Shooting Star Dreamer

Support the Artist! Since anime is influenced by Japanese culture, it is almost no doubt that we can find cultural concepts hidden within the vibrant series. To top that off, in many series featuring human characters, we have a pretty high chance of seeing a dynamic duo in the cast of characters. Sometimes these characters are represented by two colors; the most common being red and blue. Although red and blue can mean many different things when it comes to anime or life, a lot of the color combinations and pigments of character's appearance aren't just for show. They have deeper meanings, and relate to their personality and role within the story. To make this more understandable, we can examine the cast of various anime and find some similarities. Even though anime feature different stories, it's very intriguing to know that some of the same cultural traits linger beneath each of them. Sunakawa on left, Takeo on the right. It wasn't until I started watc...

Happy Easter anime fans and otaku! Although Easter means different things depending on where you come from or what you believe, let's focus on the usagi (bunny or rabbit) part of the holiday at this time.  Who knows, maybe you can learn a little bit of Japanese along the way? As you know in anime, the presence of animals in the form of cute anime girls or boys is very common. We have cats and dogs that appear in anime like Dog Days, donning nekomimi and inumimi. (Which is translated to cat ears and dog ears. Inu and neko are dog and cat respectively, and mimi is the Japanese word for ears.) Going even further would be someone who is the actual animal, which is then labeled as neko musume. This translates to cat girl or cat daughter, and characters usually possess many animal-like traits. Examples of such would be Felicia from DarkStalkers, or Shizuka Nekonome from Rosario + Vampire. However, the common cats and dogs are not the main topic. Today we are focusing mostly on b...

Seeing the Dog Days heroes back in action, really makes my day! Do you remember your first anime?  Have you thought of the time when you found a series that captured your heart? If you could wipe your mind clean of anime, just to see it again for the first time, would you do it? Many people would answer yes in a heartbeat, but I think it's a question that you really have to think about. Would you really want to start over, or would you like to continue the way things are now? For me, I don't think I would exactly chose to start over. I think the way I was introduced to anime was great, so the chances of that happening again are very slim. When I started anime, there was less control over what I could watch. Series such as Dragon Ball Z, Yugioh, Digimon, and even Sailor Moon were shown via TV and sold as video tapes, but it wasn't easy to find others outside of this list. Many were also edited and removed of many hints to Japanese culture or language. As I got...

Anime merchandise is all around us, from books to posters to figurines. When we purchase these items, we don't really think too hard about the meaning behind them. We don't think about all the work and time that has been put into creating such an object. In fact, could an object be more than an object? Is there really something more to an anime figure, than being just an item? Maybe even a little magic? While many people may say that collecting anime merchandise and having large amounts of figurines is somewhat falling prey to material desires, I kind of see things in a different light. I don't think there is any such object that we own or possess that has no memories associated with it. When it comes to figurines specifically, we have memories of the character or anime. We can reminiscence of the time we bought the figure and the events that had occurred. We might even have flashbacks of our first meeting of the character and how they relate to ourselves. We can...

No, I haven't forgotten about this series! The speech this time is concerning the topic of favorite places. It was really hard for me to come up with a favorite place, much less describe it. I ended up picking the place I love the most, this world that we live in! As usual, I will post both the speech in Hiragana/Kanji/Katakana and Romaji. Towards the end I will include a rough translation of the speech. I hope you all enjoy this series, because it's a way to bring the formal speech of Japanese to my readers. We hear informal speech all the time in anime, manga, and the like, so I think this a nice breath of fresh air. With that in mind, here we go! 私の好きな場所 私の好きな場所はせかいです。せかいでたくさん人々がいます。そうして、たくさん人々やさしです。私はもっと友達がほしので、もっと人々にあいたいです。でも、私はがいこくごを話すのがじょうずにならなければいけません。 また、せかいはきれいと思います。たとえば、おきい山やきれいうみがあります。私は色々なばしょにいきたいです。 人々が好きだし、せかいはだいじだし、私はせかいにとてもきょみがあります。 みんなさん、せかいはたいせつですか。 Watashi no Suki na Basho Watashi no suki na basho wa sekai desu. Sekai de takus...

Hello everyone! I've recently purchased a very fun manga-maker known as Comipo. The software is designed for people who may not be able to draw or those who don't have the time to make manga. For me, it's opened a whole bunch of opportunities. One, I can create a character exactly how I want them without any gimmicks or catches. Two, I can teach you guys Japanese and Culture. So here's the quick rundown. Every so often, I intend to post a new manga page regarding something to do with Japanese language or culture. While the manga is created by me, I will not be the focus. Instead, Ayaka-sensei will be giving you the information and the teaching you are looking for. Today there won't be any form of lesson, but just an intro. I would also like to give you all the opportunity to offer any suggestions or parts of Japanese that you want to learn about. I haven't learned a vast amount of Japanese yet, but I would love to share what I do know with you all. So if ...

