火曜日, 2月 28, 2006

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Fuji Shuusuke!

Today is not exactly the birthday of Fuji Shuusuke since his is on 29 Feb. However, given that this special day only occurs once every 4 years, I decided to post this birthday feature on 28 Feb instead of leaving it till 1 Mar. Otanjoubi omedetou, Fuji Shuusuke-kun!

Tensai is the nickname of Shuusuke and everyone doesn't call him a genius for nothing. He may appear weak and isn't famous for powerful techniques. However, his beautiful and elegant moves which has great effects despite the absence of strength would impress even his opponents. Besides that, he doesn't show his emotions on court and usually displays a smiling face. This warm front will disappear if his friends and family members' well-being are at stake. That is why Mizuki Hajime and Kirihara Akaya have both "suffered" at the hands of Shuusuke because they had the "audacity" to antagonise him. ^__^ Never underestimate someone who may seem harmless since they will usually be the most dangerous people.

It's a pity that Shuusuke is not playing in the Nationals-Hyotei arc. It also turns out to be a coincidence that Akutagawa Jirou, his opponent during the Kantou tournament is also a reserve so I'm quite disappointed that both of them do not get a chance to work their magic on the courts again. Unless Konomi-sensei decides to kill off the manga by letting Seigaku lose in this round, there is a high chance that we can get to see Shuusuke again. In addition, we can get to hear Kaida Yuki-san's voice in the Nationals OVA to be released from next month onwards so there's no worry of not seeing Tensai Fuji in the near future.

土曜日, 2月 25, 2006

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Morikubo Shoutarou!

Today's the birthday of Morikubo Shoutarou who is turning 32 this year and he plays Kirihara Akaya from Rikkaidai in the anime whose pet phrase is "Tsubusu" (I will destroy you). Besides being a seiyuu, Morikubo-san also forms the band, AN's ALL STARS with another seiyuu, Ishikawa Hideo. His hometown is Hachioji City in Tokyo and he left Tama Arts University before graduation. Morikubo-san's height is 165cm and his blood group is B. He counts playing the guitar and skiing as his hobbies. Morikubo's current agency is VIMS which is a related company to I'm enterprise Co. Ltd, an agency managing mainly seiyuus.

I've not watched many of the animes he appears in with the exception of "Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru where he plays the lead character Yuki Yori. Due to the fact that his voice is very unique and relatively higher-pitched as compared to most male seiyuus, I could identify him immediately. The coincidental thing was that Toriumi Kosuke who plays Sengoku in Tenipuri also appeared in this anime as Yori's best friend Yano Haruka. I just felt as if I was hearing Kirihara and Sengoku in this anime despite seeing two different characters and watching a story totally unrelated to Tenipuri. ^__^

Besides this OVA, Morikubo-san also counts animes like Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo, Cyborg 009, Shin Shirayukihime Densetsu Pretty, Tokyo Underground, NARUTO, Matantei Roki RAGNAROK and Black Jack in his career portfolio. As Kirihara Akaya, he has also released a solo single, "Akaku Someru Tsuki" and is a member of "Pull Tab to Can".

金曜日, 2月 24, 2006

Updates on Ibu Shinji & Kuki Kiichi's new singles

As per Interchannel's announcement, more details of Ibu Shinji (Fudoumine) and Kuki Kiichi's new singles are as follows:-

Title: Kiichi no Hayaguchi Kotoba
Artist: Kuki Kiichi
Release Date: 15 March 2006
Catalog Number: NECM-10036
Price: 777 yen

Title: Start~Boku no Yukue
Artist: Ibu Shinji
Release Date: 15 March 2006
Catalog Number: NECM-10037
Price: 777 yen

水曜日, 2月 22, 2006

Manga Vol 32 - Kusemono Doushi

This volume marks the beginning of the Hyoutei arc in the Nationals so we are going to see lots of familiar faces from now on. The thing is everyone seems to have new tricks up their sleeves so it is a challenge of trying to keep track of the names for the special techniques. Luckily, we are dealing with a school who is playing against Seigaku for the third time so there's no need to remember the names of the rivals.

