Hidden message behind Mikaze Ai's t-shirt design

Remember the UtaPri t-shirt series with Ai's design being a sequence of 1's and 0's in the shape of a love heart? Well someone deciphered the binary code and tweeted that the message is "はつこい" meaning 'first love'. 

 This is so sweet and beautiful, I'm going to sit in the corner and cry now.

Good Smile company reveals new Hatsune Miku nendroid

The nendroid will be available to order in the Good Smile Online Shop between July 8th until August 5th, and will be delivered in October. Miku costs 3,200 yen (about $33 AUD).

Seiyuu info: Heights

I saw the following post while scrolling through twitter:

Heights of Male seiyuus.
Yusa Kouji (遊佐浩二)→173cm
Tatsuhisa Suzuki (鈴木達央)→173cm
Namikawa Daisuke (浪川大輔)→173cm
Fukuyama Jun (福山潤)→170cm
Ono Daisuke (小野大輔)→175cm
Maeno Tomoaki (前野智昭)→176cm
Inoue Kikuko (中井和哉)→169cm
Hino Satoshi (日野聡)→170cm
Hirakawa Daisuke (平川大輔)→167cm
Kishio Daisuke (岸尾だいすけ)→166cm
Terashima Takuma (寺島拓篤)→166cm

O.O Terashi and Hirarin's so short... I'm 166cm myself...

What my mother always yells at me at dinner time

Hataraku Maou sama #10

Pillow laptop

I need one of these so I can watch anime at all times.

Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000% - Episode 10 [v.P]

New (arrogant) rivals. (Kind of) Plot ensues.

I felt that the art degraded in this ep.
Sudden realization: There's only 3 eps of UtaPri left. ;_;

Pumpkin's Palette: Cream to your coffee

For those that watched the latest Valvrave episode, #8, Haruto made a comment to L-Elf that
"I (Haruto) am the cream to your (L-Elf) coffee". What he meant was that although coffee is bitter, like L-Elf, by adding some cream on top the drink tastes much nicer, and that was Haruto's subtle way of agreeing to team up with L-Elf.
This was requested by Reverie Metherlance:

[Lyrics] third Wizard - Yuutaku II 「ゆーたくⅡ」

Basic info:

"Yuutaku II" 「ゆーたくⅡ」 is a unit comprised of two seiyuus, Ono Yuuki and Eguchi Takuya. Their two-sided debut single is called 『third Wizard/IN FUTURE!!』. The song "third Wizard" is used as the main theme song of the radio show "What will I do? What will I be!? Yuutaku II" 「どうする?どうなる!?ゆーたくⅡ」, and their second song "IN FUTURE!!" is used as a ending song of the anime Battle Spirits: Sword Eyes.

Comments:

I found these two songs to be very upbeat and catchy. It's full of fun and energy (especially in their PV, they act pretty childish/silly). 

You can download a sample of this single here. You can watch the PV here.

Description: Kanji lyrics and Romaji lyrics of Yuutaku II's song "third Wizard".

Note: English translation coming soon.

[Lyrics] The Misfit Go - OLDCODEX (Arata Kangatari ED)

Description: Kanji lyrics, Romaji lyrics and English translated lyrics of The Misfit Go by OLDCODEX, the ending song of Arata Kangatari.

Note: Partly transcribed by ear. The parts in brackets ( ) in the English translation are there to help the meaning flow smoother. Unfortunately I don't have CD booklet so I couldn't transcribe the lyrics by sight. I got the jap lyrics from here. Although I did double check the lyrics by ear. I also 'translated' the original English lyrics, just because I wanted to change the Japlish to actual English. Translation not 100% certain, I'm still learning the language. 

Screenshot highlights from Hataraku Maou #9, Karneval #9, Shingeki #9, Valvrave #8

[Caption this]

Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000% - Episode 9 [v.P]

First anime to watch on my catch-up list is definitely UtaPri.

What I felt when my computer died.

