-Tour de ROCK-

So this week, since @ShadowWizz was here, we decided to do a little tour of the ROCKBOUND NEIGHBORS promotional material around the Tokyo area. Here are some pictures, enjoy~! 

Also, a big congratulations to Nana for 1st place on Oricon charts on the second day and 2nd place on the third! Very happy for you! Omedetouuu~! (^-^)

LIVE CASTLE 2011 -Anniversary-

~I was there~

On this day last year, I was enjoying a little piece of heaven in LIVE CASTLE -Queen's Night- with -King's Night- still ahead of me. That weekend will always remain very important to me - it was very special to Nana herself and also to me. Thus this post to celebrate its anniversary!

「DOG DAYS 特別興業 -フロニャ祭2012-」

I was going to have this done the day after the event, but suddenly a week has passed by.... orz Anyway! Prepare yourself for a long but fun (I hope) entry!

I was really excited to get to attend this Flonyard Festival since I hadn't had the chance to participate in anime events yet and didn't even really know what exactly awaited me. I had heard about what sort of things happen in these events, but coming from a country where the best thing offered to me is a seiyuu interview at an expo/con I really couldn't even truly fathom how amazingly hilarious tonight was going to be.

Get my drift? -Thoughts and Translation-

I have been eagerly waiting to hear Get my drift? ever since Nana released the name, since I found it very interesting. I have to say that when I did finally hear it last night on smile-gang - I was not disappointed! In fact I fell deeply in love with it, which really isn't a surprise. Nana once again invades a new genre of music (girls' rock I'd say) with this song and makes it her own. I definitely place this song in the "what is this? I love it" -category along with HIGH-STEPPER and PARTY! PARTY!.

私の宝物

BOOM! Just hit 7,777 tweets on Twitter!

As celebration, a slightly sentimental Nana-related post and maybe a bit silly. I do apologize. But...

水樹奈々「愛のくに愛顔のえひめフェスティバル」で!

So luckily I had the chance to go to the Ehime Festival at Yurakucho today, since my 2nd class was cancelled. I didn't get there quite as early as I would've liked, since I still had my 1st class but I did still get there in good time and managed to position myself some 10m from the stage. This made me really happy since it was essentially going to be the closest I have been to Nana so far. (^-^) Not that my view was the very best, since I am so small (well not compared to Japanese girls, but to the guys..).. orz

私はCoFesta Student Ambassadorですよ！

So, I am currently trying to keep the momentum going with my blog entries in order to avoid months of silence....

Anyways! a few weeks ago, by chance, I was handed a flyer about something called CoFesta Student Ambassadors when I was leaving the welcome party for international students at my school. Normally I wouldn't pay much attention to what I am handed (I am ashamed.. orz), but this caught my interest as it was about recruiting foreign students interested in spreading Japanese contents outside of Japan and offered a chance to attend amazing events, such as TIFF (Tokyo International Film Festival), Tokyo Game Show, Japan Game Awards, TIMM (Tokyo International Music Market), Tokyo International Anime Festival, Digital Context Expo and many more, as a student ambassador. Being a great fan of Japanese contents, this seemed like a golden opportunity to me and I decided to try my chances and apply.

Nomadic Cinema 「アカリのさんぽ」

Last Friday I went to Roppongi Hills to go experience what my school's Nomadic Cinema project, that was part of TIFF (Tokyo International Film Festival), was actually like. I have to say it got me very excited. Hence this post about it now...

The idea of Nomadic Cinema is that it's a movie experience where you don't stay in the same place for the whole movie making the viewer an active participant in the story. It also offers some additional interactive elements, which I will talk about in more detail later in this entry.

The Magic of Japanese Music

(from left: Mizuki Nana, Kalafina, Utada Hikaru) 

Long time no see! Somehow I have been lacking the enthusiasm to write for quite a while now, probably due to my insanely busy schedule here. I finally felt like writing something today though, due to the topic popping up very often these past couple of weeks in very different situations (sorry, this isn't a post about my Japan adventures, I'll get around to those..... eventually), namely the magic of Japanese music.

NANA MIZUKI LIVE UNION 2012, Session 14 at Chiba!

Live Union @ Chiba hajimarimasu~!

So, I took very long in writing my report yet again..... gomennasai. orz I have been busy beyond belief. First with starting my life in Japan, and then with school (no mercy for me ever since the first day xD). Finally had a quiet night at my apartment today, so I decided to dedicate it to finishing my LIVE UNION Chiba report! What better way to start chronicling my Japan adventures than with this? o(＾∇＾)o

(WARNING: very long entry)

Japan, here I come!

Well, today I move to Japan.

