Updates on Tenipuri real-life movie

Some updates on the upcoming real-life adaptation of the Tenipuri movie. Well, I won't be watching this when it gets released on DVD since I don't want to spoil the wonderful impression I have on the manga and anime but I'll still provide information on this from time to time. Anyway, the official screening date has not been revealed but what happened was that pre-sale tickets are available since 28 Jan. For those who buy them, they get a choice of the Seigaku or Hyotei wrist watches. Personally, I prefer the Hyotei version since the blue colour for Seigaku is not as nice. Another point to note is the ticket price which is extremely cheap as compared to the norm. For kids from 3 all the way to 12, they pay only 800 yen. As for older students or adults, it's just 1300 yen. Looking at the cinema line-up, I get the feeling that this is not going to be a nationwide release in many big cinemas but rather selected niche theatres. This seems kind of different from what happened during the anime movie run. Does that give an inkling of the quality of this production and the expected number of visitors to turn up and watch the real-life movie? Anyway, just looking at the poster in the picture makes me shake my head. How could they "destroy" two of my Top 3 favourites by making Tezuka and Atobe look like that?! I don't want to get started in my criticism of the movie whenever the topic is raised so I'll try to restrain myself now.

Luckily, the anime OVA series is continuing so I'm thankful that I won't be subjected to the nightmare of this real-life movie. I just hope that there are no more sequels to such real-life adaptations. Spend the money wisely on other things like the anime OVAs and movies, CDs and manga instead.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Sasaki Nozomu-san!

Today is the 39th birthday of Sasaki Nozomu-san, the seiyuu who plays Akutsu Jin in Tenipuri and hails from Hiroshima. His blood type is O and his official fanclub is named NOZOMU & Rabbits Company i.e. NRC for short. He went to Tokyo when he was 19 and made his debut in 1986.

He has a lot of experience in voice-acting and doing narrations as seen from his career biography. Besides Tenipuri, I've also heard him in Monster as the intelligent and mysterious twin brother Johan Liebert. Other than that, Sasaki-san's voice can also be heard in works like Yu Yu Hakusho, Captain Tsubasa, Yu Gi Oh, Rurounin Kenshin, BLOOD+, Garasu no Kamen and Gundam. He also does narrations and voice overs for Japanese and overseas movies/dramas as seen from his official agency website .

Updates on Shishido's upcoming album

Updates of Shishido Ryo's upcoming album to be released on 8 Feb. The title of his debut album is ZERO and contains 12 tracks. At the moment, NEC Interchannel has only indicated that Oishi Shuichirou is one of the guests appearing in this album so I guess more names will be revealed in time to come. Catalog number is NECA-3059 and price is 3000 yen. The freebie for this album is a bonus disc but there is no information about what this will contain. Funny thing is, why aren't there any Hyotei names revealed in the guest list? Oishi is from Seigaku though so this makes it quite strange for his name to appear ahead of Shishido's fellow teammates especially his longtime partner Ootori Choutarou. Anyway, we should be seeing the list of guests as the countdown to the release date continues.

Tenipuri mugs on Mekke

There are some new additions to the range of Tenipuri merchandise sold via Mekke! which is Shueisha's online shopping plaza. Mugs featuring pictures of some characters are available for sale and according to what I see, there are 14 different patterns. Too bad the website only accepts Japanese addresses for shipping so I can't lay my hands on these goods despite my desire for them. ^__^I have a picture of the Tezuka mug shown here which is 75mm wide and 83mm tall. Actually, all the mugs are of this standard size but I'm just giving the dimensions here for reference. Each of the mugs cost 800 yen which is more than SGD 10, taking into consideration the current exchange rate. To be frank, I think the outer designs of the mugs are quite plain but the Fudoumine and St Rudolph patterns looked good.

Let me list the designs available. From Seigaku, we have Tezuka, Fuji, Echizen and Kikumaru. There's also a Seigaku-school mug with the picture of Echizen at the bottom which contains details about his class and register number. For St Rudolph, there's Mizuki and Yuuta and for Yamabuki, there's Sengoku and Akutsu. Atobe and Oshitari represent Hyotei while Kamio and Ibu represent Fudoumine. The biggest surprise for me was that Sanada did not have a mug of his own as Kirihara was the sole representative from Rikkaidai. If Sanada's mug was released, I would have tried to get it provided it looks nice. Actually, I don't like the pictures on the bottom of the mug except for Fuji Shuusuke and Oshitari Yuushi's versions. These two look really cute as compared to the rest which just don't seem appealing to me even for my top favourites of Atobe and Tezuka.

Covers for 3 Guava Trio & Seigaku Trio CDs

Finally managed to get a glimpse of the other 2 New Year CDs which I did not buy. Wow, the 3 Guava Trio cover is so nice and it's obvious that they are wearing the hakata in tune with the New Year Day release date. It seems like there is no talk segment for them thus the CD is cheaper than the Meganes' single. As such, there's only one track i.e. Brand New Day and the karaoke version. No wonder the price was so different from the rest when I first saw details of this CD. Anyway, it is rare to see Jirou with his eyes wide open since he's usually in the sleeping mode unless he's playing in a match and he looks quite good on the cover. Marui is so cute as he munches on snacks like usual. I have to say that I find Aoi quite out-of-place when he stands beside these two guys. Maybe Gakuto might be a better choice to form 3 Guava Trio since they share common characteristics in height, play style and the cutesy appearance.

