Hm, almost looks interesting...

I’m extremely late on this one. So, I just found out yesterday that the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra got involved with some bad crowd and is the talk of the intrusive otaku culture. Little did I know that they were referring to Haruhi music. So I did a simple torrent search, and sure enough there it was. Not one to be fooled, I decided to download the album and sample it — before purchasing of course. Nothing wrong with that. Don’t judge me. I can’t be a straight shooter all the time. I’m only human.

Now where was I? Oh yes, well, Aya Hirano sucks at singing. Good night.

If you’re not convinced by my convincing argument, go  right ahead: buy it and listen for yourself. Granted, the orchestral parts were pretty impressive, but I’m assuming my slight infatuation with the Suzumiya Haruhi bandwagon is biasing my good taste. I’d suggest downloading the FLACs buying the CD, hooking up a cheap ATH-HA20 or Hartmann’s to your computer or player, and borrowing a pair of Kenwood KH-K1000 to listen to the classical instruments completely ruined by anime pop; and just when you think it can’t get any worse Aya Hirano’s vocal seals the deal.

In other news, South Carolina’s governor admits to infidelity. But nine out of 17 Republicans agree, it’s still not quite as bad as Aya Hirano’s singing.

Japanese Lesson For Today: gen – sou, ‘gen’ means a bowstring or chord and ‘sou’ appears to be a type of pastry. Wait, this doesn’t seem right. Oh there we go, I was on the wrong line. It’s to play music.

I recently got banned from a forum I was trolling. I won’t name which one, but if you were reading scanlation back in 2001, then you’ve probably heard of them. This was the goal from the start, of course, but I nearly ran 300+ posts on the forum before they got around to doing so. And now seeing the message that I’ve been punted to the winds fills me with this deep emptiness unlike any broken vinyl or Bob Marley album. more…

So I recently bought a JVC HA-RX900 because it was pretty cheap and it looked comfy. Well, for 60 bucks, it’s not a bad headphone, but not very practical. The cord was extremely long, which I assume is because these headphones are meant for people who live in small houses and want to take walks to the local park without carrying an iPod or Zune. more…

So your sister’s birthday is coming up and you still don’t know what to get her? If you’re a putz like me, you can buy her a Balenciaga handbag and some expensive name-brand sandals. Or you can be a man (or manly woman) and buy her a gift that means something, from the heart, or gets you off; whatever. Like a pair of high-end headphones! more…

Ninjas have been a popular subject in manga and anime, even before Naruto took the world by storm and polluted the youths with delusions of summoning giant frogs and doppelgangers. So perhaps it should not come as a big surprise that Del Rey has gone and brought another “great” title to America.

Ninja Girls, otherwise known as Rappi Rangai in Japan, will be the latest ninja fecal matter to adorn the shelves of young boys and middle-aged men in America come August 11, 2009. Having read the first volume, also known as a tankoubon by weeaboos, nearly a year ago, I think this will be another grand addition to the already shallow manga assortment found in bookstores. The story is rather ordinary and uninteresting, so I won’t bother going into it here. I’m sure many reputable sites have already announced this manga’s acquisition by Random House’s less-reputable cousin years ago, so this isn’t even worth posting.

Unfortunately, I own six volumes of this (that’s right I buy my manga) and feel pissed that I went and bought the Japanese version when I could have waited four months and just read it in Borders like I usually do. Oh well, there isn’t a way to turn back time so at the very least writing this article makes me feel like it wasn’t a complete waste of my money. So where was I? Well, who cares. The art is pretty, and the covers are nice; though it isn’t original, and frankly the characters all look plain… so what I really want to say is don’t bother buying this one. I already paid for your share of this fantastic manga with my own purchase.

Japanese lesson for the day. ku-no-i-chi – means ninja. female ninja. Do yourself a favor and jump off a bridge.