I'm nervous and excited and everything else possible, really.
And I am sad about leaving the things behind that I have to and sometimes wonder why I need to care so much about everything.
But! In any case, today is the day! Look forward to reading about my adventures in Japan once I have settled down in my little apartment.

And now, without further ado....

Allons-y!

The Coordinates of our Dream ☆ NEW AMV!☆

Yes, I just had to do another Misaki Kirihara AMV, I couldn't help myself. I just love her too much. Though, I did actually have a couple of other reasons why I wanted to make this AMV of her.

1. My previous Darker than BLACK AMV of Misaki and Hei was a bit... well, saying it didn't have a happy ending is a good way to put it. I mean the combination is great and really works, but I like these two together and then having it end with Misaki being like "who needs you" left me wanting to make one with a more positive finish, a hopeful one to be exact (Btw, I still don't understand how the Tokyo Nights AMV is viewable on YouTube again now, I swear it was blocked the last time I looked).
2. I was really dying to make one with a Nana song. Why? Because Misaki is voiced by Nana and I thought it would add something magical to the mix if it really was like Misaki was singing it herself. Kind of makes it more like it really is her feelings, that sort of thing.
3. After coming up with those two points I mentioned, I happened to be listening to PHANTOM MINDS and it instantly hit me how perfect the song was for my purpose. The mood of the song is hopeful and purposeful, and that sort of thing fits Misaki very well. Not to mention that the theme of stars really fits Darker than Black as a series and even Misaki's feelings for Hei. Success all around! 

Preparations for Japan

After a couple of months of nearly constant stressing, it is rather unbelievable that I currently find myself in a situation where I have a lot more sorted out by now than I ever thought I could possibly have. So here's a little update on where I'm currently standing.

Doctor? Doctor who?

Everyone! \o/

So during the last few months I have watched pretty much all of Doctor Who from since they relaunched the series in 2005. Well, apart from the episodes with the 11th Doctor, from those I have only seen the latter half of the first series he starred in. I find this all quite funny, considering how I was very much against the series when I lived in the UK. I guess that was because there was so much Doctor Who stuff around and I really don't like hypes that much. Always a treader of my own path, sometimes for no good reason it seems. Dx 

Happy Hunger Games~!

I was able to restrain myself from writing about Hunger Games before, and I was trying to refrain from writing about it now after hearing the recent news...... but in the end I could not resist any longer.

First off, I would like to start with stating that I really love the Hunger Games books. The writing style and story are so gripping, that I was completely hooked from the moment I picked up the first book till the moment I set down the last one. I was so absorbed in the story that I felt very empty inside after it ended. And these, ladies and gentlemen, are the things that determine what is an amazing book in my eyes. I really recommend that everyone should read the books and also would like to comment that bickering about the idea being very similar to Battle Royale is foolish. Sure there are similarities, as there is also between both of those and 1984, Lord of the Flies and even some movies, but let's face it - this same thing happens between many other books/stories as well. Like for example Matched and Delirium, which both sound to me like they have a very similar idea behind them, but one of my workmates has told me that both books are brilliant and I have no reason to doubt her (she is Miss Fantasy after all ;D). As a more radical example we could take the whole genre of murder/detective stories. I mean, most of them are about someone, who works out the culprit behind the murder or crime, that happened at the beginning of the story. Very similar I would say, but even so, the stories end up being very different and some are good and some are bad. Anyway, enough of my rant, let's get back on track..

BRIGHT STREAM is here~!

<3333!

Mmmm, Nothing better than waking up to the mailman delivering BRIGHT STREAM to my door (well truthfully I woke up to the racket my dogs were making because of the mailman.. but still.. :3)! Surprisingly fast delivery from HMV, I am very pleased.

BRIGHT STREAM PV

I was really looking forward to seeing the whole version of this, and I was not disappointed! This PV is really amazing. At first glance it might seem very simplistic since not a lot happens in it, but in truth it contains a very important message about moving on.

Before I start talking about that, I'll quickly just summarize what we see in the PV in case you can't see the video or it's otherwise somehow unclear... Or something! I don't know! Anyway!

FEARLESS HERO OP ver. Guess-Translation

So I helped my friend's fansub group (who are working on Dog Days') with the lyrics for FEARLESS HERO! Translation credits go to Izam and I polished them up to be.. ehhh... more poetic I suppose. I figured I'd post them here too. Keep in mind though that these lyrics are just a guess so far, since the official lyrics haven't been released yet. I'll update this post later if changes need to be made! But for now... let's go with this. 

FEARLESS HERO

Well in honor of Dog Days' starting to air the other day, I figured it was finally time to write about FEARLESS HERO (yeah this is my excuse for not doing so before)!