With regards to the Seigaku Trio, I really do not think the sales of this title would do well based on the popularity of these 3 guys especially Horio. As such, this seems to explain why there is a need for so many guests in this CD i.e. Echizen Ryoma, Tezuka Kunimitsu, Inui Sadaharu, Atobe Keigo, Ibu Shinji, Kuki Kiichi, Karupin and even Principal Ishikawa from Seigaku. A reason why this costs more than the other 2 releases is due to it having 3 versions of the title track and a bonus recording "Tennis no Oujisama Off The Radio" which should involve the guests named above. Well, I don't see myself buying this CD just to listen to the bonus track though so it's highly likely that I'll buy this single. The cover picture looks kind of plain too so I really wonder if this is a last-minute production from Interchannel.

Oricon ranking for New Year 2006 singles & Manga Vol 32

Results of the New Year 2006 singles on the Oricon singles chart (16 Jan) are announced today via NEC Interchannel. Not suprisingly, Megane's was the best performer among the three groups which had released singles on 1 Jan with a position of No.19. 3 Guava Trio got No.21 while Seigaku Ichinen Trio got No.68. This marks a good start to 2006 for Tenipuri character CDs and Interchannel so I hope they can release full singles instead of one-track singles which may cost less but is lacking in substantial content to justify the price tag.

On another note, manga Vol 32's release date has been confirmed as 3 Feb. I guess I'm probably going to buy it from the local Kinokuniya this time round.

Updates to Tenipuri OVA Ep 1

There are more updates on the first OVA release due in March this year. Seems like there's only one episode of 25 minutes so I guess the Higa arc might extend for at least 3 or 4 episodes. That may be good news since this will ensure that the Tenipuri series can be continued for a long time at least until the Hyotei arc. Anyway, the freebies this time are 2 photos (why 2 instead of 3 for usual volumes?) and 2 sets of lucky draw forms i.e. one for the release of the first OVA and the other meant to be collected with other future OVA releases. I doubt I can take part in both lucky draws so these items don't mean much to me. Another feature is the audio comment by rival schools and starting the ball rolling will be Mizuki Hajime and Fuji Yuuta. I'm still waiting for the cover picture to be revealed...

Photos in Fan Disc - Best & Brightest Remix

As mentioned previously, here are the photos included in the latest fandisc release. The first picture features Yukimura Seiichi, the captain of Rikkaidai who has been MIA for a very long time due to his illness. Although the fandisc is mainly on the Senbatsu Camp and the friendly matches, Sanada Genichirou's match with Echizen Ryoma during the Kantou finals was also featured in the story highlights section so that's when Yukimura came into the picture. There was a scene of him and Sanada having a chat before his hospitalisation where Yukimura asked the latter to take care of things while he was away. Well, my personal impression of Yukimura that he looks so gentle and kind like Fuji but I have a feeling that he may not behave like that on the court. As such, I am really looking forward to seeing him play in the Nationals especially if he gets to face someone like Tezuka or Fuji. If the OVAs continue all the way to the finals of the Nationals arc, chances are Rikkaidai might be featured again since I really don't see any team posing a threat to them. Seigaku has a tougher journey to the finals in comparison.

Next is Echizen Ryoma in the Senbatsu team T-shirt. If I didn't remember wrongly, this scene was when the members gathered to find out who "pushed" Kirihara down the stairs and Echizen was just being an onlooker throughout the whole exchange. Well, he always looks that cool or puts on a front most of the time as if nothing interests him at all so I don't find anything special about this photo at all. I guess since he's the lead, they've got to put a photo of him somewhere at regular intervals. How I wish they could have put a picture of Tezuka, Atobe or Sanada in this fan disc! This leads me to think, does every copy of the fan disc have the same photos or are they in random combinations? I've got to see if there's anyone who can verify this with me. If it's by random, that means luck plays a big part in determining which photos you can get but that would be time-consuming and a waste of money to put different combinations in each package.

Last but not least, a shot of Oshitari Yuushi and Ootori Choutarou. I remember this is when the announcement of Hyotei going to the Nationals by way of a special entry was made and everyone went to look for Atobe. Well, Ootori looks more like he is included in this photo by chance because the focus is apparently on Oshitari. To be frank, Hyotei going to the Nationals is probably due to the team's high popularity thus Konomi-sensei had to find a way to put these guys back into the game. I wonder if he will do the same for Rikkai by setting up a final between Seigaku and them. I really think that this match-up will be very interesting especially if Yukimura and Tezuka get a chance to meet in Singles 1 instead of letting Echizen hog the limelight all the time.

