puzzle to figure out how he catches the murderer, in this show as soon as Udagawa falls in love we have the perpetrator we need to figure out how they did it and how Sakura will figure it out.Download the bit torrent file for this episode here and the soft subs here, screen shots of the previous episode here.
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