(no subject)
So I haven't posted here in a while. But I haven't posted on mixi in a while either, so it balances out, I guess. Then again, I never used this as much as I used Mixi, so whatever. I really only got a livejournal back when I liked Walter, and now no one ever writes/reads this besides Acey, anyway. Hi Acey!
Anyway, other than finals coming up lately, there's not TOO much to talk about. I finished my finals for half of my classes. Two more to go. One of them is a 6 page essay thing (two essays at 3 pages each), and the other is my written Chinese final. Oh how I hope I did well enough in my ED/SPAN classes to student teach next semester, because I already got accepted into Student Teaching, and I'd rather not get kicked back out T_T. I'm going to be student teaching at Kelvyn Park High School which is...uninspiring. Oh well. I hear it's a lot of work, and I'm not very creative, so...
My JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) is tomorrow. I'm nervous, but I don't know why. I'm only taking level three, which is literally so easy they should be paying ME to take it. Level 2 was just too scary for me, lol. And it wasn't even the Kanji section! I'm sure if I had tried hard enough I could have learned the extra 3-400 Kanji I needed to know for it (I'm at around 700 and you need 1000), but the vocab section was just kicking my ass. And don't get me started on grammar...Which is why I REALLY wanted to get "An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese [revised edition]." It's a text book by the same company which essentially makes all the good textbooks for Chinese/Japanese, and though it isn't meant to be, it's often used as the next step after Genki. Since Genki 2 is supposed to get you through Level 3 of the JLPT, and I'm about to pass that without having completed Genki (though I DO have Genki II at home since I tutor at UIC and that's the book the're using), I figured I should really, REALLY get that book. I even looked at the official website, which has a 40 page sample preview of what the book is like, and it looked fantaastic. However, the official site says the book is out of stock, and it's not on Amazon or Ebay...though I DID find it on Amazon UK and Amazon Japan...the latter of which frankly makes no sense. And no, it's not at Mitsuwa. Mitsuwa's selection is pretty crappy, actually. Was a lot better 3 years ago. ANyway, it looks like I won't be getting that book, lol.
In other news, I've been watching more dramas this semester. This semester alone, I ended up watching Hana Kimi, Hachimitsu to Clover, Zettai Kareshi, Orange Days, Maou, Last Friends, and...I think there was one more I forgot. I'm currently watching 美少女戦士セーラームーン、, the Tokusatsu series. Honestly, I'm about 9 episodes from the end of the series, and I like it a whole lot more than that piece of shit they tried to pass off as a good anime, Seriously, how do you have an anime that's almost 100% filler, and still be successful? Seriously, I need to know, so I can make an anime about a lamp that falls over every day. I think it'd be more exciting than season1, at least, that's for sure.
Yes, I know there's a lot of stupid changes in the Live action, like Luna and Artemis being plush toys (which actually they're not, since Artemis once says "Its hard pretending to be a stuffed animal"), but seriously, what did you want, a REAL talking cat? People complained that the girls all have black hair until they transform. Oh no! God forbid they make it realistic, since NO (see: 0) Japanese girls have naturally blue hair (because lets face it, Mercury was the LAST one who would be dyeing her hair). It also explains why everyone in Japan in blind and unable to realize who they are when they transform. And admit it; Sailor Moon's wig looks FANTASTIC.
Another complaint is that Luna turns into a little girl. I pointed out that she turns into a humanin the manga, too, and the response was "but not an annoying little girl!" Oh get over it, yeah she's annoying, but not nearly as much as Usagi in the anime, so get over it. The Sailor Moon in the Live Action knows how to do more than just cry, sorry if that ruins your childhood image of a very useless, unattractive girl who can't do anything by herself.
The thing I like MOST about the live action, is that unlike the anime, there's an actual STORYLINE! Yeah, yeah, there was a storyline in the anime, too, but it was frankly uninteresting, and destroyed by at least 31 episodes of filler in a season that only had 46 episodes. Literally almost every episode in the anime could be categorized into this VERY INTERESTING [/sarcasm] format:
1. A youma appears almost directly in front of the Sailor Scouts.
2. Sailor Moon transforms, and then ends up running away and crying, because, she's unable to actually fight, and is too stupid to use her ONLY attack (see number 6 )
3. The sailor scouts appear (except in the first episode, where she defeats the Youma BY CRYING AT IT), and though the Sailor Scouts are clearly more competent than Sailor Moon in every possible way, their attacks have no effect on the Youma (but do on its underlings).
4. Sailor Moon is about to die, because at this point, she forgets how to walk, and therefore is unable to move out of the way of the enemy's very slow attacks.
5. Tuxedo Mask throws a rose, and says "セーラームーン！しっかりしろ！" (Get it together Sailor Moon!).
6. Sailor Moon finally uses her only attack, which oh by the way, is an AUTOMATIC INSTANT KILL SPELL THAT NEVER MISSES. WHy she doesn't start off the fight like that? I don't know. She's an idiot.
I pointed this out to my friend, and he said "It's a fantasy show, get over it." Which was when I stabbed him in the face with a spoon and said "exactly, it's a fantasy, get over Luna being a plush toy." Then he made some idiotic claim about the anime having depth. For anyone who thinks it does, refer to points 1-6 above.
THe Live Action on the other hand, is a little different. That is, what happens when the scouts are in their normal forms is actually important to the story! It's NOT just the same boring shit over and over, and even though the fights still usually end up with SM killing it, they're still more interesting, due to a lack of crying and incomptence. The Live Action focuses a lot more on the girl's human lives, and how these are affected by their past lives. Which makes it infinitely more interesting than the anime, in which they had no lives to focus on.
My friend said he couldn't enjoy the live action, because it shits on his favorite childhood series. But honestly, the anime shits on itself with mediocrity and a lack of unoriginality. No joke.