My ideal house

I will buy a seven story house just so I can make my staircases look like this: (pics taken from the Ikebukuro Animate shop)

 

My Monday

As you read in the previous post, today's weather was very fine indeed.

I met up with megabubbletea to vamp up my new laptop, ie. wipe Windows 8 and install Linux Mint 15. We spent most of the morning doing just that, while most of the late afternoon was us trying to get Osu! working (without lagging) on our LM's. While we got the program to run, sadly, the game was too laggy to play.

pumpkin_so77 and megabubbletea 'shaggin' it out' on Cheese.

I spent most of tonight transferring my files (mainly music and pictures) back on to my laptop hard drive. Now I've finally got time to download and catch up on the four day's worth of anime and music that I missed out on (I think I've got about 6 hours worth of anime, and another 5 hours of music).

Other news: 

• Natsuki's character single reached 4th ranking on Friday on the Oricon charts.
• Twitter is dead again tonight, so I can't get my first hand anime news.
• I started playing Devil Survivor 2 (the game) on my DS. I'm not even past the first day (Sunday) and I've died over 8 times already. I'm not a very good gamer.
• If I'm not feeling lazy tomorrow I may do a compiled anime review; Don't worry, I'll definitely do a UtaPri review.

New toy (laptop), New experiences... in Microsoft failing

So my trusty Acer laptop died on Thursday, and I was absolutely devastated. I mean I had no computer access for TWO WHOLE DAYS.
Yes, I was very distraught. I even ended up having to sleep early (@10pm)! And today I finally had time to walk into an electronics store and happily bought myself a new laptop, a HP ENVY m6-1117TX. I was pretty content with this purchase, considering I got this baby at a bargain price.

So the story goes: after my laptop died, I immediately consulted my computer guru megabubbletea (+Diluen Cheong ) on what laptop I should purchase and he sent me a list of options (a short list thank goodness!). I then compared his various suggestions and decided that the HP Envy was the one I wanted because it fell into my desired price range (below $800), in fact it was advertised online as $698, and had really good specs.

But this morning when I walked into the store I discovered that the price tag on the laptop I wanted said $998. I jumped in surprise and thought 'WHAT? That's too expensive, that's not what the online advertisement said!' I kind of started to panic, thinking 'oh no, what should I do, I don't want to fork out that much money for a laptop, should I pick another brand instead?' But then I decided to *try* and "argue" with the salesperson to see if I could get the HP Envy at a cheaper price, namely the price listed online, but I wasn't hoping too much. Surprisingly, the salesman agreed to sell the laptop to me at the price listed online, and he too was surprised at how cheap such a good laptop was; A co-worker of the salesman serving me overheard our conversation and he immediately declared that he was going to set one stock aside for himself (noting that there were only 4 pieces of stock left). So I guess I was pretty lucky in this transaction.
 

Then tonight I decided to have a play with Windows 8 before dumping it on Monday and installing Linux Mint instead. It took a while to setup and download the apps (perhaps due to the slowness of my internet). Of course once I was able to 'use the computer' I HAD to go online and tell the world (via social networking - G+) that I'm using my new gadget and testing out Win8. So I clicked on the IE icon (because Chrome isn't installed by default on a Windows) and I was immediately greeted with the following friendly familiar message:

Was I furious? Not really, I was pretty much rolling on the floor laughing at how poor Microsoft was. Not even 10 seconds into the system and a Windows error message was thrown into my face. This has got to be a world record at Microsoft failing.

Shinomiya Natsuki's character single ranked 6th on first day of release

Oricon released their rankings tonight for this week's set of new releases, which includes Natsuki's character single, from Uta no Prince sama Maji Love 2000%. Natsuki came in 6th, which is pretty good, considering he had to compete against popular bands such as Arashi, who came 1st, and 2PM, who came 2nd. Congratulations to my bi-polar prince!

