Showing posts with label Todd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Todd. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Thoughts on Lovetan Growing Up

Last spring, during the fourth episode of Majisuka Gakuen 2, I really noticed Oota Aika, Lovetan, for the first time. And when I say really noticed, I noticed what I thought had been a change in her that caused me to begin to focus much of my attention on her. And when I say her, I have to say I mostly mean photographs of her. I have read just the smallest bit of her blog and I was also able to enjoy an older appearance of hers in an honesty chess segment of AKBingo! that had been recently subtitled into English.

Last Spring, in episode four, Lovetan appeared to do battle with Youran (Miyazawa Sae) and as she circled her opponent, it struck me that she was not a little girl anymore, but a young woman playing at being a young girl. (Nearly the exact frame is at the side.) I was quite surprised to learn she was not quite seventeen (as of this writing she is now seventeen). Despite her Gothic-Lolita attire, Lovetan struck me as a much more mature young woman. Since then I've been paying a bit more attention to her than I had and her calendar is one of the six from AKB48 members I purchased this winter.

Since engaging in this completely unscientific study of Lovetan's work I've come to some conclusions that are more than likely not entirely well founded, but I thought I'd share them anyway in the hopes that others who know more of Lovetan might be able to provide me with more insight into her character.

Oota Aika is a member of Team A and was an original member of Team B dating back to 2007. She was around thirteen years old when she began working for AKB48 and has working hard for the past four years or more, consistently placing in the middle range of senbatsu elections. When she began she was genuinely child like and cute. It took no acting on her part to play the cute little girl part as she would hide in confined spaces for AKBingo!

In the past four years, Oota Aika has grown up. She is a lovely young woman and I think she now has to make an effort at being 'cute.' She is still young enough to be cute, but there are moments when she has been photographed in more adult like ways. There are other moments still, when the look in her eyes seems to indicate a desire to be seen as a woman and not as a cute child. There are instances when I think Lovetan is dissatisfied with playing a little girl and wants to explore more of her range as a performer.

Part of this conclusion comes from my observations of Watanabe Mayu and the contrast that appears in what comes across in their photographs. The blessed and perfect God, Watanabe Mayu, is almost a year older than Oota, and she is just as consistently portrayed as a cute little girl. The difference I see is that Mayuyu has every appearance of taking pure joy from everything she is doing. Of course Mayuyu and Lovetan have been working hard for the same period of time and often work side by side in Watarirouka Hashiritai 7, but Mayuyu is one of the chosen, one of the most popular of AKB48. Watanabe has worked hard and everything is coming to her- a solo single, a staring role in a drama, an anime voice work. The world is here to make Watanabe Mayu happy, and she knows it. Watanabe, in her unbridled joy is portraying an image that is very close to who she is and needs no opportunity to show another side that she keeps hidden.



Oota Aika has worked about as hard for about as long, with a similar child-like image. Unlike Watanabe Mayu, who can remain more child like at her core as the world exists to please her, Lovetan has matured into a beautiful young woman that wants to been seen as a young woman and not only as child. I don't think it is the case that Lovetan minds being cute and child like, but that she minds only being cute. This touches her with a little bit of darkness as being cute has become a job where she might not quite respect those that only want to see her as cute. There is a beautiful young woman in Oota that is more and more demanding to be recognized and seen. Lovetan is now an adult and wants to be seen as one, and just a hint of this discontent appears in her more recent work.

Of course, this is the analysis of a fellow who fell in love with Kimoto Kanon when her character Miso stabbed Gekikara and she smiled about it with such beautiful menace. Young people go through a lot of changes from ages thirteen to seventeen. I think Oota Aika has experienced some of the rather typical growing pains for young people and I think it can be seen in her work. I'm curious as to how much others think I might be hallucinating all of this.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Hopes, Fears, and Predictions for 2012

This is going to be a strange and fascinating year. Before it has even started, it is apparent that many more will find their proper place in the universe- living to bring the reason for creation, Watanabe Mayu, more happiness. I am not going to waste time arguing what is obvious to all who are open to love in their heart- that Watanabe Mayu is God and the only reason the universe exists- but I am instead going to discuss how this coming year will be the year record numbers come to love her as she loves all of us.

