Darlo's World

Today a friend and I took a(nother) last trip to my beloved Nippombashi and DenDen town, in a quest to fill in some gaps of various manga series and such before heading off home. Stopping in Shinsaibashi on the way, we stopped off at the Mandarake for a quick nose. Though I mainly raided the shops supply of cheap さよなら絶望先生 (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Goodbye Mr Despair), I managed to score two bargains for the Nintendo DS.

狼と香辛料 (Ookami to Koushinryou, Wolf and Spice (refferred to as Spice and Wolf in the UK)), is an anime I first saw at the Leeds Anime Society. I was mainly entranced by it’s storyline that wasn’t set in Japan, but old Europe, and the fact that it uses early economics and trading as a continual baseline. ¬_¬ Yeah that may sound dull and boring to you, but shush, it was great. So not only did I manage to find a copy of the game (that I didn’t know even existed), but I found a special edition box set. I just checked the Spice & Wolf website to find it has a price of 7,770 yen (£54.33), however I paid a measly 2,940 yen (£20.56). I’ve just opened the box and found a ‘Horo voice in a bag’, an audio CD, and of course the game itself. Not bad.

My other bargain was partially based on something I bought yesterday (but forgot to blog about). There are two Higurashi (yeah I know, lately I haven’t shut up about the series) games on the DS which I’ve been wanting to get since I first noticed them back in September, but they were just too expensive. Well yesterday after dropping a 13.8kg box of books at the post office (which will take about 3 months to reach the UK), I found a copy of the second game at a reasonable price (with a 200 yen coupon I had) of 2,280 yen (£15.94), so scooped it up.

Fast forward to today where I find the special edition (Angel Mort) boxed version of the second game for a meagre 1,890 yen (£13.22). The cheapest I’d seen this edition was in the region of 5,000-6,000 yen (£34.96-£41.95), so let’s open her up and see what she holds inside …

We have the game (of course), a framed Shion & Mion card in an Angel Mort stamp card (might take a while for me to read what it says inside >_<), 2 Angel Mort coasters (one written in English: “Dear Customer, Welcome to my cafe. How lucky you are to have chanced upon this place. A place that will make your dreams come true. Have you found your favourite angel? If not, don’t worry. Keep visiting us, and you’ll find your one and only. Please enjoy yourself to the full. We are here to serve you. From, shop owner”), 2 sticker cards, an Angel Mort flanel/hand towel, a paper Angel Mort apron, and an Angel Mort Drama CD. Quite a haul really. You can see a picture of what’s inside on this forum page, though for some reason they got an extra amulet thingy.

So in buying this I was left with the predicament of having two of the same game. My choices were simple. I could either keep both games, try and sell one on to a friend (or eBay), or try and take the more expensive one back to the shop. Despite not knowing how refunds were conducted in Japan or if any etiquette was needed on my part, I opted for the last option.

After quickly looking up the vocabulary for returning something to a shop 返送 (hensou) and refund 払い戻し (haraimodoshi), I headed to the shop (open 24-7, or as is said in Japanese 4-6 (四六時中, shirokujichuu, open around the clock, 4 x 6 = 24)) with the game, the receipt, and what I hoped was the same carrier bag.

Normally in the UK getting a refund isn’t a very simple process. Well, I guess it is (as long as you’re not a prick to whoever’s serving you), but normally the shop will want you to fill in a form, give your address, wait for a manager and so on and so on. With this in mind I was somewhats apprehensive about the whole thing, especially as I still take a good 10 minutes or so writing out my address. When I approached the counter I explained that “I bought the game yesterday as a birthday present for my friend, but he already had it so I wanted to return it” (my usual blatant returning product lie ಠ_ಠ). The staff member then popped to the back and returned with another member of staff. She then checked the amount with me and returned my money with a smile. No paper to fill in, no signatures to sign, that was it … done.

I think I’ll be leaving these two games for the plane trip back, but in the mean time, here’s what I bought today (these will be added to The List at some point, along with the ones I bought that day we went to the Mother Cafe.