It looks like this single is filled with songs that have quite an interesting structure - Both BRIGHT STREAM and FEARLESS HERO are built up in a unique way in my opinion. Hard to explain what I mean with this.. but you know how sometimes when listening to songs you kind of sense how it's going to continue and usually it does continue that way? Well that's the sort of thing that doesn't happen with these songs. You get the sense, but then the song does not go that way. And that's awesome I think. xD

BRIGHT STREAM Preview

Okay, first off I'm not going to compare this to ETERNAL BLAZE, because in my opinion that is a very silly thing to do. They are two different beautiful songs that are both used to represent the same story, that is, the story of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's. So in my opinion the interesting thing is, does BRIGHT STREAM fit Nanoha A's as well as ETERNAL BLAZE does?

Yes, I think it does.

PARTY! PARTY! -Translation-

Well since I thought it was pretty awesome that Nana released a song called PARTY! PARTY! in honor of my birthday (which was today), I thought I'd celebrate by trying to translate it (Blacky, maybe you can have your friend check if I did a good enough job xD). Anyways, I think PARTY! PARTY! will now be my official birthday song every year! Haha even my mom got into it today when we were listening to it in the car..

In Honor of June 5th

~LIVE JOURNEY~

This day is pretty special to me, as on this day last year I went to my first Nana live ever. LIVE JOURNEY in Niigata. It still feels like a dream. I really couldn't believe it, that it was actually happening, not before Nana showed up on stage. And even then, it took a few songs for it to register in my brain - that I was actually there. And that's when I cried silent happy tears.  June 5th will definitely always be a very special day for me, because of Nana and also because.. 

This day a year ago, was the day one girl started making her dreams into reality.

TIME SPACE EP

FINALLY I have heard all the songs! And I am quite happy! \o/ Really needed something like this right now. Nana is always thinking of my best. <3

So yeah anyway, since I've already talked about [METRO BAROQUE] and [ONE] before, I will focus on 時空サファイア (=Jikū Safaia) and PARTY! PARTY! in this entry. So... let's get to it!

METRO BAROQUE PV in Full~

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees! (<- I said that in similar fashion as Nana in Zankou no Gaia) I have been so eagerly waiting for the full version after the amazing preview came out and finally it's here! I was going to post this entry yesterday, but due to an excessive amount of morning shifts at work I couldn't stay awake and had to succumb to sleep. But here it is now! Enjoy my rambling after the PV itself (and of course, enjoy the PV).

METRO BAROQUE PV preview

So yeah, a preview of the METRO BAROQUE PV has been released!

I was going to wait for the full PV before I write anything about it, but yeaaah, no way I could wait that long. The preview was way too awesome for me to keep quiet about it. xD

28th single and some other things!

So Nana has now announced her 28th single!

It will be released on the 1st of August (why so late?! ; ;) and will include the theme song and insert song for Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha THE MOVIE 2nd A's, and also the theme song for Dog Days'. I was really hoping for a double release, one for Nanoha and one for Dog Days (kind of like she did with POP MASTER and SCARLET KNIGHT), but I am happy with one release too. I bet it's gonna be a really amazing single considering what Nana has said about the Nanoha theme song and if the Dog Days' song follows in the footsteps of SCARLET KNIGHT's epicness (I don't even know why I said if, of course it'll be epic). Looking forward to hearing the names of these new songs and then of course hearing the actual songs too! Not to mention seeing the Nanoha theme song's PV. According to Nana it's like a trip into the world of the movie and she started crying while singing the song. I really love and admire how everything means so much to her. <3

ONE

Okay so, I am trying to write more often like I said I would...  so to follow my METRO BAROQUE entry, here is one about, well, ONE! I was really itching to hear a longer version of this, since the very short preview that was available before was really pretty and the lyrics really moved me.

Needless to say that when I heard the longer version, I really liked it. There's one part of ONE that is really interesting with all those random noises in the background, makes me feel like they depict memories and I actually think that part of their purpose is to awaken memories of the listener too. Like the clink of a swing (well that's what it sounds like to me anyway), does give me quite a nice nostalgic feeling. Also, I think it's pretty great how at first glance all these songs on TIME SPACE EP seem very different and like a pretty mixed bunch, but when you sit down and have a proper listen, they do seem to fit together. There is something that connects them all together, just can't quite put my finger on what it is though. Maybe the piano?  Well in any case, I can't say anything about PARTY! PARTY! yet since I haven't heard it, but I am sure it will fit along with the rest too. This is Nana we're talking about after all!

