This is my journal of randomness. Discover the not-so interesting story of a not-so interesting teen.
My name is Kokoro, or Taylor, as many people choose to call me. I am a junior in high school. I like to ramble about uninteresting things. =3
Y'know, I was really looking forward to the song Morning Musume would be singing for their 37th single. I was hoping it would be a song full of Junjun love.
The single title is Pepper Keibu.
I looked it up on Youtube, and I was horrified.
It's a cover of the song by the Pink Ladies. Yeah, that old group from the 80's or whatever.
...
I cannot imagine Morning Musume singing this song. Well, actually, I could. But not the 'PEPPEEEEEER~ KEIBU' part. Dx
About a minute ago, I posted that Tokyopop has gotten really crappy lately. Because I don't know how long this rant will be I have decided to give it its own entry.
Tokyopop was one of the first manga publishers in the US, if not the first.
They released manga under its 'Mixx Manga' line before changing its name to Tokyopop. (Maybe they were purchased, I'm not sure).
They released such popular titles as Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Saint Tail, and many more. Most of those were released in both tankoubon form, the bound books, but they were also released in flimsy American comic book style magazines that featured one chapter at a time, just like it was published in the magazine in Japan.
My first manga came from Tokyopop. I remember going to the local comicbook store and buying tons of Saint Tail single-chapter books, thinking they were actually entire volumes. (Like, I bought the seventh chapter thinking it was volume seven, and being very disappointed.)
Eventually they acquired more series. My first teen manga, 13+, was Fruits Basket. I have a very distinct memory of being in band in the sixth grade and reading it while we had a sub.
The first volume came out five years ago. And they're still not done with the series.
At first they had a handful of series, no more than Viz or Del Rey has now. They would release volumes every other month.
Then, they started the OEL manga line. They were acquiring new series at a very fast rate while also releasing fanbooks and artbooks and original comics created by their own artists.
This was their downfall.
They have too many series, too many series that are unfinished or one or two volumes, or aren't popular at all. They have too many original series, too many series by people no one knows about or cares about, and too many series based off of books.
The quality has decreased so much. I can find at least one typo in any of the recent books they've released.
I love Viz. They have translation notes, they have interesting series that they know will be popular, their website isn't obnoxious...
To me, Tokyopop is the manga noob's publisher. The girl I babysit is obsessed with their series. Kamichama Karin, Cardcaptor Sakura, Instant Teen, Princess Ai, Vampire Kisses.... She doesn't care about the quality. She still calls them 'manga books' (pronouncing manga like you would 'mango'.)
Viz is the leader of the pack of high-quality stuff. They have the most manga to appeal to the widest range of people. I really like them. They have good prices, good series, and a steady and reasonable release schedule. And I love Shoujo Beat magazine. xD Of course, Shounen Jump is pretty noobish, because it has Naruto and BLEACH in it. They get more people buying the magazine who have no idea what manga is.
Del Rey is overlooked a lot. They actually do a great job. While they release things at a slower pace than Viz, I really like them. They have School Rumble and Tsubasa, after all.
Here is something I saw at Borders recently:
There is a series of books called the "Secrets of_________ Revealed!" or something like that. It takes popular series and then posts a series of spoilers from the Japanese release. Of course, it's not entirely accurate because they were written before the series ended, and in some cases the American releases have already caught up, but they have these books full of spoilers. They're written by people who don't really know the series that well either.
Anywho, I was going through the manga after I got back from Japan (I had about 11 stacked up. xD) when these two girls walked by. They were typical teenagers, wearing too much makeup, skinny jeans, low cut tops, and were texting on their phones.
Then, one noticed the Fruits Basket spoiler book.
She let out a cry and the two both grabbed a copy. They're reading it and going "OMG no wai!" and "That can't be true" and "Gawd, I never saw that coming. Tohr-you can't really like Ki-yoh, can she?"
It made me sick. =______=
It's bad enough idiots like those are crowding into the fandom, but they're also blatantly mispronouncing the names. Geez.
See, ladies and gents, that is what true blogging looks like. This here, this random blogspot site, is just a place for me to rant. I still can't believe that people read it. (I've counted two so far!) And I didn't have to force them to read it like I did my friends. x3
Anywho, Vee-san, as I call her, has stepped down from dubbing. The last YT PM conversation that we had revealed that she is incredibly busy, so I wasn't surprised she stopped... But I was surprised she stopped so suddenly. I always thought that if she would retire from the community, she'd spend at least a few days closing things...
For some reason, I have a strong feeling that she might change her mind....
Oh well! It's her decision! If she returns, it means we can actually go through with our duets. If not, then it means that I'll have one less person to join my dubs. (Because, well, she joins them all. xD OMG. I just realized that I can't use her for Koko ni Iruzee or Souda! We're Alive. Saaaaaad. *cries*)
Anywho~
New dub to tide you over. =3
Today, I pre-ordered both of the Morning Musume and Berryz 2009 calendars. xD (I think that's where I was going with the Vee rant.) I think it's kinda silly to have two calendars, especially when I have no idea what the photos look like, but....
