Yamato Damashii

Roughly translates to "Japanese Spirit". It is a nickname given to Enson Inoue, a Japanese-American Mixed Martial Arts Fighter. Nick of Purebredusa sent me these shirts and they're cool. Thanks Nick!
Translation (from purebredusa) Left to Right: Fall seven times get up eight. The harder you work the sweeter the victory. Pain is temporary but pride is forever. To really try is to try when the time is hard. At least once in your life train with the will to die. Blood is nothing but red sweat.

Death Note, Can I Wield It?

This is actually from Full Metal Panic: TSR. It just has Death Note Characters :P

This amazing anime comes to an end, a little differently from the manga or movie. The conclusion came out a little better and not as unsightly.

The story revolves around the morality of killing. When does one have the right to take somebody else's life away? In todays society, some accept the death sentence to punish those worthy of it. Some deaths are celebrated when the one who dies really deserves it.

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Earlier I was in Quiapo, buying some items. Before I could talk to the saleslady, a flurry of events happened. A middle-aged man, his 20-ish daughter and the granddaughter walked pass me to the next stall. Grampa started shouting and cursing at her daughter, probably furious that the daughter left the stall to do something or another. Everybody else went silent and tried to ignore them. I went about looking at what I wanted to buy, but taking glances to keep tabs on what was happening.

I witnessed something that will probably haunt me for a long time. The grampa used his bear feet to kick his daughter in the face. Strong enough that the back of her head hit the metal shutter gate behind her. More curses, then he kicked again. No blood, but disturbing nonetheless.

Why then, did I not do anything? The excuse in my head was lame: it was a family matter. Being a father or husband does not give one the right to hit someone.

What would you have done?

Densha Basilisk Shinobi

First up, I updated some links so that images of older posts will show up. My apologies to people whose feed aggregators got flooded :P

Next up is reviews on some stuff I managed to watch.

Kouga Ninpou Chou/Basilisk/Shinobi
Based on the novel by Futaro Yamada, this is a story of star-crossed lovers caught between a battle to extinction of their clans.

Manga(Basilisk): I have a copy but haven't read it completely yet. They say the Anime follows this closely.

Anime(Basilisk):
Battle sequences are amazing and animation is superb. Ninja techniques rival those of Ruroni Kenshin and Naruto, only with brutality and blood-thirst. Genoske reminds me of 556 from Keroro.

Movie(Shinobi):The story is expectedly condensed and ends differently from the Anime. Yukie Nakama of Gokusen appears as Oboro, leader of her clan and possesses the "Eyes of Destruction". Hotarubi is played by the beautiful Erika Sawajiri, and I have her photobook courtesy of pyoro.

Densha Otoko
Translated as "Train Man", is a story of a geeky guy/anime fan boy (otaku) who changes himself to get closer to a girl, helped by netizens of a BBS. Roughly based on a true story, its probably a small miracle that the Net brought about. Both the series and movie featured a lot of references such as Gundam, Keroro Gunsou, Eva. Trend word is Kitaa!!!(It's Here).

Series:I liked it because the female lead (Hermes/Saori) is Misaki Ito. The pace was a little slow after the first episode, but it picks up eventually. Character development was good, with the supporting people brought to life well. My vote for best character is split into two. Yamada(Densha) reminded me of a friend in College/ROTC, Sgt. Asis.
The other goes to Misuzu, who is densha's client/friend/tormentor who 'eats' her bosses and has the Imperial DeathMarch as her BGM.

Extra Ending: This was dead funny as a lot of the hidden mischief was revealed. Secondary characters have their stories and love lives told.

Deluxe(SP): A recent special made after the movie. Another story where a millionaire tries to get Hermes(Saori) and capitalize in the Densha Otoko craze. More comedy and drama mixed in this one. Watari from the Death Note Movies is also here.

Movie: Fresh set of actors and condensed storyline are the perks of the movie version. Downsides are: it lacks an antagonist, Misuzu isn't there (but does a cameo as a receptionist) and some fun plots are gone. An extra at the end of the movie features a connection between the movie and the series :)

PhotoBooks, Obsessing Over Them

I've been spending some of my extra time and bandwidth collecting and analyzing (in a photographic sense) PhotoBooks. I don't have my facts straightened for now, but in some corner of the Internet, PhotoBooks are Japanese gifts to the world. This specific genre features one or more artists in sets of (sexy) clothing, posing and displaying why the deserve to have their own printed material.

First ones that took my attention were of the group Berryz Koubou. Amazingly, they released a solo version for Risako Sugaya who was only 12 at that time.

The most recent and the one that got me to write this post is one by Rina Nagasaki. These following pics, will explain why it is such a big interest to me, and maybe you...
In the beach in a bikini. Isla, spanish for island.
Walking away picture... is that a tricycle?That seems like a cool drink... yellow and blue... sm bonus!?
Moo, Stick-O, Good Time, Yan-yan, Lays, Bread Pan, Frooty, Doritos, Roller Coaster, Piatos, Knick knacks. Unmistakably this PhotoBook was shot here in the Philippines :P

Weak

Light Streaks, oh how I love them. Sky above SM Megamall

It might be the transition period between the summer and rainy season, but I've been drenched in sweat almost 24/7. I met with a friend last Thursday and I couldn't help but feel ashamed that I was a bloody mess (sorry!) . Regardless of external factors, I felt that I had grown weak... in body, mind and spirit.

Train the Body: Taebo in itself is outdated and boring, but it's a bit more tolerable if I watch something else while doing it. Some anime rerun or a movie I've watched, makes the 40+ minutes go by easily. Haven't tried it with pron yet, probably a bad idea :)).

Train the Mind: It doesn't have to be related to what I need to do, but I should at least read up on my interests. NASA news, Tech Articles, Photography, etc.

Train the Spirit: Have more enthusiasm, smile, go FOOOOOOO!!! more often (figuratively). Life seems boring and slow only if you're not living it fast enough. Take tons of pictures. Go out and meet new people, and for goodness sake, try and remember their names :P.

Weirdness

A weird pic for a weird post. Pic taken by Mika

Tagged by Mic

Each player of this games starts with 6 weird things about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

1. I have a tendency to leave stuff unfinished. Probably some subconscious idea that I need to exist tomorrow to do it.
2. Some people have cooking as therapy, mine is laundry.
3. I burn data/stuff twice, and never on the same type/brand of dvd.
4. I'm helplessly gullible. When I was a kid, the same person gave me my first puff on a cigarette and detonated a firework(darna) near my hand.
5. I try and avoid having to sleep elsewhere. I know and it has been brought to my attention that my snore can set of landslides.
6. There was this one time that I was sleeping in semi-darkness and awoken by a loud crash. I instantly stood up, took a fighting pose then started shouting threats... in english.

I'm tagging Tseri, Mika, BriTan, BongC, Ther, Mimi.