February 29, 2012 will mark the debut of Watanabe Mayu as a solo artist. This monumental event of human history is even more rare and certainly much more significant than the leap year it falls on. The a-side of the single release in question relates to another monumentally significant event in human history- the debut of Watanabe Mayu as the lead actress in a drama. The song in question will be one of the songs for the upcoming 2012 drama. The world will have yet another opportunity to appreciate the beauty and perfection that is Watanabe Mayu.

2012 will also mark the debut of the AKB48 anime, AKB0048. Set in the distant future, the series will follow a group of idols, inspired by the work of the God Watanabe Mayu and the angels of AKB48, as they fight for the freedom and security of humanity. Humanity will again be blessed by another first for Watanabe Mayu. She will bless us with her work as a voice actress in an anime series. I am sure the series will provide us all with inspiration in our fight for a world based in love, justice, reason, and the worship of Watanabe Mayu.

With so many beautiful and amazing things happening in the life of Watanabe Mayu, my greatest pain is that I will not be able to return to Japan this summer. I have to take a class, Spanish for Graduate Students who don't want to learn a Language for their requirement (Spanish 4046), that is only offered this summer. This is because the history department feels my work in Japanese in no way relates to my degree in the legal history of American Indian religious freedom. To be fair, studying Japanese has nothing to do with my degree and everything to do with better understanding God.


Anyway, on to my my hopes, fears, and predictions.


Hopes:

I hope that all will open their hearts to love and accept the absurd beauty of AKB48 and the perfection of the divine Watanabe Mayu and elect her center by universal consent of the populace of the world.

I also hope that the Arab Spring and Occupy Wallstreet movements snowball into a worldwide anarcho-syndicalist revolution that places 48 member girl idol bands as the highest political authorities worldwide.

Fears:


I fear not everyone will open their being to loving and serving Watanabe Mayu. That she has not yet been enthroned as supreme ruler of the universe is symptomatic of human imperfection, rather than any failing with the blessed Mayuyu.

I also fear I will come to love SKE48 more than I love AKB48. This is really troubling me lately. I am finding the more recent SKE48 songs have excited me much more than recent AKB48 songs. With SKE48 now moving to become the queerest band ever with their first single of 2012, AKB48 really has some work to do. Fortunately AKB48 still has the divine and perfect Watanabe Mayu.


Predictions:


Even if the people of the earth fail to unite in peace and harmony behind Watanabe Mayu and AKB48, the world will be a little more beautiful and a little more peaceful for all their hard work.

SKE48 will become the queerest band ever.

Matsui Jurina of SKE48 will be caught dating a girl, and will claim she just loves to kiss pretty things, forgetting that the reason she finds girls so pretty is that she is gay and that when you go everywhere with someone and kiss them all the time- it means you are probably dating.

Kimoto Kanon of SKE48 will have a significantly expanded role in Majisuka Gakuen 3.

Friday, November 4, 2011

AKB48 Full Ranking, Corrected

This listing is a minor corrective to Mina's valiant attempt to rank the members of AKB48. The main difference between these lists is that this one is objectively true.

Highest Ranking Member of AKB48:
Watanabe Mayu (B)


Mayuyu is God. The world exists for her. She is beautiful and perfect. All right thinking people worship her and seek only to bring her more joy and happiness; which is why we were put on this planet. This world is nothing without Watanabe Mayu. With her it can become a reflection of her: beautiful and perfect.


Tied for Second Place:
These angels are the most wonderful creatures on Earth and deserve only our love and support. These ladies are all so wonderful for doing so much to make this world perfect for Watanabe Mayu. They are agents of God and listed in no particular order:

Uchida Mayumi (K)
Ishida Haruka (B)
Maeda Atsuko (A)
Takahashi Minami (A)
Itano Tomomi (K)
Minegishi Minami (K)
Kasai Tomomi (B)
Nito Moeno (K)
Sumire Sato (B)
Sashihara Rino (A) 
Yamauchi Suzuran (4) 
Takajo Aki (A)
Nakamata Shiori (4)
Ota Aika (A) 
Sato Amina (B) 
Maeda Ami (A)
Yokoyama Yui (K)
Shimazaki Haruka (4)
Nagao Mariya (4)
Ichikawa Miori (4)
Iwasa Misaki (A)
Shinoda Mariko (A)
Miyazaki Miho (B)
Kojima Haruna (A)
Masuda Yuka (B)
Takeuchi Miyu (4)
Miyazawa Sae (K)
Akimoto Sayaka (K)
Nakagawa Haruka (A)
Nakatsuka Tomomi (K)
Oshima Yuko (K)
Kikuchi Ayaka (K)
Fujie Reina (K)
Kitahara Rie (B)
Haruka Katayama (A)
Kashiwagi Yuki (B)
Komori Mika (B)
Hirajima Natsumi (B)
Sayaka Nakaya (A)
Oba Mina (4)
Matsubara Natsumi (A)
Abe Maria (4)
Iriyama Anna (4)
Suzuki Shihori (B)
Kuramochi Asuka (A)
Nakata Chisato (A)
Umeda Ayaka (K)
Yonezawa Rumi (K)
Kobayashi Kana (B)
Suzuki Mariya (B)
Sato Natsuki (B)
Tanabe Miku (K)
Matsui Sakiko (K)
Shizuka Oya (A)
Shimada Haruka (4)
Nonaka Misato (K)
Nakamura Mariko (4)
Chikano Rina (B)

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Holding Back Love

I am still a little groggy from sleeping, but I had the strangest dream last night.

I was living in Japan for a visit. I was living with my Mother (who has been dead for more than fifteen years). We had dinner plans that night and were to catch a train the next day before we left the country two days later.

I decided to spend my morning going to the AKB48 practice studio to try and watch for a bit, though I was concerned I would be seen as a stalker, just hanging about. As I got to the studio, the angels were playing soccer outside. It was well organized and being run by their dance coach. It was not a proper match, but a stylized game designed to practice some skill or another. The ball got kicked off the pitch and I ran to get it, but some of the younger research students I did not know were quicker and got it first. I decided to sit and watch at a nearby concrete embankment.

As I sat there the dance coach came over and spoke with me. The conversation was pretty strange. He indicated that the ladies of AKB48 felt I was holding back. I was at first surprised that they had even noticed me, but did not know what he meant. He said they felt that I was not loving them as completely as I could, I was not giving myself over to AKB48. The members, who had noticed me, felt I was deliberately keeping distance between myself and them; that I was unwilling to share who I was with them. I explained I had tried all I could, but was unable to get tickets to a theater show. He asked when I would like to see them.

At this moment my mind raced, when was I leaving- early tomorrow. Was he seriously able to get me admission to a theater show? The only time I could do anything was that day! I asked about today. The dance instructor nodded and told me to be back at four. He indicated I could travel with the group when they went to an event that they were going to walk to together.

I went back to where we were staying and it had started to rain. It was a cold rain like none I had experienced in my summer in Japan. I told my Mother I would be going out at four and would probably miss dinner. She was not entirely happy, but accepted my decision. I looked through my clothes, and decided to wear pants because of the strange cold, as I tried to pick out a decent outfit.

As I picked out my clothes, I contemplated the dance instructor's words. Was it true I was holding back? I thought of the possibility that the angels of AKB48 might actually enjoy meeting me a little bit. And then, as I half woke up, I began to wonder if the statement about holding back applied to my waking life. I had a girlfriend for ten years and when she dumped me, it hurt quite a bit. Was I holding back so that there would be no possibility of suffering that kind of hurt again?

As I am more fully awake, I find myself asking, am I using AKB48 to hide myself from the world, yet meet some of my emotional needs. While I joke and write in hyperbole about my worship of Watanabe Mayu, I do love and care for her, Uchida Mayumi, Kimotoa Kanon and the others. It pains me to learn of Mayuchi's struggles with self esteem and her weight that come across in her blog. I can care and love without any of the danger. These angels will never reject me, and on rare occasion some of them have even noticed I exist. These angels play an important part in my need to love and I don't really ever have to be open myself and give myself over to the love, and possible rejection, of another.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

AKB 1/48- Adventures In Guam!