ANyway, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go play Persona 2: Innocent Sin in anticipation of Persona 4, which comes out December 9th!!!!
Anyway, other than finals coming up lately, there's not TOO much to talk about. I finished my finals for half of my classes. Two more to go. One of them is a 6 page essay thing (two essays at 3 pages each), and the other is my written Chinese final. Oh how I hope I did well enough in my ED/SPAN classes to student teach next semester, because I already got accepted into Student Teaching, and I'd rather not get kicked back out T_T. I'm going to be student teaching at Kelvyn Park High School which is...uninspiring. Oh well. I hear it's a lot of work, and I'm not very creative, so...
My JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) is tomorrow. I'm nervous, but I don't know why. I'm only taking level three, which is literally so easy they should be paying ME to take it. Level 2 was just too scary for me, lol. And it wasn't even the Kanji section! I'm sure if I had tried hard enough I could have learned the extra 3-400 Kanji I needed to know for it (I'm at around 700 and you need 1000), but the vocab section was just kicking my ass. And don't get me started on grammar...Which is why I REALLY wanted to get "An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese [revised edition]." It's a text book by the same company which essentially makes all the good textbooks for Chinese/Japanese, and though it isn't meant to be, it's often used as the next step after Genki. Since Genki 2 is supposed to get you through Level 3 of the JLPT, and I'm about to pass that without having completed Genki (though I DO have Genki II at home since I tutor at UIC and that's the book the're using), I figured I should really, REALLY get that book. I even looked at the official website, which has a 40 page sample preview of what the book is like, and it looked fantaastic. However, the official site says the book is out of stock, and it's not on Amazon or Ebay...though I DID find it on Amazon UK and Amazon Japan...the latter of which frankly makes no sense. And no, it's not at Mitsuwa. Mitsuwa's selection is pretty crappy, actually. Was a lot better 3 years ago. ANyway, it looks like I won't be getting that book, lol.
In other news, I've been watching more dramas this semester. This semester alone, I ended up watching Hana Kimi, Hachimitsu to Clover, Zettai Kareshi, Orange Days, Maou, Last Friends, and...I think there was one more I forgot. I'm currently watching 美少女戦士セーラームーン、, the Tokusatsu series. Honestly, I'm about 9 episodes from the end of the series, and I like it a whole lot more than that piece of shit they tried to pass off as a good anime, Seriously, how do you have an anime that's almost 100% filler, and still be successful? Seriously, I need to know, so I can make an anime about a lamp that falls over every day. I think it'd be more exciting than season1, at least, that's for sure.
Yes, I know there's a lot of stupid changes in the Live action, like Luna and Artemis being plush toys (which actually they're not, since Artemis once says "Its hard pretending to be a stuffed animal"), but seriously, what did you want, a REAL talking cat? People complained that the girls all have black hair until they transform. Oh no! God forbid they make it realistic, since NO (see: 0) Japanese girls have naturally blue hair (because lets face it, Mercury was the LAST one who would be dyeing her hair). It also explains why everyone in Japan in blind and unable to realize who they are when they transform. And admit it; Sailor Moon's wig looks FANTASTIC.
Another complaint is that Luna turns into a little girl. I pointed out that she turns into a humanin the manga, too, and the response was "but not an annoying little girl!" Oh get over it, yeah she's annoying, but not nearly as much as Usagi in the anime, so get over it. The Sailor Moon in the Live Action knows how to do more than just cry, sorry if that ruins your childhood image of a very useless, unattractive girl who can't do anything by herself.
The thing I like MOST about the live action, is that unlike the anime, there's an actual STORYLINE! Yeah, yeah, there was a storyline in the anime, too, but it was frankly uninteresting, and destroyed by at least 31 episodes of filler in a season that only had 46 episodes. Literally almost every episode in the anime could be categorized into this VERY INTERESTING [/sarcasm] format:
1. A youma appears almost directly in front of the Sailor Scouts.
2. Sailor Moon transforms, and then ends up running away and crying, because, she's unable to actually fight, and is too stupid to use her ONLY attack (see number 6 )
3. The sailor scouts appear (except in the first episode, where she defeats the Youma BY CRYING AT IT), and though the Sailor Scouts are clearly more competent than Sailor Moon in every possible way, their attacks have no effect on the Youma (but do on its underlings).
4. Sailor Moon is about to die, because at this point, she forgets how to walk, and therefore is unable to move out of the way of the enemy's very slow attacks.
5. Tuxedo Mask throws a rose, and says "セーラームーン！しっかりしろ！" (Get it together Sailor Moon!).
6. Sailor Moon finally uses her only attack, which oh by the way, is an AUTOMATIC INSTANT KILL SPELL THAT NEVER MISSES. WHy she doesn't start off the fight like that? I don't know. She's an idiot.
I pointed this out to my friend, and he said "It's a fantasy show, get over it." Which was when I stabbed him in the face with a spoon and said "exactly, it's a fantasy, get over Luna being a plush toy." Then he made some idiotic claim about the anime having depth. For anyone who thinks it does, refer to points 1-6 above.
THe Live Action on the other hand, is a little different. That is, what happens when the scouts are in their normal forms is actually important to the story! It's NOT just the same boring shit over and over, and even though the fights still usually end up with SM killing it, they're still more interesting, due to a lack of crying and incomptence. The Live Action focuses a lot more on the girl's human lives, and how these are affected by their past lives. Which makes it infinitely more interesting than the anime, in which they had no lives to focus on.
My friend said he couldn't enjoy the live action, because it shits on his favorite childhood series. But honestly, the anime shits on itself with mediocrity and a lack of unoriginality. No joke.
ANyway, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go play Persona 2: Innocent Sin in anticipation of Persona 4, which comes out December 9th!!!!