Ok now while this isn’t anime related I really wanted to post this as i’m sure these bands aren’t as known as they should be. Dir En Grey and Versaillies. I’ve been listening to these guys for awhile now and i’ve been meaning to make a post about them. Chances are if you like anime, you have also taken a liking to the music played during the show be it OPs or EDs. On top of that you may also have started getting into other forms of japanese music. This is where these 2 bands come in. If you’re a fan of metal then you really should listen to them.

Dir En Grey

They are what I would call a heavy metal band but they could be classed as many things, including Visual Kei which they originaly belonged to before toning down their look a bit. They have 1 of the best music videos i’ve seen in awhile and by best I mean most twisted and disturbing even over throwing Marilyn Manson. Lets talk about the singer a bit. The singer in a band is argueably the most important person. He has to sing and people have to like his voice, he has to find a way to connect to the crowd and get their attention. This guy seems to have gone to the same showmanship school as Manson did as he has gathered some fame beyond just being a singer. according to Wikipedia… more…

This really could work out. Letter Bee (Tegami Bachi) the manga has already been licensed by Viz and the special short has been shown earlier in the Shounen Jump road tour in Japan. This new anime adaptation is not official yet, but it’s likely.

You can watch the Letter Bee special mentioned above here. It is sub-titled already, but you will need to download the special Shounen Jump player to watch. After that hit watch and then open/save. You may want wait a bit before playing the file.

Letter Bee has been compared to D.Gray-Man and there are some similarities, but this series is really styled well and the characters are more likable, though. There are five volumes of the manga published in Japan, so there will be enough material for at least a good season (or two). Just hope it does not go so long as D.Gray-Man. The voice acting is very pleasent in the special, even Lag’s.

Cool points are scored by Lag’s name, his gun (which clearly looks like it was meant to be much longer), and the abuse of various shades of purple with blue colors.

Yes we have all seen the horrid photos of when cosplaying, which is dressing up to match an anime or game character, goes wrong and results in an image burned into your brain you can’t forget. It’s always a very traumatic event when you see a 150kg Misty or ugly-as-sin Konata. Not to point any fingers but these generally tend to be american people and end up looking like this

However that said, I thought it would be a pleasant change to see what happens when both american, and japanese cosplay succeeds…

Oh and please correct me if any of the characters names I use are wrong, i’m doing my best to remember them all since its 2am right now. Oh and also i’ll update this again tomorrow since imageshack is being annoying and won’t let me edit this with more photos i’ve found. Buu

EDIT – Ok so it’s the next morning and like I said, i’m going to update this with some more awesome cosplay i’ve managed to find.

more…

There’s this current on going manga called Tamashii no Futago (The Twin Souls). This series is pretty amazing with two messed up kids (Rita and Alex) and magical turn of events. The two died at the same time separately. They travel closer together and screw with the poor humans who are able to see them. Some pretty wacky stuff with Rika being kicked under a sink cupboard. There’s two volumes out and a scanlation group who have a couple chapters translated. The mangaka has had some licensed works like Beutiful People and Haunted House by Tokyopop. You can find Mitsukazu Mihara’s (author and artist) strong gothic lolita style artwork on her site.

Tamashii no Futago would have been a good Halloween recommendation. A good read regardless, but there are some mature parts.

Being serious here. The things Rika does with her feet.