Yesterday I received in the mail my copy of the latest AKB48 psp dating simulation, AKB1/48. The game is, as expected, quite similar to the original, but there are some fun and interesting minor tweaks. Last year I purchased a used psp for the express purpose of playing the original game. While it is exciting and fun to have the angels of AKB48 pretending to flirt with me, the player, I find I am more frustrated, linguistically, than last year.

Last year I was just beginning Japanese and I was excited to piece together what meaning I could with a dictionary. Today I am much further along. While I can recognize more grammatical formations and words, there are still times when I can't even find the words in dictionaries. I still find myself dumping members I have meant to take to the next step, even after working with a dictionary for as much as twenty minutes over a decision making point. I just need to keep at it.

I'm having fun with the game, procrastinating about this paper I really need to write, but, at times, I think this game is more than just a little perverse. The angels of AKB48 are pretending to do things that they are contractually forbidden to do- flirt with, peruse, and date the object of their affections. While I am sure most of the young ladies found the work of putting the game together to be an amusing and possibly fun part of their serious professional lives, it seems to be wrong on some level for their management to make profit from, and their fans take pleasure in, a fantasy experience the ladies are contractually forbidden from experiencing in real life.

Lately a couple of members of Team 4 have had some difficulties largely due to their blogs and alleged behaviors from before joining AKB48. I didn't have much to add to that discussion, except to repeat myself: if you really support someone, you support them having more freedom to do what they like, not less freedom. Therefore if you really support your idols, you must support their freedom to date and explore their youth by making mistakes, while still keeping their careers. The young women of AKB48 should have the freedom to explore the pleasures and pains of flirting, dating, and sexual experimentation.



The ladies do a very good job of seeming to have fun in their portrayals in the game. I feel it is just a little perverse that they are only allowed to pretend and not permitted to experience those same activities. These angels can serve our fantasies and dreams, but they are denied the freedom and opportunity of trying to fully realize their own hopes and dreams of dating. We all owe them a debt for their sacrifice, and part of repaying that debt should be to work for their freedom to live as they choose and end the tyranny of management over their private lives.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Dilema

I am a little troubled of late. I am a finite being and an imperfect being. While one dreams of having and hopes to achieve an infinite capacity for love, we often fall short of our goals.

I still meditate regularly on the meaning of a universe created solely for Watanabe Mayu. This world exists for her and we exist to love her, of this I am certain. I also know that Watanabe Mayu is so beautiful and perfect she wants us all to love and be loved as much as possible. Still, I am troubled.

As I have mentioned before, perhaps not here, I fell in love with Kimoto Kanon when, as the character Miso, she skipped away smiling after stabbing the greatest fictional character ever, Gekikara. I have a few pictures of Kimoto about my desk and I find myself squealing “Non!” whenever I see her immensely cute visage as I sit down to my desk to work. Her beauty brings me such joy.

The difficulty arises in that I am a finite being. Mayuyu would want me to love Non as I love myself, but I fear that with a finite amount of time in any given day that I am not properly contemplating my finite and insignificant existence as it relates to the perfect and infinitely beautiful Watanabe Mayu. There is so much beauty in the world and only a finite amount of time to appreciate it.

Mayuyu would want me to find peace and happiness, and so I probably should relax and enjoy. It is not as if some false idol would displace Mayuyu in my heart. I know that this world exists only because of her, and her centrality in existence would not change, even if my faith was shaken. Mayuyu is not a jealous god and if she can come to be more accepting of her fifth ranking, she surely must want me to enjoy the existence of Non, Matsui Rena, Uchida Mayumi, and all the others angels of the universe.





The blessings of Mayuyu be upon us all.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

You Cannot Resit Love

Mina is right, there have been many big events lately, just in the 48 universe, which is all I can manage to keep up with. While I have always enjoyed the important posts Mina has provided us all, I hope no one will begrudge her the time to attend to her studies and health properly. I certainly can do more to write for this blog. It has been more than a month since I last posted and I have at least one exciting event I personally attended before returning to the US and A.