[Lyrics] Be - Song Riders (Devil Survivor 2: The Animation ED)

Edited my Houtsuin drawing. Does he look creepier now? (lol)

I love Devil Survivor 2: The animation. And I need an excuse to procrastinate, so I'm translating the ED song 'Be' by Song Riders. Thank goodness most of it is English lyrics. Unfortunately I don't have CD booklet so I couldn't transcribe the lyrics by sight. I got the jap lyrics from here. Although I did double check the lyrics by ear.

Description: Kanji lyrics, Romaji lyrics and English translated lyrics of Be by Song Riders, the ending song of Devil Survivor 2: The Animation.

Note: Partly transcribed by ear. Translation not 100% certain, I'm still learning the language. The parts in brackets ( ) in the English translation are there to help the meaning flow smoother. I also 'translated' the original English lyrics, just because I wanted to change the Japlish to actual English.

Kanji lyrics

I have not thought about living until yesterday
It just a seemed like one scene of a film
I need lore

Oh, everything has utterly changed
泣きそうになるくらい
目を塞いでも変わらない
思いが反比例

(I take it)
Close your eyes
Imagine how to live
You must do it
I close my eyes
And determined
I'm pressed for choice
Just about a leave, faraway
生きるため It's only one
We gotta choose it
So do we?
Just about a leave, faraway
生きるため It's only one
Can you drive your destiny?
Be it

(Now)

Everybody go
残酷な世界を旅する
生きるしか　Chanceは無い
どれだけ目を塞いだって
チクタク迫り来る終焉を
選択肢は無い
答えを探してあがいてもがいても見えない
争い奪って壊し合って繰り返しても止めない
もうどこに居たって同じだって
だから僕は止まらない
また日が沈んで行く

Hold your hand
You don't to meet someones end no more
So do I
For not to leave
Don't wanna get a wrong choice
Just about a leave, faraway
生きるため It's only one
We gotta choose it
So do we?
Just about a leave, faraway
生きるため It's only one
Can you drive your destiny?
Be it

Why? How?
They disappeared.
Still I don't get it, for real
Combine forces you and me.
We trust to get back the peace

Close your eyes
Imagine how to live
You must do it
I close my eyes
And determined
I'm pressed for choice
Just about a leave, faraway
生きるため It's only one
We gotta choose it
So do we?
Just about a leave, faraway
生きるため It's only one
Can you drive your destiny?
Be it

Why? How?
They disappeared.
Still I don't get it, for real
Combine forces you and me.
We trust to get back the peace

Romaji lyrics

I have not thought about living until yesterday
It just a seemed like one scene of a film
I need lore

Oh, everything has utterly changed
naki sou ni naru kurai
me wo fusai demo kawara nai
omoi ga hanpirei

(I take it)
Close your eyes
Imagine how to live
You must do it
I close my eyes
And determined
I'm pressed for choice
Just about a leave, faraway
ikiru tame It's only one
We gotta choose it
So do we?
Just about a leave, faraway
ikiru tame It's only one
Can you drive your destiny?
Be it

(Now)

Everybody go
zankoku na sekai wo tabi suru
ikiru shika Chance wa nai
dore dake me wo fusai datte
chikutaku semarikuru shuuen wo
sentakushi wa nai
kotae wo sagashite agaite mogaite mo mienai
arasoi ubatte kowashiatte kurikaeshite mo yamenai
mou doko ni itatte onaji datte
dakara boku wa tomaranai
mata hi ga shizun de iku

Hold your hand
You don't to meet someones end no more
So do I
For not to leave
Don't wanna get a wrong choice
Just about a leave, faraway
ikiru tame It's only one
We gotta choose it
So do we?
Just about a leave, faraway
ikiru tame It's only one
Can you drive your destiny?
Be it

Why? How?
They disappeared.
Still I don't get it, for real
Combine forces you and me.
We trust to get back the peace

Close your eyes
Imagine how to live
You must do it
I close my eyes
And determined
I'm pressed for choice
Just about a leave, faraway
ikiru tame It's only one
We gotta choose it
So do we?
Just about a leave, faraway
ikiru tame It's only one
Can you drive your destiny?
Be it

Why? How?
They disappeared.
Still I don't get it, for real
Combine forces you and me.
We trust to get back the peace

English translation

I haven't thought about living until yesterday.
Everything seemed so unreal, just like from a movie.
I need to know more.