We start off with Singles 3 where Momo is up against Oshitari. This is the second time they have played against each other ever since the Doubles 2 match during the Kantou Tournament first round. At that time, Momo took the place of Oishi whose wrist was injured and paired up with Kikumaru to beat Oshitari and Mukahi. The Hyoutei pair lost mainly due to Mukahi's lack of stamina and their conceited attitude which made them underestimate the Seigaku pair. As such, this is a very important match for both parties since they don't want to lose to each other. Especially for Oshitari, losing to the same person again simply goes against his principles so he is burning with desire to defeat Momo or he would never progress to the next level.

Initially, Momo has the upper hand because he has changed his playing style from an aggressive approach focusing on strength to one which uses less of his energy and concentrate on reacting according to the situation. However, he finds that he cannot read Oshitari's thoughts after 4 games even though the latter should be showing frustration at Momo's lead. And coupled with the fact that Oshitari has a number of new tricks up his sleeve, Momo seems unable to retalliate. Here's a list of the new techniques:

F & D: Fake & Dropshot
F A S: Flat Approach Shot
S S A S: Side Spin Approach Shot

I must admit that it is a mouthful to say these names. Trust Konomi-sensei to come up with these!

The turning point of the match comes when Momo bumps into the light beam at the side of the court and hurts his forehead. He was chasing a side shot from Oshitari and lost control thus leading to the injury. However, he refuses to give up despite the bleeding forehead. Although everyone thinks that Oshitari might finish the match quickly so as to take advantage of the situation, he decides to play to his heart's content since it's rare to bump into a rival who has so much perservance and desire in winning like Momo. In the end, Oshitari wins Singles 3 with the scoreline of 6-4.

Next up is Doubles 2 where Mukahi & Hiyoshi meet Inui & Kaidou. After seeing Momo's performance, it gets Inui very much heated up and he delivers his usual high speed serve. Due to comments that it feels very much like being swallowed by rapid waters, Inui decides to name his serve as "Waterfall". The Seigaku pair gets the first game easily because of Waterfall which measures 212 km/h, at least 10km/h faster than Ootori's Scud Serve.

However, the Hyoutei pair has a plan to finish the game as quickly as possible given that they will stand to lose out against Inui & Kaidou who boast of long-lasting stamina. It is especially important for Mukahi to do his acrobatic moves quickly or he would not be able to display them if this becomes a marathon match. That is why Sakaki has put Mukahi and Hiyoshi together despite them not enthusiastic about being doubles partners.

Inui and Kaidou sees through their aim and allows Hyoutei to go right to the match point before they start retalliating. At that time, Mukahi and Hiyoshi are already dog-tired since Kaidou had tricked them to use all of their energy before this. Thus, when he starts to use his new shot, "Tornado Snake" and Inui uses his data-tennis, they turn the tables on Hyoutei and grab the second match with a 7-5 victory.

Singles 2 pits Tezuka and Kabaji which comes as a shock to most of the spectators since nobody expected Tezuka to appear so quickly. Even though some are thinking that this will be a walkover since Kabaji is nowhere close to Atobe's level, they fail to realise that Kabaji is the copycat genius. As such, it may appear that Tezuka has the upper hand but it is definitely not the case. As Kabaji can copy Tezuka's moves easily, it will be like seeing 2 Tezukas on court where Tezuka is in actual fact fighting with himself. Imagine Kabaji and Tezuka both using Tezuka Zone! And Tezuka doesn't use his Zero Shiki drop shot because Kabaji will pick this up easily which is not to his advantage.

This volume ends with a recap of what happened to Tezuka during his Kyuushu rehabillitation trip where he meets a little girl who accuses him of stealing her tennis racket. It seems like Tezuka is having psychological problems in trusting whether he has the ability to play tennis again so remembering this episode during his match with Kabaji should have some significance to help him secure victory.

