Music review: Gackt - Dybbuk

Artist: Gackt Album: Crescent Release date: 12/3/03 Video link: On Veoh (video also has White Eyes on it)

English translation by Mina-P: A silver dream, the sweetly spun sound of the rain Who's that standing behind you? Once more, close your eyes so we can meet

My burned out heart is bound in chains My torn wounds are embraced by the sun The light and shadows piercing my body, watching...

"Still, you can't change... so, close your eyes"

I can't wait until you find your way here Don't stop, the rain will tell you when it's over Don't cry, until the wishes you've drawn out have been granted

"Still, I can't let go... so, hold me tight"

"That wish won't be granted... so, raise your hands"

Burned by the sun break my body Pain and separation kill time Yearning for the sun entrust my body Embraced by loneliness kill me About the song: I didn't like this song until I watched Gackt perform it as the opening song for his Diabolos concert. Something about that performance left a powerful impression on me. The song is fierce, yet it has a soft side as well. A dybbuk is a piece of Jewish folklore. It is basically a soul that can't fulfill its duty while alive. It will attach itself to a living body in an attempt to accomplish its goal. Once the goal has been completed, it will leave the body and move on. These are not considered good souls and are often known as tricksters. Taking that knowledge and applying it to the song, we come up with a person that died but their soul could not move on. The soul probably could not let go of the person they loved while mortal. So now they beg for release yet they are stuck until their love has been fulfilled. This is a marvelous song that shows how much thought Gackt puts into his music, his lyrics and his performances. (Seriously, how many of you knew what a dybbuk was before I told you? ;) )

Video game review: Snowy Lunch Rush

I know I stated earlier that hidden object games are my big weakness. I also have a fondness for time simulation games like Diner Dash. This time around I tried Snowy Lunch Rush. The Big Fish Games description of the game reads: "Do you have an appetite for fun? Then join Snowy the Bear as he sets out to run the best restaurant in town! Using nothing but your drive to be rich and famous, send Snowy scampering all over his shabby restaurant to seat customers, take orders, serve food, collect money and clear tables. Combos and other special feats can help you earn enough cash to keep the restaurant open, make repairs and upgrade to swankier locations."

This is such a weird game. It has all the typical Diner Dash-type pieces. Customers come into your restaurant, you seat them (preferably according to their color) then you wait on them. To try to keep it interesting, there are a few additions. Now there is a drive-through for you to keep an eye on and important people can make phone reservations for a table. However, it's rather difficult to get over the fact that it is a couple of bears running the restaurant. Snowy is a white bear that handles all of the customer interaction while Browny does the cooking. If the customers were also animals, it might not be so difficult but they are a variety of humans. Still, the game is enjoyable. I would like it better if you had some choice in the upgrades for the restaurant but it doesn't really detract from the game too much.

More HanaDan on the way!

It has been announced that the movie for the Jdorama hit "Hana Yori Dango" will be released in the summer of 2008. The title of the movie will be "Hana Yori Dango Final." All of the main actors will be returning and the project is being described as the last chapter of this adaptation of the manga. Set one year after Makino's graduation, the film will focus on a major incident involving the main characters. Of course, we we also get to see some more ups and downs in the relationship between Makino and Tsukasa. Filming will begin overseas in January.

JConcert review: Gackt - Jougen no Tsuki

Artist: Gackt Tour: Jougen no Tsuki Year: 2003 Location: Yokohama Arena GacktJOB members: ChaChamaru, You, Ren, Ryuichi Song list: Noah (plays in the background during the introduction) Speed Master Lu:na Fragrance Rain Solitude -Regret- Kimi ga Matteiru kara Doomsday Tsuki no Uta Mirror Another World Soleil wa.su.re.na.i.ka.ra Kimi ga Oikaketa Yume memories Birdcage Orange no Taiyou

Tell me about the concert: As a few of you may know, Gackt is an amazing performer. If you muted the sound while watching this, you could still be very entertained by what you see. The DVD starts out with an introduction about the Moon Saga - a collection of projects that included CDs, concerts (with their DVDs) and a movie. From there, you slam into Speed Master, a high energy, fast paced, erotic song. As a warning, if you have epilepsy, you probably shouldn't watch a Gackt concert. Speed Master starts off with the lights flashing and twirling, making it somewhat difficult to distinguish the individual members of GacktJOB.

Immediately, Gackt slams into Lu:na. Most of his dancers come out wearing black clothes with white masks. Two of the dancers match Gackt’s white outfit, though they have a black hood and a white mask on. While Gackt holds his microphone, all of the dancers hold swords. The dance that follows is a mixture of sword fighting, martial arts and gymnastics.