I don't think I've mentioned it here before, but I had, until this spring, been actively trying to avoid even looking at SKE48. This has been difficult as my favorite Majisuka Gakuen character was portrayed by the SKE star Matsui Rena. When SKE48 did their own drama, Mousou Deka, my resolve began to crumble and I watched that delightful drama, which deserves an entry of its own. My resolve crumbled further as the other SKE star Matsui Jurina did such a wonderful job as the side-kick to my god Watanabe Mayu in Majisuka Gakuen 2. I was done for when Kimoto Kanon stabbed Gekikara as Miso.

While I made my pilgrimage to the AKB48 theater and saw AKB48 perform at the Tokyo Dome City Hall and Seibu Dome when in Japan this summer, I also watched SKE48 perform at the Zepp Nagoya and attended my first handshake event on my last day in Japan. This event was for SKE48 and in Nagoya. When I got up on the morning of my last full day in Japan I did not know what I was going to do, but I vaguely remembered SKE might have an event. I had bought their latest single, and I had a certificate for a handshake in it.

I had already been planning to spend my last day in Nagoya, so I quickly looked up where the event was and hopped on the Shinkansen as I had previously planned. Had I planned ahead better I would have made it to the even earlier, but as it was I missed a song or two of SKE's performance before the handshaking began. After their performance, I sat in some shade and chatted with some local fans. Not so amazingly, two of them remembered seeing me at the Moss Burger before the Zepp Nagoya show we all attended (I am a caucasian and an inch or so taller than six feet). They told me how things worked and one fellow gave me a picture of Rena and Jurina he had multiple copies of.

Universally my experiences with meeting 48 fans in Japan have been nothing but positive. I am often asked if AKB or SKE are popular in the US and A and I have to inform them that no one really knows of them. To bring the point home I tell them of the first AKB48 show I saw in the US- at Anime Expo in 2010. That theater could hold seven thousand, but there were only three thousand in attendance. The fans I met that day helped me understand what I needed to do to exchange my voucher to get a handshake ticket as we chatted about our favorites. They let me know all the tickets for Matsui Rena were already gone.

That was fine with me as the girl that stabbed Gekikara had quickly become a favorite of mine. I easily obtained a ticket to meet Kimoto Kanon. I had spent the entire summer studying Japanese and I was hopping to tell Non that I had traveled all the way from America just to meet her, but I am not very good at Japanese. The line moved too quickly and I had not yet figured out what I needed to say. I jabbered incomprehensibly and she smiled politely. She was waaaaaaaaay cuter in person. Her dimple was so amazingly pretty. The staff pushed me along so quickly that I had no chance to compose myself or recover. Miki Yakata was paired with Non and she spoke to me in English and said it was nice to meet me. I replied to her in English with what little coherence I had left.

Rather than buy more copies of the single to try and see Non again, I returned to downtown Nagoya, found my hotel and then set out to explore SKE related places. I had already visited the SKE48 shop in Shibuya, Tokyo. I washed up and went to explore SKE48's home. I went to their shop and took pictures of Nagoya before taking a disco nap. I went clubbing at 1am and returned to my hotel at 5am to catch a little sleep before flying back to the US & A. While this might seem to be an exciting last night in Japan, and it was pretty good, I recommend looking for up to date information for the club scene. The clubs I tried to go to bore no resemblance to their on-line descriptions and were closed by the time I got there (as opposed to just starting to get going at 1am as I had read). Still, I found adventure, just not the adventure I had been looking for.

So, despite having spent a year actively trying to ignore the existence of SKE48, the only members of the 48 family I have had the honor of touching have been members of SKE48. Kimoto Kanon is adorable beyond belief and able to be bone chillingly terrifying, as shown in Majisuka Gakuen. Now that I will be able to buy a Uchida Mayumi calendar finally, I find myself wanting more pictures and posters of Non to add to my small collection. I guess the lesson here is to always open your heart to love all of the angels of the 48 family of idols.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Nerd Crossbreeding

OK- I have been sick this evening, which is probably a big portion of the mopeyness I was feeling earlier today, so I stayed in and was listening to a pod-cast interview of the author of ‘Panty Explosion- the Japanese Psychic Schoolgirl Role Playing Game.’ As the interview came to an end, the interviewers asked if there was anything he wanted to add- and he said he wanted to plug this show he was really into at the moment- “Majisuka Gakuen.’ He went on to talk about how it was basically his game without the psychic powers and they briefly discussed AKB48 and the upcoming janken tournament.