I'm elated to see Tezuka back but I'm very disappointed to see that his opponent was not Atobe. I was looking forward to them having a re-match but Konomi-sensei has chosen to pit Atobe against Echizen in Singles 1. And it looks like Jirou and Fuji will not play in this round since Doubles 2 is played by the Golden Pair (Oiishi & Kikumaru) vs Shishido & Ootori. Singles 3, Doubles 2 and probably the beginning of Singles 1 would be featured in Vol 33 to be released on 2 May but I had read a number of issues of Shonen Jump so that's how I knew about the order before they are shown in the manga volumes. Anyway, to avoid spoiling the fun for those who had not followed Jump, I won't discuss those matches yet.

日曜日, 2月 19, 2006

Info on OVA Vol 2

More information on the OVA Vol 2 to be released on 26 May 06 as revealed on Bandai Visual's website:

Time: 50 minutes
Catalog Number: BCBA-2462
Price: 5250 yen
First press freebies: 2 photos and coupon for the full set OVA lucky draw
Applicable for all versions (first press and normal): Liner note and audio commentary on the Nationals Tournament by characters of rival schools

Two episodes included in this volume
Ep 2: Hot & Cool
Singles 3 match between Echizen Ryoma and Tanishi Hitoshi

Ep 3: The fourth counter
Doubles 2 match between Taka-san / Fuji and Hiragoba Rin / Chinen Hiroshi

Based on the information above, it seems likely that the 7-volume OVA may cover the matches with Higa and Hyotei only. The first volume seems to be used for laying the groundwork for the Nationals and may show how Rokkaku fell prey to Higa's unconventional way of playing. Assuming that the Higa arc is covered by Vol 3, Vol 4 - 7 should be used for the Hyotei matches. Anything beyond that seems to be undecided yet since the manga is still in the midst of the Hyotei quarterfinals. When the cover is up on Bandai's website, I'll post it here.

土曜日, 2月 18, 2006

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Fuji Yuuta!

Today's the birthday of Otouto-kun i.e. Fuji Yuuta from St. Ruldoph! Being the younger brother of the tensai Fuji Shuusuke, Yuuta has been subjected to comparisons with his elder brother and doesn't feel good about being referred to as his younger brother. It makes him feel as if people do not see him as an individual and only remember him for being Shuusuke's younger brother thus earning himself the nickname of Otouto-kun. Although relations were tense between Yuuta and Shuusuke at the beginning, they have resolved their differences after the St Ruldoph vs Seigaku matches although Yuuta tends to be quite shy and embarrassed by Shuusuke's overwhelming show of affection at times. ^__^ It's obvious that Yuuta does care for Shuusuke but he's not the type to express his feelings. Besides, Shuusuke seems to be quite fond of teasing Yuuta and enjoys watching the latter's reaction. By the way, the picture I've posted is from the Shueisha 2006 calendar for the week beginning on 19 Feb.

Given that St. Rudolph is already out of the tournament since the end of the Tokyo arc, I guess we'll see very little of Yuuta unless he turns up during the Seigaku matches to support Shuusuke. However, Yuuta will appear with Mizuki Hajime in the OVA DVD to be released next month as commentators of the National Arc. As I understand that the first match with Higa will only begin in Vol 2 where there are 2 episodes, I guess Mizuki and Yuuta will just talk about how the Nationals tournament is structured and introduce the teams taking part. We'll know the exact contents of their talk session when the OVA DVD Vol1 containing one episode goes on sale from 24 March.

金曜日, 2月 17, 2006

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Suzuki Chihiro-san!

Today is the birthday of Suzuki Chihiro-san who plays Kamio Akira in Tenipuri! He was born in 1977 at Yamagata Prefecture and is currently a seiyuu under Arts Vision since 1 Apr 2003. He is usually called Chi-chan by his peers and fans. Suzuki used to form a group named P.K.O with Toriumi Kousuke who played Sengoku Kiyosumi and Saeki Tomo but Saeki had left the group in spring 2005 as she wanted to concentrate on treatment for her heart problem. As such, there's only Suzuki and Toriumi left in the group at the moment where they have released CDs and held concerts.