Fragrance slows things down a little. Smoke surrounds Gackt’s feet as his dancers move around him. It’s a good break from the frantic opening songs.

In my opinion, the performance of Rain is really what makes this particular concert amazing. About halfway through the song, water falls from above and surrounds the stage. I don’t mean that there is one gush of water and that’s it. Rain falls steadily around the stage for a good ten minutes without any apparent splashing onto the stage. I still have no idea how he managed to pull this off without getting a speck of water on the stage. (The video for this can be found here.)

After a short guitar duet between ChaCha and You, a video of flashing lightning and moving clouds is shown. Gackt appears back on stage wearing his black baggy costume and performs a piano piece titled Solitude – Regret-.

Following the instrumental is the one-two punch of Kimi ga Matteiru Kara and Doomsday. Both are powerful songs but Gackt’s performance of Doomsday is exceptional. For those that don’t know, the song is about obsession ending in madness. Gackt uses his entire body to look quite insane as the song bounces back and forth between softness and almost yelling. At the end of the song, a blast of fire shoots upward from the stage as Gackt screams. It is definitely an appropriate ending to the song.

There is a short blackout before we find ourselves looking at a child. Anyone who has seen the movie ‘Moon Child’ would recognize the boy as the child version of Gackt’s character, Sho. The boy and Gackt, who has changed costumes again, stand a couple of feet apart from each other. As Gackt sings, he moves toward the boy. Once they are standing together, the boy begins to lip-synch showing that they are, indeed, the same person in child and adult form. Chalk this up to another beautiful performance for this concert.

Usually this is where Gackt moves into the ‘fun’ side of the concert. We are still treated to the high-energy, GAKUTO-screaming, jumping off the stage fun of Mirror and it is followed up by another high-energy song, Another World. However, this concert leaves out the U+K cat costume dance. Instead, the cats come out to Soleil. It’s not a bad song and I’m sure many people have tried to wash the men in tutus from their brains but it’s not U+K.

Wa.su.re.na.i.ka.ra and Kimi ga Oikaketa Yume round out the last of the fast songs. Gackt finishes the concert with the slower songs, memories and Birdcage. Finally, the cast from ‘Moon Child,’ minus Hyde, come out and perform a small skit. Wang Leehom performs the duet of no Taiyou with Gackt as clips from the movie are shown. Toward the end of the song, the rest of the cast leave the stage and Hyde’s voice comes over the speakers. Gackt finishes off the duet with the recording of Hyde while standing next to an empty spotlight. He motions toward the spotlight and the concert ends.

What are your feelings? This isn’t the best Gackt concert by far but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth watching. If you enjoy watching plays or highly theatrical performances, chances are you will like this concert. Of course, you can watch it just for the Gackt factor too. It’s hard to not like a Gackt concert.

Music review: W - Robokiss

Artist: W Members: Ai Kago (Aibon), Nozomi Tsuji (Nono) Album: 2nd W Release date: 3/2/05 Video link: on Veoh

English translation: That amazing girl is a go girl That risky guy is a yes man Is everyone ordinary? No, no!

Where are you throwing it?! No control I got asked out on a date, love control A hole is opening, a lotus root takes seed Etcetera, etcetera

Of course I know about love, at the very least

I love you, I Iove you, give me a kiss I love you, I love you, kiss me infinitely I love you, I love you, I know about kisses I love you, I love you, even if I'm a robot

Shabala lan lan lan lan la-la Shabala lan lan lan lan la-la Shabala lan lan lan lan la-la Robo robo

Now I'm friends with that girl Then it's fade-out with my boyfriend Why consecutive holidays after this! No, no!

With quick calculations, a ferocious attack! Consenting to your faults in a headlock Accept the whereabouts of love with thanks!