Oh, everything has utterly changed.
It's enough to bring me to tears.
Even if I close my eyes, the reality won't change,
But my feelings will.

(I'll take life on)
Close your eyes!
Imagine how it is to truly live.
You must do it.
I close my eyes,
And be determined.
I'm pressed for choice,
Should I abandon everything and go faraway.
To survive,
It's the only choice.
We gotta choose it,
So do we?
I'm just about a leave faraway.
To survive,
It's only one (step),
Can you drive your destiny?
Be it (Be the one to choose your own fate).
Now.

Everybody has to make a journey across this cruel world.
My only chance is to survive.
No matter how much I cover my eyes,
There's no avoiding
The end that is looming, as time ticks by.
I struggle as I seek for answers that cannot be found.
There's no end to these desperate struggles, the destruction and breaking (of your soul)
No matter where I go, I keep seeing the same scenarios.
That's why I will not stop (fighting),
The sun will set again.

Let me hold onto your hand,
Because I don't want to see any more lives lost.
I also don't want to leave,
I don't wanna make a wrong choice.
If you're just about to leave faraway,
To survive,
It's only one (moment's decision).
We gotta choose it,
So do we?
If you're just about to leave faraway
To survive
It's only one (choice)
Can you drive your destiny?
Be it (Be the one to choose your own fate).

Why and how did they disappear?
I still don't really get it.
Let's combine our forces,
We'll trust each other and bring back the peace.

Close your eyes!
Imagine how it is to truly live.
You must do it.
I close my eyes,
And be determined.
I'm pressed for choice,
Should I abandon everything and go faraway.
To survive,
It's the only choice.
We gotta choose it,
So do we?
I'm just about a leave faraway.
To survive,
It's only one (step),
Can you drive your destiny?
Be it (Be the one to choose your own fate).
Now!

Why and how did they disappear?
I still don't really get it.
Let's combine our forces,
We'll trust each other and bring back the peace.

[Seiyuu] Suwabe tweets about Google Glasses and DS2 live broadcast

Last night was the third round of the Devil Survivor 2: The Animation live broadcast show. Seiyuu Suwabe Junichi was the host of the show and Nobuhiko Okamoto was invited as guest. I can't comment on the show yet because I haven't watched it, I'm still waiting for some kind person to upload it. But I bet it was full of fun judging from how the first and second round of shows went.

『Google Glass』遂に実物を、見た！触った！試した！ マジ新世紀！

Also, Suwabe tweeted early this morning that he got his hands on the latest Google Glasses. He said that "He obtained the real thing (Google Glasses), touched it and tried it! It's really amazing new technology".

Pumpkin's Seiyuu appreciation post: Hatano Wataru

Since I don't have any news to post today, enjoy a picture of one of my favourite seiyuus, Hatano Wataru. Maybe I'll start a daily seiyuu appreciation picture post since my collection of seiyuu pictures is increasing daily.

UtaPri merchandise gone too far?

Broccoli goods announced last week that UtaPri scrunchies can be purchased at their store for 700 yen each (that's approximately $7 AUD).

Seriously!? $7 for a piece of rubber covered with some cloth to tie your hair with!

Then they also announced that they will start selling these really UGLY stockings that no one would dare to wear outside the house, for a price of 2,500 Yen (approx. $25 AUD). =="

No second season of K but a movie instead

Last night an event for the anime K, titled "K-Who is the next-" was held. With JunJun, OnoD, Sakurai Takahiro, Kenjiro and Namikawa participating in the event.

It was announced that there will be a movie (rather than the fan-speculated second season) and its tentative release date is set for 2014. No other information is available yet. 

Pictures stolen from Kenjiro's twitter.

Personally I would've preferred a second season, but then I'm not sure how they would develop the story considering the first season ending. Let's just wait and see how the movie turns out (i.e. don't get your hopes high).