There are many different ways a person can work. Some people tend to not do their best when it comes to working, but others do. Some people work a lot, and others barely work at all. Despite this, no matter how much or how little someone works, there's different ways to approaching the act of working.  If you haven't been keeping of with me, I've been having a little trouble with Japanese lately. I started Japanese III this semester, and while it hasn't been crazy hard, I don't feel like I'm really progressing in terms of fluency. So while Japanese I and II seemed like a great learning experience for me, everything has turned stagnant.  I began to examine my study habits and my work with Japanese. I was doing everything great in class, passing with flying colors, and enjoying my learning. Still, it didn't seem satisfactory in a way.  During the Summer semester, our school did not offer part three of Japanese. For that time being I had to do se...

Have you ever wondered how different forms of media draw in different kind of people? I've always noticed that people who like similar things act in a similar fashion, and the same goes for people from similar regions. With regions, maybe its the fact that we are mostly separate from others for so long, which helps create this specific divide in terms of behavior and culture. However, can the same be said for gamers? Even though we are divided into numerous groups and cliches, there comes a time when everyone has to interact with each other; we're not separated from other types of gamers on a daily basis. What causes that specific distinction of one gaming community have certain traits and another having different traits? I'm not sure of the answer, but these questions came to me when visiting a special spot on campus. At my university, we have a section specifically built for gamers. It's a room with many television sets, the proper connections needed, and futur...

Anime is full of so many characters. Some we like, some we dislike. However, in order to watch anime, we have to interact with a many different types of people. This sort of interaction teaches us about ourselves and what we find important. While we categorize characters into certain types, there are no two characters that are completely alike. Everyone differs somehow even if it's small. Sort of like real life.  So I've been thinking about my convention experiences and the personalities I witnessed. None of them were problematic, contrary to what I expected. In fact, most of the people there were nicer than the ones you see in everyday life. The thought then came into my head, what if anime was the cause of this? The fact that I've witnessed such a variety of characters and plots has made me very accepting. I've been on vacation for almost a week now, and have been desperately searching for writing ideas. I decided to visit a restaurant nearby, one that come...

Hajime mashite! Watashi no namae wa, Rekari desu! Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu! I've been practicing my Japanese!    Hello everyone! It's been a while since I've had the time to sit down and write. I've been having a great time at college, and I'm learning a lot, but there's a few things I've picked up. While college is not as judgmental as high school, you still get talked about, criticized and the like. Through my encounters I've learned quite a bit about myself and others.  So today I'm creating a new category of the blog, known as the The Learning Process. Yep, you guessed it. I'm going to discuss all the things I've learned (and still learning) throughout my otaku life. If you can relate, have feedback, or anything else, just comment below. I'm all ears! "Do you like anime?"    Like I mentioned, I've been struggling with a really big story. I want it to be amazingly good, but I just couldn't make it flow. ...

Learning Japanese Hello everyone! I've been learning Japanese for a good amount of time now and have made little progress. Before I thought learning focused on memorization of certain words and phrases, but I realized that's not the case. I've been doing some reading, looking up a lot of Japanese learning sites, and it's hard to get much guidance on where to start. So many places to learn, but are they really teaching you the right thing? I just took Japanese wherever I could get it. The site might be shady or fan made, but I desperately wanted to learn. Yeah, that obviously wasn't a good idea. I didn't learn much, and the few things I did learn were either rough phrases or incorrect. If you're stuck in an area like mine, there aren't many opportunities to study Japanese under an instructor. Most of the things I learned have been through anime or my own teaching. Visiting the local Barnes and Noble was also pretty useful. Yet with all...

Each day we write or tell stories in some way. Maybe you're lost writing an epic novel. The hero comes to the end of road to find what? Could you be writing an intergalactic exploration? Is that black hole staring you  right in the face? Perhaps you're a fanfic pro, but you've seem to lost your luster. You could just be the average guy or girl, telling a story of your day. Whatever you are, writer's block happens to everyone. Sure, you can throw your hands up and give in, but what good will that do? I think how we deal with writer's block relates to our lives. I feel as if we live our lives on autopilot. We feel the same things and maintain the same schedule. We fiddle with our smartphones, laptops, and desktops. We peruse the internet, mindlessly visiting the same sites awaiting a new update. Even when it comes to anime, we see the same things. The tsunderes, the silent protagonist, the villain that no one likes. Aside from the programmed responses we have...

Hello! I'm back from a week off! Here's a taste of new music; Vocaloid Style.  Title ~ Just Be Friends Artist ~ Dixie Flatline Vocal ~ Luka Megurine Visual ~ Yunomi English Lyrics Just be friends All we gotta do Just be friends It's time to say goodbye Just be friends All we gotta do Just be friends Just be friends... It came to mind in the early morning yesterday As if I gathered broken pieces of glass What the heck is this? Drips from my cut finger Is this what we really hoped for? I knew it at the bottom of my heart, the hardest choice would be the best My self-love refuses it and repeats self-contradiction When can I tell it to you? In the slowly decaying world, I'm struggling but it's the only way Carving your faded smiles, I pulled out the plug I screamed with my hoarse voice, rebound and resonance echo in vain Nothing is left at the end of the unchained me Coincidences that sticked us degenerates into the dark an...