Besides Tenipuri, the only other anime I've heard Suzuki in would be Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou. Actually, it was easy to spot him because Suzuki's voice is really unique that it's hard to forget once you've heard it. Although his character, Arima Souichirou is very different from the hot-blooded Kamio in Tenipuri, I just kept seeing traces of Kamio in Arima because of Suzuki's voice despite the fact that Karekano was a much earlier production than Tenipuri. For those who are interested in finding out about Suzuki, please vist his official website here.

木曜日, 2月 16, 2006

ZERO on Oricon's Album Chart & Rajipuri #151

Shishido's first solo album, ZERO achieved a placing of No.47 on the Oricon Album Top 100 Chart as of 20 Feb 06. As compared to Progress by Echizen Ryoma which debuted at No.55 of the same chart, Shishido's album seems to have done better in terms of placing. Maybe we have to look at the sales figures to determine who has done better. Anyway, it probably won't be a fair comparison since Progress is a mini album with 4 tracks while Shishido's ZERO is a full-length album.

The guest for episode 151 of Rajipuri will be Hasu Takehiro who plays Itsuki Marehiko of Rokkaku.

火曜日, 2月 14, 2006

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Ootori Choutarou!

Today's the birthday of the kind and down-to-earth guy from Hyotei, Ootori Choutarou and it also happens to be Valentine's Day! Among his teammates, Ootori-kun can be considered to be the most humble guy in the Hyotei squad where everyone is full of confidence of the abilities they possess and they even bring this air of superiority outside the courts. However, in Ootori's case, no doubt he may know that his Scud Serve is strong, he doesn't flaunt it and only shows his faith in this technique on the court. Besides that, he is very courteous to the people around him and seems like the type to blush easily if the opposite sex showers attention on him. That is probably why he is very well-liked by fans as the epitome of kindness and humility. Personally, I also like Choutarou but not in the same sense and intensity as I feel for my top 3. ^__^ That means I treat him like a younger brother-type of figure instead of a romantic interest although he would have towered over me in real-life with his height of 185 cm.

Ootori is played by Namikawa Daisuke who has been a seiyuu since he was 9. Although Namikawa-san is only approaching 30 in April, given his early headstart, he can be considered a senior among his peers. I guess I will post another feature for Namikawa when his birthday is near so I won't go into much details of him in this post. By the way, the picture I posted was from the Shueisha calendar and Ootori happens to be featured for this week.

For all who's reading this post, happy Valentine's Day to you!

月曜日, 2月 13, 2006

The 3rd Character Popularity Ranking

In honour of Echizen Ryoma winning this round's popularity ranking, I have put up the cover of his latest mini album, Progress. This is the normal press version released recently which doesn't include the special content from the limited first press version released on Echizen's birthday aka Christmas Eve last year. What's missing would be the talk section between Echizen's seiyuu, Minagawa Junko and Konomi Takeshi-sensei but I assume that the darts tray and picture disc are also left out since it was listed on Interchannel that they would not be available after 25 Jan. To distinguish between the two versions, the background and alignment of the words are different but essentially, we are seeing the same Echizen with identical clothes and pose. Note that only the top 50 are listed in Vol 32 of the manga released earlier this month and a total of 93,211 votes were received. The numbers in brackets indicate the amount of votes received for each character. For your information, my personal top 10 not in order of preference is highlighted in bold. ^__^

1) Echizen Ryoma (13578)
2) Fuji Shuusuke (12459)
3) Atobe Keigo (9782)
4) Tezuka Kunimitsu (9578)
5) Oshitari Yuushi (7413)
6) Inui Sadaharu (5989)
7) Kirihara Akaya (5023)
8) Kikumaru Eiji (4484)
9) Niou Masaharu (4431)
10) Sengoku Kiyosumi (4149)

11) Marui Bunta (3525)
12) Shishido Ryou (3215)
13) Akutagawa Jirou (3210)
14) Yanagi Renji (3165)
15) Yukimura Seiichi (3075)
16) Mizuki Hajime (2865)
17) Ooishi Shuuichirou (2757)
18) Kaidou Kaoru (2718)
19) Saeki Kojirou (2436)
20) Ootori Choutarou (2154)