I'm not always gonna be a kid

I love you, I Iove you, give me a kiss I love you, I Iove you, take caution in your kiss I love you, I Iove you, no one can I love you, I Iove you, kiss by themselves

I love you, I Iove you, give me a kiss I love you, I Iove you, take caution in your kiss I love you, I Iove you, no one can I love you, I Iove you, kiss by themselves

Shabala lan lan lan lan la-la Shabala lan lan lan lan la-la Shabala lan lan lan lan la-la Robo robo Shabala lan lan lan lan la-la Shabala lan lan lan lan la-la Shabala lan lan lan lan la-la Robo robo About the song: Robokiss is just a silly song. It's about a girl in love with a robot. Both Aibon and Nono are so cute that it's difficult to not like their songs, even though a majority of them are covers of older songs. The "Suki suki ssu kissu" part is the best since it basically just sounds like like suki suki suki (pronounced sue-key). Sadly, W is no more. Last year, Aibon was caught smoking underage and was suspended. This year, just as Aibon was coming back into the fold, she was caught not only smoking again but dating a 37-year old man. (For the record, Aibon is 19.) As a result, Up Front Agency cancelled Aibon's contract. Nono was going to be in a new group but shortly after the group was announced, Nono announced her pregnancy and upcoming marriage. She has decided to take a hiatus from show business. There was a third W album that was supposed to have been released but it was cancelled due to Aibon's controversy.

Another Johnny rumored to be dating

On Monday I reported the rumor that Arashi's Nino is dating. Well, another rumor of a Johnny dating has popped up. Nakai Masahiro of SMAP is rumored to be dating singer Koda Kumi. The pair met in September when Koda appeared on stage at a SMAP concert. Neither side has confirmed the rumor. However, it has been confirmed that Koda has broken up with her previous long-term boyfriend. She began dating him before she got her big break and revealed the relationship two years ago. Last year, he was transferred to Osaka. The couple decided to end the relationship due to the distance and her busy schedule.

JMovie review: GTO the movie

Title: GTO the movie
Release date: 12/18/99
Genre: School comedy
Cast: Sorimachi Takashi, Tanaka Rena, Kasahara Hideyuki, Fujiwara Norika
Plot: Onizuka-sensei goes to a small village in Hokkaido to teach. As usual, he ends up with a troubled class, thanks mostly to the rich girl, Katsuragi Ayano. He takes it upon himself to fix Ayano and make everyone happy again.
What is good: The acting isn't terrible
What is bad: It is pretty dull.
Letter rating: D+

Overall: Sadly, this franchise has gone downhill. The series was awesome, the special was OK but the movie is on the edge of terrible. Onizuka rescues two students from suicide and, despite being fairly mean to him, ends up as the depressed boy's best friend. As he works his magic to make the lives of these two students better, he's being chased down by a reporter who mistakes him as a serial criminal. While he isn't guilty of the crimes she accuses him of, he does steal, kidnap and get involved in a police chase. (I'm hoping he borrowed the truck he was driving at the time since it isn't stated how he obtained it.) This doesn't feel nearly as light-hearted as the series or the special. Maybe it was the lack of Fuyutsuki-sensei's 'straight man' to Onizuka's comedian. Throughout the entire movie, I was hoping she would pop in at some point to tell Onizuka he's an idiot but she never appears. I suppose if you really love the GTO series it might be worth sitting through the 2 hour movi but I'm sure you could find a better way to spend your time.

Video game review: Concentration

Back in the day, there used to be a game show on television called Concentration. It ran for 14 years from 1958 until 1973. Since then, there have been a couple of other versions of the show aired. The one I am most familiar with was called Classic Concentration. It was hosted by Alex Trebek and ran from 1987 until 1991 with reruns airing until 1993. Concentration was a great show because it was easy yet hard at the same time. The two players would start out with a game of Memory. Each of the 30 tiles held prizes for the players to match. Underneath those tiles was a rebus puzzle, a word or phrase that had to be figured out using pictures, letters and numbers held together with either a plus or minus sign. While the matching part of the game was fairly easy since there were only 15 objects to match, the rebus was usually rather difficult as the pictures could represent a number of answers. In the final round, the winning player would match cars from the tiles in front of them. The player would win the last car matched.

I have played many variations of the Concentration video game. There was a DOS version for the Commodore 64 that I played as well as a NES version. Last night, I played a new version for the PC from All Games Free. This downloadable game stays true to the television show. Unfortunately, that makes this all too easy for a video game. I played the one player version of the game on the medium setting. My competitor was rather slow, meaning I won just about every round on every game I played. He won two rounds of the 6 that I played. (I completed 3 games and there are two rounds to each game where you play against a competitor. He won one round in two different games.) When I got to the bonus round to play for the car, I easily matched all of the cars well within the time limit. The rebus part of the game was a bit more difficult but still fairly easy to guess without removing too many of the tiles first. Of the 6 rounds I played, my competitor correctly guessed two of the rebus puzzles while I solved the rest.