Also, before I end this post - have you seen the Blood C The Last Dark trailer that has METRO BAROQUE on it? Yes? No? Maybe so? Well, here it is just in case:
[Blood C The Last Dark - METRO BAROQUE trailer]

METRO BAROQUE

Yes! Finally got to hear METRO BAROQUE last night after I came home - definitely a great way to end a really good day. ^^ 

Man this song is really, classy. I have to say I am really in love with the piano in this song.  I think it was a really brilliant move to have piano be dominant and the violin in a lesser role in METRO BAROQUE, and having it the other way in Junketsu Paradox. It really makes all the difference in the atmosphere. Where the violin made Junketsu Paradox sound more traditional, the piano in METRO BAROQUE gives it a modern contemporary twist. It actually does make it feel very metropolitan and makes me think of the lights of the city, dark alleyways with strangers smoking on the street - which is very fitting considering how Blood-C The Last Dark is taking place in the city. Just like Junketsu Paradox fit the series with its more traditional feel.

ｷﾀ━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━!!!!!!

Wahhhh, so so so so happyyyyy to get theseeee! <3

HELL YES NANA MIZUKI LIVE CASTLE x JOURNEY IS HEREEEEEE!! 

I am so grateful to Finland and its efficient and fast post services. From Japan to here in just 2 days! I have to say though that I nearly shat my pants today, since my package had arrived at the customs but I hadn't gotten the arrival notification in the mail yet (horrible horrible disappointment when I thought I'd have to wait over the weekend)... but luckily, picking up with just the order number was possible! That made me so happy I could've nearly cried.

Awaiting releases~!

New design to celebrate the approaching release of NANA MIZUKI LIVE CASTLE x JOURNEY (and also due to my undying lust love for King Nana)~! I really cannot wait to get my BDs and relive LIVE CASTLE. o(´∇｀*o) Also I am really pumped up about getting to hear Nana sing more old songs in LIVE JOURNEY, since when she sang Supersonic Girl at Niigata it was simply stunning and so different from what it was when Nana first recorded it. I do kind of hope that the making of  LIVE JOURNEY would have Supersonic Girl on it so I could hear that again too, wah~. I also hope my package arrives one day before the release again as it did with Synchrogazer, since then I could lock myself into my room, get absorbed into blissful 7th Heaven and be completely oblivious of all of Finland going crazy and getting wasted due to May Day (yeaaaah, I don't like May Day xD).

get-to-know-other-mizuki-nana-fans-meme

My face when I was working on this.

I really should post things more often... there have been many Nana-related things I've wanted to write about, but then I just never find the time or energy to do it, and thus I end up not doing it at all. x_x I shall try to make amends from now on!

So yeah, to today's topic. My friend thought I should do this, so here it is (even though I don't particularly like doing memes xD). I have to say that doing this was really agonizing, since picking just one thing for the answers really tore my heart... Wahhh! I was going to have this done in one sitting, but I ended up taking over a week (nearly two)....

BJMA 2011 - Congratulations Nana!

Winner! <3

So yes, congratulations Nana-chan for winning the award for Animation Artist in Billboard JAPAN Music Awards 2011!

Man I am so happy that Nana won this. I was feeling very grumpy about the results of the seiyuu awards (rawr!), but this makes me feel a lot better. Nana deserves to win something! Every time! Everywhere! (＊≧▽≦）ｂ Also, I have to say I really like the outfit that Nana wore to the awards! It's.... it's.... gorgeous.

僕の理想論

So today I battled the frightening forces of nature in order to get to my violin lesson today and I have to say that I am really glad I did. So.....

NANA MIZUKI LIVE CASTLE 2011 -King's Night-

-King's Night- へようこそ!

This time, releasing LIVE CASTLE entry number 2 in time for Valentine's! xD Okay so, I know I said I would definitely be faster with this entry than I was with -Queen's Night-... but yeah, that didn't happen. I am very sorry. In fact I took a lot longer with this...... wahh... I truly cannot apologize enough. m(_ _)m  Work leaves me so tired that I don't have the energy to do anything sensible afterward. Plus a lot of other shit has been going on... BUT ANYWAY, here it is! So, enjoy~~!

<<WARNING! This is going to be a very very long entry... AGAIN>>

Also again, this is not a very objective account - it's a personal account. So I will praise all songs from the bottom of my heart. :3

お誕生日おめでとう、奈々ちゃん！

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA! <3

Well I was planning on releasing my -King's Night- entry today in honor of Nana's Birthday, but time has been against me in various ways. I figured it was better that I worked on it a bit longer instead of rushing it for today. I promise to post it in the next few days though. Bear with me. m( _ _ )m

I wanted to post something on Nana's Birthday though, so here it is.