21) Akutsu Jin (2028)
22) Sanada Genichirou (1974)
23) Yagyuu Hiroshi (1743)
24) Ryuuzaki Sakuno (1584)
25) Momoshiro Takeshi (1536)
26) Kamio Akira (1527)
27) Mukahi Gakuto (1455)
28) Tezuka Ayana (1419)
29) Akazawa Yoshirou (1398)
30) Minami Kentarou (1386)

31) Hiyoshi Wakashi (1359)
32) Karupin (1356)
33) Fuji Yuuta (1284)
34) Shiraishi Kuranosuke (1140)
35) Echizen Ryooga (1113)
36) Ibu Shinji (1062)
37) Kurobane Harukaze (987)
38) Kawamura Takashi (960)
39) Sakaki Tarou (921)
40) Amane Hikaru (858)

41) Chitose (831) / Kabaji (831)
43) Tachibana Kippei (816)
44) Kisarazu Atsushi (768)
45) Oshitari Kenya (711)
46) Konomi Takeshi (609)
47) Jackal Kuwahara (591)
48) Dan Taiichi (579)
49) Tooyama Kintarou (567)
50) Kisarazu Ryou (522)

日曜日, 2月 12, 2006

Zero - Shishido Ryo

This is the cover of Shishido Ryo's first solo album, Zero which was released on 8 Feb. Comparing this to the last full album release which happens to be from Kawamura Takashi, the guest lineup for this album is considerably lesser since there's only Shishido's doubles partner, Ootori and Seigaku's Golden Pair of Ooishi Shuichirou and Kikumaru Eiji. Taka-san had at least 6 for his album though. Anyway, I feel that the guest lineup is like an enhancement to the existing package and should not take the limelight away from the lead character. Otherwise, you might end up with something which appears to be marketed based on the guest lineup instead of the character who is actually releasing that single/album. The most recent example would be the Seigaku Trio single released on 1 Jan where the number of guests was appalling considering that this is not a full-length album. It's almost as if nobody will buy the CD if they do not have a strong guest lineup.

金曜日, 2月 10, 2006

Updates to the OVA DVD series and real-life movie

According to Bandai Visual, the OVA series will be released over 7 volumes with the first on 24 March followed by Vol 2 on 26 May. The first volume will be on the Higa arc but I'm not sure if it can be concluded within 1 episode. I don't really care because I'm more concerned with watching the Hyotei arc which is still in progress within the manga. As long as I get to see the Hyotei team again, that would be good. I don't dare to dream of seeing Rikkai since that might be a long time later considering that it's likely that Seigaku will only meet them during the finals.

With regards to the real-life movie, it is due to be shown in May 06. I dread seeing this though so I'm not excited over this at all. By the way, Konomi-sensei makes a cameo appearance in this movie as mentioned in his message on the manga's Vol 32. He clarified that the real-life movie was not made to follow the trend of manga/anime doing real-life versions in recent years. In fact, plans for this movie was made 2 years ago which was even much earlier than the anime movie. This still fails to increase my enthusiasm towards the real-life movie given that I simply do not like the cast I'm seeing. Spoiling the image of my favourite Atobe and Tezuka is intolerable so forgive me for giving this movie a miss.

木曜日, 2月 09, 2006

Valentine Kiss on Oricon Singles Weekly Chart

According to the announcement on Interchannel, the renewed versions of Valentine Kiss from Atobe Keigo and Oshitari Yuushi have achieved the positions of No.26 and No.38 on the Oricon Singles Weekly Chart (13 Feb). That's a pretty good result considering that the content for both CDs is not exactly brand new. Seems like the support for the Top 2 of Hyotei is still going strong.

Of late, we get to hear a lot of the Tenipuri CDs doing well on the Oricon charts which is definitely good news. Despite the anime series coming to an end almost one year ago, the manga and the upcoming OVA plus all these CD releases from Interchannel are contributing to the continuation of the Tenipuri fever. I just hope that the real-life movie to be shown this year would not spoil the momentum though because I have this nagging feeling that people are going to attack that movie for its casting choices and the story. I for one would not want to watch the real-life movie and would rather save my money for more Interchannel CDs, manga, fanbooks and the OVA DVDs. I am also keeping my fingers crossed for another Tenipuri anime movie to be produced in the near future.