The matching part of this game may be good for small children or someone interested in working on their memory skills. However, the rebus part will be too difficult for children. I am hesitant to recommend an adult/child pairing for this game because the matching part of the game requires at least a little bit of reading skills. All in all, this game is only good for sentimental values. If you really enjoyed the Concentration shows, you will probably enjoy this game for awhile. Though I doubt you will want to play beyond the 30 minute trial.

Music review: Arashi - Right Back To You

Artist: Arashi Members: Ninomiya Kazunari (Nino), Ohno Satoshi (Leader), Matsumoto Jun (MatsuJun), Aiba Masaki, Sakurai Sho Album: Iza, Now! Release date: 7/21/04 Video link: http://www.veoh.com/videos/e131869t4WaDnxG

English translation: At this wall that forbids time to flow back A lightning flashed through my heart Those days I’m used to, they’re still engrossed in my body Un~ frozen An amazing balance that gradually leaves A mask that shows Cannot hide my actions No no no~

Unable to tell anyone A secretive past The both of us in a tight embrace

Coming right back to you (those words are repeating, hiding the scars on the wings) Right back to you If only I were an angel Right back to you (chasing after love, to survive the cold nights) Right back to you Only one person, you, shall I believe in

Drowning badly in this prove of my non-existence Enjoying this easy game of one-man-show Don’t mind it (right about time) In the letter

Unsure of where it landed The key to the memory belonging to us (I will recall)

Coming right back to you (those words are repeating, hiding the scars on the wings) Right back to you If only I were an angel Right back to you (chasing after love, to survive the cold nights) Right back to you Only one person, you, shall I believe in

The four seasons starts to bounce again, baby Freaky, freaky, freaky night, dance baby When we touch, the temperature of our palms rise, mayday From the lightened oceans, thanks baby

Tomorrow night shall still be clutched But understand that we must run when there’s a chance Leading the crowd, unbolt the galaxy I’m coming right back to you

Coming right back to you (those words are repeating, hiding the scars on the wings) Right back to you If only I were an angel Right back to you (chasing after love, to survive the cold nights) Right back to you Only one person, you, shall I believe in Right back to you (chasing after love, to survive the cold nights) Right back to you Only one person, you, shall I believe in About the song: I, like many other fans, found Arashi through MatsuJun's jdorama work. He played Domyouji Tsukasa in Hana Yori Dango, which is one of my favorite shows. The band calls this 'Jun-bait' ^_^ When I first started listening to the group, I looked for videos of them. This was one of the first videos I found and I got hooked instantly. Even now, I don't even bother to read the translation for it. I simply let myself get taken away with the feeling of the song. Though I will admit that I immediately associate the song with the dance they did in the Iza, Now! concert. (This is the video that is linked above.) In my opinion, this is the type of song that really defines Arashi as a group. It's 'pop' enough to keep their fanbase happy, still has their typical rap in the middle and is very danceable. I could listen to it on repeat for hours without getting tired of it.

Jmovie review: Death Note

Title: Death Note
Release date: 6/17/06
Genre: supernatural drama
Cast: Fujiwara Tatsuya, Matsuyama Kenichi, Nakamura Shido (voice only), Kaga Takashi
Plot: When a human's name is written in a Death Note, that person will die. Light (Fujiwara Tatsuya) finds a Death Note and, disbelieving of its powers, begins writing the names of known criminals in the book. Soon those people mysteriously die of heart attacks. Light deems himself the God of Justice, silently killing any criminals that he can find. The police attempt to figure out why prisoners are dropping dead in their cells when the genuis L (Matsuyama Kenichi) joins them in their investigation. Thus begins the game of cat-and-mouse between Light and L.
What is good: The CG for the Death God Ryuk is absolutely stunning.
What is bad: There may be a few things that could have been explained a bit more to help those who haven't seen the anime or read the manga.
Letter rating: A

Overall: I haven't read the manga version of Death Note but I have seen some of the anime. This made a really good transition into movie form. In the anime, Light flaunts his genius but in the movie, he's a little more subdued about it. He knows that he is outwitting the police yet he doesn't brag about it to Ryuk. I liked the slight changes they made in L's character as well. In the anime, he was a bit more eccentric. In the movie, he seems to be just hopped up on caffeine and junk food. Ryuk's animation is breath-taking. He is a bit jerky when he's laughing but that was probably the intention. One of my favorite scenes with Ryuk was a simple one where Ryuk and Light are walking up a slight hill. Before you can see either character, you see the tips of Ryuk's wings. It shows the amount of thought that went into his animations. I would recommend this movie to just about anyone. While it involves death, there isn't a lot of blood so even those with a weak stomach should be able to handle it.