Updates - Rajipuri Jan 06 and Echizen's mini album

From the Interchannel website, the second week guest for Rajipuri Jan 06 is Takahashi Hiroki who plays Kikumaru Eiji. It should be fun since his role has frequent contact with the characters Oishi and Shishido played by the TK hosts Kondo Takayuki and Kusuda Toshiyuki. I can't get the latest Rajipuri episodes to listen to so I can only imagine.

Another announcement is that Echizen's mini album, "Progress" got No. 55 in the Oricon album chart dated 2 Jan. It seems that the results were based on sales for 1st and 2nd Jan only. Thus, this title can be considered to be the first Oricon Top 100 entry in 2006 for Tenipuri CDs so I hope that more will join its ranks.

Actually on New Year's Day, I did check the website and found that there was a lucky draw where fans could send postcards to request for the New Year cards from their favourite seiyuus and the singers of the various OPs and EDs. From the message, this was an annual event. However, since they restricted it to people residing in Japan and the closing date was 4 Jan, there was no way that I could try my luck. It would be good if I can get one from Sanada, Tezuka or Atobe but it's just too bad that I don't fit the eligibility criteria in the first place. What a pity!

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Kabaji Munehiro!

Today's the birthday of the silent giant in Hyotei, Kabaji Munehiro! Well, Kabaji doesn't speak most of the time and usually answers "usu" whenever Atobe talks. Other than that, he always says "katsu no wa Hyotei desu" (It is Hyotei who wins). As such, he is seen as a follower of the all-mighty Atobe-sama who does things at the latter's commands. However, I don't think Kabaji is just stupid to be made use of and Atobe doesn't treat him like a slave too. I get the feeling that Kabaji admires Atobe for his strength in tennis and charismatic presence as a natural leader so he's willing to follow Atobe around. And if Kabaji was just a fool to be manipulated, I doubt Atobe would bother to keep him around.

Kabaji is a simple-minded guy who copies his opponent's play style so he is indeed a troublesome rival to face since it will be like a match with one's self. Although there's another guy Wakato Hiroshi from Jousei Shounan who also emphasizes on copying from professional players, I believe Kabaji is tougher to handle since his learning power is incredible and can copy tricks so perfectly even in the first time he plays with someone. In Wakato's case, he did admit that there are flaws in trying to imitate others at short notice when he played against Kaidou but this problem doesn't seem to be evident for Kabaji.

Kabaji's seiyuu is Tsuruoka Satoshi who also plays Kisarazu Atsushi in the series. He was born on 19 Aug in Kanagawa Prefecture. Well, given that we rarely hear Kabaji speak and he keeps his voice so low, I didn't notice it while watching Tenipuri. I've never seen other works of his except for Jigoku Shoujo where he played the role of Iwashita's father in Ep 3. As it was a brief appearance, I didn't know about it until today. Maybe he's quite new to the seiyuu line thus he doesn't have too many projects under his name yet. However, he does dubbing work for Korean languages and takes part in drama CDs etc thus his main area of work may not be restricted to animes.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Dan Taiichi!

The first birthday celebration post of 2006 belongs to Dan Taiichi from Yamabuki! Frankly speaking, I didn't really like him when Dan-kun first appeared. The way he spoke got on my nerves. I'm not referring to the fact that he uses formal speech but rather the tendency to put desu at the end of every sentence. In a later episode when he tried to copy Echizen in terms of dressing, that made me wonder why he had to go to such an extent so as to follow Akutsu's advice which he should learn from Echizen. Nevertheless, I can't bring myself to dislike him since he is such a kind and likeable guy after all. Maybe I'll say that I'm neutral towards him by now since I look upon him a younger brother.

Dan-kun's seiyuu is Kobayashi Yumiko who also happens to play Azuma Kazuma in Yakitate Japan and Sara in Love Hina. I've not watched other animes which she took part in though. Talking about Kobayashi-san, I didn't notice that she appeared in Yakitate until more than 30 episodes later when I happened to find her name familiar in the credits. As such, I did not have a clue that Dan-kun and Azuma-kun had the same voice before I did a search to confirm my guess. I don't really pay much attention to the cast list unless I'm interested to see if I guessed correctly when I heard a familiar voice. As such, I wasn't aware of who Dan-kun's seiyuu was so I didn't link it back to Azuma-kun. Come to think of it, if I didn't know that the seiyuu is a lady, I would have thought that the voice belongs to a guy. Seiyuus are such incredible people that some of them can sound entirely different in another series.

Kobayashi-san was born on 18 June 1979 in Chiba Prefecture's Youka Ichiba City and graduated from Wayo Joushi Daigaku's Japanese Literature Faculty. Subsequently, she also graduated from Tokyo Seitoku Daigaku's Traditional Japanese Culture Department in March 2002. Wow, that means she must be pretty strong in the Japanese language? Kobayashi-san does a lot of young boy roles and her nickname is Shupicchi which is said to be what becomes of her full name if you say it quickly. Some of the other animes where her voice can be heard includes Inuyasha, Ueki no Housoku, NARUTO, Shakugan no Shana, Gundam, Futakoi and Peacemaker.