水曜日, 2月 08, 2006

New Merchandise Info on Mekke

The latest addition on Mekke's range of Tenipuri merchandise happens to be an old product. This is a paper shopping bag of Tezuka and Atobe during 2004's Jump Fest in commemoration of their match during the Kantou Tournament selling at the price of 500 yen. Sakaki appears on the side with his famous line, "Itteyoshi" becoming "Katteyoshi".

By the way, Mekke will sell the Seigaku and Hyotei jerseys again at 10,000 yen and 9000 yen respectively from 10 Feb onwards. However, this time round, you cannot order the jerseys belonging to your favourite characters as the new batch do not come with the names. The previous batch allowed buyers to get characters with the surnames of your favourite characters. And there are no L-sizes this time, only SS, S and M are available. I'm actually hoping to buy Rikkai jerseys but there's only the Rikkai polo T-shirt selling on Mekke now.

月曜日, 2月 06, 2006

Tracklist of Shishido Ryo's album

The tracklist of Shishido Ryo's solo album, ZERO is as follows:

1) Ichinichi dake no Vacance (An one-day vacation)
2) 4 SEASONS
3) Next Gate
4) Rising Counter ~ Infinity~
5) Break Chance
6) Grow Up
7) Sekai (World)
8) HANG IN THERE
9) GEKI-DASA DAZE!!!
10) YES
11) ENDLESS DREAM
12) Friendship

In the first press, there will be a bonus disc titled "Shishido Ryo Debut Album ZERO Hatsubai Kinen Event Talk Show". There will be three guests appearing in this album i.e. Shishido's partner Ootori Choutarou and the Seigaku Golden Pair of Oishi Shuichirou and Kikumaru Eiji.

日曜日, 2月 05, 2006

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Kiuchi Hidenobu-san!

Today's the birthday of Kiuchi Hidenobu who plays three roles in Tenipuri i.e. the sexy Oshitari Yuushi, Taka-san's father and Fukawa from Gyokurin which met Seigaku during the district matches. Besides Tenipuri, I've heard Kiuchi's voice in other animes like MONSTER as Dr Tenma Kenzou and Peach Girl as Toujimori Kazuya. As the only Kansai-ben character in Tenipuri, Kiuchi's low voice for Oshitari makes him an instant hit and I can't help but be attracted by his way of speaking. Somehow, I have a tendency to like seiyuus with really deep voices so that's probably why I fell for Kiuchi's voice so easily. ^__^In the Tenipuri CD series, Kiuchi-san has released 4 solo singles, 1 solo album and 3 group singles under the units Ao to Bin to Kan, Pull Tab To Can and Meganes'. The most recent release was Valentine Kiss which was a re-release from the first version. I note that the colour of the shirt he was wearing for the new cover has changed but I'm not sure what are the new contents in the latest version.

Kiuchi-san was born in Kobe and his blood group is B. His hobbies are camping and travelling and he counts cooking and carpentry as his special talents. He does not belong to any agency and has an official website, BEE-NICE. Over the past 2 days, there was a mini exhibition held at Souhou Gakuen Human Academy Shibuya Campus 2nd floor which showed footage and costumes used during live events. There were also official goods like T-shirts, mugs and handphone straps sold.

土曜日, 2月 04, 2006

Rajipuri Feb 06 personalities and theme songs

Feb's Rajipuri introduces a rare combination of Taka-san and Davide who can be considered as two funny characters in Tenipuri. Of course, Taka-san only behaves like this when he's in burning mode while Davide is constantly entertaining us with his lame jokes. Kawamoto Naru who plays Taka-san and Takeuchi Kosuke who plays Davide will join forces in Feb and the first week's guest is Shimozaki Hiroshi who plays Ikeda, a 2nd year sophomore in Seigaku. As for the theme songs, they are both from Shishido because he has a new album to be released on the 8th. The OD is 4 SEASONS while the ED is Break Chance.