• DS Games
• ひぐらしのなく頃に絆第一巻・想　エンジェルモートお持ち帰りBOX
• 狼と香辛料　ボクとホロの一年　初回限定版

• Music CD
• Moment by Vivian or Kazuma

• Sound Novels (games)
• うみねこのなくの頃に　第一話 (also came with a very funky metal bookmark
• うみねこのなくの頃に　第二話
• うみねこのなくの頃に　第三話 (I already had this, but couldn’t remember which of the three I didn’t have)

• Manga
• Genshiken – book 6 (series complete)
• Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei – books 10 to 16 (series complete … for now)
• The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya – book 5 and a one off special anthology
• Love Hina – book 0
• Akihabara Ichiman Chanel (1 off)
• Higurashi – the remaining books from the 罪滅し編 (tsumihoroboshi hen)
• Higurashi – the remaining book from the 宵越し編 (yoigoshi hen)
• Higurashi – コンプエース編 (comp ace hen)
• Higurashi – Book 1 of 5 of the 語咄し編 コミックアンソロジー (cohanashi hen comic anthology)

Ok, so right now I’m in a completely different mood to how I was when I wrote yesterday (aka – I’m smiling). I’ve just been having a great laugh for the past hour courtesy of the doujin (fanmade) Higurashi DVD I bought last weekend. While I’m not going to do a proper review of this, I thought I’d share my thoughts on it with you guys. Also, bonus points for anyone who can explain the term “shiggles and gits”.

Freett 18’s そのひぐらしのなく頃に (Sono Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni) is something I’ll definately take my hat off to. I wasn’t expecting much (judging from the box), and I guess to be honest I was right in that regards, but it’s definately the best DVD I’ve bought here. Huge points go to them for actually going and filming in (I’m guessing) 白川郷 (Shirakawa-gou), the village that the Higurashi village of Hinamizawa was based on as this really helped give it more of a Higurashi vibe. The major downside to that is that because it’s a public place, let’s just say they had more extras in the background (and at times in front of the camera), staring at the cast wondering what they were doing.

They followed the story from the first anime arch (don’t really like that term) where Keichi is introduced as the newcomer who doesn’t know anything about the atrocities of the villages shady past and for the most part follows it quite well. There are some changes to that original storyline and it seems to make Rika out to be the villain. Amusingly Rika and Hanyuu are always seen hanging around in the background, the most entertaining moment was seeing them have a fist-fight.

If I’m going to get technical about what I thought “could have been improved upon” (I didn’t want to say “was bad”), the sound was all over the place for most of the film where the audio seemed to have been recorded in post-production and (not too well) lip-synched to the video. Sound effects also seemed to play a major part with the frequent use of 蜩 (higurashi – cicada) cries in the background. Filming … beware of mirrors and other reflective surfaces. I had a laugh and a giggle seeing the dramatic moment where Keichi practices bat swinging talking to Mion … with Satoko and the camera man staring at the pair.

However, for all it’s faults this DVD was balanced by a sense of effort and fun that cannot be taken away from the film makers. Despite the fact it was raining for most scenes (camera man had an brolly, but hey I won’t complain), the cast were out there brolly-less enjoying what they were doing. I don’t think this, or the next two films they did, were meant to be taken seriously, much like Stephen Fry’s contribution to Little Big Planet. It reminds me much of whenever we made films and such back home, something I miss actually.

Though I would highly recommend this DVD to anyone who wants to see something made by determined fans to show their appreciation for something they truly love, I have no idea how most of you guys would find a copy since I found mine by shere fluke in a second hand shop in DenDen Town. Good luck though! In the meantime, here’s the opening to the movie.

Gordon Bennett that sounds depressing, like I’ve come down with a terminal illness. Well truth be told that is kind of how it feels. You see this time next month I’ll be at the airport getting ready to board my flights (changeover in the UAE) to return to the UK. I can’t even gain an extra day by saying “well there’re 31 days this month”, so I guess I should be glad I wasn’t due to head back early March. I’ve also started to think of it like when I used to anticipate Christmas as a child and thought things like “only 10 more sleeps before Santa comes”, only now it’s like “only 30 more obligatory commutes (15 if you don’t count there and back seperately) to Kobe from Osaka”. So not much more to say, other than take it away Blue Eyes.

So yesterday was the Konan speech contest and as I predicted the overall victors were in the top class. That being said this was another occaision where the winners, two tied, were voted by peers (rather than those fluent in Japanese and capable of understanding everything), so it also could be accounted to more of a popularity contest (the winners themselves being pretty popular among the group). Like the essay contest, the main prize was a pretty nice (and large) certificate, after which one of them said that they were hoping the prize was a higher grade rather than a ‘bit of paper’. Good to know when things are appreciated eh. Oh and for the record, I wouldn’t refer to ‘explaining a bit about the speech’ in English beforehand the best course of action in a Japanese speech contest, but hey in the end it was what the people voted for. I guess you could say I have no right to complain seeing as I refused to participate in the finals, but I’m glad to see my reasons were justified by others’ actions.