This is totally kewl for me because I am the one who introduced the author to ‘Majisuka Gakuen.’ I preordered the new edition of Panty Explosion and he was giving custom sketches away to everyone who preordered. I asked for a sketch of Gekikara from Majisuka and sent him a link to my blog post that raved about the show. He replied that it looked interesting and he would check it out. He also sent me a totally kewl sketch of Gekikara.

So, I am doing my part in spreading the gospel of AKB48 and the awesomeness of Majisuka Gakuen.
Kewl.

Link to the Interview

Skip to the last three minutes if you want to hear about AKB48.

Link to Atarashi Games


Their games are kewl for those interested in Japanesey things.

どうしてアメリカンのべんごしがAKB48がだいすきですか。

This is my presentation for Japanese class. It was really stressful to give, more so than any work I did as a lawyer. I am not terribly good at learning Japanese. The pictures appear approximately where in the talk I switched to that slide. It is in hirigana without kanji because when I can remember the meaning of kanji I can never remember how to pronounce it and this was an oral presentation.


どうしてアメリカンのべんごしがAKB48がだいすきですか。
トッド∙モーマン。
わたしは にほんの テレビが すきです。 きょねんのはる、 あたらしいドラマ を みたかったです。 それから、 このしゃしんを みました。 
これは にほんのドラマの “マジすかがくえん”です。 
かわいくて きけんな おんなのこが でて いました から わたしは “マジすか”が みたくなりました。 “マジすか”は とても よかったです。 このドラマは おもしろい ひとが たくさんいます。  “マジすか”のなかの がくえんは 
ヤンジーの おんなのこが たくさん います。  ヤンキーは けんかするのが すきです。 このしゃしんは “マジすか”のなかで ロリーターのヤンキーです。このしゃしんは フォンデューの だいすきな ヤンキーです。
このしゃしんは “ゲキカラ”です。わたしは “マジすか”の おんなのこの  なかで “ゲキカラ”が だいすきです。わたしは 
“マジすか”が げんきで おもしろい と おもいます。 きょねんのはる、 AKB48を まだ しりませんでした。”マジすか“の なかで AKB48のなまえを みましたから、 ウェキピデヤで AKB48を しらべました。

 AKB48が  みんな ”マジすか“に でていました.  AKB48は アイドルの おんなのこ たちで よんじゅうはちにんです。 

 あきもとやすしさんが AKB48を つくりました。 あきもとさんは よんじゅうはちにんのアイドルのグループが せかいの おんがくのグループのなかで いちばん ゆうめいになる と おもっています。 あきもとさんは せかいで よんじゅうはちにんのアイドルの グループを たくさんつくりたがっでいます。 あきもとさんは とうきょうで AKB48を つくりました。 なごやで SKE48を つくって、 おおさかで NMB48を つくりました。 こんど HKT48が ふくおかに できます。 それから あきもとさんは たいわんでも グループを つくる つもりです。 つぎは アメリカですか。   あきもとさんは カルチャーが にほんに くるのが おわる といっていました。 あきもとさんは いま カルチャーは にほんから せかいに いく といっていました。  そのカルチャーは よんじゅうはちにんのアイドルのグループです。
あきもとさんは よんじゅうはちにんのグループを つくるのが じょうずです。
 はじめての AKB48のコンサートに ひとがしちにんだけ いきました。 いま、 ごねんご、 AKB48は   にんきがあります。 AKB48は CDをせんまんまい うっています。にせんじゅうねんの にほんの うたの なかで AKB48の “Beginner”が いちばん にんきがある うたです。
あきもとさんのけいかくは へんです が おもしろいと    おもいます。  AKB48が LAに きたとき、 わたしは AKB48のろくにんに あって AKB48の はなしを しました。
どうして AKB48は にんきがありますか。 わたしは とうきょうとLAとせいぶに AKB48を みにいきました。 
AKB48は げんきで たのしいです が にんきがある りゆうが わかりません。 にほんの ともだちも AKB48は へんだ と  いっていました。AKB48は へんで にほんで にんきがありますから この べんごしは AKB48が だいすきです。

では、 これでおわります。

すき、 ヤンキーソーロ
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...