Right now I have my complementary Shoujo Beat calendar and my slightly-pornographic BLEACH calendar. (Sept./Oct. is Renji. He's glaring and his hair is down and his clothes are ripped and he's bleeding profusely from the head. He should have that checked out. It's not attractive).
So for 2009 I'll have at least three~ x3
I hope there's plenty of Chinami/Yurina/Junjun/Risa love in those calendars. xD And Junjun had better look cute. They always put her in such awkward poses.
Next I have to buy the MM Single Daizenshuu concert (my PS2 can play all regions of DVDs. x3) which is about $41. Then there's the Japanese X-box 360 so I can play the iDOLM@STER (which I already have). That should cost about $350. Maybe more. And then the $100 worth of manga I need to buy in the next two months. x3
Thank god October is a slow release month for manga. September's releases are killing me.
And there are so many series I want to buy. I stopped buying Aa! Megami-sama, like, a year ago, because I could never remember to check the Dark Horse website for the release dates so I'd find it at the store and not have brought enough money to buy it. And it costs so frigging much. Dx My 9 dollar Shoujo Beat manga kinda even out the 11 dollar Del Rey manga, and I don't buy enough Tokyopop manga anymore to really make that much of a difference....
Remember when I said last entry about the COLOR Project's Morning Coffee dub?
"Morning Coffee will sound awesome, though."
It doesn't. xD
None of our harmonies were together, and for Aoi and Momo (who have higher voices) I think they had a lot of difficulty with it. (But of course, nothing can beat the Morning Coffee dub I made. x3)
Super-spiffehful dub done by Vee-san, Rae-kun, and Henry-san. x3 And myself.
I think it came out AWESOME except that I hate my 'konbini ga suki' messup at the very beginning. Dx
Unagi Musume~
Namida ga Tomaranai Houkago
Unagi Kinenbiiiiiii~
Akai Freesia~
It actually turned out really well... Except that Rae hates this song (xD) and I don't think put her all into it. And then Kaorin's track was so soft I had to turn it up all the way and there's feedback throughout the whole thing.
Heh. Anime Hell.
Did I post this before?
Asher and Alex's AP Euro project. It's really funny. Especially since Alex sits next to me in AP History and AP English and Asher is just... everywhere. xD
Why is this so entertaining?
Ah. Yes. Why does junior year suck?
I don't have any classes with Nathaniel. =________=
I had just accepted that, because we'd still have anime club together~
But, you know what?
He didn't join anime club. =____________=
Apparently it "takes too much time" (according to Jenna, who has been our messenger. xD)
This sucks!
He's graduating this year, too!
He won't reply to my emails!
I have no other way to talk to him, and I'm too nervous to go look for him at lunch. ;________;
This sucks so much.
I didn't think I'd have to end things like this. Soon he'll be gone, and I'll be all alone, and I won't have any memories from our last year together to sustain me.
I made it into the COLOR Project! I had always thought they were an uber-amazing dubbing group that I could fangirl over but never take part in... But then! Vee opened auditions! *Chyeah!*
I made it. My name is now Kin. x3 Kokoro Kin. Kin Kokoro. Kin na Kokoro! Kin no Kokoro? Kin ni Kokoro...? (Damn you particles!)
So what was once an uber-amazing dubbing group that was out of my grasp is now an uber-amazing dubbing group with my not-so uber amazing vocals bringing it down! =D
Seeeeee?
I think it just sounds weird because Vee and I have the deeper voices in the group, and she used her 'Berryz/C-ute' voice. xD I just used my normal voice. xDD
Personally, I find it hard to sound cool and spiffeh and uber-amazing when singing a Berryz song (with the exception of Very Beauty)...
Morning Coffee will sound awesome, though.
More news!
Smile! Project will be clearing out the inactive members~ I talked with Rae, and I can stick with Iida and Junjun and Goto in Iromoni. x3
Vee and I will be doing two duets. x3 Yay Melon Kinenbi!
Dubs:
I like how I sound in this. xD It actually turned out really well~
I'm really muffled in this. Dx
And no matter how much I'd like it to be true, Sarah and my voices don't mix that well~
But you've got to admit... Aika is so cute in this PV. x3 I'm so glad I get so sing as such a cutie. Junjun is cute, too.
Onegai Miwaku no Target~
I love the video for this. The PV I posted somewhere on the blog, and it features buff black guys dancing and singing. This is the concert, and it's more fun. You get to see the members better. I'm glad I found it. =3 (Yes, I mixed this.)
I'm covering for Saitou Hitomi. Whenever I see her, I'm blinded by her sexiness. It's amazing. I've never been overwhelmed by someone's sex appeal before. xDD
My Egao YES Nude dub. =3
I really like this. Everyone sounds great. And it sounds awesome. x3 Nami is an amazing singer. She sounds JUST like Fujimoto and Takahashi. She's singing as Takahashi in this, but she can easily tweak her voice to sound like Fujimoto. Did I mention she's amazing?
The name is Kokoro. I am a seventeen year old wota. I like Junjun. I probably should be shot for half of the things that I say but I say them anyway. Nice to meet you.
I just saw the promotional ad for the Pepper Keibu single. (It feels weird calling it that).