Part way through the contest, while the votes were being tallied, the winner of the first popularity contest (which again I called before nominations were even discussed), the class president, wore a kimono and read out a selection of Haiku poems. Putting aside the fact that he resembled Weird Al in a Duffner and Kimberly lamp costume (all for the occaision I presume), it was all going fine until he began reciting Haiku about his home university (Hawaii). This is where I tuned out, being frank I don’t particularly give a toss about American universities when I’m here to study about Japan, especially as it feels like they’ve been shoved down our throats for most the year, particularly ones of attended by “Ikku-san“s. If it weren’t for the fact I had classes in the afternoon I’d have stayed home.

Which brings us to today, where I stayed home. No I wasn’t skiving, nor was I ill (though I did feel a bit funny this morning). Today’s the 90th aniversary of the founding of Konan University, so students (and I believe staff members) got the day off. I used the better half of the morning in bed, having an awesome adventure-style dream of which I remember very little, but no doubt it was influenced by me watching Brave Story before going to bed last night.

I started packing books away today, filling one large box to capacity and checking its weight to give me some idea of how much it’s going to cost to send home. On that note student loans came through today. Since I’ll be sending my things home via surface mail (cheapest option, but I’ll be in the UK a good couple of months before they arrive), I’ve been wrapping the books in cling-film to try and keep out any water that might get in (they will be on a boat after all … or some unfortunate and underpaid swimmer’s going to carry them), and also to help them not shuffle around too much in the box. I also thank my many years of playing tetris for my applied skills in box packing, or maybe I owe that to my Telfordian-factory background.

So as I mentioned in my entry on Tuesday, my only real plan for today was a trip to Nishinomiya Gardens to listen to Rie Fu performing. Something I’d forgotton about though was that the dorm had planned a little bit of a lunchtime party for us as a welcome to the large group of students who’d recently moved in. I could only stay for half an hour, which was enough time to have a little food, do an introduction to the group and pick up a very generous gift of some snack foods from our dorm manager. It seems a lot of the new guys go to an entertainments school in the area, and the one guy goes to that anime university I found not too long back.

Perfect weather meant that there were lots of families enjoying their time in the garden area of Nishinomiya Gardens, the spot that “Nishinomiya Live” was (and has been) taking place. Kids were running through the fountains drenching themselves head to toe, older couples enjoyed spots in the shade, and even the litter pickers seemed to have a non-forced smile. As I made my way to the stage area and the sitting spot I could hear Rie Fu and the crew doing last minute sound checks to make sure everything was on and up to scratch. I took that time to whack out a sketchbook and started doodling. After a while I started to think more about the locations that I’ll be using in Lotaku, and started to try and draw pictures from my old school. My crappy memory aside, the weird shapes and layout of the buildings didn’t help much when trying to make a birds eye view pic.

As expected, Rie Fu’s set was awesome. I don’t see live acts very often (buskers being the obvious exception), so whenever I do go it’s normally a real treat. She opened with my favourite song of hers, Life is Like a Boat, which coincidentally was the first song that I sung at karaoke since coming to Japan. I did take a video of it, but was told off (I didn’t know you couldn’t film >_< ).

After the performance she was signing copies of various CDs, so I picked up a copy of her newest album, Urban Romantic, which also came with a DVD. When I was getting mine signed I hit a bit of a snag. In the few seconds we had to talk, rather than say something meaningful or anything relevant, I say the one thing that I myself always hate to hear; (in Japanese, and for me substitute one language with another) “Your English is really good”. Like a pro though she responded positively “you gotta keep trying, right?”, whether or not this is one of her song names I’m not too sure though. Either way I went and sat down feeling like a right plonker. After wards one of the camera guys asked me a few questions and although I tried to answer in my mangled Japanese, I don’t think I answered any of the questions the way he wanted.

As the second set (she was performing twice) was going to be the same as the first I headed off earlier. I’ve just had a look on Rie Fu’s blog and there are a few pictures up. In one you can see me looking like a plank, camera in hand, but seriously it was a great show. So to sing us out with a song from her new album, it’s Rie Fu and Present.